HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL
LITERATURE

HANDBOOK y^ /

UNIVERSAL LITERATURE ^

FROM THE BEST AND LATEST'^AUTHORITIES

ANNE C. LYNCH BOTTA

" Partout le vaste champ de la Htt6rature ressemble i une Immense
arene, ou peu de vainqueure ^levent leurs trophies sur les armes bris^es
dune grande masse de Taincus ; ce n'est que lorsque 1a d^Iaite est
deveuue memorable, que Thistoire peut s'en occuper."

NEW AND REVISED EDITION

BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND CHICAGO
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
1)C Kit)crfi(ilie J3rccc; CnmbriUg;e

CopyriRht, 1902,
Bt HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.

PREFATORY NOTE TO SECOND REVISED

EDITION.

The continued usefulness of this Handbook has led the pub-
lishers to undertake a new edition. Sufficient additions have
been made to the sections dealing with modern European
Literature to bring the work to the year 1902. The pages
dealing with modern Russian literature have been revised;
and the final portions of the book, treating of the EngUsh and
American literature of the past forty years, have been re-
written.

PREFATORY NOTE TO THE REVISED EDITION.

Since the first publication of this work in 1860, many new
names have appeared in modern literature. Japan, hitherto al-
most unknown to Europeans, has taken her place among the na-
tions with a literature of her own, and the researches and dis-
coveries of scholars in various parts of the world have thrown
much light on the Uteratures of antiquity. To keep pace with
this advance, a new edition of the work has been called for.
Prefixed is a very brief summary of an important and exhaust-
ive History of the Alphabet recently published.

PREFACE.

This work was begun many years ago, as a literary exercise,
to meet the personal requirements of the writer, which were such
as most persons experience on leaving school and " completing
their education," as the phrase is. The world of literature lies
before them, but where to begin, what course of study to pursue,
in order best to comprehend it, are the problems which present
themselves to the bewildered questioner, who finds himself in a
position not unlike that of a traveler suddenly set down in an
imknown country, without guide-book or map. The most nat-
ural course under such circumstances would be to begin at the
beginning, and take a rapid survey of the entire field of litera-
ture, arriving at its details through this general view. But as
this could be accomplished only by subjecting each individual to
a severe and protracted course of systematic study, the idea was
conceived of obviating this necessity to some extent by embody-
ing the results of such a course in the form of the following
work, which, after being long laid aside, is now at length com-
pleted.

In conformity with this design, standard books have been con-
densed, with no alterations except such as were required to give
unity to the whole work ; and in some instances a few additions
have been made. Where standard works have not been found,
the sketches have been made from the best sources of informa-
tion, and submitted to the criticism of able scholars.

The literatures of different nations are so related, and have
so influenced each other, that it is only by a survey of all that
any single literature, or even any great literary work, can be
fully comprehended, as the various groups and figures of a his-
torical picture must be viewed as a whole, before they can as-
sume their true place and proportions.

A. C. L. B. .

CONTENTS.

PIOI

LIST OF AUTHORITIES i«

INTRODUCTION.

Thb Alphabet.

1. The Origin of Letters. — 2. The Phoenician Alphabet and Inscriptions. — 3. The
Greek Alphabet. Its Three Epochs. —4. The Mediaeval Scripts. The Irish. The
Anglo-Saxon. The Roman. The Grothic. The Runic 1

Classotcation o» Lamqdaoes 3

CHINESE UTERATURE.
1. Cliinese Literature. — 2. Tlie Language. — 3. The Writing. —4. The Five Classics
and Four Books. — 5. Chinese Religion and Philosophy. Lao-tse. Confucius.
Meng-ts<5 or Mencius. — 6. Buddliism. — 7. Social Constitution of China. — 8. In-
vention of Printing. — 9. Science, History, and Geography. Encyclopiedias. — 10.
Poetry. — 11. Dramatic Literature and Fiction. — 12. Education in China . . 7

JAPANESE LITERATURE.
1. The Language. — 2. The Religion. — 3. The Literature. Influence of Women. —
4. History. —5. The Drama and Poetry. — C. Geography. Newspapers. Novels.
Medical Science. — 7. Position of Woman. — 8. Foreign Interpreters of Japan . IS

SANSKRIT LITERATURE.
1. The Language. — 2. The Social Constitution of India. Brahmanism. — 3. Charac-
teristics of the Literature and its Divisions. — 4. The Vedas and other Sacred
Books. — 5. Sanskrit Poetry ; Epic ; the Ramayaua and Mahabiiarata. Lyric Po-
etry. Didactic Poetry ; the Hitopadesa. Dramatic Poetry. — (>. Hi.story and Sci-
ence. — 7. Philosophy. —8. Buddhism. — 9. Moral Philosophy. The Code of Manu.

— 10. Modem Literatures of India. — 11. Education. The Brahmo Somaj . . 30

BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LITERATURE.
1. The Accadians and Babylonians. — 2. The Cuneiform Letters. —3. Babylonian
and Assyrian Remains 35

PHOENICIAN LITERATURE.
The Language. — The Remains 37

SYRIAC UTERATURE.
The Language. — Influence of the Literature in the Eighth and Ninth Century . 38

PERSIAN LITERATURE.
1. The Persian Language and its Divisions. — 2. Zendic Literature : the Zendavesta.

— 3. Pehlvi and Parsee Literatures. — 4. The Ancient Religiou of Persia; Zoro-

Yiii CONTENTS.

Mter. — 5. Modern Literature. — 6. The Siifia. — 7. Persian Poetry. —8. Persian
Poets; Ferdusi ; Essedi of Tiis ; Togray, etc. — 9. History and Philosophy. — 10.
Education in Persia 39

HEBREW LITERATURE.

1. Hebrew Literature ; its Diyisious. — 2. The Language ; its Alphabet ; its Struc-
ture ; Peculiarities, Formation, and Phases. — 3. The Old Testament. — 4. Hebrew
Education. — 6. Fundamental Idea of Hebrew Literature. — 6. Hebrew Poetry. —

7. Lyric Poetry ; Songs ; the Psalms ; the Prophets. — 8. Pastoral Poetry and Di-
dactic Poetry ; the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. — 9. Epic and Dramatic Poetry ; the
Book of Job. — 10. Hebrew History ; the Pentateuch and other Historical Books.
— 11. Hebrew Philosophy. — 12. Restoration of the Sacred Books. — 13. Manu-
scripts and Translations. — 14. Rabbinical Literature. — 15. The New Revision of
the Bible, and the New Biblical Manuscript '49

EGYPTIAN UTERATURE.
1. The Language. — 2. The Writing. — 3. The Literature. — 4. The Monuments. —
5. The Discovery of Champollion. — 6. Literary Remains ; Historical ; Religious ;
Epistolary ; Fictitious ; Scientific ; Epic ; Satirical and Judicial. — 7. The Alexan-
drian Period. — 8. The Literary Condition of Modem Egypt ..... 60

GREEK LITERATURE.

Intboduction. — 1. Greek Literature and its Divisions. — 2. The Language. — 3. The
Religion 67

Period Fiest. — 1. Ante-Homeric Songs and Bards. — 2. Poems of Homer; the Iliad ;
the Odyssey. — 3. The Cyclic Poets and the Homeric Hymns. — 4. Poems of He-
siod ; the Works and Days ; the Theogony. — 5. Elegy and Epigram ; Tyrtaus ;
Archilochus ; Simonides. — 6. Iambic Poetry, the Fable, and Parody ; ^sop. — 7.
Greek Music and Lyric Poetry ; Terpander. — 8. ^olic Lyric Poets ; Alcaeus ; Sap-
pho ; Anacreon. — 9. Doric, or Choral Lyric Poets ; Alcman ; Stesichorus ; Pindar.
— 10. The Orphic Doctrines and Poems. — 11. Pre-Socratic Philosophy; Ionian,
Eleatic, Pythagorean Schools. — 12. History ; Herodotus 72

Period Second. — 1. Literary Predominance of Athens. — 2. Greek Drama. — 3. Trag-
edy. — 4 The Tragic Poets ; .^schylus ; Sophocles ; Euripides. — 5. Comedy ; Aris-
tophanes; Menander. — 6. Oratory, Rhetoric, and History ; Pericles ; the Sophists;
Lysias ; Isocrates ; Demosthenes; Thucydides; Xenophon. — 7. Socrates and the
Socratic Schools ; Plato ; Aristotle 99

Period Third. — 1. Origin of the Alexandrian Literature. — 2. The Alexandrian
Poets ; Philetas ; Callimachus ; Theocritus ; Bion ; Moschus. — 3. The Prose Writ-
ers of Alexandria ; Zenodotus ; Aristophanes ; Aristarchus ; Eratosthenes ; Euclid ;
Archimedes. —4. Philosophy of Alexandria; Neo-Platonism. — 5. Anti-Neo-Pla-
tonic Tendencies ; Epictetus ; Lucian ; Longinus. — 6. Greek Literature in Rome ;
Dionysius of Halicarnassus ; Flavius Josephus ; Polybius ; Diodorus ; Strabo ; Plu-
tarch. — 7. Continued Decline of Greek Literature. — 8. Last Echoes of the Old
Literature ; Hypatia ; Nonnus ; MusiPiis ; Byzantine Literature. — 9. The New Tes-
tament and the Greek Fathers. Modem Literature ; the Brothers Santsos and Al-
exander Rangab^. Bacchylidea 107

ROMAN LITERATURE.

IiPraoDncnoN. — 1. Roman Literature and its Divisions. — 2. The Language ; Ethno-
graphical Elements of the Latin Language ; the Umbrian ; Oscan ; Etruscan ; the
Old Roman Tongue ; Satumian Verse ; Peculiarities of the Latin Language. — 3.
The Roman Religion 121

Period First. — 1 Early Literature of the Romans ; the Fescennine Songs ; the Fab-
ulae Atellana. — 2. Early Latin Poets ; Livius Andronicus, Navius, and Ennius. —

8. Roman Comedy. — 4. Comic Poets ; Plautus, Terence, and Statius. — 5. Roman
Tragedy. — C. Tragic Poets j Pacuviua and Attiua. — 7. Satire ; Lucilius. — 8. His-

CONTENTS. IX

tory and Oratory ; Fabius Pictor ; Cenciua Alimentus ; Csto ; Varro ; M. Antoniua ;
Crassus ; Horteusius. — 9. Koiuaii Jurisprudence. — 10. Grammarians . . . 127
Period Second. — 1. Development of the Roman Literature. — 2. Mimes, Mimogra-
phera, Pantomime ; Laberius and P. Lyrus. — 3. Epic Poetry ; Virgil ; the .£neld.

— 4. Didactic Poetry ; the Bucolics ; the Georgics ; Lucretius. — 5. Lyric Poetry ;
Catullus ; Horace. — 6. Elegy ; Tibullus ; Propertius ; Ovid. — 7. Oratory and Phi-
losophy ; Cicero. — 8. History ; J. Cicsar ; Sallust ; Livy. — 9. Other Prose Writers 141

Period Th:bd. — 1. Decline of Roman Literature. — 2. Fable; Phaedrus. — 3. Satire
and Epigram ; Persius, Juvenal, Martial. — 4. Dramatic Literature ; the Tragedies
of Seneca. — 5. Epic Poetry ; Lucau ; Silius Italicus ; Valerius Flaccus ; P. Statius.

— 6. History ; Paterculus ; Tacitus ; Suetonius ; Q. Curtius ; Valerius Maximus. —
7. Rhetoric and Eloquence; Quintilian ; Pliny the Younger. — 8. Philosophy and
Science ; Seneca ; Pliny the Elder ; Celsus ; P. Mela ; Columella ; Frontinus. — 9.
Roman Literature from Hadrian to Theodoric ; Claudian ; Eutropius ; A. Marcelli-
nus ; S. Sulpicius ; Gellius ; Macrobius ; L. Apuleiufl ; Boethius : the Latin Fathers.

— 10. Roman Jurisprudence 156

ARABIAN LITERATURE.
1. European Literature in the Dark Ages. — 2. The Arabian Language. — 3. Arabian
Mythology and the Koran.— 4. Historical Development of Arabian Literature. —
5. Grammar and Rhetoric. — 6. Poetry. —7. The Arabian Tales. — 8. History and
Science. — 9. Education 176

ITALIAN UTERATURE.
Introduction. — 1. Italian Literature and its Divisions. — 2. The Dialects. — 3. The

Italian Language 193

Period First. — 1. Latin Influence. — 2. Early Italian Poetry and Prose. — 3. Dante.

— 4. Petrarch. — 5. Boccaccio and other Prose Writers. — C. First Decline of Ital-
ian Literature 196

Period Second. — 1. The Close of the Fifteenth Century ; Lorenzo de' Medici. — 2.
The Origin of the Drama and Romantic Epic ; Poliziano, Pulci, Boiardo. — 3. Ro-
mantic Epic Poetry ; Ariosto. — 4. Heroic Epic Poetry ; Tasso. — 5. L>Tic Poetry ;
Bembo, Molza, Tarsia, V. Colomia. — 6. Dramatic Poetry ; Trissino, Rucellai ; the
Writers of Comedy. —7. Pastoral Drama and Didactic Poetrj- ; Beccari, Sannaz-
zaro, Tasso, Guarini, Rucellai, Alamauui. —8. Satirical Poetry, Novels, and Tales;
Bemi, Grazzini, Firenzuola, Bandello, and others.- 9. History ; Machiavelli, Guic-
ciardini, Nardi, and others. — 10. Grammar and Rhetoric; the Academy della
Crusca, Della Casa, Speroni, and others. —11. Science, Philosophy, and Politics;
the Academy del Cimento, Galileo, Torricelli, Borelli, Patrizi, Telesio, Campanella,
Bruno, Castiglione, Machiavelli, and otliers. — 12. Decline of the Literature in the
Seventeenth Century. — 13. Epic and L3Tic Poetry; Maruii, Filicaja. — 14. Mock
Heroic Poetry, the Drama, and Satire ; Tassoni, Bracciolini, Anderini, and others.
— 15. History and Epistolary Writings ; Davila, Bentivoglio, Sarpi, Redi . . 206

Period Third.- 1. Historical Development of the Third Period.- 2. The Melodrama;
Rinuccini, Zeno, Metastasio. — 3. Comedy; Goldoni, C. Gozzi, and others. —4.
Tragedy; Matfei, Alfleri, Monti, Manzoni, Nicolini, and others. —5. Lyric, Epic,
and Didactic Poetry; Parini, Monti, Ugo Foscolo, Leopardi, Grossi, Lorenzi, and
others. —6. Heroic-Comic Poetry, Satire, and Fable; Fortiguerri, Passeroni, G.
Gozzi, Parini, Giusti, and others. — 7. Romances ; Verri, Manzoni, D'Azeglio,
Cantii, Guerrazzi, and others. — 8. History ; Muratori, Vico, Giannone, Botta, Col-
letta, Tiraboschi, and otliers.— 9. .ilsthetics. Criticism, Philology, and Philosophy ;
Baretti, Parini, Giordani, Gioja, Romagnosi, Gallupi, Rosmini, Oioberti. — Since
1860 227

FRENCH LITERATURE.
Introduction. — 1. French Literature and its Divisions. —2. The Language . . 242
pKBioo First. — 1. The Troubadours. — 2. The Trouveres. — 3. French Literature in

K CONTENTS.

the Fifteenth Century. — 4. The Mysteries and Moralities : Charles of Orleans,
Villon, Ville-Hardouin, Joinville, Froissart, Philippe de Coinniiues .... 241
Period Second. — 1. The Renaissance and the Reformation: Marguerite de Valois,
Marot, Rabelais, Calvin, Montaigne, Charron, and others. — 2. Light Literature :
Ronsard, Jodelle, Hardy, Malherbe, Scarron, Madame de Rambouillet, and others.

— 3. The French Academy. — 4. The Drama : Comeille. — 5. Philosophy : Des-
cartes, Pascal ; Port Royal. — 6. The Rise of the Golden Age of French Literature :
Louis XIV. — 7. Tragedy : P^cine. — 8. Comedy : MoU6re. — 9. Fables, Satires,
Mock-Heroic, and other Poetry : La Fontaine, Boileau. — 10. Eloquence of the Pul-
pit and of the Bar : Bourdaloue, Bossuet, Massillon, Fltjcliier, Le Maitre, D'Aguea-
seau, and others. — 11. Moral Philosophy: Rochefoucault, La Bruyere, Nicole. —
12. History and Memoirs : M*5zeray, Fleury, Rollin, Brantome, the Duke of Sully.
Cardinal de Retz. — 13. Romance and Letter Writing : Fenelon, Madame de S6-
vign^ 2E1

pEKioD Third. — I. The Dawn of Skepticism : Bayle, J. B. Rousseau, Fontenelle, La-
motte. — 2. Progress of Skepticism : Montesquieu, Voltaire. — 3. French Literature
during the Revolution : D'Holbach, D'Alembert, Diderot, J. J. Rousseau, Buffon,
Beaumarchais, St. Pierre, and others. — 4. French Literature under the Empire :
Madame de Stael, Chateaubriand, Royer-Collard, Bonald, De Maistre. — 5. French
Literature from the Age of the Restoration to the Present Time. History : Thierry, ,

Sismondi, Thiers, Mignet, Martin, Michelet, and others. Poetry and the Drama ;
Rise of the Romantic School : Beranger, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, and others ; Lea
Pamassiens. Fiction : Hugo, Gautier, Dumas, M^rimee, Balzac, Sand, Saudeau,
and others. Criticism : Sainte-Beuve, Taine, and others. Miscellaneous . 275

SPANISH LITERATURE.

Introdbction. — 1. Spanish Literature and its Divisions. — 2. The Language . . 295
Period First. — 1. Early National Literature ; the Poem of the Cid ; Berceo, Alfonsu
the Wise, Segura ; Don Juan Manuel, the Archpriest of Hita, Santob, Ayala. —
2. Old Ballads. — 3. The Chronicles. —4. Romances of Chivalry. —5. The Drama.

— G. Proven9al Literature in Spain. — 7. The Influence of Italian Literature in
Spain. — 8. The Cancioneros and Prose Writing. — 9. The Inquisition . . . 299

Period Second. — 1. The Effect of Intolerance on Letters. — 2. Influence of Italy on
Bpanish Literature ; Boscan, Garcilasso de la Vega, Diego de Mendoza. — 3. His-
tory ; Cortez, Gomara, Oviedo, Las Casas. — 4. The Drama, Rueda, Lope de Vega,
Calderon de la Barca. — 5. Romances and Tales ; Cervantes, and other Writers of
Fiction. — 6. Historical Narrative Poems ; Ercilla. — 7. Lyric Poetry ; the Argen-
Bolas ; Luis de Leon, Quevedo, Herrera, Gongora, and others. — 8. Satirical and
other Poetry. — 9. History and other Prose Writing; Zurita, Mariana, Sandoval,
and others 311

Period Third. — 1. French Influence on the Literature of Spain. — 2. The Dawn of
Spanish Literature in the Eighteenth Century ; Feyjoo, Isla, Moratin the elder,
Yriarte, Melendez, Gonzalez, Quintana, Moratin the younger. — 3. Spanish Litera-
ture in the Nineteenth Century 331

PORTUGUESE LITERATURE.
\. The Portuguese Language. — 2. Early Literature of Portugal. — 3. Poets of the
Fifteenth Century ; Macias. Ribeyro. — 4. Introduction of the Italian Style ; Saa
de Miranda, Montemayor, Ferreira. — 5. Epic Poetry; Camoens; the Lusiad. —
6. Dramatic Poetry; Gil Vicente. —7. Prose Writing; Rodriguez Lobo, Barros,
Brito, Veira. — 8. Portuguese Literature in the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and
Nineteenth Centuries ; Antonio Jos^, Manuel do Nasciinento, Manuel de Bocage . 331

FINNISH LITERATURE.
L The Finnish Language and Literature : Poetry ; the Kalevala ; Lonnrot ; Korrhoinen.

— 2. The Hungarian Language and Literature : tlie Age of Stephen I. ; Influence
of the House of Anjou ; of the Reformation ; of the House of Austria ; Kossuth ;
Josika ; Eutvos ; Kuthy ; Szigligeti ; Petcili 346

CONTENTS. Xi

SLAVIC LITERATURES.

rbe Slavic Race and Languages ; the Eastern and Western Stems ; the Alphabets ;
the Old or Church Slavic Language ; St. Cyril's Bible ; the Pravda Russkaya ; the
Annals of Nestor 353

Russian Litebaturs.

1. The Language. — 2. Literature in the Reign of Peter the Great ; of Alexander ;
of Nicholas ; Dauilof, Louionosof, Kheraskof, Derzhavin, Karaiuzin. — 3. History,
Poetry, the Novel : Dinitrief, Zliukoffbki, Krylof, Pushkin, LennontofF, Koltsoff,
Gogol, Gontcliarov, Grigorovitch, Turgenietf, Chtchedine, Pissemski, Nekrassoff,
Dostoievski, Tolstoi, Tcheklov 363

The Servian Language and LiTEnAxPRE 359

IhB IJOHEMIAN LaNQUAGB AND LrrEBATTIBB.

John Huss, Jerome of Prague, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Comenius, and others . . 3C0
The Polish Language and LrrEEATURE.

Rey, Bielski, Copernicus, Czartoryski, Niemcewicz, Mickiewicz, and others . . 3C3
Roumanian Literature.

Carmen Sylva . 367

DUTCH UTERATURB.
I. The Language. — 2. Dutch Literature to the Sixteenth Century : Maerlant ; Melia
Stoke ; De Weert ; the Chambers of Rhetoric ; the Flemish Chroniclers ; the Rise
of tlie Dutch Republic. —3. The Latin Writers: Erasmus; Grotius ; Arminius;
Lipsius ; the Scaligers, and others ; Salmasius ; Spinoza ; Boerhaave ; Johannes
Secundus. — 4. Dutch Writers of the Sixteenth Century : Anna Byns ; Cooruhert ;
Marnix de St. Aldegonde ; Bor, Visscher, and Spieghel. — 5. Writers of the Sev-
enteenth Century : Hooft ; Vondel ; Cats ; Antonides ; Brandt, and others ; Decline
jj Dutch Literature. — C. The Eighteenth Century : Poot ; Langendijk ; Hoogvliet ;
De Marre ; Feitama ; Uuydecoper ; the Van Harens ; Smits ; Ten Kate ; Van Win-
ter; Van Merken; De Lauuoy; Van Alphen ; Bellamy; Nieuwland, Styl, and
others. — 7. Tlie Nineteenth Century : Keith; Helmers ; Bilderdyk ; Van derPalm;
Loosjes; Loots, Tollens, Van Kumpen, De s'Gravenweert, Van Hoevell, and others 368

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE.
^ Introduction. The Ancient Scandinavians ; their Influence on the English Race. —

2. The Mythology. — 3. The Scandinavian Languages. — 4. Icel.indic, or Old Norse
Literature : the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, the Scalds, the Sagas, the " Heira-
skringla." The Folks-Sagas and B.iUads of tlie Middle Ages. —5. Danish Litera-
ture : Saxo Grammaticus and Theodoric ; Arreboe, Kingo, Tycho Brahe, Holberg,
Evalu, Baggesen, Oehlenschliiger, Grundtvig, Blioher, Ingemann, Heiberg, Gyllen-
bourg, Winther, Hertz, Miiller, Hans Andersen, Ploug, Goldsohniidt, Hastrup, and
others; Malte Bruu, Rnsk, Rafn, Alagiiusen, tlie brotliers Oersted. — G. Swedish
Literature : Messenius, Stjemhjehn, Lucidor, and otliers. The Gallic period : Da-
lin, Nordenflycht, Crutz and Gyllenborg, Oustavus III., K(>llgren, Leopold, Oxen-
Btjerna. The New Era : Bellman, Hallnian, Kexel, Wallenberg, Lidner, Thorild,
Lengren, Franzen, Wallin. The Phosphori.sts : Atterboni, Hamniarskold, and
Palinblid. The Gothic School : Geijer, Tegni'r, Stainieli<i»> Almquist, Vitalis,
Runeberg, and others. The Romance Writers : Cederborg, Bremer, Carlen, Knor-
riug. Science: Swedenborg, Linnieus, Scheele. Recent Scandinavian Literature 382

GERMAN LITERATURE.

iNTRonrcnoN. — 1. German Literature and its Divisions. —2. The Mythology. — 3.
Tlie Language *^

Period Fibst.— 1. E.irly Literature ; Translation of the Bible by Ulphilas ; the Hilde-
brand Lied. — 2. The Age of Charlemagne ; his Successors ; the Ludwig'a Lied ;
Roswitha; tho Lombard Cycle. —3. The Su.ihian Ace : the Crusades ; tlie Minne-
singers ; the Romances of Chivalry ; the Heldeubuch ; the Nibelungen Lied. —

Sil CONTENTS.

4. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries ; the Mastersingers ; Satires and Fa-
bles ; Mysteries and Dramatic Representations ; the Mystics ; the Universities ;
the Invention of Printing 409

Period Second. — From 1517 to 1700. —1. The Lutheran Period : Luther, Melanch-
thon. — 2. Manuel, Zwingle, Fischart, Franck, Arnd, Boehm. — 3. Poetry, Satire,
and Demonology ; Paracelsus and Agrippa ; the Thirty Tears' War. — 4. The Sev-
enteenth Century : Opitz, Leibnitz, Puffendorf, Kepler, WoU, Thomasius, Gerhard ;
Silesian Schools ; Hoffmannswaldau, Lohenstein 41g

Period Third. — 1. The Swiss and Saxon Schools : Gottsched, Bodmer, Rabener,
Gellert, Kastner, and others. — 2. Klopstock, Lessiiig, Wieland, and Herder. — 3.
Goethe and Schiller. — 4. The Gottingen School : Voss, Stolberg, Claudius, Bur-
ger, and others. — 5. The Romantic School : the Schlegels, NovaUs ; Tieck, Kiir-
ner, Amdt, Uhland, Heine, and others. — 6. The Drama: Goethe and ScWller;
the Power Men; Milliner, Werner, Howald, and GriUparzer. — 7. Philosophy:
Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Hartmann. Science : Liebig,
Du Bois-Raymond, Virchow, Helmholst, Hseckel. — 8. Miscellaneous Writings . 424

ENGUSH LITERATURE.

tNTRODncTiON. — \. English Literature. Its Divisions. — 2. The Language . .448

Period First. — 1. Celtic Literature. Irish, Scotch, and Cymric Celts ; the Chroni-
cles of Ireland ; Ossian's Poems ; Traditions of Arthur ; the Triads ; Tales. — 2.
Latin Literature. Bede ; Alcuin ; Erigena. — 3. Anglo-Saxon Literature. Poetry ;
Prose ; Versions of Scripture ; the Saxon Chronicle ; Alfred 460

Period Second. — The Norman Age and the Fourteentli and Fifteenth Centuries. —
1. Literature in the Latin Tongue. — 2. Literature in Norman-French. Poetry;
Romances of Chivalry. — 3. Saxon-English. Metrical Remains. — 4. Literature j'n
the Fourteenth Century. — Prose Writers: Occam, Duus Scotus, Wickliffe, Maude-
ville, Chaucer. Poetry; Langland, Gower, Chaucer. — 5. Literature in the Fif-
teenth Century. Ballads. — 6. Poets of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries in
Scotlarul. Wyntoun, Barbour, and others 463

^RiOD Third. — 1. Age of the Reformation (1509-1558). Classical, Theological, and
Miscellaneous Literature : Sir Thomas More and others. Poetry : Skelton, Surrey,
and Sackville ; the Drama. — 2. The Age of Spenser, Shakspeare, Bacon, and Mil-
ton (1558-1660). Scholastic and Ecclesiastical Literature. Translations of the
Bible : Hooker, Andrews, Donne, Hall, Taylor, Baxter ; other Prose Writers : Ful-
ler, Cudworth, Bacon, Hobbes. Raleigh, Milton, Sidney, Selden, Burton, Bro>wne,
and Cowley. Dramatic Poetry : Marlowe and Greene, Shakspeare, Beaumont and
Fletcher, Ben Jonson, and others ; Massinger, Ford, and Shirley ; Decline of the
Drama. Non-dramatic Poetry : Spenser and the Minor Poets. Lyrical Poets :
Donne, Cowley, Denliam, Waller, Milton. — 3. The Age of the Restoration and Rev-
olution (lCCO-1702). Prose: Leighton, Tillotson, Barrow, Bunyan, Locke, and oth-
ers. The Drama : Dryden, Otway. Comedy : Didactic Poetry : Roscommon, Mar-
veil, Butler, Pryor, Dryden. — 4. The Eighteenth Century. The First Generation
(1702-1727): Pope, Swift, and others; the Periodical Essayists: Addison, Steele.
The Second Generation (1727-1760) : Theology : Warburton, Butler, Watts, Dod-
dridge. Philosophy : Hume. Miscellaneous Prose : Johnson ; the Novelists : Rich-
ardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne. The Drama ; Non-dramatic Poetry :
Young, Blair, Akenside, Thomson, Gray, and Collins. The Third Generation
(1760-1800) ; the Historians : Hume, Robertson, and Gibbon. Miscellaneous Prose :
Johnson, Goldsmith, " Junius," Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and Burke. Criticism : Burke,
Reynolds, Campbell, Kames. Political Economy : Adam Smith. Ethics : Paley,
Smith, Tucker. Metaphysics: Pvcid. Theological and Religious Writers: Camp-
bell, Paley, Watson, Newton, Hannah More, and Wilberforce. Poetry : Comedies
of Goldsuiith and Sheridan : Minor Poets ; Later Poems ; Seattle's Minstrel ; Cow-
per and Burns. 5. The Nineteenth Century. The Poets : Campbell, Southey,
Scott, Byron ; Coleridge and Word.sworth ; Wilson, Shelley, Keats ; Crabbe, Moore,
and others ; Tennyson, Browning, Procter, and others. Fiction : the Waverley

CONTENTS. xiii

and other Novels ; Dickens, Thackeray, and others. History : Arnold, Thirlwall,
G.ote, Macaulay, Alisou, Carlyle, Freeman, Buckle. Criticism: Hallam, De
Quincey, Macaulay, Carlyle, Wil.son, Lamb, and others. Theology : Foster, Hall,
Chalmers. Philosophy : Stewart, Brown, Mackintosh, Bentliam, Alison, and
others. Political Economy : Mill, Whewell, Whately, De Morgan, Hamilton.
Periodical Writings : the KUinburgh, Quarterly, and Westminster Reviews, and
Blackwood's Maeazine, Jeffrey, Hazlitt. — Since 18G0. Criticism, History, Sci-
ence : Arnold, Swinburne, Pater, Saintsbury, Dowden, Courthope, Dobson, Gosse,
Lang, Hamerton, Leslie Stephen, Morley, Froude, Lecky, Green, Darwin, Spen-
cer, Tyndall, Huxley. Poetry : Matthew Arnold, Clough, Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
Christina Rossetti, Swinburne, "Owen Meredith," Sir Edwin Arnold, Henley,
George Meredith, KipUng, Stephen Phillips, and others. Fiction : " George Eliot,"
Mrs. Humphry Ward, Trollope, George Macdonald, Black, Besant, Blackmore,
Barrie, Kipling, Meredith, Stevenson, Henry James, Thomas Hardy . , . 472

AMERICAN LITERATURE.

Fhe Colonial Pebiod. — 1. The Seventeenth Century. George Sandys ; The Bay
Psalm Book ; Anne Bradstreet, John Eliot, and Cotton Mather. — 2. From 1700 to
1770. Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, Cadwallader Golden . . . 510

PrasT American Period, fro.m 1771 to 1820. —1. Statesmen and Political Writers:
Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton ; Tlie Federalist ; Jay, Madison, Marshall, Fisher
Ames, and others. — 2. The Poets : Freneau, Trumbull, Hopkinson, Barlow, Clif-
ton, and Dwight. — 3. Writers in other Departments: Bellamy, Hopkins, D wight,
and Bishop White. Rush, McClurg, Lindley Murray, Charles Brockden Brown.
Ramsay, Graydon. Count Rumford, Wirt, Ledyard, Pinkney, and Pike . . 512

Second American Period, since 1820. —1. History, Biography, and Travels : Ban-
croft, Prescott, Motley, Irving, John Fiske, Parkman, Kane, Bayard Taylor, and
others. — 2. Oratory : Webster, Lincoln, and others. — 3. Fiction : Cooper, Irving,
Hawthorne, Poe, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Elizabeth Stoddard, Cable, Howells, F.
Marion Crawford, Frank R. Stockton, Aldrich, Joel Chandler Harris, Bret Harte,
Sarah Ome Jewett, and others. — 4. Poetry: Bryant, Poe, Walt Whitman, Long-
fellow, Whittier, Emerson, Holmes, Lowell, Aldrich, Richard Watson Gilder,
Edmund Clarence Stedman, R. H. Stoddard, Edith M. Thomas, and others. — 5.
The Transcendental Movement in New England : Ripley, Parker, Alcott, Margaret
Fuller, Emerson. — G. Essays and Criticism : Irving, Donald G. Mitchell, Holmes,
Warner, Curtis, Whipple, Richard Grant White, Lowell, Howells, W. C. Brownell,
Thoreau, Burroughs, and others. — 7. Newspapers and Periodicals: The Inter-
national Quarterly, Science, TTie Scientific American, The Popular Science
Monthly, The North .\merican Review, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Scribner's,
The Century, The Forum, The Review of Reviews, Harper's Weekly, The Nation 618

INDEX goj

LIST OF AUTHORITIES.

The following works are the sources from which this book is
wholly or chiefly derived : —

Taylor's History of the Alphabet ; Dwigbt's Philologj'; Herder's
Spirit of Hebrew Poetry; Lowth's Hebrew Poetry; Asiatic Researches;
the works of Gesenius, Dc ^Vette, Ewald, Colebrooke, Sir William
Jones, Wilson, Ward ; Schlegel's Hindu Language and Literature ;
Max Midler's History of Sanskrit Literature ; and What India has
taught us; Malcolm's History of Persia; Richardson on the Language
of Eastern Nations; Adelung's Mithridates; Chodzko's Specimens of
the Popular Poetry of Persia; Costello's Rose Garden of Persia; Re-
musat's Mcmoire sur I'P^criture Cliinoise; Davis on the Poetry of the
Chinese; Williams's Middle Kingdom; The Mikado's Empire; Rein's
Travels in Japan; Duhalde's Description de la Chine; ChampoUion's
Letters; Wilkinson's Extracts from Hieroglyphieal Subjects; the
works of Bunsen, Miiller, and Lane ; Midler's History of the Litera-
ture of Ancient Greece, continued by Donaldson ; Browne's History
of Roman Classical Literature ; Fiske's Manual of Classical Litera-
ture ; Sismondi's Literature of the South of Europe ; Goodrich's Uni-
versal History; Sanford's Rise and Progress of Literature; Schlegel's
Lectures on the History of Literature ; Schlegel's Histoiy of Drauiatic
Art; Tiraboschi's History of Italian Literature; Maffei, Corniani, and
Ugoni on the same subject ; Chambers's Handbooks of Italian and
German Literature; Vilmar's History of German Literature; Foster's
Handbook of French Literature ; Nisard's Ilistoire de la Litterature
Fran9aise ; Demogeot's Ilistoire de la Litterature Francjaise ; Tick-
nor's History of Spanish Literature ; Talvi's (Mrs. Robinson^ Liter-
ature of the Slavic Nations; Mallet's Northern Antiquities ; Keyson's
Religion of the Northmen ; Pigott's Northern IMythology; William
and Mary Hewitt's Literature and Romance of Northern Europe ;
De s'Gravenweert's Sur la Litterature Neerlandaise ; Siegenbeck's
Histoire
Germany;
lish

English Literature ; Stedman's Victorian Poets; Triibner's Guide to
American Literature ; Duyckinck's Cyclop.-Bdia of American Liter-
ature; Griswold's Poets and Prose Writers of America; Tuckerman's
Sketcli of American Literature ; Frothiugliain's Transcendental Move-
ment in New England. French, English, and American Encyclop;e-
dias, Biographies, Dictionaries, and numerous other works of refer-
ence have also been extensively consulted.

INTRODUCTION.

THE ALPHABET.

1. The Origin of Letters. —2. The PhoBnician Alphabet and Inscriptions. — 3. Tb8
Greek Alpliabet. Its Tliree Epochs. — 4. Tlie Mediaval Scripts. The Irish. The Anglo-
Baxon. The Roman. The Gothic. The Runic.

1. The Origin of Letters. — Alphabetic writing is an art
easy to acquire, but its invention has tasked the genius of the
three most gifted nations of the ancient world. All primitive
people have begun to record events and transmit messages by
means of rufle pictures of objects, intended to represent things
or thoughts, which afterwards became the symbols of sounds.
For instance, the letter M is traced down from the convention-
alized picture of an owl in the ancient language of Egypt, Mulak.
This was used first to denote tlie bird itself ; then it stood for
the name of the bird ; then gradually became a syllabic sign to
express the sound " mu," the first syllable of the name, and ul-
timately to denote " M," the initial sound of tliat syllable.

In like manner A can be shown to be originally the picture
of an eagle, Z> of a hand, F of the horned asp, R of the mouth,
and so on.

Five systems of picture-writing have been independently in-
vented, — the Egyptian, the Cuneiform, the Chinese, the Mexican,
and the Hittite. The tradition of the ancient world, which as-
signed to the Phoenicians the glory of the invention of letters,
declared that it was from Egypt that they originally derived the
art of ^vriting, which they afterwards carried into Greece, and
the latest investigations have confirmed this tradition.

2. The Phcenician Alphabet. — Of the Phoinician al])habet
the Samaritan is the only living representative, tlie Sacred
Script of the few families who still worship on Mount Gerizim.
With this exception, it is only known to us by inscriptions, of
which several hundred have been discovered. They form two
well-marked varieties, the Moabite and the Sidonian. The most
important monument of the first is the celebrated Moabite stone,
discovered in 1868 on the site of the ancient capital of the land
of Moab, portions of which are preserved in the Louvre. It
gives an account of the revolt of the King of Moab against

2 INTRODUCTION.

Jehoram, King of Israel, 890 b. c. The most important inscrip-
tion of the Sidonian type is that on the magnihcent sarcophagus
of a king of Sidon, now one of the glories of the Louvre.

A monument of the eariy Hebrew alphabet, another offshoot
of the Phoenician, was discovered in 1880 in an inscription ia
the ancient tminel which conveys water to the pool of Siloam.

3. The Greek Alphabet. — The names, number, order, and
forms of the primitive Greek alphabet attest its Semitic origin.
Of the many inscriptions which remain, the earliest has been
discovered, not in Greece, but upon the colossal portrait statues
carved by Rameses the Great, in front of the stupendous cave
temple at Abou-Simbel, at the time when the Hebrews were still
in Egyptian bondage. In the seventh century B. c, certain Greek
mercenaries in the service of an Egyptian king inscribed a rec-
ord of their visit in five precious lines of writing, which the dry
Nubian atmosphere has preserved ahnost in their pristine sharp-
ness.

The legend, according to which Cadmus the Tyrian sailed
for Greece in search of Europa, the damsel who personified the
West, designates the island of Thera as the earliest site of PhcE-
nician colonization in the ^gean, and from inscriptions found
there this may be regarded as the first spot of European soil on
which words were written, and they exhibit better than any
others the progressive form of the Cadmean alphabet. The
oldest inscriptions found on Hellenic soil bearing a definite date
are those cut on the pedestals of the statues which lined the sa-
cred way leading to the temple of Apollo, near Miletus. Sev«
eral of those, now in the British Museum, range in date over the
sixth century B. c. They belong, not to the primitive alphabet,
but to the Ionian, one of the local varieties which mark the sec-
ond stage, which may be called the epoch of transition, which be-
gan in the seventh and lasted to the close of the fifth century
B. C. It is not till the middle of the fifth century that we have
any dated monuments belonging to the Western types. Among
these are the names of the allied states of Hellas, inscribed on
the coils of the three-headed bronze serpent which supported the
gold tripod dedicated to the Delphian Apollo, 476 B. c. This
famous monument was transported to Byzantium by Constantino
the Great, and still stands in the Hippodrome at Constantinople.
Of equal interest is the bronze Etruscan helmet in the British
Museum, dedicated to the Olympian Zeus, in commemoration of
the great victory ofP Cumge, which destroyed the naval suprem.
acy of the Etruscans, 474 B. c, and is celebrated in an ode by
Pindar.

The third epoch witnessed the emergence of the classical al
phabets of European culture, the Ionian and the Italic.

INTRODUCTION. 3

The Ionian has been tlie source of the Eastern scripts, Ro-
maic, Coptic, Slavic, and others. The ItaUc became tlie parent
of the modern alphabets of Western Europe.

4. The Medleval Scripts. — A variety of national scripts
arose in the establishment of the Teutonic kingdoms upon the
ruins of the Roman Empire. But the most magnificent of all
mediaeval scripts was the Irish, which exercised a profound in-
fluence on the later alphabets of Europe. From a combination
of the Roman and Irish arose the Anglo-Saxon script, the precur-
sor of that which was developed in the ninth century by Alcuin
of York, the friend and preceptor of Charlemagne. This was
the parent of the Roman alphabet, in which our books are now
printed. Among other deteriorations, there crept in, in the four^
teenth century, the Gothic or black letter character, and these bar^
barous forms are still essentially retained by the Teutonic nations
though discarded by the English and Latin races ; but from its
superior excellences the Roman alphabet is constantly extend-
ing its range and bids fair to become the sole alphabet of the
future. In all the lands that were settled and overrun by the
Scandinavians, there are found nmltitudes of inscriptions in the
ancient alphabet of the Norsemen, which is called the Runic.
The latest modern researches seem to prove that this was de-
rived from the Greek, and probably dates back as far as the
sixth century B. c. The Goths were early in occupation of the
regions south of the Baltic and east of the Vistula, and in direct
commercial intercourse with the Greek traders, from whom they
doubtless obtained a knowledge of the Greek alphabet, as the
Greeks themselves had gained it from the Phoenicians.

CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES.

Modern philologists have made different classifications of the
various languages of the world, one of which divides them into
three great classes : the Monosyllabic, the Agglutinated, and the
Inflected.

— The first, or Monosyllabic class, contains those languages
which consist only of separate, unvarietl monosyllables. The
words have no organization that adapts them for mutual affilia-
tion, and there is in them, accordingly, an utter absence of all
scientific forms and principles of grammar. The Chinese and
a few languages in its vicinity, doubtless originally identical
with it, are all that belong to this class. The languages of the
North American Indians, though differing in many respects,
tiave the same general grade of character.

The second class consists of those languages which are formed

4 INTRODUCTION.

by agglutination. The words combine only in a mechanical
way; they have no elective affinity, and exhibit toward each
other none of the active or sensitive capabilities of living organ-
isms. Prepositions are joined to substantives, and pronouns to
verbs, but never so as to make a new form of the original word,
as in the inflected languages, and words thus placed in juxtapo-
sition retain their personal identity unimpaired.

The agglutinative languages are known also as the Turanian,
from Turan, a name of Central Asia, and the principal varieties
of this family are the Tartar, Finnish, Lappish, Hungarian, and
Caucasian. They are classed together almost exclusively on the
ground of correspondence in their grammatical structure, but
they are bound together by ties of far less strength than those
which connect the inflected languages. The race by whom they
are spoken has, from the first, occupied more of the surface of
the earth than either of the others, stretching westward from the
shores of the Japan Sea to the neighborhood of Vienna, and
southward from the Arctic Ocean to Afghanistan and the south-
ern coast of Asia Minor.

The inflected languages form the third great division. They
have all a complete interior organization, complicated with many
mutual relations and adaptations, and are thorouglily systematic
in all their parts. Between this class and the monosyllabic there
is all the difference that there is between organic and inorganic
forms of matter ; and between them and the agglutinative lan-
guages there is the same diflference that exists in nature be-
tween mineral accretions and vegetable growths. The bounda-
ries of this class of languages are the boundaries of cultivated
humanity, and in their history lies embosomed that of the civil-
ized portions of the world.

Two great races speaking inflected languages, the Semitic and
the Indo-European, have shared between them the peopling of
the historic portions of the earth ; and on this account these two
languages have sometimes been called political or state lan-
guages, La contrast with the appellation of the Turanian as no-
madic.

The term Semitic is applied to that family of languages which
are native in Southwestern Asia, and which are supposed to have
been spoken by the descendants of Shem, the son of Noah. They
are the Hebrew, Aramaeic, Arabic, the ancient Egyptian or
Coptic, the Chaldaic, and Phcsnician. Of these the only living
language of note is the Arabic, which has supplanted all the
others, and wonderfully diffused its elements among the con-
stituents of many of the Asiatic tongues. In Europe the
Arabic has left a deep impress on the Spanish language, and ia
still represented in the Maltese, which is one of its dialects.

INTRODUCTION. 5

The Semitic languages differ widely from the Indo-European
in reference to their grammar, vocabulary, and idioms. On
account of the great preponderance of the pictorial element in
them, they may be called the metaphorical languages, while the
Indo-European, from the prevailing style of their higher litera-
ture, may be called the philosophical languages. The Semitic
nations also differ from the Indo-European in their national
characteristics ; while they have lived with remarkable uniform-
ity on the vast open plains, or wandered over the wide and
dreary deserts of their native region, the Indo-Europeans have
spread themselves over both hemispheres, and carried civihza-
tion to its highest development. But the Semitic mind has not
been without influence on human progress. It early recorded
its thoughts, its wants, and achievements in the hieroglyphs
of ancient Egypt ; the Phoenicians, foremost in their day in
commerce and the arts, introduced from Egypt alphabetic let-
ters, of which all the world has since made use. The Jewish
portion of the race, long in communication with Egypt, Phoeni-
cia, Babylonia, and Persia, could not faU to impart to these na-
tions some knowledge of their religion and literature, and it
cannot be doubted that many new ideas and quickening influ-
ences were thus set in motion, and communicated to the more
remote countries both of the East and West.

The most ancient languages of the Indo-European stock may
be grouped in two distinct family pairs : the Aryan, which com-
prises two leading families, the Indian and Iranian, and the
Graeco-Italic or Pelasgic, which comprises the Greek family and
its various dialects, and the Italic family, the chief-subdivisions
of which are the Etruscan, the Latin, and the modern languages
derived from the Latin. The other Indo-European families are "
the Lettic, Slavic, Gothic, and Celtic, with their various sub-
divisions.

The word Aryan (Sanskrit, Arya), the oldest known name of
the entire Indo-European family, signifies well-born, and was
applied by the ancient Hindus to themselves in contradistinction
to the rest of the world, whom they considered base-born and
contemptible.

In the country called Aryavarta, lying between the Himalaya
and the Vindhya Mountains, the high table-land of Central Asia,
more than two thousand years before Christ, our Hindu ances-
tors had their early home. From this source there have been,
historically, two great streams of Aryan migration. One, towards
the south, stagnated in the fertile valleys, where they were walled
in from all danger of invasion by the Himalaya Mountains on
the north, the Indian Ocean on the south, and the deserts of
Bactria on the west, and where the people sunk into a life of

6 INTRODUCTION.

inglorious ease, or wasted their powers in the regions of dreamy
mysticism. The other migration, at first northern, and then
western, inchides tlie great families of nations in Northwestern
Asia and in Europe. Forced by circumstances into a more ob-
jective life, and under the stimulus of more favorable influences,
these nations have been brought into a marvelous state of in-
dividual and social progress, and to this branch of the human
family belongs all the civilization of the present, and most of
that which distinguishes the past.

The Indo-European family of languages far surpasses the
Semitic in variety, flexibility, beauty, and strength. It is re-
markable for its vitality, and has the power of continually re-
generating itself and bringing forth new linguistic creations. It
renders most faithfully the various workings of the human mind,
its wants, its aspirations, its passion, imagination, and reasoning
power, and is most in harmony with the ever progressive spirit
of man. In its varied scientific and artistic development it
forms the most perfect family of languages on the globe, and
modern civilization, by a chain reaching through thousands of
years, ascends to this primitive soui'ce.

HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

CHINESE LITERATURE.

1. Chinese Literature. — 2. The Language. — 3. The Writing. — 4. The five Classics and
four Books. — 5. Chinese Religion and Philosophy. Lao-tse. Confucius. Meng-tstS or
Mencius. — 6. Buddliism. — 7. Social Constitution of China. — 8. Invention of Printing.
— 9. Science, History, and Geography. Kncyclopaedias. — 10. Poetry. — 11. Dramatic
Literature and Fiction. — 12. Education in China.

1. Chinese Literature. — The Chinese literature is one of
the most voluminous of all literatures, and among the most im-
portant of those of Asia. Originating in a vast empire, it is dif-
fused among a population numbering nearly half the inhahitants
of the globe. It is expressed by an original language differing
from all others, it refers to a nation whose history may be traced
back nearly five thousand years in an almost unbroken series of
annals, and it illustrates the peculiar character of a people long
unknown to the Western world.

2. The Language. — The date of the origin of this language
is lost in antiquity, but there is no doubt that it is the most an-
cient now s])oken, and probably the oldest written language used
by man. It has undergone few alterations during successive
ages, and this fact has served to deepen the lines of demarkation
between the Chinese and other branches of the race and has re-
sulted in a marked national life. It belongs to the monosyllabic
family ; its radical words number 450, but as many of these, by
being pronounced with a different accent convey a different
meaning, in reality they amount to 1,203. Its pronunciation
varies in different provinces, but that of Nanking, the ancient
capital of the Empire, is the most pure. Many dialects are
spoken in the different ])rovinces, but the Chinese proper is the
literary tongue of the nation, the language of the court and of
polite society, and it is vernacular in that portion of China called
the Middle Kingdom.

3. The Writing. — There is an essential difference between
the Chinese language as spoken and written, and the poverty of
the former presents a striking contrast with the exuberance of
the latter. Chinese writing, generaiiy s])eaking, does not ex-
press the sounds of the words, but it represents the ideas or the
objects indicated by them. Its alphabetical characters are there*

8 ' HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

fore ideographic, and not pnonetic. They were originally rude
representations of the thing signified ; but they have undergone
various changes from ])icture-writing to the present more sym-
bolical and more complete system.

As the alphabetic signs represent objects or ideas, it vrould
follow that there must be in vrriting as many characters as
words in the spoken language. Yet many words, which have
the same sound, represent different ideas ; and these must be
represented also in the written language. Thus the number of
the written words far surpasses that of the spoken language. As
far as they are used in the common writing, they amount to
2,425. The number of characters in the Chinese dictionary is
40,000, of Avhich, however, only 10,000 are required for the gen-
eral purposes of literature. They are disposed under 214 signs,
which serve as keys, and which correspond to our alphabetic
order.

The Chinese language is written from right to left, in vertical
columns or in horizontal lines.

4. The Classics. — The first five canonical books are "The
Book of Transformations," " The Book of History," " The Book
of Rites," " The Spring and Autumn Annals," and " The Book
of Odes."

" The Book of Transformations " consists of sixty-four short
essays on important themes, symbolically and enigmatically ex-
pressed, based on linear figures and diagrams. These cabala
are held in high esteem by the learned, and the hundreds of
fortune-tellers in the streets of Chinese towns practice their art
on the basis of these mysteries.

" The Book of History " was compiled by Confucius, 551-470
B. C, from the earliest records of the Empire, and in the estima-
tion of the Chinese it contains the seeds of all that is valuable
in their political system, their history, and their religious rites,
and is the ba.sis of their tactics, music, and astronomy. It con-
sists mainly of conversations between kings and their ministers,
in which are traced the same patriarchal principles of govern-
ment that guide the rulers of the present day.

" The Book of Rites " is still the rule by which the Chinese
regulate all the relations of life. No every-day ceremony is too
insignificant to escape notice, and no social or domestic duty is
beyond its scope. No work of the classics has left such an im-
pression on the manners and customs of the people. Its rules
are still minutely observed, and the ofiice of the Board of Rites,
one of the six governing boards of Peking, is to see that its pre-
cepts are carried out throughout the Empire. According to this
system, all the relations of man to the family, society, the state,
tu morals, and to religion, are reduced to ceremonial, but thia

CHINESE LITERATURE. 9

includes not only the external conduct, but it involves those right
princi])les from whirli all true politeness and etiquette spring.

Tj*e " Book of Odes " consists of national airs, chants, and
sacrificial odes of great antic^uity, some of them remarkable for
their sublimity. It is difficult to estimate the power they have
exerted over all subsequent generations of Chinese scholars.
They are valuable for their religious character and for their
illustration of early Chinese customs and feelings ; but they are
crude in measure, and wanting in that harmony which comes
from study and cultivation.

The " Spring and Autumn Annals " consist of bald statements
of historical facts. Of the Four Books, the first three — the
"Great Learning," the "Just Medium." and the "Confucian
Analects " — are by the pupils and followers of Confucius.
The last of the four books consists entirely of the wTitings of
Mencius (371-288 b. c). In originality and breadth of view
he is superior to Confucius, and must be regarded as one of the
greatest men Asiatic nations have produced.

The Five Classics and Four Books would scarcely be considered
more than curiosities in literature were it not for the incompar-
able influence, free from any debasing character, which they have
exerted over so many millions of minds.

5. Chinese Religion and Philosophy. — Three periods may
be distinguished in the history of the religious and philosoi)hical
progress of China. The first relates to ancient tradition, to the
idea of one supreme God, to the patriarchal institutions, which
were the foundation of the social organization of the Empire, and
to the primitive customs and moral doctrines. It appears that
this religion at length degenerated into that mingled idolatry
and indifference which still characterizes the people of China.

In the sixth century B. c, the corruption of the ancient religion
having reached its height, a reaction took place which gave birth
to the second, or philosophical period, which ])roduced three sys-
tems. Lao-tse, born 604 b. C, was the founder of the religion
of the Tao, or of the external and supreme reason. The Tao is
the primitive existence and intelligence, the great principle of
the s])iritual and material world, which nmst be worshiped
through the purification of the soul, by retirement, abnegation,
contemplation, and metempsychosis. This school gave rise to a
sect of mystics similar to those of India.

Later writers have debased the system of Lao-tse, and cast
aside his profound speculations for superstitious rituals and the
multiplication of gods and goddesses.

Confucius was tlie founder of the second school, which has
exerted a far more extensive and beneficial influence on the
«)olitical and social institutions of China. Confucius is a Latin

10 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

name, corresponding to the original Kung-fu-tse, Kung being the
proper name, and Fu-tse signifying reverend teacher or doctor.
He was born 551 B. c, and educated by his mother, who im-
pressed upon him a strong sense of morahty. After a careful
study of the ancient writings he decided to undertake the moral
reform of his country, and giving up his high position of prime
minister, he traveled extensively in China, preaching justice
and virtue wherever he went. His doctrines, founded on the
unity of God and the necessities of human nature, bore essen-
tially a moral character, and being of a practical tendency, they
exerted a great influence not only on the morals of the people,
but also on their legislation, and the authority of Confucius be-
came supreme. He died 479 B. c, at the age of seventy-two,
eleven years before the birth of Socrates. He left a grandson,
through whom the succession has been transmitted to the pres-
ent day, and liis descendants constitute a distinct class in Chinese
society.

At the close of the fourth century B. c, another philosopher
appeared by the name of Meng-tse, or Mencius (eminent and
venerable teacher), whose method of instruction bore a strong
similarity to that of Socrates. His books rank among the clas-
sics, and breathe a spirit of freedom and independence ; they
are full of irony on petty sovereigns and on their vices ; they es-
taljlish moral goodness above social position, and the will of the
people above the arbitrary power of their rulers. He was much
.revered, and considered bolder and more eloquent than Con-
fucius.

6. The third period of the intellectual development of the
Chinese dates from the introduction of Buddhism into the coun-
try, under the name of the religion of Fo, 70 A. d. The em-
peror himself professes this religion, and its followers have the
largest number of temples. The great bulk of Buddhist litera-
ture is of Indian origin. Buddhism, however, has lost in Cluna
much of its originality, and for the mass it has sunk into a low
and debasing idolatry. Recently a new religion has sprung up
in China, a mixture of ancient Chinese and Christian doctrines,
which apparently finds great favor in some portions of the coun^

try-

7. Social Coxstitutiox of China. — The social constitution
of China rests on the ancient traditions preserved in the canon-
ical and classic books. The Chinese empire is founded on the
patriarchal system, in which all authority over the family be-
longs to the pater familias. The emperor represents the great
father of the nation, and is the supreme master of the state
and the head of religion. All his subjects being considered as
his children, they are all equal before him, and according to

CHINESE LITERATI' HE. 11

their capacity are admitted to the public offices. Hence no dis-
tinction of castes, no privileged classes, no nobility of birth ; but
a general equality under an absolute chief. The public admin-
istration is entirely in the hands of the emperor, who is assisted
by his mandarins, both military and civil. They are admitted
to this rank only after severe examinations, and from them the
members of the different councils of the empire are selected.
Among these the Board of Control, or the all-examining Court,
and the Court of History and Literature deserve particular
mention, as being more closely related to the subject of this
work. The duty of this board consists in examining all the
official acts of the government, and in preventing the enacting
of those measures which they may deem detrimental to the best
interests of the country. They can even reprove the personal
acts of the emperor, an office which has afforded many occasions
for the display of eloquence. The courage of some of the mem-
bers of this board has been indeed sublime, giving to their words
wonderful power.

The Court of History and Literature superintends public edu-
cation, examines those who aspire to the degree of mandarins,
and decides on the pecuniary subsidies, which the government
usually grants for defraying the expenses of the publication of
great works on history and science.

8. Invention of Printing. — At the close of the sixth cen-
tury B. c. it was ordained that various texts in circulation should
be engraved on wood to be printed and published. At first
comparatively little use seems to have been made of the inven-
tion, which only reached its full development in the eleventh
century, when movable types were first invented by a Chinese
blacksmith, who printed books with them nearly five hundred
years before Gutenberg appeared.

In the third century B. c, one of the emperors conceived the
mad scheme of destroying all existing records, and writing a
new set of annals in his own name, in order that posterity might
consider him the founder of the empire. Sixty years after this
barbarous decree had been carried into execution, one of his
successors, who desired as far as possible to repair the injury,
caused these books to be re-written from a copy which had es-
caped destruction.

9. Science, History, and Geography. — Comparing the
scientific development of the Chinese with that of the Western
world, it may be said that they have made little progress in any
branch of science. There are, however, to be found in almost
every department some works of no indifferent merit. In math-
ematics they begin only now to make some progress, since the
mathematical works of Europe have been introduced into their

12 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

country. Astroloj^ still takes the place of astronomy, and the
almanacs prepared at the observatory of Peking are made chiefly
by foreigners. Books on natural philosophy abound, some of
which are written by the emperors themselves. Medicme is
imperfectly understood. They possess several valuable works
on Chinese jurisprudence, on agriculture, economy, mechanics,
trades, many cyclopaedias and compendia, and several dictiona-
ries, composed with extraordinary skill and patience.

To this department may be referred all educational books.
the most of them written in rhyme, and according to a system
of intellectual gradation.

The historical and geographical works of China are the most
valuable and interesting department of its literature. Each
dynasty has its official chronicle, and the celebrated collection
of twenty-one histories forms an almost unbroken record of the
annals from the thii'd century B. c. to the middle of the seven-
teenth century, and contains a vast amount of information to
European readers. The edition of this huge work, in sixty-six
folio volumes, is to be found in the British Museum. This and
many similar works of a general and of a local character unite
in rendering this department rich and important for those who
are interested in the history of Asiatic civilization. " The Gen-
eral Geography of the Chinese Empire " is a collection of the
statistics of the country, with maps and tables, in two hundred
and sixty volumes. The '• Statutes of the Reigning Dynasty,"
from the year 1818, form more than one thousand volumes.
Chinese topographical works are characterized by a minuteness
of detail rarely equaled.

Historical and literary encyclopaedias form a very notable fea-
ture in all Chinese libraries. These works show great research,
clearness, and precision, and are largely drawn upon by Euro-
pean scholars. Early in the last century one of the emperors
appointed a commission to reprint in one great collection all the
works they might think worthy of preservation. The result was
a compilation of 6,109 volumes, arranged under thirty-two heads,
embracing works on every subject contained in the national
literature. This work is unique of its kind, and the largest in
the world.

10. Poetry. — The first development of literary talent in
China, as elsewhere, is found in poetry, and in the earliest days
songs and ballads were brought as offerings from the various
principalities to the heads of government. At the time of Con-
fucius there existed a collection of three thousand songs, from
which he selected those contained in the " Book of Odes."
There is not much sublimity or depth of thought in these odes,
but they abound in touches of nature, and are exceedingly vor

CHINESE LITERATURE. 13

teresting and curious, as showing how little change time has
effected in the manners and customs of this singular })eople.
Siniihi,;- in character are tlu' jjoenis of the Tshian-teng-shi, an-
other collection of lyrics published at the expense of the emi)eror,
in several thousand volumes. Among modern poets may be
mentioned the Emperor Khian-lung, who died at the close of the
last century.

After the time of Confucius the change in Chinese poetry
became very marked, and, instead of the peaceful tone of his
day, it reflected the unsettled condition of social and political
affairs. The sim})le, monotheistic faitli was exchanged for a
sui)erscitious belief in a host of gods and goddesses, a contempt
for life, and an uncertainty of all beyond it. The period be-
tween G20 and 907 a. d., was one of great prosperity, and is
looked upon as the golden age.

11. Dramatic Litkkature and Fiction. — Chinese litera-
ture affords no instance of real dramatic poetry or sustained
effort of the imagination. The " Hundred Plays of the Yuen
Dynasty " is the most celebrated collection, and many have been
translated into f]uropean languages. One of them, "• The Orphan
of China," served as the groundwork of Voltaire's tragedy of
that nr.me. The drama, however, constitutes a large depart-
ment in Chinese literature, though there are, properly speaking,
no theatres in China. A platform in the open air is the ordi-
nary stage, the decorations are hangings of cotton su])ported by
a few poles of bamboo, and the action is frequently of the coars-
est kind. When an actor comes on the stage, he says, '* I am
the mandarin so-and-so." If the drama requires the actor to
enter a house, he takes some steps and says, " I have entered ; "
and if he is supposed to travel, he does so by rapid running on
the stage, cracking his whip, and saying afterwards, " I have
arrived." The dialogue is written partly in verse and partly in
prose, and the poetry is sometimes sung and sometimes recited.
Many of their dramas are full of bustle and abound in incident.
They often contain the life and adventures of an individual,
some great sovereign or general, a history, in fact, thrown into
action. Two thousand volumes of dramatic compositions are
known, and ihe best of these amount to five hundred jjieces.
Among them may be mentioned the " Orphan of the House of
Tacho," and the " Heir in Old Age," which have much force
and character, and vividly describe the habits of the people.

The Chinese are fond of historical and moral romances,
t\diich, however, are founded on reason and not on imagination,
as are the Hindu and Persian tales. Their subjects are not
submarine abvsses, eno'ianted |)alaces, giants and genii, but man
as he is in liis actual life, as he lives with his fellow-men, with

14 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

all his virtues and vices, sufferincjs and joys. But the Chinese
novelists show more skill in the details than in the conception of
their works ; the characters are finished and developed in every
respect. The pictures with which they adorn their works are
minute and the descriptions poetical, though they often sacrifice
to these qualities the unity of the subject. The characters of
their novels are principally drawn from the middle class, as
governors, literary men, etc. The episodes are, generally speak-
ing, ordinary actions of common life — all the quiet incidents of
the phlegmatic life of the Chinese, coupled with the regular and
mechanical movements which distinguish that people. Among
the numberless Chinese romances there are several which ar&
considered classic. Such are the " Four Great Marvels' Books,"
and the " Stories of the Pirates on the Coast of Kiangnan."

12. Education in China. Most of the Chinese people have
a knowledge of the rudiments of education. There is scarcely
a man who does not know how to read the books of his profes-
sion. Public schools are everywhere established ; in the cities
there are colleges, in which pupils are taught the Chinese litera-
ture ; and in Peking there is an imperial college for the educa-
tion of the mandarins. The offices of the empire are only at-
tained by scholarship. There are_four literary degrees, which
give title to different positions in the country. The government
fosters the higher branches of education and patronizes the publi-
cation of hterary works, which are distributed among the libra-
ries, colleges, and functionaries. The press is restricted only
from publisliing licentious and revolutionary books.

The future literature of China in many branches will be
greatly modified by the introduction of foreign knowledge and
influences.

JAPANESE LITERATURE.

1. The Lanpriiaere. — 2. The Rplicion. — 3. The Literature. Influence of Women. —
4. History. —5. The Drama and Poetry. —t!. Geography. Newspapers. Novels. Medi-
cal Science. — 7. Position of Woman. — 8. Foreign Interpreters of Japan.

1. The Language. — The Japanese is considered as be-
longing to the isolated languages, as philologists have thus far
failed to classify it. It is agglutinative in its syntax, each
word consisting of an unchangeable root and one or several suf-
fixes. Before the art of writing was known, poems, odes to
the gods, and other fragments which still exist had been com-
posed in this tongue, and it is probable that a much larger liter-
ature existed. During the first centuries of writing in Japan,
the spoken and \vi-itten language was identical, but with the
study of the Chinese literature and the composition of native
works almost exclusively in that language, there grew up differ-
ences between the colloquial and literaiy idiom, and the infusion
of Cliinese words steadily increased. In writing, the Chinese
characters occupy the most important place. But all those
words which express the wants, feelings, and concerns of every-
day life, all that is deepest in the human heart, are for the most
part native. If we would trace the fountains of the musical and
beautiful language of Japan, we must seek them in the hearts
and hear them flow from the lips of the mothers of the Island
Empire. Among the anomalies with which Japan has surprised
and delighted the world may be claimed that of woman's
achievements in the domain of letters. It was woman's services,
not man's, tliat made the Japanese a literary language, and un-
der her influence the mobile forms of speech crystallized into
perennial beauty.

The written lanofuaefe has heretofore consisted mainly of char-
actors borrowed from the Chinese, each character representing
an idea of its own, so that in order to read and write the student
must make himself acquainted with several thousand characters,
and years are required to gain proficiency in tliese elementary
arts. There also exists in japan a syllabary alphabet of forty-
seven characters, used at present as an auxiliary to the Chinese.
Within a very recent period, since the accjuisition of knowledge
has become a necessity in Japan, a society has been formed by

16 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the most prominent men of the empire, for the purpose of assim-
ilating the spoken and written language, taking the fortj-seven
native characters as the basis.

2. Religion. — The two great religions of Japan are Shinto-
ism and Buddhism. The chief characteristic of the Shinto re-
ligion is the worsliip of ancestors, the deification of emperors,
heroes, and scholars, and the adoration of the personified forces
of nature. It lays down no precepts, teaches no morals or doc-
trines, and prescribes no ritual.

The number of Shinto deities is enormous. In its higher form
the chief object of the Shinto faith is to enjoy this life ; in its
lower forms it consists in a blind obedience to govermuental and
priestly dictates.

On the recent accession of the Mikado to his former supreme
power, an attempt was made to restore this ancient faith, but it
failed, and Japan continues as it has been for ten centuries in
the Buddhist faith.

The religion of Buddha was introduced into Japan 581 A. D.,
and has exerted a most potent influence in formmg the Japanese
character.

The Protestants of Japanese Buddhism are the followers of
Shinran, 1262 A. d., who have wielded a vast influence in the
religious development of the people both for good and evil. In
this creed prayer, purity, and earnestness of life are insisted
upon. The Scriptures of other sects are written in Sanskrit and
Chinese which only the learned are able to read, those of the
Shin sect are in the vernacular Japanese idiom. After the death
of Shinran, Rennio, who died in 1500 A. D., produced sacred
writings now daily read by the disciples of this denomination.

Though greatly persecuted, the Shin sect have continually in-
creased in numbers, wealth, and power, and now lead all in in-
telligence and influence. Of late they have organized their
theological schools on the model of foreign countries that their
young men may be trained to resist the Shinto and Christian
faiths.

3. The Literature. Influence of Women. — Previous
to the fourteenth century learning in Japan was confined to the
court circle. The fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries
are the dark ages when military domination put a stop to all
learning except with a few priests. With the seventeenth cen-
tury begins the modem period of general culture. The people
are all fond of reading, and it is very common to see cir(;ulating
libraries carried from house to house on the backs of men.

As early as the tenth century, while the learned affected a
pedantic style so interlarded with Chinese as to be unintelligible,

JAPANESE LITERATURE. 17

the cultivation of the native tonj^ie was left to the ladies of the
court, a task which they nobly discharged. It is a remarkable
fact, without parallel in the history of letters, that a very large
proportion of the best writings of the best ages was the work of
women, and their achievement in the domain of letters is one of
the anomalies with which Japan has sur])rised and delighted the
world. It was their genius that made the Japanese a literary
language. The names and works of these authoresses are quoted
at the present day.

4. History. — The earliest extant Japanese record is a work
entitled " Kojiki," or hook of ancient traditions. It treats of
the creation, the gods and goddesses of the mythological j)eriod,
and gives the history of the Mikados from the accession of Jim-
mu, year 1 (6G0 B. c), to 1288 of the Japanese year. It was
supposed to date from the first half of the eighth century, and
another work " Nihonghi," a little later, also treats of the mytho-
logical period. It abounds in traces of Chinese influence, and in
a measure supersedes the "• Kojiki." These are the oldest books
in the language. They are the chief exponents of the Shinto
faith, and form the bases of many commentaries and subsequent
works.

The " History of Great Japan," composed in the latter part of
the seventeenth century, by the Lord of Mito (died 1700), is the
standard history of the present day. The external history of
Japan, in twenty-two volumes, by Rai Sanyo (died 1832), com-
])osed in classical Cliinese, is most widely read by men of educa-
tion.

The Japanese are intensely proud of their history and take
great care in making and jjreserving records. Memorial stones
are among the most striking sights on the highways and in the
towns, villages, and temple yards, in honor of some noted
scholar, ruler, or benefactor. Few people are more thoroughly
informed as to their own history. Every city, town, and village
has its annals. Family records are faithfully copied from gener-
ation to generation. Almost every province has its encycloj)a?dic
liistory, and every high-road its itineraries and guide-books, in
which famous ])hices and events are noted. In the large cities
professional story-tellers and readers gain a lucrative livelihood
by narrating both legendary and classical history, and tlie theatre
is often the most faithful mirror of actual history. There are
hundreds of child's histories in Ja])an. Many of the standard
works are ])rofusely illustrated, art' n.odt'ls of style and eloquence,
and parents delight to instruct their children in the nationid laws
and traditions.

6. The Draiwa. — The theatre is a favorite amusement, es

18 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

pecially among the lower classes ; the pieces represented are of
a popular character and written in colloquial language, and gen-
erally founded on national history and tradition, or on the lives
and adventures of the heroes and gods ; and the scene is always
laid in Japan. The play begins in the morning and lasts all
day, spectators bringing their food with them. No classical
dramatic author is known.

Poetry has always been a favorite study with the Japanese.
The most ancient poetical fragment, called a " Collection of
Myriad Leaves," dates from the eighth century. The collec-
tion of " One Hundred Persons " is much later, and contains
many poems written by the emperors themselves. The Japan-
ese possess no great epic or didactic poems, although some of
their lyrics are happy examples of quaint modes of thought
and expression. It is difficult to translate them into a foreign
tongue.

6. Geography. Newspapers ahd Novels. — The largest
section of Japanese literature is that treating of the local geograr
phy of the country itself. These works are minute in detail and
of great length, describing events and monuments of historic in-
terest.

Before the recent revolution but one newspaper existed in
Japan, but at present the list numbers several hundred. Free-
dom of the press is unknown, and fines and imprisonment for
violation of the stringent laws are very frequent.

Novels constitute a large section of Japanese literature. Fairy
tales and story books abound. Many of them are translated into
English ; " The Loyal Renins " and other works have recently
been published in New York.

Medical science was borrowed from China, but upon this, as
upon other matters, the Japanese improved. Acupuncture, or
the introduction of needles into the living tissues for remedial
purposes, was invented by the Japanese, as was the moxa, or the
burning of the flesh for the same purpose.

7. Position of Woman. — Women in Japan are treated with
far more respect and consideration than elsewhere in the East-
According to Japanese history the women of the early centuries
were possessed of more intellectual and physical vigor, filling the
offices of state and religion, and reaching a high plane of social
dignity and honor. Of the one hundred and twenty-three Jap-
anese sovereigns, nine have been women. The great heroine of
Japanese history and tradition was the Empress Jingu, re«
nowned for her beauty, piety, intelligence, and martial valor,
who, about 200 a. d., invaded and conquered Corea.

The female children of the lower classes receive tuition in prif

JAPANESE LITERATURE. 19

vate schools so generally established during the last two centu-
ries throughout the country, and those of the higher classes at
the hands of ])rivate tutors or governesses ; and in every house-
hold may be found a great number of books exclusively on the
duties of women.

8. FoKEiGN Interpretkrs of Japax. — Apart from the
literature of the Japanese themselves, it is to be noted that the
savor of Japanese life has permeated the work of foreigners, so
that such accoi^iplished writers as Lafcadio Hearn and Pierre
Loti figure less as spectators of Japanese life than as actual
participants. Through them Japan finds a wider utterance
than the literature of her own tongue can afford. This is a
natural intermediate phase in the experience of a nation which
is fast becoming Europeanized ; and there are now signs of an
awakening instinct for national expression in the terms of the
cosmopolite.

SANSKRIT LITERATURE.

1. The Language. —2. The Social Constitution of India. Brahtnanism. — 3. Charac-
teristics ol tlie Literature and its Divisions. — 4. The Vedas and other Sacred Books. —
5. Sanskrit Poetry ; Epic ; Tlie Ramayana and Mahabliarata. Lyric Poetry. Didactic
Poetry: the Ilitopadesa. Dramatic Poetry. — 6. History and Science. — 7. Philosopliy.
8. Buddliism. — 9. Moral Pliilosophy. Tlie Code of Manu. — 10. Modern Literatures of
India. — 11. Education. The Brahmo Somaj.

1. The Language. — Sanskrit is the literary language of the
Hindus, and for two thousand years has served as the means of
learned mtercourse and composition. The name denotes culti-
vated or perfected, in distinction to the Prakrit or uncultivated,
which sprang from it and was contemporary with it.

The study of Sanskrit by European scholars dates less than a
century back, and it is important as the vehicle of an immense
literature which lays open the outward and inner life of a re-
markable people from a remote epoch nearly to the present day,
and as being the most ancient and original of the Indo-Euro-
pean languages, throwing light upon them all. The Aryan or
Indo-European race had its ancient home in Central Asia. Col-
onies migrated to the west and founded the Persian, Greek, and
Roman civilization, and settled in Spain and England. Other
branches found their way through the passes of the Himalayas
and spread themselves over India. Wherever they went they
asserted their superiority over the earlier people whom they
found in possession of the soil, and the history of civilization is
everywhere the history of the Aryan race. The forefathers of
the Greek and Roman, of the Englishman and the Hindu, dwelt
together in India, spoke the same language, and worshiped the
same gods. The languages of Europe and India are merely
different forms of the original Aryan speech. This is especially
true of the words of common family life. Father, mother,
brother, sister, and widow, are substantially the same in most
of the Aryan languages, whether spoken on the banks of the
Ganges, the Tiber, or the Thames. The word dauglUer, which
occurs in nearly all of them, is derived from the Sanskrit word
signifying to draw milk, and preserves the memory of the time
when the daughter was the little milkmaid in the primitive
Aryan household.

It is probable that as late as the third or fourth century b. c.
it was still s2)oken. New dialects were engrafted upon it which

SANSKRIT LITERATURE. 21

at lenj^h superseded it, though it has continued to be revered aa
the sacred and literary languag^e of the country. Among the
modern tongues of India, the lllndui and the Hindustani may
be mentioned ; the former, the hmguage of tlie pure Hindu pop-
uUition, is written in Sanskrit cliaracters ; the latter is the lan-
guage of the Mohammedan Hindus, in which Arabic letters are
used. Many of the other dialects spoken and written in North-
ern India are derived from the Sanskrit. Of the more imi^or-
tant among them there are English grammars and dictionaries,
2. Social Constitution of India. — Hindu literature takes
its character both from the social and the religious institutions
of the country. The social constitution is based on the distinc-
tion . of classes into which the people, from the earliest times,
have been divided, and which were the natural effect of the
long struggle between the aboriginal tribes and the new race
which had invaded India. These castes are four : 1st. The
Brahmins or priests ; 2d. The warriors and princes ; 3d. The
husbandmen ; 4th. The laborers. There are, besides, several
impure classes, the result of an intermingling of the different
castes. Of these lower classes some are considered utterly
abominable — as that of the Pariahs. The different castes are
Kept distinct from, each other by the most rigorous laws ; though
in modern times the system has been somewhat modified.

THE RELIGION.

In the period of the Vedas the religion of the Hindus was
founded on the simple worshi]) of Nature. But the Pantheism
of this age was gradually superseded by the worship of the one
Brahm, from which, according to this belief, the soul emanated,
and to which it seeks to return. Brahm is an impersonality,
the sum of all nature, the germ of ail that is. Existence has no
purpose, the world is wholly evil, and all good persons should
desire to be taken out of it and to return to Brahm. Tliis end
is to be attained only by transmigration of the soul through all
previous stages of life, migrating into the body of a higher or
lower being according to the sins or merits of its former exist-
ence, either to finish or begin anew its ])urification. This re-
ligion of the Hindus led to the growth of a philosophy the pre-
cm-sor of that of Greece, whose aims were loftier and whose
methods more ingenious.

From Brahm, the impei-sonal soid of the universe, emanated
the pei-sonal and active Brahma, who with Siva and Vishnu con-
stitute the Trinmrti or god under tlu-ee forms.

Siva is the second of the Hindu deities, and represents tha

22 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

primitive animating and destroying forces of nature. His sym-
bols relate to these powers, and are worshiped more especially
by the Sivaites — a numerous sect of this religion. The wor-
shipers of Vishnu, called the Preserver, the first-born of
Brahma, constitute the most extensive sect of India, and their
ideas relating to this form of the Divinity are represented by
tradition and poetrj', and are particulai'ly developed in the great
monuments of Sanskrit literature. The myths connected with
Vishnu refer especially to his incarnations or corporeal appari-
tions both in men and animals, which he submits to in order to
conquer the spirit of evil.

These incarnations are called Avatars, or descendings, and
form an important part of Hindu epic poetry. Of the ten Ava-
tars which are attributed to Vishnu, nine have already taken
place ; the last is yet to come, when the god shall descend again
from heaven, to destroy the present world, and to restore peace
and purity. The three forms of the Deity, emanating mutually
from each other, are expressed by the three symbols, A U M,
three letters in Sanskrit having but one sound, forming the mys-
tical name Om, which never escapes the lips of the Hindus, but
is meditated on in silence. The predominant worship of one or
the other of these forms constitutes the peculiarities of the nu-
merous sects of this religion.

There are other inferior divinities, symbols of the forces of
nature, guardians of the world, demi-gods, demons, and heroes,
whose worship, however, is considered as a mode of reacliing
that divine rest, immersion and absorption in Brahm. To this
end are directed the sacrifices, the prayers, the ablutions, the
pilgrimages, and the penances, which occupy so large a place in
the Hindu worship.

3. Characteristics of the Literature and its Divis-
ions. — A greater part of the Sanskrit literature, which counts
its works by thousands, still remains in manuscript. It was
nearly all composed in metre, even works of law, morality, and
science. Every department of knowledge and every branch of
inquiry is represented, with the single exception of history, and
this forms the most striking general characteristic of the litera-
ture, and one which robs it of a great share of worth and inter-
est. Its place is in the intellectual rather than in the political
history of the world.

The literary monuments of the Sanskrit language correspond
to the great eras in the history of India. The first period
reaches back to that remote age, when those tribes of the Aryan
race speaking Sanskrit emigrated to the northwestern portion of
the Indian Peninsula, and established themselves there, an agri-
cultural and pastoral people. That was the age in which wero

SANSKRIT LITERATURE. 23

composed the prayers, hymns, and precepts afterwards col-
lecteil in the form of tlie Veilas, the sacred books of the coun-
try. In the second period, the people, incited by the desire of
conquest, penetrated into the fertile valleys lying between the
IncUis and the Ganges ; and the struggle with the aboriginal in-
liabitants, which followed their invasion, gave birth to epic po-
etry, in which the wars of the different races were celebrated and
the extension of Hindu civilization related. The third period
embraces the successive ages of the formation and development
of a learned and artistic litei-ature. It contains collections of
the ancient traditions, expositions of the Vedas, works on gram-
mar, lexicography, and science ; and its conclusion forms the
golden age of Sanskrit literature, when, the country being ruled
by liberal princes, poetry, and especially the drama, reached its
highest degree of perfection.

The chronology of these periods varies according to the sys-
tems of different orientalists. It is, However, admitted that the
Vedas are the first literary })roductions of India, and that their
origin cannot be later than the fifteenth century B. c. The pe-
riod of the Vedas embraces the other sacred books, or commen-
taries founded upon them, though written several centurias after-
wards. The second period, to which belong the two great epic
poems, the '* Ramayana " and the " Mahabharata," according to
the best authorities ends with the sixth or seventh century B. c.
The third period embraces all the poetical and scientific works
written from that time to the third or fourth century B. c, when
the language, having been ])rogressively refined, became fixed in
the writings of Kalidasa, Jayadeva, and other poets. A fourth
period, including the tenth century A. D., may be added, distin-
guished by its erudition, grannnatical, rhetorical, and scientific
tUstpiisitions, which, however, is not considered as belonging to
the classical age. From the Hindu languages, originating in
the Sanskrit, new literatures have sprung ; but they are essen-
tially founded on the ancient literature, which far surpasses
them in extent and importance, and is the great model of them
all. Indeed, its influence has not been limited to India ; all the
poetical and scientific works of Asia, China, and Japan included,
have borrowed largely from it, and in Southern Russia the
scanty literature of the Kalmucks is derived entirely from Hindu
sources. The Sanskrit literature, known to Europe only re-
cently, through the researches of the English and German ori-
entalists, has now become the auxiliary and fomidation of all
philological studies.

4. The Vedas and other Sacred Books. — The Vedas
(knowledge or science', are the Bible of the Hindus, the most
ancient book of the Aryan family, and cont:iin the revelation of

24 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Bralim which was preserved by tradition and collected by
Vyasa, a name which means compiler. The word Veda, how-
ever, should be taken as a collective name for the sacred litera-
ture of the Vedic age which forms the background of the whole
Indian world. Many works belonging to that age are lost,
though a large number stUl exists.

The most important of the V^edas are three in number. First,
The " Rig-Veda," wliich is the great literary memorial of the
settlement of the Aryans in the Punjaub, and of their religious
hpnns and songs. Second, The " Yajur-Veda." Third, The
'" Sama-Veda."

Each Veda is divided into two parts : the first contains prayers
and invocations, most of which are of a rhythmical character ;
the second records the precepts relative to those prayers and
to the ceremonies of the sacrifices, and describes the religious
myths and symbols.

There are many commentaries on the Vedas of an ancient
date, which are considered as sacred books, and relate to medi-
cine, music, astronomy, astrology, gi'ammar, pliilosophy, juris-
prudence, and, indeed, to the whole circle of Hindu science.

They represent a period of unknowTi antiquity, when the Ar-
yans were divided into tribes of which the chieftain was the
father and priest, and when women held a high position. Some
of the most beautiful hynms of this age were composed by la-
dies and queens. The morals of Avyan, a woman of an early
age, are stUl taught in the Hindu schools as the golden rule of
Ufe.

India to-day acknowledges no higher authority in matters of
religion, ceremonial, customs, and law than the Vedas, and the
spirit of Vedantism, which is breathed by every Hindu from his
earhest youth, pervades the prayers of the idolater, the specula-
tions of the philosopher, and the proverbs of the beggar.

The " Puranas " (ancient writings) hold an eminent rank in
the religion and literature of the Hindus. Though of a more
recent date than the Vedas, they possess the credit of an ancient
and divine origin, and exercise an extensive and practical influ-
ence upon the people. They comprise vast collections of ancient
traditions relating to theology, cosmology, and to the genealogy
of gods and heroes. There are eighteen acknowledged Pui-anas,
which altogether contain 400,000 stanzas. The " Upapuranas,"
also eighteen in number, are commentaries on the Puranas. Fi-
nally, to the sacred books, and next to the Vedas both in antiq-
uity and authority, belong the " Manavadharmasastra," or the
ordinances of Manu, spoken of hereafter.

5. Saxskrit Poetry. — This poetry, springing from tha
lively and powerful imagination of the Hindus, is inspired by

SANSKRIT LITERATURE. 25

their relij^ons doctrines, and embodied in the most harmonious
language. Exalted by their peculiar belief in pantheism and
metempsychosis, they consider the universe and themselves aa
directly emanating from Brahni, and they strive to lose their
own individuality in its inhnite essence. Yet, as impure beings,
they feel their incajjacity to obtain the highest moral perfection,
except through a continual atonement, to which all nature is con-
demned. Hence Hindu poetry exi)resses a ])rofound melancholy,
which pervades the character as well as the literature of that
people. Tliis poetry breathes a spirit of perpetual sacrifice of
the individual self, as the ideal of human life. The bards of
India, inspired by this predominant feeling, have given to i)oetry
nearly every form it has assumed in the Western world, and in
each and all they have excelled.

Sanskrit poetry is both metrical and rhythmical, equally free
from the confused strains of unmoulded genius and from the ser-
vile pedantry of conventional rules. The verse of eight sylla-
bles is the source of all other metres, and the sloka or double
distich is the stanza most frequently used. Though this poetry-
presents too often extravagance of ideas, incumbrance of epi-
sodes, and monstrosity of images, as a general rule it is endowed
with simplicity of style, pure coloring, subUme ideas, rare fig-
ures, and chaste epithets. Its exuberance must be attributed to
the strange mythology of the Hindus, to the immensity of the
fables which constitute the groundwork of their poems, and to
the gigantic strength of their poetical imaginations. A striking
peculiarity of Sanskrit poetry is its extensive use in treating of
those subjects apparently the most difficult to reduce to a metri-
cal form — not only the Vedas and Mann's code are composed
in verse, but the sciences are expressed in this form. Even in
the few works which may be called prose, the style is so modu-
lated and bears so great a resemblance to the language of poetry
as scarcely to be distinguished from it. The history of San-
skrit poetry is, in reality, the liistory of Sanskrit literature.

The subjects of the epic jioems of the Hindus are derived
chieHy from their religious tenets, and relate to the incarnations
of the gods, who, in their human forms, become the heroes of this
poetry. The idea of an Almighty power warring against the
spirit of evil destroys the possibility of struggle, ami impairs the
character of epic poetry ; but the Hindu i)oets, by submitting
their gods both to fate and to the condition of men, diminish
their power and give them the character of e])ic heroes.

The Hindu mythology, however, is the great obstacle which
must ever prevent this poetry from becoming })opular in the
Western world. The gi'eat personifications of the Deity have
not been softened down, as in the mythology of the Greeks, to

26 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the perfection of human symmetry, but are here exhibited in
their original gigantic forms. Majesty is often exjjressed by
enormous stature ; power, by muhitudinous hands ; providence,
by countless eyes ; and omnipresence, by innumerable bodies.

In addition to this, Hindu epic poetry departs so far from
what may be called the vernacular idiom of thought and feeling,
and refers to a people whose political and religious institutions,
as well as moral habits, are so much at variance with our own,
that no labor or skill could render its associations familiar.

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the most important
and sublime creations of Hindu literature, and the most colos-
sal epic jjoems to be found in the literature of the world. They
surpass in magnitude the Iliad and Odyssey, the Jerusalem De-
livered and the Lusiad, as the pyramids of Egypt tower above
the temjDles of Greece.

The Kaniayana {Rama and yana expedition) describes the
exploits of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, and the son of
Dasaratlia, king of Oude. Havana, tlie prince of demons, had
stolen from the gods the privilege of being invulnerable, and had
thus acquired an equality with them. He could not be over-
come except by a man. and tlie gods implored Vishnu to become
incarnate in order tliat Havana might be conquered. The
origin and the development of this Avatar, the departing of
Rama for the battlefield, the divine signs of his mission, his
love and marriage with Sita, the daughter of the king Janaka,
the persecution of his step-mother, by which the hero is sent into
exile, his penance in the desei't, the abduction of his bride by
Havana, the gigantic battles that ensue, the rescue of Sita, and
the triumph of Rama constitute the principal plot of this won-
derful poem, full of incidents and episodes of the most singular
and beautiful character. Among these may be mentioned the
descent of the goddess Ganga, which relates to the mythological
origin of the river Ganges, and the story of Yajnadatta, a young
])enitent, who through mistake was killed by Dasaratha ; the
former splendid for its rich imagery, the latter incomparable for
its elegiac character, and for its expression of the passionate
sorrow of parental affection.

The Ramayana was written by Valmiki, a poet belonging to
an unknown period. It consists of seven cantos, and contains
twenty-five tbousand verses. Tlie original, with its translation
into Italian, was published in Paris by the government of Sar-
dinia about the middle of this century.

The Mahabharata (the great Bharata) has nearly the same
antiquity as the Ramayana. It describes the greatest Avatar
of Vishnu, the incarnation of the god in Krishna, and it pre-
sents a vast picture of the Hindu religion. It relates to the leg-

SANSKRIT LITERATURE. 27

endary history of the Bharata dynasty, esjjecially to the wars be-
tween the Pandus and Kurus, two branches of a princely family
of ancient India. Five sons of Pandu, having been unjustly
exiled by their uncle, return, after many wondei-ful adventures,
with a powerful ai-my to oppose the Kurus, and being aided by
Krishna, the incarnated Vishnu, defeat their enemies and be-
come lords of all the country. The poem describes the birth of
Krishna, his escape from the dangers which surrounded his
cradle, his miracles, his pastoral life, his rescue of sixteen thou-
sand young girls who had become prisoners of a giant, his heroic
deeds in the war of the Pandus, and finally his juscent to heaven,
where he still leads the round dances of the spheres. This work
is not more remarkable for the grandeur of its conceptions than
for the information it affords respecting the social and religious
systems of the ancient Hindus, which are here revealed with ma-
jestic and sublime eloquence. Five of its most esteemed epi-
sodes are called the Five Precious Stones. First among these
may be mentioned the " Bhagavad-Gita," or the Divine Song,
contaming the revelation of Krislma, in the form of a dialogue
between the god and his pupil Arjuna. Schlegel calls this epi-
sode the most beautiful, and ])erhaps the most truly philosophical,
poem that the whole range of literature has produced.

The Mahabharata is divided into eighteen cantos, and it con-
tains two hundred thousand verses. It is attributed to Vyasa,
the compiler of the Vedas, but it appears that it was the result
of a period of literature rather than the work of a single poet.
Its different incidents and episodes were ])robably separate
poems, which from the earliest age were sung by the peoi)le, and
later, by degrees, collected in one complete work. Of the Ma-
habharata we possess only a few episodes translated into Eng-
lish, such as the Bhagavad-Gita, by Wilkins.

At a later period other epic j)oems were \\Titten, either as
abridg-ments of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, or founded
on episodes contained in them. These, however, belong to a
lower order of com])osition. and cannot be compared with the
great works of Valmiki and Vyasa.

In the development of lyric poetry the Hindu bards, partic-
ularly those of the third ])eriod, have been eminently successful ;
their power is great in the sublime and the pathetic, and mani-
fests itself more particularly in awakening the tender sympathies
of our nature. Here we find many poems full of grace and
delicacy, and splendid for their charming desorij^tions of nature.
Such are the " Meghaduta " and the " Ritusanhara " of Kali-
dasa, tlie " JNIadhava and Radha " of Jayadeva, and especially
the " Gita-Govinda " of the same ])oet. or the adventures of
Krislma as a shepherd, a poem in which the soft languors of love

28 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

are depicted in enchanting colors, and which is adorned with all
the magnificence of language and sentiment.

Hindu poetry has a particular tendency to the didactic style
and to embody religious and historical knowledge ; every sub-
ject is treated in the form of verse, such as inscriptions, deeds,
md dictionaries. Splendid examples of didactic poetry may be
found in the episodes of the epic poems, and more particularly
in the collections of fables and apologises in wliich the Sanskrit
literature abounds. Among these the Hitopadesa is the most
celebrated, in which Vishnu-saima instructs the sons of a king
committed to his care. Perhajis there is no book, excej^t the
Bible, which has been translated into so many languages as
these fables. They have spread in two branches over nearly the
whole civilized world. The one, under the original name of the
Hitopadesa, remains almost confined to India, while the other,
under the title of " Calila and Dimna," has become famous over
all western Asia and in all the countries of Europe, and has
served as the model of the fables of aU languages. To this de-
partment belong also the "Adventures of the Ten Princes," by
Dandin, which, in an artistic point of view, is far superior to
any other didactic writings of Hindu literature.

The drama is the most interesting branch of Hindu literature.
No other ancient people, except the Greeks, has brought forth
anything so admirable in this department. It had its most
flourishing period probably in the third or fourth century B. C.
Its origin is attributed to Brahm, and its subjects are selected
from the mythology. Whether the drama represents the leg-
ends of the gods, or the simple circumstances of ordinary life ;
whether it describes allegorical or historical subjects, it bears
always the same character of its origin and of its tendency. Sim-
plicity of plot, unity of episodes, and purity of language, unite
in the formation of the Hindu dramas. Prose and verse, the
serious and the comic, pantomime and music are intermingled
iai their representations. Only the principal characters, the
gods, the Brahmins, and the kings, speak Sanskrit ; women and
the less important characters speak Prakrit, more or less refined
according to their rank. Whatever may offend propriety, what-
ever may produce an unwholesome excitement, is excluded ; for
the hilarity of the audience, there is an occasional introduction
on the stage of a parasite or a buffoon. The representation is
usually opened by an apologue and always concluded with a
prayer.

Kalidasa, the Hindu Shakespeare, has been called by liis coun-
trymen the Bridegroom of Poetry. His language is harmonious
and elevated, and in his compositions he unites grace and ten-
derness with grandeur and sublimity. Many of his dramas cove

SANSKRIT LITERATURE. 29

lain episodes selected from the epic poems, and are founded on
the principles of Bralununisin. The '* ISIessenger Cloud " of this
author, a monologue rather than a drama, is unsurpassed in
beauty of sentiment by auy European poet. '' Sakuntala," or
the Fatal Ring, is considered one of the best dramas of Kalidasa.
It has been translated into English I)y Sir W. Jones.

lihavabluiti, a Brahmin by birth, was called by his contem-
poraries the Sweet S])eaking. He was the author of many
dramas of distinguished merit, wliich rank next to those of Kar
lidasa.

6. Hlstory an^d Science. — History, considered as the de-
velopment of mankind in relation to its ideal, is unknown to
Sanskrit literatuie. Indeed, the only historical work thus far
discovered is the " Histoi-y of Caslmiere," a series of poetical
compositions, written by different authors at different periods,
the last of which brings down the annals to the sixteenth cen-
tury A. D., when Cashmere became a province of the JNIogul
cm])ire.

In the scientific department, the works on Sanskrit gi-ammar
and lexicography are models of logical and analytical research.
There are also valuable works on jurisprudence, on rhetoric,
poetry, music, and other arts. The Hindu system of decimal no-
tation made its way through the Arabs to modern nations, our
usual figures being, in their origin, letters of the Sanskrit alpha-
bet. Their medical and surgical knowledge is deserving of
study.

7. Philosophy. — The object of Hindu philosophy consists in
obtaining emancipation from metempsychosis, through the ab-
sorption of the sold into Brahm, or the universal being. Ac-
cording to the different principles which philosophers adopt in
attaining this supreme object, their doctrines are divided into
the four following systems : 1st, Sensualism ; 2d, Idealism ; 3d,
Mysticism ; 4th, Eclecticism.

Sensualism is represented in the school of Kapila, according
to whose doctrine the purification of the soul must be effected
through knowledge, the only source of which lies in sensual
perception. In this system, nature, eternal and universal, is
considered as the first cause, which produces intelligence and all
the other principles of knowledge and existence. This ])hiloso-
phy of nature leads some of its followers to seek their purifica-
tion in the sensual ])leasures of this life, and in the loss of their
own individuality in nature itself, in which they strive to be
absorbed. Materialism, fatalism, and atheism are the natural
Bonsequences of the system of Ka])ila.

Idealism is the foundation of three pliilosophical schools : the

30 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Dialectic, the Atomic, and the Vedanta. The Dialectic school
considers the principles of knowledge as entirely distinct from
nature ; it admits the existence of universal ideas in the human
mind ; it establishes the syllogistic form as the complete method
of reasoning, and finally, it holds as fundamental the duality of
intelligence and nature. In this theory, the soul is considered
as distinct from Brahm and also from the body. Man can ap
proacli Brahm, can unite himself to the universal soul, but car.
never lose his own uidi\nduality.

The Atomic doctrine explains the origin of the world through
the combination of eternal, simple atoms. It belongs to Ideal-
ism, for the predominance which it gives to ideas over sensation,
and for the individuality and consciousness which it recognizes
in man.

The Vedanta is the true ideal pantheistic philosophy of India.
It considers Brahm in two different states: first, as a pure,
simple, abstract, and inert essence ; secondly, as an active indi-
viduality. Nature in this system is only a special quahty or
quantity of Brahm, having no actual reaUty, and he who turns
away from aU that is unreal and changeable and contemplates
Brahm unceasingly, becomes one with it, and attains liberation.

Mysticism comprehends all doctrines which deny authority to
reason, and admit no other principles of knowledge or rule of
Ufe than supernatural or direct revelation. To tliis system
belong the doctrines of Patanjali, which teach that man must
emancipate himself from metempsychosis through contemplation
and ecstasy to be attained by the calm of the senses, by corpo-
real penance, suspension of breath, and immobility of position.
The followers of this school pass their lives in solitude, absorbed
in this mystic contemplation. The forests, the deserts, and the
environs of the temples are filled with these mystics, who, thus
separated from external life, believe themselves the subjects of
supernatural illumination and power. The Bhagavad-Gita, al-
ready spoken of, is the best exposition of this doctrine.

The Eclectic school comprises all theories which deny the
authority of the Vedas, and admit rational principles borroAved
both from sensualism and idealism. Among these doctrines
Buddhism is the principal.

8. Buddhism. — Buddhism is so called from Buddha, a name
meaning deified teacher, which was given to Sakyamuni, or
Saint Sakya, a reformer of Brahmanism, who introduced into
the Hindu religion a more simple creed, and a milder and more
humane code of morality. The date of the origin of this re-
form is uncertain. It is proba])ly not earlier than the sixth cen-
tury B. 0. Buddhism, essentially a proselyting religion, spread
over Central Asia and tlirough the island of Ceylon. Its fol-

SANSKRIT LITERATURE. 81

lowers in India being persecuted and expelled from the country,
penetrated into Thibet, and pushing forward into the wilderness
of the Kalnuicks and Mongols, entered China and Japan, where
they introduced their worship under the name of the religion of
Fo. Buddhism is more extensively diffused than any other
form of religion in the world. Though it has never extended
beyond the limits of Asia, its followers number over four hun-
dred millions.

As a j)hilosophical school, Buddhism partakes both of sen-
sualism and idealism ; it admits sensual j)erception as the source
of knowledge, but it grants to nature only an apparent exist-
ence. On tliis universal illusion, Buddhism founded a gigantic
system of cosmogony, establishing an infinity of degrees in the
scale of existences from tliat of pure being without form or qual-
ity to the lowest emanations. According to Buddha, the object
of philosophy, as well as of religion, is the deliverance of the
soul from metempsychosis, and therefore from all pain and il-
lusion. He teaches that to break the endless rotation of trans-
migration the sold must be prevented from being born again,
by purifying it even from the desire of existence. He denied
the authority of the Vedas, and abolished or ignored the divis-
ion of the people into castes, admitting whoever desired it to
the priesthood. Notwithstanding the doctrine of metempsycho-
sis, and the beHef that life is only an endless round of birth and
death, sin and sutt'ering, the most sacred Buddliistic books teach
a pure and elevated morality, and that the highest happiness is
only to be reached through self-abnegation, universal benevo-
lence, humility, patience, courage, self-knowledge, and contem-
plation. Much has been added to the original doctrines of
Buddha in the way of mythology, sacrifices, penances, mysti-
cism, and hierarchy.

Buddhism possesses a literature of its own ; its language and
style are simple and intelligible to the common people, to whom
it is particularly addressed. For this reason the priests of this
religion prefer to write in the dialects used by the people, and
indeed some of their principal works are written in Prakrit or
m Pali. Among these are many legends, and chronicles, and
books on theology and jurisprudence. The literary men of
Buddhism are generally the priests, who receive different names
in different countries. A complete collection of the sacred
books of Buddhism forms a theological body of one hundred and
eight volumes.

9. Moral Philosophy, — The moral philosophy of India is
contained in the Sacred Book of Manavadharmasastra, or Code
>f Manu. This embraces a poetical account of Brahma and
other gods, of the origin of the world and man, and of the

32 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

duties arising from the relation of man towards Brahma and
towards his fellow-men. Whether regarded for its great antiq-
uity and classic beauty, or for its importance as being con-
sidered of divine revelation by the Hindu people, this Cede
must ever claim the attention of those who devote themselves
to the study of the Sanskrit literature. Though inferior to the
Vedas in antiquity, it is held to be equally sacred ; and being
more closely connected with the business of life, it has done so
much towards moulding the opinions of the Hindus that it would
be impossible to comprehend the literature or local usages of
India without being master of its contents.

It is believed by the Hindus that Brahma taught his laws to
Manu in one hundred thousand verses, and that they were after-
wards abridged for the use of mankind to four thousand. It is
most probable that the work attributed to Manu is a collection
made from various sources and at different periods.

Among the duties prescribed by the laws of Manu man is
enjoined to exert a full dominion over his senses, to study sacred
science, to keep his heart pure, without which sacrifices are use-
less, to speak only when necessity requires, and to despise worldly
honors. His principal duties toward his neighbor are to honor
old age, to respect parents, the mother more than a thousand
fathers, and the Brahmins more than father or mother, to in-
jure no one, even in wish. Woman is taught that she cannot
aspire to freedom, a girl is to depend on her father, a wife on
her husband, and a widow on her son. The law forbids her to
marry a seconA time.

The Code of Manu is divided into twelve books or chapters,
in which are treated separately the subjects of creation, educa-
tion, marriage, domestic economy, the art of living, penal and
civil laws, of punishments and atonements, of transmigration,
and of the final blessed state. These ordinances or institutes
contain much to be admired and much to be condemned. Thev
form a system of despotism and priestcraft, both limited by law,
but artfuUy conspiring to give mutual support, though with mut-
ual checks. A spirit of sublime elevation and amiable benevo-
lence pervades the whole work, sufficient to prove the author
to have adored not the visible sun, but the incomparably p^reater
light, according to the Vedas, which illuminates all, delights all,
from which all proceed, to which all must return, and which
alone can irradiate our souls.

10. Modern Literaturks of India. — The literature of the
modern tongues of the Hindus consists chiefly of imitations and
translations from the Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, and from Euro-
pean languages. There is, however, an original epic poem, writ-
ten in Hindui by Tshand, under the title of the " Adventures of

SANSKRIT LITERATURE. 33

Prithivi Raja," which is second only to the great Sanskrit poems.
This work, which relates to the twelfth century A. D., descrihes
the struggle of the Hindus against their Mohammedan con-
querors. The poem of " Ramayana," hy Tulsi-Das, and that of
the " Ocean of Love," are extremely popular in India. The
modern dialects contain many religious and national songs ol'
ex(pusite heauty and deUcacy.. Among the poets of India, who
have written in these dialects, Sauday, Mir-Mohammed Taqui,
Wall, and Azad are the principal.

The Hindi, wliich dates from the eleventh century A. c, is
one of the languages of Aryan stock still spoken in Northern
India. One of its principal dialects is the Hindustani, which is
employed in the literature of the northern country. Its two
divisions are the Hindi and Urdu, which represent the popular
side of the national culture, and are almost exclusively used at
the present day ; the first chiefly by writers not belonging to the
Brahminical order, while those of the Urdu dialect follow Per-
sian models. The writings in each, though numerous, and not
without pretension, have little interest for the European reader.

11. Education in India. — For the education of the Brah-
mins and of the higher classes, there was founded, in 1792, a
Sanskrit College at Benares, the Hindu ca})ital. The course of
instruction embraces Persian, English, and Hindu law, and gen-
eral literature. In 1854 universities were established at Cal-
cutta, Madras, and Bombay. Of late public instruction has be-
come a department of the government, and schools and colleges
for higher instruction have been established in various parts of
the country, and books and newspapers in English and in the
vernacular are everpvhere increasing. As far back as 1824 the
American and English missionaries were the pioneers of female
education. The recent report of the Indian Commission of Edu-
cation deals particularly with tliis question, and attributes the
v.ide difference betAveen the extent of male and female acquire-
ments to no inferiority in the mental capacities of women ; on
the contrary, they find their intellectual activity very keen,
and often outlasting the mental energies of men. According to
the traditions of pre-historic times, women occu])ied a high place
in the early civilization of India, and their ca])acity to govern
is shown by the fact, that at the present day one of the best ad-
ministered States has been ruled by native ladies during two
generations, and that the most ably managed of the great landed
properties are entirely in the hands of women. The chief causes
which retard their education are to be found in the social cus-
toms of the country, the seclusion in which women live, the ap-
propriation of the educational fund to the schools for boys, and
the need of trained teachers.

34 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Notwithstanding all these disadvantages, the first Asiatic
writer in the languages of the West who has made a literary-
fame in Europe is a young Hindu girl, Torn Dutt (1856-1877),
whose writings in prose and verse in English, as well as in
French, have called forth admiration and astonishment from
the critics, and a sincere lament for her early death.

12. The Bramo-Somaj. — In 1830, under this name (Wor-
shiping Assembly), Rammohun Roy founded a religious soci-
ety in India, of which, after him, Keshub Chunder Sen (died
1884) was the most eminent member. Their aim is to es-
tablish a new religion for India and the world, founded on a
belief in one God, which shall be freed from all the errors
and corruptions of the past. They propose many important
reforms, such as the abolition of caste, the remodeling of mar-
riage customs, the emancipation and education of women, the
abolition of infanticide and the worship of ancestors, and a gen-
eral moral regeneration. Their chief aid to spiritual growth
may be summed up in four words, self-culture, meditation, per-
sonal purity, and universal beneficence. Their influence has
been already felt in the legislative affairs of India.

BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LITERATUEE.

I. The Accadians and Babylonians. — 2. The Cuneiform Letters. — 3. Babylonian and

Assyrian Kemains.

1. Accadians akd Babylonians. — Geographically, as well
as historically ami ethnographically, the district lying between
the Tigris and Euphrates forms but one country, though the
rival kingdoms of Assyria and Babylonia became, each in turn,
superior to the other. The primitive inhabitants of tliis dis-
trict were called Accadians, or Chaldeans, but httle or noth-
ing was known of them until within the last fifteen or twenty
years. Their language was agglutinative, and they were the
inventors of the cuneiform system of writing. The Babylonians
conquered this people, borrowed their signs, and incorporated
their literature. Soon after their conquest by the Babylonians,
they estabhshed priestly caste in the state and assumed the wor-
ship, laws, and manners of their conquerors. They were de-
voted to the science of the stars, and determined the equinoctial
and solstitial points, divided the ecliptic into twelve parts and
the day into hours. The signs, names, and figures of the Zodiac,
and the invention of the dial are some of the improvements in
astronomy attributed to this people. With the dechne of Baby-
lon their influence declined, and they were afterwards known to
the Greeks and Romans only as astrologers, magicians, and
soothsayers.

2. The Cuneiform Letters. — These characters, borrowed
by the Semitic conquerors of the Accadians, the Babylonians,
and Assyi-ians, were originally hieroglyphics, each denoting an
object or an idea, but they were gradually corrupted into the
forms we see on Assyrian monuments. They underwent many
changes, and the various periods are distinguished as Archaic,
hieratic, Assyrian, and later Babylonian.

3. Babylonian and Assyrian Remains. — The origin and
history of this civilization have only been made known to us by
the very recent decii)herment of native monuments. Before
these discoveries the principal source of information was found
in the writings of Berosus, a priest of Babylon, who lived about
300 B. c, and who translated the records of astronomy into
Greek. Though his works have perished, we have quotations
from them in Eusebius and other writers, which have been sti-ik-

36 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

ingly verified by the inscriptions. The chief work on astron-
omy; compiled for Sargon, one of the earliest Babylonian mon-
arclis, is inscribed on seventy tablets, a copy of which is in the
British Museum. The Babylonians understood the movements
of the heavenly bodies, and Calisthenes, who accompanied Alex-
ander on his eastern expedition, brought with him on his return
the observations of 1903 years. The main purpose of all
Babylonian astronomical observation, however, was astrological,
to cast horoscopes, or to predict the weather. Babylon retained
for a long time its ancient splendor after the conquest by Cyrus
and the final fall of -the empire, and in the first period of the
Macedonian sway. But soon after that time its fame was ex-
tinguished, and its monuments, arts, and sciences perished.

Assyria was a land of soldiers and possessed little native lit-
erature. The more peaceful pursuits had their home in Baby-
lonia, where the universities of Erech and Borsippa were re-
nowned down to classical times. The larger part of this literature
was stamped in clay tablets and baked, and these were numbered
and arranged in order. Papyrus was also used, but none of
this fragile material has been preserved.

In the reign of Sardanapalus (660-647 B. c.) Assyrian art and
literature reached their highest point. In the ruins of his palace
have been found three chambers the floors of which were covered
a foot deep with tablets of all sizes, from an inch to nine inches
long, bearing inscriptions many of them so minute as to be read
only by the aid of a magnifying glass. Though broken they
have been partiaUy restored and are among the most precious
cuneiform inscriptions. They have only been deciphered M-ithin
the present century, and thousands of inscriptions are yet buried
among the ruins of Assyria. The most interesting of these re-
mains yet discovered are the hymns to the gods, some of which
strikingly resemble the Hebrew Psalms. Of older date is the
collection of formulas which consists of omens and hymns and
tablets relating to astronomy. Later than the hymns are the
mythological poems, two of which are preserved intact. They
are " The Deluge " and " The Descent of Istar into Hades."
They form part of a very remarkable epic which centred round
the adventures of a solar hero, and into which older and inde-
pendent lays were woven as episodes. Copies are preserved in
the British Museum. The literature on the subject of these re-
mains is very extensive and rapidly increasing.

PHCENICIAN LITERATURE.

The Language. — The Remains.

The Phoenician language bore a strong affinity to the Hebrew,
through which alone the inscriptions on coins and monuments
can be interpreted, and these constitute the entire literary re-
mains, though the Phoenicians had doubtless their archives and
written laws. The inscriptions engraved on stone or metal are
found chiefly in places once colonies, remote from Phoenicia
itself. The Phoenician alphabet forms the basis of the Semitic
and Indo-European graphic systems, and was itself doubtless
based on the Egyptian hieratic writing. Sanchuniathon is the
name given as that of the author of a history of Phoenicia which
was translated into Greek and published by Philo, a grammarian
of the second century A. D. A considerable fragment of this
work is preserved in Eusebius, but after much learned contro-
versy it is now believed that it was the work of Philo himself.

SYRIAC LITERATURE.

The Language. — Influence of the Literature in the Eighth and Ninth Century.

The Language. — The Aramaic language, early spoken in
Syria and Mesopotamia, is a branch of the Semitic, and of thia
tongue the Chaldaic and Syriac were dialects. Chaldaic is sup-
posed to be the language of Babylonia at the time of the captiv-
ity, and the earliest remains are a part of the Books of Daniel
and Ezra, and the paraphrases or free translations of the Old
Testament. The Hebrews having learned this language during
the Babylonian exile, it continued in use for some time after their
return, though the Hebrew remained the written and sacred
tongue. Gradually, however, it lost this prerogative, and in the
second century A. D. the Chaldaic was the only spoken language
of Palestine. It is still used by the Nestorians and Maronites
in their religious services and in their literary works. The
spoken language of Syria has undergone many changes corre-
sponding to the political changes of the country.

The most prominent Syriac author is St. Ephraem, or Ephraem
Syrus (350 A. D.),with whom begins the best period of Syriac
literature, which continued until the ninth century. A great
part of this literature has been lost, and what remains is only par-
tially accessible. Its principal work was in the eighth and ninth
centuries in introducing classical learning to the knowledge of the
Arabs. In the seventh century, Jacob of Edessa gave the clas-
sical and sacred dialect its final form, and from this time the
series of native grammarians and lexicographers continued un-
broken to the time of its decline. The study of Syriac was
introduced into Europe in the fifteenth century. Valuable col-
lections of MSS., in this language, are to be found in the British
Museum, and grammars and dictionaries have been published in
Germany and in New York.

PERSIAN LITERATURE.

I. The Persian Language and its Divisions — 5. Zendic Literature : The Zendavesta. — .
3. I'elilvi and Parsee Literatures. — 4. Tlie Ancient Religion of Persia ; Zoroaster. —
5. Modern Literature. — G. The Sufis. — 7. Persian Poetry. — 8. Persian Poets ; Ferdusi ;
Kssedi of Tub ; Togray, etc. — 9. riistory and Philosophy. — 10. Education in Persia.

1. The Persian Language and its Divisions. — The
Persian language and its varieties, as far as they are known, be-
long to the great Indo-European family, and this common origin
explains the affinities that exist between them and those of the
ancient and modern languages of Europe. During successive
ages, four idioms have prevailed in Persia, and Persian literature
may be divided into four corresponding periods.

First. The period of the Zend (living), the most ancient of
the Persian languages ; it was from a remote, unknown age
spoken in Media, Bactria, and in the northern part of Persia.
This language partakes of the character both of the Sanskrit and
of the Clialdaic. It is written from right to left, and it possesses,
in its grammatical construction and its radical words, many
elements in common with the Sanskrit and the German lan-
guages.

Second. The period of the Pehlvi, or language of heroes,
anciently spoken in the western ])art of the country. Its alpha-
bet is closely allied with the Zendic, to which it bears a great
resemblance. It attained a high degree of perfection under the
Parthian kings, 246 B. c. to 229 A. d.

Third. The period of the Parsee or the dialect of the south-
western part of the country. It reached its perfection under
the dynasty of the Sassanides, 229-636 A. D. It has great anal-
ogy with the Zend, Pehlvi, and Sanskrit, and is endowed with
peculiar grace and sweetness.

Fourth. The })erio(l of the modern Persian. After the con-
quest of Persia, and the introduction of the Mohammedan faith
in the seventh centniy A. D., the ancient Parsee language became
greatly modified by the Arabic. It adopted its alphabet, add-
ing to it, however, four letters and three points, and borrowed
from it not only words but whole })hrases, and thus from the
union of the Parsee and the Arabic was formed the modern
Persian. Of its various dialects, the Deri is the language of the
eourt and of literature.

2. Zendic Literature. — To the first period belong the att

40 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

cient sacred books of Persia, collected under the name of Zend-
avesta (living word), which contain the doctrines of Zoroaster,
the prophet and lawgiver of ancient Persia. The Zendavesta
is divided into two parts, one written in Zend, the other in
Pelilvi ; it contains traditions relating to the primitive condition
and colonization of Persia, moral precepts, theological dogmas,
prayers, and astronomical observations. The collection orig-
inally consisted of twenty-one chapters or treatises, of which only
three have been preserved. Besides the Zendavesta there are
two other sacred books, one containing prayers and hymns, and
the other prayers to the Genii who preside over the days of the
month. To this first period some writers refer the fables of
Lokman, who is supposed to have lived in the tenth century B.
c, and to have been a slave of Ethiopic origin ; his apologues
have been considered the model on which Greek fable was con-
structed. The work of Lokman, however, existing now only in
the Arabic language, is believed by other writers to be of Arar
bic origin.' It has been translated into the European languages,
and is still read in the Persian schools. Among the Zendic
books preserved in Arabic translations may also be mentioned
the " Giavidan Kird," or the Eternal Reason, the work of Hu-
shang, an ancient priest of Persia, a book full of beautiful and
sublime maxims.

3. Pehlvi and Parsee Literatures. — The second period
of Persian literature includes all the books written in Pehlvic,
and especially all the translations and paraphrases of the works
of the first period. There are also in this language a manual of
the religion of Zoroaster, dictionaries of Pehlvi explained by the
Parsee, inscriptions, and legends.

When the seat of the Persian empire was transferred to the
southern states under the Sassanides, the Pehlvi gave way to
the Parsee, which became the prevailing language of Persia in
the third period of its literature. The sacred books were trans-
lated into this tongue, in which many records, annals, and trea-
tises on astronomy and medicine were also written. But all
these monuments of Persian literature were destroyed by the
conquest of Alexander the Great, and by the fury of the Mon-
gols and Arabs. This language, however, has been immortal-
ized by Ferdusi, whose poems contain little of that admixture of
Arabic which characterizes the writings of the modern poets of
Persia.

4. The Ancient Religion of Persia. — The ancient litera-
ture of Persia is mainly the exposition of its religion. Persia,
Media, and Bactria acknowledged as their first religious prophet
Honover, or Hom, symbolized in the star Sirius, and himself the
symbol of the first eternal word, and of the tree of knowledge

PERSIAN LITERATURE. 41

In the numberless astronomical and mystic personifications under
which Horn was represented, his individuality was lost, and little
is known of his history or of his doctrines. It appears, how-
ever, that he was the founder of the magi (priests), tlie conser-
vators and teachers of his doctrine, who formed a particular
order, like that of the Levites of Israel and of the Chaldeans of
Assyria. They did not constitute a hereditary caste like the
Bralunins of India, but they were chosen from among the peo-
ple. They claimed to foretell future events. They worshiped
tire and tlie stars, and believed in two princij)les of good and
evil, of which light and darkness were the symbols.

Zoroaster, one of these magi, who probably lived in the eighth
century B. c, undertook to elevate and reform this religion,
which had then fallen from its primitive purity. Availing him-
self of the doctrines of the Chaldeans and of the Hebrews, Zo-
roaster, endowed by nature with extraordinary powers, sustained
by popular enthusiasm, and aided by the favor of powerful
princes, extended his reform throughout the country, and
foimded a new religion on the ancient worsliip. According to
this religion the two great princiiples of the world were repre-
sented by Ormuzd and Aliriman, both born from eternity, and
both contending for the dominion of the world. Ormuzd, the
principle of good, is represented by hght, and Ahriman, the
princii)le of evil, by darkness. Light, then, being the body or
symbol of Ormuzd, is worshiped in the sun and stars, in fire,
and wherever it is found. Men are either the servants of Or-
muzd, through virtue and wisdom, or the slaves of Aliriman,
through folly and vice. Zoroaster explained the history of th<»
world as the long contest of these two principles, which was to
close with the conquest of Ormuzd over Ahriman.

The moral code of Zoroaster is pure .and elevated. It aims
to assimilate the character of man to light, to dissipate the dark-
ness of ignorance ; it acknowledges Ormuzd as the ruler of the
universe ; it seeks to extend the triumph of virtue over the mate-
rial and spiritual world.

The religion of Zoroaster prevailed for many centuries in
Persia. The Greeks adopted some of its ideas into their philos-
ophy, and through the sctools of the Gnostics and Neo-Platon-
ists, its influence extended over Europe. After the conquest of
Persia by the Mohammedans, the Fire-worshi])ers were driven
to the deserts of Herman, or took refuge in India, where, under
the name of Pai'sees or Guebers, they still keep alive tlie sacred
€re, and preserve the code of Zoroaster.

5. MoDERX Literature. — Some traces of the modern lit-
erature of Persia appeared shortly after the conquest of the
fountry by the Arabians in the seventh century A. D. ; but the

42 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

true era dates from the ninth or tenth century. It may be di-
vided into the departments of Poetry, History, and Piiilosophy.

6. The Sufis. — After the introduction of Mohammedanism
into Persia, there arose a sect of pantheistic mystics called Sufis,
to which most of the Persian poets belong. They teach their
doctrine under the images of love, wine, intoxication, etc., by
which, with them, a divine sentiment is always understood.
The doctrines of the Sufis are undoubtedly of Hindu origin.
Their fundamental tenets are, that nothing exists absolutely but
God ; that the human soul is an emanation from his essence and
will finally be restored to him ; that the great object of life
should be a constant approach to the eternal spirit, to form as
perfect a union with the divine nature as possible. Hence all
worldly attachments should be avoided, and in all that we do a
spiritual object should be kept in view. The great end with
these philosophers is to attain to a state of perfection in spirit-
uality and to be absorbed in holy contemplation, to the exclusion
of all worldly recollections or interests.

7. Persian Poetry. — The Persian tongue is peculiarly
adapted to the purposes of poetry, which in that language is
rich in forcible expressions, in bold metaphors, in ardent senti-
ments, and in descriptions animated with the most lively color-
ing. In poetical composition there is much art exercised by the
Persian poets, and the arrangement of their language is a work
of great care. One favorite measure which frequently ends a
"^oem is called the Suja, literally the cooing of doves.

The poetical compositions of the Persians are of several kinds ;
the gazel or ode usually treats of love, beauty, or friendship.
Vhe poet generally introduces his name in the last couplet. The
id)l resembles the gazel, except that it is longer. Poetry enters
4s a universal element into all compositions ; physics, mathemat-
i.'s, medicine, ethics, natural history, astronomy, grammar — all
lend themselves to verse in Persia.

The works of favorite poets are generally written on fine,
silky paper, the ground of whicli is often powdered with gold
or silver dust, tii3 margins illuminated, and the whole perfumed
with some costly essence. The magnificent volume containing
the poem of Yussuf and Zuleika in the public library at Oxford
affords a proof of the honors accorded to poetical composition.
One of the finest specimens of caiigraphy and illumination is
the exordium to the life of Shah Jehan, for which the writer,
besides the stipulated remuneration, had his mouth stuffed with
pearls.

There are three principal love stories in Persia which, from
the earliest times, have been the themes of every ])oet. Scarcely
one of the great masters of Persian literature but has adopted

PERSIAN LITERATURE. 43

and added celebrity to these beautiful and interesting legends,
which can never be too often repeated to an Oriental ear. They
are, the " History of Khosru and Shireen," the " Loves of Yus-
8uf and Zuleika," and the " Misfortunes of Mejnoun and Leila."
So powerfid is the charm attached to these stories, that it ap
pears to have been considered almost the imperative duty of all
the poets to compose a new version of the old, familiar, and be^
loved traditions. Even down to a modern date, the Persians
have not deserted their favorites, and these celebrated themes
of verse reapjjcar, from time to time, under new auspices. Each
of these poems is expressive of a peculiar character. That of
Khosru and Shireen may be considered exclusively the Persian
romance ; that of Mejnoun the Arabian ; and that of Yussuf
and Zuleika the sacred. The first presents a picture of happy
love and female excellence in Shireen ; Mejnoun is a represen-
tation of unfortunate love carried to madness ; the third ro-
mance contains the ideal of perfection in Yussuf (Joseph) and
the most passionate and imprudent love in Zuleika (the wife of
Potii)har), and exhibits in strong relief the power of love and
beauty, the mastery of mind, the weakness of overwhelming
passion, and the victorious spirit of holiness.

8. Persian Poets. — The first of Persian poets, the Homer
of his country, is Abul Kasim Mansur, called Ferdusi or '* Par-
adise," from the exquisite beauty of his compositions. He flour-
ished in the reign of the Shah Mahmud (940-1020 A. v.).
Mahmud commissioned him to write in his faultless verse a his-
tory of the monarchs of Persia, promising that for every thou-
sand couplets he should receive a thousand pieces of gold. For
thirty years lie studied and labored on liis epic poem, " the Shah
Namah," or Book of Kings, and wlien it was completed he sent
a copy of it, ex(iuisitely written, to the sultan, who received it
coklly, and treated the work of the aged ])oet with contempt.
Disappointed at the ingratitude of the Siiah, Ferdusi wrote some
satirical lines, which soon reached the ear of Mahmud, who,
])iquc(l and otfended at the freedom t)f the poet, ordered sixty
thousand small pieces of money to be sent to him, ins^^cad of the
gold which he had promised. Ferdusi was in ♦^'.o public bath
when the money was given to him, and his rage and amazement
exceeded all bounds when he found himself thus insulted. He
distributed the paltry sum among the attendants of the bath and
the slaves who brought it.

He soon after avenged himself by writing a satire full of
stinging invective, whicli he caused to be transmitted to the far
vorite vizier who had instigated the sultan against him. It was
carefully sealed up, with directions that it should be read to
Mahmud on some occasion when his mind was perturbed with

44 • HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

affairs of state, and his temper ruffled, as it was a poem likely
to afford liim entertainment. Ferdusi having thus prepared his
vengeance, quitted the ungrateful court without leave-taking,
and was at a safe distance when news reached him that liis hues
had fully answered their intended purpose. Malunud had heard
and trembled, and too late discovered that he had ruined his
own reputation forever. After the satire had been read by Shah
Mahmud, the poet sought shelter in the court of the caliph of
Bagdad, in whose honor he added a thousand couplets to the
poem of the Shah Namah, and who rewarded him with the sixty
thousand gold pieces, which had been withheld by Mahmud.
Meantime, Ferdusi's poem of Yussuf, and his magnificent verses
on several subjects, had received the fame they deserved. Shah
Mahmud's late remorse awoke. Thinking by a tardy act of lib-
erality to repair his former meanness, he dispatched to the author
of the Shah Namah the sixty thousand pieces he had promised, a
robe of state, and many apologies and expressions of friendship
and admiration, requesting his return, and professing great sor-
row for the past. But when the message arrived, Ferdusi was
dead, and his family devoted the whole sum to the benevolent
purpose he had intended, — the erection of public buildings, and
the general improvement of his native village, Tus. He died at
the age of eighty. The Shah Namah contains the history of the
kings of Persia down to the death of the last of the Sassanide
race, who was deprived of his kingdom by the invasion of the
Arabs during the caliphat of Omar, 636 A. D. The language of
Ferdusi may be considered as the purest specimen of the ancient
Parsee : Arabic words are seldom introduced. There are
many episodes in the Shah Namah of great beauty, and the
power and elegance of its verse are unrivaled.

P^s«edi of Tus is distinguished as having been the master of
Ferdusi, and as having aided his illustrious pupil in the comple-
tion of his great work. Among many poems which he wrote,
the " Dispute between Day and Night " is the most celebrated.

Togray was a native of ls])ahan and contemporary with Fer-
dusi. He became so celebrated as a writer, that the title of
Honor of Writers was given him. He was an alchemist, and
wrote a treatise on the philosopher's stone.

Moasi, called King of Poets, lived about the middle of the
eleventh century. He obtained his title at the court of Ispahan,
and rose to high dignity and honor. So renowned were his
odes, that more than a hundred poets endeavored to imitate his
style.

Omar Khayyam, who was one of the most distinguished of the
poets of Persia, lived ttnvard tlie close of the eleventh century.
He was remarkable for the freedom of his religious opinions,

PERSIAN LITERATURE. 45

and the boldness with which he denounced hypocrisy and intol-
erance. He particularly directed his satire against the mystic
poets.

Nizami, the first of the romantic poets, flourished in the latter
part of the twelfth century A. D. His principal works are called
the " Five Treasures," of which the " Loves of Khosru and 8hi-
reen " is the most celebrated, and in the treatment of which he
has succeeded beyond all other poets.

Sadi (1194-1282) is esteemed among the Persians as a mas-
ter in poetry and in morality. He is better known in Europe
than any other Eastern author, except Hafiz, and has been more
frequently translated. Jami calls him the nightingale of the
groves of Shiraz, of which city he was a native. He spent a
part of his long life in travel and in the acquisition of knowl-
edge, and the remainder in retirement and devotion. His works
are termed the salt-mine of poets, being revered as unrivaled
models of the first genius in the world. His philosophy enabled
him to support all the ills of life with patience and fortitude,
and one of his remarks, arising from the destitute condition in
which he once found himself, deserves ])reservation : " I never
com])lained of my condition but once, when my feet were bare,
and I had not money to buy shoes ; but I met a man without
feet, and I became contented with my lot." The works of Sadi
are very numerous, and are popular and familiar everywhere in
the East. His two greatest works are the " Bostan " and
" Gulistan " (Bostan, the rose garden, and Gulistan, the fruit
garden). They abound in striking beauties, and show great
knowledge of human nature.

Attar (1119-1233) was one of the great Sufi masters, and
spent his life in devotion and contemplation. He died at the
advanced age of 114. It would seem that jjoetry in the East
was favorable to human life, so many of its professors attained
to a great age, particularly those who professed the Sufi doc-
trine. The great work of Attar is a poem containing useful
moral maxims.

Roumi (1203-1272), usually called the Mulah, was an en-
thusiastic follower of the doctrine of the Sufis. His son suc-
ceeded him at the head of the sect, and surpassed his father not
only in the virtues and attainments of the Sufis, but by his
splendid poetical genius. His poems are regarded as the most
perfect models of the mystic style. Sir "William Jones says,
" There is a dej)th and solemnity in his works unequaled by
any poet of this class ; even Hafiz must be considered inferior to
him."

Among the poets of Persia the name of Hafiz (d. 1380). the
prince of Persian lyric poets, is most familiar to the EugUsh

46 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

reader. He was born at Shiraz. Leading a life of poverty, of
which he was proud, for he considered poverty the companion
of genius, he constantly refused the mvitation of monarchs to
visit their courts. There is endless variety in the poems of
Hafiz, and they are replete with surpassing beauty of thought,
feeling, and expression. The grace, ease, and fancy of his num-
bers are inimitable, and there is a magic in his lays which few
even of his professed enemies have been able to resist. To the
young, the gay, and the enthusiastic his verses are ever welcome,
and the sage discovers in them a hidden mystery which recon-
ciles him to their subjects. His tomb, near Shiraz, is visited as
a sacred spot by pilgrims of all ages. The place of his birth is
held in veneration, and there is not a Persian whose heart does
not echo his strains.

Jami (d. 1492) was born in Kliorassan, in the village of Jam,
from whence he is named, — his proper appellation being Abd
Arahman. He was a Sufi, and preferred, like many of his fel-
low-poets, the meditations and ecstasies of mysticism to the pleas-
ures of a court. His writings are very voluminous ; he com-
posed nearly forty volumes, all of great Isngth, of which twenty-
two are preserved at Oxford. The greater part of them treat of
Mohammedan theology, and e.re written in the mystic style.
He collected the most interesting under the name of the " Seven
Stars of the Bear," or the "• Seven Brothers," and among these
is the famous poem of Yussuf and Zuleika. This favorite sub-
ject, which every Persian poet has touched with more or less
success, has never been so beautifully rendered as by Jami.
Nothing can exceed the admiration which this poem inspires in
the East.

Hatifi (d. 1520) was the nephew of the great poet Jami. It
was his ambition to enter the lists with his uncle, by composing
poems on similar subjects. Opinions are divided as to whether
he succeeded as well as his master, l>ut none can exceed him in
sweetness and pathos. His version of the sad tale of Mejnoun
and Leila, the Romeo and Juliet of the East, is confessedly
superior to that of Nizami.

The lyrical compositions of Sheik Feizi (d. 1575) are highly
valued. In his mystic poems he approaches to the sublimity of
Attar. His ideas are tinged with the belief of the Hindus, in
which he was educated. When a boy he was introduced to the
Brahmins by the Sultan Mohammed Akbar, as an orphan of
their tribe, in order that he might learn their language and
obtain possession of their religious secrets. He became attached
to the daughter of the Brahmin who protected him, and she wa/"
offered to him in marriage by the unsuspecting parent. After
a struggle between inclination and honor, the latter prevailed.

PERSIAN LITERATURE. 47

and he confessed the fraud. The Brahmin, struck with horror,
attempted to ])ut an end to his own existence, fearing that he
had betrayed his oath and brought danger and disgrace on his
sect. Feizi, with tears and protestations, besought him to for-
bear, promising to submit to any command he might impose on
him. The lirahinin consented to live, on condition that Feizi
shoukl take an oatli never to translate the Vedas nor to repeat
to any one the creed of the Hindus. Feizi entered into the
desired obligations, parted with his adopted father, bade adieu
to his love, and with a sinking heart returned home. Among
his works the most important is the " Mahabarit," which con^
tains the chronicles of the Hindu prmces, and abounds in ro^
mantic episodes.

The most celebrated recent Persian poet is Blab Phelair
(17!i9-1825). He left many astronomical, moral, political, and
literary works. He is called the Persian Voltaire.

Among the collections of novels and fables, the " Lights of
Canope " may be mentioned, imitated from the Hitopadesa.
Persian literature is also enriched by translations of the standard
works in Sanskrit, among wliich are the epic poems of Valmiki
and Vyasa.

9. History and Philosophy. — Among the most celebrated
of the Persian historians is Mirkhond, who lived in the middle
of the fifteenth century. His great woi-k on universal history
contains an account of the origin of the world, the life of the
patriarchs, prophets, and philosophers of Persia, and affords
valuable materials, especially for the history of the Middle Ages.
His son, Khondemir, distinguished himself in the same branch
of literature, and wrote two works which, for their historical
correctness and elegance of style, are in great favor among the
Persians. Ferischta, who flourished in the beginning of the
seventeenth century, is the author of a valuable history of India.
Mirgholah, a historian of the eighteenth century, gives a con-
temporary history of Hindustan and of his own country, under
the title of '* A Glance at Recent Affairs," and in another work
he treats of the causes which, at some future time, will j)rol)ably
lead to the fall of the British power in India. The " History of
the Reigning Dynasty " is among the principal modern historical
works of Persia.

The Persians possess numerous works on rhetoric, geography,
medicine, mathematics, and astronomy, few of which are entitled
to much consideration. In ])hilosophy may be mentioned the
"Essence of Logic," an exposition in the Arabic language of the
doctrines of Aristotle on logic ; and the " Moral System of Na-
sir," published in the thirteenth century A. D., a valuable trea-
tise on morals, economy, and politics.

48 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

10. Education in Persia. — There are established, in every
town and city, schools in wliich the poorer children can be in-
structed in the rudiments of the Persian and Arabic languages.
The pupil, after he has learned the alphabet, reads the Koran
in Arabic ; next, fables in Persian ; and lastly is taught to
write a beautiful hand, wliich is considered a great accomplish-
ment. The Persians are fond of poetry, and the lowest artisans
can read or repeat the finest passages of their most admired
])oets. For the education of the higher classes there are in
Persia many colleges and universities where the pupils are
taught grammar, the Turkish and Arabic languages, rhetoric,
})hilosophy, and poetry. The literary men are numerous ; they
pursue their studies till they are entitled to the honors of the
colleges ; afterwards they devote themselves to copying and
illuminating manuscripts.

Of late many celebrated European works have been translated
and published in Persia.

HEBREW LITERATURE.

1. Hebrew Literature ; its Divisions. — 2. The Lanpiape ; its Alphabet ; its Struc-
ture ; Peculiarities, Formation, and Phases. — 3. The Old Testament. — 4. Hebrew Edu-
cation. — 5. Fundamental Idea of Hebrew Literature. — G. Hebrew Poetry. — 7. Lyric
Poetry ; Songs ; the Psalms ; tlie Propliets. — «. Pastoral Poetry and Didactic Poetry ; the
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. — 9. Epic and Dramatic Poetry ; the liook of Job. — 10. He-
brew History ; the Pentateuch and other Historical Books. — 11. Hebrew Philosophy. —
12. Restoration of the Sacred Books. — 13. Manuscripts and Translations. — U. Rabbin-
ical Literature. — 15. The New Revision of the Bible, and the New Biblical Manuscript.

1. Hebrew Literature. — In the Hebrew literature we
find expressed the national character of that ancient people who,
for a period of four thousand years, through captivity, disper-
sion, and persecution of every kind, present the wonderful spec-
tacle of a race preserving its nationality, its peculiarities of wor-
ship, of doctrine, and of literature. Its history reaches back to
an early period of the world, its code of laws has been studied
and imitated by the legislators of all ages and countries, and its
literary monuments surpass in originality, poetic strength, and
religious importance those of any other nation before the Chris-
tian era.

The literature of the Hebrews may be divided into the four
following periods : —

The first, extending from remote antiquity to the time of Da-
vid, 1010 B. c, includes aU the records of patriarchal civiliza-
tion transmitted by tradition previous to the age of Moses, and
contained in the Pentateuch or five books attributed to him
after he had delivered the people from the bondage of Egj'pt.

Tlie second period extends from the time of David to the
death of Solomon, 1010-940 B. c, and to this are referred some
of the Psalms, Joshua, the Judges, and the Chronicles.

The third ])eriod extends from tlie death of Solomon to the
return from the Babylonian captivity, 940-532 B. C, and to this
age belong the writings of most of the Prophets, The Song of
Solomon, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the books of Samuel, of Kings,
and of Ruth.

The fourth period extends from their return from the Baby-
lonian Captivity to the present time, and to this belong some of
the Prophets, the Chronicles, P^zra, Nehemiah, Esther, the final
completion of the Psalms, the Septuagint translation of the
Bible, the writings of Josephus, of Pliilo of Alexandria, and tlie

rabbinical literature.
4

60 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

2. The Language. — The Hebrew language is of Semitic
erigin ; its alphabet consists of twenty-two letters. The number
of accents is nearly forty, some of wliich distinguish the sen-
tences like the punctuation of our language, and others serve to
determine the number of syllables, or to mark the tone with
which they are to be sung or spoken.

The Hebrew character is of two kinds, the ancient or square,
and the modern or rabbinical. In the first of these the Scrip-
tures were originally written. The last is deprived of most of
its angles, and is more easy and flowing. The Hebrew words as
well as letters are written from right to left in common with the
Semitic tongues generally, and the language is regular, particu-
larly in its conjugations. Indeed, it has but one conjugation,
but with seven or eight variations, having the effect of as many
different conjugations, and giving great variety of expression.
The predominance of these modifications over the noun, the idea
of time contained in the roots of almost aU its verbs, so expres-
sive and so picturesque, and even the scarcity of its prepositions,
adjectives, and adverbs, make this language in its organic struc-
ture breathe life, vigor, and emotion. If it lacks the flowery and
luxuriant elements of the other oriental idioms, no one of these
can be compared with the Hebrew tongue for the richness of its
figures and imagery, for its depth, and for its majestic and im-
posing features.

In the formation, development, and decay of this language,
the foUowing periods may be distinguished : —

First. From Abraham to Moses, when the old stock was
changed by the infusion of the Egyptian and Arabic. Abraham,
residing in Chaldea, spoke the Chaldaic language, then travel-
ing through Egypt, and establishing himself in Canaan or Pales-
tine, his language mingled its elements with the tongues spoken
by those nations, and perhaps also with that of the Phoenicians,
who early established commercial intercourse with him and his
descendants. It is probable that the Hebrew language sprung
from the mixture of these elements.

Second. From Moses and the composition of the Pentateuch
to Solomon, when it attained its perfection, not without being
influenced by the Phoenician. This is the Golden Age of the
Hebrew language.

Third. From Solomon to Ezra, when, although increasing in
beauty and sweetness, it became less pure by the adoption of for-
eign ideas and idioms.

Fourth. From Ezra to the end of the reign of the Macca^
bees, when it was gradually lost in the Aramaean or Chaldaio
tongue, and became a dead language.

The Jews of the Middle Ages, incited by the learning of the

HEBREW LITERATURE. 61

Arabs in Spain, among whom they received the protection de-
nied them by Cliristian nations, endeavored to restore their lan-
guage to something of its original ])urity, and to render the
Biblical Hebrew again a written language < but the Chaldaic
idioms had taken too deep root to be eradicated, and besides,
the ancient language was found insufficient for the necessities of
an advancing civilization. Hence arose a new form of written
Hebrew, called rabbinical from its origin and use among the
rabbins. It borrowed largely from many contemporary lan-
guages, and though it became richer and more regular in its
structure, it retained little of the strength and purity of the
ancient Hebrew.

3. The Old Testament. — The literary productions of the
Hebrews are collected in the sacred books of the Old Testament,
in which, according to the celebrated orientalist. Sir William
Jones, we can find more eloquence, more historical and moral
truth, more poetry, — in a word, more beauties than we could
gather from all other books together, of whatever country or lan-
guage. Aside from its supernatural claims, this book stands
alone among the literary monuments of other nations, for the
sublimity of its doctrine, as well as for the simplicity of its style.

It is the book of all centuries, countries, and conditions, and
affords the best solution of the most mysterious problems con-
cerning God and the world. It cultivates the taste, it elevates
the mind, it nurses the soul with the word of life, and it has in-
spired the best productions of human genius.

4. Hebrew Education. — Religion, morals, legislation, his-
tory, poetry, and music were the special objects to which the at-
tention of the Levites and Prophets was particidarly directed.
The general education of the people, however, was rather simj)le
and domestic. They were trained in husbandry, and in military
and gynmastic exercises, and they applied their minds jdmost
exclusively to religious and moral doctrines and to divine wor-
ship ; they learned to read and write their own language cor-
rectly, but they seldom learned foreign languages or read foreign
books, and they carefully prevented strangers from obtaining a
knowledge of their own.

5. Fundamental Idea of Hebrew Literature. — Mono-
theism was the fundamental idea of the Hebrew literature, as
well as of the Hebrew religion, legislation, morals, politics, and
philosophy. The idea of the unity of God constitutes the most
striking characteristic of Hebrew poetry, and chiefly distin-
guishes it from that of all mythological nations. Other ancient
literatures have created their divinities, endowed them with hu-
man passions, and painted their achievements in the glowing
colors of uoetiT. The Hebrew poetry, on the contrary, makes

52 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

no attempt to portray the Deity by the instruments of sensuoui
representation, but simple, majestic, and severe, it pours forth a
perpetual anthem of praise and thanksgiving. The attributes of
God. his power, his paternal love and wisdom, are described in
the most sublime language of any age or nation. His seat is the
heavens, the earth is his footstool, the heavenly hosts his ser-
vants ; the sea is his, and he made it, and his hands prepared
the dry land.

Placed under the immediate government of Jehovah, having
with Him common objects of aversion and love, the Hebrews
reached the very source of enthusiasm, the fire of which burned
in the hearts of the prophets so fervently as to cause them to
utter the denunciations and the promises of the Eternal in a tone
suited to the inspired of God, and to sing his attributes and glo-
ries with a dignity and authority becoming them, as the vicege-
rents of God upon earth.

6. Hebrew Poetry. — The character of the people and their
language, its mission, the pastoral life of the patriarchs, the
beautiful and grand scenery of the country, the wonderful his-
tory of the nation, the feeling of divine inspiration, the promise
of a Messiah who should raise the nation to glory, the imposing
solemnities of the divine worship, and finally, the special order
of the prophets, gave a strong impulse to the poetical genius of
the nation, and concurred in producing a form of poetry which
cannot be compared with any other for its simplicity and clear-
ness, for its depth and majesty.

These features of Hebrew poetry, however, spring from its
internal force rather than from any external form. Indeed, the
Hebrew poets soar far above all others in that energy of feeling,
impetuous and irresistible, which penetrates, warms, and moves
the very soul. They reveal their anxieties as well as their
hopes ; they paint with truth and love the actual condition of
the human race, with its sorrows and consolations, its hopes and
fears, its love and hate. They select their images from the
habitual ideas of the people, and personify inanimate objects —
the mountains tremble and exult, deep cries unto deep. An-
other characteristic of Hebrew poetry is the strong feeling of
nationality it expresses. Of their two most sublime poets, one
was their legislator, the other their greatest king.

7. Lyric Poetry. — In their national festivals the Hebrews
sang the hymns of their lyric poets, accompanied by musical
instruments. The art of singing, as connected with poetry,
flourished especially under David, who instituted twenty-foui
choruses, composed of four thousand Levites, whose duty it was
to sing in the public solemnities. It is generally believed that
the Hebrew lyric poetry was not ruled by any measure, eithef

HEBREW LITERATURE. 63

of syllables or of time. Its predominant form was a succession
of thoughts and a rhythmic movement, less of syllables and
words than of ideas and images systematically arranged. The
Psalms, especially, are essentially sjnnmetrical, according to the
Hebrew ritual, their verses being sung alternately by Levites and
people, both in the synagogues and more frequently in the open
air. The song of Moses after the passage of the Red Sea is the
most sublime triumphal hymn in any language, and of equal
merit is his song of thanksgiving in Deuteronomy. Beautiful
examples of the same order of poetry may be found in the song
of Judith (though not canonical), and the songs of Deborah and
Balaam. But Hebrew poetry attained its meridian splendor in
the Psalms of David. The works of God in the creation of the
world, and in the government of men ; the illustrious deeds of
the House of Jacob ; the wonders and mysteries of the new
Covenant are sung by David in a fervent out-pouring of an im-
pulsive, passionate spirit, that alternately laments and exults,
bows in contrition, or soars to the sublimest heights of devotion.
The Psalms, even now, reduced to prose, after three thousand
years, present the best and most sublime collection of lyrical
poems, unequaled for their aspiration, their living imagery, their
grand ideas, and majesty of style.

When at length the Hebrews, forgetful of their high duties
and calling, trampled on their institutions and laws, prophets
were raised up to recall the wandering people to their allegiance.
Isaiah, whether he foretells the future destiny of the nation, or
the coming of the Messiah, in his majestic eloquence, sweetness,
and simplicity, gives us the most perfect model of lyric poetry.
He prophesied during the reigns of Azariah and Hezekiah, and.
his writings bear the mark of true inspiration.

Jeremiah flourished during the darkest period in the history
of the kingdom of Judah, and under the last four kings, pre-
vious to the Captivity. The Lamentations, in which he pours
forth his grief for the fate of his country, are full of touching
melancholy and pious resignation, and, in their harmonious and
beautiful tone, show his ardent patriotism and his unshaken
trust in the God of his fathers. He does not equal Isaiah in
the sublimity of his conceptions and the variety of his imagery,
but whatever may be the imperfections of his style, they are
lost in the passion and vehemence of his poems.

Dantel, after having struggled against the corruptions of
Babylon, boldly foretells the decay of that empire with terrible
power. His conceptions and images are truly sublime ; but his
style is less correct and regular than that of his predecessors, his
language being a mixture of Hebrew and Chaldaic.

Such is also the style of Ezekiel, who sings the development

54 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

of the obscure prophesies of his master. His writings abound
in dreams and visions, and convey rather the idea of the terrible
than of the sublime.

These four, from the length of their writings, are called the
Greater Prophets, to distinguish them from the twelve Minor
Prophets : Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaxiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and
Malachi, all of whom, though endowed with different charac.
teristics and genius, show in their writings more or less of that
fire and vigor which can oidy be found in writers who were
moved and warmed by the very spirit of God.

8. Pastoral Poetry axd Didactic Poetry. — The Song
of Solomon and the history of Ruth are the best specimens of
the Hebrew idyl, and breathe all the simplicity of pastoral life.

The books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes contain treatises on
moral philosophy, or rather, are didactic poems. The Proverb,
which is a maxim of wisdom, greatly used by the ancients be-
fore the introduction of dissertation, is, as the name indicates, the
prevalent form of the first of these books. In Ecclesiastes we
have described the trials of a mind which has lost itself in unde-
fined wishes and in despair, and the efficacious remedies for
these mental diseases are shown in the pictures of the vanity of
the world and in the final divine judgment, in which the problem
of this life wdll have its complete solution. Solomon", the author
of these works, adds splendor to the sublimity of his doctrines
by the dignity of his style.

9. Epic and Dramatic Poetry. — The Book of Job may be
considered as belonging either to epic or to dramatic poetry.
Its exact date is uncertain ; some writers refer it to the primitive
period of Hebrew literature, and others to a later age ; and,
while some contend that Job was but an ideal, representing
human suffering, whose story was sung by an anonymous poet,
others, with more probability, regard him as an actual person,
exposed to the trials and temptations described in this wonder-
ful book. However this may be, it is certain that this monu-
ment of wisdom stands alone, and that it can be compared to
no other production for the sublimity of its ideas, the vivacity
and force of its expressions, the grandeur of its imagery, and
the variety of its characters. No other work represents, in more
true and vivid colors, the nobility and misery of humanity, the
laws of necessity and Providence, and the trials to which the
good are subjected for their moral improvement. Here the
great struggle between evil and good appears in its true light,
and human virtue heroically submits itself to the ordeal of mis-
fortune. Here we learn that the evil and good of this life are
by no means the measure of morality, and here we witness tha
final triumph of iustice.

HEBREW LITERATURE. 66

10. Hebrew History. — IMoses, the most ancient of all his-
torians, was also the first leatler and legislator of the Hebrews.
When at length the traditions of the patriarchs had become
obscured and confused among the different nations of the earth,
Moses was inspired to write the history of the human race, and
especially of the chosen people, in order to bequeath to coming
centuries a memorial of revealed truths and of the divine works
of eternal AVisdom. Thus in the first chapters of Genesis, with-
out aiming to write the complete annals of tlie first period of the
world, he sunnned up the general history of man, and described,
more especially, the genealogy of the patriarchs and of the gen-
erations previous to the time of the dispersion.

The subject of the book of Exodus is the delivery of the peo-
ple from the Egyptian bondage, and it is not less admirable for
the importance of the events which it describes, than for the
manner in which they are related. In this, and in the follo\ving
book of Numbers, the record of patriarchal Ufe gives place to
the teachings of JMoses and to the history of the wanderings in
the deserts of Arabia.

In Leviticus the constitution of the priesthood is described, as
well as the peculiarities of a worship.

Deuteronomy records the laws of Moses, and concludes with
his sublime hymn of thanksgiving.

The historical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chron-
icles, Ezra, etc., contain the history of the Hebrew nation for
nearly a thousand years, and relate the prosperity and the dis-
asters of the chosen people. Here are recorded the deeds of
Joshua, of Samson, of Samuel, of David, and of Solomon, the
building of the Temple, the division of the tribes into two king-
doms, the prodigies of Elijah and Elisha, the impieties of Ahab,
the calamities of Jedekiah, the destruction of Jerusalem and of
the first Temple, the dispersion and the Babylonish captivity,
the deliverance under Cyrus, and the rebuilding of the city and
Temple under Elzra, and other great events in Hebrew history.

The internal evidence derived from the peculiar character of
each of the historical books is decisive of their genuineness,
which is supported above all suspicion of alteration or addition
by tlie scrupulous conscientiousness and veneration with which
the Hebrews regarded their sacred writings. Their authenticity
is also proved by the uniformity of doctrine which pervades
them all, though written at different periods, by the simjjlicity
and naturalness of the narrations, and by the sincerity of tlie
writers.

These histories display neither vanity nor adulation, nor do
they attempt to conceal from the reader whatever miglit be
considered as faults in their authors or their heroes. While

56 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

they select facts with a nice judgment, and present the most
luminous picture of events and of their causes, they abstain
from reasoning or speculation in regard to them.

11. Hebrew Philosophy. — Although the Hebrews, in their
different sacred writings, have transmitted to us the best solu-
tion of the ancient philosophical questions on the creation of the
world, on the Providence which rules it, on monotheism, and on
the origin of sin, yet they have nowhere presented us with a
complete system of pliilosophy.

During the Captivity, their doctrines were influenced by those
of Zoroaster, and later, when many of the Jews established
themselves in Egypt, they acquired some knowledge of tne
Greek philosophy, and tte tenets of the sects of the Essenes bear
a strong resemblance to the Pythagorean and Platonic schools.
This resemblance appears most clearly in the writings of Philo
of Alexandria, a Jew, born a few years before the birth of our
Saviour. Though not belonging to the sect of the Essenes, he
followed their example in adopting the doctrines of Plato and
taking them as the criterion in the interpretation of the Scrip-
tures. So, also, Flavins Josephus, born in Jerusalem, 37 A. d.,
and Numenius, born in Syria, in the second century A. c, adopted
the Greek philosophy, and by its doctrines amplified and ex>
panded the tenets of Judaism.

12. Restoration of the Sacred Books. — One of the most
important eras in Hebrew literature is the period of the restorar
tion of the Mosaic institutions, after the retui"n from the Cap-
tivity. According to tradition, at that time Ezra established the
great Synagogue, a college of one hundred and twenty learned
men, who were appointed to collect copies of the ancient sacred
books, the originals of which had been lost in the capture of
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and Nehemiah soon after placed
this, or a new collection, in the Temple. The design of these
reformers to give the people a religious canon in their ancient
tongue induces the belief that they engaged in the work with
the strictest fidelity to the old Mosaic institutions, and it is cer-
tain that the canon of the Old Testament, in the time of the
Maccabees, was the same as that which we have at present.

13. Mantjscrtpts and Translations. — Of the canonical
books of the Old Testament we have Hebrew manuscripts, printed
editions, and translations. The most esteemed manuscripts are
those of the Spanish Jews, of which the most ancient belong to
the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The printed editions of the
Bible in Hebrew are numerous. The earHest are those of Italy.
Luther made his German translation from the edition of Brescia,
printed in 1494. The earliest and most famous translation of
the Old Testament is the Septuagint, or Greek translation, which

UEBREW LITERATURE. 67

was made about 283 b. c. It may, probably, be attributed to the
Alexandrian Jews, who, ha\'ing lost the knowledge of the He-
brew, caused the translation to be made by some of their learned
countrymen for the use of the Synagogues of Egypt. It was
probably accomphshed under the authority of the Sanliedrim,
composed of seventy elders, and therefore called the Septuagint
version, and from it the quotations in the New Testament are
chiefly taken. It was regarded as canonical by the Jews to
the exclusion of other books written in Greek, but not translated
from the Hebrew, which we now call, by the Greek name, the
Apocry])ha.

The Vulgate or Latin translation, which has official authority
in the Catholic Church, was made gradually from the eighth to
the sixteenth century, partly from an old translation which was
made from the Greek in the early history of the Church, and
partly from translations from the Hebrew made by St. Jerome.

The English version of the Bible now in use in England and
America was made by order of James I. It was accomplished
by forty-seven distinguished scholars, divided into six classes, to
each of which a part of the work was assigned. This translation
occupied three years, and was printed in 1611.

14. Rabbinicai, Literature. — Rabbinical literature in-
cludes all the writings of the rabbins, or teachers of the Jews in
the later period of Hebrew letters, who have interj^reted and
developed the literature of the earlier ages. The language made
use of by them has its foundation in the Hebrew and Chaldaic,
with various alterations and modifications in the use of words,
the meaning of which they have considerably enlarged and ex-
tended. They have frequently borrowed from the Arabic,
Greek, and Latin, and from those modern tongues spoken where
they severally resided.

The Talmud, from the Hebrew word signifying he has
learned, is a collection of traditions illustrative of the laws and
usages of the Jews. The Talnuul consists of two parts, the
Misiina and the Gemara. The Mishna, or second law, is a col-
lection of rabbinical rules anil jM-ecepts made in the second cen-
tury. The Gemara (comjjlefion or doctrine) was composed in
the third century. It is a collection of commentaries and exjjla-
nations of the Mishna, and both together formed the Jerusalem
Talmud.

The Babylonian rabbins composed new commentaries on the
Mishna, and this formed the Babylonian Talmud. Both Tal-
muds were first committed to. writing about oOO a. d. At the
period of the Christian Era, the civil constitution, language, and
mode of thinking among the Jews had undergone a com])lete
revolution, and were entirely diiierent fi'om what they had been

68 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

in the early period of the commonwealth. The Mosaic books
contained rules no longer adapted to the situation of the nation,
and many difficult questions arose to which their law afforded
no satisfactory solution. The rabbins undertook to supply tliis
defect, partly by commentaries on the Mosaic precepts, and
partly by the composition of new rules.

The Talmud requires that wherever twelve adults reside to-
gether in one place, they shall erect a synagogue and serve the
God of their fathers by a multitude of prayers and formalities,
amidst the daily occupations of life. It allows usury, treats
agricultural pursuits with contempt, and requires strict separa-
tion from the other races, and commits the government to the
rabbins. The Talmud is followed by the Rabbinites, to which
sect nearly all the European and American Jews belong. The
sect of the Caraites rejects the Talmud and holds to the law of
Moses only. It is less numerous, and its members are found
chiefly in the East, or in Turkey and Eastern Russia.

The Cabala, or oral tradition, is, according to the Jews, a per-
petual divine revelation, preserved among the Jewish people by
secret transmission. It sometimes denotes the doctrines of the
prophets, but most commonly the mystical philosophy, which
was probably introduced into Palestine from Egypt and Persia.
It was first committed to writing in the second century A. D.
The Cabala is divided into the symbolical and the real, of which
the former gives a mystical signification to letters. The latter
comprehends doctrines, and is divided into the theoretical and
practical. The first aims to explain the Scriptures according to
the secret traditions, while the last pretends to teach the art of
performing miracles by an artificial use of the divine names and
sentences of the sacred Scriptures.

The Jews of the Middle Ages acquired great reputation for
learning, especially in Spain, where they were allowed to study
astronomy, mathematics, and medicine in the schools of the
Moors. Granada and Cordova became the centres of j-abbinical
literature, which was also cultivated in France, Italy, Portugal,
and Germany. In the sixteenth century the study of Hebrew
and rabbinical literature became common among Christian schol-
ars, and in the following centuries it became more interesting
and important from the introduction of comparative philology
in tlie department of languages. Rabbinical literature stiU has
its students and interpreters. In Padua, Berlin, and Metz there
are seminaries for the education of rabbins, which supply with
able doctors the synagogues of Italy, Germany, and France.
There is also a rabbinical school in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Po-
lish rabbins and Talmudists, however, are the most celebrated.

15. The New Revision of the Bible. — The convocation

HEBREW LITERATURE. 59

of the English House of Bishops, which met at Canterbury in
1870, recommended a revised version of the Scriptures, and
appointed a committee for the work of sixty-seven members
from various ecclesiastical bodies of England, to wliich an
American committee of thirty-five was added, and by their
joint labors the revised edition of the New Testament was
issued in 1881. The revised Old Testament is expected to ap-
pear during 1884. The advantages claimed for these new ver-
sions are : a more accurate rendering of tlie text, a correction
of the errors of former translations, the removal of misleading
archaisms and obsolete terms, better punctuation, arrangement
in sections as well as chapters and verses, the metrical arrange-
ment of poetry, and an increased number of marginal read-
ings.

In 1875, Bryennios, a metropolitan of the Greek Church, dis-
covered in the library of the Most Holy Sepulchre at Constanti-
nople a manuscript belonging to the second century A. c, which
contains, among other valuable and interesting documents, one
on the " Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," many points of which
bear on the usages of the church, such as the mode of baptism,
the celebration of the Eucharist, and the orders of the ministry.
It was at first considered authentic and highly important, but
more deliberate study tends to discredit its authority.

EGYPTIAN LITERATURE.

1. The Language. — 2. The Writing. —3. The Literature. —4. The Monuments.—
B. The Discovery of ChampoUion. — 6. Literary Remains ; Historical ; Religious ; Episto
lary ; Fictitious ; Scientific ; Epic ; Satirical and Judicial. — 7. The Alexandrian Period.
— 8. The Literary Condition of Modern Egypt.

1. The Language. — From the earliest times the language
of Egypt was divided into three dialects': the Mempliitic, sj^oken
in Memphis and Lower Egypt ; the Theban, or Sahidic, spoken
in Upper Egypt ; and the Bashmuric, a provincial variety be-
longing to the oases of the Lybian Desert.

The Coptic tongue, which arose from a union of ancient Egyp-
tian with the vulgar vernacular, later became mingled with
Greek and Arabic words, and was written in the Greek alpha-
bet. It was used in Egypt until the tenth century A. D., when
it gave way to the Arabic ; but the Christians still preserve it in
their worship and in their translation of the Bible. By reject-
ing its foreign elements Egyptologists have been enabled to study
this language in its purity, and to establish its grammar and
construction. It is the exclusive character of the Christian Egyp-
tian literature, and marks the last development and final decay
of the Egyptian language.

2. The Writing. — Four distinct graphic systems were in
use in ancient Egypt : the hieroglypliic, the hieratic, the demotic,
and Coptic. The first expresses words partly by representa-
tion of the object and partly by signs indicating sounds, and
was used chiefly for inscriptions. The hieratic characters pre-
sented a flowing and abbreviated form of the hieroglyphic, and
were used more particularly in the papyri. The great body of
Egyptian literature has reached us through this character, the
reading of which can only be determined by resolving it into its
prototype, hieroglyphics.

The demotic writing indicates the rise of the vulgar tongue,
which took place about the beginning of tlie seventh century
B. c. It was used to transcribe hierogly})hic and hieratic in-,
scriptions and papyri into the common idiom until the second
century A. D., when the Coptic generally superseded it.

3. The Literature. — The literary hi.story of ancient Egj'pt
presents a remarkable exception to that of any other country.
Wliile the language underwent various modifications, and the
Written characters changed, the literature remained the same in

EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. 61

all its principal features. This literature consists solely of in-
scriptions painted oi- enf^rraved on monuments, or of written
manuscripts on ])ai)yrus buried in the tombs or beneath the ruins
of temples. It is so deficient in style, and so unsystematic in its
construction, that it has taxed the labors of the ablest critics for
the last fifty years to construct a wliole from its disjointed mate-
rials, and these are so imperfect that many periods of Egyptian
history are complete literary blanks. In the great period of the
Rameses, novels or works of amusement predominated ; under
the Ptolemies, historical records, and in the Coptic or Christian
stage, homolies and church rituals j)revailed ; but through every
epoch the same general type appears. Notwithstanding these
deficiencies, however, Egypt offers a most attractive field for
the archaeologist, and new discoveries are constantly adding to
our knowledge of this interesting country.

4. The Monuments. — The monuments of Egypt are relig-
ious, as the temples, sejjulchral, as the necropoles, or triumphal,
as the obelisks. The temples were the principal structures of
the Egyptian cities, and their splendid ruins, covered with in-
scriptions, are among the most interesting remains of antiquity.
Life after death, the leading idea of the religion of Egypt, was
expressed in the construction of the tombs, so numerous in the
vicinity of all the large cities. These necropoles, excavated in
the rocks or hillsides, or built within the pyramids, consist of
rows of chambers with halls supported by colunms, which, with
the walls, are often covered with ])aintings, historical or monu-
mental, representing scenes from domestic or civil life. The
great pyramids were probably built for the sepulchres of kings
and their famUies, and the smaller ones for persons of inferior
rank.

The most magnificent of the triumphal monuments are the
obelisks, gigantic monoliths of red or white granite, some of
which are more than two hundred feet high, covered with in-
scriptions, and bearing the image of the triumphant king, painted
or engraved. The splendid obelisk in the Place de la Concorde,
at Paris, celebrates the glories of Rameses II.

The obelisk now in New York is one of a pair erected at
Heliopolis, before the Temple of the Sun, about IGOO H. c.
In the reign of Augustus both were removed to Alexandria,
and were known in modern times as Cleopatra's Needles. One
was presented by the Khedive to the city of London in 1877,
and the other to the city of New York the same year. The
shaft on the latter bears two inscri})tions, one celebrating Thoth-
mes III., and the other Rameses II.

One of the most characteristic monuments of Egypt is the
statue of the Sphinx, so often found in the temples and necropo-

6'J HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

les. It is a recumbent figure, having a human head and breast
a.nd the body of a Uon. Whatever idea the Egyptians may have
attached to tliis symbol, it represents most truly the character of
that people and the struggle of mind to free itself from the in-
stincts of brutal nature.

5. The Discovery of Champollton. — During the expedi-
tion into Egypt, in 1799, in throwing up some earthworks near
Rosetta, a town on the western arm of the Nile, an officer of
the French army discovered a block or tablet of black basalt,
upon which were engraved inscriptions in Egyptian and Greek
characters. This tablet, called the Rosetta Stone, was sent to
France and submitted to the orientalists for interpretation. The
inscription was found to be a decree of the Egyjjtian priests in
honor of. Ptolemy Epiphanes (196 B. c), which was ordered to
be engraved on stone in sacred (hieroglypliic), common (de-
motic), and in Greek characters. Thi'ough this interpretation,
Champollion (1790-1832), after much study, discovered and
established the alphabetic system of Egyptian writing, and ap-
plying his discovery more extensively, he was able to decipher
the names of the kings of Egypt from the Roman emperors
back, through the Ptolemies, to the Pharaohs of the elder dy-
nasties. This discovery was the key to the interpretation of all
the ancient monuments of Egypt ; by it the history of the coun-
try was thrown open for a period of twenty-six centuries, the
annals of the neighboring nations were rendered more intelligi-
ble, the religion, arts, sciences, life, and manners of the ancient
Egyptians were revealed to the modern world, and the obelisks,
the innumerable papyi"i, and the walls of the temples and tombs
were transformed into inexhaustible mines of historical and sci-
entific knowledge.

6. Literary Remains ; Historical ; Religious ; Episto-
lary ; Fictitious ; Scientific ; Epic ; Satirical and Judi-
cial. — The Egyptian priests from the earliest times must have
])reserved the annals of their country, though obscured by myths
and symbols. These annals, however, were destroyed by Cam-
byses (500 B. c), who, during his invasion of the country,
burned the temples where they were preserved, although they
were soon rewritten, according to the testimony of Herodotus,
who visited Egypt 450 b. c. In the third century B. c, Mane-
tho, a priest and librarian of Heliopolis, wrote the succession of
kings, and though the original work was lost, important frag-
ments of it liave been preserved by other writers. There seem
to have beei four periods in this history of ancient Egypt,
marked by great changes in the social and political constitution
of the country. In the first epoch, under the rule of the gods,
demigods, and heroes, according to Manetho, It was probably

EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. G3

eolonized and ruled by the priests, in the name of the gods.
The second period extends from Menes, the supposed founder of
the monarchy, to tlie invasion of the Shepherd Kings, ahout
2000 n. c. In the thii-d })eriod, under tliis title, the Fhcenicians
probably ruled Kgypt for three centuries, and it was one of these
kings or Pharaohs of whom Joseph was the prime minister. In
the fourth ])eriod, from 1180 to '6i)0 B. c, the invaders were ex-
pelled and native rule restored, until the country was again con-
quered, first by the Persians, about 500 b. c, and again by the
Greeks under Alexander, 350 K. c. From that time to the pres-
ent no native ruler has sat on the throne of that countiy. After
the conquest by Alexander the Great, who left it to the sway of
the Ptolemies, it was successively conquered by the Romans, the
Saracens, the Mamelukes, and the Turks. Since 1841 it has
been governed by a viceroy under nominal allegiance to the Sul-
tan of Tm'key. In 1865 the title of khedive was substituted for
tliat of viceroy.

Early Egyptian chronology is in a great measure merely con-
jectural, and new information from the monuments only adds to
the obscurity. The historical papyri are records of the kings or
accounts of contemporary events. These, as well as the inscrip-
tions on the monuments, generally in the fonn of panegjTic,
are inflated records of the successes of the heroes they celebrate,
or explanations of the historical scenes painted or sculptured on
the monmuents.

The early religion of Egypt Avas founded on a personification
of the laws of Nature, centred in a mysterious unity. Egyp-
tian nature, however, su])plied but few great objects of worship
as symbols of divine power, the desert, a natural enemy, the fer-
tilizing river, and the sun, the all-pervading presence, worshiped
as the source of life, the lord of time, and author of eternity.
Three great realms composed the P^gyptian cosmos ; the heav-
ens, where the sun, moon, and stars paced their daily round,
the abode of the invisible king, typified by the sun and wor-
shiped as Amnion Ra. the earth and the under-world, the abode
of the dead. Here, too, reigned the universal lord under the
name of Osiris, whose material manifestation, the sun, as he
passed beneath the earth, lightened u]t the under-world, where the
dead were judged, the just recompensed, and tlie guilty punished.

Innumerable minor divinities, which originally personified
attributes of the one Supreme Deity, were re])resented under
the form of such animals as were endowed with like qualities.
Every god was symbolized by some animal, which thus became
an object of worship ; hut by confounding symbols with realities
tills worship soon degenerated into gross materialism and idol-
atry.

64 HANDBOOK OF UNH^RSAL LITERATURE.

The most important religious work in this literature is the
" Book of the Dead," a funeral ritual. The earliest known copy
is in hieratic writing of the oldest ty])e, and was found in the
tomb of a queen, who lived probably about 3000 B. c. The
latest copy is of the second century A. c, and is written in pure
Coptic. This work, consisting of one hundred and sixty-six
chapters, is a collection of prayers of a magical character, an
account of the adventores of the soul after death, and directions
for reaching the Hall of Osiris. It is a marvel of confusion and
poverty of thought. A complete translation may be found in
'• Egypt's Place in Universal History," by Bunsen (second edi-
tion), and specimens in almost every museum of Europe. There
are other theological remains, such as the Metamorphoses of the
gods and the Lament of Isis, but their meaning is disguised in
allegory. The hymns and addresses to the sun abound in pure
and lofty sentiment.

The epistolary writings are the best known and understood
branch of Egyptian literature. From the Ramesid era, the most
literary of all, we have about eighty letters on various subjects,
interesting as illustrations of manners and specimens of style.
The most important of these is the " Anastasi Papyri " in the
British Museum, written about the time of the Exodus.

Two valuable and tolerably complete relics represent the ficti-
tious writing of Egyptian literature ; they are " The Tale of
Two Brothers," now in the British Museum, and "The Romance
of Setna," recently discovered in the tomb of a Coptic monk.
The former was evidently intended for the amusement of a royal
prince. One of its most striking features is the low moral tone
of the women introduced. " The Romance of Setna " turns
upon the danger of acquiring possession of the sacred books.
The opening and date of the story are missing.

Fresh information is being constantly acquired as to the
knowledge of science possessed by the ancient Egyptians. Ge-
ometry originated with them, or from remote ages they were ac-
quainted with the principles of this science, as well as with those
of hydrostatics and mechanics, as is proved by the immense
structures which remain the wonder of the modern world. They
cultivated astronomy from the earliest times, and they have
transmitted to us their observations on the movements of the
sun, the stars, the earth, and other planets. The obelisks served
them as sun dials, and the pyramids as astronomical observato-
ries. They had great skill in medicine and much knowledge of
anatomy. The most remarkable medical jjapyri are to be found
in the Berlin Museum.

The epics and biographical sketches are narratives of personal
adventure in war or travel, and are distinguished by some ett'ort

EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. 65

at grace of style. The e])ic of Pentaur, or the achievements of
Raineses II., lias been called the Egyptian lUad. It is several
centuries older tluiu the Greek Iliad, and deserves admiration for
its rapid narrative and epic unity.

The history of Mohan (by some thought to be Moses) has
been called the Egyptian Odyssey, in contrast to the preceding.
Mohan was a high official, and this narrative describes his trav-
els in Syria and Palestine. This papyrus is in the British Mu-
seum, and both epics have been translated.

The satirical writings and beast fables of the Egjqitians cari-
cature the foibles of all classes, not sparing the sacred person of
the king, and are often illustrated with satirical pictures. Be-
sides these strictly literary remains, a large number of judicial
documents, petitions, decrees, and treaties has been recovered.

7. The Alexandrian Pekiod. — Egypt, in its flourishing
period, having, contributed to the civilization of Greece, became,
in its turn, the i)uj)il of that country. In the century following
the age of Alexander the Great, under the rule of the Ptolemies,
the philosophy and literature of Athens were transferred to
Alexandria. Ptolemy PhUadelphus, in the third century B. c,
completed the celebrated Alexandrian Library, formed for the
most part of Greek books, and ])resided over by Greek librari-
ans. The school of Alexandria had its poets, its grammarians,
and philosophers ; but its poetry lacked the fire of genius, and
its grammatical ])roductions were more remarkable for sophistry
and subtlety, than for soundness and depth of research. In the
philosophy of Alexandria, the Eastern and Western systems com-
bined, and this school had many distinguished disciples.

In the first century of the Christian era, Eg}^)t passed from
the Greek kings to the Roman emperors, and the Alexandrian
school continued to be adorned l)y the first men of the age.
This splendor, more Grecian than Egyptian, was extinguished in
the seventh century by the Saracens, who concjuered the country,
and, it is believed, burned the great Alexandrian Library. After
the wars of the immediate successors of Mohannned, the Ara-
bian princes ])rotected literature, Alexandria recovered its
schools, and other institutions of learning were established ; but
in the conquest of the country by the Turks, in the thirteenth
century, all literary light was extinguished.

8. Literary Condition of Modern P^gypt. — For more
than nine hundred years Cairo has possessed a university of high
rank, which greatly increased in ini])ortanco on the accession of
Mehemet Ali, in 1805, who estaMislu'd nuuiy otlier schools, pri-
mary, scientific, mediciU, and military, though they were suffered
to languish under his two successoi-s. In 18G3, when Ismail
Pacha mounted the throne as Khedive (tributary king), he gave

66 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

powerful aid to the university and to public instruction every-
where. The number of students a.t the University of Cairo ad-
vanced to eleven thousand. The wife of the Khedive, the Prin-
cess Cachma-Afet, founded in 1873, and maintained from her
privy purse, a school for the thorough instruction of girls, which
led to the establishment of a similar institution by the Ministry
of Public Instruction. This princess is the first in the history of
Islam who, from the interior of the harem, has exerted her influ-
ence to educate and enlighten her sex.

When the Khedive was driven into exile in 1879, the number
of schools, nearly all the result of his energetic rule, was 4,817
and of pupils 170,000. Since the European intervention and
domination the number of both has sensibly diminished, and a
serious retrograde movement has taken place.

The higher literature of Egypt at the present time is written
in pure Arabic. The popular writing in magazines, periodicals,
etc., is in Arabic mixed with Syriac and Egyptian dialects.
Newspaper literature has gi'eatly increased during the past
eight yeaxs.

GREEK LITERATURE.

iNTRODncnON. — 1. Greek Literature and its Divisions. — 2. The Language. — 3. The
Religion. , i,. j

Period First. —1. Ante-Homeric Songs and Bards. — 2. Poems of Homer ; the Iliad ;
the Odyssey. —3. The Cyclic Poets and the Homeric Hymns. —4. Poems of Hesiod ;
the Works and Days ; the Theogony. — 5. Elegy and Epigram ; Tyrtaeus ; Archilochus ; Si-
raonides. — 6. Iambic Poetry, the Fable, and Parody ; Jisop. —7. Greek Music and Lyric
Poetry; Terpander. — 8. jEolic Lyric Poets; Alcieus; Sappho; Anacreon. — 9. Doric,
or Choral Lyric Poete ; Alcman ; Stesichorus ; Pindar. — 10. Tlie Orphic Doctrines and
Poems. — 11. Pre-Socratic Philosophy ; Ionian, Eleatic, Pythagorean Schools. — 12. His-
tory ; Herodotus.

Period Seco.vd. —1. Literary Predominance of Athens. — 2. Greek Drama. —3. Trag-
edy. — 4. The Tragic Poets ; /Eschylus ; Sopliocles ; Euripides. —5. Comedy ; Aristophanes ;
Menander. — G. Oratory, Rhetoric, and History ; Pericles ; the Sopliists ; Lysias ; Iso-
crates; Demosthenes; Thucydides; Xenophon. — 7. Socrates and the Socratic Schools ;
Plato ; Aristotle.

Period Third. — 1. Origin of the Alexandrian Literature. —2. The Alexandrian Poets ;
Philetas; Callimachus ; Theocritus; IMon ; JIoscluis. — 3. Tlie Prose Writers of Alexan-
dria; Zenodotus; Aristophane.s ; Aristarchus; Eratosthenes; Euclid; Archimedes.—
4. Philosophy of Alexandria; Neo-Platonism. — 5. Anti-Neo-Platonic Tendencies; Epic-
tetus ; Lucian ; Longinus. — C. Greek Literature in Rome ; Dionysius of Halicarnassus ;
Flavins Josephus ; Polybius : Diodorus ; Strabo ; Plutarch.— 7. Continued Decline of
Greek Literature. — 8. Last Echoes of the Old Literature; Hypatia; Nonnus ; Musitus ;
Byzantine Literature. — 9. The New Testament and the Greek Fathers. Modern Litera-
ture ; the Brothers Santsos and Alexander Rangab^. Bacchylides.

INTRODUCTION.

1. Greek Literature and it.s Divisiox.s. — The literary
histories thus far sketched, with the excei)tion of the Hebrew,
occupy a subordinate position, and constitute but a small part
of the general and continuous history of literature. As there
are states whose interests are so detached from foreign nations
and so centred in themselves that their history seems to form
no link in the great chain of political events, so there are bod-
ies of literature cut ofE from all connection with the course of
general refinement, and bearing no relation to the develo])ment
of mental power in the most civilized portions of the globe.
Thus, the literature of India, with its great antiquity, its lan-
guage, which, in fullness of expression, sweetness of tone, and
regularity of structure, rivals the most perfect of those Western
tongues to which it bears such an affinity, with all its affluence
of imagery and its treasures of thought, has hitherto been desti-
tute of any direct influence on the progress of general literature,
and China has contributed still less to its advancement. Other
branches of Oriental literature, as the Persian and Arabian,
were equally isolated, until they were brought into contact with
the European mind through tlie medium of the Crusatlers and
of the Moorish empire in Spain.

68 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

We come now to speak of the literature of the Greeks ; a lit-
erature whose continuous current has rolled down from remote
ages to our own day, and whose influence has been more exten-
sive and lasting than that of any other nation of the ancient or
modern world. Endowed with profound sensibility and a hvely
imagination, surrounded by all the circumstances that could aid
in perfecting the physical and intellectual powers, the Greeks
early acquired that essentially literary and artistic character
which became the source of the greatest productions of litera-
ture and art. This excellence was, also, in some measure due to
their institutions ; free from the system of castes which prevailed
in India and Egypt, and which confined all learning by a sort
of hereditary right to the priests, the tendency of the Greek
mind was from the first liberal, difi^usive, and aesthetic. The
manifestation of their genius, from the fii'st dawn of their intel-
lectual culture, was of an original and peculiar character, and
their plastic minds gave a new shape and value to whatever
materials they drew from foreign sources. The ideas of the
Egyjitians and Orientals, which they adopted into their mythol-
ogy, they cast in new moulds, and reproduced in more beautiful
forms. The monstrous they subdued into the vast, the gro-
tesque they softened into the graceful, and they diffused a fine
spirit of humanity over the rude proportions of the primeval
figures. So with the dogmas of their philosophy, borrowed from
the same sources ; all that could beautify the meagre, harmonize
the incongruous, enliven the dull, or convert the crude materials
of metaphysics into an elegant department of literature, belongs
to the Greeks themselves. The Grecian mind became the foun-
dation of the Roman and of all modern literatures, and its mas-
ter-pieces afford the most splendid examples of artistic beauty
and perfection that the world has ever seen.

The history of Greek literature may be divided into three
periods. The first, extending from remote antiquity to the age
of Herodotus (484 b. c), includes the eai-liest poetry of Greece,
the ante-Homeric and the Homeric eras, the origin of Greek
elegy, epigram, iambic, and lyric poetry, and the first develop-
ment of Greek philosophy.

The second, or Athenian period, the golden age of Greek
literature, extends from the age of Herodotus (484 B. c.) to the
death of Alexander the Great (323 B. c), and comprehends the
development of the Greek drama in the works of ^schylus,
So])hocles, and Euripides, and of political oratory, history, and
philosophy, in the works of Demosthenes, Thucydides, Xeno-
phon, Plato, and Aristotle.

The third, or the period of the decline of Greek literature,
extending from the death of Alexander the Great (323 B. c.}

GREEK LITERATURE. 69

to the fall of the Byzantine empire (1453 A. D.), is characterized
by the removal of Greek learning and literature from Athens to
Alexandria, and by its gradual decline and extinction.

2. The Language. — Of all known languages none has
attained so high a degree of perfection as that of the Greeks.
Belonging to the great Indo-European family, it is rich in sig-
nificant words, strong and elegant in its coml)inations and
phrases, and extremely musical, not only in its jjoetry, but in its
prose. The Greek language must have attained gi-eat excel-
lence at a very early period, for it existed in its essential ])erfec-
tion in the time of Homer. It was, also, early divided into dia-
lects, as spoken by the various Hellenic tribes that inhabited
different parts of the country. The princijjal of these found in
written composition are the iEolic, Doric, Ionic, and Attic, of
whi(di the iEolic, the most ancient, was spoken north of the
Isthmus, in the iEolic colonies of Asia Minor, and in the north-
ern islands of the -^gean Sea. It was chiefly cultivated by the
lyric poets. The Doric, a variety of the JEolic, characterized
by its strength, was spoken in Peloponnesus, and in the Doric
colonies of Asia Minor, Lower Italy, and Sicily. The Ionic,
the most soft and liquid of all the dialects, belonged to the Io-
nian colonies of Asia Minor and the islands of the Archipelago.
It was the language of Homer. Hesiod, and Herodotus. The
Attic, which was the Ionic developed, enriched, and refined, was
spoken in Attica, and prevailed in the flourishing period of
Greek literature.

After the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, the Greek language,
which had been gi-adually declining, became entirely extinct,
and a dialect, which had long before sprung up among the com-
mon people, took the place of the ancient, majestic, and refined
tongue. This popular dialect in turn continued to degenerate
until the middle of the last century. Recently institutions of
learning have been established, and a new impidse given to im-
provement in Greece. Great jjrogress has been made in the
cultivation of the language, and great care is taken by modern
Greek writers to avoid the use of foreign idioms and to preserve
the ancient orthography. Many newspapers, periodicals, orig-
inal works, and translations are ])ublished every year in Greece.
The name Romaic, which has been apjdied to modern Greek, is
now almost superseded by that of Neo-Hellenic.

3. The Religion. — In the development of the Greek relig-
ion two periods may be distinguished, the ante-Homeric and the
Homeric. As the heroic age of the Greek nation was preceded
by one in which the cultivation of the land chiefly occupied the
attention of the inhabitants, so there are traces and remnants of
a state of the Greek religion, in which the gods were considered

70 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

as exhibiting their power chiefly in the changes of the seasons,
and in the operations and phenomena of outward nature. Im-
agination led these early inhabitants to discover, not only in the
general phenomena of vegetation, the unfolding and death of the
leaf and flower, and in the moist and dry seasons of the year,
but also in the peculiar physical character of certain districts, a
sign of the alternately hostile or peaceful, happy or ill-omened
interference of certain deities. There are still preserved in the
Greek mythology many legends of charming and touching sim-
plicity, wliich had their origin at this period, when the Greek
religion bore the character of a worship of the powers of nature.
Though founded on the same ideas as most of the religions of
the East, and particularly of Asia Minor, the earliest religion of
the Greeks was richer and more various in its forms, and took
a loftier and a wider range. The Grecian worship of nature, in
all the various forms which it assumed, recognized one deity, as
the highest of all, the head of the entire system, Zeus, the god
of heaven and light ; with him, and dwelling in the pure expanse
of ether, is associated the goddess of the earth, who, in different
temples, was worshiped under different names, as Hera, Demeter,
and Dione. Besides this goddess, other beings are united with
the supreme god, who are personifications of certain of his ener-
gies ; powerful deities who carry the influence of light over the
earth, and destroy the opposing powers of darkness and confu-
sion ; as Athena, born from the head of her father, and Apollo,
the pure and shining god of light. There are other deities allied
with earth and dwelling in her dark recesses ; and as life ap-
pears not only to spring from the earth, but to return whence it
sprung, these deities are, for the most part, also connected with
death ; as Hermes, who brings up the treasures of fruitfulness
from the depths of the earth, and Cora, the child, now lost and
now recovered by her mother, Demeter, the goddess both of re-
viving and of decaying nature. The element of water, Poseidon,
was also introduced into this assemblage of the personified
powers of nature, and peculiarly connected with the goddess of
the earth ; fire, Hephaestus, was represented as a powerful prin-
ciple dei'ived from heaven, having dominion over the earth, and
closely allied with the goddess who sprang from the head of
the supreme god. Other deities form less important parts of tins
system, as Dionysus, whose alternate joys and sufferings show a
strong resemblance to the form which religious notions assumed
in Asia Minor. Though not, like the gods of Olympus, recog-
nized by all the races of the Greeks, Dionysus exerted an import
tant influence on the spirit of the Greek nation, and in sculpture
and poetiy gave rise to bold flights of imagination, and to pow-
erful emotions, both of joy and sorrow.

GREEK LITERATURE. 71

Tliese notions concerning the gods must have undergone many
changes before they assumed the form under which they ajjpear
in the poems of llomer and Hesiod. The Greek religion, as
manifested through tliem, reached tlie second period of its de-
veh)pment, belonging to that time when the most distinguished
and prominent i)art of the people devoted their lives to the affairs
of the state and the occupation of arms, and in which the heroic
spirit was manifested according to these ideas. On Olympus, ly-
ing near the northern boundary of Greece, the highest mountain
of that country, wliose summit seems to touch the heavens, there
rules the assembly or family of the gods ; the chief of which,
Zeus, summons at his pleasure the other gods to council, as Aga-
memnon summons the other princes. He is acquainted with the
decrees of fate, and able to control them, and being himself
king among the gods, he gives the kings of the earth their
powers and dignity. By his side is his wife, Hera, whose station
entitles her to a large share of his rank and dominion ; and a
daughter of masculine character, Athena, a leader of battles and
a protectress of citadels, who, by her wise counsels, deserves the
confidence which her father bestows on her ; besides these, there
are a nund^er of gods with various degrees of khidred, who have
each their proper place and allotted duty on Olympus. The
attention of this divine council is chiefly turned to the fortunes
of nations and cities, and especially to the adventures and entei^
prises of the heroes, Avho being themselves, for the most part,
sprung from the blood of the gods, form the connecting link
between them and the ordinary liord of mankind. At this stage
the ancient religion of nature had disapi)eared, and the gods
who dwelt on Oiympus scarcely manifested any connection with
natural phenomena. Zeus exercises his power as a ruler and
a king ; Hera, Athena, and Apollo no longer symbolize the
fertility of the earth, the clearness of the atmosphere, and the
arrival of the serene spring ; Hephaestus has passed from the
powerful god of fire in heaven and earth into a laborious smith
and worker of metals ; Hermes is transformed into the messen-
ger of Zeus ; and the other deities which stood at a greater dis-
tance from the affairs of men are entirely forgotten, or scarcely
mentioned in the Homeric mythology.

These deities are known to us chiefly through the names
given to them by the Romans, wno ado])ted them at a later
period, or identified them with deities of their own. Zeits waa
tailed by them Jupiter; llera, Jwno; Athena, INIinorva ; Ares,
Mars; Artemis, Diana; Hermes, Mercury; Cora, Proserpine;
Hepha'stus, Vulcan; Foseidon, Neptune; AphrodUe, Venus;
Dionysus, Bacchus.

72 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

PERIOD FIRST.
From Remote Antiquity to Herodotus (484 b. c).

1. Ante-Homeric Songs and Bards. — Many centuries
must have elapsed before the poetical language of the Greeks
could have attained the splendor, copiousness, and fluency found
in the poems of Homer. The first outpourings of poetical enthu=
siasm were, doubtless, songs describing, in few and simple verses,
events which powerfully affected the feelings of the hearers. It
is probable that the earliest were those that referred to the sear
sons and their phenomena, and that they were sung by the peas-
ants at their corn and wine harvests, and had their origin in times
of ancient rural simplicity. Songs of this kind had often a plain-
tive and melancholy character. Such was the song " Linus " men-
tioned by Homer, which was frequently sung at the grape-picking.
This Linus evidently belongs to a class of heroes or demi-gods,
of which many instances occur in the religions of Asia Minor.
Boys of extraordinary beauty and in the flower of youth wero
supposed to have been drowned, or devoured by raging dogs,
and their death was lamented at the harvests and other periods
of the hot season. According to the tradition, Lmus sprang
from a divine origin, grew up ^vith the shepherds among the
Iambs, and was torn in pieces by wild dogs, whence arose the
festival of the lambs, at which many dogs were slain. The real
object of lamentation was the tender beauty of spring destroyed
by the summer heat, and other phenomena of the same kind
which the imagination of those times invested with a personal
form, and represented as beings of a divine nature. Of similar
meaning are many other songs, which were sung at the time of
the summer heat or at the cutting of the corn. Such was the
song called " Bormus " from its subject, a beautiful boy of that
name, w^io, having gone to fetch water for the reapers, was,
while drawing it, borne down by the nymphs of the stream.
Such were the cries for the youth Hylas, swallowed up by the
waters of a fountain, and the lament for Adonis, whose untimely
death was celebrated by Sappho.

The Paeans were songs originally dedicated to Apollo, and
afterwards to other gods ; their tune and words expressed hope
and confidence to overcome, by the help of the god, great and
imminent danger, or gi-atitude and thanksgiving for victory and
safety. To this class belonged the vernal Paeans, which were
7,ung at the termination of winter, and those sung in war before
the attack on the enemy. The Threnos, or lamentations for
the dead, were songs containing vehement expressions of grief,
eung by professional singers standing near the bed upon which

GREEK LfTERATf/RE. 73

Ihe body was laid, and accompanied by the cries and groans of
women. The Hymenaeos was the joyful hridul song of the wed-
ding festivals, in which there were ordinarily two choruses, one
of boys bearing burning torches and singing the hymenaeos to
the clear sound of the pipe, and another of young girls dancing
to the notes of the harp. The Chorus originally referred chiefly
to dancing. The most ancient sense of the word is a place for
dancing, and in these choruses young persons of both sexes
danced together in rows, holding one another by the hand, while
the citharist, or the player on the lyre, sitting in their midst,
accompanied the sound of liis instrument with songs, which took
their name from the choruses in which they were sung.

Besides these popular songs, there were the religious and
heroic poems of the bards, who were, for the most part, natives
of that portion of the country which surrounds the mountains of
Helicon and Parnassus, distinguished as the home of the Muses.
Among the bards devoted to the worship of Apollo and other
deities, were Marsyas, the inventor of the flute, Musaeus and Or-
pheus. Many names of these ancient poets are recorded, but of
their poetry, previous to Homer, not even a fragment remains.

The bards or chanters of epic poetry were called Rhapsodists,
from the manner in which they delivered their compositions;
this name was applied equally to the minstrel who recited his
own poems, and to him who declaimed anew songs that had
been heard a thousand times before. The form of these heroic
songs, probably settled and fixed by tradition, was the hexame-
ter, as tills metre gave to the epic poetry repose, majesty, a
lofty and solemn tone, and rendered it equally adapted to the
pythoness who announced the decrees of the deity, and to the
rhapsodist who recited the battles of heroes. The bards held
an important post in the festal banquets, where they flattered the
pride of the princes by singing the exploits of their forefathers.
2. Poems of Homer. — Although seven cities contended for
the honor of giving birth to Homer, it was the prevalent belief,
in the flourishing times of Greece, that he was a native of
Smyrna. He was probably born in that city about 1000 B. C.
Little is known of his Hfe, but the power of his transcendent
genius is deeply impressed, upon his works. He was called by
the Greeks themselves, the poet ; and the Iliad and the Odyssey
were with them the ultimate standard of appeal on all matters
of religious doctrine and early history. They were learned by
boys at school, and became the study of men in their riper years,
and in the time of Socrates there were Athenians who could
repeat both poems by heart. In whatever jjart of the world a
Greek settled, ho carried with him a love "for the gi-eat poet,
and long after the Greek peopla had lost their independence.

74 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the niad and the Odyssey continued to maintain an undiminished
hold u])on their affections. The peculiar excellence of these
poems lies in their suhlimity and pathos, in their tenderness and
simplicity, and they show in their author an inexhaustible vigor,
that seems to revel in an endless display of prodigious energies.
The universahty of the powers of Homer is their most astonish-
ing attribute. He is not great in any one thing ; he is greatest
in all things. He imagines with equal ease the terrible, the
beautiful, the mean, the loathsome, and he paints them all with
equal force. In his desci-iptions of external nature, in his ex-
hibitions of human character and passion, no matter what the
subject, he exhausts its capabilities. His pictures are true to
the minutest touch ; his men and women are made of flesh and
blood. They lose nothing of their humanity for being cast in a
heroic mould-. He transfers himself into the identity of those
whom he brings into action ; masters the interior springs of their
spiritual mechanism ; and makes them move, look, speak, and
do exactly as they would in real hfe.

In the legends connected with the Trojan war, the anger of
Achilles and the return of Ulysses., Homer found the subjects of
the Iliad and Odyssey. The former relates that Agamemnon
had stolen from Achilles, Briseis, his beloved slave, and describes
the fatal consequences wliich the subsequent anger of Achilles
brought upon the Greeks ; and how the loss of his dearest friend,
Patroclus, suddenly changed his hostile attitude, and brought
about the destruction of Troy and of Hector, its magnanimous
defender. The Odyssey is composed on a more artificial and
complicated plan than the Iliftd. The subject is the return of
Ulysses from a land l^eyond the range of human knowledge to
a home invaded by bands of insolent intruders, who seek to kill
his son and rob him of his wife. The poem begins at that point
where the hero is considered to be farthest from his home, in
the central portion of the sea, where the nymph Calypso has
kept him hidden from all mankind for seven years. Having by
the help of the gods passed through innumerable dangers, after
many adventures he reaches Ithaca, and is finally introduced
into his own house as a beggar, where he is made to suffer the
Iiarshest treatment from the suitors of his wife, in order that he
may afterwards appear with the stronger right as a tei'rible
avenger. In this simple story a second was interwoven by the
poet, which renders it richer and more complete, though more
intricate and less natural. It is probable that Homer, after
having sung the Iliad in the vigor of his youthful years, either
composed the Odyssey in his old age, or communicated to some
devoted disciple the j)lan of this poem.

In the age immediately succeeding Homer, his great poems

GREEK LITERATURE. 75

Irere doubtless recited as complete wholes, at the festivals of the
princes ; but when the contests of the rhapsodists became more
animated, and more weij^ht was laid on the art of the reciter
than on the beauty of the poem he recited, and when other
musical and poetical performanc'es claimed a i)lace. then they
were permitted to repeat separate parts of ])oems, and the Iliad
and Odyssey, as they had not yet been reduced to writing, ex-
isted for a time only as scattered and unconnected fragments ;
and we are still indebted to the regulator of the poetical contests
(either Solon or Pisistratus) for having com])elled the rhapso-
dists to follow one another according to the order of the poem,
and for having thus restored these great works to their pristine
integrity. The poets, who either recited the poems of Homer
or imitated him in their compositions, were called Homerides.

3. Thk Cyclic Poets aisD the Homeric Hymns. — The
poems of Homer, as they became the foundation of all Grecian
literature, are likewise the central ])oint of the e])ic poetry of
Greece. All that is most excellent in this line originated from
them, and was connected with them in the way of completion
or continuation. After the time of Homer, a class of poets
arose who, from their constant endeavor to connect their poems
■wnth those of tliis master, so that they might form a great cycle,
were called the CycUc Poets. They were probably Homeric
rhapsodists by profession, to whom the constant recitation of the
ancient Homeric poems would naturally suggest the idea of con-
tinuing them by essays of their own. The poems known as
Homeric hymns formed an essential part of the epic style.
They were hymns to tlie gods, bearing an epic character, and
were called prcemia. or preludes, and served the rhapsodists
either as introductory strains for their recitation, or as a transi-
tion from the festivals of the gods to the competition of the
singers of heroic poetry.

4. Poems of Hesiod. — Nothing certain can be affirmed
respecting the date of Hesiod ; a Boeotian by birth, he is con-
sidered by some ancient authorities as contemj)orary with Homer,
while others suppose him to have flourished two or tlii-ee genera-
tions later. The poetry of Hesiod is a faithful transcript of the
whole condition of Boeotian life. It has nothing of that youth-
ful and inexliaustible fancy of Homer which lights up the sub-
Hme images of a heroic age and moulds them into forms of
surpassing beauty. The ])oetry of Hesiod a])]>ears struggling
to emerge out of the narrow bounds of connnon life, which he
strives to ennoble and to render more endurable. It is purely
didactic, and its object is to disseminate knowledge, by which
hfo may be imjiroved, or to diffuse certain religious notions as to
tiie influence of a superior destiny. His poem entitled " Works

76 HANDBOOK OF UNU^RSAL LITERATURE.

and Days " is so entirely occupied with the events of common
life, that the author would not seem to have been a poet by pro-
fession, but some Boeotian husbandman whose mind had been
moved by circumstances to give a poetical tone to the course of
his thoughts and feelings. The unjust claim of Perses, the
brother of Hesiod, to the small ])ortion of their father's land
which had been allotted to him, called forth this poem, in which
he seeks to improve the character and habits of Perses, to deter
him from acquiring riches by Utigation, and to incite him to a
life of labor, as the only source of permanent prosperity. He
points out the succession in which his labors must follow if he
determines to lead a life of industry, and gives wise rules of
economy for the management of a family ; and to illustrate and
enforce the principal idea, he ingeniously combines with his pre-
cepts mythical narratives, fables, and descriptions. The " The-
ogony " of Hesiod is a production of the highest importance, as
it contains the religious faith of Greece. It was through it
that Greece first obtained a religious code, which, although
without external sanction or priestly guardians and interpreters,
must have produced the greatest influence on the religious con-
dition of the Greeks.

5. Elegy axd Epigram. — Until the beginning of the sev-
enth century b. c, the epic was the only kind of poetry cultivated
in Greece, with the exception of the early songs and hymns, and
the hexameter the only metre used by the poets. This exclusive
prevalence of epic poetry was doubtless connected with the po-
litical state of the country. The ordinary subjects of these
poems must have been highly acceptable to the princes who
derived their race fi"ona the heroes, as was the case with all the
royal families of early times. The republican movements, which
deprived these families of their privileges, were favorable to the
stronger development of each man's individuality, and the poet,
who in the most perfect form of the epos was completely lost in
his su])ject, now came before the people as a man with thoughts
and objects of his own, and gave free vent to the emotions of his
soul in elegiac and iambic strains. The word elegeion means noth->
ing more than the combination of a hexameter and a pentam-
eter, making together a distich, and an elegy is a poem of such
verses. It was usually sung at the Symposia or literary festivals
of the Greeks ; in most cases its main subject was political ; it
afterwards assumed a plaintive or amatory tone. The elegy is
the first regularly cultivated branch of Greek poetry, in which
the flute alone and neither the cithara nor lyre was employed.
It was not necessary that lamentations should form the subject
of it, but emotion was essential, and excited by events or circum-
stances of the time or j)lace tlie poet poured forth his heart in
the unreserved expression of his fears and hopes.

GREEK LITERATURE. 77

TyrUeus (fl. 694 b. c), who went from Athens to Sparta, com-
posed the most celebrated, of his elegies on the occasion of the
Messenian war, and when the Spartans were on a cani])aign, it
was- their custom after the evening meal, when the paean had
been sung in honor of the gods, to recite these poems. From
this time we find a union between the elegiac and iambic poetry ;
the same poet, who employs the elegy to express his joyous and
melancholy emotions, has recourse to the iambus when his cool
sense prompts liim to censure the follies of mankind. The rela-
tion between these two metres is observable in Archilochus
(fl. 688 B. c.) and Simonides (fl. 664 B. c). The elegies of
Archilochus, of which many fragments are extant (while of
Simonides we only know that he composed elegies), had nothing
of that spirit of which his iambics were full, but they contain
the frank expression of a mind powerfully affected by outward
circumstances. With the Spartans, wine and the pleasures of
the feast became the subject of the elegy, and it was also recited
at the solemnities held in honor of all who had fallen for their
country. The elegies of Solon (592-559 B. c.) were pure ex-
pressions of his political feelings. Simonides of Scios, the re-
nowned lyric poet, the contemporary of Pindar and JEschylus,
was one of the great masters of elegiac song.

The epigram was originally an inscription on a tombstone, or
a votive otfering in a temple, or on any other tiling which re-
quired explanation. The unexpected turn of thought and point-
edness of expression, wliich the moderns considej' the essence of
this species of composition, were not required in the ancient
Greek epigram, where nothing was wanted but that the entire
thought should be conveyed within the limit of a few distichs,
and thus, in the hands of the early poets, the ei)igram was re-
markable for the conciseness and ex])ressiveness of its language
and (lifl:'ered in this respect from the elegy, in which full expres-
sion was given to the feeUngs of the poet.

It was Simonides who first gave to the epigram all the perfec-
tion of which it was capable, and he was fi'equently employed by
the states which fought against the Persians to adorn with in-
scriptions the tombs of their fallen warriors. The most cele-
brated of these is the inimitable inscription on the Spartans who
died at Thermopylae : " Foreigner, teU the Lacedaemonians that
we are lying here in obedience to their laws." On the Rhodian
lyric poet, Timocreon, an opjionent of Simonides in his art, he
wrote the following in the form of an epitaph : " Having eaten
much and drank nuich and said nmch evil of other men, here I
\ie, Timocreon the Rhodian."

6. Iambic Poetkv. the Fablk axd Parody. — The kind
»f poetry known by the ancients as Iambic was created among

78 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the Athenians hy Archilochus at the same time as the elegy. It
arose at a period when the Greeks, accustomed only to the calm,
unimpassioned tone of the epos, had but just found a temperate
expression of lively emotion in the elegy. It was a light, trip-
ping measure, sometimes loosely constructed, or purposely halt-
ing and broken, well adapted to vituperation, unrestrained by
any regard to morality and decency. At the public tables of
Sparta keen and pointed raillery was permitted, and some of
the most venerable and sacred of their religious rites afforded
occasion for their unsparing and audacious jests. This raillery
was so ancient and inveterate a custom, that it had given rise to
a peculiar word, wliich originally denoted nothing but the jests
and banter used at these festivals, namely, laTtibus. AU the
wanton extravagance which was elsewhere repressed by law or
custom, here, under the protection of religion, burst forth with
boundless license, and these scurrilous effusions were at length
reduced by Archilochus into the .systematic form of iambic
metre.

Akin to the iambic are two sorts of poetry, the fable and the
parody, which, though differing widely from each other, have
both their source in the turn for the delineation of the ludicrous,
and both stand in close historical relation to the iambic. The
fable in Greece originated in an intentional travesty of human
affairs. It is probable that the taste for fables of beasts and
numerous similar inventions found its way from the East, since
this sort of symbolical narrative is more in accordance with the
Oriental than Avith the Greek character.

^sop (fl. 572 B. c.) was very far from being regarded by the
Greeks as one of their poets, and still less as a writer. They
considered liim merely as an ingenious fabulist, to whom, at a
later period, nearly aU fables, that were invented or derived
from any other source, were attributed. He was a slave, whose
wit and pleasantry procured him his freedom, and who finally
perished in Delphi, where the people, exasperated by his sarcas-
tic fables, put him to death on a charge of robbing the temple.
No metrical versions of these fables are known to have existed
in early times.

The word " parody " means an adoption of the form of some
celebrated poem with such changes as to produce a totally dif-
ferent effect, and generally to substitute mean and ridicidous for
elevated and poetical sentiments. "The Battle of the Frogs
and Mice," attributed to Homer, but bearing evident traces of
a later age, belongs to this species of poetry.

7. Greek Music and Lyric Poetry. — It was not until
the minds of the Greeks had been elevated by the productions of
the epic muse, that the genius of original poets broke loose from

GREEK LITERATURE. 79

the dominion of the epic style, and invented new forms for ex-
pressing the emotions of a mind profoundly agitated by passing
events ; with few innovations in the elegy, hut with greater bohl-
ness in the iambic metre. In these two forms, Greek poetry
entered the domain of real life. The elegy and iambus contain
the germ of the lyric style, though they do not themselves come
under that head. The Greek lyric; poetry was characterized by
the expression of deeper and more impassioned feeling, and a
more impetuous tone than the elegy and iambus, and at the
same time the effect was heightened by ajjjjropriate vocal and
instrumental nnisic, and often by the figures of the dance. In
this union of the sister arts, poetry was indeed predominant, yet
music, in its turn, exercised a reci])rocal influence on poetry, so
that as it became more cultivated, the choice of the musical meas-
ure decided the tone of the whole })oem.

The history of Greek music begins with Terpander the Les-
bian (fl. 670 B. c), who was many times the victor in the musi-
cal contests at the Pythian tem])le of Delphi. He added three
new strings to the cithara, which had consisted only of four, and
this heptachord was employed by Pindar, and remained long in
high repute ; he was also the first who marked the different
tones in music. With other musicians, he imited the music of
Asia Minor with that of the ancient Greeks, and founded on it a
system in which each style had its appropriate character. By
the efforts of Terpander and one or two other masters, music
was brought to a liigh degree of excellence, and adapted to ex-
press any feeling to which the poet could give a more definite
character and meaning, and thus they had solved the great prob-
lem of their art. It was in Greece the constant endeavor of the
great poets, thinkers, and statesmen who interested themselves
in the education of youth, to give a good direction to this art ;
they all dreaded the increasing prevalence of a luxuriant style
of instrumental music and an unrestricted flight into the bound-
less realms of harmony.

The lyric ])oetry of the Greeks was of two kinds, and culti-
vated by two different schools of poets. One, called the yEolic.
flourished among the ^olians of Asia Minor, and particularly
in the island of Lesbos ; the other, the Doric, which, although
diffused over the whole of Greece, was at first principally culti-
vated by the Dorians. These two schools differed essentially in
the subjects, as in the form and style of their poems. The
Doric was intended to be executed by choruses, and to be sung
Co choral dances ; while the -^olic was recited by a single j)er-
8on, who accom])anied his recitation with a stringed instrmnent,
generally the lyre.

8. iEoLic Lyric Poets. — Alcaeus (fl. 611 b. c), born in

80 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Mytilene in the island of Lesbos, being driven out of his native
city for political reasons, wandered about the world, and, in the
midst of troubles and perils, struck the lyre and gave utterance
to the passionate emotions of his mind. His war-songs express
a stirring, martial spirit ; and a noble nature, accompanied with
strong passions, appears in all his poems, especially in those in
which he sings the praises of love and wine, though little of his
erotic poetry has reached our time. It is evident that poetry
was not with him a mere pastime or exercise of skill, but a
means of pouring out the inmost feelings of the soul.

Sappho (fl. 600 B. c.) the other leader of the ^oUc school of
poetry, was the object of the admiration of all antiquity. She
was contemporary with Alcaeus, and in her verses to liim we
plainly discern the feeling of unimpeached honor proper to a
fi'ee-born and well-educated maiden. Alcaeus testifies that the
attractions and loveliness of Sappho did not derogate from her
moral worth when he caUs her " violet-crowned, pure, sweetly
smiling Sappho." This testimony is, indeed, opposed to the
accounts of later writers, but the probable cause of the false
imputations in reference to Sappho seems to be that the refined
Athenians were incapable of appreciating the frank simplicity
with which she poured forth her feelings, and therefore they
confounded them with unblushing immodesty. While the men
of Athens were distinguished for their perfection in every branch
of art, none of their women emerged from the obscurity of do-
mestic life. " That woman is the best," says Pericles, " of whom
the least is said among men, whether for good or for evil." But
the Cohans had in some degree preserved the ancient Greek
manners, and their women enjoyed a distinct individual existence
and moral eharacter. They doubtless participated in the gen-
eral high state of civilization, which not only fostered poetical
talents of a high order among women, but produced in them a
turn for philosophical reflection. This was so utterly inconsist-
ent with Athenian manners, that we cannot wonder that women,
who had in any degree overstepped the bounds prescribed to
their sex at Athens, should be represented by the licentious pen
of Athenian comic writers as lost to every sense of shame and
decency. Sappho, in her odes, made frequent mention of a
youth to whom she gave her whole heart, while he requited her
love with cold indifference ; but there is no trace of her having
named the object of her passion. She may have celebrated the
beautiful and mythical Phaon in such a manner that the verses
were supposed to refer to a lover of her own. The account of
her leap from the Leucadian rock is rather a poetical image,
than a real event in the life of the poetess. The true conception
of the erotic poetry of Sappho can only be drawn from the frag-

GREEK LITERATURE. 81

menta of her odes, wliich, though numerous, are for the most
part very short. Among them, we must diistinguish the Epitha-
lamia or hymeneals, which were ])eculiarly adapted to the genius
of the poetess from the excpiisite percejjtion she seems to have
had of whatever was attractive in either sex. From the numer-
ous fragments that remain, these poems appear to have had
great beauty and much of that expression which the simple and
natural manners of the times allowed, and the warm and sensi-
tive heart of the poetess suggested. That Sappho's fame was
spread throughout Greece, may be seen from the history of
Solon, who was her contemporary. Hearing his nephew recite
one of her poems, he said that he would not willingly die until
he had learned it by heart. And, doubtless, from that circle of
accomplished women, of whom she formed the brilliant centre,
a flood of poetic light was poured forth on every side. Among
them may be mentioned the names of Damophila and Eirinna,
whose poem, " The Spindle," was higlily esteemed by the an-
cients.

The genius of Anacreon (fl. 540 B. c), though akin to that
of Alcseus and Sappho, had an entirely different bent. He seems
to consider life as valuable only so far as it can be spent in wine,
love, and social enjoyment. The Ionic softness and departure
from sti'ict rule may also be perceived in liis versification. The
different odes preserved under his name are the productions of
poets of a nuich later date. With Anacreon ceased the species
of lyric poetry in which he excelled ; indeed, he stands alone in
it, and the tender softness of his song was soon drowTied by the
louder tones of the choral poetry.

The Scolia were a kind of lyric songs sung at social meals,
when the sjjirit was raised by wine and conversation to a lyrical
])itch. The lyre or a sprig of myrtle was handed round the
table and presented to any one who could anmse the company
by a song or even a good sentence in a lyrical form.

9. Doric, or Choral Lyric Poets. — The chorus was in
general use in Greece before the time of Homer, and nearly
every variety of the choral poetry, wliich was afterwards so brill-
iantly developed, existed at that remote period in a rude, un-
finished state. After the improvements made by Terpander
and others in musical art, choral i)oetry rai)idly progressed to-
wards perfection. The poets during the period of progi-ess were
Alcman and Stesichorus, while finished lyric ])oetry is re])re-
sented by Ibycus, Simonides, his disciple Bacchylides and Pindar.
These gi-eat poets were only the representatives of the fervor
with wliich the religious festivals inspired all classes. Choral
dances were performed by the whole people with gi-eat ardos
6

82 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

and enthusiasm ; every considerable town had its poet, who de«
voted his whole life to the training and exhibition of choruses.

Alcman (b. 660 b. c.) was a Lydian of Sardis, and an eman-
cipated slave. His poems exliibit a gi*eat variety of metre, of
dialect, and of poetic tone. He is regarded as having overcome
the difficulties presented by the rough dialect of Sparta, and as
having succeeded in investing it with a certain grace. He is one
of tlie poets whose image is most effaced by time, and of whom
we can obtain little accurate knowledge. The admiration
awarded him by antiquity is scarcely justified by the extant re-
mains of his poems.

Stesichorus ^fl. 611 B. c.) lived at a time when the predomi-
nant tendency of the Greek mind was towards lyric poetry.
His special business was the training and direction of the cho-
ruses, and he assumed the name of Stesichorus. or leader of
choruses, his real name being Tesias. His metres approach
more nearly to the epos than those of Alcman. As Quintilian
says, he sustained the weight of epic poetry with the lyre. His
language accorded with the tone of liis poetry, and he is not
less remarkable in himself, than as the precursor of the perfect
lyi'ic poetry of Pindar.

Arion (625-585 b. c.) was chiefly known in Greece as the
perfecter of the " Dithyramb," a song of Bacchanalian festivals,
doubtless of gi'eat antiquity. Its character, like the worship to
which it belonged, was always impassioned and enthusiastic ; the
extremes of feeling, rapturous pleasure, and wild lamentation
were both expressed in it.

Ibycus (b. 528 B. c.) was a wandering poet, as is attested by
the story of his death having been avenged by the cranes. His
poetical style resembles that of Stesichorus, as also his subjects.
The erotic poetry of Ibycus is most celebrated, and breathes a
fervor of passion far exceeding that of any similar production of
Greek literature.

Simonides (556-468 b. c.) has already been described as one
of the gi-eat masters of the elegy and epigram. In depth and
novelty of ideas, and in the fervor of poetic feeling, he was far
inferior to his contemporary Pindar, but he was probably the
most prolific lyric poet of Greece. According to the frequent
reproach of the ancients, he was the first that sold his poems for
money. His style was not as lofty as that of Pindar, but what
he lost in sublimity he gained in pathos.

Bacchylides (fl. 450 B. c), the nephew of Simonides, devoted
his genius chiefly to the pleasures of private life, love, and wine,
and his productions, when compared with those of Simonides,
are marked l)y less moral elevation.

Timocreon the Rhodian (fl. 471 B. c.) owes his chief celebrity

GREEK LITERATURE. 83

among the ancients to the hate he hore to Themistocles in polit-
ical life, and to Sinionides on the field of ])oetry.

Pindar (522-485 b. c.) was the contemporary of ^schylus,
but as the causes wliich determined liis jjoetical character are to
be sought in an earlier age, and in the Doric and ^olic parts
of Greece, he may properly be j)laced at the close of the early
period, while ^Eschylus stands at the head of the new epoch of
literature. Like Hesiod, Pindar was a native of Bceotia, and tliat
there was still nmch love for music and poetry there is proved
by the fact that two women, Myrtis and Corinna, had obtained
great celebrity in these arts during the youth of this poet.
Myrtis (fl. 490 b. c.) strove with liim for the prize at the pu])lic
games, and Corinna (fl. 490 B. c.) is said to have gained the
victory over him five times. Too little of the poetry of Corinna
has been preserved to allow a judgment on her style of composi-
tion. Pindar made the arts of poetry and nuisic the business
of his life, and his fame soon spread throughout Greece and the
neighl)oring countries. He excelled in all the known varieties
of choral poetry, but the only class of poems that enables us
to judge of his general style is his trium})hal odes. When a
victory was gained in a contest at a festival by the speed of
horses, the strength and dexterity of the human body, or by
skill in music, such a victory, which shed honor not only on the
victor, but also on his family, and even on his native city, de-
manded a public celebration. An occasion of tliis kind had
always a religious character, and often began with a procession
to an altar or temple, where a sacrifice was offered, followed by
a banquet, and the solenmity concluded with a merry and bois-
terous revel. At this sacred and at the same time joyous fes-
tival, the chorus appeared and recited the trium])hal hynm,
which was considered the fairest ornament of the triumph.
Such an occasion, a victory in the sacred games and its end, the
ennobling of a ceremony connected with the worship of the
gods, required that the ode should be composed in a lofty and
dignified style. Pindar does not content himself with celebrat-
ing the bodily ])rowess of the victor alone, but he usually atlds
some moral virtue wliich he has shown, and which he recom-
mends and extols. Sometimes this virtue is moderation, wisdom,
or filial love, more often ])iety to the gods, and he ex])ounds to
the victor his destiny, by showing him the dei)endence of his
exploits on the higher order of things. Mythical narratives
occu])y much space in these odes, for in the time of Pindar the
mythical past was invested with a splendor and sublimity, of
which even the faint reflection was sufficient to embellish the
present.

10. Orphic Doctrines a^x> Poems. — The interval between

84 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Homer and Pindar is an important period in the history of
Greek civilization. In Homer we perceive that infancy of the
mind which lives in seeing and imagining, and whose moral
judgments are determined by impulses of feeling rather than
by rules of conduct, while with Pindar the chief effort of liis
genius is to discover the true standard of moral government.
This great change of opinion must have been affected by the
efforts of many sages and poets. All the Greek religious po-
etry, treating of death and of the world beyond the grave, re-
fers to the deities whose influence was supposed to be exercised
in the dark regions at the centre of the earth, and who had lit-
tle connection with the political and social relations of human
life. They formed a class apart from the gods of Olympus ; the
mysteries of the Greeks were connected with their worship
alone, and the love of immortality first found support in a be-
hef in these deities. The mysteries of Demeter, especially those
celebrated at Eleusis, inspired the most animating hopes with
regard to the soul after death. These mysteries, however, had
little influence on the literature of the nation ; but there was a
society of persons called the followers of Orpheus, who published
their notions and committed them to literary works. Under the
guidance of the ancient mystical poet, Orpheus, they dedicated
themselves to the worship of Bacchus or Dionysus, in which they
sought satisfaction for an ardent longing after the soothing and
elevating influences of religion, and upon the worship of this
deity they founded their hopes of an ultimate immortality of the
soul. Unlike the popular worshipers of Bacchus, they did not
indulge in unrestrained pleasure or frantic enthusiasm, but rather
aimed at an ascetic purity of life and manners. It is difficult
to teU when tliis association was formed in Greece, but we find
in Hesiod something of the Orphic spirit, and the beginning of
higher and more hopeful views of death.

The endeavor to obtain a knowledge of divine and human
things was in Greece slowly and with difficulty evolved from
their religious notions, and it was for a long time confined to
the refining and rationalizing of their mythology. An extensive
Orphic literature first appeared at the time of the Persian war,
when the remains of the Pythagorean order in Magna Graecia
united themselves to the Orphic associations. The philosophy
of Pythagoras, however, had no analogy with the spirit of the
Orphic mysteries, in which the worship of Dionysus was the
centre of all religious ideas, while the Pythagorean philosophers
preferred the worship of Apollo and the Muses. In the Orphic
theogony we find, for the first time, the idea of creation. An-
other difference between the notions of the Orphic poets and
those of the early Greeks was that the former did not limit

GREEK LITERATURE. 86

Iheir vievrs to the present state of mankind, still less did tliey ac-
quiesce in Hesiod's melancholy doctrine of successive ages, each
one worse than the preceding ; but they looked for a cessation
of strife, a state of iiappiness and beatitude at the end of all
things. Their hoj)es of this result were founded on Dionysus,
from the worship of whom all their peculiar religious ideas were
derived. This god, the son of Zeus, is to succeed him in the
government of the world, to restore the Golden Age, and to lib*
erate human souls, who, according to an Orphic notion, are pun-
ished by being confined in tlie body as in a prison. The suffer-
ings of the soul in its prison, the steps and transitions by which
it passes to a higher state of existence, and its gradual purifica-
tion and enlightenment, were all fully described in these poems.
Thus, in the poetry of the first five centuries of Greek literature,
es])ecially at the close of this period, we find, instead of the calm
enjoyment of outward nature which characterized the early epic
poetry, a profound sense of the misery of human life, and an
ardent longing for a condition of greater happiness. This feel-
ing, indeed, was not so extended as to become common to the
whole Greek nation, but it took deep root in individual minds,
and was connected with more serious and spiritual views of
human nature.

11. Pre-Socratic Philosophy. — Philosophy was early cul-
tivated by the Greeks, who fu'st among all nations distinguished
it from religion and mythology. For some time, however, after
its origin, it was as far removed from the ordinary thoughts and
occupations of the people as poetry was intimately connected
with them. Poetry idealizes all that is most characteristic of a
nation ; its religion, mythology, political and social institutions,
and manners. Philosophy, on the other hand, begins by de-
tacliHig the mind from the opinions and habits in which it has
been bred up, from the national conceptions of the gods and the
universe, and from traditionary maxims of ethics and politics.
The philosophy of Greece, antecedent to the time of Socrates, is
contained in the doctrines of the Ionic, Eleatic, and Pythagorean
schools. Thales of Miletus (639-548 b. c.) was the first in the
series of the Ionic philosophers. He was one of the Seven Sages,
who by tlujir practical wisdom nobly contributed to the flourish-
ing condition of Greece. Thales, Solon, Bion (fl. 570 B. c),
Cleobulus (fl. 542 B. c), Periander (fl. 598 B. c), Pittacus of
Mytilene (579 B. c), and Chilon (fl. 542 B. c), were the seven
philosophers called the seven sages by their countrymen. Thales
is said to have foretold an eclipse of the sun, for which he
doubtless employed astronomical formulae, which he had ob-
tained from the Chahleans. His tendency was practical, and
where his own knowledge was insufficient, he applied the dis-

86 HANDBOOK OF UNU^RSAL LITERATURE.

coveries of other nations more advanced than liis own. He
considered all nature as endowed with life, and sought to dis-
cover the principles of external forms in the powers which lie
beneath ; he taught that water was the princij^le of things.
Anaximander (fl. 547 B. c), and Anaxuuenes (fl. 548 b. c.)
were the other two most distinguished representatives of the
Ionic school. The former believed that chaotic matter was the
principle of all things, the latter taught that it was air. The
Eleatic school is represented by Xenophanes, Parmenides, and
Zeno. As the philosophers of the first school were called lo-
nians from the country in which they resided, so these were
named from Elea, a Greek colony of Italy. Xenophanes (fl. 538
B. c), the founder of this school, adopted a different principle
from that of the Ionic philosophers, and proceeded upon an ideal
system, while that of the latter was exclusively founded upon
experience. He began vsdth the idea of the godhead, and showed
the necessity of considering it as an eternal and unchanging ex-
istence, and represented the anthropomorphic conceptions of the
Greeks concerning their gods as mere prejudices. In his works
he retained the poetic form of composition, some fragments of
which he liimself recited at public festivals, after the manner of
the rhapsodists. Parmenides flourished 504 years B. c. His
philosophy rested upon the idea of existence which excluded the
idea of creation, and thus fell into pantheism. His poem on
" Nature " was composed in the epic metre, and in it he ex-
pressed in beautiful forms the most abstract ideas. Zeno of
Elea (fl. 500 b. c.) was a pupil of Parmenides, and the earliest
prose writer among the Greek philosophers. He developed the
doctrines of his master by showing the absurdities involved in
the ideas of variety and of creation, as opposed to one and uni-
versal substance. Other philosophers belonging to lona or Elea
may be referred to these schools, as Heraclitus, Empedocles,
Democritus, and Anaxagoras, whose doctrines, however, vary
from those of the representatives of the philosophical systems
above named. Heraclitus (fl. 505 b. c.) dealt rather in inti-
mations of important truths than in popular exposition of them ;
his cardinal doctrine seems to have been that everything is in
perpetual motion, that nothing has any permanent existence,
and that everything is assuming a new form or perishing : the
principle of this perpetual motion he supposed to be fire, though
probably he did not mean material fire, but some higher and
more universal agent. Like nearly all the philosophers, he de-
?]>ised the popular religion. Empedocles (fl. 440 B. c.) wrote a
doctrinal poem concerning nature, fragments of which have been
preserved. He denied the possiliility of creation, and held the
doctrine of an eternal and imperishable existence ; but he coDf

GREEK LITERATURE. 87

sidered this existence as having different natures, and admitted
that tire, earth, air, and water were the four elements of all
things. These elements he supposed to be governed by two
principles, one positive and one negative, that is to say, connect-
nig love aiid dissolving discord. Democritus (fl. 460 B. c.) em-
bodied his extensive knowledge in a series of writings, of which
only a few fragments have been preserved. Cicero compared
him with Plato for rhythm and elegance of language. He de-
rived the manifold phenomena of the world from the different
form, disposition, and arrangement of the innumerable elements
or atoms as they become united. He is the founder of the
atomic, doctrine. Anaxagoras (fl. 456 B. c.) rejected all popular
notions of religion, excluded the idea of creation and destruc-
tion, and taught that atoms were unchangeable and miperish-
able ; that spirit, the purest and subtlest of all things, gave to
these atoms the inn>ulse by whicrh they took the forms of indi-
vidual things and beings ; and that tliis impulse was given in
circular motion, which kept the heavenly bodies in their courses.
But none of his doctrines gave so much offence or was consid-
ered so clear a proof of his atheism as his opinion that the sun,
the bountiful god Helios, who shines both upon mortals and im-
mortals, was a mass of red-hot iron. His doctrines tended
powerfidly by their rapid diffusion to undermine the principles
on which the worship of the ancient gods rested, and they there-
fore prepared the way for the subsequent triumph of Chris-
tianity.

The Pythagorean or Italic School was founded by Pythagoras,
who is said to have flourished between 540 and 500 B. c. Pythag-
oras was probably an Ionian who emigrated to Italy, and there
establisbed his school. His jjrincipal efforts were directed to
practical life, especially to the regulation of political institutions,
and his influence was exercised by means of lectures, or sayings,
or by the establishment and direction of the Pythagorean asso-
ciations. He encouraged the study of mathematics and music,
and considered singing to the cithara as best iitted to produce
that mental repose and harmony of soul which he regarded as
the higliest object of education.

12. History. — It is remarkable that a people so cidtivated
as the Greeks sbould have been so long without feeling the want
of a correct record of their transactions in war and peace. The
difference between this nation and the Orientals, in this respect,
is very great. But the division of the country into numerous
small states, and the republican form of the governments, pre-
vented a concentration of interest on particular events and pel"
sons, and owing to the dissensions between the rejniblics, their
historical traditions could not but offend some while they flat-

88 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

tered others ; it was not until a late period that the Greeks con*
sidered contemporary events as worthy of being thought or
written of. But for this absence of authentic history, Greek
literature could never have become what it was. By the purely
fictitious character of its poetry, and its freedom from the shack-
les of particular truths, it acquired that general probability which
led Aristotle to consider poetry as more philosophical than his-
tory. Greek art, likewise, from the lateness of the period at
which it descended from the representation of gods and heroes
to the portraits of real men, acquired a nobleness and beauty
of form which it could not otherwise have obtained. This poet-
ical basis gave the literature of the Greeks a noble and liberal
turn.

Writing was probably known in jreece some centuries before
the time of Cadmus of Miletus (fl. 522 b. c), but it had not
been employed for the purpose of preserving any detailed his-
torical record, and even when, towards the end of the age of the
Seven Sages (550 b. c), some writers of historical narratives
began to appear, they did not select recent historical events, but
those of distant times and countries ; so entirely did they believe
that oral tradition and the daily discussions of common life were
sufficient records of the events of their own time and country.
Cadmus of Miletus is mentioned as the first historian, but his
works seem to have been early lost. To him, and other Greek
historians before the time of Herodotus, scholars have given the
name of Logographers, from Logos, signifying any discourse in
prose.

The first Greek to whom it occurred that a narrative of facts
might be made intensely interesting was Herodotus (484-432
B. c), a native of Halicarnassus in Asia Minor, the Homer of
Greek history. Obliged, for political reasons, to leave his native
land, he visited many countries, such as Egypt, Babylon, and
Persia, and spent the latter years of his life in one of the Gre-
cian settlements in Italy, where he devoted himself to the com=
position of his work. His travels were undertaken from the
pure spirit of inquiry, and for that age they were very extensive
and important. It is probable that his great and intricate plan,
hitherto unknown in the historical writings of the Greeks, did
not at first occur to him, and that it was only in his later years
that he conceived the complete idea of a work so far beyond
those of his predecessors and contemporaries. It is stated that
he recited his history at different festivals, which is quite credi-
ble, though there is little authority for the story that at one of
these Thucydides was present as a boy, and shed tears, drawn
forth by his own desire for knowledge and his intense interest
in the narrative. His work comprehends a history of nearly all

GREEK LITERATURE. 89

the nations of the world at that time known. It has an epic
character, not only from the equable and uninterrupted flow of
the narrative, but also from certain pervading ideas which give
a tone to the whole. The principal of these is the idea of a fixed
destiny, of a wise arrangement of the world, which has pre-
scribed to every being his path, and which allots ruin and de-
struction not only to crime and violence, but to excessive power
and riches and the overweening pride which is their companion.
In this consists the envy of the gods so often mentioned by He-
rodotus, and usually called by the other Greeks the divine Ne-
mesis. He constantly adverts in his narrative to the influence
of this divine power, the Daemonion, as he calls it. He shows
how the Deity visits the sins of the ancestors upon their de-
scendants, how man rushes, as it were, wilfully upon his own
destruction, and how oracles mislead by their ambiguity, when
interpreted by blind passion. He shows his awe of the divine
Nemesis by his moderation and the firmness with which he keeps
down the ebullitions of national pride. He points out traits of
greatness of character in the hostile kings of Persia, and shows
his countrymen how often they owed their successes to Provi-
dence and external advantages rather than to their own valor
and ability. Since Herodotus saw the working of a divine
agency in all human events, and considered the exhibition of it
as the main object of his history, his aim is totally different
from that of a historian who regards the events of life merely
with reference to men. He is, in truth, a theologian and a poet
as well as a historian. It is, however, vain to deny that whea
Herodotus did not see himself the events which he describes, he
is often deceived by the misrepresentations of others ; yet, with-
out his single-hearted simplicity, his disposition to listen to every
remarkable account, and his admiration for the wonders of the-
Eastern world, Herodotus would never have imparted to us
many valuable accounts. Modern travelers, naturalists, and
geographers have often had occasion to admire the truth, and
correctness of the information contained in his simple and mar-
velous narratives. But no dissertation on this writer can con-
vey any idea of the impression made by reading his work ; his
language closely approximates to oral narration ; it is like hear-
ing a person speak who has seen and lived tlrrough a variety of
remarkable things, and whose greatest delight consists in recall-
ing these images of the past. Though a Dorian by birth, he-
adopted the Ionic dialect, with its uncontraoted terminations^
its accumulated vowels, and its soft forms. These various ele-
ments conspire to render the work of Herodotus a p^od^Ufiion
as perfect in its kind as any human work can be.

90 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

PERIOD SECOND.
The Epoch of the Athenian Literature (484-322 b. c).

1. Literary Predomlntance of Athens. — Among the
Greeks a national literature was early formed. Every literary
work in the Greek language, in whatever dialect it might be
composed, was enjoyed by the whole nation, and the fame of
remarkable writers soon spread throughout Greece. Certain
cities were considered almost as theatres, where the poets and
sages could bring their powers and acquirements into public no-
tice. Among these, Sparta stood highest down to the time of
the Persian war. But when Athens, raised by her political
power and the mental qualities of her citizens, acquired the
rank of tlie capital of Greece, hterature assumed a different
form, and there is no more important epoch in the history of
the Greek intellect than the time when she obtained this pre-
eminence over her sister states. The character of the Athe-
nians peculiarly fitted them to take this lead ; they were lonians,
and the boundless resources and mobility of the Ionian spirit are
shown by their astonishing productions in Asia Minor and in
the islands, in the two centuries previous to the Persian war ; in
their iambic and elegiac poetry, and ip the germs of philosophic
inquiry and historical composition. The literature of those who
remained in Attica seemed poor and meagre when comjiared
with that luxuriant outburst ; nor did it ajjpear, till a later pe-
riod, that the progress of the Athenian intellect was the more
sound and lasting. The lonians of Asia Minor, becoming at
length enfeebled and corrupted by the luxuries of the East, passed
easily under the power of the Persians, while the inhabitants
of Attica, encompassed and oppressed by the manly tribes of
Greece, and forced to keep the sword constantly in their hands,
exerted aU their talents and thus developed all their extraordi-
nary powers.

Solon, the great lawgiver, arose to combine moral strictness
and order with 'freedom of action. After Solon came the do-
minion of the Pisistratidae, which lasted from about 560 to 510
B. c. They showed a fondness for art, diffused a taste for
poetry among the Athenians, and naturalized at Athens the
best literary productions of Greece. They were unquestionably
the first to introduce the entire recital of the Iliad and Odyssey ;
they also brought to Athens the most distinguished lyric poets
of the time, Anacreon, Siraonides, and others. But, notwith-
standing their patronage of literature and art, it was not till
after the fall of their dynasty that Athens shot up with a vigor
that can only be derived from the consciousness of every citizen
that he has a share in the common weal.

GREEK LITERATURE. 91

It is a remarkable fact that Athens produced her most excel-
lent works in literature and art hi the midst of the greatest po-
litical convulsions, and of her utmost ett'orts for conquest and
self-preservation. The long dominion of the Pisistratids pro-
duced nothing more important than the first rudiments of tlie
tragic drama, for the origin of comedy at the country festivals
of Bacchus falls in the time before Pisistratus. On the other
liand, the thirty years between the exi)ulsion of Hippias, the last
of the Pisistratids, and the battle of Salamis (510-480 b. c), was
a period marked by great events both in i)olitics and literature.
Athens contended with success against her warlike neighbors,
su])i)()rted the lonians in their revolt against Persia, and warded
oft" the first powerful attack of the Persians ujjon Greece. Dur-
ing the same jjeriod, the ])athetic tragedies of Phrynichus and
the lofty tragedies of ^schylus appeared on the stage, political
eloquence was awakened in Themistocles, and everything seemed
to give promise of future greatness.

The political events which followed the Persian war gradu-
ally gave to Athens the dominion over her allies, so that she
became the sovereign of a large and flourishing empire, compre-
hending the islands and coasts of the J^gean and a part of the
Euxine sea. In this manner was gamed a wide basis for the
lofty edifice of political glory, which was raised by her states-
men. The completion of this splendid structure was due to
Pericles (500-429 b. c). Through his influence Atliens be-
came a dominant community, whose chief business it was to ad-
minister the affairs of an extensive empire, flourishing in agri-
culture, industry, and commerce. Pericles, however, did not
make the acquisition of power the liighest object of his exer-
tions ; his aim was to realize in Athens the idea which he had
conceived of human greatness, that great and noble thoughts
should pervade the whole mass of the ruling people ; and this
was, in fact, the case as long as his influence lasted, to a greater
degree than has occurred in any other period of history. The
objects to which Pericles directed the people, and for which he
accumulated so much power and wealth at Athens, may be best
seen in the still extant works of architecture and sculpture
wliich originated under his administration. He induced the
Atiienian people to expend on tiie decoration of Athens a larger
part of its ample revenues than was ever applied to this i)urpose
in any other state, either rei)ublican or monarchical. Of the
surpassing skill with wliich he collected into one focus the rays
of artistic genius at Athens, no stronger proof can be afforded,
than the fact that no subsequent period, through the patronage
of Macedonian or Roman princes. ])roduced works of equal ex-
cellence. Indeed, it may be said that the creations of the age

92 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

of Pericles are the only works of art which completely satisfy
the most refined and cultivated taste.

But this brilliant exhibition of human excellence was not
without its dark side, nor the flourishing state of Athenian civil-
ization exempt from the elements of decay. The political posi-
tion of Athens soon led to a conflict between the patriotism and
moderation of her citizens, and their interests and passions.
From the earliest times, this city had stood in an unfriendly
relation to the rest of Greece, and her policy of compelling so
many cities to contribute their wealth in order to make her the
focus of art and civilization was accompanied with offensive
pride and selfish patriotism. The energy in action, which dis-
tinguished the Athenians, degenerated into a restless love of
adventure ; and that dexterity in the use of words, which they
cultivated more than the other Greeks, induced them to subject
everything to discussion, and destroyed the habits founded on
unreasoning faith. The principles of the policy of Pericles were
closely connected with the demoralization which followed his
administration. By founding the power of the Athenians on the
dominion of the sea, he led them to abandon land war and the
military exercises requisite for it,, which had hardened the old
warriors at Marathon. As he made them a dominant people,
whose time was chiefly devoted to the business of governing
their widely-extended empire, it was necessary for him to pro-
vide that the common citizens of Athens should be able to gain
a livelihood by their attention to public business, and accord-
ingly, a large revenue was distributed among them in the form
of wages for attendance in the courts of justice and other public
assemblies. These payments to citizens for their share in the
public business were quite new in Greece, and many considered
the sitting and listening in these assemblies as an idle life in
comparison with the labor of the jilowman and vine-grower in
the country, and for a long time the industrious cultivators, the
brave warriors, and the men of old-fashioned morality were
opposed, among the citizens of Athens, to the loquacious, lux-
urious, and dissolute generation who passed their whole time in
the market-place and courts of justice. The contests between
these two parties are the main subject of the early Attic comedy.

Literature and art, however, were not, during the Pelopon-
nesian war, afFected by the corruption of morals. The works
of fliis period exhibit not only a perfection of form but also an
elevation of soul and a grandeur of conception, which fill us
with admiration not only for those who produced them, but for
those who could enjoy su(!h works of art. A step farther, and
the love of genuine beauty gave place to a desire for evil pleas-
ures, and the love of wisdom degenerated into an idle use of
words.

GREEK LITERATURE. 93

2. The Drama. — Tlie spirit of an age is more completely
represented by its poetry than by its jjrose composition, and ac-
cordingly we may best trace the character of the three different
stages of civilization among the Greeks in the three grand divis-
ions of their poetry. The e\nc belongs to their monarchical
periotl, when the minds of the peojjle were impregnated and
swayed by legends handed down from antiquity. Elegiac, iam-
bic, and lyric poetry arose in the more stirring and agitated
times which accompanied the develo])ment of republican gov-
ernments, times in which each individual gave vent to his per-
sonal aims and wishes, and all the depths of the human breast
were unlocked by the inspirations of poetry. And now, when
at the summit of Greek civilization, in the very prime of Athen-
ian power and freedom, we see dramatic poetry spring up as the
organ of the prevailing thoughts and feelings of the time, we are
naturally led to ask how it comes that this style of poetry agreed
so well with the spirit of the age, and so far outstripped its com-
petitors in the contest for public favor.

Dramatic poetry, as its name implies, represents actions, which
are not, as in the epos, merely narrated, but seem to take place
before the eyes of the spectator. The epic poet a])pears to re-
gard the events, which he relates from afar, as objects of calm
contemplation and admiration, and is always conscious of the
great interval between him and them, while the dramatist
plunges with his entire soul into the scenes of human life, and
seems himself to experience the events which he exhibits to our
view. The drama comjjrehends and develops the events of
human life with a force and depth which no other style of poetry
can reach.

If we carry ourselves in imagination back to a time when
dramatic composition was unknown, we must acknowledge that
its creation required great boldness of mind. Hitherto the bard
had only sung of gods and heroes ; it was, therefore, a great
change for the poet himself to come forward all at once in the
character of the god or hero, in a nation which, even in its
amusements, had always adhered closely to established usages.
It is true that there is nuich in human nature which impels it to
dramatic representations, such as the universal love of imitating
other persons, and the child-like liveliness with which a narrator,
strongly impressed with his sul)ject, delivers a speech which he
has heard or perhaps only imagined. Yet there is a wide step
from these disjointed elements to the genuine drama, and it
seems that no nation, exce]it the Greeks, ever made this step.
The dramatic poetry of the Hindus belongs to a time when there
had been much intercourse between Greece and India; even
in ancient Greece and Italy, dramatic poetry, and especially

94 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

tragedy, attained to perfection only in Athens, and here it waa
exhibited only at a few festivals of a single god, Dionysus, while
epic rhapsodies and lyric odes were recited on various occasions.
All this is incomprehensible, if we suppose dramatic poetry to
have originated in causes independent of the peculiar circum-
stances of time and place. If a love of imitation and a delight
in disguising the real person under a mask were the basis upon
which this style of poetry was raised, the drama would have
been as natural and as universal among men as these qualities
are common to their nature.

A more satisfactory explanation of the origin of the Greek
drama may be found in its connection with the worship of the
gods, and particularly that of Bacchus. The gods were sup-
posed to dwell in their temples and to participate in their fes-
tivals, and it was not considered presumptuous or unbecoming
to represent them as acting like human beings, as was frequently
done by mimic representations. The worship of Bacchus had
one quality which was more than any other calculated to give
birth to the drama, and particularly to tragedy, namely, the
enthusiasm which formed an essential part of it, and which
proceeded from an impassioned sympathy with the events of
nature in connection with the course of the seasons. The orig-
inal participators in these festivals believed that they perceived
the god to be really affected by the changes of nature, killed
or dying, flying and rescued, or reanimated, victorious, and dom-
inant. Although the great changes, which took place in the
religion and cultivation of the Greeks, banished from their minds
the conviction that these events really occurred, yet an enthu-
siastic sympathy with the god and his fortunes, as with real
events, always remained. The swarm of subordinate beings by
whom Bacchus was surrounded — satyrs, nymjjhs, and a vari-
ety of beautiful and grotesque forms — were ever present to
the fancy of the Greeks, and it was not necessary to depart very
widely from the ordinary course of ideas to imagine them visible
to human eyes among the solitary woods and roclcs. The cus-
tom, so prevalent at tlie festivals of Bacchus, of taking the dis-
guise of satyrs, doubtless originated in the desire to approach
more nearly to the presence of their divinity. The desire of
escaping fi'om self into something new and strange; of living in
an imaginary world, broke forth in a thousand instances in those
festivals. It was seen in the coloring of the body, the wearing
of skins and masks of wood or bai"k, and in the complete costumo
belonging to the character.

The learned writers of antiquity agree in stating that tragedy,
»s well as comedy, was originally a choral song. The action,
the adventures of the gods, was presupposed or only symbolical!.^

GREEK LITERATURE. 95

indicated ; the chorus ex])ressed their feelings upon it. This
choral song l)elonged to the class of the dithyraiiiby an enthusi-
astic ode to Bacchus, capable of expressing every variety of feel-
ing excited by the worshij) of that god. It was first sung by
revelers at convivial meetings, afterwards it was regularly exe-
cuted by a chorus. The subject of these tragic choruses some-
times changed fnnn Bacchus to other heroes distinguished for
their misfortunes and suffering. The reason why the dithy-
ramb and afterwards tragedy was transferred from that god to
heroes and not to other gods of the Greek Olympus, was that
the latter were elevated above the chances of fortune and the al-
ternations of joy and grief to which both Bacchus and the he-
roes were subject.

It is stated l)y Aristotle, that tragedy originated with the
chief singers of the dithyramb. It is probable that they repre-
sented Bacchus himself or liis messengers, that they came for-
ward and narrated his i>erils and escapes, and that the chorus
then expressed their feeling, as at passing events. The chorus
thus naturally assumed the character of satellites of Bacchus,
whence they easily fell into the parts of satyrs, who were his
com})anions in sportive adventures, as well as in combats and
misfortunes. The name of tratjedy, or goafs song, was derived
from the resemblance of the singers, in their character of satyrs,
to goats.

Thus far tragedy had advanced among the Dorians, who,
therefore, considered themselves the inventors of it. All its fur-
ther development belongs to the Athenians. In the time of Pis-
istratus, Thespis (506 B. c.) first caused tragedy to become a
drama, though a very simple one. He connected with the
choral representation a regular dialogue, by joining one person
to the chorus who was the first actor. He, introduced linen
masks, and thus the one actor might a])pear in several chai-ac-
ters. In the drama of Thespis we linil the satyi'ic drama con-
founded with tragedy, and the persons of the chorus frequently
representing satyrs. The dances of the chorus were still a
principal i)art of the performance ; the ancient tragedians, in
general, were teachers of dancing, as well as poets and musi-
cians.

In Phrynichus (fl. 512 B. c.) the lyric predominated over the
dramatic element. Like Thespis, he had only one actor, but he
used this actor for different characters, and he was the first who
brought female parts u])on the stage, which, according to the
manners of the ancients, could be acted only by men. In sev-
eral instances it is remarkable that Phrynichus deviated from
mythical subjects to those taken from conteni])orary history.

3. Tragedy. — The tragedy of antiquity was entirely differ

96 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

ent from that which, in progress of time, arose among other na/«
tions ; a picture of human life, agitated by the passions, and cor-
responding as accurately as possible to its original in all its
features. Ancient tragedy departs entirely from ordinary life ;
its character is in the highest degree ideal, and its development
necessary, and essentially directed by the fate to which gods
and men were subjected. As tragedy and dramatic exliibitions,
generally, were seen only at the festivals of Bacchus, they re-
tained a sort of Bacchic coloring, and the extraordinary excite-
ment of all minds at these festivals, by raising them above the
tone of every-day existence, gave both to the tragic and comic
muse unwonted energy and fire.

The Bacchic festal costume, which the actors wore, consisted
of long striped garments reaching to the gi'ound, over which
were thrown upper garments of some brilliant color, with gay
trimmings and gold ornaments. The choruses also vied with
each other in the splendor of their dress, as well as in the excel-
lence of their singing and dancing. The chorus, which always
bore a subordinate part in the action of the tragedy, was in no
respect distinguished from the stature and appearance of ordi-
nary men, while the actor, who represented the god or hero, re-
quired to be raised above the usual dimensions of mortals. A
tragic actor was a strange, and, according to the taste of the
ancients themselves at a later period, a very monstrous being.
His person was lengthened out considerably beyond the propor-
tions of the human figure by the very high soles of the tragic
shoe, and by the length of the tragic mask, and the chest, body,
legs, and arms were stuffed and padded to a corresponding size ;
the body thus lost much of its natural flexibility, and the gestic-
ulation consisted of stiff, angular movements, in which little was
left to the emotion or the inspiration of the moment. Masks,
which had originated in the taste for mumming and disguises of
aU sorts, prevalent at the Baccliic festivals, were an indispensa-
ble accompaniment to tragedy. They not only concealed the
individual features of well-known actors, and enabled the spec-
tators entirely to forget the performer in his part, but gave to
his whole aspect that ideal character which the tragedy of antiq-
uity demanded. The tragic mask was not intentionally ugly
and caricatured like the comic;, but the half-open mouth, the
large eye-sockets, and sharply-defined features, in which every
characteristic was presented in its utmost strength, and the
bright and hard coloring were calculated to make the impres-
Bion of a being agitated by the emotions and passions of human
nature in a desree far above the standard of common life. The
masks could, however, be changed between the acts, so as to
represent the necessary changes in the state or emotions of thd
persons.

GREEK LITERATURE. 97

The ancient theatres were stone huikUngs of enormous size,
calculated to accommodate the whole free and adult population "
of a {jreat city at the spectacles and festal games. These the-
atres were not designed exclusively for dramatic poetry ; choral
dances, })rocessions, revels, and all sorts of representations were
held in them. We lind theatres in every part of Greece, though
dramatic poetry was the peculiar growth of Athens.

The whole structure of the theatre, as well as the drama it-
self, may he traced to the chorus, whose station was the original
centre of the whole performance. The orchestra, which occu-
pied a circular level space in the centre of the building, grew
out of the chorus or dancing-place of the Homeric times. The
altar of Bacchus, around which the dithyramhic chorus danced
in a circle, had given rise to a sort of raised platform in the
centre of the orchestra, which served as a restmg-place for the
chorus.

The chorus sang alone when the actors had quitted the stage,
or alternately with the persons of the tlrama, and sometimes en-
tered into dialogues with them. These persons represented
heroes of the mythical world, whose whole aspect bespoke some-
thing mightier and more sublime than ordinary humanity, and
it was the part of the chorus to show the impression made by
the incidents of the drama on lower and feebler minds, and thus,
as it were, to interpret them to the audience, with whom they
owned a more kindred nature.* The ancient stage was remark-
ably long, and of little depth ; it was called the prosceyiium, be-
cause it was in front of the scene. Scene properly means tent
or hut, such as originally marked the dwelling of the principal
person. This hut at length gave place to a stately scene, en-
riched with arcliitectural decorations, yet its purpose remained
the same.

We have seen how a single actor was added to the chorus by
Thespis, who caused him to represent in succession all the per-
sons of the drama. iEschylus added a second actor in order to
obtain the contrast of two acting persons on the stage ; even
Sophocles did not venture beyond the introduction of a third.
But the ancients laid more stress upon the precise number and
uuitual relations of these actors tlian can here be explained.

4. The Tragic Poets. — ^schylus (525-477 b. c), like
almost all the great masters of poetry in ancient Greece, was a
poet by profession, and from the great improvements which he
introduced into tragedy he was regarded by the Athenians as
its founder. Of the seventy tragedies which he is said to have
written, only seven are extant. Of these, the " Prometheus " is
beyond all question his greatest work. The genius of ^schylus
inclined rather to the awful and sublime, than to the tender and

98 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

pathetic. He excels in representing the superhuman, in depict*
■va^ demigods and heroes, and in tracing the irresistible march
of fate. The depth of jjoetical feeling in him is accompanied
with intense and philosophical thought ; he does not merely rep-
resent individual tragical events, but he recurs to the greater
elements of tragedy — the subjection of the gods and Titans,
and the original dignity and greatness of natui'e and of man.
He delights to j)ortray this gigantic strength, as in his Prome-
theus chained and tortured, but invincible ; and these represen-
tations have a moral subhmity far above mere poetic beauty.
His tragedies were at once jjolitical, patriotic, and religious.

Sophocles (495-406 b. c), as a poet, is universally allowed
to have brought the drama to the highest degree of perfection
of which it was susceptible. Indeed, the Greek mind may be
said to have culminated in him ; his writings overflow with that
indescribable charm which only flashes through those of other
poets. His plots are worked up with more skill and care than
those of either of his great rivals, ^schylus or Euripides, and
he added the last improvement to the form of the drama by the
introduction of a third actor, — a change which greatly enlarged
the scope of the action. Of the many tragedies which he is said
to have written, only seven are extant. Of these, the " Oedipus
Tyrannus " is particularly remarkable for its skillful develop-
ment, and for the manner in which the interest of the piece in-
creases through each succeeding a'ct. Of all the poets of antiq-
uity, Sophocles has penetrated most deeply into the recesses of
the human heart. His tragedies appear to us as pictures of the
mind, as poetical developments of the secrets of our souls, and
of the laws to which their nature makes them amenable.

In Euripides (480-407 b. c.) we discover the first traces of
decline in the Greek tragedy. He diminished its dignity by
depriving it of its ideal character, and by bringing it down to
the level of every-day life. All the characters of Euripides
have that loquacity and dexterity in the use of words which dis-
tinguished the Athenians of his day ; yet in spite of all these
faults he has many beauties, and is particularly remarkable for
pathos, so that Aristotle calls him the most tragic of poets.
Eij^hteen of his traiJfedies are still extant.

The contemporaries of the three great tragic poets, ^schylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides, must be regarded for the most part as
far from insignificant, since they maintained their place on the
stage beside them, and not unfrequently gained the tragic prize
in competition with them ; yet the general character of these
poets must have been deficient in that depth and peculiar force
of genius by which these great tragedians were distinguished.
If this had not been the case, their works would assuredly have

GREEK LITERATURE. 99

attracted greater attention, and would have been read more fre-
quently in later times.

5. CoMKDY. — Greek comedy was distinguished as the Old,
the Middle, and the New. As tragedy arose from the winter
feast of Bacchus, wliich fostered an enthusiastic sympathy with
the apparent sorrows of the god of nature, comedy arose from
the concluding feast of the vintage, at whicli an exulting joy
over the inexhaustible riches of nature manifested itself in wan-
tomiess of every kmd. In such a feast, the Comus, or 13accha=
nalian procession, was a principal ingredient. Tliis was a
tumidtuous mixture of the wUd carouse, the noisy song, and the
drunken dance ; and the meaning of the word comedy is a comus
song. It was from .this lyric comedy that the dramatic comedy
was gradually produced. It received its full development from
Cratinus, who lived in the age of Pericles. Cratinus and his
younger contemporaries, Eupolis (431 B. c.) and Aristophanes
(452-380 B. c), were the great poets of the old Attic comedy.
Of their works, only eleven dramas of Aristo])hanes are extant.
The cliief object of these comedies was to excite laughter by the
boldest and most ludicrous caricature, and, provided that end
was obtained, the poet seems to have cared little about the justice
of the picture. It is scarcely possible to imagine the unmeasured
and unsparing license of attack assumed by these comedies upon
the gods, the institutions, the politicians, philosophers, poets,
private citizens, and women of Athens. With this universal
liberty of subject there is combined a poignancy of derision and
satire, a fecundity of imagination, and a richness of poetical ex-
pression such as cannot be surpassed. Towards the end of the
career of Aristophanes, however, this unrestricted license of the
comedy began graduaUy to disappear.

The Old comedy was succeeded by the Middle Attic comedy,
in which the satire was no longer directed against the influential
men or rulers of the people, but was rich in ridicule of the Pla-
tonic Academy, of the newly revived sect of the Pythagoreans,
and of the orators, rhetoricians, and poets of the day. In this
transition from the Old to the Middle comedy, we may discern
at once the great revolution that had taken place in the domestic
history of Athens, when the Athenians, from a nation of politi-
cians, became a nation of literary men ; when it was no longer
the opposition of political ideas, but the contest of opposing
schools of philosophers and rhetoricians, which set all heads in
motion. The poets of this comedy were very numerous.

The last poets of the IMiddle comedy were contemporaries of
the ^Titers of the New, who rose up as their rivals, and who
were only distinguished from them by following the new ten-
dency more decidedly and exclusively. Menander (342-293

100 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

B. c.) was one of the first of these poets, and he is also the most
perfect of them. The Athens of his day differed from that of
the time of Pericles, in the same way that an old man, weak in
body but fond of life, good-humored and self-indulgent, differs
from the vigorous, middle-aged man at the summit of his mental
Strength and bodily energy. Since there was so little in poUtics
to interest or to employ the mind, the Athenians found an ob-
ject in the occurrences of social life and the charm of dissolute
enjoyment. Dramatic poetry now, for the first time, centred in
love, as it has since done among all nations to whom the Greek
cultivation has descended. But it certainly was not love in those
nobler forms to which it has since elevated itself. Menander
painted truly the degenerate world in which he lived, actu-
ated by no mighty impulses, no noble aspirations. He was con-
temporaiy with Epicurus, and their characters had much in
common ; both were deficient in the insiiiration of high moral
ideas.

The comedy of Menander and his contemporaries completed
what Euripides had begun on the tragic stage a hundred years
before their time. They deprived their characters of that ideal
grandeur which had been most conspicuous in thQ creations of
iEschylus and the earlier poets, and thus tragedy and comedy,
which had started from such different beginnings, here met as at
the same point. The comedies of Menander may be considered
as almost the conclusion of Attic literature; he was the last
original poet of Athens ; those who arose at a later period were
but gleaners after the rich harvest of Greek poetry had been
gathered.

6. Oratory, Rhetoric, and History. — We may distin-
guish three epochs in the history of Attic prose from Pericles to
Alexander the Great : first, that of Pericles and Thucydides ;
second, that of Lysias, Socrates, and Plato ; and, third, that of
Demosthenes and -^schines. Public speaking had been com-
mon in Greece from the earliest times, but as the works of Athe-
nian orators alone have come down to us, we may conclude that
oratory was cultivated in a much higher degree at Athens than
elsewhere. No speech of Pericles has been preserved in writ-
ing ; only a few of his emphatic and nervous expressions were
kept in remembrance ; but a general impression of the grandeur
of his oratory long prevailed among the Greeks, from which we
may form a clear conception of his style. The sole object of the
oratory of Pericles was to produce conviction ; he did not aim
to excite any sudden or transient burst of passion by working oo
the emotions of the heart ; nor did he use any of those means
em])l()yed by the orators of a later age to set in motion the un-
ruly impulses of the nmltitude. His manner was tranquU, with

GREEK LITERATURE. 101

hardly any change of feature ; his garments were undisturbed by
any oratorical gesticidations, and his voice was equable and sus-
tained. He never condescended to flatter the people, and his
dignity never stooped to merriment. Although there was more
of reasoning than imagination in his speeches, he gave a vivid
and impressive coloring to his language by the use of striking
metaphors and comparisons, as when, at the funeral of a number
of young persons who had fallen in battle, he used the beautiful
figure, that " the year had lost its spring."

The cultivation of the art of oratory among the Athenians was
due to a combination of the natural eloquence displayed by the
Athenian statesmen, and especially by Pericles, with the rhetori-
cal studies of tlie sophists, who exercised a greater influence on
the culture of the Greek mind than any other class of men, the
poets excepted. The sophists, as their name indicates, were
persons who made knowledge their profession, and undertook to
impart it to every one who was willing to place himself under
their guidance ; they were reproached Avith being the first to
sell knowledge for money, for they not only demanded pay from
those who came to hear their lectures, but they undertook, for a
certain sum, to give young men a complete sophistical education.
Pupils flocked to them in crowds, and they acquired such riches
as neither art nor science had ever before earned among the
Greeks. If we consider their doctrines philosophically, they
amounted to a denial or renunciation of all true science. They
were able to speak \vith equal plausibihty for and against the
same position ; not in order to discover the truth, but to show
the nothingness of truth. In the improvement of written com-
position, however, a high value nmst be set on their services.
They made language the object of their study ; they aimed at
correctness and beauty of style, and they laid the foundation for
the polished diction of Plato and Demosthenes. They taught
that the sole aim of the orator is to turn the minds of his hear-
ers into such a train as may best suit his own interest ; that,
consequently, rhetoric is the agent of persuasion, the art of aU
arts, because the rhetorician is able to speak well and convinc-
ingly on every subject, though he may have no accurate knowl-
edge respecting it.

The Peloponnesian war, which terminated in the downfall of
Athens, was succeeded by a period of exhaustion and repose.
The fine arts were checked in their progress, and poetry degen-
erated into empty bombast. Yet at this very tune prose litera-
ture began a new career, which led to its fairest development.

Lysias and Isocrates gave an entirely new form to oratory by
the happy alterations which they in ilifferent ways introduced
into the old prose style. Lysias (fl. 359 u. c), in the fiftieth

102 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

year of his age, began to follow the trade of writing speeches for
such private individuals as could not trust their own skiU in ad-
dressing a court ; for this object, a plain, unartificial style was
best suited, because citizens who called in the aid of the speech-
writer had no knowledge of rhetoric, and thus Lysias was
obliged to originate a style, which became more and more con-
firmed by habit. The consequence was, that for his contem-
poraries and for all ages he stands forth as the first and in
many respects the perfect pattern of a })lain style. The narra-
tive part of the speech, for which he was particularly famous,
is always natural, interesting, and lively, and often relieved by
mimic touches which give it a wonderful air of reality. The
proofs and confutations are distinguished by a clearness of rea-
soning and a boldness of argument which leave no room for
doubt ; in a word, the speeches are just what they ought to be
in order to obtain a favorable decision, an object in which, it
seems, he often succeeded. Of his many orations, thirty-five
have come down to us.

Isocrates (fl. 338 B. c.) established a school for political ora-
tory, which became the first and most flourishing in Greece.
His orations were mostly destined for this school. Though nei-
ther a great statesman nor philosopher in himself, Isocrates
constitutes an epoch as a rhetorician or artist of language. His
influence extended far beyond the limits of his own school, and
without his reconstruction of the style of Attic oratory we could
have had no Demosthenes and no Cicero ; through these, the
school of Isocrates has extended its influence even to the oratory
of our own day.

The verdict of his contemporaries, ratified by posterity, has
pronounced Demosthenes (380-322 B. c.) the greatest orator
that has ever lived, yet he had no natural advantages for oratory.
A feeble frame and a weak voice, a shy and awkward manner,
the ungraceful gesticulations of one whose limbs had never been
duly exercised, and a defective articulation, would have deterred
most men from even attempting to address an Athenian assem-
bly ; but the ambition and perseverance of Demosthenes enabled
him to triumph over every disadvantage. He improved his
bodily powers by running, his voice by speaking aloud as he
walked up hill, or declaimed against the roar of the sea ; he
practiced graceful delivery before a looking-glass, and controlled
his unruly articulation by speaking with pebbles in his mouth.
His want of fluency he remedied by diligent composition, and by
copying and committing to memory the works of the best au-
thors. By these means he came forth as the acknowledged
leader of the assembly, and, even by the confession of his dead-
Ueat enemies, the first orator of Greece. His harangues to the

GREEK LITERATURE. 103

people, and his speeches on public and private causes, which
have been preserved, form a collection of sixty-one orations.
The most important efforts of Demosthenes, however, were the
series of public speeches referring to Philip of Macedon, and
known as the twelve Philii)i)ics, a name which has become a
general designation for spirited invectives, llie main charac-
teristic of his eloquence consisted in the use of the common lan-
guage of his age and country. He took great pains in the choice
and arrangement of his words, .and aimed at the utmost concise-
ness, making epithets, even common adjectives, do the work of
a whole sentence, and thus, by his perfect delivery and action,
a sentence composed of ordinary terms sometimes smote with
the weight of a sledge-hammer. In his orations there is not
any long or close train of reasoning, still less any profound ob-
servations or remote and ingenious allusions, but a constant suc-
cession of remarks, bearing immediately on the matter in hand,
perfectly plain, and as readily admitted as easily understood.
These are intermingled with the most striking appeals either to
feelings which all were conscious of, and deeply agitated by,
though ashamed to own, or to sentiments which every man was
panting to utter and delighted to hear thundered forth, — bursts
of oratory, which either overwhelmed or relieved the audience.
Such characteristics constituted the principal glory of the great
orator.

The most eminent of the contemporaries of Demosthenes
were Isaeus (420-348 b. c), an artificial and elaborate orator ;
Lycurgus (393-328 b. c), a celebrated civil reformer of Athens ;
Hypereides, contemporary of Lycurgus ; and, above all, -^s-
chines (389-314 B. c), the great rival of Demosthenes, of
whose numerous speeches only three have been preserved. At
a later period we find two schools of rhetoric, the Attic, founded
by ^schines, and the Asiatic, established by Hegesias of Mag-
nesia. The fonner proposed as models of oratory the great
Athenian orators, the latter depended on artificial manners,
and produced speeches distinguished rather by rhetorical orna-
ments and a rapid flow of diction than by weight and force of
style.

In the historical department, Thucydides (471-391 B. o.)
began an entirely new class of historical writing. "While He-
rodotus aimed at giving a vivid ])i(ture of all tliat fell under
the cognizance of the senses, and endeavored to re])resent a
superior power ruling over the destinies of princes and ]>oople.
the attention of Thucydides was directed to human action, as
it is developed from the character and situation of the individ-
ual. His history, from its unity of action, may be considered
as a historical drama, the subject being the Athenian domination

104 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

over Greece, and the parties the belligerent republics. Clearness
in the narrative, harmony and consistency of the details with
the general history, are the characteristics of his work ; and in
his style he combines the concise and pregnant oratory of Peri-
cles with the vigorous but artificial style of the rhetoricians.
Demosthenes was so diligent a student of Thucydides that he
copied out his history eight times.

Xenophon (445-391 b. c.) may also be classed among the
great historians, his name being most favorably known from the
" Anabasis," in which he describes the retreat of the ten thou-
sand Greek mercenaries in the service of Cyrus, the Persian
king, among whom he himself played a prominent part. The
minuteness of detail, the picturesque simplicity of the style, and
the air of reality which pervades it, have made it a favorite
with every age. In his memorials of Socrates, he records the
conversations of a man whom he had admired and listened to,
but whom he did not understand. In the language of Xeno-
phon we find the first approximation to the common dialect,
which became afterwards the universal language of Greece. He
wrote several other works, in which, however, no development
of one great and pervading idea can be found ; but in all of
them there is a singular clearness and beauty of description.

7. Socrates ajtd the Socbatic Schools. — Although Soc-
rates (468-399 B. c.) left no writings behind him, yet the intel-
lect of Greece was powerfully affected by the principles of his
philosophy, and the greatest literary genius that ever appeared
in Hellas owed most of his mental training to his early inter-
course with him. It was by means of conversation, by a search-
ing process of question and answer, that Socrates endeavored to
lead his pupils to a consciousness of their own ignorance, and
thus to awaken in their minds an anxiety to obtain more exact
views. This method of questioning he reduced to a scientific
process, and " dialectics " became a name for the art of reason-
ing and the science of logic. The subject-matter of this method
was moral science considered with special reference to politics.
To him may be justly attributed induction and general defini-
tions, and he applied this practical logic to a common-sense
estimate of the duties of man both as a moral being and as a
member of a community, and thus he first treated moral philos-
ophy according to scientific principles. No less than ten schools
of philosophers claimed him as their head, though the majority
of them imperfectly represented his doctrines. By his influence
on Plato, and through him on Aristotle, he constituted himseli
the founder of the philosophy which is still recognized in the
civilized world.

From the doctrine held by Socrates, that virtue waa depend?

<•>

GREEK LITERATURE. 105

ent on knowled|Te, Eucleides of Megara (fl. 398 b. c), the
founder of the Megaric school, submitted moral pliilosophy to
dialectical reasoning and logical refinements ; and from the
Socratic principle of the union between virtue and happiness,
Aristippus of Cyrene (fl. 396 b. c.) deduced the doctrine which
became the characteristic of the Cyrenian school, affirming that
pleasure was the ultimate end of life and the higher good ; while
Antisthenes (fl. 396 B. c.) constnicted the Cynic philosophy,
which placed the ideal of virtue in the absence of every need,
and hence in the disregarding of every interest, wealth, honor,
and enjoyment, and in the indejjendence of any restraints of hfe
and society. Diogenes of Sinope (fl. 300 B. c.) was one of the
most prominent followers of this school. He, like his master,
Antisthenes, always appeared in the most beggarly clothing,
with the staff and wallet of mendicancy ; and this ostentation of
self-tlenial drew from Socrates the exclamation, that he saw the
vanity of Antisthenes through the holes in his garments.

Plato (429-348 b. c.) was the only one of the disciples of
Socrates who represented the whole doctrines of his teacher.
We owe to him that the ideas which Socrates awakened have
been made the germ of one of the grandest systems of specula-
tion that the world has ever seen, and that it has been conveyed
to us in literary compositions which are unequaled in refine-
ment of conception, or in vigor and gracefuhiess of style. At
the age of nineteen he became one of the pupils and associates
of Socrates, and did not leave him until that martyr of intellect-
ual freedom drank the fatal cup of hemlock. He afterwards
traveled in Asia Minor, in Egypt, in Italy, and Sicily, and made
himself acquainted with all contemporary philosophy. During
the latter part of liis life he was engaged as a public lecturer on
pliilosophy. His lectures were delivered in the gardens of the
Academia, and they have left ])roof of their celebrity in the
structure of language, which has derived from them a term now
common to all ])laces of instruction. Of the importance of the
Socratic and Pythagorean elements in Plato's pliiloso])hy there
can be no doubt ; but he transmuted all he touched into his own
forms of thoujjht and laniruace, and there was no branch of
speculative literature which he had not mastered. By adopting
the form of dialogue, in which all his extant works have come
down to us, he was enabled to criticise the various systems of
philosophy then current in Greece, and also to gratify his own
dramatic genius, and his almost unrivaled power of kee])ing up
an assumed character. The works of Plato have been divideil
into three classes : first, the elementary dialogues, or those
which contain the germs of all that follows, of logic as the in-
strument of philosophy, and of ideas as its proper object ; sec

106 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

ond, progressive dialogues, which treat of the distinction between
philosophical and common knowledge, in their united application
to the proposed and real sciences, ethics, and physics ; third, the
constructive dialogues, in which the practical is completely united
with the speculative, with an appendix containing laws, epis-
tles, etc.

The fundamental principle of Plato's pliilosophy is the belief
in an eternal and self-existent cause, the origin of all things.
From this divine Being emanate not only the souls of men,
which are immortal, but that of the universe itself, which is sup-
posed to be animated by a divine spirit. The material objects
of our sight, and other senses, are mere fleeting emanations of
the divine idea ; it is only this idea itself that is really existent ;
the objects of sensuous perception are mere appearances, taking
their forms by participation in the idea ; hence it follows, that
in Plato's philosophy all knowledge is innate, and acquired by
the soul before birth, when it was able to contemplate real ex-
istences, and all our ideas of this world are mere reminiscences
of their true and eternal patterns. The belief of Plato in the
immortality of the soul naturally led him to establish a high
standard of moral excellence, and, like his great teacher, he con-
stantly inculcates temperance, justice, and purity of life. His
political views are developed in the " Republic " and in the
" Laws," in which the main feature of his system is the subor-
dination, or rather the entire sacrifice of the individual to the
state.

The style of Plato is in every way worthy of his position in
universal literature, and modern scholars have confirmed the en-
comium of Aristotle, that all his dialogues exhibit extraordinary
acuteness, elaborate elegance, bold originality, and curious spec-
ulation. In Plato, the powers of imagination were just as con-
spicuous as those of reasoning and reflection ; he had all the
chief characteristics of a poet, especially of a dramatic poet, and
if his rank as a philosopher had been lower than it is, he would
stUl have ranked high among dramatic writers for his life-like
representations of the personages whose opinions he wished to
combat or to defend.

Aristotle (384-322 b. c.) occupies a position among the lead-
ers of human thought not inferior to that of his teacher, Plato.
He was a native of Stagyra, in Macedonia, and is hence often
called the Stagyrite. He early repaired to Athens, and became
a pupil of Plato, who called him the soul of his school. He was
afterwards invited by Philip of Macedon to undertake the liter-
ary education of Alexander, at that time thirteen years old.
This charge continued about three years. He afterwards re
turned to Athens, where he opened his school in a gymnasium

{

GREEK LITERATURE. 107

railed the Lyceum, delivering his lessons as he walked to and
fro, and from tliese saunters his scholars were called Peripa-
tetics, or saimterers. During this period he composed most of liis
extant works. Alexander ])hicetl at his disposal a large sum for
his collections in natural history, and eni])loyed some thousands
of men in procuring specimens for his museum. After the
death of Alexander, he was accused of blasphemy to the gods,
and, warned by the fate of Socrates, he withdrew from Athens
to Chalcis, where he afterwards died.

In looking at the mere catalogue of the works of Aristotle,
we are struck with his vast range of knowledge. He aimed at
nothing less than the coin])k'tion of a general encyclopedia of
philosophy. He was the author of the first scientific cultivation
of each' science, and there was hardly any quality distinguisliing
a philosopher as such, which he did not possess in an eminent
degree. Of all the philosophical systems of antiquity, that of
Aristotle was the best adapted to the physical wants of mankind.
His works consisted of treatises on natural, moral, and political
philosophy, history, rhetoric, criticism, — indeed, there was
scarcely a branch of knowledge which his vast and comprehen-
sive genius did not embrace. His greatest claim to our admirar
tion is as a logician. He perfected and brought into form those
elements of the dialectic art which had been struck out by Soc-
rates and Plato, and wrought them, by his additions, into so com-
plete a system, that he may be regarded as, at once, the founder
and perfecter of logic as an art, which has since, even down to
our own days, been but very little improved. The style of Aris-
totle has nothing to attract those who prefer the embellishments
of a work to its subject-matter and the scientific results wliich it
presents.

PERIOD THIRD.

The Epoch op the Decline op Greek Literatcbe, 322 b. c-

1453 A. D.

1. Origin of the Alexandriav Literature. — As the lit-
erary ])redominance of Athens was due mainly to the politicjil
importance of Attica, the downfall of Athenian independenca
brought with it a deterioration, and ultimately an extinction of
that intellectual centralization which for more than a century
had fostered and develo])ed the liighest efforts of the genius and
culture of the Greeks. While the living literature of Greece was
thus dying away, the con([uests of Alexander ]irepared a new
home for the muses on the coast of that wonderful country, to
which all the nations of antiquity had owed a part of their sci'
ence and religious belief. In Egypt, as in other regions, Alex-

108 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

ander gave directions for the foundation of a city to be called
after his own name, which became the magnificent meti'opolis of
the Hellenic world. This capital was the residence of a family
who attracted to their court all the living representatives of the
literature of Greece, and stored up in their enormous library aU
the best works of the classical period. It was chiefly during the
reigns of the first tliree Ptolemies that Alexandria was made
the new home of Greek literature. Ptolemy Soter (306-285
B. c.) laid the foundations of the library, and instituted the mu-
seum, or temple of the muses, where the literary men of the age
were maintained by endowments. This encouragement of literal
ture was continued by Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 b. c).
He had the celebrated Callimachus for his librarian, who bought
up not only the whole of Aristotle's great collection of " works,
but transferred the native annals of Egypt and Judea to the do-
main of Greek literature by employing the priest Manetho to
translate the liieroglyphics of his own temple-arcluves into the
language of the court, and by procuring from the Sanhedrim of
Jerusalem the fii-st part of that celebrated version of the Hebrew
sacred books, which was afterwards completed and known as the
Septuagint, or version of the Seventy. Ptolemy Euergetes
(247-222 B. c.) increased the library by depriving the Athenians
of their authentic editions of the great dramatists. In the
course of time the library founded at Pergamos was transferred
to Egypt, and thus we are indebted to the Ptolemies for pre-
serving to our times all the best specimens of Greek literature
which have come down to us. Tliis encouragement of letters,
however, called forth no great original genius ; but a few emi-
nent men of science, many second-rate and artificial poets, and
a host of grammarians and literary pedants.

2. The Axexajstdrian Poets. — Among the poets of the pe-
riod, Philetas, Callimachus, Lycophron, Apollonius, and the writ-
ers of idyls, Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus are the most emi-
nent. The founder of a school of poetry at Alexandria, and the
model for imitation with the Roman writers of elegiac poetry,
was Philetas of Cos (fl. 260 b. c), whose extreme emaciation of
person exposed him to the imputation of wearing lead in the
soles of his shoes, lest he should be blown away. He was chiefly
celebrated as an elegiac poet, in whom ingenious, elegant, and
harmonious versification took the place of higher poetry. Cal-
limachus (fl. 260 B. c.) was the ty])e of an Alexandrian man of
letters, distinguished by skill rather than genius, the most fin-
ished specimen of what might be effected by talent, learning, and
ambition, backed by the patronage of a court. He was a living
representative of the great library over which he presided ; he
»vas not only a writer of all kinds of poetry, but a critic, gram*

GREEK LITERATURE. 109

marian, historian, and geographer. Of his writings, a few poems
only are extant. Next to Callimachus, as a representative of
the learned poetry of Alexandria, stands the dramatist Lyco-
phron (fl. 250 i$. c). All his works are lost, with the exception
of the oracular poem called the " Alexandra," or " Cassandra,"
on the merits of which very opposite opinions are entertained.
Apollonius, known as the Rhodian (fl. 240 B. c), was a native
of Alexandria, and a pupil of Callimachus, through whose influ-
ence he was driven from his native city, when he established
himself in the island of Rhodes, where he was so honored and
distinguished that he took the name of the Rhodian. On the
death of Callimachus, he was appointed to succeed him as libra-
rian at Alexandria. His reputation depends on his epic poem,
the " Argonautic Expedition."

Of all the writers of the Alexandrian period, the bucolic poets
have enjoyed the most popularity. Their pastoral poems were
called Idyls, from their pictorial and descriptive character, that
is, little pictures of common life, a name for which the later writ-
ers have sometimes substituted the term Eclogues, that is, selec-
tions, which is applicable to any short poem, whether complete
and original, or appearing as an extract. The name of Idyls,
however, was afterwards applicable to pastoral poems. The-
ocritus (fl. 272 B. c.) gives his name to the most important of
these extant bucolics. He had an original genius for poetry of
the highest kind ; the absence of the usual affectation of the
Alexandrian school, constant aj)peals to nature, a fine perception
of character, and a keen sense of both the beautiful and the
hidicrous, indicate the high order of liis literary talent, and ac-
count for his universal and undiminished popularity. The two
other bucolic poets of the Alexandrian school were Bion (fl. 275
B. c), born near Smyrna, and his pupil Moschus of Syracuse
(fl. 273 B. c). It appears, from an elegy by Moschus, that Bion
migrated from Asia Minor to Sicily, where he was poisoned.
He wrote harmonious verses with a good deal of pathos and ten-
derness, but he is as inferior to Theocritus as he is superior to
Moschus, whose artificial style characterizes him rather as a
learned versifier than a ti'ue ])oet.

3. Prose Writers of Alexandria. — Many of the most
eminent poets were also prose writers, and they exhibited their
versatility by writing on almost every subject of literary interest.
The progi'ess of prose writing manifested itself from grammar
and criticism to the more elaborate and learned treatment of
history and chronology, and to observations and speculations in
pure and mLxed mathematics. Demetrius the Phalerian (fl. 295
B. c), Zenodotus (fl. 279 B. c), Aristophanes (fl. 200 B. c), and
Aristarchus (fl. 156 B. c), the three last of whom were success-

110 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

ively intrusted with the management of the Library, were the
representatives of the Alexandrian school of grammar and criti-
cism. They devoted themselves chiefly to the revision of the
text of Homer, wliich was finally established by Aristarchus.

In the historical department may be mentioned Ptolemy
Soter, who wrote the history of the wars of Alexander the Great ;
ApoUodorus (fl. 200 B. c), whose " Bibliotheca " contains a
general sketch of the mystic legends of the Greeks ; Eratosthe-
nes (fl. 235 B. c), the founder of scientific chronology in Greek
history ; Manetho (fl. 280«B. c), who introduced the Greeks to
a knowledge of the Egyptian religion and annals ; and Berosus
of Babylon, his contemporary, whose work, fragments of which
were preserved by Josephus, was known as the " Babylonian
Annals." While the Greeks of Alexandria thus gained a
knowledge of the religious books of the nations conquered by
Alexander, the same curiosity, combined with the necessities of
the Jews of Alexandria, gave birth to the translation of the
Bible into Greek, known vmder the name of Septuagint, which
has exercised a more lasting influence on the civilized world than
that of any book that has ever appeared in a new tongue. Tha
beginning of that translation was probably made in the reigns
of the first Ptolemies (320-249 B. c), while the remainder was
completed at a later period.

The wonderful advance, which took place in pure and applied
mathematics, is chiefly due to the learned men who settled in
Alexandria ; the greatest mathematicians and the most eminent
founders of scientific geography were all either immediately or
indirectly connected with the school of Alexandria. Euclid (fl.
300 B. c.) founded a famous school of geometry in that city, in
the reign of the first Ptolemy. Almost the only incident of his
life which is known to us is a conversation between him and
that king, who, having asked if there was no easier method of
learning the science, is said to have been told by Euclid, that
" there was no royal path to geometry." His most famous work
is his " Elements of Pure Mathematics," at the present time a
manual of instruction and the foundation of all geometrical
treatises. Archimedes (287-212 B. c.) was a native of Syra-
cuse, in Sicily, but he traveled to Egypt at an early age, and
studied mathematics there in the school of Euclid. He not only
distinguished himself as a pure mathematician and astronomer,
and as the founder of the theory of statics, but he discovered
the law of specific gravity, and constructed some of the most
useful machines in the mechanic arts, such as the pulley and the
hydraulic screw. His works are written in the Doric dialect.
A})ollonius of Perga (221-204 b. c.) distinguished himself in the
mathematical department by his work on " Conic Elements."

GREEK LITERATURE. Ill

Eratosthenes was not only prominent in the science of chro-
nology, but was also the t'ounder of astronomical geography, and
the author of many valuable works in various branches of philos-
ophy. Hipparchus (fl. 150 B. c.) is considered the founder of
the science of exact astronomy, from his great work, the '' Cata-
logue of the Fixed Stars," his discovery of the precession of the
equinoxes, and many other valuable astronomical observations
and calculations.

4. Alexandrian Philosophy. — Athens, which had been the
centre of Greek literature during the second or classical period
of its develo])nient, had now, in aU respects but one, resigned
the intellectual leadership to the city of the Ptolemies. While
Alexandria was producing a series of learned poets, scholars,
and discoverers in science, Athenian literature was mainly rep-
resented by the establishment of certain forms of mental and
moral philosophy founded on the various Socratic schools. Two
schools of philosophy were established at Athens at the time of
the death of Aristotle : that of the Academy, in which he him-
self had studied, and that of the Lyceum, which he had founded,
as the seat of his peripatetic system. But the older schools soon
reappeared under new names : the Megarics, with an infusion
of the doctrines of Democritus, revived in the skeptic philosophy
of Pyrrhon (375-285 b. c). ?>picurus (342-370 b. c.) founded
the school to which he gave his name, by a similar combination
of Democritean ])hilosophy with the doctrines of the Cyrenaics ;
the Cynics were developed into Stoics by Zeno (341-260 B. c),
who borrowed much from the Megaric school and from the Old
Academy ; and. finally, the Middle and New Academy arose
from a combination of doctrines which were peculiar to many of
these sects.

Though these different schools, which flourished at Athens,
had early representatives in Alexandria, their different doctrines,
coming in contact with the ancient religious systems of the Per-
sians, Jews, and Hindus, imderwent essential modifications, and
gave birth to a kind of electicism. which became later an im-
portant element in the development of Christian history. The
rationalism of the Platonic siliool and the supernaturalism of the
Jewish Scriptures were chiefly mingled together, and from this
amalgamation sprang the system of Neo-Platonism. "When the
early teachers of Christianity at Alexandria strove to show the
harmony of the Gospel with the great })rinci])les of the Greco-
Jewish ])hiloso])hy, it underwent new modifications, and the
Neo-Platonic school, which sprang up in Alexandria three cen-
turies B. c. was com])leted in the first and second centuries of
the Christian era. The common characteristic of the Neo-Pla-
tonists was a tendency to mysticism. Some of tliem believed that

112 HANDBOOK OF UNU^RSAL LITERATURE.

they were the suhjects of divine inspiration and illumination;
able to look into the future and to work miracles. PhUo-Judaeus
(fl. 20 B. c), Numenius (fl. 150 A. D.), Ammonius Saccas (fl. 200
A. D.). Plotinus (fl. 260 A. D.), Porphyry (fl. 260 A. c), and sev-
eral fathers of the Greek Church are among the principal dis-
ciples of this school.

5. Anti-Neo-Platoxic Texdencies. — "While the Neo-Pla-
tonism of Alexandria introduced into Greek philosophy Oriental
ideas and tendencies, other positive and practical doctrines also
prevailed, founded on common sense and conscience. First
among these were the tenets of the Stoics, who owed their sys-
tem mainly and immediately to the teaching of Epictetus (fl. 60
A. d), who opposed the Oriental enthusiasm of the Neo-Platonists.
He was originally a slave, and became a prominent teacher of
philosophy in Rome, in the reign of Domitian. He left nothing
in writing, and we are indebted for a knowledge of his doctrines
to Arrian, who compiled his lectures or philosophical disserta-
tions in eight books, of which only four are preserved, and the
" Manual of Epictetus," a valuable compendium of the doctrines
of the Stoics. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius not only lectured
at Rome on the principles of Epictetus, but he left us his pri-
vate meditations, composed in the midst of a camp, and exhibit-
ing the serenity of a mind which had made itself independent
o'f outward actions and warring passions within. Lucian (fl.
150 A. D.) may be compared to Voltaire, whom he equaled in
his powers both of rhetoric and ridicule, and surpassed in his
more conscientious and courageous love of truth. Though the
results of his efforts against heathenism were merely negative,
ha prepared the way for Christianity by giving the death-blow
to declining idolatry. Lucian, as a man of letters, is on many
accounts interesting, and in reference to his own age and to the
literature of Greece he is entitled to an important position both
with regard to the religious and philosophical results of his
works, and to the introduction of a purer Greek style, Avhich he
taught and exemplified. Longinus (fl. 230 A. D.), bo.^h as an
opponent of Neo-Platonism and as a sound and sensible critic,
occupies a position similar to that of Lucian, in the declining
period of Greek literary history. During a visit to the East,
he became known to Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, who adopted
the celebrated scholar as her instructor in the language and lit-
erature of Greece, her adviser and chief minister ; and when
Palmyra fell before the Roman power he was put to death by
the Roman emperor. To his treatise on " The Sublime " he is
chiefly indebted for his fame. When France, in the reign of
Louis XIV., gave a tone to the literary judgments of Europe,
this work was translated by Boileau, and received by the wits of

GREEK LITERATURE. 113

Paris as an established manual in all that related to the sublime
and beautiful.

6. Greek Literature ix Rome. — After the subjugation of
Greece by the Romans, Greek authors wrote in their own lan-
guage and i)ublishe(l their works in Rome ; illustrious Romans
chose the idiom of Plato as the best medium for the expression
of their own thoughts ; dramatic poets gained a reputation by
imitating the tragedies and comedies of Athens, and every ver-
sifier felt compelled by fasliion to revive the metres of ancient
Greece. This naturalization of Greek Uterature at Rome was
due to the rudeness and poverty of the national literature of
Italy, to the influence exerted by the Greek colonies, and to the
political subjugation of Greece. In Rome, Greek libraries were
established by the Emperor Augustus and his successors ; and
the knowledge of the Greek language was considered a necessary
accompUslmient. Cicero made his countrymen acquainted with
the philosophical schools of Athens, and Rome became more and
more the rival of Alexandria, both as a receptacle for the best
Greek writings and as a seat of learning, where Greek authors
found appreciation and patronage. The Greek poets, who were
fostered and encouraged at Rome, were chiefly writers of epi-
grams, and their poems are preserved in the collections called
'* Anthologies." The growing demand for forensic eloquence
naturally led the Roman orators to find their examples in those
of Athens, and to the study of rhetoric in the Grecian writers.

Among the writers on rhetoric whose works seem to have
produced the greatest effect at the beginning of the Roman pe-
riod, we mention Dionysius of Halicarnassus (fl. 7 b. c). As a
critic, he occupies the first rank among the ancients. Besides
liis rhetorical treatises, he wrote a work on '* Roman Archaeol-
ogy," the object of which was to show that the Romans were
not, after all, barbarians, as was generally supposed, but a pure
Greek race, whose institutions, religion, and manners were trace-
able to an identity with those of the noblest Hellenes.

What Dionysius endeavored to do for the gTatification of his
own countrymen, by giving them a Greek version of Roman his-
tory, an accomplished Jew, who Uved about a century later, at-
tempted, from the opposite point of view, for his own fallen
tace, in a work which was a direct imitation of that just de-
scribed. Flavius Josephus (fl. 60 A. r>.) wrote the "Jewish
Archaeology " in order to show the Roman con(|uerors of Jeru-
salem that the Jews did not deserve the contemjit with which
they were universally regarded. His " History of the Jewish
Wars" is an able and valuable work.

At ah earlier period, Polybius (204-122 B. c.) wrote to ex-
plain to the Greeks how the power of the Romans had estab*
8

114 UAyDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Wished itself in Greece. His great work was a universal history,
but of tlie forty books of which it consisted only five have been
preserved ; perhaps no historical work has ever been written
with such definiteness of purpose or unity of plan, or with such
self-consciousness on the part of the writer. The object to which
he directs attention is the manner in which fortune or provi-
dence uses the ability and energy of man as instruments in car-
rying out what is predetermined, and specially the exemplifica-
tion of these principles in the wonderful growth of the Roman
power during the fifty-three years of which he treats. Taking
his history as a whole, it is hardly possible to speak in too high
terms of it, though tile' style has many blemishes, such as endless
digressions, wearisome repetition of liis own principles and collo-
quial vulgarisms.

Diodorus, a native of Sicily, generally known as the Sicilian
(Siculus), flourished in the time of the first two Caesars. In his
great work, the " Historical Library," it was his object to wi'ite
a history of the world down to the commencement of Caesar's
Gallic wars. He is content to give a bare recital of the facts,
which crowded upon him and left him no time to be diffuse or
ornamental.

The geography of Strabo (fl. 10 A. D.), which has made his
name familiar to modern scholars, has come down to us very
nearly complete. Its merits are literary rather than scientific.
His object was to give an instructive and readable account of
the known world, from the point of view taken by a Greek man
of letters. His style is simple, unadorned, and unaffected.

Plutarch (40-120 A. D.) may be classed among the philoso-
phers as well as among the historians. Though he has left many
essays and works on different subjects, he is best known as a bi-
ographer. His lives of celebrated Greeks and Romans have
made liis name familiar to the readers of every country. The
universal popularity of his biographies is due to the fact that
they are dramatic pictures, in which each personage is repre-
sented as acting according to his leading characteristics.

Pausanias (fl. 184 A. d.), a professed describer of countries
and of their antiquities and works of art, in his " Gazetteer of
Hellas " has left the best repertory of information for the topog-
raphy, local history, religious observances, architecture, and
sculpture of the different states of Greece.

Among the scientific men of this period we find Ptolemy,
whose name for more than a thousand years was coextensive
with the sciences of astronomy and geography. He was a native
of Alexandria, and flourished about the latter part of the second
centuiy. The best known of his works is his " Great Construc-
tion of Astronomy." He was the first to indicate the true shape

GREEK LITERATURE. 115

of Spain, Gaul, and Ireland ; as a writer, he deserves to be held
in high estimation. Galen (H. 130 A. D.) was a writer on phi-
losophy and medicine, with whom few could vie in productive-
ness. It was his object to combine philosophy with medical
science, and his works for fifteen centuries were received as
oracular authorities throughout the civilized world.

7. CoNTixuED Decline of Greek Literature. — The
adoption of the Christian religion by Constantine, and his estab-
lishment of the seat of government in his new city of Constanti-
nople, concurred in causing the rapid decline of Greek literature
in the fourth and following centuries. Christianity, no longer
the object of persecution, became the dominant religion of the
state, and the profession of its tenets was the shortest road to
influence and honor. The old literature, with its mythological
allusions, became less and less fashionable, and the Greek poets,
philosophers, and orators of the better periods gradually lost
their attractions. Greek, the official language of Constantinople,
was spoken there, with different degrees of corruption, by Syr-
ians, Bulgarians, and Goths ; and thus, as Christianity under-
mined the old classical literature, the political condition of the
capital deteriorated the language itself. Other causes accel-
erated the decadence of Greek learning : the great Ubrary at
Alexandria, and the school which had been established in con-
nection with it, were destroyed at the end of the fourth century
by the edict of Theodosius, and the conquest of Egypt by the
Saracens in the seventh century only completed the work of de-
struction. Justinian closed the schools of Athens, and prohibited
the teaching of philosophy ; the Arabs overthrew those estab-
lished elsewhere, and there remained only the institutions of Con-
stantinople. But long before the establishment of the Turks on
the ruins of the Byzantine empire, Greek literature had ceased
to claim any original or independent existence. The opposition
between the literary spirit of heathen Greece and the Christian
scholarship of the time of Constantine and his immediate suc-
cessors, which grew up very gradually, was the result of the
Oriental su])erstitions which distorted Christianity and disturbed
the old philoso})hy. The abortive attempt of the Emperor Jul-
ian to create a reaction in favor of heathenism was the cause of
the open antagonism between the classical and Christian forms
of literature. The church, however, was soon enabled not only
to dictate its own rules of literary criticism, but to destroy the
writino-s of its most formidable antasronists. The last ravs of
heathen cultivation in Italy were extinguished in the gloomy
dungeon of Boethius, and the period so justly designated as the
Dark Ages began both in eastern and western P^urope.

8. Last Echoes of the Old Literature. — From the time

116 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

when Cliristianity placed itself in opposition to the old culture
of heathen Greece and Rome, down to the period of the revival
of classical literature \n the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
the classical spirit was nearly extinct both in eastern and west-
ern Europe. In Italy, the triumjjh of barbarism was more sud-
den and complete. In the eastern empire there was a certain
literary activity, and in the department of history, Byzantine
literature was conspicuously prolific.

The imperial family of the Comneni, in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, and the Palaeologi, who reigned from the thir-
teenth century to the end of the eastern empire, endeavored to
revive the taste for literature and learning. But the echoes of
the past became fainter and fainter, and when Constantinople
fell into the hands of the Turks, 1453 A. D., the wandering
Greeks who found their way into Italy could only serve as lan-
guage-masters to a race of scholars, who thus recovered the
learning that had ceased to exist among the Greeks themselves.

The last manifestations of the old classical learning by the
Alexandrian school, which had done so much in the second and
first centuries before our era, may be divided into three classes.
In the first are placed the mathematical and geographical stud-
ies, which had been brought to such perfection by Euclid, his
successors, and after them by Ptolemy. In the second class we
have the substitution of prose romances for the bucoUc and
erotic poetry of the Alexandrian and Sicilian writers. In the
third class the revival, by Nonnus and his followers, of a learned
epos, of much the same kind as the poems of Callimachus.
Among the representatives of the mathematical school of Alex-
andria was Theon, whose celebrity is obscured by that of his
daughter Hypatia (fl. 415 A. D.), whose sex, youth, beauty, and
cruel fate have made her a most interesting martyr of philoso-
phy. She presided in the public school at Alexandria, where
she taught mathematics and the philosophy of Ammonius and
Plotinus. Her influence over the educated classes of that city
excited the jealousy of the archbishop. She was given up to the
violence of a superstitious and brutal mob, attacked as she was
passing through the streets in her chariot, torn in pieces, and
her mutilated body thrown to the flames.

When rhetorical prose superseded composition in verse, the
greater facility of style naturally led to more detailed narratives,
and the sophist who would liave been a poet in the time of Calli-
machus, became a writer of prose romances in the final period of
Greek literature. The first ascertained beginning of this style
of light reading, which occupies so large a S])ace in the cata-
logues of modern libraries, was in the time of the Emperor Tra-
jan, when a Syrian or Babylonian freedman, named lamblichus,

GREEK LITERATURE. 117

published a love story called the '" Babylonian Adventures."
Aniouf,' las successors is Longus, of whose work, " The Lesbian
Adventure," it is sufficient to say, that it was the model of the
" Diana " of INIontemayor, the " Aminta " of Tasso, the " Pas-
tor Fido " of Guarini, and the "Gentle Shepherd" of Allan
lianisay.

"While the sophists were amusinjir themselves by clothing erotic
and bucolic subjects in rhetorical prose, an Egj'ptian boldly
revived the epos which had been cultivated at Alexandria in
the earliest days of the Museum. Nonnus probably flourished
at the connnencement of the fifth century A. D. His epic poem,
which, in accordance with the terminology of the age, is called
" Dionysian Adventures," is an enormous farrago of learning on
the well-worked subject of Bacchus. The most interesting of
the ei)ic productions of the school of Nonnus is the story of
" Hero and Leander," in 340 verses, which bears the name of
Mus?BUS. For grace of diction, metrical elegance, and simple
pathos, this little canto stands far before the other poems of the
same age. The Hero and Leander of Musa;us is the dying
swan-note of Greek poetry, the last distinct note of the old music
of Hellas.

In the Byzantine literature, there are works which claim no
originality, but have a higher value than their contem])oraries,
because they give extracts or fragments of the lost writings of
the best days of Greece. Next in value follow the lexicogra-
phers, the grammarians, and commentators. The most volumi-
nous department, however, of Byzantine literature, was that
of the historians, annalists, chroniclers, biographers, and anti-
quarians, v/hose works form a continuous series of Byzantine
annals from the time of Constantine the Great to the taking of
the ca))ital by the Turks. This literature was also enhvened by
several poets, and enriched by some writers on natural history
and medicine.

9. The New Testarient asv> the Greek Fathers. — The
history of Greek literature would be imperfect without some
allusion to a class of writings not usually included in the range
of classical studies. The first of these works, tlie Septuagint
version of the Old Testament, before mentioned, and the Greek
Apocrypha, may i)ro])erly be termed Hebrew-Grecian. Their
spirit is wholly at variance with that of ])agan literature, and it
cannot be doubted that they exerted great influence when made
known to the pagans of Alexandria. Many of the books termed
the Apocrypha were originally written in Greek, and mostly
before the Christian era. ^lany of them contain authentic nar-
ratives, and are valuable as illustrating the circumstances of the
uge to which they refer. Tlie other class of writings alluded

118 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

to comprehends the works of the Christian authors. As the in>
fluence of Christianity became more diffused during the first and
second centuries, its regenerating power became visible. After
the time of Christ, there appeared, in both the Greek and Latin
tongues, works wholly different in their spirit and character
from all that is found in pagan literature. The collection of
sacred writings contained in the New Testament and the works
of the early fathers constitute a distinct and interesting feature
in the literature of the age in wliich they appeared. The writ-
ings of the New Testament, considered simply in their literary
aspect, are distinguished by a simplicity, earnestness, natural-
ness, and beauty that find no parallel in the literature of the
world. But the consideration nmst not be overlooked, that they
were the work of those men who wrote as they were moved of
the Holy Ghost, that they contain the life and the teachings
of the great Founder of our faith, and that they come to us
invested with divine authority. Their influence upon the ages
which have succeeded them is incalculable, and it is still widen-
ing as the knowledge of Christianity increases. The composition
of the New Testament is historical, epistolary, and prophetic.
The first five books, or the historical division, contain an account
of the Ufe and death of our Saviour, and some account of the
first movements of the Apostles. The epistolary division con-
sists of letters addressed by the Apostles to the different churches
or to individuals. The last, the book of Revelation, the only
part that is considered prophetic, differs from the others in its
use of that symbolical language which had been common to the
Hebrew prophets, in the sublimity and majesty of its imagery,
and in its prediction of the final and universal triumph of
Christianity.

The writings of the Apostolic Fathers, or the immediate suc-
cessors of the Apostles, were held in high estimation by the
primitive Christians. Of those who wrote under this denomina-
tion, the venerable Polycarp and Ignatius, after they had both
attained the age of eighty years, sealed their faith in the blood
of martyrdom. The former was burned at the stake in Smyrna,
and the latter devoured by lions in the amphitheatre of Rome.
In the second and third centuries, Christianity numbered among
its advocates many distinguished scholars and pliilosophers, par-
ticularly among the Greeks. Their productions may be classed
under the heads of biblical, controversial, doctrinal, historical,
and homiletical. Among the most distinguished of the Greek
fathers were Justin Martyr (fl. 89 A. D.), an eminent Christian
philosopher and speculative thinker ; Clement of Alexandria
ffl. 19() A. D.), who has left us a collection of works, which, for
learning and literary talent, stand unrivaled among the writings

GREEK LITERATURE. 119

of the early Christian fathers; Origen (184-253 A. d.), who,
in his nunierons works, attempted to reconcile philosophy with
Christianity; Eusehius (fl. 325 A. D.), whose ecclesiastical his-
tory is ranked among the most valuable remains of Christian
antiquity ; Athanasius, famous for liis controversy with Arius :
Gregory Nazianzen (329-390 A. D.), distinguished for his rare
union of elocpience and piety, a great orator and theologian ;
Basil (329-379 a. d.) whose works, mostly of a purely theolog-
ical character, exhibit occasionally decided proofs of his strong
feeling for the beauties of nature ; and John Chrysostom (347-
407 A. u.), the founder of the art of preaching, whose extant
homilies breathe a spirit of sincere earnestness and of true
genius. To these may be added Neraesius {^. 400 A. d.), whose
work on the " Nature of Man " is distinguished by the purity of
its style and by the traces of a careful study of classical authors,
and Synesius (378^30 a. d.), who maintained the parallel im-
portance of pagan and Christian literature, and who has always
been held in high estimation for his epistles, hymns, and dramas.

MODERN LITERATURE.

At the time of the fall of Constantinople, ancient Greek was
still the vehicle of literature, and as such it has been preserved
to our day. After the political changes of the present century,
however, it was felt by the best Greek writers that the old forms
were no longer fitted to express modern ideas, and hence it has
become transfused with those better adapted to the clear and
rapid expression of modern literature, though at the same time
the body and substance, as well a:s the grammar, of the language
have been retained.

From an early age, along with the literary language of
Greece, there existed a conversational language, which varied in
different locaUties, and out of this grew the Modern Greek or
Neo-Hellenic.

After the fall of Constantino])le, the Greeks were prominent
in s])reading a knowledge of their language through Europe, and
but few works of importance were produced. During the eight-
eenth century a revival of enthusiasm for education and litera-
ture took place, and a period of great literary activity has since
followed. Perhaps no nation now jjroduces so nuich Hterature in
proportion to its numbers, although the number of readers is
small and there are great difficulties in publishing. In these cir-
cumstances, the Ralli and other ilistinguishcd Greeks have nobly
come forward and published books at their own expense, and
great activity prevails in every departnient of letters.

Since the establishment of Greek indei)endence, three \vriter3

120 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

have secured for themselves a permanent place in literature as
men of true genius; the two brothers Panagiotis and Alexander
Santsos, and Alexander Rangabe. The brothers Santsos threw
all their energies into the war for independence and sang of its
glories. Panagiotis (d. 1868) was always lyrical, and Alexan-
der (d. 1863) always satirical. Both were highly ideal in their
conceptions, and both had a rich command of musical language.
The other gi'eat poet of regenerated Greece is Alexander Ran-
gabe, whose works range through almost every department of
literature, though it is on his poems that his claim to remem-
brance will specially rest. They are distinguished by fine poetic
feeling, rare command of exquisite and harmonious language,
and singular beauty and purity of thought. His poetical works
consist of hymns, odes, songs, narrative poems, ballads, trage-
dies, comedies, and translations. There is no department in
prose literature which is not well represented in modern Greek,
and many women have particularly distinguished themselves.

One of the most notable literary events of later years has
been the discovery of the poems of Bacchylides, of whose writ-
ings only fragments had previously been known. These lyrics
will take an honored place in Greek anthology.

ROMAN LITERATURE.

IxTRODDcnoK. — 1. Roman Literature and its Divisions. — 2. The Lan^age- Ethno-
fn'apliical Elements of the Latin Language ; the Umbrian ; Oscan ; Etruscan : tlie Old
Roman Tongue ; Saturuian Verse ; Peculiarities of the Latin Language. — 3. The Roman
Religion.

Period First. — 1. Early Literature of the Romans ; the Fescennine Songs ; the Fabula
Atellan;e. — 2. Early Latin Poets ; Livius Audrouicus, Ntevius, and Knnius. — 3. Roman
Comedy. — 4. Comic Poets; Plautus, Terence, and Statins. — 5. Roman Tragedy. —
G. Tragic Poets ; Pacuvius and Attius. — 7. Satire; Lucilius. — 8. History and Oratory ;
Fabius Pictor : Cenciiis Alimentus ; Cato ; Varro ; M. Antonius ; Crassus ; Uortensius. —
9. Roman Jurisprudence. — 10. Grammarians.

Period Second. — 1. Development of the Roman Literature. — 2. Mimes, Mimogra-
phers, Pantomime ; Laberius and P. Lyrus. — 3. Epic Poetry ; Virgil ; The -liueid. —
4. Didactic Poetry ; the Bucolics ; the Georgics ; Lucretius — 5. Lyric Poetry ; Catullus ;
Horace. — 6. Elegy; Tibullus ; Propertius; Ovid. — 7. Oratory and Philosophy ; Cicero.
— 8. History; J. Cffisar; Sallust ; Livy. — 9. Other Prose Writers.

Pkkiod Third. — 1. Decline of Roman Literature. — 2. Fable; Phaedrus. — 3. Satire
and Epigram; Persius, Juvenal, Martial. — 4. Dramatic Literature; the Tragedies of
Seneca. — 5. Epic Poetry ; Lucan ; Silius Italicus ; Valerius Flaccus ; P. Statins. ; —
C. History ; Paterculus ; Tacitus ; Suetonius ; Q. Curtius ; Valerius Maximus. — 7. Rhetoric
and Eloquence; Qnintilian : Pliny the Younger. — 8. Philosophy and Science; Seneca;
Pliny the Elder ; Celsus ; P. Mela ; Columella ; Frontiiius. — 9. Roman Literature from
Hadrian to Tlieodoric ; Claudian; Eutropiius ; A. Marcellinus ; S. Sulpicius : Gellius ;
Macrobius ; L. Apuleius ; Uoethius ; the Latin Fathers. — 10. Roman Jurisprudence.

INTRODUCTION.

1. Roman- Literature A>nD its Dmsioxs. — Inferior to
Greece in the genius of its inhabitants, and, perhaps, in the in-
trinsic greatness of the events of which it was the theatre, nii-
(juestionably inferior in the fruits of intellectual activity. Italy
holds the second place in the classic literature of anti((uity.
Etruria could boast of arts, legislation, scientific knowledge, a
fanciful mythology, and a fonn of dramatic spectacle, before the
foundations of Rome were laid. But, like the ancient Eg}-i)tians,
the Etrurians made no progress in composition. Verses of an
irregular structure and rude in sense and harmony appear to
have formed the highest limit of their literary achievements.
Nor did even the opulent and luxurious Greeks of Southern
Italy, while they retained their independence, contribute nuich
to the glory of letters in the West. It was only in their fall
that they did good service to the cause, when they redeemed the
disgrace of their political humiliation by the honor of communi-
cating the first imiMilse towards intellectual refinement to the
bosoms of their conquerors. AVben. in the process of time, Sic-
ily, Macedonia, and Achaia had become Roman provinces, some
acquaintance with the language of their new subjects proved to
he a matter almost of necessity to tho victorious people ; but

122 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the first impression made at Rome by the productions of the
Grecian Muse, and the first efforts to create a similar literature,
must be traced to the conquest of Tarentum (272 B. c). From
that memorable period, the versatile talents wliich distinguished
the Greeks in every stage of national decline began to exercise
a powerful influence on the Roman mind, vv^hich was particularly
felt in the departments of education and amusement. The in-
struction of the Roman youth was committed to the skill and
learning of Greek slaves ; the spirit of the Greek drama was
transferred into the Latin tongue, and, somewhat later, Roman
genius and ambition devoted their united energies to the study
of Greek rhetoric, which long continued to be the guide and
model of those schools, in whose exercises the abilities of Cicero
himself were trained. Prejudice and patriotism were powerless
to resist this flood of foreign innovation ; and for more than a
century after the Tarentine war, legislative influence strove in
vain to counteract the predominance of Greek philosophy and
eloquence. But this imitative tendency was tempered by the
pride of Roman citizenship. That sentiment breaks out, not
merely in the works of great statesmen and warriors, but quite
as strikingly in the productions of those in whom the literary
character was all in all. It is as prominent in Virgil and Hor-
ace as in Cicero and Caesar ; and if the language of Rome, in
other respects so inferior to that of Greece, has any advantage
over the sister tongue, it lies in that accent of dignity and com-
mand which seems inherent in its tones. The austerity of power
is not shaded down by those graceful softenings so agreeable to
the disposition of the most polished Grecian communities. In
the Latin forms and syntax we are everywhere conscious of a
certain energetic majesty and forcible compression. We hear, as
it were, the voice of one who claims to be respected, and resolves
to be obeyed.

The Roman classical literature may be divided into three peri-
ods. The first embraces its rise and progress, oral and tradi-
tional compositions, the rude elements of the drama, the intro-
duction of Greek literature, and the construction and perfection
of comedy. To this period the first five centuries of the repub-
lic may be considered as introductory, for Rome had, properly
speaking, no literature until the conclusion of the first Punic war
(241 B. c), and t!ie first period, commencing at that time, ex-
tends through 1 GO years — that is, to the first appearance of
Cicero in public life, 74 B. c.

The second period ends v/itli the death of Augustus, 14 A. D.
It comprehends the age of which Cicero is the representative as
the most accomplished orator, philosopher, and prose-writer of
his time, as well as that of Augustus, which is commonly called
tlie Golden Age of Latin poetry.

ROMAN LITERA TURK. 123

The third and last period terminates with the death of The-
odoric, 52G A. d. Notwithstanding tlie numerous excellences
Ivhich distinguished the literature of this time, its decline had
evidently conmienced, and, as the age of Augustus has heen dis-
tinguished hy the epithet '' golden," the succeeding period, to
the death of Hadrian, 138 A. D., on account of its comparative
inferiority, has been designated " the Silver Age." From this
time to the close of the reign of Theodoric, only a few distin-
guished names are to be found.

2. The Language. — The origin of the Latin language is
necessarily connected with that of the Romans themselves. In
the most distant ages to which tradition extends, Italy appears
to have been inhabited by three stocks or tribes of the great
Indo-European family. One of these is commonly known by
the name of Oscans ; another consisted of two branches, the
Sabelians or Sabines, and the Umbrians ; the third was called
Sikeli, sometimes Vituli or Itali.

The original settlements of the Umbrians extended over the
district bounded on one side by the Tiber, and on tlie other by
the Po. All the country to the south was in possession of the
Oscans, with the exception of Latium, which was inhabited by
the Sikeli. But, in process of time, the Oscans, pressed upon
by the Sabines, invaded the abodes of this peaceful and rural
people, some of whom submitted, and amalgamated with their
conquerors ; the rest were driven across the narrow sea into Sic-
ily, and gave their name to the island.

These tribes were not left in undisturbed possession of their
rich inheritance. More than 1000 B. C. there arrived in the
northern jjart of Italy the Pelasgians (or dark Asiatics), an en-
terprising race, famed for their warlike spirit and their skill in
the arts of peace, who became the civilizers of Italy. They
were far advanced in the arts of civilization and refinement, and
in the science of politics and social life. They enriched their
newly acquired country with commerce, and filled it ^yith
strongly fortified and populous cities, and their dominion rajndly
spread over the whole peninsula. Entering the territory of the
Umbrians, they drove them into the mountainous districts, or
compelled them to live among them as a subject people, while
they possessed themselves of the rich and fertile plains. The
headquarters of the invaders was Etruria, and that portion of
them who settled there were known as Etrurians. Marching
southward, they vancpushed the Oscans and occu])ied the plains
of Latium. They did not, however, remain long at ])eace in the
districts which they had concpiered. The old inhabitants re-
turned from the neighboring highlands to which they had been
driven, and subjugated tlie northern part of Latium, and estab*

124 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

lishecl a fetleral union between the towns of the north, of which
Alba was the capital, while of the southern confederacy the chief
city was Lavinium.

At a later period, a Latin tribe, belonging to the Alban fed-
eration, estabUshed itself on the Mount Palatine, and founded
Rome, while a Sabine community occupied the neighboring
heights of the Quirinal. Mutual jealousy of race kept them, iov
some tune, separate from each other ; but at length the two
communities became one people, called the Romans. These
were, at an early jieriod, subjected to Etruscan rule, and when
the Etruscan dynasty passed away, its influence still remained,
and permanently affected the Roman language.

The Etruscan tongue being a compound of Pelasgian and
Umbrian, the language of Latium may be considered as the re-
sult of those two elements combined with the Oscan, and brought
together by the mingling of those different tribes. These ele-
ments, which entered into the formation of the Latin, may be
classified under two heads : the one which has, the other which
has not a resemblance to the Greek. All Latin words which
resemble the Greek are Pelasgian, and all which do not are
Etruscan, Oscan, or Umbrian. From the first of these classes
must be excepted those words which are directly derived from
the Greek, the origin of which dates partly from the time when
Rome began to have intercourse with the Greek colonies of
Magna Graecia, partly after the Greeks exercised a direct influ-
ence on Roman literature.

Of the ancient languages of Italy, which concurred in the
formation of the Latin, little is known. The Eugubine Tables
are the only extant fragments of the Umbrian language. These
were found in the neighborhood of Ugubio, in the year 1444
A. D. ; they date as early as 354 B. c, and contain prayers and
rules for religious ceremonies. Some of these tables were en-
graved in Etruscan or Umbrian characters, others in Latin let-
ters. The remains which have come down to us of the Oscan
language belong to a com])osite idiom made up of the Sabine
and Oscan, and consist chiefly of an inscription engraved .on a
brass plate, discovered in 1793 A. D. As the word Bansae
occurs in this inscription, it has been supposed to refer to the
town of Bantia, which was situated not far from the spot where
the tablet was found, and it is, therefore, called the Bantine
Table. The similarity between some of the words found in the
P^ugubine Tables and in P^truscan inscriptions, shows that the
Etruscan language was composed of the Pelasgian and Umbrian,
and from the examjjles given by etlmographers, it is evident
that the Etruscan element was most influential in the formation
of the Latin lan-^uajre.

ROMAN LITERATURE. 125

The old Roman tongue, or ling^iia prisca, as it was composed
•f these materials, and as it existed previous to coming in con-
tact with the Greek, has almost entirely perished ; it did not
grow into the new, like the Greek, by a process of intrinsic
development, but it was remoulded by external and foreign in-
fluences. So different was the old Roman from the classical
Latin, that some of those ancient fragments were with difficulty
intelligible to the cleverest and best educated scholars of the
Augustan age.

An example of the oldest Latin extant is contained in the
sacred chant of the Fratres Arvales. These were a college of
pi'iests, whose function was to offer prayers for plenteous har-
vests, in solemn dances and processions at the opening of spring.
Their song was chanted in the temple with closed doors, accom-
panied by that peculiar dance which was termed the tripudium,
from its containing three beats. The inscription which embodied
this litany was discovered in Rome in 1778 A. d. The monu-
ment belongs to the reign of Heliogabalus, 218 A. c, but al-
though the date is so recent, the permanence of religious formu-
las renders it probable that the inscription contains the exact
words sung by this priesthood in the earliest times. The '* Car-
men Saliare," or the Salian hymn, the le^es regice, the Tiburtine
inscription, the inscription on the sarcophagus of L. Cornelius
Scipio Barbatus, the great-grandfather of the conqueror of Han-
nibal, the epitaph of Lucius Scipio, his son, and, above all, the
Twelve Tables, are the other principal extant monuments of
ancient Latin. The laws of the Twelve Tables were engraven
on tablets of brass, and publicly set up in the comitium ; they
were first made public 449 b. c.

Most of these literary monuments were written in Saturnian
verse, the oldest measure used by the Latin poets. It was prob-
ably derived from the Etruscans, and until Ennius introduced
the heroic hexameter, the strains of the Italian bards flowed in
this metre. The structure of the Saturnian is very simple, and
its rhythmical arrangement is found in the poetry of every age
and . country. Macaulay adduces, as an example of this meas-
ure, the following line from the well-knownii nursery song, —

" The quedn was in her pdrlor, | edting bredd and honey."

From this species of verse, which probably prevailed among the
natives of Provence (the Roman Provincia), and into which, at
a later period, rhyme was introduced as an embellishment, the
Troubadours derived the metre of their ballad poetry, and thence
introduced it into the rest of Europe.

A wide gap separates this old Latin from the Latin of Ennius,
tehose style was formed by Greek taste ; another not so wide is

126 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

interposed between the age of Ennius and that of Plautus and
Terence, and lastly, Cicero and the Augustan poets mark an-
other age. But in all its periods of development, the Latin
bears a most intimate relation with the Greek. This similarity
is the result both of their common origin from the primitive
Pelasgian and of the intercourse which the Romans at a later
period held with the Greeks. Latin, however, had not the
plastic property of the Greek, the faculty of transforming itself
into every variety of form and shape conceived by the fancy and
imagination ; it partook of the spirit of Roman nationality, of
the conscious dignity of the Roman citizen, of the indomitable
will that led that people to the conquest of the world. In its
construction, instead of conforming to the thought, it bends the
thought to its own genius. It is a fit language for expressing
the thoughts of an active and practical, but not of an imaginative
and speculative people. It was propagated, like the dominion
of Rome, by conquest. It either took the place of the language
of the conquered nation, or became ingrafted upon it, and grad-
ually pervaded its composition ; hence its presence is discernible
in all European languages.

3. The Religion. — The religion and mythology of Etruria
left an indelible stamp on the rites and ceremonies of the Roman
people. At first they worshiped heaven and earth, personified
in Saturn and Ops, by whom Juno, Vesta, and Ceres were gen-
erated, symbolizing marriage, family, and fertility ; soon after,
other Etruscan divinities were introduced, such as Jupiter, Mi-
nerva, and Janus ; and Sylvanus and Faunus, who delighted in
the simple occupations of rural and pastoral life. From the
Etrurians the Romans borrowed, also, the institution of the Ves-
tals, whose duty was to watch and keep alive the sacred fire
of Vesta ; the Lares and Penates, the domestic gods, which
presided over the dwelling and family ; Terminus, the god of
property and the rites connected with possession ; and the orders
of Augurs and Aruspices, whose office was to consult the flight
of birds or to inspect the entrails of animals offered in sacrifice,
in order to ascertain future events. The family of the Roman
gods continued to increase by adopting the divinities of the con-
quered nations, and more particularly by the introduction of
those of Greece. The general division of the gods was twofold,
— the superior and inferior deities. The first class contained
the Consentes and the Select! ; the second, the Indigetes and
Semones. The Consentes, so called because they were supposed
to form the great council of heaven, consisted of twelve : Jupiter,
Neptune, Apollo, Mars, Mercury, Vulcan, Juno, Minerva, Ceres,
Diana, Venus, and Vesta. The Selecti were nearly equal to them
m rank, and consisted of eight : Saturn, Pluto, Bacchus, Janus,

ROMAN LITERATURE. 127

Sol, Genius, Rhea, and Luna. The Indigites were heroes who
were ranked among the gods, and included particularly Hercules,
Castor and Pollux, and Quirinus or Romulus. The Semones
comprehended those deities that presided over particular objects,
as Pan, the god of shepherds ; Flora, the goddess of flowers, etc.
Besides these, there were among the inferior gods a numerous
class of deities, including the virtues and vices and other objects
personified.

The religion of the Romans was essentially political, and em-
ployed as a means of promoting the designs of the state. It
was prosaic in its character, and in this respect differed essen-
tially from the artistic and poetical religion of the Greeks. The
Greeks conceived rehgion as a free and joyous worship of na-
ture, a centre of individuality, beauty, and grace, as well as a
source of poetry, art, and independence. With the Romans, on
the contrary, religion conveyed a mysterious and hidden idea,
which gave to this sentiment a gloomy and unattractive charac-
ter, without either moral or artistic influence.

PERIOD FIRST.

From the Conclusion or the First Punio Wxb to the Age or

Cicero (241-74 b. c.)

1. Early Literature of the Romans. — The Romans,
like all other nations, had oral poetical compositions before they
possessed any written literature. Cicero speaks of the banquet
being enlivened by the songs of bards, in which the exploits of
heroes were recited and celebrated. By these lays national pride
and family vanity were gratified, and the anecdotes, thus pre-
served, furnished sources of early legendary history. But these
legends must not be compared to those of Greece, in which the
religious sentiment gave a supernatural glory to the eflEusions of
the bard, painted men as heroes and heroes as deities, and, while
it was the natural growth of the Greek intellect, twined itself
around the affections of the people. The Roman religion was
a ceremonial for the priests, and not for the people, and in Ro-
man tradition there are no traces of elevated genius or poetical
inspiration. The Romans possessed the germs of those faculties
which admit of cultivation and improvement, such as taste and
genius, and the appreciation of the beautiful ; but they did not
possess those natural gifts of fancy and imagination which formed
part of the Greek mind, and whioli made that nation in a state
of infancy, almost of barbarism, a poetical people. With them
literature was not of spontaneous growth ; it was chiefly the re-
sult of the influence exerted by the Etruscans, who were their
teachers in everything mental and spiritual.

128 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

The tendency of the Roman mind was essentially utilitarian.
Even Cicero, with all his varied accomplishments, will recognize
but one end and object of all study, namely, those sciences which
will render man useful to his country, and the law of literary
development is modified according to this ruling principle. From
the very beginning, the first cause of Roman literature will be
found to have been a view to utility and not to the satisfaction
of an impulsive feeUng.

In other nations, poetry has been the first spontaneous pro-
duction. With the Romans, the first written literary effort was
history ; but even their early history was a simple record of
facts, not of ideas or sentiments, and valuable only for its truth
and accuracy. Their original documents, mere records of mem-
orable events anterior to the capture of Rome by the Gauls, per-
ished in the conflagration of the city.

The earliest attempt at versification made by the rude inhab-
itants of Latium was satire in a somewhat dramatic form. The
Fescennine songs were metrical, for the accompaniments of mu-
sic and dancing necessarily restricted them to measure, and, like
the dramatic exhibitions of the Greeks, they had their origin
among the rural population, not like them in any religious cere-
monial, but in the pastimes of the village festival. At first they
were innocent and gay, but liberty at length degenerated into
license, and gave birth to malicious and libelous attacks upon
persons of irreproachable character. This infancy of song illus-
trates the character of the Romans in its rudest and coarsest
form. They loved strife, both bodily and mental, and they thus
early displayed that taste which, in more polished ages, and in
the hands of cultivated poets, was developed in the sharp, cut-
ting wit, and the lively but piercing points of Roman satire.

In the Fescennine songs the Etruscans probably furnished the
spectacle, all that which addresses itself to the eye, while the
habits of Italian rural life supplied the sarcastic humor and
ready extemporaneous gibe, which are the essence of the true
comic. The next advance in point of art must be attributed to
the Oscans, whose entertainments were most popular among the
Italian nations. They represented in broad caricature national
peculiarities. Their language was, originally, Oscan, as well
as the characters represented. The principal one resembled the
clown of modern pantomime ; another was a kind of pantaloon
or charlatan, and much of the rest consisted of practical jokes,
like that of the Italian Polincinella. After their introduction
at Rome, they received many improvements ; they lost their na-
tive rusticity ; their satire was good-natured ; their jests were
seemly, and kept in check by the laws of good taste. They
were not acted by common professional performers, and even a

ROMAN LITERATURE. 129

Roman citizen might take part in them without disgrace. They
were known by the name of " Fabulae Atellanaj," from Attela, a
town in Campania, where they were first performed. They re-
mained in favor with the Roman people for centuries. Sylla
amused his leisure hours in writing them, and Suetonius bears
testimony to their having been a popular amusement under the
smpire.

Towards tlie close of the fourth century, the Etruscan histri-
ones were introduced, whose entertainments consisted of grace-
ful national dances, accompanied with the music of the flute, but
without either songs or dramatic action. With these dances the
Romans combined the old Fescennine songs, and the varied me-
tres, which their verse permitted to the vocal parts, gave to
this mixed entertainment the name of Satura (a hodge-podge or
potpourri), from which, in after times, the word satire was de-
rived.

2. Early Latin Poets. — At the conclusion of the first
Punic war, when the influence of Greek intellect, wliich had al-
ready long been felt in Italy, had extended to the capital, the
Romans were prepared for the reception of a more regular
drama. But not only did they owe to Greece the principles of
literary taste ; their earliest poet was one of that nation. Livius
Andronicus (fl. 240 B. c), though born in Italy, and educated at
Rome, is supposed to have been a native of the Greek colony of
Tarentura. He was at first a slave, probably a captive taken in
war, but was finally emancipated by his master, in whose family
he occupied the position of instructor to his children. He wrote
a translation, or perhaps an imitation of the Odyssey, in the old
Saturnian metre, and also a few hjTims. His principal works,
however, were tragedies ; but, from the few fragments of his
writings extant, it is unpossible to form an estimate of his ability
as a poet. According to Livy, Andronicus was the first who
substituted, for the rude extemporaneous effusions of the Fescen-
nine verse, plays with a regular plot and fable. In consequence
of losing his voice, from being frequently encored, he obtained
permission to introduce a boy to sing the ode or air to the ac-
companiment of the flute, while lie himself represented the ac-
tion of the song by his gestures and dancing.

Naevius (fl. 235 b. c.) was the first poet who really deserves
the name of Roman. He was not a servile imiUitor, but applied
Greek taste and cultivation to the development of Roman senti-
ments, and was a true Roman in heart, unsparing in his censure
of immorality and his admiration for heroic self-tlevotion. His
honest principles cemented the strong friendship between him and
the upright and unbending Cato, a friendship which probably
contributed to form the political and literary character of that
9

130 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

stern old Roman. The comedies of Nsevius had undoubted pre«
tensions to originaUty ; he held up to public scorn the vices and
follies of his day, and, being a warm supporter of the people
against the encroachments of the nobility, and unable to resist
indulgence in his satiric vein, he was exiled to Utica, where he
died. He was the author of an epic poem on the Punic war.
Ennius and Virgil unscrupulously copied and imitated him, and
Horace writes that in his day the poems of Naevius were in the
hands and hearts of everybody. The fragments of his writings
extant are not more numerous than those of Livius.

Naevius, the last of the older school of writers, by introducing
new principles of taste to his countrymen, altered their stand-
ards ; and Greek literature having now driven out its predeces-
sor, a new school of poetry arose, of which Ennius (239-169 b. c.)
was the founder. He earned a subsistence as a teacher of Greek,
was the friend of Scipio, and, at his death, was buried in the
family tomb of the Scipios, at the request of the great conqueror
of Hannibal, whose fame he contributed to hand down to pos-
terity. Cicero always uses the appellation, " our own Ennius,"
when he quotes his poetry. Horace calls him " Father Ennius,"
a term which implies reverence and regard, and that he was
the founder of Latin poetry. He was, like his friends Cato the
censor, and Scipio Africanus the elder, a man of action as well
as philosophical thought, and not only a poet, but a brave sol-
dier, with all the singleness of heart and simplicity of manners
which marked the old times of Roman virtue. Ennius possessed
great power over words, and wielded that power skillfully. He
improved the language in its harmony and its grammatical forms,
and increased its copiousness and power. What he did was im-
proved upon, but was never undone ; and upon the foundations he
laid, the taste of succeeding ages erected an elegant and beautifid
(Superstructure. His great epic poem, the " Annals," gained him
the attachment and admiration of liis countrymen. In this he
first introduced the hexameter to the notice of the Romans, and
detailed the rise and progress of their national glory, from the
earliest legendary period down to his own times. The fragments
of this work which rehiain are amply sufficient to show that he
possessed picturesque power, both in sketching his narratives
and in portraying his characters, which seem to live and breathe ;
his language, dignified, chaste, and severe, rises as high as the
most majestic eloquence, but it does not soar to the sublimity of
poetry. As a dramatic poet, Ennius does not deserve a high
reputation. In comedy, as in tragedy, he never emancipated
himself from the Greek originals.

3. Roman Comedy. — The rude comedy of the early Romans
made little progress beyond personal satire, burlesque extrava;

ROMAN LITERATURE. 131

gance and licentious jesting, but upon this was ingrafted the
new Greek comedy, and hence arose that phase of the drama, of
wliich the representatives were Plautus, Statius, and Terence.
The Roman comedy was calculated to produce a moral result,
although the morality it inculcated was extremely low. Its
standard was worldly prudence, its lessons utilitarian, and its
philosophy Epicurean. There is a want of variety in the plots,
but this defect is owing to the social and political condition of
ancient Greece, which was represented in the Greek comedies
and copied by the Romans. There is also a sameness in the
dramatis perso?i(V, the principal characters being always a mo-
rose or a gentle father, who is sometimes also the henpecked
husband of a rich vdie, an affectionate or domineering wife, a
good-natured profligate, a roguish servant, a calculating slave-
dealer and some others.

The actors wore appropriate masks, the features of which
were not only grotesque, but much exaggerated and magnified.
This was rendered necessary by the immense size of the theatre
and stage, and the mouth of the mask answered the purpose of
a speaking trumpet, to assist in conveying the voice to every
part of the vast building. The characters were known by a con-
ventional costume ; old men wore robes of white, young men
were attired in gay clothes, rich men in purple, soldiers in scar-
let, poor men and slaves in dark and scanty dresses. The com-
edy had always a musical accompaniment of flutes of different
kinds.

In order to understand the principles which regulated the
Roman comic metres, it is necessary to observe the manner in
which the language itself was affected by the common conver-
sational pronunciation. Latin, as it was pronounced, was very
different from Latin as it is written ; this difference consisted in
abbreviation, either by the omission of sounds altogether, or by
the contraction of two sounds into one, and in this respect the
conversational language of the Romans resembled that of modern
nations ; with them, as with us, the mark of good taste was ease
and the absence of pedantry and affectation. In the comic
writers we have a complete representation of Latin as it was
commonly pronounced and spoken, and but little trammeled or
confined by a rigid adhesion to Greek metrical laws.

4. Comic Poets. — Plautus (227-184 b. c.) was a contem-
porary of Ennius ; he was a native of Umbria, and of humble
origin. Education did not overcome his vulgarity, although it
produced a great effect upon his language and style. He must
have lived and associated with the ])eople whose manners he
describes, hence his pictures are correct and truthful. The
ilass from which his representations are taken consisted of

132 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

clients, the sons of freedmen and the half-enfranchised natives
of Italian towns. He had no aristocratic friends, like Ennius
and Terence ; the Roman public were his patrons, and notwith-
standing their faults, his comedies retained their popularity even
in the Augustan age, and were acted as late as the reign of
Diocletian. Life, bustle, surprise, unexpected situations, sharp,
sparkling raillery that knew no restraint nor bound, left has
audience no time for dullness or weariness. Although Greek
was the fountam from which he drew his stores, his wit, thought,
and language were entirely Roman, and his style was Latin of
the purest and most elegant kind — not, indeed, controlled by
much deference to the laws of metrical harmony, but fuU of pith
and sprightliness, bearing the stamp of colloquial vivacity, and
suitable to the general briskness of his scenes. Yet in the tone
of his dialogue we miss aU symptoms of deference to the taste
of the more polished classes of society. Almost all his comedies
were adopted from the new comedy of the Greeks, and though
he had studied both the old and the middle comedy, Menander
and others of the same school furnished him the originals of his
plots. The popularity of Plautus was not confined to Rome,
either republican or imperial. Dramatic writers of modern times,
as Shakspeare, Dryden, and Moliere, have recognized the effec-
tiveness of his plots, and have adopted or imitated them. About
twenty of his plays are extant, among which the Captivi, the
Epidicus, the CisteUaria, the Aulularia, and the Rudens are
considered the best.

Terence (193-158 B. c.) was a slave in the family of a Roman
senator, and was probably a native of Carthage. His genius
presented the rare combination of all the fine and delicate quali-
ties which characterized Attic sentiment, without corrupting the
native purity of the Latin language. The elegance and grace-
fulness of his style show that the conversation of the accom-
plished society, in which he was a welcome guest, was not lost
upon his correct ear and quick intuition. So far as it can be so,
comedy was, in the hands of Terence, an instrument of moral
teaching. Six of his comedies only remain, of which the Andrian
and the Adelphi are the most interesting. If Terence was infe-
rior to Plautus in life, bustle, and intrigue, and in the delinea-
tion of national character, he is superior in elegance of language
and refinement of taste. The justness of his reflections more
than compensates for the absence of his predecessor's humor ;
he touches the heart as well as gratifies the intellect.

Of the few other writers of comedy among the Romans, Sta-
tius may be mentioned, who flourished between Plautus and
Terence. He was an emancipated slave, born in Milan. Cicero
^nd Varro have pronounced judgment upon his merits, the sub-

ROMAN LITERATURE. 133

stance of which appears to be, that his excellences consisted in
the conduct of the plot, in dignity, and in pathos, while his fault
was too little care in preserving the purity of the Latin style.
The fragments, however, of his works, which remain are not
sufficient to test the opinion of tlie ancient critics.

5. Roman Tragedy. — Wlule Roman comedy was brought
to perfection under the influence of Greek literature, Roman
tragedy, on the other hand, was transplanted from Athens, and,
with few excejjtions, was never anything more than translation
or imitation. In the century during which, together with com-
edy, it flourished and decayed, it boasted of five distinguished
writers, Livius, Nsevius, Ennius (already spoken of), Pacuvius,
and Attius. In after ages, Rome did not produce one tragic
poet, unless Varius be considered an exception. The tragedies
attributed to Seneca were never acted, and were only composed
for reading and recitation.

Among the causes which prevented tragedy from flourishing
at Rome was the little influence the national legends exerted
over the people. These legends were more often private than
public property, and ministered more to the glory of private
families than to that of the nation at large. They were em-
balmed by their poets as curious records of antiquity, but they
did not, like the venerable traditions of Greece, twine them-
selves around the heart of the nation. Another reason why
Roman legends had not the power to move the affections of the
Roman populace is to be found in the changes the masses had
undergone. The Roman people were no longer the descendants
of those who had maintained the national glory in the early
period ; the patrician families were almost extinct ; war and
poverty had extinguished the middle classes and miserably
thinned the lower orders. Into the vacancy thus caused, poured
thousands of slaves, captives in the bloody wars of Gaul, S})ain,
Greece, and Africa. These and their descendants replaced the
ancient people, and while many of them by their tjilents and
energy arrived at wealth and station, they could not possibly be
Romans at heart, or consider the past glories of their ado])ted
country as their own. It was to the rise of this new element of
population, and the displacement or absorption of the old race,
that the decline of j)atriotism was owing, and the disregard of
everything except daily sustenance and daily amusement, which
paved the way for the empire and marked the downfall of lib-
erty. With the people of Athens, tragedy formed a part of the
national religion. By it the people were taught to spnpathize
with their heroic ancestors ,• the poet was held to be inspired,
and poetry the tongue in which the natural held communion with
the supernatural With the Romans, the theatre was merely a

134 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

place for secular amusement, and poetry only an exercise of the
fancy. Again, the religion of the Romans was not ideal, like
that of the Greeks. The old national faith of Italy, not being
rooted in the heart, soon became obsolete, and readily admitted
the ingrafting of foreign superstitions, which had no hold on the
belief or love of the people. Nor was the genius of the Roman
people such as to sympathize with the legends of the past ; they
lived only in the present and the future ; they did not look back
on their national heroes as demigods ; they were pressing for-
ward to extend the frontiers of their empire, to bring under their
yoke nations which their forefathers had not known. If they
regarded their ancestors at all, it was not in the light of men of
heroic stature as compared with themselves, but as those whom
they could equal or even surpass.

The scenes of real life, the bloody combats of the gladiators,
the captives, and malefactors stretched on crosses, expiring in
excruciating agonies or mangled by wild beasts, were the trage-
dies which most deeply interested a Roman audience.

The Romans were a rough people, full of physical rather than
of intellectual energy, courting peril and setting no value on hu-
man life or suffering. Their very virtues were stern and severe ;
they were strangers to both the passions which it was the object
of tragedy to excite — pity and terror. In the public games of
Greece, the refinements of poetry mingled with those exercises
which were calculated to invigorate the physical powers, and
develop manly beauty. Those of Rome were sanguinary and
brutalizing, the amusements of a nation to whom war was a
pleasure and a pastime.

It cannot be asserted, however, that tragedy was never to a
certain extent an acceptable entertainment at Rome, but only
that it never flourished there as it did at Athens, and that no
Roman tragedies can be compared with those of Greece.

6. Tragic Poets. — Three separate eras produced tragic
poets. In the first flourished Livius Andronicus, Naevius, and
Ennius ; in the second, Pacuvius and Attius ; in the third, Asi-
nius PoUio wrote tragedies, the plots of which seem to have been
taken from Roman history. Ovid attempted a " Medea," and
even the Emperor Augustus, with other men of genius, tried
his hand, though unsuccessfully, at tragedy.

In the second of the eras mentioned, Roman tragedy reached
its highest degree of perfection simultaneously with that of
comedy. While Terence was successfully reproducing the wit
and manners of the new Attic comedy, Pacuvius (220-130 B. c.)
was enriching the Roman drama with free translations of the
Greek tragedians. He was a native of Brundusium and a grand-
ion of the poet Ennius. At Rome he distinguished himself as

ROMAN LITERATURE. 135

a painter as well as a dramatic poet. His tragedies were not
mere translations, but adaptations of Greek tragedies to the
Roman staefe. Tlie frafrments which are extant are full of new
and original thoughts, and the very roughness of his style and
audacity of his expressions have somewhat of the solemn grand-
eur and picturesque boldness which distinguish the father of
Attic tragedy.

Attius (11. 138 B. c), though born later than Pacu\nus, was
almost his contemj)orary, and a competitor for popular applause.
He is said to have written more than fifty tragedies, of which
fragments only remain. His taste is chastened, his sentiments
noble, and his versification elegant. With him, Latin tragedy
disappeared. The tragedies of the third period were written
expressly for reading and recitation, and not for the stage :
they were dramatic poems, not dramas. Amidst the scenes of
horror and violence which followed, the voice of the tragic nmse
was hushed. Massacre and rapine raged through the streets of
Rome, itself a theatre where the most terrible scenes were daily
enacted.

7. Satire. — The invention of satire is universally attributed
to the Romans, and this is true as far as the external form is
concerned, but the spirit is found in many parts of the litera-
ture of Greece. Ennius was the inventor of the name, but
Lucilius (148-102 B. c.) was the father of satire, in the proper
sense. His satires mark an era in Roman literature, and prove
that a love for this species of poetry had already made great
progress. Hitherto, literature, science, and art had been con-
sidered the province of slaves and freedmen. The stern old
Roman virtue despised such sedentary employment as intellectual
cultivation, and thought it unworthy of the warrior and states-
man. Some of the higher classes loved literature and patron-
ized it, but did not make it their pursuit. Lucilius was a Ro-
man knight, as well as a poet. His satires were comprised
in thirty books, numerous fragments of which are still extant.
He was a man of high moral principle, thougli stern and stoical ;
a relentless enemy of vice and ])rofligacy, and a gallant and
fearless defender of truth antl honesty. After the death of
Lucilius satire languished, until half a century later, when it
assumed a new garb in the descri])tive scenes of Horace, and
put forth its original vigor in the burning thoughts of Persius
and Juvenal.

8. History and Oratory . — Prose was far more in accord-
ance with the genius of the Romans than })oetry. As a nation,
they had little or no imaginative })ower, no enthusiastic love of
natural beauty, and no acute perception of the sympathy be-
tween man and the external world. The favorite civil pursuit

i36 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

of an enlightened Roman was statesmanship, and the subjects
akin to it, histoiy, jurisprudence, and oratory, the natural lan-
guage of which was prose, not poetry. And their practical states-
manship gave an early encouragement to oratory, which is pecul-
iarly the literature of active life. As matter was more valued
than manner by this utilitarian people, it was long before it was
thought necessary to embellish prose composition with the graces
of rhetoric. The fact that Roman literature was imitative
rather than inventive, gave a historical bias to the Roman intel-
lect, and a tendency to study subjects from an historical point
of view.- But even in history, they never attained that compre-
hensive and philosophical spirit which distinguished the Greek
historians.

The most ancient writer of Roman history was Fabius Pictor
(fl. 219 B. c). His principal work, written in Greek, was a his-
tory of the first and second Punic war, to which subsequent
writers were much indebted. Contemporary with Fabius was
Cincius Alimentus, also an annalist of the Punic war, in which
he was personally engaged. He was a prisoner of Hannibal,
who delighted in the society of literary men, and treated liim
with great kindness and consideration, and himself communi-
cated to him the details of his passage across the Aljis. Like
Fabius, he wrote his work in Greek, and prefixed to it a brief
abstract of Roman history. Though the works of these anna-
lists are valuable as furnishing materials for more philosophical
minds, they are such as could have existed only in the infancy
of a national literature. They were a bare compilation of facts
— the mere framework of history — diversified by no critical
remarks or political reflection:?, and meagre and insipid in style.

The versatility of talent displayed by Cato the censor (224-
144 B. c.) entitles him to a place among orators, jurists, econ-
omists, and historians. His life extends over a wide and impor-
tant period of literary history, when everytliing was in a state of
change, — morals, social habits, and literary taste. Cato was
born in Tusculum, and passed his boyhood in the pursuits of
rural life at a small Sabine farm belonging to his father. The
skill with which he pleaded the causes of his clients before the
rural magistracy made his abilities known, and he rose rapidly
to eminence as a pleader. He filled many high offices of state.
His energies were not weakened by advancing age, and he was
always ready as the advocate of virtue, the champion of the op-
pressed, and the punisher of vice. With many defects, Cato
was morally and intellectually one of the greatest men Rome
ever produced. He had the ability and the determination to
excel in everything which he undertook. His style is rude, un-
polished, ungraceful, because to him i)olish was superficial, and,

ROMAN LITERATURE. 137

therefore, unreal. His statements, however, were clear, his il-
lustrations striking ; the words willi which he enriched his na-
tive tongue were full of meaning ; his wit was keen and lively,
and his arguments went straight to the intellect, and carried con-
viction with them.

Cato's great historical and antiquarian work, " The Origins,"
was a history of Italy and Rome from the earliest times to the
latest events which occurred in his own lifetime. It was a work
of great research antl originality, hut only hrief fragments of it
remain. In the " De Re Rustica," which has come down to us
in form and substance as it was written, Cato maintains, in the
introduction, the superiority of agriculture over other modes of
gaining a livelihood. The work itself is a commonplace book
of agriculture and domestic economy ; its object is utiUty, not
science : it serves the purpose of a fanner's and gardener's man-
ual, a domestic medicine, herbal, and cookery book. Cato
teaches his readers, for example, how to plant osier beds, to
cultivate vegetables, to preserve the health of cattle, to pickle
pork, and to make savory dishes.

Of the " Orations " of Cato, ninety titles are extant, together
with numerous fragments. In style he despised art. He was
too fearless and upright, too confident in the justness of his
cause to be a rhetorician ; he imitated no one, and no one was
ever able to imitate him. Niebuhr pronounces him to be the
only great man in his generation, and one of the greatest and
most honorable characters in Roman history.

Varro (116-28 b. c.) was an agriculturist, a grammarian, a
critic, a theologian, a historian, a philosopher, a satirist. Of his
miscellaneous works considerable portions are extant, sufficient
to display his einidition and acuteness, yet, in themselves, more
curious than attractive.

Eloquence, though of a rude, unpolished kind, must have been,
in the very earliest times, a characteristic of the Roman people.
It is a j)lant indigenous to a free soil. As in modern times it
has flourished especially in England and America, fostered by
the unfettered freedom of debate, so it found a congenial home
in free Greece and republican Rome. Oratory was, in Rome,
the unwritten literature of active hfe, and recommended itself
to a warlike and utilitarian people by its utility and its antago-
nistic spirit. Long before the art of the historian was sufficiently
advanced to record a s])eech, the forum, the senate, the battle-
field, and the threshold of the jurisconsult had been nurseries of
Roman eloquence, or schools in which oratory attained a vigor-
ous youth, and prepared for its subsequent maturity.

While the legal and poUtical constitution of the Roman people
gave direct encouragement to deliberative and judicial oratory,

138 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

respect for the illustrious dead furnished opportunities for pane-
gyric. The song of the bard in lionor of the departed warrior
gave place to the funeral oration. Among the orators of this
time were the two Scipios, and Galba, whom Cicero praises as
having been the first Roman who understood how to apply the
theoretical principles of Greek rhetoric.

All periods of political disquiet are necessarily favorable to
eloquence, and the era of the Gracchi was especially so. After
a struggle of nearly four centuries the old distinction of plebeian
and patrician no longer existed. Plebeians held high offices,
and patricians, like the Gracchi, stood forward as champions of
popular rights. These stirring times produced many celebrated
orators. The Gracchi themselves were both eloquent and pos-
sessed of those qualities and endowments which would recom-
mend their eloquence to their countrymen. Oratory began now
to be studied more as an art, and the interval between the
Gracchi and Cicero boasted oi many distinguished names ; the
most illustrious among them are M. Antonius, Crassus, and Cic-
ero's contemporary and most formidable rival, Hortensius.

M. Antonius (fl. 119 B. c.) entered public life as a pleader,
and thus laid the foundation of his brilliant career ; but he was
through life greater as a judicial than as a deliberative orator.
He was indefatigable in preparing his case, and made every
point tell. He was a great master of the pathetic, and knew
the way to the heart. Although he did not himself give his
speeches to posterity, some of his most pointed expressions and
favorite passages left an indelible impression on the memories
of his hearers, and many of them were preserved by Cicero.
In the prime of life he fell a victim to political fury, and his
bleeding head was placed upon the rostrum, which was so fre-
quently the scene of his eloquent triumphs.

L. Licinius Crassus was four years younger than Antonius,
and acquired great reputation for his knowledge of jurispru-
dence, for his eminence as a pleader, and, above all, for his
powerful and triumphant orations in support of the restoration
of the judicial office to the senators. From among the crowd of
orators, who were then flourishing in the last days of expiring
Roman liberty, Cicero selected Crassus to be the representative
of his sentiments in his imaginary conversation in " The Orator."
Like Lord Chatham, Crassus almost died on the floor of the
Senate house, and liia last effort was in support of the aristo-
cratic party.

Q. Hortensius was bom 114 b. c. He was only eight years
senior to the greatest of all Roman orators. He early com-
menced his career as a pleader, and he was the acknowledged
leader of the Roman bar, until the star of Cicero arose. Hi»

ROMAN LITERATURE. 139

political connection with the faction of Sylla, and his unscru-
pulous support of the profligate corruption which characterized
that administration, both at home and abroad, enlisted his legal
talents in defense of the infamous Verres ; but the eloquence of
Cicero, together with the justice of the cause which he espoused,
prevailed ; and from that time forward his superiority over
Hortensius was established and complete. The style of Hor-
tensius was Asiatic — more florid and ornate than polished and

refined.

9. Roman Jurisprudence. — The framework of their jr.ris-
prudence the Romans derived from Athens, but the complete
structure was built up by their own hands. They were the au-
thors of a system possessing such stability that they bequeathed
it, as an inheritance, to modern Europe, and traces of Roman
law are visible in the legal systems of the whole civilized world.

The complicated principles of jurisprudence of the Roman
constitution became, in Rome, a necessary part of a liberal edu-
cation. When a Roman youth had completed his studies, under
his teacher of rhetoric, he not only frequented the forum, in
order to learn the application of the rhetorical principles he had
acquired, and frequently took some celebrated orator as a model,
but also studied the principles of jurisprudence under eminent
jurists, and attended the consultations in which they gave to
their clients their expositions of law.

The earliest systematic works on Roman law were the "Man-
ual " of Pomponius, and the " Institutes " of Gains, who flour-
ished in the time of Hadrian and the Antonines. Both of these
works were, for a long time, lost, though fragments were pre-
served in the pandects of Justinian. In 181G, however, Niebuhr
discovered a palimpsest MS., in which the epistles of St. Jerome
were written over the erased " Institutes " of Gains. From the
numerous misunderstandings of the Roman historians respecting
the laws and constitutional history of their country, the subject
continued long in a state of confusion, until Vico, in his " Sci-
enza nuova," dispelled the clouds of error, and reduced it to a
system ; and he was followed so successfully by Niebuhr, that
modern students can have a more comprehensive and anticjua-
rian knowledge of the subject than the writers of the Augustan

age

The earliest Roman laws were the " Leges Regiae," which
were collected and codified by Sextus Papirius, and were hence
called the Papirian code ; but these were rude and unconnected,
— simply a collection of isolated enactments. The laws of the
** Twelve Tables " stand next in point of antiiiuity- They ex-
hibited the first attempt at regiilar system, and enibodied not
only legislative enactments, but legal principles. So popular

140 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

were they that when Cicero was a child every Roman boy com'
mitted them to memory, as our children do their catechism, and
the great orator laments that in the course of his lifetime this
practice had become obsolete.

The oral traditional expositions of these laws formed the
gi'oundwork of the Roman civil law. To these were added,
from time to time, the decrees of the people, the acts of the sen-
ate, and praetorian edicts, and from these various elements the
whole body of Roman law was composed. So early was the sub-
ject diligently studied, that the age preceding the first two cen-
turies of our era was rich in jurists whose powers are celebrated
in history.

The most eminent jurists who adorned this period were the
Scaevolae, a family in whom the profession seems to have been
hereditary. After them flourished ^lius Gallus (123-67 B. c),
eminent as a law reformer, C. Juventius, Sextus Papirius, and
L. Lucilius Balbus, three distinguished jurists, who were a few
years senior to Cicero.

10. Grammarians. — Towards the conclusion of this literary
period a great increase took place in the numbers of those
learned men whom the Romans at first termed literati, but
afterwards, following the custom of the Greeks, grammarians.
To them literature was under great obligations. Although few
of them were authors, and aU of them possessed acquired learn-
ing rather than original genius, they exercised a powerful influ-
ence over the puljlic mind as professors, lecturers, critics, and
schoolmasters. By them the youths of the best families not
only were imbued with a taste for Greek philosophy and poetry,
but were also taught to appreciate the Uterature of their own
country. Livius Andronicus and Ennius may be placed at the
head of this class, followed by Crates Mallotes, C. Octavius
Lampadio, Laelius, Archelaus, and others, most of whom were
emancipated slaves, either from Greece or from other foreign
countries.

PERIOD SECOND.

From the Age of Cicero to the Death of Augustus (74 b. c.-14

A. D.)

1. Development of Tins Roman Literature. — Latin lit-
erature, at first rude, and, for five centuries, unable to reach any
high excellence, was, as we have seen, gradually developed by
the examjjle and tendency of the Greek mind, which moulded
Roman civilization anew. The earliest Latin poets, historians,
and grammarians were Greeks. The metre which was brought
to such perfection by the Latin poets was formed from the
Greek, and the Latin lauiniajre more and more assimilated to
the Hellenic tongue.

ROMAN LITERATURE. 141

As civilization advanced, the rude literature of Rome was
tonipared with the great monuments of Greek genius, their su-
periority was acknowledged, and the study of them encouraged.
The Roman youth not only attended the schools of the Greeks,
in Rome, but their education was considered incom})lete, unless
they rei)aired to those of Athens, Rhodes, and Mytilene. Thus,
whatever of national character existed in the literature was
gradually obliterated, and what it gained in harmony and finish
it lost in originality. The Roman writers imitated more jiartic-
ularly the writers of the Alexandrian school, who, being more
artificial, were more congenial than the great writers of the age
of Pericles.

Roman genius, serious, rftajestic, and perhaps more original
than at a later period, was manifest even at the time of the
Punic wars, but it had not yet taken form ; and while thought
was vigorous and ])owerful, ex])ression remained weak and un-
certain. But, under the Greek influence, and aided by the
vigor imparted by free institutions, the union of thought and
form was at length consummated, and the literature reached its
culminating point in the great Roman orator. The fruits which
had grown and matured in the centuries preceding were gath-
ered by Augustus ; but the influences that contributed to the
splendor of his age belong rather to the republic than the em-
pire, and with the fall of the liberties of Rome, Roman literature
declined.

2. Mimes, MiMOGRAPHERS, AND Pantomime. — Amidst all
the splendor of the Latin literature of this period, dramatic
poetry never recovered from the trance into which it had fallen,
though the stage had not altogether lost its ])oi)ularity. jEsopus
and Roscius, the former the great tragic actor, and the latter the
favorite comedian, in the time of Cicero, enjoyed his friendship
and that of other gi-eat men, and l)oth amassed large fortunes.
But although the standard Roman i)lays were constantly rejire-
sented, dramatic literature had become extinct. The entertain-
ments, which had now taken the place of comedy and tragedy,
were termed mimes. These were laughable imitations of man-
ners and ])ersons, combining the features of comedy and farco,
for comedy re])resents the characters of a class, farce those of
individuals. Their essence was that of the modern })antomime,
and their coarseness, and even indecency, gratified the love of
broad humor which characterized the Roman people. After a
time, when they became established as popular favorites, the
dialogue occupied a more ))rominent jjosition, and was writteh in
verse, like that of tragedy and comedy. During the dictator-
ship of CjBsar, a Roman knight named Laberius (107-45 B. c.)
became famous for his mimes. The profession of an actor of

142 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

mimes was infamous, but Laberiiis was a writer, not an actor.
On one occasion, Caesar offered him a large sum of money to
enter the lists in a trial of his improvisatorial skill. Laberius
did not submit to the degradation for the sake of the money, but
he was afraid to refuse. The only method of retaliation in his
power was sarcasm. His part was that of a slave ; and when
his master scourged him, he exclaimed : " Porro, Quirites, liber-
tatem perdimus ! " His words were received with a round of
applause, and all eyes were fixed on Caesar. The dictator re-
stored him to the rank of which his act had deprived him, but
he could never recover the respect of his countrymen. As he
passed the orchestra, on his way to the stalls of the knights,
Cicero cried out : " If we were not so crowded, I would make
room for you here." Laberius replied, alluding to Cicero's luke-
warmness as a political partisan : " I am astonished that you
should be crowded, as you generally sit on two stools."

Another writer and actor of mimes was Publius Syrus, orig-
inally a Syrian slave. Tradition has recorded a bon mot of his
which is as witty as it is severe. Seeing an ill-tempered man
named Mucins in low spirits, he exclaimed : " Either some ill
fortune has happened to Mucius, or some good fortune to one of
his friends ! "

The Roman pantomime differed somewhat from the mime.
It was a ballet of action, performed by a single dancer, who not
only exhibited the human figure in its most graceful attitudes,
but represented every passion and emotion with such truth that
the spectators could, without difficulty, understand the story.
The pantomime was licentious in its character, and the actors
were forbidden by Tiberius to hold any intercourse with Romans
of equestrian or senatorial dignity.

These were the exhibitions which threw such discredit on the
stage, which called forth the well-deserved attacks of the early
Christian fathers, and caused them to declare that whoever at-
tended them was unworthy of the name of Christian. Had the
drama not been so abused, had it retained its original purity,
and carried out the object attributed to it by Aristotle, they
would have seen it, not a nursery of vice, but a school of virtue ;
not only an innocent amusement, but a powerful engine to form
the taste, to improve the morals, and to purify the feelings of a
people.

3. Epic Poetry. — The epic poets of this period selected
cheir subjects either from the heroic age and the mythology of
Greece, or from their own national history. The Augustan age
abounds in representatives of these two poetical schools, though
possessing little merit. But the Romans, essentially practical
and positive in theii" character, felt little interest in the descrip>

ROyfAN LITERATURE. 143

tlons of manners' and events remote from their associations, and
poetiy, restrained within the limits of their history, could not
rise to that hei<fht of imagination demanded by the epic muse.
Virgil united the two forms by selecting his subject from the
national history, and adorning the ancient traditions of Rome
with the splendor of Greek imagination-
Virgil (70-19 B. c.) was born at Andes, near Mantua ; he
was educated at Cremona and at Naples, where he studied
Greek literature and philosophy. After this he came to Rome,
where, through Maecenas, he became known to Octavius, and
basked in the sunshine of court favor. His favorite residence
was Naples. On his return from Athens, in company with
Augustus, he was seized with an illness of which he died. He
was buried about a mile from Naples, on the road to Pozzuoli ;
and a tomb is still pointed out to the traveler which is said to
be that of the poet. Virgil was deservedly popular both as a
poet and as a man. The emperor esteemed liim and people
respected him ; he was constitutionally pensive and melancholy,
temperate, and pure-minded in a profligate age, and his popu-
larity never spoiled his simplicity and modesty. In his last
moments he was anxious to burn the whole manuscript of the
JEneid, and directed his executors either to improve it or com-
mit it to the flames.

The idea and plan of the ^neid are derived from Homer.
As the wTath of Achilles is the mainspring of the Hiad, so the
unity of the iEneid results from the anger of Juno. The arrival
of JEneas in Italy after the destruction of Troy, the obstacles
that opposed him through the intervention of Juno, and the
adventures and the victories of the hero form the subject of the
poem. Leaving Sicily for Latium, ^neas is driven on the
coast of Africa by a tempest raised against him by Juno ; at
Carthage he is welcomed by the queen, Dido, to whom he relates
his past adventures and sufferings. By his narrative he wins
her love, but at the command of Jupiter abandons her. Unable
to retain him. Dido, in the despair of her passion, destroys her-
self. After passing through many dangers, under the guidance
of the Sibyl of Cumre, he descends into the kingdom of the dead
to consult the shade of his father. There appear to him the
souls of the future heroes of Rome. On his return, he becomes
a friend of the king of Latium, who promises to him the hand
©f his daughter, which is eagerly sought by King Turnus. A
fearful war ensues between the rival lovers, which ends in the
victory of -iEneas.

Though the poem of Virgil is in many passages an imitation
from the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Roman element predomi-
nates in it. and the ^neid is the ti-ue national poem of Rome.

144 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

There was no subject more adapted to flatter the vanity of the
Romans, than the splendor and antiquity of their origin. Au-
gustus is evidently typified under the character of ^neas ; Cleo-
patra is boldly sketched as Dido ; and Turnus as the pojiular
Antony. The love and death of Dido, the passionate victim
of an unrequited love, give occasion to the poet to sing the
victories of his countrymen over their Carthaginian rivals ; the
Pythagorean metempsychosis, which he adopts in the descrip-
tion of Elysium, affords an opportunity to exalt the heroes of
Rome ; and the wars of ^neas allow him to describe the locali-
ties and the manners of ancient Latium with such truthfulness
as to give to his verses the authority of historical quotations.
In style, the -^neid is a model of purity and elegance, and for
the variety and the harmony of its incidents, for the power
of its descriptions, and for the interest of its plot and episodes,
second only to the Iliad. It has been observed that Virgil's
descriptions are more like landscape painting than those of any
of his predecessors, whether Greek or Roman, and it is a re-
markable fact, that landscape painting was first introduced in
his time.

4. DiDATic Poetry. — The poems, which first established
the reputation of Virgil as a poet, belong to didactic poetry.
They are his Bucolics and Georgics. The Bucolics are pastoral
idyls ; the characters are Italian in all their sentiments and
feelings, acting, however, the unreal and assumed part of Greek
«hepherds. The Italians never possessed the elements of pasto-
ral life, and could not furnish the poet with originals and models
from which to draw his portraits. When represented as Virgil
represents them in his Bucolics, they are in masquerade, and
the drama in which they form the characters is of an allegorical
kind. Even the scenery is Sicilian, and does not truthfully
describe the tame neighborhood of Mantua. In fact, these
poems are imitations of Theocritus ; but, divesting ourselves of
the idea of the outward form which the poet has chosen to
adopt, we are touched by the simple narrative of disappointed
loves and childlike woes ; we appreciate the delicately-veiled
compliments paid by the poet to his patron ; we enjoy the
inventive genius and poetical power which they display, and we
are elevated by the exalted sentiments which they sometimes
breathe.

The Georgics are poems on the labors and enjoyments of rural
life, a subject for wliich Rome offered a favorable field. Though
in this style Hesiod was the model of Virgil, his system is per-
fectly Italian, so much so, that many of his rules may be traced
in modern Italian husl)andry, just as the descriptions of imple^
tnents in the Greek poet are fiequently found to agree with those

ROMAN LITERATURE. 145

in use in modern Greece. The gi-eat merit of the Georgics con-
sists in their varied digressions, interesting episodes, and in
the sublime bursts of descriptive vigor which are interspersed
throughout them. They have frequently been taken as modeln
for imitation by the didactic poets of all nations, and more par-
ticularly of England. The " Seasons," for instance, is a thor-
oughly Virgilian poem.

Lucretius (95-51 B. C.) belongs to the class of didactic poets.
He might claim a i)lace among philosophers as well as poets, for
his poem marks an epoch both in poetry and philosophy. But
his pliilosophy is a mere reflection from that of Greece, while
his poetry is bright with the rays of original genius. His poem
on " The Nature of Things " is in imitation of that of Empedo-
cles. Its subject is pliilosophical and its purpose didactic ; but
its unity of design gives to it almost the rank of an epic. Its
structure prevents it from being a complete and systematic sur-
vey of the whole Epicurean philosophy, but as far as the form
of the poem permitted, it presents an accurate view of the phi-
losophy which then enjoyed the highest popularity.

The object of the poem of Lucretius is to emancipate man-
kind from the debasing effects of superstition by an exposition
of philosophy, and though a follower of Epicurus, he is not
entirely destitute of the religious sentiment, for he deifies nature
and has a veneration for her laws. His infidelity must be ^^ewed
rather in the light of a philosophical protest against the results
of heathen superstition, than a total rejection of the principles of
religious faith.

Lucretius valued the capabilities of the Latin language. He
wielded at will its power of embodymg the noblest thoughts, and
showed how its copious and flexible properties could overcome
the hard technicalities of science. The great beauty of his
poetry is its variety ; liis fancy is always lively, his imagination
has always free scope. He is sublime, as a philosopher who
penetrates the secrets of the natural world, and discloses to the
eyes of man the hidden causes of its wonderful phenomena. His
object was a lofty one ; for although the absurdities of the
national creed drove him into skepticism, liis aim was to set the
intellect free from the trannnels of superstition. But besides
grandeur and sublimity, we find the totally different qualities of
softness and tenderness. Rome had long known nothing but
war, and was now rent by civil dissension. Lucretius yearned
for peace ; and his prayer, that the fabled goddess of all that is
beautiful in nature would heal the wounds which discord had
made, is distinguished by tenderness and pathos even more than
by sublimity. He is superior to Ovid in force, though inferior
in facility ; not so smooth or harmonious as Virgil, his poetry
10

146 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

always falls upon the ear with a swelling and sonorous melody.
Virgil appreciated his excellence, and imitated not only single
expressions, but almost entire verses and passages ; and Ovid
exclaims, that the sublime strains of Lucretius shall never perish
until the world shall be given up to destruction.

5. Lyric Poetry. — The Romans had not the ideality and
the enthusiasm which are the elements of lyric poetry, and in
all the range of their literature there are only two poets who,
greatly inferior to the lyric poets of Greece, have a positive claim
to a place in this department, Catullus and Horace. Catullus
(86-46 B. c.) was born near Verona. At an early age he went
to Rome, where he plunged into all the excesses of the capital,
and where his sole occupation was the cultivation of his literary
tastes and talents. A career of extravagance and debauchery
terminated in the ruin of his fortune, and he died at the age of
forty. The works of Catullus consist of numerous short pieces
of a lyrical character, elegies and other poems. He was one
of the most popular of the Roman poets, because he possessed
those qualities which the literary society at Rome most valued,
polish and learning, and because, although an imitator, there
was a truly Roman nationality in all that he wrote. His satire
was the bitter resentment of a vindictive spirit ; his love and his
hate were both purely selfish, but his excellences were of the
most alluring and captivating kind. He has never been sur-
passed in gracefidness, melody, and tenderness.

Horace (65-8 b. c), like Virgil and other poets of his time,
enjoyed the friendship and intimacy of Maecenas, who procured
for him the public grant of his Sabine farm, situated about fif-
teen miles from Tivoli. At Rome he occupied a house on the
beautiful heights of the Esquiline. The rapid alternation of
town and country life, which the fickle poet indulged in, gives a
peculiar charm to his poetry. His " Satires " were followed by
the publication of the "Odes" and the "Epistles." The satires
of Horace occupied the position of the fashionable novel of our
day. In them is sketched boldly, but good-humoredly, a picture
of Roman social life, with its vices and follies. They have noth-
ing of the bitterness of Lucilius, the love of purity and honor
that adorns Persius, or the burning indignation of Juvenal at
the loathsome corruption of morals. Vice, in his day, had not
reached that appalling height which it attained in the time of
the emperors who succeeded Augustus. Deficient in moral
purity, nothing would strike him as deserving censure, except
such excess as would actually defeat the object which he pro-
posed to himself, namely, the utmost enjoyment of life. In the
" Epistles," he lays aside the character of a moral teacher or
censor, and writes with the freedom with which he would coi>

ROMAN LITERATURE. 147

verse with an intimate friend. But it is in his inimitable
" Odes " that the genius of Horace as a poet is especially dis-
played ; they have never been equaled in beauty of sentiment,
gracefulness of language, and melody of versification ; they com-
prehend every variety of subject suitable to the lyric muse ; they
rise without effort to the most elevated topics ; and they descend
to the simplest joys and sorrows of every-day life.

The life of Horace is especially instructive, as a mirror in
which is reflected a faithful image of the manners of his day.
He is the representative of Roman refined society, as Virgil is
of the national mind. His morals were lax, but not worse than
those of his contemporaries. He looked at virtue and vice from
a worldly, not from a moral point of view, and with him the one
was prudence and the other folly.

In connection with Horace, we may mention Maecenas, who,
by his good taste and munificence, exercised a great influence
upon literature, and literary men of Rome were much indebted
to liim for the use he made of his friendship with Augustus, to
whom, probably, his love of literature and of pleasure and his
imperturbable temper recommended him as an agreeable com-
panion. He had wealth enough to gratify his utmost wishes,
and his mind was so full of the delights of refined society, of
palaces, gardens, wit, poetry, and art, that there was no room in
it for ambition. All the most brilliant men of Rome were found
at his table, — Virgil, Horace. Propertius, and Varius were
among his friends and constant associates. He was a fair speci-
men of the man of pleasure and society. — liberal, kind-hearted,
clever, refined, but liuxurious, self-indulgent, indolent, and vola-
tile, with good impulses, but without princij)le.

6. Elegy. — TibuUus (b. 54 b. C.) was the father of the Ro-
man elegy. He was a contemporary of Virgil and Horace.
The style of his poems and their tone of thought are like his
character, deficient in vigor and manliness, but sweet, smooth,
polished, tender, and never disfigured by bad taste. He passed
his short life in peaceful retirement, and died soon after Virgil.
The poems ascribed to TibuUus consist of four books, of which
only two are genuine.

Propertius (b. 150 B. c), although a contemporary and friend
of the Augustan poets, may be considered as belonging to a
somewhat different school of poetry. While Horace, Virgil, and
TibuUus imitated the noblest poets of the Greek age, Propertius,
like the minor Roman ])oets, aspired to nothing more than the
imitation of the graceful, but feeble strains of the Alexandrian
poets. If he excels TibuUus in vigor of fancy, expression, and
coloring, he is inferior to him in grace, sjiontaneity, and delicacy ;
he cannot, also, be compared with Catullus, who greatly sur-
passes him in his easy and effective style.

148 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Ovid (43 B. C.-6 A. D.), the most fertile of the Latin poets,
not only in elegy, but also in other kinds of poetry, was enabled
by liis rank, fortune, and talents to cultivate the society of men
of congenial tastes. A skeptic and an epicurean, he lived a life
of continual indulgence and intrigue. He was a universal ad-
mirer of the female sex, and a favorite among women. He was
popular as a poet, successful in society, and possessed all the
enjoyments that wealth could bestow ; but later in life he in-
curred the anger of Augustus, and was banished to the very
frontier of the Roman empire, where he lingered for a few years
and died in great misery. The " Epistles to and from Women
of the Heroic Age " are a series of love-letters ; with the excep-
tion of the " Metamorphoses," they have been greater favorites
than any other of his works. Love, in the days of Ovid, had in
it nothing pure or chivalrous. The age in which he lived was
morally polluted, and he was neither better nor worse than his
contemporaries ; hence grossness is the characteristic of his " Art
of Love." His " Metamorphoses " contain a series of mytho-
logical narratives from the earliest times to the translation of
the soul of Julius Caesar from earth to heaven, and his metamor-
phosis into a star. In this poem especially may be traced that
study and learning by which the Roman poets made all the
treasures of Greek literature their own. " The Fasti," a poem
on the Roman calendar, is a beautiful specimen of simple narra-
tive in verse, and displays, more than any of his works, his power
of telling a story without the slightest effort, in poetry as well as
prose. The five books of the " Tristia," and the " Epistles from
Pontus," were the outpourings of his sorrowful heart during the
gloomy evening of his days.

7. Oratory and Philosophy. — As oratory gave to Latin
prose-writing its elegance and dignity, Cicero (106-43 B. c.) is
not only the representative of the flourishing period of the lan-
guage, but also the instrumental cause of its arriving at per-
ifection. He gave a fixed character to the Latin tongue ; showed
his countrymen what vigor it possessed, and of what elegance
and polish it was susceptible. The influence of Cicero on the
language and literature of his day was not only extensive, but
permanent, and it survived almost until the language was cor-
rupted by barbarism. After traveling in Greece and Asia, and
holding a high office in Sicily, he returned to Rome, resumed
his forensic practice, and was made consul. The conspiracy of
Catiline was the great event of his consulship. The prudence
and tact with which he crushed this gained him the applause
and gratitude of his fellow-citizens, who hailed him as the father
of bis country ; but he was obliged, by the intrigues of his enO"
mies, to fly from Rome ; his exile was decreed, and his town

ROMAN LITERATURE. 149

and country houses given up to plunder. He was, however,
recalled, and appointed to a seat in the college of Augurs. In
the struggle between Pompey and Caesar, he followed the for-
tunes of the former ; but Caesar, after his triumph, granted him
a full and free pardon. After the assassination of Caesar, Cicero
delivered that torrent of indignant and eloquent invective, his
twelve Philippic orations, and became again the popular idol ;
but when the second triumvirate was formed, and each member
gave up his friends to the vengeance of his colleagues, Octavius
did not hesitate to sacrifice Cicero. Betrayed by a treacherous
freedman, he would not permit his attendants to make any
resistance, but courageously submitted to the sword of the as-
sassins, who cut off his head and hands, and carried them to
Antony, whose wife, Julia, gloated with inhuman dehght upon
the pallid features, and in petty spite pierced with a needle the
once eloquent tongue. Cicero had numerous faults ; he was
vain, vacillating, inconstant, timid, and the victim of morbid sen-
sibility ; but he was candid, truthful, just, generous, pure-minded,
and warm-hearted. Gentle, sympathizing, and affectionate, he
lived as a patriot and died as a philosopher.

The place which Cicero occupies in the history of Roman lit-
erature is that of an orator and philosopher. The effectiveness
of his oratory was mainly owing to his knowledge of the human
heart, and of the national peculiarities of his countrymen. Its
charm was owing to his extensive acquaintance with the stores
of literature and philosophy, which his sprightly wit moulded at
will ; to the varied learning, which his unpedantic mind made
so pleasant and popular ; and to his fund of illustration, at once
interesting and convincing. He carried his hearers with him ;
senate, judges, and people understood his arguments, and felt
his passionate appeals. Compared with the dignified energy
and majestic vigor of DemosUienes, the Asiatic exuberance of
some of his orations may be fatiguing to the more sober and
chaste taste of modern scholars ; but in order to form a just ap-
I)reciation, we must transport ourselves mentally to the excite-
ments of the thronged forum, to the senate, composed of statesmen
and warriors in the prime of life, maddened with the party-spirit
of revolutionary times. Viewed in this light, his most florid
passages will appear free from affectation — the natural flow of
a speaker carried away \\4th the torrent of his enthusiasm.
Among his numerous orations, in which, according to the crit-
icisms of Quintilian, he combined the force of Demosthenes, the
copiousness of Plato, and the elegance of Isocrates, we mention
the six celebrated Verrian harangues, which are considered mas-
terpieces of TuUian eloquence. In tlie speech for the poet
Archias, he had evidently expended all his resources of art,

150 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

taste, and skill ; and his oration in defense of Milo, for force)
pathos, and the externals of eloquence, deserves to be reckoned
among his most wonderful efforts. The oratory of Cicero was
essentially judicial ; even his political orations are rather judicial
than deliberative. He was not born for a politician ; he did
not possess that analytical character of mind which penetrates
into the remote causes of human action, nor the synthetical
power which enables a man to follow them out to their farthest
consequences. Of the three qualities necessary for a statesman,
he possessed only two, — honesty and patriotism ; he had not
political wisdom. Hence, in the finest specimens of his political
orations, his Catilinarians and Philippics, we look in vain for
the calm, practical weighing of the subject which is necessary
in addressing a deliberative assembly. Nevertheless, so irre-
sistible was the influence which he exercised upon the minds of
his hearers, that all his political speeches were triumphs. His
panegyric on Pompey carried his appointment as commander-
in-chief of the armies of the East ; he crushed in Catiline one of
the most formidable traitors that had ever menaced the safety
of the republic, and Antony's fall followed the complete ex-
posure of his debauchery in private life, and the factiousness of
his public career.

In his rhetorical works, Cicero left a legacy of practical in-
struction to posterity. The treatise " On Invention " is merely
interesting as the juvenile production of a future great man.
"The Orator," " Brutus, or the illustrious Orators," and "The
Orator to Marius Brutus," are the results of his matured expe-
rience. They form together one series, in which the principles
are laid down, and their development carried out and illus-
trated ; and in the " Orator " he places before the eyes of Bru-
tus the model of ideal perfection. In his treatment of that
subject, he shows a mind imbued with the spirit of Plato ; he
invests it with dramatic interest, and transports the reader into
the scene which he so graphically describes.

Roman philosophy was neither the result of original investi-
gation, nor the gradual development of the Greek system. It
arose rather from a study of ancient philosophical hterature,
than from an emanation of philosophical principles. It consisted
in a kind of eclecticism with an ethical tendency, bringing to-
gether doctrines and opinions scattered over a wide field in
reference to the political and social relations of man. Greek
philosophy was probably first introduced into Rome 166 B. c.
But although the Romans could appreciate the majestic dignity
and poetical beauty of the style of Plato, they were not equal
to the task of penetrating his hidden meaning ; neither did the
peripatetic doctrines meet with much favor. The philosophicaJ

ROMAN LITERATURE. 151

system which first arrested the attention of the Romans, and
gained an influeuce over their minds, was the Epicurean. That
of the Stoics also, the severe principles of which were in har-
mony witli the stern old Roman virtues, had distuiguished disci-
ples. The part which Cicero's character qualified him to per-
form in the philosophical instruction of his countrymen was
scarcely that of a <,mide ; he could give them a lively interest in
the subject, hut he could not mould and form their belief, and
train them in the work of original investigation. Not being de-
voutly attached to any system of philosoj)hical belief, he would
be cautious of offending the philosophical prejudices of others.
He was essentially an eclectic in accumulating stores of Greek
erudition, while his mind had a tendency, in the midst of a va-
riety of inconsistent doctrines, to leave the conclusion undeter-
mined. He brought everything to a practical standard ; he ad-
mired the exalted purity of stoical morahty, but he feared that
it was impractical. He believed in the existence of one supreme
creator, in his s])iritual nature, and the immortality of tlie soul ;
but his belief was rather the result of instinctive conviction, than
of ])roof derived from philosophy.

The study of Cicero's philosophical works is invaluable, in
order to understand the minds of those who came after him.
Not only all Roman philosophy after his time, but a great part
of that of the Middle Ages, was Greek philosophy filtered
through Latin, and mainly founded on that of Cicero. Among
his works on speculative philosojihy are " The Academics, or a
histdry and defense of tlie belief of the new Academy ; " " Dia-
logues on the Supreme Good, the end of all moral action ; "
" The Tusculan Disputations," containing five treatises on the
fear of death, the endurance of pain, power of wisdom over sor-
row, the morbid passions, and the relation of virtue to happiness.
His moral jjliilosophy comprehends the " Duties," a stoical trea-
tise on moral obligations, and the unequaled little essays on
'• Friendshij) and Old Age." His political works are " The Re-
public; " and •• The Law ; " but these remains are fragmentary.

The extent of Cicero's correspondence is almost incredible.
Even those epistles which remain number more than eight hun-
di'ed. In them we find the eloquence of the heart, not of tlie
rhetorical school. They are models of pure Latinity, elegant
without stiffness, the natural out])ourings of a mind which could
not give birth to an ungraceful idea. In his letters to Atticus
he lays bare the secret of his heart ; he trusts his life in his
hands ; he is not only his friend but his confidant, his second
self. In the letters of Cicero we have the description of the
period of Roman history, and the portrait of the inner life of
Roman society in his day.

152 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

8. History, — In their historical hterature the Romans exhib-
ited a faithful transcript of their mind and character. History
at once gratified their patriotism, and its investigations were in
accordance with their love of the real and the practical. In
this department, they were enabled to emulate the Greeks and
to be their rivals, and sometimes their superiors. The elegant
simplicity of Caesar is as attractive as that of Herodotus ; none
of the Greek historians surpasses Livy in talent for the pictur-
esque and in the charm with which he invests his spirited and
living stories ; while for condensation of thought, terseness of
expression, and political and philosophical acumen, Tacitus is not
inferior to Thucydides. The catalogue of Roman histoi'ians con-
tains many writers whose works are lost ; such as L. Lucretius,
the friend and correspondent of Cicero, L. LucuUus, the illus-
trious conqueror of Mithridates, and CorneUus Nepos, of whom
only one work was preserved, the " Lives of Eminent Gen-
erals." The authenticity of this work is, however, disputed. But
at the head of tliis department, as the great representatives of
Roman history, stand Julius Caesar, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus,
all of whom, except the last, belong to the Augustan age.

Julius Caesar (100-44 b. c.) was descended from one of the
oldest among the patrician families of Rome. He attached him-
self to the popular party, and his good taste, great tact, and
pleasing manners contributed, together with his talents, to insure
his popularity. He became a soldier in the nineteenth year of
his age, and hence his works display all the best qualities which
are fostered by a military education — frankness, simplicity, and
brevity. His earliest literary triumph was as an orator, and,
according to Quintilian, he was a worthy rival of Cicero. When
he obtained the office of Pontifex Maximus, he diligently ex-
amined the history and nature of the Roman belief in augury,
and published his investigations. When his career as a military
commander began, whatever leisure his duties permitted him to
enjoy he devoted to the composition of his memoirs, or commen-
taries of the Gallic and civil wars. He wrote, also, some minor
works on different subjects, and he left behind him various let*
te*'^, some of which are extant.

But by far the most • important of the works of Caesar is his
" Commentaries," which have come down to us in a tolerably
perfect state. They are sketches talcen on the spot, in the
midst of action, while the mind was full, and they have all the
graphic power of a master-mind and the vigorous touches of a
master-hand. The Commentaries are the materials for history,
notes jotted down for future historians. The very faults which
may justly be found with the style of Caesar are such as reflect
the man himself. The majesty of his character consists chiefly

ROMAN LITERATURE. 153

in the imperturbable calmness and equanimity of his temper ; he
had no sudden bursts of energy and alternations of passion and
inactivity. The elevation of his character was a high one, but
it was a level table-land. This calmness and equability pervades
his writings, and for this reason they have been thought to want
life and energy. The beauty of his language is, as Cicero says,
statuesque rather than picturesque. Shnple and severe, it con-
veys the idea of perfect and well-proportioned beauty, while it
banishes all thoughts of human passion. In relating his own
deeds, he does not strive to add to his own reputation by de-
tracting from the merits of those who served under him. He is
honest, generous, and candid, not only towards them, but also
towards his brave enemies. He recounts his successes without
pretension or arrogance, though ho has evidently no objection to
be the hero of his own tale. His Commentaries are not confes-
sions, although he is the subject of them ; not a record of a
weakness ap])ears, nor even a defect, except that which the Ro-
mans would readily forgive, cruelty. His savage waste of hu-
man life he recounts with perfect self-complacency. Vanity, the
crowning error in his career as a statesman, though hidden by
the reserve with which he speaks of liimself, sometimes discovers
itself in the historian.

The Commentaries of Caesar have been compared with the
work of the great soldier-historian of Greece, Xenophon. Both
are eminently sinqile and unaffected, but there the parallel ends.
The severe contempt of ornament, which characterizes the stern
Roman, is totally unlike the mellifluous sweetness of the Attic
^vl•iter.

Sallust (85-35 B. c.) was born of a plebeian family, but, hav-
ing filled the offices of tribune and quaestor, attained senatorial
rank. He Avas expelled from the Senate for his profligacy, but
restored again to his rank through the influence of Caesar, whose
])arty he espoused. He accompanied his patron in the African
war, and wa^ made governor of Numidia. While in that capac-
ity, he accumulated by rapacity and extortion enormous wealth,
which he lavished in expensive but tasteful luxury. The gar^
dens on the Quirinal which bore his name were celebrated for
their beauty ; and there, surrounded by the choicest works of
art, he devoted his retirement to com])osing the historical rec-
ords which survived him. As a politician, lie was a mere par-
tisan of Caesar, and therefore a strenuous opponent of the higher
classes and of the su])porters of Pompey. The object of his
hatred was not the old patrician blood of Rome, but the new
aristocracy, which had of late years been rapidly rising up and
displacing it. That new nobility was utterly C()rrui)t. and its
corruption was encouraged by the venality of the masses, whose

154 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

poverty 0,nd destitution tempted them to be the tools of unscni«
pulous ambition. Sallust strove to place that party in the un«
favorable light which it deserved ; but, notwithstanding the
truthfulness of the picture which he draws, selfishness and not
patriotism was the mainspring of his politics ; he was not an
honest champion of popular rights, but a vain and conceited
man, who lived in an immoral and corrupt age, and had not the
strength of principle to resist the force of example and tempta-
tion. If, however, we make some allowance for the political
bias of SaUust, his histories have not only the charms of the his-
torical romance, but are also valuable political studies. His
characters are vigorously and naturally drawn, and the more his
histories are read, the more obvious it is that he always writes
with an object, and uses his facts as the means of enforcing a
gi'eat political lesson.

His first work is on the " Jugurthine "War ; " the next related
to the period from the consulship of Lepidus to the praetorship
of Cicero, and is unfortunately lost. This was followed by a
history of the conspiracy of Catiline, "The War of Catiline,"
in which he paints in vivid colors the depravity of that order of
society which, bankrupt in fortune and honor, still plumes itself
on its rank and exclusiveness. To Sallust must be conceded
the praise of having first conceived the notion of a history, in
the true sense of the term. He was the first Roman histo-
rian, and the guide of future historians. He had always an ob-
ject to which he wished all his facts to converge, and he brought
them forward as illustrations and developments of principles.
He analyzed and exposed the motives of parties, and laid bare
the inner life of those great actors on the pubhc stage, in the in-
teresting historical scenes which he describes. His style, al-
though ostentatiously elaborate and artificial, is, upon the whole,
])leasing, and almost always transparently clear. Follo^ving
Thucydides, whom he evidently took as his model, he sti'ives to
imitate his brevity ; but while this quality with the Greek his-
torian is natural and involuntary, with the Roman it is inten-
tional and studied. The brevity of Thucydides is the result of
condensation, that of SaUust is elliptical expression.

Livy (59-18 B. c.) was born in Padua, and came to Rome
during the reign of Augustas, where he resided in the enjoy-
ment of the imperial favor and patronage. He was a warm and
open admirer of the ancient institutions of the country, and es-
teemed Pompey as one of its gi'eatest heroes ; but Augustus did
not allow political opinions to interfere with the regard which ho
entertained for the historian. His great work is a history of
Rome, Avhich he modestly teims " Annals," in one hundred and
forty-two books, of which thirty-five are extant. Besides hij

ROMAN LITERATURE. 155

history, Livy is said to have written treatises and dialo^es,
which were jjartly philosojihical and partly historicaL

The great object of Livy's history was to celebrate the glories
of his native country, to which he was devotedly attached. He
was a patriot : his sympathy was with Pompey, called forth by
the disinterestedness of that great man, and perhaps by his sad
end. He delights to put forth his powers in those passages
which relate to the affections. He is a biographer quite as much
as a historian ; he anatomizes the moral nature of his heroes,
and shows the motive springs of their noble exploits. His char-
acters stand before us like epic heroes, and he tells his story hke
a bard singing his lay at a joyous festive meeting, checkered by
alternate successes and reverses, though all tending to a happy
result at last. But while these features constitute his charm as
a narrator, they render him less valuable as a historian. Al-
though he would not be willfully inaccurate, if the legend he was
about to tell was interesting, he would not stop to inquire whether
or not it was true. Taking upon trust the traditions which had
been handed do^vn from generation to generation, the more flat-
tering and popular they were, the more suitable would he deem
them for his purposes. He loved his country, and he would
scarcely believe anything derogatory to the national glory.
Whenever Rome was false to treaties, unmerciful in victory, or
unsuccessful in arms, he either ignores the facts or is anxious to
find excuses. He does not appear to have made researches into
the many original documents which were extant at his time, but
he trusted to the annalists, and took advantage of the investiga-
tions of preceding historians. His descri])tions of miHtary af-
fairs are often vague and indistinct, and he often shows himself
ignorant of the localities which he describes. Such are the
principal defects of l^ivy, who otherwise charms his readers
with his romantic narratives, and his lively, fresh, and fascinat-
ing style.

9. Other Prose Writers. — Though the grammarians of
this ])eriod were numerous, they added little or nothing to its
literary reputation. The most conspicuous among them were
Atteius, a friend of Sallust ; Epirota, the correspondent of Cic-
ero ; Julius Hyginus, a friend of Ovid ; and Nigidius Figulus,
an orator as well as grammarian. M. Vitruvius Pollio, the cele-
brated architect, deserves to be mentioned for his treatise on ar-
chitecture. He was probably native of Verona, and served
under Julius Csesar in Africa, as a military engineer. Notmth*
standing the defects of his style, the language of Vitruvius is vig-
orous, and his descriptions bold ; his work is valuable as exhibit-
ing the principles of Greek architectual taste and beauty, of
which he was a devoted admirer.

156 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

PERIOD THIRD.

From the Dkath of Adgdstus to the Close op the Reign o*
Theodoric (14-526 a. d.).

1. Decline of Roman Literature. — With the death of
Augustus began the decline of Roman literature, and a few
names only rescue the first years of this period from the charge
of a corrupt and vitiated taste. After a while, indeed, political
circumstances again became more favorable ; the dangers, which
paralyzed genius and talent, and prevented their free exercise
under Tiberius and his tyrannical successors, diminished, and a
more hberal system of administration ensued under Vespasian
and Titus. Juvenal and Tacitus then stood forth, as the repre-
sentatives of the old Roman independence. Vigor of thought
communicated itself to the language ; a taste for the sublime and
beautiful, to a certain extent, revived, although it did not attain
to the perfection which shed a lustre over the Augustan age.
Between the ages of Horace and Juvenal, Cicero and Tacitus,
there was a gap of half a century, in which Roman genius was
slumbering. The gradual growth of a spirit of adulation de-
terred all who were qualified for the task of the historian from
attempting it. Fear, during the lifetime of Tiberius and Ca-
ligula, Claudius and Nero, and hatred, still fresh after their
deaths, rendered all accounts of their reigns false. And the same
causes which sUenced the voice of history extinguished the gen-
ius of jioetry and oratory. As liberty declined, natural eloquence
decayed ; the orator sought only to please the corrupt taste of
his audiences with strange and exaggerated statements ; the
poet aimed to win public admiration through a style overladen
with ornament, and florid and diffuse descriptions. Literature,
in order to flourish, requires the genial sunshine of human sym-
pathy ; it needs either the patronage of the great, or the favor
of the people. Immediately after the death of .Augustus, pat-
ronage was withdrawn, and there was no public sympathy to sup-
ply its place. In the reign of Nero, literature partially revived ;
for, though the bloodiest of tyrants, he had a taste for art and
poetry, and an ambition to excel in refinement.

2. Fable. — In fable, as in other fields of literature, Rome
was an imitator of Greece, but nevertheless Phsedrus struck out
a new line for himself, and, through his fables, became not only a
moral instructor, but a political satirist. Phaedrus (fl. 16 A. c),
the originator and only author of Roman fable, though born in
the reign of Augustus, wrote when tho Augustan age had passed
away. His works are, as it were, isolated ; he had no contem-
poraries. Nevertheless, his solitary voice was lifted up when

ROMAN LITERATURE. 157

those of the poet, the historian, and the philosopher were silenced.
The moral and political lessons conveyed in his fables were sug-
gested by the evils of the times in which he lived. Some of
them illustrate the danger of riches and the comparative safety
of obscurity and poverty, in an age when the rich were marked
for destruction, in order that the confiscation of their property
might glut the ararice of the emperor and of liis servants ;
others were suggested by historical events, being nevertheless
satirical strictures on individuals. The style of Phaedrus is pure
and classical, and combines the simple neatness and graceful ele-
gance of the golden age with tlie vigor and terseness of the sil-
ver one. He has the facility of Ovid and the brevity of Tacitus.
In the construction of his fables, he displays observation and in-
genuity ; but he is deficient in imagination. He makes his ani-
mals the vehicles of his wisdom, but he does not throw himself
into them, or identify himself with them ; while they look and
act like animals, they talk like human beings. In this consists
the great superiority of ^sop to his Roman imitator ; his brutes
are a superior race, but they are still brutes, and it would seem
that the fabulist had Hved among them as one of themselves,
had adopted their mode of life, ancl conversed with them in their
own language. In Phaedrus we have human sentiments trans-
lated into the language of beasts, while in ^Esop we have beasts
giving utterance to such sentiments as would be naturally theirs
if they were placed in the position of men.

3. Satire and Epigram. — Roman satire, subsequently to
Horace, is represented by Persius and Juvenal. Persius (34-62
A. D.) early attached himself to the Stoic philosophy. He was
pure in mind, and free from the corrupt taint of an immoral
age. Although Lucilius was, to a certain extent, his model, he
does not attack vice with the biting severity of the old satirist,
nor do we find in his writings the enthusiastic indignation which
burns in the verses of Juvenal. His purity of mind and kindli-
ness of heart disinclined him to portray vice in its hideous and
loathsome forms, and to indulge in that bitterness of invective
which the prevalent enormities of his times deserved. His up-
rightness and love of virtue are shown by the uncompromising
severity with which he rebukes sins of not so deep a dye ; and
the heart which was capable of being moulded by his example,
and influenced by his purity, would have shrunk from the fear-
ful crimes which deform the pages of Juvenal. The greatest
defect in Persius, as a satirist, is that the Stoic philosophy in
which he was educated rendered him indifferent to the affairs of
the world. His contemplative habits led him to criticise, as his
favorite subjects, false taste in poetry and em})ty pretensions to
• philosophy. Horace mingled in the society of the profligate, ind

158 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

considering them as fools, laughed their folly to scorn. Juvenal
looked down upon the corruption of the age from the eminence
of his virtue, and punished it like an avenging deity- Persius,
jiure in heart and passionless by education, while he lashes wick-
edness in the abstract, almost ignores its existence, and shrinks
from probing to the bottom the vileness of the human heart.
His works comprise six satires, all of which breathe the natural
amiability and placid cheerftilness of liis temper.

Juvenal flourished in the reign of Domitian, towards the close
of the first century A. D., a dark period, which saw the utter
moral degradation of the people, and the bloodiest tyranny and
oppression on the part of their rulers. The picture of Roman
manners, as painted by his glowing pencil, is truly appalling.
The fabric of society was in ruins, the popular religion was
rejected with scorn, and the creed of natural reUgion had not
occupied its place. The emperors took part in public scenes of
folly and profligacy, and exposed themselves as charioteers, as
dancers, and as actors. Nothing was respected but wealth,
nothing provoked contempt but poverty. Players and dancers
had all honors and offices at their disposal ; the city swarmed
v/ith informers, who made the rich their prey ; every man feared
his most intimate friend, and the only bond of friendship was to
be an accomplice in crime. The teacher would corrupt his pupil,
and the guardian defraud his ward. Crimes which cannot be
named were common, and the streets of Rome were the constant
scene of robbery, assault, and assassination. The morals of
women were as depraved as those of men, and there was no pub-
lic amusement so immoral or so cruel as not to be countenanced
by their presence. In this period of moral dearth, the fountains
of genius and literature were dried up. There was criticism,
declamation, panegyric, and verse writing, but no oratory, his-
tory, or poetry. Juvenal, though himself not free from the de-
clamatory affectation of the day, attacked the false hterary taste
of his contemporaries as unsparingly as he did their depraved
morality. His sixteen satires exhibit an enlightened, truthful,
and comprehensive view of Roman manners, and of the inevita-
ble result of such depravity. The two finest of them are those
which Dr. Johnson has thought worthy of imitation.

The historical value of these satires must not be forgotten.
Tacitus lived in the same perilous times as Juvenal, and when
they had come to an end and it was not unsafe to speak, he
wrote their public history, which the poet illustrates by display-
ing the social and inner life of the Romans. Their works are
parallel, and each forms a commentary upon the other. The
style of Juvenal is vigorous and lucid ; his morals were pure
in the midst of a debased age, and his language shines forth in

ROMAN LITERATURE. 159

classic elegance, in the midst of si)ecimens of declining and dp-
generate taste.

Juvenal closes the list of Roman satirists, pro^)erly s])eaking.
The satirical sjjirit animates the 2)i(|uant epigrams of his friend
Martial, but their jturijose is not moral or didactic. They sting
the individual, and render him an oljject of scorn and disgust,
but they do not hold up vice itself to ridicule and detestation.

Martial (43-104 A. d.) was born in Spain. He early emi-
grated to Rome, where he became a favorite of Titus and
Domitian, and in the reign of the hitter he was aj^pointed to
the office of coui-t-poet. During thirty-five years, he lived at
Rome the life of a flatterer and a dependent, and then he re-
turned to his native towTi, where his death was hastened by his
distaste for provincial life. Measured by the corrupt standard
of morals which disgraced the age in which he lived, Martial
was probably not worse than most of his contemjjoraries ; for
the fearful profligacy, which his powerful pen describes in such
hideous terms, had spread through Rome its loathsome infection.
Had he lived in better times, his talents might have been devoted
to a ])urer object ; as it was, no language is strong enough to
denounce the imjmrities of his page, and his moral taste must
have been thoroughly depraved not to have turned with disgust
from the contemplation of such subjects. But not all his poems
are of this character. Amidst some obscurity of style and want
of finish, many are redolent of Greek sweetness and elegance.
Here and there are ])leasing descriptions of the beauties of
nature, and many are kind-hearted and full of varied wit, poeti-
cal imagination, and graceful expression. To the original char-
acteristics of the Greek epigram. Martial, more than any other
poet, added that which constitutes an ejngram in the modern
sense of the term : pointedness either in jest or earnest, and the
bitterness of personal satire.

4. Dramatic Literature. — Dramatic literature never flour-
ished in Rome, and still less under the empire. During this
period there were not wanting some imitators of Greece in this
noble branch of poetry, but their productions were rather literary
than dramatic ; they were poems com])osed in a dramatic form,
intended to be read, not acted. They contain noble philoso])hi-
cal sentiments, lively descriptions, and passages full of tender-
ness and ])athos, but they are deficient in dramatic effect, and
positively ort'end against those laws of good taste which regu-
lated the Athenian stage. In the Augustan age, a few writers
attained some excellence in tragedy, at least in the opinion of
ancient critics.

Under the tyrant Nero, dramatic literature reappeared, speci-
mens of which are extant in the tec tragedies attributed to

160 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Seneca. But the genius of the author never grasps, in their
wholeness, the characters which he attempts to copy ; they are
distorted images of the Greek originals, and the shadowy grand-
eur of the godlike heroes of ^schylus stands forth in corporeal
vastness, and appears childish and unnatural, like the giants of a
story-book. The Greeks believed in the gods and heroes whose
agency and exploits constituted the machinery of tragedy, but
the Romans did not, and we cannot sympathize with them, be-"
cause we see that they are insincere.

An awful belief in destiny, and the hopeless yet patient strug-
gle of a great and good man against this all-ruling power, are
the mainspring of Greek tragedy. This belief the Romans did
not transfer into their imitations, but they supplied its place with
the stern fatalism of the Stoics. The principle of destiny enter-
tained by the Greek poets is a mythological, even a religious
one. It is the irresistible will of God. God is at the com-
mencement of the chain of causes and effects, by which the event
is brought about which God has ordained ; his inspired prophets
have power to foretell, and mortals cannot resist or avoid. It
is rather predestination than destiny. The fatalism of the Stoics,
on the other hand, is the doctrine of practical necessity. It
ignores the almighty power of the Supreme Being, and although
it does not deny his existence, it strips him of his attributes as
the moral governor of the universe. These doctrines, expressed
equally in the writings of Seneca the philosopher, and in the
tragedies attributed to him, lead to the probability, amounting
almost to certainty, that iie was their author. But whatever be
the case in regard to their authorship, it is certain that, notwith-
standing their false rhetorical taste and the absence of all ideal
and creative genius, they have found many admirers and imita-
tors in modern times. The French school of tragic poets took
them for their model ; Corneille evidently considered them the
ideal of tragedy, and Racine servilely imitated them.

5. Epic Poetry. — At the head of the epic poets who flour-
ished during the Silver Age, stands Lucan (39-66 A. d,). He
was born at Cordova, in Spain, and probably came to Rome
when very young, where his literary reputation was soon estab-
lished. But Nero, who could not bear the idea of a rival, forbade
him to recite his poems, then the common mode of publication.
Neither would he allow him to plead as an advocate. Smarting
under this provocation, he joined in a conspiracy against the
emperor's life. The plot failed, but Lucan was pardoned on
condition of pointing out his confederates, and in the vain hope
of saving himself from the monster's vengeance, he actually im-
peached his mother. This noble woman was incapable of trea-
son. Tacitus says, "the scourge, the flames, the rage of the

ROMAN LITERATURE. 101

executioners who tortured her the more savagely, lest tliey
should he scorned hy a woman, were powerless to extort a false
confession." Lucan never received tlie reward which he pur-
chased by treachery. When the warrant for his death was issued,
lie caused his veins to be cut asunder, and expired in the twenty-
seventh year of his ai^e.

The only one of his works which survives is the " Pharsalia,"
an epic poem on the subject of the civil war between Caesar and
Pompey. It bears evident marks of having been left unfinished ;
it has great faults and at the same time great beauties. The
sentiments contained in this poem breathe a love of freedom and
an attachment to the old Roman republicanism. Its subject is
a noble one, full of historic interest, and it is treated with spirit,
brilliancy, and animation. The characters of Caesar and Pom-
pey are masterpieces ; but while some passages are scarcely
inferior to any written by the best Latin poets, others have
neither the dignity of prose, nor the melody of poetry. Descrip-
tion forms the principal feature in the poetry of Lucan ; in fact,
it constitutes one of the characteristic features of Roman litera-
ture in its decline, because poetry had become more than ever
an art, and the epoch one of erudition.

Silius ItaUcus (fl. 54 A. d.) was tlie favorite and intimate of
two emperors, Nero and Vitellius. He left a poem, the " Pu-
nica," which contains the history in heroic verse of the second
Punic war. The Mi\e\(S. of Virgil was his model, and the nar-
rative of Livy furnished his materials. It is considered the
dullest and most tedious poem in the Latin language though its
versification is harmonious, and will often, in point of smooth-
ness, bear comparison with that of Virgil.

Valerius Flaccus flourished in the reign of Vespasian. He is
author of the " Argonautica," an imitation and in some parts a
translation of the Greek poem of Apollonius Rhodius on the
same subject. He evidently did not live to comi)lete liis original
design. In the Argonautica there are no glaring faults or
blemishes, but there is also no genius, no ins])iration. He has
some talents as a descriptive poet; his versification is harmonious
and his style graceful.

P. Statius (()l-95 A. D.) was the author of the Silviae, The-
baic!, and Achilleid. The " Silviae " are the rude materials of
thought springing up spontaneously in all their wild luxuriance,
from the rich, natural soil of the imagination of tlie poet. The
subject of the "Thebaid" is the ancient Greek legend respecting
the war of the Seven against Thebes, and the "Achilleid" was
intended to embrace all the exploits of Achilles, but only two
books were completed. The poems of Statius ci>ntain many
poetical incidents, which might stand by themselves as perfect
11

162 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

fugitive pieces. In these we see his natural and unaffected ele-
gance, his harmonious ear, and the truthfulness of his percep-
tions. But, as an epic poet, he has neither grasp of mind nor
vigor of conception ; his imaginary heroes do not inspire and
v.'arm his imagination ; and his genius was unable to rise to the
highest departments of art.

6. History. — For the reasons alreadj'^ stated, Rome for a
long period could boast of no historian ; the perilous nature of
the times, and the personal obligations under which learned men
frequently were to the emperors, rendered contemporary his-
tory a means of adulation and servility. To this class of his-
torians belongs Patercidus (fl. 30 A. c), who wrote a history of
Rome which is partial, prejudiced, and adulatory. He Avas a
man of lively talents, and his taste was formed after the model
of Sallust, of whom he was an imitator. His style is often over-
strained and unnatural.

Under the genial and fostering influence of the Emperor
Trajan, the fine arts, especially architecture, flourished, and lit-
erature revived. The same taste and execution which are visible
in the bas-reliefs on the column of Trajan adorn the literature
of his age as illustrated by its two great lights, Tacitus and the
younger Pliny. There is not the rich, graceful manner which
invests with such a charm the writers of the Golden Age, but
the absence of these qualities is amply compensated by dignity,
gravity, and honesty. Truthfulness beams throughout the writ-
ings of these two great contemporaries, and incorruptible virtue
is as visible in the pages of Tacitus as benevolence and tender-
ness are in the letters of Pliny. They mutually influenced each
other's characters and principles ; their tastes and pursuits were
similar ; they loved each other dearly, corresponded regularly,
corrected each other's works, and accepted jjatiently and grate-
fully each other's criticism.

Tacitus (60-135 a. d.) was of equestrian rank, and served in
several important offices of the empire. His works now extant
are a life of his father-in-law, Agricola, a tract on the manners
and nations of the Germans, a small portion of a voluminous
work entitled "Histories," about two thirds of another historical
work, entitled " Annals," and a dialogue on the decline of elo-
quence. The life of Agricola, though a panegyric rather than a
biography, is a beautiful specimen of the vigor and force of ex-
pression vAih. which this greatest painter of antiquity could throw
off any portrait which he attempted. Even if the likeness be
somewhat flattered, the qualities which the writer possessed, his
insight into character, his pathetic power, and his affectionate
heart, render this short piece one of the most attractive biogra-
phies extant. The treatise on the " Geography, Manners, and

' ROMAN LITERATURE. 163

Nations of Germany," though containing geographical descrii)-
tions often vague and inaccurate, luul accounts evidently founded
on mere tales of travelers, bears the imjjress of truth in the
salient i)oint3 and characteristic features of the national manners
and institutions of Teutonic nations. The " Histories," his ear-
liest historical work, of which only four books and a portion of
the fifth are extant, extended from the year G9 to 90 A. n., and
it was his intention to include the reigns of Nero and Trajan.
In this work he proposed to investigate the political state of the
commonwealth, the feeling of its armies, the sentiments of its
provinces, the elements of its strength and weakness, and the
causes and reasons for each historical phenomenon. The prin-
cipal fault which diminishes the value of his liistory as a record
of events is his too great readiness to accept evidence unhesitat-
ingly, and to record popular rumors without taking sutHcient
pains to examine into their truth. His incorrect account of tlie
history, constitution, and manners of the Jewish people is one
among the few instances of this fault, scattered over a vast field
of faitliful history. The "Annals" consist of sixteen books;
they begin with the death of Augustus, and conclude with that
of Nero (14-G8 a. d.). The object of Tacitus was to describe
the influence which the establishment of tyranny on the ruins
of liberty exercised for good or for evil in bringing out the
character of the individual. In the extinction of freedom there
still existed in Rome bright examples of heroism and courage,
and instances not less prominent of corruption and degradation.
In the annals of Tacitus these individuals stand out in bold re-
lief, either singly or in gi-oups \\\mn the stage, while the emperor
forms the principal figure, and the moral sense of the reader is
awakened to ail mire instances of patient suffering and deter-
mined bravery, or to witness abject slavery and remorseless des-
potism.

Full of sagacious observation and descriptive power, Tacitus
engages the most serious attention of the reader by the gravity
of his condensed and comprehensive style, as he does by the
wisdom and dignity of his reflections. Living amidst the influ-
ences of a corrupt age, he was unfontaminated. By his virtue
and integrity, and his chastened political liberality, he conunands
our admiration as a man, wliile his love of truth is reflected in
his character as a historian. In his style, the form is always
suborilinate to the matter ; his sentences are suggestive of far
more than they express, and his brevity is enlivened by copious-
ness, variety, and poetry ; his language is highly figurative ; his
descriptions of scenery and incidents are eminently i)ictures(pie,
his characters dramatic, and the expression of his own senti*
ments almost lyrical.

164 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Suetonius was born about 69 A. D. His principal extant
works are the " Lives of the Twelve Caesars," " Notices of Illus-
trious Grammarians and Rhetoricians," and the Lives of the
Poets Terence, Horace, Persius, Lucan, and Juvenal. The use
which he makes of historical documents proves that he was a
man of diligent research, and, as a biographer, industrious and
careful. He indulges neither in ornament of style nor in roman-
tic exaggeration. The pictures which he draws of some of the
Caesars are indeed terrible, but they are fully supported by the
contemporary authority of Juvenal and Tacitus. As a histo-
rian, Suetonius had not that comprehensive and philosophical
mind which would qualify him for taking an enlarged view of
his subject ; he has no definite plan or method, and wanders at
wiU from one subject to another just as the idea seizes him.

Curtius is considered by some writers as belonging to the Sil-
ver Age, and by others to a later period. His biography of
Alexander the Great is deeply interesting. It is a romance
rather than a history. He never loses an opportunity, by the
coloring which he gives to historical facts, of elevating the Mac-
edonian conqueror to a superhuman standard. His florid and
ornamented style is suitable to the imaginary orations which are
introduced in the narrative, and which constitute the most strik-
ing portions of the work.

Valerius Maximus flourished during the reign of Tiberius.
His work is a collection of anecdotes entitled " Memorable Say-
ings and Deeds," the object of which was to illustrate by exam-
ples the beauty of virtue and the deformity of vice. The style
is prolix and declamatory, and characterized by awkward affec-
tation and involved obscurity.

7. Rhetoric and Eloquence. — Under the empire, schools
of rhetoric were multiplied, as harmless as tyranny could desire.
In these the Roman youth learned the means by which the ab-
sence of natural endowments could be compensated. The stu-
dents composed their speeches a(;cording to the rules of rhetoric ;
they were then corrected, committed to memory, and recited,
partly with a view to practice, partly in order to amuse an ad-
miring audience. Nor were these declamations confined "to
mere students. Public recitations had, since the days of Juve-
nal, been one of the crying nuisances of the times. Seneca, the
father of the philosopher of the same name, a famous rhetorician
himself, left two works containing a series of exercises in ora-
tory, which show the hollow and artificial system of those schools.
He was born in Cordova in Spain (61 A. D.), and as a profes-
sional rhetorician amassed a considerable fortune.

Quintilian (40-118 A. u.) was the most distinguished teacher
of rhetoric of this age. He attempted to restore a purer and

ROMAN LITERATURE. 165

more classical taste, but, altliou<;h to a certain extent he was
successful, the eft'ect which hu pnHluced was only teniiioraiy.
For the instruction of his elilcr son hu wrote his gr(!at work,
" Institutes of Oratory," a complete system of instruction in the
art of oratory ; and in it he shows himself far superior to Cicero
as a teacher, thouifh he was inferior to him as an orator.

His work is divided into twelve books, in wliicli he traces the
progress of the orator from the very cradle until he arrives at
perfection. In this monument of his taste and genius he fully
and completely exhausted the subject, and left a text-book of
the science and art of nations, as well as a masterly sketch of
the eloquence of antiquity.

The disposition of Quintilian was as affectionate and tender as
his genius was brilliant and his taste pure ; few passages through-
out the whole range of Latin literature can be compared to that
in which he mourns the loss of his wife and children. It is the
touching eloquence of one who could not write otherwise than
gracefully.

Among the pupils of Quintilian, Pliny the younger took the
highest place in the literature of his age. He was born in Como,
61 A. D., and adopted and educated by his nuiternal uncle, the
elder Pliny. He attained great celebrity as a pleader, and stood
high in favor with the emperor. His works consist of a pane-
gyric on Trajan, and a collection of letters in ten books. The
panegyric is a piece of courtly flattery in accordance with the
cringing and fawning manners of the times. The letters are
very valuable, not only for the insight which they give into his
own character, but also into the manners and modes of thought
of his illustrious contemporaries, as well as the politics of the
day. For liveliness, descriptive power, elegance, and simi)licity
of style, they are scarcely inferior to those of Cicero, whom he
evidently took for his model. These letters show how accurate
and judicious was the mind of Pliny, how prudent his adminis-
tration in the high offices which he filled un<ler the reign of Tra-
jan, and how refined his taste for the beautiful. The tenth book,
which consists of the letters to Trajan, together with the em-
peror's rescripts, will be read with the greatest interest. The
following passages from his dispatch respecting the Christians,
written while he was procurator of the province of Bithynia,
and the emperor's answer, are worthy of being transcribed,
both because reference is so often made to them, and because
they throw light upon the marvelous and rajiid i)ropagation of
the gospel, the manners of the early Christians, the treatment
to M'liich their constancy exposed them, and the severe jealousy
with which tliey were regarded : —

"It is my constant practice, sire, to refer to you all subjects

166 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

on which I entertain doubt. For who is better able to direct
my hesitation, or to instruct ray ignorance ? I have never been
present at the trials of Christians, and, therefore, I do not know
in what way, or to what extent it is usual to question or to
punish them. I have also felt no small difficulty in deciding
whether age should make any difference, or whether those of the
tenderest and those of mature years should be treated alike ;
whether pardon should be accorded to repentance, or whether,
where a man has once been a Christian, recantation should profit
him ; whether, if the name of Christian does not imply crimi-
nality, still the crimes peculiarly belonging to the name should
be punished. Meanwhile, in the case of those against whom
informations have been laid before me, I have pursued the fol-
lowing line of conduct : I have put to them, personally, the
question whether they were Christians. If they confessed, I
interrogated them a second and third time, and threatened them
with punishment. If they still persevered, I ordered their com-
mitment ; fur I had no doubt whatever, that whatever they con-
fessed, at any rate, dogged and inflexible obstinacy deserved to
be punished. There were others who displayed similar madness ;
but, as they v/ere Roman citizens, I ordered them to be sent
back to the city. Soon, persecution itself, as is generally the
case, caused the crime to spread, and it appeared in new fonns.
An anonymous information was laid against a large number of
persons, but they deny that they are, or ever have been. Chris-
tians. As they invoked the gods, repeating the form after me,
and offered prayer with incense and wine, to your image, which
I had ordered to be brought together with those of the deities,
and besides, cursed Christ, while those who are true Christians,
it is said, cannot be compelled to do any one of these things, I
thought it right to set them at liberty. Others, when accused
by an informer, confessed that they were Christians, and soon
after denied the fact. They said they had been, but had ceased
to be, some three, some more, not a few even twenty years pre-
viously. All these worshiped your image and those of the gods,
and cursed Christ. But they affirmed that the sum-total of their
fault, or their error, was that they were accustomed to assemble
on a fixed day, before dawn, and sing an antiphonal hymn to
Clirist as God ; that they bound themselves by an oath, not to
the commission of any wickedness, but to abstain from theft,
ro])bery, and adultery ; never to break a promise, or to deny a
deposit, when it was demanded l)a(;k. When these ceremonies
w^re concluded, it was their custom to depart, and again assem-
ble together to take food harmlessly and in common. That
after my proclamation, in wliich. in obedience to your command,
I had forbidden associations, they had desisted from this prac-

ROMAN LITERATURE. 167

tice. For these reasons, I the more thought it necessary to in-
vestigate the real truth, ])y l)utting to the torture two niiiidL'US
wlio were ciillecl (k'aconessns ; but I discovered nothing, but a
jierverse and excessive superstition. I have, therefore, deferred
taking cognizance of the matter until I had consulted you ; for
it seemed to nie a case re(|uiring advice, es])e('ially on account
of the number of tiiose in i)eril. For many of every age, sex,
and rank are, and will continue to be called in question. The
infection, in fact, has spread not only through the cities, but also
through the villages and open country ; but it seems that its
progress can be arrested. At any rate, it is clear that the tem-
ples, which were almost deserted, begin to be frequented ; and
solemn sacrifices, which had been long intermitted, are again
])erfornied, and victims are being sold everywhere, for which,
up to this time, a purchaser could rarely be found. It is, there-
fore, easy to conceive that crowds might be reclaimed, if an op-
portunity for re])entance were given."

Trajan to Pliny : " In sifting the cases of those who have
been indicted on the charge of Christianity, you have adopted,
my dear Secundus. the right course of proceeding ; for no cer-
tain rule can be laid down which will meet all cases. They
must not be sought after, but if they are informed against, and
convicted, they must be punished ; with this proviso, however,
that if any deny that he is a Christian, and proves the point by
oifering jirayers to our deities, notwithstanding the suspicions
under which he has labored, he shall be pardoned on his re-
])entance. On no account should any anonymous charges be
attended to, for it would be the worst jiossible precedent, and is
inconsistent with the habits of our time."

8. Philosophy and Scikxce. — Philosoi)hy, and particularly
moral ])hiloso])hy, became a necessary study at this time, when
the ])0]nilar religion had lost its influence. In the general ruin
of ])ublic and i)rivat3 morals, virtuous men found in this science
a guide in the dangers by which they were continually threat-
ened, and a consolation in all their sorrows. The Stoic among
the other schools met with most favor from this class of men,
for it offered better security against the evils of life, and taught
men how to take shelter from baseness and })rofligacy under the
influence of virtue and courage. The doctrines of the Stoics
suited the rigid sternness of the Roman character. They em-
bodied that spirit of self-tlevotion and self-denial with which the
Roman jiatriot, in the old times of simjjle republican virtue,
threw himself into his public duties, and they enabled him to
meet death with a courageous s])irit in this degenerate age. in
which many of the best and noblest willingly died by their own
hands, at the imperial mandate, in order to save their name from
infamy, and their inheritance from confiscation.

168 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Seneca (12-69 A. c), a native of Cordova in Spain, was the
greatest philosopher of this age. He early displayed great tal-
ent as a pleader, but in the reign of Claudius he was banished
to Corsica, where he solaced his exile with the study of the Stoic
philosophy ; and though its severe precepts exercised no moral
influence on his conduct, he not only professed himself a Stoic,
but imagined that he was one. A few years after, he was re-
called by Agrippina, to become tutor to her son Nero. He was
too unscrupulous a man of the world to attempt the correction
of the vicious propensities of his pupil, or to instill into him high
principles. After the accession of Nero, he endeavored to ar-
rest his depraved career, but it was too late. Seneca had, by
usury and legacy-hunting, amassed one of those large fortunes
of which so many instances are met with in Roman history ; feel-
ing the dangers of wealth, he offered his property to Nero, who
refused it, but resolved to rid himself of his former tutor, and
easily found a pretext for his destruction. In adversity the char-
acter of Seneca shone with brighter lustre. Though he had lived
ill, he could die well. He met the messengers of death without
trembling. His noble wife, Paulina, determined to die with him.
The veins of both were opened at the same time, but the little
blood which remained in his emaciated frame refused to flow.
He suffered excruciating agony. A warm bath was tried, but in
vain ; and a draught of poison was equally ineffectual. At last
he was suffocated by the vapor of a stove.

Seneca lived in a perilous atmosphere. He had not firmness
to act up to the high moral standard which he proposed to him-
self. He was avaricious, but avarice was the great sin of his
times. The education of one who was a brute rather than a
man was a task to which no one would have been equal ; he
therefore retained the influence which he had not the upright-
ness to command, by miserable and sinful expedients. He had
great abilities, and some of the noble qualities of the old Ro-
mans ; and had he lived in the days of the repubhc, he would
have been a great man.

Seneca was the author of twelve ethical treatises, the best of
which are entitled, " On Providence," " On Consolation," and
" On the Perseverance of Wise Men." He cared little for ab-
stract speculation, and deligbted to inculcate precepts rather than
to investigate princii)les. He was always a favorite with Chris-
tian writers, and some of his sentiments are truly Christian.
There is even a tradition that he was acquainted with St. Paul.
He may unconsciously have imlnl)ed some of the princi2>les of
Cbristianity. The gospel had already made great and rapid
strides over the civilized world, and thoughtful minds may have
been enlightened by some of the rays of divine truth dispersed

ROMAN LITERATURE. 169

by tlie moral atmosphere, just as we are benefited by the 11^'ht
oi: the sun, even wlien its disk is ol)scured by clouds, lli.s ej>is-
tles, of which there are one hundred and twenty -four, are moral
essays, and are the most delightful of his works. They are evi-
dently written for the j)ublic eye ; they are rich in varied thought,
and their reflections flow naturally, and without effort. They
contain a free and unconstrained picture of his mind, and we
see in them how he desj^ised verbal subtleties, the external
badges of a sect or creed, and insisted that the great end of sci-
ence is to learn how to live and how to die. The style of Sen-
eca is too elaborate to please. It is affected, often florid, and
bombastic ; there is too much sj^arkle and glitter, too little i-e-
pose and sim])licity.

Pliny the elder (a. d. 23-79) was born probably at Como, the
family residence. He was educated at Rome, where he ])racticed
at the bar, and filled different civil oiUc^es. He perished a mar-
tyr to the cause of science, in the eruption of Vesuvius, which
took place in the reign of Titus, the first of which there is any
record in history. The circumstances of his death are described
by his nephew, Pliny the younger, in two letters to Tacitus. Ho
was at Misenun), in command of the fleet, when, observing the
first indications of the eruption, and wishing to investigate it
more closely, he fitted out a light galley, and sailed towards the
villa of a friend at Stabiae. He found his friend in great alarm,
but Pliny remained tranquil and retired to rest. Meanwhile,
broad flames burst forth from the volcano, the blaze was reflected
from the sky, and the brightness was enhanced by the darkness
of the night. Repeated shocks of an eartlupiake made the
houses rock to and fro, wliile in the air the fall of hulf burnt
pumice-stones menaced danger. He was awakened, antl he and
his friend, with their attendants, tied cushions over their heads
to protect them from the falling stones, and walked out to see
if they might venture on the water. It was now day, but the
darkness was denser than the darkest night, the sea was a waste
of stormy waters, and when at last the flames and the sulphure-
ous smell could no longer be endured, Pliny fell dead, suffocated
by the dense va])or.

The natural history of Pliny is an unequaled monument of
studious diligence and jjersevering industry. It consists of
thirty-seven books, and contains 20,000 facts (as he believed
them to be) connected with nature and art, the result n«)t of
original research, but, as he honestly confessed, culled from the
labors of other men.

OA\'ing to the extent of his reading, liis love of the m:irveli>us,
and his want of juilgment in comparing and selecting, he <loes
not present us with a correct view of the science of his own age.

170 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

He reproduces errors evidently obsolete and inconsistent with
facts and theories which had afterwards rejjlaced them. With
liiui, mythological traditions appeared to have almost the same
authority as modern discoveries ; the earth teems with monsters,
not exceptions to the regular order of nature, but specimens of
her ingenuity. His peculiar pantheistic belief prepared him to
consider nothing incredible, and his temper inclined liim to ad-
mit all that was credible as true.

He tells us of men whose feet were turned backwards, of oth-
ers whose feet were so large as to shade them when they lay in
the sun ; others without mouths, who fed on the fragrance of
fruits and flowers. Among the lower animals, he enumerates
horned horses furnished with wings ; the mantichora, with the
face of a man, tlu'ee rows of teeth, a lion's body, and a scorpion's
tail ; tlie basilisk, whose very glance is fatal ; and an insect wliick
cannot live exce^Jt in the midst of the flames. But notwithstand-
ing his credulity and his want of judgment, this elaborate work
contains many valuable truths and much entertaining informa-
tion. The prevailing character of his philosophical belief, though
tinctured with the stoicism of the day, is querulous and melan-
choly. Believing that nature is an all-powerful principle, and
the universe instmct with deity, he saw more of evil than of good
in the divine dispensation, and the result was a gloomy and dis-
contented pantheism.

Celsus probably lived in the reign of Tiberius. He was the
author of many works, on various subjects, of wliich one, in
eight books, on medicine, is now extant. The independence of
his views, the practical, as well as the scientific nature of his in-
structions, and above all, his knowledge of surgery, and his clear
exposition of surgical ojjerations, have given his work great au-
thority ; the highest testunony is borne to its merits by the fact
of its being used as a text-book, even in the present advanced
state of medical science. The taste of the age in which he lived
turned his attention also to polite literature, and to that may be
ascribed the Augustan ])urity of his style.

Pomponius Mela lived in the reign of Claudius. He is con-
sidered as the re])resentative of the Roman geogra])hers. Though
his book, " The Place of the AVorld," is but an epitome of former
treatises, it is interesting for the simplicity of its style and the
j)urity of its language.

Columella flourished in the reigns of Claudius and Nero. He
is author of an agi'icultural work, " De Re Rustica," in which he
gives, in smooth and fluent, though somewhat too diffuse a style,
the fullest and completest information on practical agi'iculture
among the Romans in the fii'st century of the Christian era.

Frontinus (fl. 78 A. D.) left two valuable works, one on mili<

' RO.UAN LITERATURE. 171

tary tactics, the other a descriiitive urchitectiu-al treatise on those
woiulert'ul luonuinents ot" Roman art, the aqueducts. Besides
these, there are extant frat^nients of other worivs on surveyinf(,
and on tlie laws and customs rehitlni( to Uinded property, whicli
assij^n Frontinus an important place in the estimation of the stu-
dents of Roman history.

9. RoivLvx Literature from Hadrian to Theodoric (138-
526 A. D.). — From the death of Augustus, Roman literature
had gi-adually declined, and though it shone forth for a time
with classic radiance in the writings of Persius, Juvenal, Quin-
tilian, Tacitus, and the Plinies, with the death of freedom, the
extinction of patriotism, and the decay of the national spirit, noth-
ing could avert its fall. Poetry had become declamation ; his-
tory had degenerated either into fulsome ])anegyric or the flesh-
less skeletons of epitomes ; and at length the Romans seemed to
disdain the use of their native tongue, and wrote again in Greek,
as they had in the infancy of the national literature. The P]m-
peror Hadrian resided long at Athens, and became imbued Avitli
a taste and admiration for Greek ; and thus the literature of
Rome became Hellenized. From this epoch the term classical
can no longer be applied to it, for it no longer retained its ])urity.
To Greek influence succeeded the still more corrui)ting one of
foreign nations. With the death of Nei-va, the uninterrupted
succession of emperors of Roman or Italian birth ceased. Trajan
himself was a Spaniard, and after him not only foreigners of
every Eiu'opean race, but even Orientals and Africans were in-
vested with the imperial ])urple, and the huge em})ire over which
they ruled was one unwieldy mass of heterogeneous materials.
The literary influence of the capital was not felt in the interior
portions of the Roman dominions. Schools were established in
the very heart of nations just emerging from barbarism ; and
though the blessings of civilization and intellectual culture were
thus distributed far and wide, still literary taste, as it flowed
through the minds of foreigners, became corru])ted, and the lan-
guage of the imperial city, exposed to the infecting contact of
barl)arous idioms, lost its purity.

The Latin authors of this age were numerous, but few liad
taste to appreciate and imitate the literature of the Augustan age.
They may be classified according to their departments of poetry,
history, granunar and oratory, })hilosophy and science.

The brightest star of the jjoetry of this ])eriod was Claudian
(3()5-4()-4 A. I>.), in whom the gracefid imagination of classical
antifjuity seems to have revived. He enjoyed the ])atronage of
Stilicho, the guardian and minister of Ilonorius. and in the praise
and honor of him and of his pui)il. he wrote '* The Rape of Pros-
erpine," the " "War of the Giants," and several other poems.

172 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE,

His descriptions indicate a rich and powerful imagination, but,
neglecting substance for form, his style is often declamatory and
affected. Among the earliest authors of Christian hymns were
Hilarius and Prudentius. Those of the former were expressly
designed to be sung, and are said to have been set to music by
the author himself. Prudentius (fl. 348 A. D.) wrote many
hymns and poems in defense of the Clii'istian faith, more distin-
guished for their pious and devotional character than for their
lyric sublimity or purity of language. To this age belong also
the hymns of Damasus and of Ambrose.

Among the historians are Flavins Eutropius, who lived in the
fourth century, and by the direction of the Emperor Valens com-
posed an " Epitome of Roman History," which was a favorite
book in the Middle Ages. Ammianus MarceUinus, his contem-
porary, wrote a Roman history in continuation of Tacitus and
Suetonius. Though his style is affected and often rough and in-
accurate, his work is interesting for its digressions and observa-
tions. Severus Sulpicius wrote the history of the Hebrews, and
of the four centuries of the church. His " Sacred History," for
its language and style, is one of the best works of that age.

In the department of oratory may be mentioned Cornelius
Fronto, who flourished under Domitian and Nerva, and was
endowed with a rich imagination and a mind stored with vast
erudition in Greek and Latin literature, Symmachus, distin-
guished for his opposition to Christianity, and Cassiodorus, min-
ister and secretary of the Emperor Theodoric.

In the decline of Roman, as of Greek literature, grammarians
took the place of poets and of historians ; they commented on
and interpreted the ancient classics, and transmitted to us valu-
able information concerning the Augustan writers. Among the,
most important works of this kind are the " Attic Nights " of
Gellius, who was born in Rome, and lived under Hadrian and
the Antonines. In this work are preserved many valuable pas-
sages of the classics which would otherwise have been lost.
Macrobius, who flourished in the middle of the fifth century, was
the author of different works in which the doctrines of the Neo-
Platonic school are expounded. His style, however, is very de-
fective.

A striking characteristic of the writings, both in Greek and
Latin, of the last ages of the empire, is the prevalence of prin-
ciples and opinions imported from the East. The Neo-Platonic
school, imbued with Oriental mysticism, had diffused the belief
in spirits and magic, and the philosophy of this age was a mix-
ture of ancient wisdom with new superstitions belonging to the
ages of transition between the decadence of the ancient faith
and the development of a new religion. The best representative

ROMAN LITERATURE. 173

of the philosophy of this age is Apuleius, horn in Africa in the
reign of Hadrian. After havuig received his education in Car-
thage and Athens, he came to Rome, where he acquired great
reputation as a literary man, and as the possessor of extraordi-
nary supernatural powers. To this extensive philosophical knowl-
edge and immense erudition he united great polish of manner
and remarkable beauty of jierson. He wrote much on philoso-
phy ; but his most important work is a romance known as
'' Metamorphoses, or the Golden Ass," containing his philosoph-
ical and mystic doctrines. In this book, the object of which
is to encourage the belief in mysticism, the writer describes the
transformation of a young man into an ass, who is allowed to
take his primitive human form only through a knowledge of the
mysteries of Isis. The story is well toltl, and the romance is
full of interest and sprightliness ; but its style is incorrect, florid,
and bombastic.

Boethius (470-524), the last of the Roman philosophers, was
the descendant of an illustrious family. He made Greek plii-
losophy the principal object of his meditations. He was raised
to the highest honors and offices in the empire by Theodoric, but
finally, through the artifices of enemies who envied liis reputa-
tion, he lost the favor of his patron, was imprisoned, and at
length beheaded. Of his numerous works, founded on the peri-
patetic philosophy, that which has gained him the greatest celeb-
rity is entitled " On the Consolations of Philosophy," composed
while he was in prison. It is in the form of a dialogue, in which
philosophy ap])ears to console him with the idea of Divine Provi-
dence. The poetical part of the book is written with elegance
and grace, and his prose, though not pure, is fluent and full of
tranquil dignity. The work of Boethius, which is known in all
modern languages, was translated into Anglo-Saxon by King
Alfred, 900 A. D.

The fathers of the church followed more particularly the phi-
losophy of Plato, which was united and adapted to Christianity.
St. Augustine is the most illustrious among the Christian Pla-
tonists.

The most eloquent orators and writers of this period were
found among the advocates of Christianity ; and among the most
celebrated of these Latin fathers of the Christian church we
may mention the following names. TertuUian (160-28")), in
his apology for the Christians, gives much information on the
manners and conduct of the early Christians ; his style is concise
and figurative, but harsh, unpolished, and obscure. St. Cyprian'
(200-258), beheaded at Carthage for preaching the gospel con-
trary to the orders of the government, wrote an exjilanation of
the Lord's Prayer, which affords a valuable illustration of the

174 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

ecclesiastical history of the time. Arnobius (fl. 300) refuted
the objections of the heathen against Christianity with sjjirit
and learning, in his '' Disputes with the Gentiles," a work rich
in materials for the imderstanding of Greek and Roman mythol-
ogy. Lactantius (d. 335), on account of his fine and eloquent
language, is frequently called the Christian Cicero ; his " Divine
Institutes" are particulai'ly celebrated. St. Ambrose (340-397)
obtained great honor by his conduct as Bishop of Milan, and
his writings bear the stamp of his high Christian character. St.
Augustine (360-430) was one of the most renowned of all the
Latin fathers. Though others may have been more learned
or masters of a purer style, none more powerfully touched and
warmed the heart towards religion. His " City of God " is one of
the great monuments of human genius. St. Jerome (330-420)
wrote many epistles fuU of energy and affection, as well as of
religious zeal. He made a Latin version of the Old Testament,
which was the foundation of the Vulgate, and which gave a new
impulse to the study of the Holy Scriptures. Leo the Great
(fl. 440) is the first pope whose writings have been preserved.
They consist of sermons and letters. His style is finished and
rhetorical.

10. Roman Jurisprudence. — In the period which followed,
from the death of Augustus to the time of the Antonines, Roman
civilians and legal writers continued to be numerous, and as a
professional body they seem to have enjoyed high consideration
until the close of the reign of Alexander Severus, 335 A. D. After
that time they were held in much less estimation, as the science
fell into the hands of freedmen and plebeians, who practiced it
as a sordid and pernicious trade. With the reign of Constan-
tine, the credit of the profession revived, and the youth of the
empire were stimulated to pursue the study of the law by the
hope of being ultimately rewarded by honorable and lucrative
offices, the magistrates being almost wholly taken from the class
of lawyers. Two jurists of this reign, Gregorianus and Hermo-
genianus, are particularly distinguished as authors of codes wliich
are known by their names, and which were recognized as stand-
ard authorities in courts of justice. The "Code of Theodosius "
was a collection of laws reduced by that emperor, and promul-
gated in both empires 438 A. D. It retained its authority in the
western empire until its final overthrow, 47G A. D., and even
after this, though modified by the institutions of the conquerors.
In the eastern empire, it was only superseded by the code of
Justinian. This emperor undertook the task of reducing to order
and system the great confusion and peri)lexity in which the whole
subject of Roman jurisj)rudence Avas involved. For this pur-
pose he employed the most eminent lawyers, with the celebrated

ROMAN LITERATURE. 175

Tribonian at their head, to whom he intrusted the work of form-
ing and publishing a complete collection of the preceding laws
and edicts, and who devoted several years of unwearied labor
and research to this object. They first collected and reduced
the imperial constitutions from the time of Hadrian downwards,
which was promulgated as the " Justinian Code." Their next
labor was to reduce the writings of the jurisconsults of the pre-
ceding ages, especially those who had lived under the empire,
and whose works are said to have amounted to two thousand
volumes. This work was published 533 A. D., under the title
of " Pandects," or " Digest," the former title referring to their
completeness as comprehending the whole of Roman jurispru-
dence, and the latter to tlieir methodical arrangement. At the
same time, a work prepai-ed by Tribonian was published by the
order of the emperor, on the elements or first principles of Ro-
man law, entitled " Institutes," and another collection consisting
of constitutions and edicts, under the title of " Novels," chiefly
written in Greek, but known to the moderns by a Latin translar
tion. These four works, the Code, the Pandects, the Institutes,
and the Novels, constituted what is now called the Body of Ro-
man Law.

The system of jurisprudence established by Justinian remained
in force in the eastern empire until the taking of Constantinople,
1453 A. D. After the fall of the western empire, these laws had
little sway until the twelfth century, when Irnerius, a German
lawyer who had studied at Constantinople, opened a school at
Bologna, and thus revived and })ropagated in the West a knowl-
edge of Roman civil law. Students flocked to this school from
all parts, and by them Roman jurisprudence, as embodied in the
system of Justinian, was transmittetl to most of the countries of
Europe.

During the fourth and fifth centuries, the process of the de-
basement of the Roman tongue went on with great rapidity.
The influence of the provincials began what the irruptions of the
nor^ihern tribes consummated. In many scattered parts of the
empire it is probable that separate Latin dialects arose, and the
strain upon the whole structure of the tongue was prodigious,
■when the Goths poured into Italy, established themselves in the
capital, and began to speak and write in a language previously
foreijjn to them. With the close of the reign of Theodoric tho
curta&a falls upon ancient literatui'e.

ARABIAN LITERATURE.

1. European Literature in the Dark Ages. — 2. The Arabian Language. — 3. Arabian
Mythology and the Koran. — 4. Historical Development of Arabian Literature. — 5.
Grammar and Rhetoric. — 6. Poetry. — 7. The Arabian Tales. — 8. History and Science.
^9. Education.

1. EuR0PEA2^ Literature in the Dark Ages. — The lit-
erature, arts, and sciences of the Arabs formed the connecting
link between the civilizations of ancient and modern times. To
them we owe the revival of learning in Western Europe, and
many of the inventions and useful arts perfected by later na-
tions.

From the middle of the sixth century A. D. to the beginning
of the eleventh, the interval between the decline of ancient and
the development of modern literature is known in history as
the Dark Ages. The sudden rise of the Arabian Empire and
the rapid development of its literature were the great events
which characterize the period.

At the beginning of this epoch classical genius was already ex-
tinct, and the purity of the classical tongues was yielding rapidly
to the corruptions of the provinces and of the new dialects.
Many other causes conspired to work great changes in the fab-
ric of society, and in the manifestations of human intellect.
Throughout this period the treasures of Greek and Latin litera-
ature, exposed to the danger of perishing and imjmired by much
actual loss, exerted no influence on the minds of those who still
used the tongues to which they belong. Greek letters, as we
have seen, decayed with the Byzantine power, and the vital prin-
ciple in both became extinct long before the sword of the Turk-
ish conqueror inflicted the final blow. The fate of Latin litera-
ture was not less deplorable. When province after province of
the Roman dominions was overrun by the northern hordes, when
the imperial schools were suppressed and the monuments of an-
cient genius destroyed, an enfeebled people and a debased lan-
guage could not withstand such adverse circumstances. During
the seventh and eighth centuries Latin composition degenerated
into the rudeness of the monkish style. The care bestowed by
Charlemagne upon education in the ninth century produced some
purifying effect upon the writings of the cloister ; the tenth was
distinguished by an increased zeal in the task of transcribing the
elassical authors, and in the eleventh the Latin works of the

ARABIAN LITERATURE. 177

Normans display some masculine force and freedom. Latin was
the repository of such knowledge as the times could boast ; it
was used in the service of the church, and in the chronicles that
supplied the place of history, but it was not the vehicle of any
great production stam})ed with true genius and imj^ressing the
minds of posterity. Still, genius was not altogether extinguished
in every part of Eui'ope. The north, which sent out its daring
tribes to change the aspect of civil life, furnished a fresh source
of mental inspiration, which was destined, with the recovered in-
fluence of the classic sjjirit and other prolific causes, to give birth
to some of the best portions of modern literature.

At the memorable epoch of the overthrow of the Roman do-
minion in the West (476 A. d.), the seats of the Teutonic race
extended from the banks of the Rhine and the Danube to the
rock-bound coasts of Norway. The victorious invaders who oc-
cupied the southern provinces of Europe speedily lost their own
forms of speech, which were bi'oken down, together with those of
the vanquished, into a jargon unfit for composition. But in Ger-
many and Scandinavia, where the old language retained its pu-
rity, song continued to flourish. There, from the most distant
eras described by Tacitus and other Latin writei's, the favorite
attendants of kings and chiefs were those celebrated bards who
preserved in their traditionary strains the memory of great
events, the praises of the gods, the glory of warriors, and the
laws and customs of their countrymen. Intrusted, like the Gre-
cian heroic minstrelsy, to oral recitation, it was not until the
propitious reign of Charlemagne that these verses were collected.
But, through the bigotry of his successor or the ravages of time,
not a fragment of this collection remains. We are enabled, how-
ever, to form an idea of the general tone and tenor of this early
Teutonic poetry from other interesting remains. The '' Nibe-
lungen-Lied " (La?/ of the Nibelungen) and " Heldenbuch"
{Book of Heroes) may be regarded as the Homeric poems of
Germany. After an examination of their monuments, the abil-
ity of the ancient bards, the honor in which tliey were held, and
the enthusiasm which they produced, vriW. not be surprising.

Equally distinguished were the Scalds of Scandinavia. Ever
in the train of princes and gallant adventurers, they chanted
their rhymeless verse for the encouragement and solace of he-
roes. Their oldest songs, or sagas, are mostly of a historical
import. In the Icelandic Ed<la, however, the richest monument
of this species of composition, the theological element of their
poetry is shadowed out in the most picturesque and fanciful leg-
ends.

Such was the intolloctnal state of Europe down to the age of
Charlemagne. While in the once famous seats of arts and arms
12

178 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

scarcely a ray of native genius or courage was visible, the light
of human intellect still burned in lands whose barbarism had
furnished matter for the sarcasm of classical writers.

Charlemagne encouraged learning, established schools, and
filled his court with men of letters ; while in England, the illus-
trious Alfred, himself a scholar and an author, improved and
enriched the Anglo-Saxon dialect, and exerted the most benefi-
cial influence on his contemporaries.

The confusion and debasement of language in the south of
Europe has already been alluded to. But the force and activity
of mind, that formed an essential characteristic of the conquer-
ing race, were destined ultimately to evolve regularity and har-
mony out of the concussion of discordant elements. The Latin
and Teutonic tongues were blended together, and hence pro-
ceeded all the chief dialects of modern Europe. Over the south,
from Portugal to Italy, the Latin element prevailed ; but even
where the Teutonic was the chief ingredient, as in the English
and German, there has also been a large infusion of the Latin.
To these two languages, and to the Provencal, French, Italian,
Spanish, and Portugese, called, from their Roman origin, the
Romance or Romanic languages, all that is prominent and pre-
cious in modern letters belongs. But it is not until the eleventh
century that their progress becomes identified with the history
of literature. Up to this period there had been little repose,
freedom, or peaceful enjoyment of property. The independence
and industry of the middle classes were almost unknown, and
the chieftain, the vassal, and the slave were the characters which
stood out in the highest relief. Throughout the whole of the
eleventh century, the social chaos seemed resolving itself into
some approach to order and tranquillity. The gradual abolition
of personal servitude, hardly accomplished in three successive
centuries, now began. A third estate arose. The rights of
cities, and the corporation-spirit, the result of the necessity that
drove men to combine for mutual defense, led to intercourse
among them and to consequent improvement in language. Chiv-
alry, also, served to mitigate the oppressions of the nobles, and
to soften and refine their manners. From the date of the first
crusade (1093 A. d.) down to the close of the twelfth century,
was the golden age of chivalry. The principal thrones of Europe
were occupied by her foremost knights. The East formed a
point of union for the ardent and adventurous of different coun-
tries, whose courteous rivalry stimulated the gi'owth of generous
sentiments and the passion for brave deeds. The genius of Eu-
rope was roused by the passage of thousands of her sons through
Greece into Asia and Egyjit, amidst the ancient seats of art.
science, and refinement ; and the minds of men received a fresli

ARABIAN LITERATURE. 179

and powerful impulse. It was during the eleventli century that
the brilhaucy of the Arabian literature reached its culminating
point, and, through the intercourse of the Troubadours with the
Moors of the peninsula, and of the Crusaders with the Arabs in
the East, began to iuiluence the progress of letters in Europe.

2. The Akabian Language. — The Arabian language be-
longs to tlie Semitic family ; it has two principal dialects — tlie
northern, which has, for centuries, been the general tongue of
the empire, and is best represented in literature, and the south-
ern, a bi-anch of wliich is supposed to be the mother of the Ethi-
opian language. The former, in degenerated dialects, is still
spoken in Arabia, in parts of western Asia, and tlu-oughout
northern Africa, and forms an impoi'tant part of the Turkish,
Persian, and other Oriental languages. The Arabic is character-
ized by its guttural sounds, by the riclmess and pliability of its
vowels, by its dignity, volume of sound, and vigor of accentua-
tion and ])ronunciation. Like all Semitic languages, it is \n\U
ten from right to left ; the characters are of Syrian origin, and
were introduced into Arabia before the time of Mohammed.
They are of two kinds, the Cufic, which were first used, and the
Nesklii, which superseded them, and which continue in use at
the present day. The Arabic al])habet was, mth a few modifica-
tions, early adoj)ted by the Persians and Turks.

3. Arabian Mythology and the Koran. — Before the
time of Mohammetl, the Arabians were gross idolaters. They
had some traditionary idea of the unity and perfections of the
Deity, but their creed embraced an immense number of subordi-
nate divinities, represented by images of men and women, beasts
and birds. The essential basis of their religion was Sabeism, or
star-worship. The number and beauty of the heavenly lumina-
ries, and tlie silent regularity of their motions, could not fail
deeply to impress the minds of this imaginative people, living in
the open air, under the clear and serene sky, and wandering
among the deserts, oases, and picturesque mountains of Arabia.
They had seven celebrated temples dedicated to the seven plan-
ets. Some tribes exclusively reverenced the moon ; others the
dog-star. Some had received the religion of the Magi, or fire-
worshipers, while others had become converts to Judaism.

Islmiael is one of the most venerated progenitors of the na-
tion ; and it is the common faith that Mecca, then an arid wil-
derness, was the s])ot wliere his life was })rovi(lontially saved,
and where Hagar, his mother, was bm'ied. The well pointed
out by the angel, they believe to be the famous Zemzem. of
which all pious Mohammedans drink to tliis dav. To commem-
orate the miraculous ])reservation of Ishmael, God commanded
Abraham to build a temple, and he erected and consecrated the

180 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Caaba, or sacred house, which is still venerated in Mecca ; and
the black stone incased within its walls is the same on which
Abraham stood.

Mohammed (569-632 A. d.) did not pretend to introduce a
new religion ; his professed object was merely to restore the
primitive and only true faith, such as it had been in the days of
the patriarchs ; the fundamental idea of wliich was the unity of
God. He made the revelations of the Old and New Testaments
the basis of his preaching. He maintained the authority of the
books of Moses, admitted the divine mission of Jesus, and he
enrolled himself in the catalogue of inspired teachers. This
doctrine was proclaimed in the memorable words, which for so
many centuries constituted the war-cry of the Saracens, — There
is no God but God, and Moliammed is his prophet. Mohammed
preached no dogmas substantially new, but he adorned, ampli-
fied, and adapted to the ideas, prejudices, and inchnations of the
Orientals, doctrines which were as old as the race. He enjoined
the ablutions suited to the manners and necessities of hot cli-
mates. He ordained five daily prayers, that man might learn
habitually to elevate his thoughts above the outward world. He
instituted the festival of the Ramadan, and the j)ilgi'image to
Mecca, and commanded that every man should bestow in alms
the hundredth part of his possessions ; observances which, for
the most part, already existed in the estabhshed customs of the
country.

The Koran (Reading), the sacred book of the Mohammedans,
is, according to their belief, the revelation of God to their
prophet Mohammed. It contains not only their religious belief,
but their civil, military, and political code. It is divided into
114 chapters, and 1,666 verses. It is written in rhythmical
prose, and its materials are borrowed from the Jewish and Chris-
tian scriptures, the legends of the Talmud, and the traditions
and fables of the Arabian and Persian mythologies. Confusion
of ideas, obscurity, and contradictions destroy tlie unity and even
the interest of this work. The chapters are preposterously dis-
tributed, not according to their date or connection, but according
to their length, l)eginning with the longest, and ending with the
shortest ; and thus the work becomes often the more unintelligi-
ble by its singular arrangement. But notwithstanding this, there
is scarcely a volume in the Arabic language which contains pas-
sages breathing more sublime poetry, or more enchanting elo-
quence ; and the Koran is so far important in the liistory of
Arabian letters, that when the scattered leaves were collected by
Abubeker, the successor of INIohammed (6.35 A. D.) and after-
wards revised, in the thirtieth year of the Hegira, they fixed at
once the classic language of the Arabs, and became their stand-
ard in style as well as in religion.

ARABIAN LITERATURE. 181

Tills work and its commentaries are held in the highest rever-
ence by the Mohammedans. It is the principal book taught in
their schools ; they never touch it without kissing it, and carry-
ing it to the forehead, in token of their reverence ; oaths before
the com-ts are taken upon it ; it is learned by heart, and repeated
every forty days ; many believers copy it several times in their
lives, and often possess one or more copies ornamented with gold
and precious stones.

The Koran treats of death, resurrection, the judgment, para-
dise, and the ])lace of torment, in a style calculated ])owerfully
to affect the imagination of the believer. The joys of i)aradise,
promised to all who fall in the cause of religion, are those most
captivating to an Ai'abian fancy. When Al Sirat, or the Bridge
of Judgment, which is as slender as the tlu-ead of a famished
spider, and as sharp as the edge of a sword, shall be passed by
the believer, he will be welcomed into the gardens of delight by
black-eyed Houris, beautiful nymphs, not made of common clay,
but of pure essence and odors, free from all blemish, and subject
to no decay of virtue or of beauty, and who await their destined
lovers in rosy bowers, or in pavilions formed of a single hollow
pearl. The soil of paradise is composed of musk and saffron,
sprinkled ^vith pearls and hyacinths. The walls of its mansions
are of gold and silver ; the fruits, which bend spontaneously to
him who would gather them, are of a flavor and delicacy un-
known to mortals. Numerous rivers flow through this blissful
abode ; some of wine, others of milk, honey, and water, the peb-
bly beds of which are rubies and emeralds, and their banks of
musk, camphor, and saffron. In })aradise the enjoyment of the
believers, which is subject neither to satiety nor diminution, will
be greater than the human understanding can compass. The
meanest among them will have eighty thousand servants, and
seventy-two wives. Wine, though forbidden on earth, will there
be freely allowed, and will not hurt or inebriate. The ravishing
songs of the angels and of the Houris will render all the groves
vocal with harmony, such as mortal ear never heard. At what-
ever age they may have died, at their resurrection all will be in
the })rime of manly and eternal vigor. It would be a journey
of a thousand years for a true Mohammedan to travel through
paradise, and behold all the wives, servants, gardens, robes, jew-
els, horses, camels, and other things, wliich belong exclusively to
him.

The hell of Mohammed is as full of terror as his heaven is of
ilelight. The wicked, who fall into the gulf of torture from the
bridge of Al Sirat, will suft'er alternately from cold and heat ;
when they are thirsty, boiling water will be given them to drink ;
Stfid they wiU be shod with shoes of tire. The dark mansions of

182 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the Christians, Jews, Sabeans, Magians, and idolaters are sunk
below each other with increasing horrors, in the order of their
names. The seventh or lowest hell is reserved for the faithless
hypocrites of every religion. Into this dismal receptacle the un-
happy sufferer will be dragged by seventy thousand halters, each
pulled by seventy thousand angels, and exposed to the scourge
of demons, whose pastime is cruelty and pain.

It is a portion of the faith inculcated in the Koran, that both
angels and demons exist, having pure and subtle bodies, created
of fire, and free from human appetites and desires. The four
principal angels are Gabriel, the angel of revelation ; Michael,
the friend and protector of the Jews ; Azrael, the angel of death ;
and Izrafel, whose office it will be to sound the trumpet at the
last day. Every man has two guardian angels to attend him
and record his actions, good and evil. The doctrine of the
angels, demons, and jins or genii, the Arabians probably derived
from the Hebrews. The demons are fallen angels, the prince of
whom is Eblls ; he was at first one of the angels nearest to God's
presence, and was called Azazel. He was cast out of heaven,
according to the Koran, for refusing to pay homage to Adam at
the time of the creation. The genii are intermediate creatures,
neither wholly spiritual nor wholly eartlily, some of whom are
good and entitled to salvation, and others infidels and devoted
to eternal torture. Among them are several ranks and degrees,
as the Peris, or fairies, beautiful female spirits, who seek to do
good upon the earth, and the Deev, or giants, who frequently
make war upon the Peris, take them captive, and shut them up in
cages. The genii, both good and bad, have the power of mak-
ing themselves invisible at pleasure. Besides the mountain of
Kaf, which is their chief place of resort, they dwell in ruined
cities, uninhabited houses, at the bottom of wells, in woods, pools
of water, and among the rocks and sandhills of the desert.
Shooting stars are still believed by the people of the East to be
arrows shot by the angels against the genii, who transgress these
limits and approach too near the forbidden regions of bliss.
Many of the genii delight in mischief ; they surprise and mis-
lead travelers, raise whirlwinds, and dry up springs in the des-
ert. The Ghoul lives on the flesh of men and women, whom he
decoys to his haunts in wild and barren places, in order to kill
and devour them, and when he cannot thus obtain food, he enters
the graveyards and feeds upon the bodies of the dead.

The fairy mythology of the Arabians was introduced into Eu-
rope in the eleventh century by the Troubadours and writers of
the romances of chivalry, and through them it became an impoi-*
tant element in the literature of Pjurope. It constituted tha
laachinery of the FabliaiLX of the Trouveres, and of the romaa

ARABIAN LITERATURE. 183

tic epics of Boccaccio, Ariosto, Tasso, Spenser, Shakspeare, and
others.

The three leadinf^ Moliammedan sects are the Sunnees, the
Sheahs, and the Wahabees. The Sunnees acknowledge the au-
thority of the first CaHphs, from whom most of the traditions
were derived. The Sheahs assert the divine risht of Ali to sue-
ceed to the prophet ; consequently they consider the first Caliphs,
and all their successors, as usurpers. The Wahabees are a sect
of religious reformers, who took their name from Abd al Wahab
(1700-1750), the Luther of the Mohammedans. They became
a formidable power in Arabia, but they were finally overcome
by Ibrahim Pacha in 1816.

4. Hlstokical Development of the Arabian Literature.
— The literature of the Arabians has, properly speaking, l)ut
one period ; although from remote antiquity poetry was with
them a favorite occupation, and long before the time of Moham-
med the roving tribes of the desert had their annual conventions,
where they defended their honor and celebrated their heroic
deeds. As early as the fifth century A. c, at the fair of Ochadh,
thirty days every year were employed not only in the exchange
of merchandise, but in the nobler display of rival talents. A
place was set apart for the competitions of the bards, whose
highest ambition was to conquer in this literary arena, and the
victorious compositions were inscribed in golden letters uj)on
Egyptian paper, and suspended upon the doors of the Caaba, the
ancient national sanctuary of Mecca. Seven of the most famous
of these ancient ])oets have been celebrated by Oriental writers
under the title of the Arabian Pleiades, and their songs, still
preserved, are full of passion, manly pride, and intensity of im-
agination and feeling. These and similar effusions constituted
the entire literature of Arabia, and were the only archives of the
nation previous to the age of IMohannned.

The peninsula of Arabia, hitherto restricted to its natural
boundaries, and peopled by wandering tribes, had occupied but
a subordinate pla<'e in the history of the world. But the success
of Mohammed and the ])reaching of the Koran were followed by
the union of the tribes who, inspired by the feelings of national
pride and religious fervor, in less than a century made the Ara-
bian power, tongue, and religion predominant over a third })aii;
of Asia, almost one half of Africa, and a part of Spain ; and,
from the ninth to the sixteenth century, the literature of the
Arabians far surpassed that of any contemporary nation.

After the fall of the Roman emi)ire in the fifth century A. D.,
when the western world sank into barbarism, and the inhabitants,
ever menaced by famine or the sword, found full occujKition in
Struggling against civil wai-s, feudal tyranny, and the invasiou

184 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

of barbarians ; when poetry was unknown, philosophy was pro«
scribed as rebellion against religion, and barbarous dialects had
usurped the place of that beautiful Latin language which had so
long connected the nations of the West, and preserved to them
so many treasures of thought and taste, the Arabians, who by
their conquests and fanaticism had contributed more than any
other nation to abolish the cultivation of science and literatm-e,
having at length established their empu-e, in turn devoted them-
selves to letters. Masters of the country of the magi and the
Chaldeans, of Egypt, the fii'st storehouse of human science, of
Asia IVIinor, where poetry and the fine arts had their birth, and
of Africa, the country of impetuous eloquence and subtle intel-
lect — they seemed to unite in themselves the advantages of all
the nations which they had thus subjugated. Innumerable
treasures had been the fruit of their conquests, and this hitherto
rude and uncultivated nation now began to indulge in the most
unbounded luxury. Possessed of all the delights that human
industry, quickened by boundless riches, could procure, with all
that could flatter the senses and attach the heart to life, they
now attempted to mingle with these the pleasures of the intel-
lect, the cultivation of the arts and sciences, and all that is most
excellent in human knowledge. In this new career, their con-
quests were not less rapid than they had been in the field ; nor
was the empire which they founded less extended. With a ce-
lerity equally surprising, it rose to a gigantic height, but it rested
on a foundation no less insecure, and it was quite as transitory
in its duration.

The Hegu-a, or flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina,
corresponds with the year 622 of our era, and the supposed
burning of the Alexandrian library by Amrou, the general of
the Calij)h Omar, with the year 641. This is the period of the
deepest barbarism among the Saracens, and this event, doubtful
as it is, has left a melancholy proof of their contempt for letters.
A century had scarcely elapsed from the period to which this
barbarian outrage is referred, when the family of the Abassides,
who mounted the throne of the Caliphs in 750, introduced a
passionate love of art, of science, and of poetry. In the litera-
ture of Greece, nearly eight centuries of progressive cultivation
succeeding the Trojan war had prepared the way for the age of
Pericles. In that of Rome, the age of Augustus was also in
the eighth century after the foundation of the city. In French
literature, the age of Louis XIV. was twelve centuries su])se-
quent to Clovis, and eight after the development of the first
rudiments of the language. But, in the rapid progress of tho
Arabian empire, the age of Al Mamoun, the Augustus of Bag-
dad, was not removed more than one hundred and fifty year?

ARABIAN LITERATURE. 185

from the foundation of the monarchy. All the literature of the
Arabians bears the marks of tliis rujiid development.

Ali, the fourth Calij)!! from Mohammed, was the first who
extended any ])i-oteetion to letters. His rival and successor,
Moawyiah, the lu-st of the Ounnyiades (661-680), assembled
at his court all who were most distini,fuished by scientific acquire-
ments ; he surrounded himself with poets ; and as he had sub-
jected to his dominion many of the Grecian islands and provinces,
the sciences of Greece under hmi fu-st began to obtain any influ-
ence over the Arabians.

After the extinction of the djTiasty of the Ommyiades, that
of the Abassides bestowed a still more powerful patronage on
letters. The celebrated Haroun al Raschid (786-809) acquired
a glorious reputation by the protection he afforded to letters.
He never undertook a journey without carrying ^^^th him at
least a hundred men of science in his train, and he never built a
mosque without attaching to it a school.

But the true protector and father of Arabic literature was
Al Mamoun, the son of Haroun al Raschid (813-833), who ren-
dered Bagdad the centre of literature. He invited to his court
from every part of the world all the learned men with whose
existence he was acquainted, and he retained them by rewards,
honors, and distinctions of every kind. He exacted, as the most
precious tribute from the conquered provinces, aU the imjjortant
books and literary relics that could be discovered. Hundreds
of camels might be seen entering Bagdad, loaded with notliing
but manuscrij)ts and papers, and tliose most proper for instruc-
tion were translated into Arabic. Instructors, translators, and
commentators formed the court of Al ^Mamoun, which ap})eared
to be rather a learned academy, than the seat of government in
a warlike em])ire. The Caliph himself was much attached to the
study of mathematics, which he ])ursued with brilliant success.
He conceived the grand design of measuiing the earth, which
was accomplished by his mathematicians, at his own exjiense.
Not less generous tlian enlightened, Al Mamoun, when he par-
doned one of his relatives who had revolted against him, ex-
claimed, " If it were kno^vn what pleasure I experience in grant-
ing pardon, all who have offended against me would come and
confess their crimes."

The ])rogress of the Arabians in science was proportioned to
the zeal of the sovereign. In every town of the em])ire scliools,
colleges, and academies were established. Bagihul was the
capital of letters as well as of the Calii)hs, but liassora and Cufa
almost equaled that city in reputation, and in the number of
relebrated ])oems and treatises that tliey produced. Balkh,
Ispahan, and Samarcand were equally the homes of science.

186 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Cairo contained a great number of colleges ; in the towns of
Fez and Morocco the most magniiicent buildings were appro-
priated to the pui'poses of instruction, and in their rich libraries
were preserved those precious volumes which had been lost in
other places.

What Bagdad was to Asia, Cordova was to Europe, where,
particularly in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Arabs were
the pillars of literature. At this period, when learning found
scarcely anywhere either rest or encouragement, the Arabians
were employed in collecting and diffusing it in the three great
divisions of the world. Students traveled from France and
other European countries to the Arabian schools in Spain, par-
ticularly to learn medicine and mathematics. Besides the acad-
emy at Cordova, there were established fourteen others in differ-
ent parts of Spain, exclusive of the higher schools. The Arabians
made the most rapid advancement in all the departments of
learning, especially in arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. In
the various cities of Spain, seventy libraries were opened for
public instruction at the period when all the rest of Europe,
without books, without learning, without cultivation, was jilunged
in the most disgraceful ignorance. The number of Arabic
authors which Spain produced was so prodigious, that many-
Arabian bibliographers wrote learned treatises on the authors
born in particular towns, or on those among the Spaniards who
devoted thernselves to a single branch of study, as philosophy,
medicine, mathematics, or poetry. Thus, throughout the vast
extent of the Arabian empire, the progress of letters had fol-
lowed that of arms, and for five centuries this hterature pre-
served aU its brilliancy.

5. Grammah and Rhetoric. — The perfection of the lan-
guage was one of the first objects of the Arabian scholars, and
from the rival schools of Cufa and Bassora a number of distin-
guished men proceeded, who analyzed with the greatest subtlety
all its rules and aided in perfecting it. As early as in the age
of AU, the fourth Caliph, Arabian literature boasted of a num-
ber of scientific grammarians. Prosody and the metric art were
reduced to systems. Dictionaries of the language were com-
posed, some of which are higlily esteemed at the present day.
Among these may be mentioned the " Al Sehah," or Purity,
and " El Kamus," or the Ocean, which is considered the best
dictionary of the Arabian language. The study of rhetoric was
united to that of grammar, and the most celebrated works of
tbe Greeks on this art were translated and adapted to the
Arabic. After the age of Mohammed and his immediate sue*
eessors, popular eloquence was no longer cultivated. Eastern
despotism having supplanted the liberty of the desert, the heads

ARABIAN LITERATURE. 187

of the state or army regarded it beneath them to harangue the
people or the soldiers ; they called upon them only for obedience.
But though political eloquence was of short duration among the
Arabians, on the other hand they were the inventors of that
species of rhetoric most cultivated at the present day, that of
the academy and the pulpit. Their philosophers in these learned
assemblies displayed all the measured harmony of which their
hinguage was susceptible. Mohammed had ordained that his
faith should be preached in the mosques ; — many of the har-
angues of these sacred orators are still preserved in the Escurial,
and the style of them is very similar to that of the Christian
orators.

6. Poetry. — Poetry still more than eloquence was the fa-
vorite occupation of the Arabians from their origin as a nation.
It is said that this people alone have produced more poets than
all others united. JNIohammed himself, as well as some of his
first companions, cullivated this art, but it was under Haroun al
Kaschid and his successor, Al Mamoun, and more especially
under the Ommyiades of Spain that Arabic poetry attained its
highest splendor. But the ancient impetuosity of expression,
the passionate feeling, and the spirit of individual independence
no longer characterized the productions of this period, nor is
there among the numerous constellations of Arabic poets any
star of distinguished magnitude. With the exception of Mo-
hammed and a few of tlie Saracen conquerors and sovereigns,
there is scarcely an individual of this nation whose name is
familiar to the nations of Christendom.

The Arabians possess many heroic poems composed for the
purpose of celebratmg the praises of distinguished men, and of
animating the courage of their soldiers. They do not, however,
boast of any epics ; their ])oetry is entirely lyric and didactic.
They have been inexhaustible in their love poems, their elegies,
their moral verses, — among which their fables may be reck-
oned, — their eulogistic, satirical, descriptive, and above all,
their didactic ])oems, which have graced even the most abstruse
science, as granmiar, rhetoric, and arithmetic. But among all
their poems, the catalogue alone of which, in the Escurial, con-
sists of twenty-four volumes, there is not a single epic, comedy,
or tragedy.

In those branches of poetry which they cultivated they dis-
played surprising subtlety and great refinement of thought, but
the fame of their compositions rests, in some degree, on their
bold metaphors, their extravagant allegories, and their excessive
hyperboles. The Arabs despised the jjoetry of the Greeks,
which appeared to them timid, cold, and constrained, and among
all the books which, with almost superstitious veneration, they

188 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

borrowed from tliem, there is scarcely a single poem which they
iudged worthy of translation. The object of the Arabian poets
was to make a brilliant use of the boldest and most gigantic
images, and to astonish the reader by the abruptness of their
expressions. They burdened their compositions with riches,
under the idea that nothing which was beautiful could be super-
fluous. They neglected natural sentiment, and the more they
could multiply the ornaments of art, the more admirable in their
eyes did the work appear.

The nations who possessed a classical poetry, in imitating na-
ture, had discovered the use of the epic and the drama, in which
the poet endeavors to express the true language of the human
heart. The people of the East, with the exception of the Hin-
dus, never made this attempt — their poetry is entirely lyric ;
but under whatever name it may be known, it is always found
to be the language of the passions. The poetry of the Arabians
is rhymed like our own, and the rhyming is often carried stUJ
farther in the construction of the verse, while the uniformity of
sound is frequently echoed throughout the whole expression. The
collection made by Aboul Teman (fl. 845 A. D.) containing the
Arabian poems of the age anterior to Mohammed, and that of
Taoleti, which embraces the poems of the subsequent periods,
are considered the richest and most complete anthologies of Ara-
bian poetry. Montanebbi, a poet who lived about 1050, has
been compared to the Persian Hafiz.

7. The Arabian Tales. — If the Arabs have neither the
epic nor the drama, they have been, on the other hand, the in-
ventors of a style of composition which is related to the epic, and
which supplies among them the place of the drama. We owe
to them those tales, the conception of which is so brilliant and
the imagination so rich and varied : tales which have been the
delight of our infancy, and which at a more advanced age we
can never read without feeling their enchantment anew. Every
one is acquainted with the " Arabian Nights' Entertainments ; "
but in our translation we possess but a very small part of the
Arabian collection, which is not confined merely to books, but
forms the treasure of a numerous class of men and women, who,
throughout the East, find a livelihood in reciting these tales to
crowds, who delight to forget the present, in the pleasing dreams
of imagination. In the coffee-houses of the Levant, one of these
men wiU gather a silent crowd around him, and picture to his
audience those brilliant and fantastic visions which are the pat-
I'imony of Eastern imaginations. The public squares abound
with men of this class, and their recitations supply the place of
our dramatic representations. The physicians frequently recon>

ARABIAN LITERATURE. 189

mend them to tlieir patients in order to soothe pain, to cahn agi-
tation, or to produce sleep ; and these story-tellers, accustomed
to sickness, modulate their v<)i(!es, soften their tones, and gently
sus})end them as sleep steals over the sufferer.

The imagination of the Arabs in these tales is easily distin-
guished from that of the chivalric nations. The supernatural
world is the same in both, but the moral world is dili'erent.
The Arabian tales, like the romances of chivalry, convey us to
the fairy realms, but the human personages which they introduce
are very dissimilar. They had their birth after the Arabians
had devoted themselves to conunerce, literature, and the arts,
and we recognize in them the style of a mercantile people, as
we do that of a warlike nation in the romances of chivah-y.
Valor and military achievements here inspire terror but no en-
thusiasm, and on this account the Arabian tales are often less
noble and heroic than we usually expect in compositions of tliis
nature. But, on the other hand, the Arabians are our masters
in the art of producing and sustaining this kind of fiction. They
are the creators of that brilliant mythology of fairies and genii
which extends the bounds of the world, and carries us into the
reahns of marvels and prodigies. It is from them that Euro-
pean nations have derived that intoxication of love, that tender-
ness and deUcacy of sentiment, and that reverential awe of
women, by turns slaves and divinities, which have operated so
powerfully on their chivalrous feelings. We trace their effects
in all the literature of the south, which owes to this cause its
mental character. Many of these tales had separately found
their way into tlie poetic literature of Europe, long before the
translation of the Arabian Nights. Some are to be met with
in the old fabliaux, in Boccaccio, and in Ariosto, and these very
tales which have charmed our infancy. ])assing from nation to
nation through channels frequently imknown, are now familiar
to the memory and form the delight of the imagination of half
the inhabitants of the globe.

The author of the original Arabic work is unknown, as is also
the period at which it was composed. It was first introduced
into Europe from Syi'ia, where it was obtained, in the latter i)art
of the seventeenth century, by Galland, a French traveler, who
was sent to the East by the celebrated Colbert, to collect manu-
scripts, and by him first translated and published.

8. History axd Sciexce. — As early as the eighth century
A.. D., history became an important department in Arabian lit-
erature. At later periods, liistorians who wrote on all subjects
were numerous. Several authors wrote universal history from
ihe beginning of the world to their own time ; every state, prov-
mce, and city possessed its individual chronicle. Many, in imr

190 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

tation of Plutarch, wrote the lives of distinguished men ; and
there was such a passion for every species of composition, and
such a desire to leave no subject untouched, that there was a
serious history written of celebrated horses, and another of
camels that had risen to distinction. They possessed historical
dictionaries, and made use of all those inventions which curtail
labor and dispense with the necessity of research. Every art
and science had its history, and of these this nation possessed
a more complete collection than any other, either ancient or
modern. The style of the Arabian historians is simple and un-
adorned-
Philosophy was passionately cultivated by the Arabians, and
upon it was founded the fame of many ingenious and sagacious
men, whose names are still revered in Europe. Among them
were Averrhoes of Cordova (d. 1198), the great commentator
on the woi'ks of Aristotle, and Avicenna (d. 1037), a profound
philosopher as well as a celebrated writer on medicine. Ara-
bian philosophy penetrated rapidly into the West, and had greater
influence on the schools of Europe than any branch of Arabic
literature ; and yet it was the one in which the progress was, in
fact, the least real. The Arabians, more ingenious than pro-
found, attached themselves rather to the subtleties than to the
connection of ideas ; their object was more to dazzle than to in-
struct, and they exhausted their imaginations in search of mys-
teries. Aristotle was worshiped by them, as a sort of divinity.
In their opinion all philosophy was to be found in his writings,
and they explained every metaphysical question according to tlie
scholastic standard.

The interpretation of the Koran formed another important
part of their speculative studies, and their literature abounds
with exegetic works on their sacred book, as well as with com-
mentaries on Mohammedan law. The learned Arabians did not
confine themselves to the studies which they could only prose-
cute in their closets ; they undertook, for the advancement of
science, the most perilous journeys, and we owe to Aboul Feda
(1273-1331) and other Arabian travelers the best works on
geography written in the Middle Ages.

The natural sciences were cultivated by them with great ardor,
and many naturalists among them merit the gratitude of poster-
ity. Botany and chemistry, of which they were in some sort the
inventors, gave them a better acquaintance with nature than the
Greeks or Romans ever possessed, and the latter science was
ap])lied by them to all the necessary arts of life. Above all,
agriculture was studied by them with a perfect knowledge of the
climate, soil, and growth of plants. From the eighth to the elev-
enth century, they established medical schools in the principal

ARABIAN LITERATURE. 191

iities of their dominions, and published vahiable works on med-
ical science. They introduced more simple principles into math-
ematics, and extended the use and ajjplication of that science.
They addeil to arithmetic the decimal system, and the Arabic
numerals, which, however, are of Hindu origin ; they simplified
the trigonometry of the Greeks, and gave algebra more useful
and general ai)i)lications. Bagdad and Cordova had celebrated
schools of astronomy, and observatories, and their astronomers
made important discoveries ; a great number of scientific words
are evidently Arabic, such as algebra, alcohol, y.enith, nadir, etc.,
and many of the inventions, which at the present day add to the
comforts of Ufe, are due to the Arabians. Paper, now so neces-
sary to the progress of intellect, was brought by them from Asia.
In China, from all anti([uity, it had been manufactured from
silk, but about the year 30 of the Hegira (649 A. D.) the manu-
facture of it was introduced at Samarcand, and when that city
was conquered by the Arabians, they first employed cotton in
the place of silk, and the invention spread with rapidity through-
out their dominions. The Spaniards, in fabricating paper, sub-
stituted flax for cotton, which was more scarce and dear ; but
it was not till the end of the thirteenth century that paper mills
were established in the Christian states of Spain, from whence
the invention passed, in the fourteenth century only, to Treviso
and Padua. Tournaments were first instituted among the Ara-
bians, from whom they were introduced into Italy and France.
Gunpowder, the discovery of which is generally attributed to a
German chemist, was known to the Arabians at least a century
before any trace of it appeared in European history. The com-
pass, also, the invention of which has been given alternately to
the Italians and French in the thirteenth century, was known to
the Arabians in the eleventh. The number of Arabic inven-
tions, of which we enjoy the benefit without suspecting it, is pro-
digious.

Such, then, was the brilliant light which literature and science
displayed from the ninth to the fourteenth century of our era in
those vast countries which had submitted to the yoke of Islam-
ism. In this immense extent of territory, twice or thrice as large
as Europe, nothing is now found but ignorance, slavery, terror,
and death. Few men are there capal)le of reading the works
of their illustrious ancestors, and few who could comprehend
them are able to ])rocure them. The prodigious literary riches
of the Arabians no longer exist in any of the countries where
the Arabians or Mussulmans rule. It is not there that we must
seek for the fame of their great men or for their writings. What
has been preserved is in the hands of their enemies, in the con-
sents of the monks, or in the royal libraries of Europe.

192 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

9. Education. — At present there is little education, in our
sense of the word, in Arabia. In the few instances where pub-
lic schools exist, writing, grammar, and rhetoric sum up the
teacliing. The Bedouin children learn from their parents much
more than is common in other countries. Great attention is
paid to accuracy of grammar and purity of diction throughout
the coimtry, and of late literary institutions have been estab-
lished at Beyrout, Damascus, Bagdad, and Hefar.

Such is the extent of Arabic literature, that, notwithstanding
the labors of European scholars and the productions of native
presses, in Boulak and Cairo, in India, and recently in England,
where Hassam, an Arabian poet, has devoted himself to the
production of standard works, the greater part of what has
been preserved is still in manuscript and still more has per-
ished.

ITALIAN LITERATURE.

iNTRonrcnoM. — 1. Italiiw Literature and its Di\iBions. — 2. The Dialects. — 3. The

Italian Language.

Periou FiiisT. — 1. Latin Influence. —2. Early Italian Poetry and Prose. —3. Dante.

— 4. Petrarch. —5. Boccaccio and other Prose Writers. — G. First Decline of Italian
Literature.

Period Second. — 1. The Close of the Fifteenth Century ; Lorenzo de' Medici. — 2. The
Origin of the Drama and Romantic Epic ; Poliziano, Pulci, Boiardo. — 3. Romantic Epic
Poetry; Ariosto. — 4. Heroic Epic Poetry; Tasso. — 5. Lyric Poetrj' ; Bembo, Molza,
Tarsia, V. Colonna. — C. Dramatic Poetry ; Trissino, Rucellai ; the Writers of Comedy.

— 7. Pastoral Drama and Didactic Poetry ; Beccari, Saimazzaro, Tasso, Guariiii, Rucel-
lai, Alamamii. — 8. Satirical Poetry, Novels, and Tales ; Berni, Grazzini, Firenzuola,
Bandello, and others. — 9. History ; Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Nardi, and others. — 10.
Grammar and Rhetoric ; the Academy della Crusca, Delia Casa, Speroui, and others. —
11. Science, Philosophy, and Politics; the Academy del Cimeuto, Galileo, Torricelli,
Borelli, Patrizi, Telesio, Campanella, Bruno, Ca-stiglione, Machiavelli, and others. — 12.
Decline of the Literature in the Seventeenth Century. —13. Epic and Lyric Poetry ; Ma-
rini, Filicaja. — 14. Mock Heroic Poetry, the Drama, and Sitire ; Tassoni, Bracciolini,
Andreiui, and others. — 15. History and Epintolary Writings ; Davila, Bentivoglio, Sarpi,
Redi.

Period Thikd. — 1. Historical Development of the Third Period. —2. The Melodrama ;
Rinuccini, Zeno, Metastasio. —3. Comedy; Goldoni, C. Gozzi, and others. —4. Tragedy ;
Maffei, Alfleri, Monti, M.inzoni, Nicolini, and others. —5. L>Tic, Epic, and Didactic
Poetry; Parini, Monti, Ugo Foscolo, Leopardi, Grossi, Lorenzi, and others. — 0. Heroic-
Comic Poetrv, Satire, and Fable ; Fortiguerri, Passeroni, G. Gozzi, Parini, Giusti, and
others. — 7. 'Romances ; Verri, Manzoni, D'Azeglio, Cantu, Guerrazzi, and others.—
8. History : Muratorl. Vii-o, Giannone, Botta, Colletta, Tiraboschi, and others. — 9.
.aistheticR, Criticism, Philology, and Philosophy; Baretti, Parini, Giordani, Gioja, Eomag-
nosi, Gallupi, Rosmiui, Gioberti. — Since 1860.

INTRODUCTION.

1. Italian Literature axd its Divisions. — The fall of
the Western Empire, the invasions of the northern tribes, and
the subsecjuent war.s and calamities, did not entirely extinguish
the fire of genius in Italy. As we have seen, the Crusades had
opened the East and revealed to P^urope its literary and artistic
trea.sures ; the Arabs had established a celebrated school of
medicine in Salerno, and had made known the ancient classics ;
a school of jurisprudence was opened in Bologna, where Roman
law was expounded by eminent lecturers ; and the spirit of
chivalry, while it softened and refined human character, awoke
the desire of distinction in arms and poetrv. The origin of the
Italian republics, giving scope to individual agency, marked
another era in civilization ; while the ap])earance of the Italian
language quickenetl the national mind and led to a new litera-
ture. The spirit of freedom, awakened as early as the elev-
enth century, received new life in the twelfth, when the Lom-
bard cities, becoming indei)eiulent, formed a powerful leaguu
against Frederick Barbarossa. The instinct of self-defense thus
13

194 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

developed increased the necessity of education. In the thir«
teenth and fourteenth centuries, Italian literature acquired its
national character and rose to its highest splendor, through the
writinsrs of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, whose influence has
been more or less felt in succeeding centuries.

The literary history of Italy may be divided into three peri*
ods, each of which presents two distinct phases, one of progress
and one of decline. The first period, extending from 1100 to
1475, embraces the origin of the literature, its development
through the works of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, in the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and its first decline in the
fifteenth, when it was supplanted by the absorbing study of the
Greek and Latin classics.

The second period, commencing 1475, embraces the age of
Lorenzo de' Medici and Leo X., when literature began to re-
vive ; the age of Ariosto, Tasso, Machiavelli, and Galileo, when
it reached its meridian splendor ; its subsequent dechne, through
the school of Marini ; and its last revival towards the close of
the seventeenth century.

The third period, extending from the close of the seventeenth
century to the present time, includes the development of Italian
literature, its decline under I'rench influence, and its subsequent
national tendency, through the writings of Metastasio, Goldoni,
Alfieri, Parini, Monti, Manzoni, and Leopardi.

2. The Dialects. — The dialects of the ancient tribes in-
habiting the peninsula early came in contact with the rustic
Latin, and were moulded into new tongues, which, at a later
period, were again modified by the influence of the barbarians
who successively invaded the country. These tongues, elabo-
rated by the action of centuries, are still in use, especially with
the lower classes, and many of them have a literature of their
own, with grammars and dictionaries. The .more important of
these dialects are divided into three groups : 1st. The North-
ern, including the Ligurian, Piedmontese, Lombard, Venetian,
and Emilian. 2d. The Central, containing the Tuscan, Urabrian,
the dialects of the Marches and of the Roman Provinces. 3d.
The Southern, embracing those of the Neapolitan provinces and
of Sicily. Each is distinguished from the other and from the
true Italian, although they all rest on a common basis, the rustic
Latin, the plebeian tongue of the Romans, as distinct from the
official and literary tongue.

.3. The Italian Language. — The Tuscan or Florentine
dialect, which early became the literary language of Italy, was
the result of the natural development of the popular Latin and
a native dialect probably akin to the rustic Roman idiom,
Tuscany suffering comparatively little from foreign invasion,

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 195

the language lost none of its purity, and remained free from
heterogeneous elements. The great writers, Dante, Petrarch,
and Boccaccio, who appeared so early, promoted its perfection,
secured its prevailing influence, and gave it a national charac-
ter. Hence, in the literature there is no old Italian as distinct
from the modern ; the language of Dante continues to be that
of modern writers, and becomes more j)erfect the more it ap-
proaches the standard fixed by the great masters of the four-
teenth century. Of this language it may be said that for flexi-
bility, copiousness, freedom of construction, and harmony and
beauty of soimd, it is the most perfect of all the idioms of the
Neo-Latin or Romanic tongues.

PERIOD FIRST.

Fbom the Origin of Italian Literature to its First Decline

(1100-1475).

1. Latin Influence. — During the early part of the Middle
Ages Latin was the literary language of Italy, and the aim of
the best writers of the time was to restore Roman culture. The
Gothic kingdom of Ravenna, established by Theodoric, was the
centre of this movement, under the influence of Cassiodorus,
Boethius, and Symmachus. It was due to the prevailing affec-
tion for the memories of Rome, that through all the Dark Ages
the Italian mind kept alive a spirit of freedom unknown in other
countries of Europe, a spirit active, later, in the establishment
of the ItaHan republics, and showing itself in the heroic resist-
ance of the communes of Lombardy to the empire of the Ho-
henstaufens. While the literatures of other countries were
drawn almost exclusively from sacred and cliivalric legends, the
Italians devoted themselves to the study of Roman law and his-
tory, to translations from the philosophers of Greece, and, above
all, to the establishment of those great universities which were
6o jiowerful in extending science and culture throughout the
Peninsula.

While the Latin language was used in prose, the poets wrote
in Proven(;al and in French, and many Italian troubadours ap-
peared at the courts of Europe.

2. Early Italian Poetry and Prose. — The French ele-
ment became gradually lessened, and towards the close of the
thirteenth century there arose thb Tuscan school of lyric poetry,
the true beginning of Italian art, of which Lapo Gianni, Guido
Cavalcanti, Cino da Pistoia. and Dante Alighieri were the mas-
ters. It is mainly inspired by love, and takes a popular courtly
or scholastic form. The style of Gianni had many of the faults
»f his predecessors. That of Cavalcanti, the friend and precursor

196 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

of Dante, showed a tendency to stifle poetic imagery under the
dead weight of philosophy. But the love poems of Cino are so
mellow, so sweet, so musical, that they are only surpassed by
those of Dante, who, as the author of the " Vita Nuova," belongs
to this lyric school. In this book he tells the story of liis love
for Beatrice, which was from the first a high idealization in
which there was apparently nothmg human or earthly. Every-
thing is super-sensual, aerial, heavenly, and the real Beatrice
melts more and more into the symbolic, passing out of her
human nature into the divine.

Italian prose writing is of a later date, and also succeeded a
period when Italian authors wrote in Latin and French. It
consists chiefly of chronicles, tales, and translations.

3. Daxte (1265-1331). — No poet had yet arisen gifted with
absolute power over the empire of the soul ; no philosopher had
pierced into the depths of feeling and of thought, when Dante, the
greatest name of Italy and the father of Italian literature, ap-
peared in the might of his genius, and availing himself of the rude
and imperfect materials vdthin his reach, constructed his magnifi-
cent work. Dante was born in Florence, of the noble family of
Alighieri, which was attached to the papal, or Guelph party, in
opposition to the imperial, or Ghibelline. He was but a child
when death deprived him of his father ; but his mother took the
greatest pains with his education, placing him under the tuition
of Brunetto Latini, and other masters of eminence. He early
made great progi-ess, not only in an acquaintance with classical
literature and politics, but in music, drawing, horsemanship, and
other accomplishments suitable to his station. As he grew up,
he pursued his studies in the universities of Padua, Bologna, and
Paris. He became an accomplished scholar, and at the same time
appeared in public as a gallant and high-bred man of the world.
At the age of twenty-five, he took arms on the side of the Flor-
entine Guelphs, and distinguished himself in two battles against
the GhibeUines of . Arezzo and Pisa. But before Dante was
either a student or a soldier, he had become a lover ; and this
character, above all others, was impressed upon him for life.
At a May-day festival, when only nine years of age, he had
singled out a girl of his own age, by the name of Bice, or Bea-
trice, who thenceforward became the object of his constant and
passionate affection, or the symbol of all human wisdom and
perfection. Before his twenty-fifth year she was separated from
him by death, but his passion was refined, not extinguished by
this event ; not buried with her l)ody but translated with her
soul, which was its object. On the other hand, the affection of
Beatrice for the poet troubled her spirit amid the bliss of Para^
disc, and the visions of the eternal world with which he wai

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 197

favored were a device of hers for reclaiming him from sin, and
preparing him for everlasting comj)anionship with herself.

At the age of thirty-five he was elected prior, or supreme
magistrate of Florence, an honor from wliich he dates all his
subsequent misfortunes. During his priorship, the citizens were
divided into two factions called the Neri and Bianchi, as bitterly
opposed to each other as both had been to the GhibeUines. In
the absence of Dante on an embassy to Rome, a pretext was
found by the Neri, his opponents, for exciting the populace
against him. His dweUing was demolished, liis property confis-
cated, himself and liis friends condemned to perpetual exile, with
the provision that, if taken, they should be burned alive. After
a fruitless attempt, by liimself and his party, to surprise Florence,
he quitted liis companions in disgust, and passed the remainder
of liis life in wandering from one court of Italy to another, eat-
ing the bitter bread of dependence, which was granted lum often
as an alms. The greater part of liis poem was composed during
this period ; but it appears that till the end of his life he con-
tinued to retouch the work.

The last and most generous patron of Dante was Guido di
Polenta, lord of Ravenna, and father of Francesca da Rimini,
whose fatal love forms one of the most beautiful episodes of this
poem. Polenta treated him, not as a dependent but as an hon-
ored guest, and in a dispute with the Republic of Venice he em-
ployed the poet as his ambassador, to effect a reconciliation ; hut
he was refused even an audience, and, returning disappointed
and broken-hearted to Ravenna, he died soon after at the age of
fifty-six, having been in exile nineteen years.

His fellow-citizens, who had closed their hearts and their gates
against him while living, now deeply bewailed liis death ; and,
during the two succeeding centuries, embassy after embassy was
vainly sent from Florence to recover his honored remains. Not
long after his death, those who had exiled him and confiscated
his property provided that his poem should be read and ex-
pounded to the people in a church. Boccaccio was appointed
to this professorship. Before the end of the sixteenth century,
the '' Divine Comedy " had gone through sixty editions.

The Divine Comedy is one of the greatest monuments of
human genius. It is an allegory conceived in the form of a
vision, which was the most pojiular style of poetrj- at that age.
At the close of the year 1300 Dante represents himself as lost
in a forest at the foot of a liill, near Jerusalem. He wishes to
ascend it, but is prevented by a panther, a lion, and a she-wolf
which beset the way. He is met by Virgil, who tells him that
he is sent by Beatrice as a guide through the realm of shadows,
bell, and purgatory, and that she ^vill afterwards lead him up

198 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

to heaven. They pass the gates of hell, and penetrate into the
dismal region beyond. This, as represented by Dante, consists
of nine circles, forming an inverted cone, of the size of the earth,
each succeeding circle being lower and narrower than the former,
while Lucifer is chained in the centre and at the bottom of the
dreadful crater. Each circle contains various cavities, where
the punishments vary in proportion to the guilt, and the suffer-
ing increases in intensity as the circles descend and contract. In
the first circle were neither cries nor tears, but the eternal sighs
of those who, having never received Christian baptism, were, ac-
cording to the poet's creed, forever excluded from the abodes of
bhss. In the next circle, appropriated to those whose souls had
been lost by the indulgence of guilty love, the poet recognizes
the unliappy Francesca da Runini, whose history forms one of
the most beautiful episodes of the poem. The third circle in-
cludes gluttons ; the fourth misers and spendthrifts ; each suc-
ceeding circle embracing what the poet deems a deeper shade of
guilt, and inflicting appropriate punishment. The Christian and
heathen systems of theology are here freely interwoven. We
have Minos visiting the Stygian Lake, where heretics are burn-
ing ; we meet Cerberus and the harpies, and we accompany the
poet across several of the fabulous rivers of Erebus. A fearful
scene appears in the deepest circle of the infernal abodes. Here,
among those who have betrayed their country, and are entombed
in eternal ice, is Count Ugohno, who, by a series of treasons, had
made himself master of Pisa. He is gnawing vidth savage feroc-
ity the skuU of the archbishop of that state, who had condemned
him and his children to die by starvation. The arch-traitor,
Satan, stands fixed in the centre of hell and of the earth. All
the streams of guUt keep flowing back to him as their source, and
from beneath his threefold visage issue six gigantic wings with
which he vainly struggles to raise himself, and thus produces
winds which freeze him more firmly in the marsh.

After leaving the infernal regions, and entering purgatory,
they find an immense cone divided into seven circles, each of
which is devoted to the expiation of one of the seven mortal sins.
The proud are overwhelmed with enormous weights ; the envious
are clothed in garments of horse-hair, their eye-lids closed ; the
choleric are suffocated with smoke ; the indolent are compelled
to run about continually ; the avaricious are prostrated upon the
earth ; epicures are afflicted with hunger and thirst ; and the
incontinent expiate their crimes in fire. In this portion of the
work, however, while there is much to admire, there is less to
excite and sustain the interest. On the summit of the purgato
rial mountain is the terrestial paradise, whence is the only a*
cent to the celestial. Beatrice, the object of his early and coor

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 199

etant affection, descends hither to meet the poet. Virgil disap-
pears, and she becomes liis only guide. She conducts him
through the nine heavens, and makes him acquainted with the
great men who, by their virtuous lives, have deserved the high-
est enjoyments of eternity. In the ninth celestial sphere, Dante
is favored with a manifestation of divinity, veiled, however, by
three liierarchies of attending angels. He sees the Virgin Mary,
and the saints of the Old and New Testament, and by these per-
sonages, and by Beatrice, all his doubts and difficulties are finally
solved, and the conclusion leaves him absorbed in the beatific
vision.

The allegorical meaning of the poem is hidden under the literal
one. Dante, traveling through the invisible world, is a symbol of
mankind aiming at the double object of temporal and eternal hap-
piness. The forest typifies the civil and religious confusion of
society deprived of its two judges, the pope and the emperor.
The three beasts are the powers which offered the greatest obsta-
cles to Dante's designs, Florence, France, and the papal court.
Virgil represents reason and the empire, and Beatrice symbolizes
the supernatural aid, without which man cannot attain the su-
preme end, which is God.

But the merit of the poem is that for the first time classic art
is transferred into a Romance form. Dante is, above all, a great
artist. Whether he describes nature, analyzes passions, curses the
vices, or sings hymns to the virtues, he is always wonderful for
the grandeur and delicacy of his art. He took his materials
from mythology, history, and philosophy, but more especially
from his own passions of hatred and love, breathed into tliem the
. breath of genius and produced the greatest work of modern times.

The personal interest that he brings to bear on the historical
representation of the three worlds is that which most interests
and stirs us. The Divine Comedy is not only the most lifelike
drama of the thoughts and feelings that moved men at that time,
but it is also the most spontaneous and clear reflection of the in-
dividual feelings of the poet, who remakes history after his own
passions, and who is the real chastiser of the sins and rewarder
of the virtues. He defined the destiny of Italian literature in
the Middle Ages, and began the great era of the Renaissance.

4. Petrarch. — Petrarch (1304-1374) belonged to a re-
spected Florentine family. His father was the personal friend
of Dante, and a partaker of the same exile. While at Avignon,
then the seat of the papal court, on one occasion he made an ex-
cursion to the fountain of Vaucluse, taking with him his son, the
future poet, tlien in tht tenth year of his age. The wild and
solitary aspect of the place inspired the boy with an enthusiasm
beyond his years, leaving an impression which was never after*"

200 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

wards effaced, and which affected his future life and writings.
As Petrarch grew up, unlike the haughty, taciturn, and sarcastic
Dante, he seems to have made fi-iends wherever he went.
With splendid talents, engaging manners, a handsome person,
and an affectionate and generous disposition, he became the
darling of his age, a man whom princes delighted to honor. At
the age of twenty-three, he first met Laura de Sade in a
church at Avignon. She was only twenty years of age, and
had been for three years the wife of a patrician of that city.
Laura was not more distinguished for her beauty and fortune
than for the unsullied purity of her manners in a licentious
court, where she was one of the chief ornaments. The sight of
her beauty inspired the young poet with an affection which was
as pure and virtuous as it was tender and passionate. He poured
forth in song the fervor of his love and the bitterness of his grief.
Upwards of three hundred sonnets, written at various times,
commemorate all the little circumstances of this attachment, and
describe the favors which, during an acquaintance of fifteen or
twenty years, never exceeded a kind word, a look less severe
than usual, or a passing expression of regret at parting. He
was not permitted to visit at Laura's house ; he had no oppor-
tunity of seeing her except at mass, at the brilliant levees of
the pope, or in private assemblies of beauty and fashion : but
she forever remained the dominant object of his existence. He
purchased a house at Vaucluse, and there, shut in by lofty and
craggy heights, the river Sorgue traversing the valley on on©
side, amidst hills clothed with umbrageous trees, cheered only
by the song of birds, the poet passed his lonely days. Again
and again he made tours through Italy, Spain, and Flanders,
during one of which he was crowned with the poet's laurel at
Rome, but he always returned to Vaucluse, to Avignon, to Laura.
Thus years passed away. Laura became the mother of a nu-
merous family, and time and care made havoc of her youthful
i)eauty. Meanwhile, the sonnets of Petrarch had spread her
fame throughout France and Italy, and attracted many to the
court of Avignon, who were surprised and disappointed at the
sight of her whom they had believed to be the loveliest of mor-
tals. In 1347, during the absence of the poet from Avignon,
Laura fell a victim to the plague, just twenty-one years from the
day that Petrarch first met her. Now all his love was deep-
ened and consecrated, and the effusions of his poetic genius be-
came more melancholy, more passionate, and more beautiful than
ever. He declined the offices and honors that his countrymen
offered him, and passed his life in retirement. He was found
one morning by his attendants dead in his library, his head rest^
ing on a book.

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 201

The celebrity of Petrarch at the present day depends chiefly
on his lyrical poems, whi<!h served as jnodels to all the distin-
guished jioets of southern Europe. They are restricted to two
forms : the sonnet, borrowed from the Sicilians, and the canzone,
from the Proven(;als. The subject of almost all these poems is
the same — the hoj)eless affection of the ])oet for the high-minded
Laura. This love was a kind of religious and enthusiastic pas-
sion, such as mystics imagine they feel towards the Deity, or
such as Plato beUeves to be the bond of union between elevated
minds. There is no poet in any language more perfectly pure
than Petrarch — more completely above all reproach of laxity or
immorality. This merit, which is equally due to the poet and to
his Laura, is the more remarkable, considering the models which
he followed and the com-t at which Laura lived. The labor of
Petrarch in polishing his poems did much towards perfecting
the language, which through him became more elegant and
more melodious. He introduced into the lyric poetry of Italy
the pathos and the touching sweetness of Ovid and Tibullus, as
well as the simplicity of Anacreon.

Petrarch attached little value to his Italian poems ; it was on
his Latin works that he founded his ho])es of renown. But his
highest title to immortal fame is his prodigious labor to promote
the study of ancient authors. Wherever he traveled, he sought
with the utmost avidity for classic manuscri])ts, and it is difficult
to estimate the effect produced by his enthusiasm. He corre-
sponded with all the eminent literati of his day, and inspired
tliem with his own tastes. Now for the first time there a])i)eared
a kind of literary republic in Eurojje united by the magic bond
of Petrai'ch's influence, and he was better known and exercised
a more extensive and powerful influence than many of the sover-
eigns of the day. He treated with various princes rather in the
character of an arbitrator than an ambassador, and he not only
directed the tastes of his own age, but he determined tliose of
succeeding generations.

5. Boccaccio and other Prose Writers. — The fourteenth
century forms a brilliant era in Italian literature, distinguished
beyond any other period for the creative powers of genius which
it exhibited. In this century. Dante gave to Europe his great
epic poem, the lyric muse awoke at the call of Petrarch, while
Boccaccio created a style of prose, harmonious, flexible, and en-
gaging, and alike suitable to the most elevated and to the most
playful subjects.

Boccaccio (1313-1375) was the son of a Florentine merchant ;
he early gave evidence of superior talents, and his father vainly
attempted to educate him to follow his own profession. He re-
sided at Naples, where he became acquainted with a lady celc

202 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

brated in his writings under the name of Fiammetta. It was at
her desire that most of his early pieces were written, and the
very exceptionable moral character which attaches to them must
be attributed, in part, to her depraved tastes. The source of
Boccaccio's highest reputation, and that which entitles him to
rank as the third founder of the national literature, is his " De-
cameron," a collection of tales written during the period when
the plague desolated the south of Europe, with a view to amuse
the ladies of the court during that dreadful visitation. The
tales are united under the supposition of a party of ten who had
retired to one of the villas in the environs of Naples to strive, in
the enjoyment of innocent amusement, to escape the danger of
contagion. It was agreed that each person should tell a new
story during the space of ten days, whence the title Decameron.
The description of the plague, in the introduction, is considered
not only the finest piece of writing from Boccaccio's pen, but
one of the best historical descriptions that have descended to us.
The stories, a hundred in number, are varied with considerable
art, both in subject and in style, from the most pathetic and
sportive to the most licentious. The great merit of Boccaccio's
composition consists in his easy elegance, his naivete, and, above
all, in the correctness of liis language.

The groundwork of the Decameron has been traced to an old
Hindu romance, which, after passing through all the languages
of the East, was translated into Latin as early as the twelfth
century ; the originals of several of these tales have been found
in the ancient French Fabliaux, while others are believed to
have been borrowed from popular recitation or from real occur-
rences. But if Boccaccio cannot boast of being the inventor of
all, or even any of these tales, he is still the father of this class
of modern Italian literature, since he was the first to transplant
into the world of letters what had hitherto been only the subject
of social mirth. These tales have in their turn been repeated
anew in almost every language of Europe, and have afforded
reputations to numerous imitators. One of the most beautiful
and unexceptionable tales in the Decameron is that of " Griselda,"
the last in the collection. It is to be regretted that the author
did not prescribe to himself the same purity in his images that
he did in his phraseology. Many of these tales are not only im-
moral but grossly indecent, though but too faithful a representa-
tion of the manners of the age in which they were written. The
Decameron was published towards the middle of the fourteenth
century ; and, from the first invention of printing, it was freely
circulated in Italy, until the Council of Trent proscribed it in
the middle of the sixteenth century. It was, however, agaia
published in 1570, pui'ified and abridged.

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 203

Boccaccio is the author of two romances, one called " Fiam-
metta," the other the " Filocopo ; " the former distinguished for
the fervor of its expression, the latter for the variety of its ad-
ventures and incidents. He wrote also two romantic poems, in
which he first introduced the ottava riiiia, or the stanza com-
posed of six lines, wliich rhyme interchangeably with each other,
and are followed by a couplet. In these he strove to revive an-
cient mythology, and to identify it with modern literature. His
Latin compositions are voluminous, and materially contributed
to the advancement of letters.

While Boccaccio labored so successfully to reduce the lan-
guage to elegant and harmonious forms, he strove like Petrarch
to excite his contemporaries to the study of the ancient classics.
He induced the senate of Florence to estabUsh a professorship
of Greek, entered his name among the first of the students, and
procured manuscripts at his own expense. Thus Hellenic litera-
ture was introduced into Tuscany, and thence into the rest of
Europe.

Boccaccio, late in life, assumed the ecclesiastical habit, and
entered on the study of theology. When the Florentines
founded a professorship for the reading and exposition of the
Divine Comedy, Boccaccio was made the first incumbent. The
result of his labors was a life of Dante, and a commentary on
the first seventeen cantos of the Inferno. With the death of
Petrarch, who hail been his most intimate friend, his last tie to
earth Avas loosed ; he died at Certaldo a few months later, in the
sixty-third year of his age. His dwelling is still to be seen, situ-
ated on a hm, and looking down on the fertile and beautiful val-
ley watered by the river Elsa.

Of the other prose writers of the fourteenth century the most
remarkable are the three Florentine historians named Villani,
the eldest of whom (1310-1348) wrote a liistory of Florence,
which was continued afterwards by his brother and by his
nephew ; a work higlily esteemed for its historical interest, and
for its purity of language and style; and Franco Sacchetti
(1335-1400), who approaches nearest to Boccaccio. His "Nov-
els and Tales ' ' are valuable for the purity and eloquence of
their style, and for the picture they afford of the manners of his
age.

Among the ascetic writers of this age St. Catherine of Siena
occupies an important place, as one who aided in preparing the
way for the great religious movement of the sixteenth century.
The writings of this extraordinary wonuin, who strove to bring
back the Church of Rome to evangelical virtue, are the strongest,
clearest, most exalted religious utterance that made itself heard
in Italy in the fourteenth century.

204 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

6. The First DECLr^re of Italian Literature. — The pas-
sionate study of the ancients, of which Petrarch and Boccaccio
had given an example, suspended the progress of Italian litera-
ture in the latter part of the fourteenth century, and through al-
most all the ■fifteenth. The attention of the literary men of this
time was wholly engrossed by the study of the dead languages,
and of manners, customs, and religious systems equally extinct.
They present to our observation boundless erudition, a just spirit
of criticism, and nice sensibility to the beauties and defects of
the great authors of antiquity ; but we look in vain for that true
eloquence which is more the fruit of an intercourse with the
world than of a knowledge of books. They were still more un-
successful in poetry, in which their attempts, all in Latin, are
few in number, and their verses harsh and heavy, without orig-
inality or vigor. It was not until the period when Italian poetry
began to be again cultivated, that Latin verse acquired any of
the characteristics of genuine inspiration.

But towards the close of the fifteenth century the dawn of a
new literary era appeared, which soon shone with meridian light.
At this time, the universities had become more and moiie the
subjects of attention to the governments ; the appointment of
eminent professors, and the privileges connected with these in-
stitutions, attracted to them large numbers of students, and the
concourse was often so great that the lectures were delivered in
the churches and in public squares. Those rei)ublics which still
existed, and the princes who had risen on the ruins of the more
ephemeral ones, rivaled each other in their patronage of literary
men : the popes, who in the preceding ages had denounced all
secular learning, now became its munificent patrons ; and two
of them, Nicholas V. and Pius II., were themselves scholars of
high distinction. The Dukes of Milan, and the Marquises of
Mantua and Ferrara, surrounded themselves in their capitals
with men illustrious in science and letters, and seemed to vie
with each other in the favors which they lavished upon them.
In the hitherto free republic of Florence, which liad given birth
to Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, literature found support in a
family which, at no distant period, employed it to augment their
power, and to rule the city with an almost despotic sway. The
Medici had been lon-^ distinguished for the wealth they had ac-
quired by commercial enterprise, and for the high offices which
they held in the republic. Cosmo de' Medici had acquired a
degree of power which shook the very foundations of the state.
He was master of the moneyed credit of Europe, and almost the
equal of the kings with whom he negotiated ; but in the midst
of the projects of his ambition he opened his palace as an asy-
lum to the scholars and artists of the age, turned its gardens

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 205

into an academy, and effected a revolution in phllosopliy by set-
ting up tlie authority of Plato against that of Aristotle. His
banks, which were scattered over Europe, were placed at the
service of literature as well as commerce. His agents abroad
sold s])ices and bought manuscripts ; the vessels wliich returned
to him from Constantinople, Alexandria, and Smyrna were often
laden with volumes in the Greek, ISyi'iac, and Chaldaic lan-
guages. Being banished to Venice, he continued his protection
of letters, and on his return to Florence he devoted himself more
than ever to the cause of literature. In the south of Italy, Al-
phonso v., and, indeed, all the sovereigns of that age, ])ursued
the same course, and chose for their chancellors and ambassa-
dors the same scholars who educated their sons and expounded
the classics in their literary circles.

This patronage, however, was confined to the progress of
ancient letters, while the native hterature, instead of redeeming
the promise of its infancy, remained at this time mute and in-
glorious. Yet the resources of poets and orators were multiply-
ing a thousand fold. The exalted characters, the austere laws,
the energetic virtues, the graceful mythology, the thrilling elo-
quence of antlcpiity, were annihilating the puerilities of the old
Italian rhymes, and creating purer and nobler tastes. The clay
which was destined for the formation of great men was under-
going a new process ; a fresh mould was cast, the forms at first
ap})eared lifeless, but ere the end of the fifteenth century the
breath of genius entered into them, and a new era of life began.

PERIOD SECOND.

Revival of Italian Litekatukk and its Second Decline

(147(5-1075).

1. The Close of the Fifteenth Century. — The first man
who contributed to the restoration of Italian poetry was Lorenzo
de' Medici (1448-1492), the grandson of Cosmo. In the l)rill-
iant society tliat he gathered around him, a new era was opened
in Italian literature. Himself a poet, he attempted to restore
poetry to the condition in which Petrarch bad left it ; althougli
superior in some respects to that poet, be bail less power of
versification, less sweetness, and harmony, but his ideas were
more natural, and his style was more simple. He attempted all
kinds of poetical composition, and in all be dis])layed the versa-
tility of his talents and the exuberance of his imagination. But
to Lorenzo ])oetry was but an amusement, scarcely regai'ded in
his brilliant political career. He concentrated in himself all tlie
power of the re])ublic — he was the arbiter of the whole ])oliti«
cal state of Italy, and from the splendor with which he sut'

206 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

rounded himself, and his celebrity, he received the title of Lo-
renzo the Magnificent. He continued to collect manuscripts, and
to employ learned men to prepare them for printing. His
Platonic Academy extended its researches into new paths of
study. The collection of antique sculpture, the germ of the
gallery of Florence, wliich had been established by Cosmo, he
enriched, and gave to it a new destination, which was the occa-
sion of imparting fresh hfe and vigor to the Uberal arts. He
appropriated a part of his gardens to serve as a school for the
study of the antique, and placed his statues, busts, and other
models of art in the shrubberies, terraces, and buildings. Young
men were liberally paid for the copies which they made while
pursuing their studies. It was this institution that kindled the
flame of genius in the breast of Michael Angelo, and to it must
be attributed the splendor which was shed by the fine arts over
the close of the fifteenth century, and which extended rapidly
from Florence throughout Italy, and over a great part of Europe.
Among the friends of Lorenzo may be mentioned Pico della
Mirandola (1463-1494), one of the most prominent men of his
age, who left in his Latin and Italian works monuments of his
vast erudition and exuberant talent.

The fifteenth century closed brightly on Florence, but it was
otherwise throughout Italy. Some of its princes still patronized
the sciences, but most of them were engaged in the intrigues of
ambition ; and the storms which were gathering soon burst on
Florence itself. Shortly after the death of Lorenzo, nearly the
whole of Italy fell under the rule of Charles VIII. , and the
voice of science and literature was drowned in the clash of
arms ; military violence dispersed the learned men, and pillage
destroyed or scattered the literary treasures. Literature and
the arts, banished from their long-loved home, sought another
asylum. We find them again at Rome, cherished by a more
powerful and fortunate protector. Pope Leo X., the son of Lo-
renzo (1475-1521). Though his patronage was confined to the
fine arts and to the lighter kinds of composition, yet owing to
the influence of the newly-invented art of printing, the discovery
of Columbus, and the Reformation, new energies were imparted
to the age, the Italian mind was awakened from its slumber,
and prepared for a new era in literature.

2. The Origin of the Drama and Romantic Epic. —
Among the gifted individuals in the circle of Lorenzo, the high-
est rank may be assigned to Poliziano (1454-1494). He rC'
vived on the modern stage the tragedies of the ancients, or
rather created a new kind of pastoral tragedy, on which Tasso
did not disdain to employ his genius. His " Orpheus," composed
within ten days, was performed at the Mantuan court in 1483w

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 207

and may be considered as the first dramatic composition in Ital-
ian. The universal homage paid to Virgil had a decided influ-
ence on this kind of poetry. His Bucolics were looked uj)on as
dramas more ])oetical than those of Terence and Seneca. The
comedies of Plautus were rejjresented, and the taste for theat-
rical performances was eagerly renewed. In these representa-
tions, however, the object in view was the restoration of the
classics rather than the amusement of the public ; and the new
dramatists confined themselves to a faithful copy of the ancients.
But the Orpheus of Poliziano caused a revolution. The beauty
of the verse, the chai-m of the music, and the decorations which
accompanied its recital, produced an excitement of feeling and
intellect that combined to open the way for the true dramatic
art.

At the same time, several eminent poets devoted their atten-
tion to that style of composition which was destined to form the
glory of Ariosto. The trouvcres chose Charlemagne and his
paladins as the heroes of their poems and romances, and these,
composed for the most part in French in the twelfth and thir-
teenth centuries, were early circulated in Italy. Their origin
accorded with the vivacity of the prevailing religious sentiment,
the violence of the passions and the taste for adventures which
distinguished the first crusades ; while from the general igno-
rance of the times, their sui)ernatural agency was readily ad-
mitted. But at the close of the fifteenth century, when the
poets possessed themselves of these old romances, in order to
give a variety to the adventures of their heroes, the belief in the
marvelous was much diminished, and they could not be re-
counted without a mixture of mockery. The spirit of the age
did not admit in the Italian language a subject entirely serious.
He who made pretensions to fame was compelled to write in
Latin, and the choice of the vulgar tongue was the indication of
a humorous subject. The language had develoj)ed since the time
of Boccaccio a character of na'icete mingled with satire, which
still remains, and which is particularly remarkable in Ariosto.

The "Morgante Maggiore " of Pulci (1431-1470) is the first
of these romantic poems. It is alternately burlescjue and serious,
and it abounds with ])assages of great j)athos and beauty. Tlie
"Orlando Innamorato" of Boiardo (1430-1494) is a poem
somewhat similar to that of Pulci. It was, however, remodeled
by Berni, sixty years after the death of the author, and from the
variety and novelty of the adventures, the richness of its de-
scriptions, the interest excited by its hero, and the honor ren-
dered to the female sex, it excels the Morgante.

3. Romantic Epic Poetky. — The ronuuu'es of chivaliy,
which had been thus versified by Pulci and Boiardo, were elevated

208 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

to the rank of epic poetry by the genius of Ariosto (1474-1533).
He was born at Reggio, of which place his father was governor.
As the means of improving his resources, he early attached him-
self to the service of Cardinal D'Este, and afterwards to that of
the Duke of Ferrara. At the age of thirty years he commenced
his " Orlando Furioso," and continued the composition for
eleven years. While the work was in progress, he was in the
habit of reading the cantos, as they were finished, at the courts
of the cardinal and duke, which may account for the manner in
which this hundred-fold tale is told, as if delivered spontane-
ously before scholars and princes, who assembled to listen to the
marvelous adventures of knights and ladies, giants and magi-
cians, from the lips of the story-teller. Ariosto excelled in the
practice of reading aloud with distinct utterance and animated
elocution, an accomplishment of peculiar value at a time when
books were scarce, and the emoluments of authors depended
more on the gratuities of their patrons than the sale of their
works. In each of the four editions which he published, he
improved, corrected, and enlarged the original. No poet, per-
haps, ever evinced more fastidious taste in adjusting the nicer
points that affected the harmony, dignity, and fluency of his
composition, yet the whole seems as natural as if it had flowed
extemporaneously from his pen. Throughout life it was the lot
of Ariosto to struggle against the difficulties inseparable from
narrow and j^recarious circumstances. His patrons, among them
Leo X., were often culpable in exciting expectations, and after-
wards disappointing them. The earliest and latest works of
Ariosto, though not his best, were dramatic. He wrote also
some satires in the form of epistles. He died in the fifty-eighth
year of his age, and his ashes now rest under the magnificent
monument in the new church of the Benedictines in Ferrara.
The house in which the poet lived, the chair in which he was
wont to study, and the inkstand whence he filled his pen, are
still shown as interesting memorials of his life and labors.

Ariosto, like Pulci and Boiardo, undertook to sing the pala-
dins and their amours at the court of Charlemagne, during the
fabulous wars of this emperor against the Moors. In his poem
he seems to have designedly thrown off the embarrassment of
a unity of action. The Orlando Furioso is founded on three
principal narratives, distinct but often intermingled ; the history
of the war between Charlemagne and the Saracens, Orlando's
love for Angelica, his madness on hearinf]f of her infidelity, and
Ruggiero's attachment to Bradamante. These stories are inter-
woven with so many incidents and episodes, and there is in the
poem such a prodigious quantity of action, that it is difficult to
assign it a central point. Indeed, Ariosto, playing with his read-

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 209

•rs, seems to delight in continually misleading them, and allows
them no opportunity of viewing the general suhject of the poem.
This want of unity is essentially detrimental to the general im-
pression of the work, and the author has succeeded in throwing
around its intlivitlual parts an interest which does not attach to
it as a whole. The world to which the poet transports liis read-
ers is truly poetic ; all the factitious wants of common life, its
cold calculations and it^ imaginar}- distinctions, disappear ; love
and honor reign supreme, and the prompting of the one and the
laws of the other are alone i)ermitted to stimulate and regulate
a life, of which war is the only husiness and gallantry the only
jjastime. The magic and sorcery, borrowed from the East, which
pervade these chivalric fictions, lead us still farther from the
world of realities. Nor is it the least charm that all the won-
ders and prodigies here related are made to appear quite prob-
able from the apparently artless, trutliful style of the narration.
The versification of the Orlando is more distinguished for sweet-
ness and elegance than for strength ; but, in point of harmony,
and in the beauty, pathos, and grace of liis descriptions, no poet
surpasses Ariosto.

4. Heroic Epic Poetry. — Wliile, in the romantic epic of
the Middle Ages, unity of design was considered unnecessary, and
truthfulness of detail, fertility of imagination, strength of color-
ing, and vivacity of narration were alone required, heroic poetry
•was expected to exhibit, on the most extensive scale, those laws
of symmetry which adapt all the parts to one object, which com-
bine variety with unity, and, as it were, initiate us into the secrets
of creation, by disclosing the single idea which governs the most
dissimilar actions, and harmonizes the most opposite interests.
It was reserved to Torquato Tasso to raise the Italian language
to this kind of epic poetry.

Tasso (1544-1595) was born in Sorrento, and many marvels
are told by his biographers of the precocity of his genius. Po-
litical convulsions early drove his father into exile. He went
to Rome and sent for his son, then ten years of age. When the
exiles were no longer safe at Rome, an asylum was offered them
at Pesaro by the Duke of Urbino. Here young Tasso pursued
his studies in all the learning and accom])lishments of the age.
In his seventeenth year he had oom])leted the composition of an
epic poem on the adventures of Rinaldo, which was received with
passionate admiration throughout Italy. The appearance of this
poem proved not only the beginning of the author's fame, but
the dawn of a new day in Italian literature. In 1565, Tasso
M'as nominated by the Cardinal D'Este as gentleman of his house-
hold, and his reception at tlio court was in every respect most
pleasing to his vouthful ambition. He was honored by the inti-

"14

210 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

mate acquaintance of the accomplished princesses Lucretla and
Leonora, and to this dangerous friendship must be attributed
most of his subsequent misfortunes, if it be true that he cherished
a secret attachment for Leonora.

During this prosperous period of his life, Tasso prosecuted his
great epic poem, the " Jerusalem DeUvered," and as canto after
canto was completed and recited to the princesses, he found in
their applause repeated stimulus to proceed. While steadily
engaged in his great work, his fancy gave birth to numerous
fugitive poems, the most remarkable of which is the " Aminta."
After its representation at the court of Ferrara, all Italy re-
sounded with the poet's fame. It was translated into all the
languages of Europe, and the name of Tasso would have been
immortal even though he had never composed an epic. The
various vexations he endured regarding the publication of his
work at its conclusion, the wrongs he suffered from both patrons
and rivals, together with disappointed ambition, rendered him
the subject of feverish anxiety and afterwards the prey of rest-
less fear and continual suspicion. His mental malady increased,
and he wandered from place to place without finding any per-
manent home. Assuming the disguise of a shepherd, he trav-
eled to Sorrento, to visit his sister ; but soon, tired of seclusion,
he obtained permission to return to the court of Ferrara. He
■was coldly received by the duke, and was refused an interview
with the princesses. He left the place in indignation, and wan-
dered from one city of Italy to another, reduced to the appear-
ance of a wretched itinerant, sometimes kindly received, some-
times driven away as a vagabond, always restless, suspicious, and
unhappy. In this mood he again returned to Ferrara, at a mo-
ment when the duke was too much occupied w^th the solemnities
of his own marriage to attend to the complaints of the poet.
Tasso became infuriated, retracted all the praises he had be-
stowed on the house of Este, and indulged in the bitterest invec-
tives against the duke, by whose orders he was afterwards com-
mitted to the hospital for lunatics, where he was closely confined,
and treated with extreme rigor. If he had never been insane
before, he certainly now became so. To add to his misfortune,
his poem was printed without his permission, from an imperfect
copy, and while editors and printers enriched themselves with
the fruit of his labors, the poet himself was languishing in a
dungeon, despised, neglected, sick, and destitute of the common
conveniences of life, and above all, deafened by the frantic cries
with which the hospital continually resounded. When the first
rigors of his imprisonment were relaxed, Tasso pursued his stud-
ies, and poured forth his emotions in every form of verse. Some
of his most beautiful minor poems were composed during this

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 211

period. After more than seven years' confinement, the poet
was liherated at the intercession of the Duke of Mantua. From
this time he wandered from city to city ; the hallucinations of
his mind never entirely ceased. Towards the close of the year
1594 he took up his residence at Rome, where he died at the
age of fifty-two.

Tasso was particularly happy in choosing the most engaging
subject that could inspire a modern poet — the struggle between
the Christians and the Saracens. The Saracens considered them-
selves called on to subjugate the earth to the faith of Mohammed ;
the Christians to enfranchise the sacred spot where their divine
founder suffered death. The religion of the age was wholly
warlike. It was a profound, disinterested, enthusiastic, and po-
etic sentiment, and no period has beheld such a brilliant display
of valor. The belief in the supernatural, which formed a strik-
ing characteristic of the thne, seemed to have usui-ped the laws
of nature and the common course of events.

The faith against wliich the crusaders fought appeared to
them the worship of the powers of darkness. They believed
that a contest might exist between invisible beings as between
different nations, and when Tasso armed the dark powers of
enchantment against the Christian knights, he only developed
and embellished a popular idea.

The scene of the Jerusalem Delivered, so rich in recollections
and associations with all our religious feelings, is one in which
nature displays her riches and treasures, and where descriptions,
in turn the most lovely and the most austere, attract the pen of
the poet. All the nations of Cliristendom send forth their war-
riors to the army of the cross, and the whole world thus becomes
his patrimony. Whatever interest the taking of Troy might pos-
sess for the Greeks, or the vanity of the Romans might attach to
the adventures of -^neas, whom they adopted as their progen-
itor, it may be asserted that neither the Iliad nor the iEneid
possesses the dignity of subject, the interest at the same time
divine and human, and the varied dramatic action wliich are
peculiar to the Jerusalem Delivered.

The whole course of the poem is comprised in the campaign
of 1093, when the Cliristian army, assembled on the plain of
Tortosa, marched towards Jerusalem, which they besieged and
captured. From the commencement of the poem, tlie most ten-
der sentiments are combined with the action, and love has been
assigned a nobler part than had been given to it in any other epic
poem. Love, enthusiastic, respectful, and full of homage, was
an essential characteristic of chivalry and the source of the no-
blest actions. While with the heroes of the classic epic it was
a weakness, with the Christian luiighta it was a devotion. In

212 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

this work are happily combined the classic and romantic styles^
It is classic in its plan, romantic in its heroes ; it is conceived in
the spirit of antiquity, and executed in the spirit of mediaeval
romance. It has the beauty vv^hich results from unity of design
and from the harmony of all its parts, united with the romantic
form, which falls in with the feelings, the passions, and the recol-
lections of Europeans. Notwithstanding some defects, which
must be attributed rather to the taste of his age than to his
genius, in the history of litei-ature Tasso may be placed by the
side of Homer and Virgil.

5. Lyric Poetry. — Lyi'ic poetry, which had been brought
to such perfection by Petrarch in the fourteenth century, but al-
most lost sight of in the fifteenth, was cultivated by all the Italian
poets of this period. Petrarch became the model, which every
aspirant endeavored to imitate. Hence arose a host of poetasters,
who wrote with considerable elegance, but without the least
power of imagination. AVe must not, however, confound with
the servile imitators of Petrarch those who took nothing from
his school but purity of language and elegance of style, and who
consecrated the lyre not to love alone, but to patriotism and
religion. First of these are Poliziano and Lorenzo de' Medici,
in whose ballads and stanzas the language of Petrarch reap-
peared with all its beauty and harmony. Later, Cardinal Bembo
(1470-1547), Molza (1489-1544), Tarsia (1476-1535), Guidic-
cioni (1480-1541), Delia Casa (1503-1556), Costanzo (1507-
1585), and later still, Chiabrera (1552-1637), attempted to re-
store Italian poetry to its primitive elegance. Their sonnets and
canzoni contributed much to the revival of a purer style, although
their elegance is often too elaborate and their thoughts and feel-
ings too artificial. Besides these, Ariosto, Tasso, Machiavelli,
and Michael Angelo. whose genius was practiced in more ambi-
tious tasks, did not disdain to shape and polish such diminutive
gems as the canzone, the madrigal, and the sonnet.

This reform of taste in lyric composition was also promoted
by several women, among whom the most distinguished at once
for beauty, virtue, and talent was Vittoria Colonna (1490-1547).
She was daughter of the high constable of Naples, and married
to the Marquis of Pescara. Early left a widow, she abandoned
herself to sorrow. That fidelity which made her refuse the
hand of princes in her youth, rendered her incapable of a second
attadiment in her widowhood. The solace of her life was to
mourn the loss and cherish the memory of Pescara. After
passing several years in retirement, Vittoria took up her resi
dence at Rome, and became the intimate friend of the distin-
guished men of her time. Her verses, though deficient in ])oetic
fancy, are full of tenderness and absorbing passion. Vittoria

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 213

Colonna was reckoned by her contemporaries as a being almost
more than human, and the epithet divine was usually prefixed
to her name. By her death-bed stood Michael Angelo, who
was considerably her junior, but who enjoyed her friendship
and regarded her with enthusiastic veneration. He wrote sev-
eral sonnets in her praise. Veronica Gambara, Tullia d'Aragona,
and Ginlia Gonzaga may also be named as possessing superior
genius to many literary men of their time.

6. Dramatic Poetry. — Tragedy, in the hands of the Ro-
mans, had exhibited no national characteristics, and disappeared
with the decline of their Uterature. When Europe began to
breathe again, the natural taste of the multitude for games and
spectacles revived ; the church entertained the people with its
representations, which, however, were destitute of all literary
character. At the commencement of the fourteenth century we
find traces of Latin tragedies, and these, during the fifteenth
century, were frequently represented, as we have seen, more as
a branch of ancient art and learning than as matter of recrea-
tion. After the " Orpheus " of Poliziano had appeared on the
stage, the first drama in the Italian tongue, Latin tragedies and
comedies were translated into the Italian, but as yet no one had
ventured beyond mere translation.

Leo X. shed over the dramatic art the same favor which he
bestowed on the other liberal arts, and the theatricals of the
Vatican were of the most sjjlendid description. During his
pontificate, Trissino (1478-1550) dedicated to him the tragedy
of '' Sofonisba," formed on the Greek model, the first regular
tragedy which had appeared since the revival of letters. Its
snl)ject is found entire in the work of Livy, and the invention
of the poet has added little to the records of the historian. The
piece is not divided into acts and scenes, and the only repose
given to the action is by the chorus, who sing odes and lyric
stanzas. Tlie story is well conducted, the characters are all
dramatic, and the incidents arise spontaneously out of each
other; 1)ut the style of the tragedy has neither the sublimity
nor the originality which becomes this kind of composition, and
which distinguished the genius of the dramatic poets of Athens.

The example of Trissino was followed by Rucellai (1475-
1525), who left two dramas. '• Rosanmnda " and " Orestes,"
written in blank verse, with a chorus, much resembling the
Greek tragedies. This poet used much more license with his
subject than Trissino ; his ])lot is less simple and pathetic, but
abounds in horror, and his stvle is florid and rhetorical. Tasso,
Speroni (1500-1588), Giraldi (1504-1573), and others, at-
tem])ted also this species of composition, and their dramas are
considered the best of the age.

214 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

As the tragic poets of this century servilely imitated Sopho-
cles and Euripides, the comic writers copied Plautus and Ter-
ence. The comedies of Ariosto, of which there are five, disjilay
considerable ingenuity of invention and an elegant vivacity of
language. The dramatic works of Machiavelli approach more
nearly to the middle comedy of the Greeks. They depict and
satirize contemporaneous rather than obsolete manners, but the
characters and plots awaken little interest.

Bentivoglio (1506-1573), Salviati (1540-1589), Firenzuola
(1493-1547), Caro (1507-1566), Cardinal Bibiena (1470-
1520), Aretino (1492-1556), and others, are among the princi-
pal comic writers of the age, who displayed more or less dra-
matic talent. Of all the Italian comedies composed in the six-
teenth century, however, scarcely one was the work of eminent
genius. A species of comic drama, known under the name of
Commedia dell' arte, took its rise in this century. The charac-
teristic of these plays is that the story only belongs to the poet,
the dialogue being improvised by the actors. The four princi-
pal characters, denominated masks, were Pantaloon, a merchant
of Venice, a doctor of laws from Bologna, and two servants,
known to us as Harlequin and Columbine. When we add to
these a couple of sons, one virtuous and the other profligate ; a
couple of daughters, and a pert, intriguing chambermaid, we
have nearly the whole dramatis personce of these plays. The
extempore dialogue by which the plot was developed was re-
plete with drollery and wit, and there was no end to the novelty,
of the jests.

7. Pastoral Drama and Didactic Poetry. — The pas-
toral drama, which describes characters and passions in their
primitive simplicity, is thus distinguished from tragedy and
comedy. It is probable that the idyls of the Greeks afforded
the first germ of this species of composition, but Beccari, a poet
of Ferrara (1510-1590), is considered the father of the genu-
ine pastoral drama. Before him Sannazzaro (1458-1530) had
written the " Arcadia," which, however, bears the character of
an eclogue rather than that of a drama. It is written in the
choicest Italian ; its versification is melodious, and it abounds
with beautiful descriptions ; as an imitation of the ancients, it is
entitled to the highest rank. The beauty of the Italian landscape
and the softness of the Italian climate seem naturally fitted to
dispose the poetic soul to the dreams of rural life, and the lan-
guage seems, by its graceful simplicity, peculiarly adapted to ex-
press the feelings of a class of peo])le whom we picture to our-
selves as ingenuous and infantine in their natures. The manners
orf the Italian peasantry are more truly pastoral than those of
any other people, and a bucolic poet in that fair region need not

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 215

irander to Arcadia. But Sannazzaro, like all the early pastoral
poets of Italy, proj)osed to himself, as the highest excellence, a
close imitation of Virgil ; he took his shepherds from the fabu-
lous ages of anticjuity, borrowed the mythology of the Greeks,
and completed the machinery with fauns, nymphs, and satyrs.
Like Sannazzai'o, Beccari places his shepherds in Arcadia, and
invests them with ancient manners ; but he goes beyond mere
dialogue ; he connects their conversations by a series of dra-
matic actions. The representation of one of these poems in-
cited Tasso to the composition of his " Aminta," the success of
which was due less to the interest of the story than to the
sweetness of the poetry, and the soft voluptuousness which
breathes in every line. It is written in flowing verse of various
measures, without rhyme, and enriched with lyric choruses of
uncommon beauty.

The imitations of the Aminta were numerous, but, with one
exception, which has disputed the palm with its model, they had
an ephemeral existence. Guarini (1537-1612) was the author
of the " Pastor Fido," which is the principal monument of his
genius ; its cliief merit lies in the poetry in which the tale is
embodied, the simplicity and clearness of the diction, the tender-
ness of the sentiments, and the vehement passion which gives
life to the whole. This drama was first performed in 1585, at
Turin, during the nuptial festivities of the Prince of Savoy. Its
success was triumphant, and Guarini was justly considered as
second only to Tasso among the poets of the age. Theatrical
music, which was now beginning to be cultivated, found its way
into the acts of the pastoral drama, and in one scene of the
Pastor Fido it is united with dancing ; thus was opened the
way for the Italian opera.

Among the didactic poets, RuceUai may be first mentioned.
His poem of " The Bees " is an imitation of the fourth book of
the Georgics ; he does not, however, servilely follow liis model,
but gives an original coloring to that which he borrowed. Ala-
manni (1495-1556) occupies a secondary rank among epic,
tragic, and comic poets, but merits a distinguished place in di-
dactic poetry. His poem entitled '' Cultivation " is pure and
elegant in its style.

8. Satirical Poetry, Novels, and Tales. — In an age
when every kind of poetry that had flourished among the
Greeks and Romans appeared again with new lustre, satire was
not wanting. There is much that is satirical in the " Divine
Comedy " of Dante. Three of Petrarch's sonnets are satires
on the court of Rome ; those of Ariosto are valuable not only
for their flowing style, but for the details they afford of his
character, taste, and circumstances. The satires of Alamanni

216 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

are chiefly political, and in general are characterized by purity
of diction and by a high moral tendency.

There is a kind of jocose or burlesque satire peculiar to Italy,
in which the literature is extremely rich. If it serves the cause
of wisdom, it is always in the mask of folly. The poet who
carried this kind of writing to the highest perfection was Berni
(1499-1530). Comic poetry, hitherto known in Italy as bur-
lesque, of which BurchieUo was the representative in the fif-
teenth century, received from Berni the name of Bernesque, in
its more refined and elegant character. His satirical poems are
full of light and elegant mockery, and his style possesses nature
and comic truth. In his hand, everything was transformed into
ridicule ; liis satire is almost always personal, and his laughter
is not always restrained by respect for morals or for decency.
To burlesque poetry may be referred also the Macaronic style,
a ludicrous mixture of Latin and Italian, introduced by Merlino
Coccajo (1491-1.544). His poems are as full of lively descrip-
tions and piquant satire as they are wanting in decorum and
morality.

The story-tellers of the sixteenth century are numerous.
Sometimes they appear as followers of Boccaccio ; sometimes
they attempt to open new paths for themselves. The class of
productions, of which the " Decameron " was the earliest exam-
ple in the fourteenth century, is called by the Italians " NoveUe."
In general, the interest of the tale depends rather on a number
of incidents slightly touched, than on a few carefully delineated ;
from the difficulty of developing character in a few isolated
scenes, the story-teller trusts for effect to the combination of in-
cident and style, and the delineation of character, which is the
nobler part of fiction, is neglected. Italian novelists, too, have
often regarded the incidents themselves but as a vehicle for fine
writing. An interesting view of these productions is, that they
form a vast repository of incident, in which we recognize the
origin of much that has since appeared in our own and other
languages.

Machiavelli was one of the first novelists of this age. His
little tale, " Belfagor," is pleasantly told, and has been translated
into all languages. The celebrated '* Giulietta " of Luigi da
Porta is the sole ])roduction of the author, but it has served to
give him a high place among Italian novelists. This is Shak-
speare's Romeo and Juliet in another shape, though it is not prob-
able that it was the immediate source from which the great
dramatist collected the materials for his tragedy. The " Hun-
dred Tales " of Cinzio Giraldi (1504-1.573) are distinguished
by great boldness of conception, and by a wild and tragic horror
which commands the attention, while it is revolting to the feel-

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 217

in<T9. He appears to have ransacked every age and country, and
to have exJiausted the catalogue of human crhues ui procuring
suhjects for his novels.

Grazzini, called Lasca (1503-1583), is perhaps the best of tlie
Italian novelists after Boccaccio. His manner is light and grace-
ful. His stories display much ingenuity, hut are often imjjrol)-
ahle and cruel in their nature. The Fairy Tales of Strapjjarola
(b. 1500) are the earliest specimens of the kind in the prose lit-
erature of Italy, and this work has been a perfect storeliouse
from which succeeding writers have derived a vast multitude of
their tales. To this, also, we are indebted for the legend of
" Fair Star," " Puss in Boots," " Fortunio," and others which
adorn our nursery libraries.

Firenzuola (1493-1547) occupies a high rank among the Ital-
ian novelists ; his " Golden Ass," from Apuleius, and his " Dis-
courses of Animals " are distinguished for their originality and
purity of style.

Bandello (1480-1562) is the novelist best known to foreigners
after Boccaccio. Shakspeare and other English dramatists have
drawn largely from his voluminous ^vritings. His tales are
founded upon history rather than fancy.

9. History. — Historical composition was cultivated with
much success by the Italians of the sixteenth century ; yet such
was the altered state of things, that, except at Venice and Genoa,
republics had been superseded by princes, and republican author-
ity by the ijomj) of regal courts. Rome was a nest of intrigue,
luxury, and corruption ; Tuscany had become the prey of a
})owerful family ; Lombardy was but a battle-field for the rival
powers of France and Germany, and the lot of the peojjle was
oppression and humiliation. High independence of mind, one
of the most valuable qualities in connection with historical re-
search, was impossible under these circumstances, and yet, some
of the Italian writers of this age exhibit genius, strength of char-
acter, and a conscientious sense of the sacred commission of the
historian.

Machiavelli (1469-1527) was born in Florence of a family
which had enjoyed the first ofiices in the republic. At tlie age
of thirty, he was made chancellor of the state, and from that
time he was constantly employed in public affairs, and particu-
larly in embassies. Among those to the smaller princes of lt;ily,
the one of the longest duration was to Caesar Borgia, whom ho
narrowly observed at the very ini])()rtant period when this illus-
trious villain was elevating himself by his crimes, and whose
diabolical policy he had thus an opportunity of studying. He
had a considerable share in directing the counsels of the repul>-
lic, and the influence to which he owed liis elevation was that of

218 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the free party, which censured the power of the Medici, and at
that time held them in exile. When the latter were recalled,
Macliiavelli was deprived of all his ofB.ces and banished. He
then entered into a conspiracy against the usurpers, which was
discovered, and he was put to the torture, but without wresting
from him any confession which could impeach either himself or
those who had confided in his honor. Leo X., on his elevation
to the pontificate, restored liim to liberty. At this time he wrote
his " History of Florence," in which he united eloquence of style
with depth of reflection, and although an elegant, animated, and
picturesque composition, it is not the fruit of much research or
criticism.

Besides this history, Machiavelli wrote his discourses on the
first decade of Livy, considered his best work, and " The Art of
War," which is an invaluable commentary on the history of the
times. These works had the desired effect of inducing the Med-
ici family to use the political services of the author, and at the
request of Leo X. he wrote his essay " On the Reform of the
Florentine Government."

Guicciardini (1483-1541), the friend of Machiavelli, is con-
sidered the greatest historian of this age. He attached himself
to the service of Leo X., and was raised to high offices and hon-
ors by him and the two succeeding popes. On the expulsion of
the Medici from Florence, the republican party having obtained
the ascendency, he was obliged to fly from the city. From this
time he manifested an utter abhorrence of all popular institu-
tions, and threw himself heart and soul into the interests of the
Medici. He displayed his zeal at the expense of the lives and
liberties of the most virtuous among his fellow-citizens. Having
aided in the elevation of Cosmo, afterwards Grand Duke of Tus-
cany, and being requited with ingratitude and neglect, he retired
in disgust from public life, and devoted himself wholly to the
completion of his history of Italy. This work, which is a mon-
ument of his genius and industry, commences with the coming
of Charles VIII. to Italy, and concludes with the year 1534, em-
bracing one of the most important periods of Italian history.
His powerfully-drawn pictures exhibit the men and the times so
vividly, that they seem to pass before our eyes. His delineations
of character, his masterly views of the course of events, the con-
duct of leaders, and the changes of war, claim our highest admi-
ration. His language is pure and his style elegant, though some-
times too Latinized ; his letters are considered as a most valuable
contribution to the history of his times.

Numberless historians, of more or less merit, stimulated by
the renown of Machiavelli and Guicciardini, composed annals c|

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 219

the states to which they belonged, while others undertook to
write the liistories of foreign nations. Nardi (1496-1556), one
of the most ardent and pure patriots of liis age, takes the first
place. He wrote the history of the Florentine Revolution of
1527, a work which, though defective in style, is distinguished
for its truthfulness. The histories of Florence by Adriani, Var-
chi, and Segni (1499-1559), are considered the best works of
their kind, for elegance of style and for interest of the narrative.
Almost all the other cities of Italy had their historians, but the
palm must be awarded to the Florentine writers, not only on ac-
count of their number, but for the elegance and purity of their
style, for their impartiality and the sagacity of their research
into matters of fact. Among the writers of the second class may
be mentioned Davanzati (1519), the translator of Tacitus, who
wrote, in the Florentine dialect, a history of the schism of Eng-
land ; GiambuUari (1495-1564), who wrote a history of Europe ;
D'Anghiera (fl. 1536), who, after having examined the papers
of Christopher ColumbuSy and the official reports transmitted
from America to Spain, comjnled an interesting work on " Ocean
Navigation and the New World." His style is incorrect ; but
this is compensated for by the fidelity of his narration. Several
of the German States, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Hun-
gary, and the East Indies, found Italian authors in this age to
digest and arrange their chronicles, and give them historical
form.

To this period belong also the " Lives of the Most Celebrated
Artists," written by Vasari (1512-1574), himself a distinguished
artist, a work highly interesting for its subject and style, and
the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini (b. 1500), one of the
most curious works which was ever written in any language.

10. Grammar and Rhetoric. — The Italian language was
used both in writing and conversation for three centuries be-
fore its rules and princii)les were reduced to a scientific form.
Bembo was the first scholar who established the grammar.
Grammatical writings and researches were soon multipHed and
extended. Salviati was one of the most prominent grammarians
of the sixteenth centurj^ and Buonmattei and Cinonio of the
seventeenth. But the progress in this study was due less to the
grammarians than to the Dictionary della Cnisca. Among the
scholars who took part in the exercises of the Florentine Acad-
emy, founded by Cosmo de' iMedici, there were some who, dis-
satisfied with the philosophical disputations which were the object
of this institution, organized another association for the purpose
of giving a new impulse to the study of the language. This
academy, inaugurated in 1587, was called della Cr».sca, literally,
of the bran. The object of this new association being to sift all

220 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

impurities from the language, a sieve, the emblem of the acad-
emy, was placed, in the hall ; the members at their meetings sat
on flour-barrels, and the chair of the presiding officer stood on
three mill-stones. The first work of the academy was to com-
pile a universal dictionary of the Italian language, which was
publislied in 1612. Though the Dictionary della Crusca was
conceived in an exclusive spirit, and admitted, as linguistic au-
thorities, only writers of the fourteenth century, belonging to
Tuscany, it contributed greatly to the progress of the Italian
tongue.

Every university of Italy boasted in the sixteenth century of
some celebrated rhetoricians, all of whom, however, were over-
shadowed by Vettori (1499-1585), distinguished for the edi-
tions of the Greek and Latin classics pubUshed under his super-
intendence, and for his commentaries on the rhetorical books of
Aristotle. B. Cavalcanti (1503-1562) was also celebrated in
this department, and liis " Rhetoric " is the best work of the
age on that subject.

The oratory of this period is very imperfect. Orations were
written in the style of Boccaccio, which, however suitable for
the narration of merry tales, is entirely unfit for oratorical com-
positions. Among those who most distinguished themselves in
this department are Della Casa (1503-1556), whose harangues
against the P^mperor Charles V. are fuU of eloquence ; Speroni
(1500-1588), whose style is more perfect than that of any other
writer of the sixteenth century ; and LoUio (d. 1568), whose
orations are the most polished. At that time, in the forum of
Venice, eloquent orators pleaded the causes of the citizens, and
at the close of the preceding century, Savonarola (1452-1498),
a preacher of Florence, thundered against the abuses of the
Roman church, and suffered death in consequence. Among the
models of letter-writing, Caro takes the first place. His familiar
letters are written with that graceful elegance which becomes
this kind of composition. The letters of Tasso are fuU of elo-
quence and philosojjhy, and are written in the most select Italian.

11. Science, Philosophy, and Politics. — The sciences,
during this period, went hand in hand with poetry and history.
Libraries and other aids to learning were multiplied, and acad-
emies were organized with other objects than those of enjoyment
of mere poetical triumjihs or dramatic amusements. The Acad-
emy del Cimento was founded at Florence in 1657 by Leopold
de' Medici, for promoting the study of the natural sciences, and
similar institutions were established in Rome, Bologna, and Na-
ples, and other cities of Italy, besides the Royal Academy of
London (1660), and the Academy of Sciences in Paris (1666).
From the period of the first institution of universities, that oh

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 221

Bolo^rna had maintained its preeminence. Padua, Ferrara, Pa-
via, Turin, Florence, Siena, Pisa, and Rome were also seats of
learning. The men who directed the scientific studies of their
country and of Europe were almost universally attached as pro-
fessors to tliese institutions. Indeed, at this period, through
the genius of Galileo and his school, European science first
dawned in Italy. Galileo (1564— 1G41) was a native of Pisa,
and professor of mathematics in the university of that city-
Being obliged to leave it on account of scientific opinions, at
that time at variance with universally received principles, he
removed to the university of Padua, where for eighteen years
he enjoyed the high consideration of his countrymen. He re-
turned to Pisa, and at the age of seventy was summoned to
Rome by the Inquisition, and required to renounce his doctrines
relative to the Copernican system, of which he was a zealous
defender, and his life was spared only on condition of his abjur-
ing his oj)inions. It is said that on rising from his knees, after
making the abjuration of his belief that the earth moved round
the sun, he stamped his foot on the floor and said, " It does
move, though." To Galileo science is indebted for the discov-
ery of the laws of weight, the scientific construction of the sys-
tem of Copernicus, the pendulum, the improvement of many
scientific instruments, the invention of the hydrostatic balance,
the thermometer, proportional compasses, and, above all, the
telescope. He discovered the satellites of Jupiter, the phases
of Venus, the mountains of the moon, the spots and the rotation
of the sun. Science, which had consisted for centuries only of
scholastic subtleties and barren dialectics, he established on an
experimental basis. In his works he unites delicacy and purity
with vivacity of style.

Anionij the scholars of Galileo, who most efficaciously con-
tributed to the progress of science, may be mentioned Torricelli
(1608-1647), th*^ inventor of the barometer, an elegant and pro-
found writer ; Borelli (1608-1679), the founder of animal me-
chanics, or the science of the movements of animals, distinguished
for his works on astronomy, mathematics, anatomy, and natural
philosophy; Cassini (1625-1712), a celebrated astronomer, to
whom France is indebted for its meridian ; Cavalieri (1598-
1648), distinguished for his works on geometry, which paved
the way to the discovery of the infinitesimal calculus.

In the scientific dejiartment of the earlier jiart of tliis period
may also be mentioned Tartaglia (d. 1657) and Cardano (1501-
1576), celebrated for their researclies on algebra and geometry;
Vignola (1507-1573) and Palladlo (1518-1580), whose works
on architecture are still beld in high estimation, as well as the
work of Marchi (fl. 1550) on military construction. Later,

222 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Redi (1626-1697) distinguished himself as a natural philoso-
pher, a physician and elegant writer, both in prose and verse,
and Malpiglii (1628-1694) and Bellini (1643-1704) were anat-
omists of high repute. Scamozzi (1550-1616) emulated the
glory formerly won by Palladio in architecture, and Montecuc-
coli (1608-1681), a great general of the age, ably illustrated
the art of strategy.

The sixteenth century abounds in philosophers who, abandon-
ing the doctrines of Plato, which had been in great favor in the
fifteenth, adopted those of Aristotle. Some, however, dared to
throw off the yoke of philosophical authority, and to walk in
new paths of speculation. Patrizi (1529-1597) was one of the
first who undertook to examine for himself the phenomena of
nature, and to attack the authority of Aristotle. Telesio (1509-
1588), a friend of Patrizi, joined him in the work of overthrow-
ing the Peripatetic idols ; but neither of them dared to renounce
entirely the authority of antiquity. The glory of having claimed
absolute freedom in philosophical speculation belongs to Car-
dano, already mentioned, to Campanella (1568-1639), who for
the boldness of his opinions was put to the torture and spent
thirty years in prison, and to Giordano Bruno (1550-1600), a
sublime thinker and a bold champion of freedom, who was
burned at the stake.

Among the moral philosophers of this age may be mentioned
Speroni, whose writings are distinguished by harmony, freedom,
and eloquence of style ; Tasso, whose dialogues unite loftiness
of thought with elegance of style ; Castiglione (1468-1529),
whose " Cortigiano " is in equal estimation as a manual of ele-
gance of manners and as a model of pure Italian ; and Delia
Casa, whose " Galateo " is a complete system of politeness,
couched in elegant language, and a work to which Lord Ches-
terfield was much indebted.

Political science had its greatest representative in Machiavelli,
who wrote on it with that profound knowledge of the human
heart which he had acquired in public life, and with the habit of
unweaving, in all its intricacies, the political perfidy which then
prevailed in Italy. The "Prince " is the best known of his po-
litical works, and from the infamous principles which he has
here developed, though probably with good intentions, his name
is allied with everything false and perfidious in politics. The
object of the treatise is to show liow a new prince may establish
and consolidate his power, and how the Medici might not only
confirm their authority in Florence, but extend it over the whole
of the Peninsula. At the time that Machiavelli wrote, Italy
had been for centuries a theatre where might was the only right
He was not a man given to illusive fancies, and throughout a

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 223

long political career nothing had been permitted to escape his
keen and penetrating eye. In all the affairs in which he had
taken part he had seen that success was the only thing studied,
and therefoi'e to succeed in an enterprise, by whatever means,
had become the fundamental idea of his political theory. His
Prince reduced to a science the art, long before known and
practiced by kings and tyrants, of attaining absolute power by
deception and cruelty, and of maintaining it afterwards by the
dissimulation of leniency and virtue. It does not appear that
any exception was at first taken to the doctrines which have
since called forth such severe reprehension, and from the mo-
ment of its appearance the Prince became a favorite at every
court. But soon after the death of Machiavelli a violent out-
cry was raised against him, and although it was first heard with
amazement, it soon became general, The Prince was laid un-
der the ban of several successive popes, and the name of Ma-
chiavelli passed into a proverb of infamy. His bones lay undis-
tinguished for nearly two centuries, when a monument was
erected to his memory in the church of Santa Croce, through
the influence of an E)nglish nobleman.

12. Period of Decadence. — The sixteenth century reaped
the fruits that had been sown in the fifteenth, but it scattered
no seeds for a harvest in the seventeenth, which was therefore
doomed to general sterility. In the reigns of Charles V. and
Philip II. the chains of civil and religious despotism were forged
which subduetl the intellect and arrested the genius of the peo-
ple. The Spanish viceroys ruled with an iron hand over Milan,
Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. Povei'ty and superstition wasted
and darkened the minds of the people, and indolence and love
of pleasure introduced almost universal degeneracy. But the
Spanish yoke, which weighed so heavily at both extremities of
the Peninsula, did not extend to the republic of Venice, or to
the duchy of Tuscany ; and the heroic cliaracter of the princes
of Savoy alone would have served to throw a lustre over this
otherwise darkened period. In literature, too, there were a few
who resisted the torrent of bad taste, amidst many who opened
the way for a crowd of followers in the false route, and gave to
the age that character of extravagance for which it is so pecul-
iarly distinguished.

The literary works of the seventeenth century may be divided
into three classes, the first of which, under the guidance of
Marini, attained the lowest degree of corruption, and remain in
the annals of literature as monuments of bombastic stylo and
bad taste. The second embraces those writers who were aware
of the faults of the school to which they bolonsxed, and who.
aiming to bring about a reform in literature, while they enf

224 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

deavored to follow a better style, partook more or less of the
character of the age. To this class may he referred Chiahrera
already named, and more particidarly Filicaja and other poets
of the same school. The third class is composed of a few writ-
ers who preserved themselves faithful to the principles of true
taste, and among them are Menzini, Salvator Rosa, Redi, and
more particularly Tassoni.

13. Epic and Lyric Poetry. — Marini (1569-1625), the
celebrated innovator on classic Italian taste, is considered as
the first who seduced the poets of the seventeenth century into a
labored and affected style. He was born at Naples and edu-
cated for the legal profession, for which he had little taste, and
on publishing a volume of poems, his indignant father turned him
out of doors. But his popular qualities never left him without
friends. He was invited to the Court of France, obtained the
favor of Mary de' Medici, and the situation of gentleman to the
king. He became exceedingly popular among the French no-
bility, many of whom learned Italian for the sole purpose of
reading his works. It was here that he published the most cele-
brated of his poems, entitled " Adonis." He afterwards pur-
chased a beautiful villa near Naples, to which he retired, and
where he soon after died. The Adonis of Marini is a mixture*
of the epic and the romantic style, the subject being taken from
the well-known story of Venus and Adonis. He renounced all
keeping and probability, both in his incidents and descriptions ;
if he could present a series of enchanted pictures, he was httle
solicitous as to the manner of their arrangement. But the work
has much beauty and imagination, and is often animated by the
true spirit of poetry. Its principal faults are that it is sadly
wire-drawn, and abounds in puns, endless antitheses, and inven-
tions for surprising or bewildering the reader ; graces which
were greatly admired by the contemporaries of the poet. Marini
was a voluminous writer, and was not only extolled in his own
country above its classic authors, and in France, but the Span-
iards held him in the highest esteem, and imitated and even
surpassed him in his own eccentric career. He had also innu-
merable imitators in Italy, many of whom attained a high rep-
utation during their lives, and afterwards sank into complete
oblivion.

Filicaja (1642-1709) stands at the head of the lyric poets of
the seventeenth century. His inspiration seems first to have
been awakened when Vienna was besieged by the Turks in
1683, and gallantly defended by the Christian powers. His
verses on this occasion awoke the most enthusiastic admiration,
and called forth the eulogies of princes and poets. The admira-
tion which he excited in his day is scarcely to be wondered at;

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 225

for, though this judgment has not been ratified by posterity,
Filicaja has at least the merit of having raised the poetry of
Italy from the abject service of mere amorous imbecility to the
noble office of embodying the more manly and virtuous senti-
ments ; and though his style is infected with the bombastic spirit
of the age, it is even in this respect singularly moderate, com-
pared with that of his contemporaries.

14. Mock-Heroic Poetry, the Drama, and Satire. —
The full maturity of the style of mock-heroic poetry is due to
Tassoni (1565-1635). He first attracted public notice by dis-
puting the authority of Aristotle, and the poetical merits of
Petrarch. In 1622 he published his " Rape of the Bucket," a
burlesque poem on the petty wars which were so common be-
tween the towns of Italy in the thirteenth and fourteenth cen-
turies. The heroes of Modena had, in 1325, discomfited the
Bolognese, and pursued them to the very heart of their city,
whence they carried off, as a trophy of their victory, the
bucket belonging to the public well. The expedition undertaken
by the Bolognese for its recovery forms the basis of the twelve
mock-heroic cantos of Tassoni. To understand this poem re-
quires a knowledge of the vulgarisms and idioms which are fre-
quently introduced in it.

About the same period, Bracciolini (1566-1645) produced
another comic-heroic poem, entitled the " Ridicule of the Gods,"
in which the ancient deities are introduced as mingling with the
peasants, and declaiming in the low, vulgar dialect, and making
themselves most agreeably ridiculous. Somewhat later appeared
one more example of the same species of epic, "The Malmantile,"
by Lippi (1606—1664). This poem is considered a pure model
of the dialect of the Florentines, which is so graceful and har-
monious even in its homeliness.

The seventeenth century was remarkable for the prodigious
number of its dramatic authors, but few of them equaled and
none excelled those of the preceding age. The opera, or melo-
drama, which had arisen out of the pastoral, seemed to monop-
olize whatever talent was at the disposal of the stage, and
branches formerly cultivated sank below mediocrity. Amid the
crowd of theatrical corru])ters, the name of Andreini (1564—
1652) deserves peculiar mention, not from any claim to exemp-
tion from the general censure, but because his comedy of '* Adam "
is believed to have been the foundation of Milton's " Paradise
Lost." Andreini was but one of the common throng of dra-
matic writers, and it has been fiercely contended by some, that it
is impossible that the idea of so sublime a poem should have
been taken from so ordinary a composition as his Adam. His
15

226 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

piece was represented at Milan as early as 1613, and so has at
least a claim of priority.

Menzini (1646-1708) and Salvator Rosa (1615-1675) were
the representatives of the satire of this century ; the former dis-
tinguished for the purity of his language and the harmony of his
verse ; the latter for his vivacity and sprightliness.

15. History akd Epistolary Writings. — The nimiber of
historical works in this century is much greater than in that of
the preceding, but they are generally far from possessing the
same merit or commanding the same interest. The historians
seem to have lost all feeling of national dignity ; they do not
venture to unveil the causes of public events, or to indicate their
results. Even those that dared treat of Italy or its provinces,
confined themselves to the reigning dynasties, and overlooking
the causes which most deeply affected the happiness of the peo-
ple, described only the festivities, battles, and triumphs of their
princes. A large number of historians chose foreign subjects ;
the history of France was remarkable for the number of Italians
who endeavored to relate it in this age. The work of Davila
(1576-1630) on ''The Civil Wars of France," however, throws
all the rest into the shade. What gives to it peculiar value is
the carefulness with which the materials were collected, in con-
nection with the opportunities its author enjoyed for gaining
information. This history is considered as superior to that of
Guicciardini in its matter, as the latter excels it in style. It is
wanting in that elegance which characterized the Florentine his-
torians of the sixteenth century. Bentivoglio (1579—1644) was
an eminent rival of Davila ; he wrote the history of the civil
wars of Flanders ; a work remarkable for the elegance and cor-
rectness of its style. Above all stand the works of Sarpi, who
lived between 1552 and 1623, and who defended with great
courage the authority of the Senate of Venice against the power
of the Popes, notwithstanding their excommunication and con-
tinued persecution. His history of the Council of Trent con-
tains a curious account of the intrigues of the Court of Rome at
the period of the Reformation.

It was chiefly in the more showy departments of literature
that the extravagance of the Marinists was most conspicuous,
and the decay of native genius was most apparent. But this
genius had turned into otlier paths, which it pursued with a
steady, though less brilliant course. Of all branches of prose
composition, the epistolary was the most carefully cultivated.
The talent for letter-writing was often the means of considerable
emolument, as all the petty ])rinces of Italy and the cardinals of
Rome were ambitious of liaving secretaries who would give
them eclat in their correspondence, and these situations, wliich

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 227

were steps to higher preferment, were eagerly sought ; hence
the prodigious number of collections of letters which liave at all
times inundated Italy — specimens by which those who believed
themselves elegant writers endeavored to make known their
talent. The letters of Bentivoglio have obtained European ce-
lebrity. They are distinguished for elegance of style as well as
for the interest of those historical recollections which they trans-
mit ; they are considered superior to his history. But of all the
letters of this or of the preceding age, none are more rich,
more varied, or more pleasing than those of Redi, who threw
into tliis form his discoveries in natural history. The driest
subjects, even those of language and gi-ammar, are here treated
in an interesting and agi-eeable manner.

PERIOD TFIIRD.

The Second Revival of Italian Literature, and its Present
Condition (1675-1902).

1. Historical DE\'^LOPivrENT of the Third Period. — At
the close of the seventeenth century, a new dawn arose in the
history of Italian letters, and the general corruption which had
extended to every branch of literature and paralyzed the Italian
mind began to be arrested by the appearance of writers of bet-
ter taste ; the affectations of the Marinists and of the so-called
Arcadian poets were banished from literature ; science was ele-
vated and its dominion extended, the melodrama, comedy, and
tragedy recreated, and a new spirit infused into every branch of
composition. Amidst the clash of arms and the vicissitudes of
long and bloody wars, Italy began to awake from her lethargy
to the aspiration for gi-eater and better things, and her intel-
lectual condition soon underwent important changes and im-
provements. In the eighteenth century, in Naples, Vico trans-
formed history into a new science. Filangeri contended with
Montesquieu for the palm of legislative pliilosoi)hy ; and new
light was thrown on criminal science by Mario Pagano. In
Rome, letters and science flourished under the patronage of Ben-
edict XIV., Clement XIV., and Pius VI., under whose auspices
Quirico Visconti undertook his '* Pio Clementine IMuseum " and
his " Greek and Roman Iconography," the two greatest archajo^
logical works of Jill ages. Padua was iminortalized by tho
works of Cesarotti, Belzoni, and Stratico ; Venice by Goldoni ;
Verona by Maffei, the critic and the antiquarian, as well as the
first reformer of Italian tragedy. Tuscany took the lead of the
intellectual movement of the country under Leopold and his suc-
cessor Ferdinand, when Florence, Pisa, and Siena again became
seats of learning and of poetry and the arts. Maria Theresa

228 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

and Joseph II. fostered the intellectual process of Lombardy ;
Spallanzani published his researches on natural philosophy ;
Volta discovered the pile which bears his name ; a new era in
poetry was created by Parini ; another in criminal jurisprudence
by Beccaria ; history was reconstructed by Muratori ; mathe-
matics promoted by Lagrange, and astronomy by Oriani ; and
A 1 fieri restored Italian letters to their primitive splendor.

But at the close of the eighteenth century and the beginning
of the nineteenth, Italy became the theatre of political and mil-
itary revolutions, whose influence could not fail to arrest the
development of the literature of the country. The galleries,
museumS) and Ubraries of Rome, Florence, and other cities suf-
fered from the military occupation, and many of their treasures,
manuscripts, and masterpieces of art were carried to Paris by
command of Napoleon. The entire peninsula was subject to
French influence, which, though beneficial to its material prog-
ress, could not fail to be detrimental to national literature. All
new works were composed in French, and indifferent or bad
translations from the French were widely circulated ; the French
language was substituted for the Italian, and the national litera-
ture seemed about to disappear. But Italian genius was not
wholly extinguished ; a few writers powerf uUy opposed this new
tendency, and preserved in its purity the language of Dante and
Petrarch. Gradually the national spirit revived, and literature
was again moulded in accordance with the national character.
Notwithstanding the political calamities of which, for some time
after the treaty of Vienna in 1815, Italy was continuaUy the
victim, the literature of the country awakened and fostered a
sentiment of nationality, and Italian independence is at this pres-
ent moment already achieved.

2. The Melodrama. — The first result of the revival of let-
ters at the close of the seventeenth century was the reform of
the theatre. The melodrama, or Italian opera, arose out of the
pastoral drama, which it superseded. The astonishing progress
of musical science succeeded that of poetry and sculpture, which
fell into decline with the decay of literature. Music, rising into
excellence and importance at a time when poetry was on the
decline, acquired such superiority that verse, instead of being
its mistress, became its handmaid. The first occasion of this
inversion was in the year 1594, when Rinuccini, a Florentine
poet, associated himself with three musicians to compose a
mythological drama. This and several other pieces by the same
author met with a brilliant reception. Poetry, written only in
order to be sung, thus assumed a different character ; Rinuccini
abandoned the form of the canzone which had hitherto been
used in the lyrical part of the drama, and adopted the Pindario

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 229

ode. Many poets followed in the same path ; more action was
fjiven to the dramatic parts, and greater variety to the music, in
which the airs were agreeably blended with the recitative duets ;
other harmonized j)ieces were also added, and after the lapse of
a century Apostolo Zeno (1669-1750) still further improved the
melodrama. But it was the spirit of Metastasio that breathed a
Boul of fire into this ingenious and happy form created by others.

Metastasio (1698-1782) gave early indications of genius, and
when only ten years of age used to collect an audience in his
father's shop, by his talent for improvisation. He thus attracted
the notice of Gravina, a celebrated patron of letters, who adopted
him as his son, changed his somewhat ignoble name of Trepassi
to Metastasio, and had him educated in every branch necessary
for a literary career. He still continued to improvise verses on
any given subject for the amusement of company. His youth, his
harmonious voice, and prepossessing appearance, added greatly
to the charm of his talent. It was one generally cultivated in
Italy at tliis time, and men of mature years often presented
themselves as rivals of the boy. This occupation becoming inju-
rious to the youth, Gravina forbade him to compose extempore
verses any more, and this rule, imposed on liim at sixteen, he
never afterwards infringed. When Metastasio was in his twen-
tieth year Gravina died, leaving to him his fortune, most of which
he squandered in two years. He afterwards went to Naples,
where, under a severe master, he devoted himself to the closest
study and for two years resisted every solicitation to compose
verses. At length, under pi-omise of secrecy, he wrote a drama.
AU Naples resounded with its praise, and the author was soon
discovered. Metastasio from this time followed the career for
which nature seemed to have formed him, and devoted himself
to the opera, which he considered to be the natural drama of
Italy. An invitation to become the court poet of Vienna made
liis future life both stable and prosperous. On the death of
Charles VI., in 1740, several other European sovereigns made
advantageous overtures to the poet, but as Maria Theresa was
disposed to retain him, he would not leave her in her adverse
circumstances. The remainder of his life he passed in Germany,
and his latter years were as monotonous as they were pros-
perous.

Metastasio seized with a daring hand the true spirit of the
melodrama, and scorning to confine himseK to unity of place,
opened a wide field for the display of theatrical variety, on which
the charm of the opera so much depends. The language in
which he clothed the favorite passion of his drama exhibits all
that is delicate and yet ardent, and he develops the most ele-
vated sentiments of loyalty, patriotism, and filial love. The

230 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

flow of his verse in the recitative is the most pure and harmo-
nious known in any language, and the strophes at the close of
each scene are scarcely surpassed by the first masters in lyric
poetry. Metastasio is one of the most pleasing, at the same
time one of the least difficult of the Italian poets, and the tyro
in the study of Italian classics may begin with liis works, and
at once enjoy the pleasures of poetic harmony at their highest
source.

3. Comedy. — The revolution, so frequently attempted in
Italian comedy by men whose genius was unequal to the task,
was reserved for Goldoni (1707-1772) to accomplish. His
life, written by himself, presents a picture of Italian manners in
their gayest colors. He was a native of Venice, and from his
early youth was constantly surrounded by theatrical people. At
eight years of age he composed a comedy, and at fourteen he
ran away from school with a company of strolling players. He
afterwards prepared for the medical, then for the legal profes-
sion, and finally, at the age of twenty-seven, he was installed
poet to a company of players. He now attempted to introduce
the reforms that he had long meditated ; he attained a purer
style, and became a censor of the manners and a satirist of the
follies of his country. His dialogue is extremely animated, ear-
nest, and full of meaning ; with a thorough knowledge of na-
tional manners, he possessed the rare faculty of representing
them in the most life-like manner on the stage. The language
used by the inferior characters of liis comedies is the Venetian
dialect.

In his latter days Goldoni was rivaled by Carlo Gozzi (1722-
1806), who parodied his pieces, and, it is thought, was the cause
of his retirement, in the decline of life, to Paris. Gozzi intro-
duced a new style of comedy, by reviving the familiar fictions
of childhood ; he selected and dramatized the most brilliant fairy
tales, such as "Blue Beard," "The King of the Genii," etc.,
and gave them to the public with magnificent decorations and
surprising machinery. ]f his comedies display little resemblance
to nature, they at least preserve the kind of probability which is
looked for in a fairy tale. Many years elapsed after Goldoni
and Gozzi disappeared from the arena before there was any
successor to rival their compositions.

Among those who contributed to the perfection of Italian
comedy may be mentioned Albergati (fl. 1774), Gherardo de'
Rossi (1754-1827), and above all, Nota (d. 1847), who is pre-
eminent among the new race of comic authors ; although some-
what cold and didactic, he at least fulfils the important office of
holding the mirror up to nature. He exhibits a faithful picture
of Italian society, and applies the scourge of satire to its most
prevalent faults and follies.

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 231

4. Tragedy. — The reform of Italian tragedy was early at-
tempted by Martelli (d. 1727) and by Scipione Maffei (1075-
1755). But Martelli was only a tame imitator of French mod-
els, while Malfei, possessing real talent and feeling, deserved
the extended re])utation he acquired. His " Merope " is con-
sidered as the last and the best specimen of the elder school of
Italian tragedy.

The honor of raising tragedy to its highest standard wa.s re-
served for Alfieri (1749-1803), whose remarkable personal
character exercised a powerful influence over his woi-ks. He
was possessed of an impetuosity which continually urged him
towards some indefinite object, a cra\ang for something more
free in politics, more elevated in character, more ardent in love,
and more perfect in friendship ; of desires for a better state of
things, which drove him from one extremity of Euroj)e to an-
other, but without discovering it in the realities of this every-
day world. Finally, he turned to the contem])lation of a new
universe in his own poetical creations, and calmed his agitations
by the production of those master-])ieces which have secured his
immortality. His aim in life, in the pursuit of which he never
deviated, was that of founding a new and classic school of trag-
edy. He proposed to himself the severe simplicity of the Greeks
with respect to the plot, while he rejected the pomp of ])()etry
which compensates for interest among the classic writers of an-
tiquity. Energy and conciseness are the distinguishing features
of his style ; and this, in his earlier dramas, is carried to the
extreme. He brings the whole action into one focus ; the pas-
sion he would exhibit is introduced into the first verse and kept
in view to the last. No event, no character, no conversation
unconnected with the advancement of the j)lot is pei-mitted to
appear ; all confidants and secondary personages are, therefore,
excluded, and there seldom appear more than four interlocutoi's.
These tragedies breathe the spirit of patriotism and freedom,
and for this, even independently of their intrinsic merit, Alfieri
is considered as the reviver of the national character in modern
times, as Dante was in the fourteenth century. " Saul " is re-
garded as his masterpiece; it represents a noble character suf-
fering under those weaknesses which sometimes accompany
great virtues, and are governed by the fatality, not of destiny,
but of human nature.

Among the earliest and most distinguished of those who fol-
lowed in the path of Alfieri was Monti (1754-1828). Though
endowed with a sublime imagination and exquisite taste, liis
character was weak and vain, and he, in turn, celebrated every
pai'ty as it became the successful one. Educated in the school
of Dante, he introduced into Italian poetry those bold and se-

232 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

vere beauties which adorned its infancy. His " Aristodemus **
is one of the most affecting tragedies in Italian literature. The
story is founded on the narrative of Pausanias. It is simple in
its construction, and its interest is confined almost entirely to
the principal personage. In the loftiness of the characters of
his tragedies, and the energy of sentiment and simplicity of
action which characterize them, we recognize the school of Alfi-
eri, while in harmony and elegance of style and poetical lan-
guage, Monti is superior.

Another follower of the school of Alfieri is Ugo Foscolo
(1778-1827), one of the greatest writers of this age, in whom
inspiration was derived from a lofty patriotism. At the time
of the French revolution he joined the Italian army, with
the object of restoring independence to his country. Disap-
pointed in this hope, he left Italy for England, where he dis-
tinguished himself by his writings. The best of his tragedies,
" Ricciarda," is founded on events supposed to have occurred in
the Middle Ages. While some of its scenes and situations are
forced and unnatural, some of the acts are wrought with con-
summate skill and effect, and the conception of the characters
is tragic and original. Foscolo adopts in his tragedies a concise
and pregnant style, and displays great mastery over his native
language. Marenco (d. 1846) is distinguished for the noble
and moral ideas, lofty images, and affections of his tragedies ;
but he lacks unity of design and vigor of style. Silvio PeUico
(1789-1854) was born in Piedmont. As a writer he is best
known as the author of " My Prisons," a narrative full of sim-
plicity and resignation, in which he relates his sufferings during
ten years in the fortress of Spielberg. His tragedies are good
specimens of modern art ; they abound in fine thoughts and
tender affections, but they lack that liveliness of dialogue and
rapidity of action which give reality to the situations, and that
knowledge of the human heart and unity and grandeur of con-
ception which are the characteristics of true genius.

Manzoni (1785-1873) and Nicolini (1782-1861) are the last
of the modern representatives of the tragic drama of Italy.
The tragedies of Manzoni, and especially liis " Conte di Carmag-
nola," and " Adelchi," abound in exquisite beauties. His style is
simple and noble, his verse easy and harmonious, and his object
elevated. The merits of these tragedies, however, belong rather
to parts, and while the reading of them is always interesting, on
the stage they fail to awaken the interest of the audience. After
Manzoni, Nicolini was the most popular literary man of Italy of
his time. Lofty ideas, generous passions, splendor and harmony
»f poetry, purity of language, variety of characters, and warmtb
>f patriotism, constitute the merit of his tragedies ; while hij

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 233

faults consist in a style somewhat too exuberant and IjTical, ia
ideas sometimes too vague, and characters often too ideal.

5. Lyric, Epic, and Didactic Poetuy. — In the latter part
of the eighteenth century, a class of poets who called themselves
" The Arcadians " attempted to overthrow the artificial and
bombastic school of Marini ; but their frivolous and insipid
productions had little effect on the Uterature. The first poets
who gave a new impulse to letters were Parini and Monti.
Parini (1729-1799) was a man of great genius, integrity,
and taste ; he contributed more than any other writer of his
age to the progress of literature and the arts. His lyrical
poems abound in noble thoughts, and breathe a pure patriotism
and high morality. His style is forcible, chaste, and harmoni-
ous. The poems of Monti have much of the fire and elevation
of Pindar. Whatever object employs his thoughts, his eyes
immediately behold ; and, as it stands before him, a flexible and
harmonious language is ever at his command to paint it in the
brightest colors. His " Basvilliana " is the most celebrated of
his lyric poems, and, beyond every other, is remarkable for
majesty, nobleness of expression, and richness of coloring.

The poetical writings of Pindemonte (1753-1828) are stamped
with the melancholy of his character. Their subjects are taken
from contemporary events, and his inspiration is drawn from
nature and rural life. His " Sepulchres " breathes the sweetest
and most pathetic tenderness, and the brightest hopes of im-
mortality. The j)oems of Foscolo have the grace and elegance
of the Greek poets ; but in his " Sepulchres " the gloom of his
melancholy imagination throws a funereal light over the noth-
ingness of all things, and the silence of death is unbroken by
any voice of hope in a future life. Torti (1774-1852), a pupil
of Parini, rivaled his master in the simplicity of style and pu-
rity of his images ; while Leopardi (1798—1837) impressed
upon his lyric poems the peculiarities of his own character. A
sublime poet and a profound scholar, his muse was inspired by
a deep sorrow, and his poems pour out a melancholy that is ter-
rible and grand, the most agonizing cry in modern literature
Ottered with a solemn quietness that elevates and terrifies. The
poetry of despair has never had a more powerful voice than
his. He is not only the first poet since Dante, but perhaps the
most perfect prose writer. Berchet (1790-1851) is considered
as the Italian Beranger, and his songs glow with patriotic fire.
Those of Silvio Pellico, always sweet and truthful, bear the
stamp of a calm resignation, hope, and piety. The list of mod-
ern lyric poets closes with Manzoni, whose hjanns ai-e models of
this style of poetry.

In the epic department the third period does not afford any

234 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

poems of a high order. But the translation of the Iliad by Monti,
that of the Odyssey by Pindemonte, for their purity of language
and beauty of style, may be considered as epic additions to Ital-
ian literature. "The Longobards of the First Crusade," written
by Grossi (1791-1853), excels in beauty and splendor of poetry
all the epic poems of this age, though it lacks unity of design
and comprehensiveness of thought.

Among the didactic poems may be mentioned the " Invitation
of Lesbia," by Mascheroni (1750-1800), a distinguished poet
as well as a celebrated mathematician. This poem, which de-
scribes the beautiful productions of nature in the Museum of
Pavia, is considered a masterpiece of didactic poetry. The
" Riseide," or cultivation of rice, by Spolverini (1695-1762),
and the " Silkworm," by Betti (1732-1788), are characterized
by poetical beauties. The poem on the " Immortality of the
Soul," by Fiorentino (1742-1815), though defective in style, is
distinguished by its elevation of ideas and sentiments. " The
Cultivation of Mountains," by Lorenzi (1732-1822), is rich in
beautiful images and thoughts. " The Cidtivation of Olive
Trees," by Arici (1782-1836), his " Corals," and other poems,
especially in their descriptions, are graceful and attractive.
" The Seasons " of Barbieri (1774-1852), though bearing marks
of imitation from Pope, is written in a pure and elegant style.

6. Heroic-Comic Poetry, Satire, and Fable. — The
period of heroic-comic poetry closes in the eighteenth century.
The " Ricciardetto " of Fortiguerri (1674-1735) is the last of
the poems of chivalry, and with it terminated the long series of
romances founded on the adventures of Charlemagne and his
paladins. The "Cicero "of Passeroni (1713-1803) is a ram-
bling composition in a style similar to Sterne's " Tristram
Shandy," which, it appears, was suggested by this work.

Satiric poetry, which had flourished in the preceding period,
was enriched by new productions in the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries. G. Gozzi (1713-1789) attacked in his satires
the vices and prejudices of his fellow-citizens, in a forcible and
elegant style ; and Parini, the great satirist of the eighteenth
century, founded a school of satire, which proved most beneficial
to the country. His poem, " The Day," is distinguished by fine
irony and by the severity with which he attacks the effeminate
liabits of his age. He lashes the affectations and vices of the
Milanese aristocracy with a sarcasm worthy of Juvenal. The
satires of D'Elci, Guadagnoli, and others are characterized by
wit and beauty of versification. Those of Leopardi are bitter
and contemptuous, while Giusti (1809-1850), the political sat-
irist of his age, scourged the petty tyrants of his country with
biting severity and pungent wit; the circulation of his satirej

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 235

throughout Italy, in defiance of its despotic governments,
greatly contributed to the revolution of 1848.

In the department of fable may be mentioned Roberti (1719-
178G), Passeroni, Fignotti (1739-1812), and Clasio (1754-
1825), distinguished for invention, purity, and simplicity of style.

7. Romances. — Though the tales of Boccaccio and the story-
tellers of the sixteenth century paved the way to the romances
of the present time, it was only at a late period that the Italians
gave their attention to this kind of composition. In the eiglitr
eenth century we find only two specimens of romance, "The
Congress of Citera," by Algarotti, of which Voltaire said that it
was written with a feather drawn from the wings of love ; and
the " Roman Nights," by Alexander Verri (1741-1816). In
his romance he introduces the shades of celebrated Romans, par-
ticularly of Cicero, and an ingenious comparison of ancient and
modern institutions is made. The style is picturesque and poeu^
ical, though somewhat florid.

This kind of composition has found more favor in the nine-
teenth century. First among the writers of this age is Manzoni,
whose " Betrothed " is a model of romantic literature. The va-
riety, originality, and truthfulness of the characters, the perfect
knowledge of the human heart it displays, the simplicity and vi-
vacity of its style, form the })rincipal merits of this work. The
" Marco Visconti" of Grossi is distinguished for its pathos and
for the purity and elegance of its style.

The " Ettore Fieramosca " of Massimo d'Azeglio is distin-
guished from the works already spoken of by its martial and
national spirit. His " Nicol6 de Lapi," though full of beauties,
partakes in some degree of the faults common to the French
school. After these, the " Margherita Pusterla '' of Cantii, the
" Luisa Strozzi" of Rosini, the " Lamberto Malatesta" of Ro-
vani, the " Ansfiola Maria " of Carcano, are the best historical
romances of Italian Hterature. Both in an artistic and moral
point of view, they far excel those of Guerrazzi. which represent
the French sdiool of George Sand in Italy, and whose " Battle
of Benevento," " Isabella Orsini," " Siege of Florence," and
" Beatrice Cenci," while they are written in pure language and
abound in minor beauties, are exaggerated in their characters,
bombastic and declamatory in style, and overloaded in descrip-
tion.

The " Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis," by Foscolo, belongs to
that kind of romance which is called sentimental. Overcome by
the calamities of his country, with his soul full of fiery passion
and sad disappointment, Foscolo wrote this romance, the protest
of his heart against evils wliii-h he could not heal.

8. History. — Among the most prominent of the numerous

236 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

historians of this period, a few only can be named. Muratori
(1672-1750), for liis vast erudition and profound criticism, has
no rivals. He made the most accurate and extensive researches
and discoveries relating to the history of Italy from the fifth to
the sixteenth century, which he published in twenty-seven folio
volumes ; the most valuable collection of historical documents
which ever appeared in Italy. He wrote, also, a work on " Ital-
ian Antiquities," illustrating the history of the Middle Ages
through ancient monuments, and the " Annals of Italy," a his-
tory of the country from the beginning of the Christian eia to
his own age. Though its style is somewhat defective, the rich-
ness and abundance of its erudition, its clearness, and arrange-
ment, impart to this work great value and interest.

Maffei, already spoken of as the first reformer of Italian trag-
edy, surpassed Muratori in the purity of his style, and was only
second to him in the extent and variety of his erudition. He
wrote several works on the antiquities and monuments of Italy.

Bianchini (1662-1729), a celebrated architect and scholar,
wrote a "Universal History," which, though not complete, is
characterized as a work of great genius. It is founded exclu-
sively on the interpretations of ancient monuments in marble
and metal.

Vico (1670-1744), the founder of the philosophy of history,
embraced with his comprehensive mind the history of all nations,
and from the darkness of centuries he created the science of hu-
manity, which he called " Scienza Nuova." Vico does not pro-
pose to illustrate any special historical epoch, but follows the
general movement of mankind in the most remote and obscure
times, and establishes the rules which must guide us in interpret-
ing ancient historians. By gathering from different epochs, re-
mote from each other, the songs, symbols, monuments, laws, ety-
mologies, and religious and philosophical doctrines, — in a word,
the infinite elements which form the life of mankind, — he estab-
lishes the unity of human history. The " Scienza Nuova " is
one of the great monuments of human genius, and it has inspired
many works on the philosophy of history, especially among the
Germans, such as those of Hegel, Niebuhr, and others.

Giannone (1676-1748) is the author of a " Civil History of
the Kingdom of Naples," a work full of juridical science as well
as of historical interest. Having attacked with much violence
the encroachments of the Church of Rome on the rights of the
state, he became the victim of a persecution which ended in his
death in the fortress of Turin. Giannone, in his history, gave
the first example in modern times of that intrepidity and coui^
age which belong to the true historian.

Botta (1766-1837) is among the first historians of the present

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 237

age. He was a physician and a scholar, and devoted to the
freedom of his country. He filled important political offices in
Piedmont, under tlie administration of the French government.
In 1809 he published, in Paris, his " History of the American
Revolution," a work held in high estimation both in this country
and in Italy. In the political changes which followed the fall
of Napoleon, Botta suffered many pecuniary trials, and was
even obliged to sell, by weight, to a druggist, the entire edition
of his history, in order to pay for medicines for his sick wife.
Meanwhile, he wrote a history of Italy, from 1789 to 1814,
which was received with great enthusiasm through Italy, and
for which the Academy della Crusca, in 1830, gi-anted to him a
pecuniary reward. This was followed by the " History of Italy,"
in continuation of Guicciardini, from the fall of the Florentine
Republic to 1789, a gigantic work, with which he closed his his-
torical career. The histories of Botta are distinguished by clear-
ness of narrative, vividness and beauty of description, by the
prominence he gives to the moral aspect of events and charac-
ters, and by purity, richness, and variety of style.

CoUetta (1775-1831) was born in Naples ; under the govern-
ment of Murat he rose to the rank of general, and fell with his
patron. His " History of the Kingdom of Naples," from 1734
to 1825, is modeled after the annals of Tacitus. The style is
simple, clear, and concise, the subject is treated without digres-
sions or episodes ; it is conceived in a partial spirit, and is a eu-
lofium of the administration of Joachim ; but no writer can rival
CoUetta in his descriptions of strategic movements, of sieges and

battles.

Balbo (1789-1853) was born in Turin ; during the adminis-
tration of Napoleon he filled many important poUtical offices,
and afterwards entered upon a military career. Devoted to the
freedom of his country, he strove to promote the progress of
Italian independence. In 1847 he published the "Hopes of
Italy," the first political work that had appeared in the peninsula
since the restoration of 1814 ; it was the sjjark which kindled
the movements of 1848. In the events of that and of the suc-
ceeding year, he ranked among the most prominent leaders of
the national party. His historical works are a " Life of Dante,"
considered the best on the subject ; " Historical Contemplations,"
in which he developed the history of mankind from a ])hilosoph-
ical point of view ; and " The Compendium of the History of
Italy," which embraces in a synthetic form all the history of the
country from the earliest times to 1814. His style is pure, clear,
and sometimes eloquent, though often concise and abrupt.

Cantu, a living historian, has written a universal history, in
K-hich he attempts tiie philosophical style. Though vivid in his

238 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

narratives, descriptions, and details, he is often incorrect in liig
statements, and rash in his judgments ; his work, though profess-
ino- liberal views, is essentially conservative in its tendency. The
same faults may be discovered in his more recent " History of
the Italians."

Tiraboschi (1731-1794) is the great historian of Italian liter=
ature ; his work is biographical and critical, and is the most ex-
tensive literary history of Italy. His style is simple and elegant,
and his criticism profound ; but he gives greater prominence to
the biographies of ^v^iters than to the consideration of their
works. This history was continued by Corniani (1742-1813),
and afterwards by Ugoni (1784-1855).

9. Esthetics, Criticism, Philology, axd Philosophy, —
Italian literature is comparatively deficient in aesthetics, the sci-
ence of the beautiful. The treatise of Gioberti on the " Beauti-
ful," the last work which has appeared on this subject, is distin- M
guished for its profound doctrines and brilliant style. Philology ^B
and criticism first began to flourish at the close of the seventeenth ^|
century, and are well represented at the present time. The re-
vival of letters was greatly promoted by the criticism of Gravina
(1664-1718), one of the most celebrated jurisconsults and schol-
ars of his age, who, through his work, " The Poetical Reason,"
greatly contributed to the reform of taste. Zeno, Maffei, and
Muratori also distinguished themselves in the art of criticism,
and by their works aided in overthrowing the school of Marini.
At a later date, Gaspar Gozzi, through his " Observer," a peri-
odical publication modeled after the " Spectator " of Addison,
undertook to correct the literary taste of the country ; for its in-
vention, pungent wit, and satire, and the purity and correctness
of its style, it is considered one of the best compositions of this
kind. Baretti (1716-1789) pro})agated in England the taste for
Italian literature, and at the same time published his " Literary
Scourge," a criticism of the ancient and modern writers of Italy-
His style, though always pure, is often caustic. He wrote sev-
eral books in the English language, one of which is in defense
of Shakspeare against Voltaire. Cesarotti (1730-1808), though
eminent as a critic, introduced into the Italian language some
innovations, which contributed to its corruption ; while the nice
judgment, good taste, and pure style of Parini place him at the
head of this department. In the latter part of this period we
find, in the criticisms of Monti, vigorous logic and a splendid
and attra('tive style. Foscolo is distinguished for his acumen
and pungent wit. The works of Perticari (1779-1822) are
written with extreme polish, erudition, judgment, and dignity.
In Leopardi, philosoj)hical acumen equals the elegance of his
style. Giordani (d. 1848), as a critic and an epigraphist, de«

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 239

serves notice for his fine judgment and ])ure taste, as do Toni-
maseo and Cattaneo, who are both epigi'anmiatic, witty, and
pungent.

The golden age of philology dates from the time of Lorenzo
de' Medici to the seventeenth century. It then declined until the
eighteenth, but revived in the works of INIaffei, Muratori. Zeno,
and others. In the same century this study was greatly pro-
moted by Foscolo, Monti, and Cesari (1760—1828), who, among
other philological works, published a new edition of the Diction-
ary della Crusca, revised and augmented. Of the modern writ-
ers on ])hilok)g)% Gherardini, Tommaseo, and Ascoli are the most
j)r()niiiient.

The revival of philosophy in Italy dates from the age of Gal-
ileo, when the authority of the Perij)atetics was overthrown, and
a new method introduced into scientific researches. From that
time to the ])resent, this science has been represented by opposite
schools, the one characterized by sensualism and the other by
rationalism. The experimental method of Galileo paved the
way to the first, which holds that experience is the only source
of knowledge, a doctrine which gained ground in the seventeenth
century, became universally accepted in the eighteenth, through
the influence of Locke and Condillac, and continued to prevail
during the first part of the nineteenth. Gioja (17G7-1829), and
Romagnosi (1761-1835) are the greatest representatives of this
system, in the last part of this period. But wliile the former
developed sensualism in philosophy and economy, the latter ap-
plied it to political science and jurisprudence. The numerous
■works of Gioja are distinguished for their practical value and
clearness of style, though they lack eloquence and purity ; those
of Romagnosi are more abstract, and couched in obscure and
often incorrect language, but they are monuments of vast erudi-
tion, acute and profound judgment, and powerful dialectics.

Galluppi (1773-1846), though unable to extricate himself en-
tirely from the sensualistic school, attempted the reform of ])hi-
loso])hy, which resulted in a movement in Italy similar to that
pro(luced by Reid and Dugald Stewart in Scotland.

While sensualism was gaining ground in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, rationalism, having its roots in the Platonic
system which had prevailed in the fifteenth and sixteenth, was
remodeled under the influence of Descartes, Leibnitz, and Wolf,
and opposed to the invading tendencies of its antagonist. From
causes to be found in the spirit of the age and the political con-
dition of the country, this system was unable to take the place
to which it was entitled, though it succeeded in purifying sensu-
alism from its more dangerous consequences, and infusing into
it some of its own elements. But the overthrow of that system

240 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

was completed only by the works of Rosminl and Globerti. Ros-
mini (1795-1855) gave a new impulse to metaphysical re-
searches, and created a new era in the history of Italian philoso-
phy. His numerous works embrace all philosophical knowledge
in its unity and universaUty, founded on a new basis, and devel-
oped with deep, broad, and original views. His philosophy, both
inductive and deductive, rests on experimental method, reaches
the highest problems of ideology and ontology, and infuses new
life into aU depai'tments of science. This philosophical progress
was greatly aided by Gioberti (1801-1851), whose Ufe, however,
was more particularly devoted to political pursuits. His work
on "The Regeneration of Italy" contains his latest and soundest
views on Italian nationality. Another distinguished philosoph-
ical and political writer is Mamiani, whose work on " The Rights
of Nations " deserves the attention of all students of history and
political science. As a statesman, he belongs to the National
party, of which Count Cavour (1810-1861), himself an eminent
writer on political economy, was the great representative, and to
whose commanding influence is to be attributed the rapid prog-
ress which the Italian nation was making towards unity and
independence at the time of his death.

SINCE 1860.

During the last twenty-five years the rapid progress of polit-
ical events in Italy seems to have absorbed the energies of the
people, who have made little advance in literature. For the
first time since the fall of the Roman empire the country has
become a united kingdom, and in the national adjustment to the
new conditions, and in the material and industrial development
which has followed, the new literature has not yet, to any great
extent, found voice. Yet this period of national formation and
consolidation, however, has not been without its poets, among
whom a few may be here named. Aleardo Aleardi (d. 1882) is
one of the finest poetical geniuses that Italy has produced within
the last century, but his writings show the ill effects of a poet
sacrificing his art to a political cause, and when the patriot has
ceased to declaim the poet ceases to sing. Prati (1815-1884),
on the other hand, in his writings exemplifies the evil of a poet
refusing to take part in the grand movement of his nation. He
severs himself from all present interests and finds his subjects
in sources which have no interest for his contemporaries. He
has great metrical facility and his lyrics are highly praised.
Carducci, like Aleardi, is a poet who has written on political
subjects ; he belongs to the class of closet democrats. His poems
display a remarkable talent for the picturesque, forcible, and

ITALIAN LITERATURE. 241

epigrammatic. In lyrical spirit and force he has been without
rival during forty years. In the larger forms of the epic and
the drama he has shown little power. In the end it must be
said of him that he has fitly represented his age and nation.
His greatest service to Italian poetry lias consisted in his rever-
sion to classical models of form, and the consistent purity and
restraint which have accrued to his style. Altogether his great-
est contemporary poet, though of a younger generation and a
very different manner, is Gabriele d' Annunzio, — a sensuous
poet of the highest promise who has failed to develop, with whom
only satiety could take the })lace of youthfid voluptuousness.
D' Annunzio has now nearly abandoned poetry for fiction. Here
as in his verse his power continues to be descriptive rather than
creative. His tendency for symbolism has gone hand in hand
with the grosser methods of realism. Whatever moral is to be
drawn from his recent romances is in danger of vitiation from
the sense of spiritual exhaustion which marks the product of
decadence.

In the meantime the novel has had a more wholesome if less
commanding development in the hands of Fogazzaro, Farini,
Matilda Serao, and Verga, the chronicler of Sicilian life. The
drama has owed its vitality mainly to Cavallotti, writer of
tragedies, though other playwrights, such as Cossa, Ferrari,
and Giocosa have attained some success.

DiUgence and good sense, but not literary form, have marked
modern Italian scholarship. Among historians are Capponi, De
Sanctis, and Nitti ; among biographers, Villari and Berti ;
among archaeologists, Lanciani and Rossi ; and in psychology,
the indefatigable Lombroso.

FRENCH LITERATURE.

iNTRODCcnoN. — 1. French Literature and its Divisions. — 2. The Language.

Period FiKsT. — 1. The Troubadours. — 2. The Trouveres. — 3. French Literature a(
the Filteeutij Century. — 4. The Mysteries and Moralities : Charles of Orleans, Villon,
Ville-Hardouin, Joinville, Froissart, Philippe de Commines.

Period Second. — 1 . The lleuaissance and the Reformation : Marguerite de Valoifl,
Marot, Rabelais, Calvin, Montaigne, Charron, and otliers. — 2. Light Literature: Rou-
fiard, Jodelle, Hardy, Mallierbe, Scarron, Madame de Rambouillet, and others. — 3. The
French Academy. — 4. The Drama : CorneiUe. —5. Philosophy : Descartes, Pascal ; Port
Koyal. — 0. Tlie Rise of the (iolden Age of French Literature : Louis XIV. — 7. Tragedy :
Racine. —8. Comedy : Moliere. —9. Fables, Satires, Mock-Heroic, and other Poetry : La
Fontaine, Boileau. — It). Eloquence of the Pulpit and of the Bar : Bourdaloue, Bossuet,
Massillou, Flechier, Le Maitre, D'Aguesseau, and others — 11. Moral Philosophy : Roche-
foucault. La Bruycre, Nicole.— 12. History and Memoirs : Mtzeray, Fleury, RoUin, Bran-
tome, the Duke of Sully, Cardinal de Retz.— 13. Romance and Letter Writing : Fenelou,
Madame de Sevigne.

Period Third. — 1. The Dawn of Skepticism : Bayle, J. B. Rousseau, Fontenelle, La-
motte. — 2. Progres of Skepticism; Montesquieu, Voltaire. — 3. French Literature dur-
ing the Revolution : D'Holbach, D'Alembert, Diderot, J. .T. Rousseau, Butfon, Beau-
niarchais, St. Pierre, and others. —4. French Literature under the Empire : Madame de
Stael, Cliiteaubriand, Royer-Collard, BonaM, De Maistre. — 5. French Literature from
the Age of tlie Restoration to the Present Time. History : Thierry, Sismondi, Thiers,
Mignet, Martin, Michelet, and others. Poetry and the Drama ; Rise of the Romantic
School: Ber.auger, L.imartiue, Victor Hugo, and others; Les Paruassiens. Fiction:
Hugo, Gaiitier, Ditmns, Meriiii(5e, Balzac, Sand, Sandeiiu, and others. Criticism : Saint*.
Beuve, Taine, and others. Miscellaneous. The later novelists, dramatists, and critic*.

INTRODUCTION.

1. French Literature AND its Divisions. — Towards the
middle of the fifth century the Franks commenced their in-
vasions of Gaul, which ended in the conquest of the country, and
the establishment of the French monarchy under Clovis. The
period from Clovis to Charlemagne (487-768) is the most ob-
scure of the Dark Ages. The principal writers, whose names
have been preserved, are St. Remy, the archbishop of Rheims
(d. 535), distinguished for his eloquence, and Gregory of Tours
(d. 595), whose contemporary history is valuable for the good
faith in which it is written, in spite of the ignorance and credul-
ity which it displays. The genius of Charlemagne (r. 768-814)
gave a new impulse to learning. By his liberality he attracted
the most distinguished scholars to his court, .among others Al.
cuin, from England, whom he chose for his instructor ; he estab-
lished schools of theology and science, and appointed the most
learned professors to preside over them. But in the century
succeeding his death the country relapsed into barbarism.

In the south of France, Provence early became an independ-
ent kingdom, and consolidating its language, laws, and manners,
at the close of the eleventh century it gave birth to the literature
of the Troubadours : while in the north, the language and litera«

FRENCH LITERATURE. 243

ture of the Trouveres, which were the germs of the national
literature of Franco, were not developed until a century later.

In the schools established by Charlenia<,'ne for the education
of the clerfjy, the scholastic philosoj)hy originated, which pre-
vailed throughout P^urope in the Midille Ages. The most dis-
tinguished schoolmen or scholastics in France during this period
are liuscellinus (fl. 1092), the originator of the controversy be-
tween the Nominalists and Realists, which occupied so promi-
nent a })lace in the philosophy of the time ; Abelard (1079-
1142), equally celebrated for his learning, and for his unfor-
tunate love for Hokoise ; St. Bernard (1091-1153), one of the
most influential ecclesiastics of the Middle Ages ; and Thomas
Aquinas (1227-1274) and Bonaventure (1221-1274). Italians
who taught theology and j)hiloso])hy at Pai'is, and who power-
fully influenced the intellect of the age.

Beginning with the Middle Ages, the literarj'^ history of France
may be divided into three periods. The first period extends
from 1000 to 1500, and includes the Uterature of the Trouba-
dours, the Trouveres, and of the fifteenth centur}'.

The second jieriod extends from 1500 to 1700, and includes
the revival of the study of classical literature, or the Renais-
sance, and the golden age of French literature under Louis XIV.

The third period, extending from 1700 to 1885, comprises
the age of skepticism introduced into French literature by Vol-
taire, the Encyclojjsedists and others, the Revolutionary era, the
literature of the Empire and of the Restoration, of the Second
Empire, and of the present time.

2. The Language. — After the conquest of Gaul by Julius
Caesar, Latin became the predominant language of the country ;
but on the overthrow of the Western Enq)ire it was corrupted
by the intermixture of elements derived from the northern in-
vaders of the country, and from the general ignorance and bar-
barism of tlie times. At length a distinction was drawn between
the language of the Gauls who called themselves Romans, and
that of the Latin writers ; and the Romance language arose from
the former, while the Latin was perpetuated by the latter. At
the commencement of the second race of monarchs, German was
the language of Charlemagne and his court, Latin was tlie writ-
ten langiiage, and the Romance, still in a state of barbarism, was
the dialect of the people. The subjects of Charlemagne were
composed of two different races, the Germans, inhabiting along
and beyond the Rhine, and the AVallons, who called themselves
Romans. The name of Welsrh or Wallons, given them by the
Germans, was the same as Galli, which they had received from
the Latins, and as Keltd'i or Celts, wliich they themselves ac-
knowledged. The language which they spoke was called after

244 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

them the Romance-Walloii, or rustic Romance, which was at
first very much the same throughout France, except that as it
extended southward the Latin prevailed, and in the north the
German was more perceptible. These differences increased, and
the languages rapidly grew more dissimilar. The people of the
south called themselves Romans-provenqeaux, while the northern
tribes added to the name of Romans, which they had assumed,
that of Wallons, which they had received from the neighboring
people. The Provencal was called the Langue d'oc, and the
Wallon the Langue cVoui, from the affirmative word in each
language, as the ItaUan was then called the Langue de si, and
the German the Langue de ya.

The invasion of the Normans, in the tenth century, supplied
new elements to the Romance Wallon. They adopted it as
their language, and stamped upon it the impress of their own
genius. It thus became Norman- French. In 1066, WiUiam
the Conqueror introduced it into England, and enforced its use
among his new subjects by rigorous laws ; thus the popular
French became there the language of the court and of the edu-
cated classes, while it was still the vulgar dialect in France.

From the beginning of the twelfth century, the two dialects
were known as the Provencal and the French. The former,
though much changed, is still the dialect of the common people
in Provence, Ijanguedoc, Catalonia, Valencia, Majorca, and
Minorca. In the thirteenth century, the northern French dialect
gained the ascendency, chiefly in consequence of Paris becom-
ing the centre of refinement and literature for all France. The
Langue d'oui was, from its origin, deficient in that rhythm which
exists in the Italian and Spanish languages. It was formed
rather by an abbreviation than by a harmonious transformation
of the Latin, and the metrical character of the language was
gradually lost. The French became thus more accustomed to
rhetorical measure than to poetical forms, and the language led
them rather to eloquence than poetry. Francis I. established a
professorship of the French language at Paris, and banished
Latin from the public documents and courts of justice. The
Academy, established by Cardinal Richelieu (1635), put an end
to the arbitrary power of usage, and fixed the standard of pure
French, though at the same time it restricted the power of
genius over the language. Nothing was approved by the Acad-
emy unless it was received at court, and nothing was tolerated
by the pubUc that had not been sanctioned by the Academy.
The language now acquired the most admirable precision, and
thus recommended itself not only as the language of science and
diplomacy, but of society, capable of conveying tlie most dis-
criminating observations on character and manners^ and the mosi

FRENCH LITERATURE. 245

delicate expressions of civility which involve no obligation.
Hence its adoption as the court language in so many European
countries. Among the dictionaries of the French language, that
of the Academy holds the first rank.

PERIOD FIRST.

Provencal and French Literatures in the Middle Ages

(1000-1500).

1. The Troubadours. — When, in the tenth century, the
nations of the south of Europe attempted to give consistency to
the rude dialects wliich had been produced by the mixture of
tlie Latin with the northern tongues, the Proven9al, or Lanrjue
d'oc, was the first to come to perfection. The study of tliis lan-
guage became the favorite recreation of the higher classes dur-
ing the tenth and eleventh centuries, and poetry the elegant
occupation of those whose time was not spent in the ruder pas-
times of the field. Thousands of poets, who were called trou-
badours (from trobar, to find or invent), flourished in this new
language almost contemporaneously, and spread their reputation
from the extremity of Spain to that of Italy. All at once, how-
ever, this ephemeral reputation vanished. The voice of the trou-
badours was silent, the Provencal was abandoned and sank into
a mere dialect, and after a brilliant existence of three centuries
(950-1250), its productions were ranked among those of the
dead languages. The high reputation of the Provencal poets,
and the ra})id decline of their language, are two phenomena
equally striking in the history of human culture. Tliis literature,
which gave models to other nations, yet among its crowds of
agreeable poems did not produce a single masterpiece destined
to immortality, was entirely the offspring of the age, and not of
individuals. It reveals to us the sentiments and imagination of
modern nations in their infancy ; it exhibits what was common
to all and pervatled aU. and not what genius superior to the age
enabled a single individual to accomplish.

Southern France, ha%nng been the inheritance of several of
the successors of Charlemagne, was elevated to the rank of an
independent kingdom in 879, by Bozon, and under lus sover-
eignty, and that of liis successors for 213 years, it enjoyed a
paternal government. The accession of the Count of Barcelona
to the crown, in 1092, introduced into Provence the spirit both
of liberty and chivalry, and a taste for elegance and the arts,
with all the sciences of the Arabians. The union of these noble
sentiments added brilliancy to that poetical spirit which shone
out at once over Provence and all the south of Europe, like an
electric flash in the midst of profound darkness, illuminating all
things with the splendor of its flame.

240 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

At the same time with Provencal poetry, chivalry had its rise }
it was, in a manner, the soul of the new literature, and gave to
it a character different from anything in antiquity. Love, in
this age, while it was not more tender and passionate than
among the Greeks and Romans, was more respectful, and
women were regarded with something of that religious venera-
tion which the Germans evinced towards their prophetesses. To
this was added that passionate ardor of feeling peculiar to the
people of the South, the expression of which was borrowed from
the Arabians. But although among individuals love preserved
tliis pure and religious character, the license engendered by the
feudal system, and the disorders of the time, produced a univer-
sal corruption of manners which found expression in the litera-
ture of the age. Neither the sirventes nor the chanzos of the
troubadours, nor the fabliaux of the trouveres, nor the romances
of chivalry, can be read without a blush. On every page the
grossness of the language is only equaled by the shameful de-
pravity of the characters and the immorality of the incidents.
In the south of France, more particularly, an extreme laxity of
manners prevailed among the nobility. Gallantry seems to
have been the sole object of existence. Ladies were proud of
the celebrity conferred upon their charms by the songs of the
troubadours, and they themselves often professed the " Gay Sci-
ence," as poetry was called. They instituted the Courts of Love
where questions of gallantry were gravely discussed and decided
by their suffrages ; and they gave, in short, to the whole south
of France the character of a carnival. No sooner had the Gay
Science been established in Provence, than it became the fash-
ion in surrounding countries. The sovereigns of Europe adopted
the Provencal language, and enlisted themselves among the
poets, and there was soon neither baron nor knight who did not
feel himself bound to add to his fame as a warrior the reputa-
tion of a gentle troubadour. Monarchs were now the professors
of the art, and the only patrons were the ladies. Women, no
longer beautiful ciphers, acquired complete liberty of action, and
the homage paid to them amounted almost to worship.

At the festivals of the haughty barons, the lady of the castle,
attended by youthful beauties, distributed crowns to the con-
querors in the jousts and tournaments. She then, in turn, sur-
rounded by her ladies, opened her Court of Love, and the candi-
dates for poetical honors entered with their har})S and contended
for the prize in extemjwre verses called tensons. The Court of
Love then entered upon a grave discussion of the merits of the
question, and a judgment or arret (V amour was given, frequently
in verse, by which the dis])ute was supposed to be decided. These
courts often formally justified the abandonment of moral duty,

FRENCH LITERATURE. 247

and assuming the forms and exercising the power of ordinary-
tribunals, they defined and prescribed the duties of the sexes,
and taught the arts of love and song according to the most de-
praved moral principles, mingled, however, with an affected
display of refined sentimentality. Whatever may have been
their utility in the advancement of the language and the cultiva-
tion of literary taste, these institutions extended a legal sanction
to vice, and inculcated maxims of shameful profligacy.

The songs of the Proven9als were divided into chanzos and
siri'entes ; the object of the former was love, and of the latter
war, politics, or satire. The name of tensan was given to those
poetical contests in verse which took place in the Courts of Love,
or before illustrious princes. The songs were sung from chjUeau
to chateau, either by the troubadours themselves, or by the^'ori-
gleur or instrument player by whom they were attended ; they
often abounded in extravagant hyperboles, trivial conceits, and
grossness of expression. Ladies, whose attractions were esti-
mated by the number and desperation of their lovers, and the
songs of their troubadours, were not offended if licentiousness
mingled Avith gallantry in the songs composed in their praise.
Authors addressed prayers to the saints for aid in their amorous
intrigues, and men, seemingly rational, resigned themselves to
the wildest transports of passion for individuals whom, in some
cases, they had never seen. Thus, religious enthusiasm, martial
bravery, and licentious love, so grotesquely mingled, formed the
very life of the Middle Ages, and impossible as it is to transfuse
into a translation the harmony of Provencal verse, or to find in
it, when stripped of this harmony, any poetical idea, these re-
mains are valuable since they present us -with a picture of the
life and manners of the times.

The intercourse of the Provencals with the Moors of Spain,
which, as we have seen, was greatly increased by the union of
Catalonia and Provence (1092), introduced into the North an
aocpiaintance with the arts and learning of the Arabians. It was
then that rhyme, the essential characteristic of Arabian poetry,
was adopted by the troubadours into the Provencal language,
and thence communicated to the nations of modern Europe.

The poetry of tlie troubadours borrowed nothing from his-
tory, mythology, or from foreign manners, and no reference to
the sciences or the learning of the schools mingled with their
simple effusions of sentiment. This fact enables us to compre-
hend how it was possible for princes and knights, wlio were
often unable to read, to be yet ranked among the most ingenious
troubadours. Several ])ublic events, however, materially con-
tributed to enlarge the spliere of intellect of the knights of the
Langue d'oc. The first was the conquest of Toledo and New

248 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Castile by Alphonso VI., in which he was seconded by the Cid
Rodriguez, the hero of Spain, and by a number of French Pro-
ven9al knights ; the second was the preaching of the Crusades.
Of all the events recorded in the history of the world, there is,
perhaps, not one of a nature so highly poetical as these holy
wars ; not one which presents a more powerful picture of the
grand effects of enthusiasm, of noble sacrifices of self-interest to
faith, sentiment, and passion, which are essentially poetical.
Many of the troubadours assumed the cross ; others were de*
tained in Europe by the bonds of love, and the conflict between
passion and religious enthusiasm lent its influence to the poems
they composed. The third event was the succession of the kings
of England to the sovereignty of a large part of the countries
where the Langue d'oc prevailed, which influenced the manners
and oj^inions of the troubadours, and introduced them to the
courts of the most powerful monarchs ; while the encouragement
given to them by the kings of the house of Plantagenet had a
great influence on the formation of the English language, and
furnished Chaucer, the father of English literature, with his
first models for imitation.

The troubadours numbered among their ranks the most illus-
trious sovereigns and heroes of the age. Among others, Rich-
ard Coeur de Lion, who, as a poet and knight, united in his own
person all the brilliant qualities of the time. A story is told of
him, that when he was detained a prisoner in Germany, the
place of his imprisonment was discovered by Blondel, his min-
strel, who sang beneath the fortress a tendon which he and
Richard had composed in common, and to which Richard re-
sponded. Bertrand de Born, who was intimately connected
with Richard, and who exercised a powerful influence over the
destinies of the royal family of England, has left a number of
original poems ; Bordello of Mantua was the first to adopt the
ballad form of writing, and many of his love songs are expressed
in a pure and delicate style. Both of these poets are immortal-
ized in the Divine Comedy of Dante. The history of Geoffroy
Rudel illustrates the wlldness of the imagination and manners
of the troubadours. He was a gentleman of Provence, and
hearing the knights who had returned from the Holy Land
speak with enthusiasm of the Countess of Tripoli, who had ex-
tended to them the most generous hospitality, and whose grace
and lieauty equaled her virtues, he fell in love with her without
ever having seen her, and, leaving the Court of England, he
embarked for the Holy Land, to offer to her the homage of his
neart. During the voyage he was attacked by a severe illness,
and lost the power of speech. On his arrival in the harbor,
the countess, being informed that a celebrated poet was dying

FRENCH LITERATURE. 249

of love for her, visited him on sliijjboard, took him kindly by
the hand, and attempted to cheer Ids spirits. Rudel revived
sufficiently to thank the lady for her humanity and to declare
his passion, wlien his voice was silenced by the convulsions of
death. He was buried at Tripoli, and, by the orders of the
countess, a tomb of porphyry was erected to his memory. It
is unnecessary to mention other names among the multitude of
these poets, who all hold nearly the same rank. An extreme
monotony reigns throughout their works, which offer little indi-
viduality of character.

After the thirteenth century, the troubadours were heard no
more, and the efforts of the counts of Provence, the magistrates
of Toulouse, and the kings of Arragon to awaken their genius
by the Courts of Love and the Floral Games were vain. They
themselves attributed their decline to the degradation into
which the jongleurs, with whom at last they were confounded,
had fallen. But their art contained within itself a more imme-
diate princii)l(i of decay in the j)rofound ignorance of its profes-
sors. They had no other models than the songs of the Ara-
bians, which perverted their taste. They made no attempt at
epic or dramatic poetry ; they had no classical allusions, no
mythology, nor even a romantic imagination, and, deprived of
the riches of antiquity, they had few resources within them-
selves. The poetry of Provence was a beautiful flower s])nng-
ing up on a sterile soil, and no cultivation could avail in the
absence of its natural nourishment. From the close of the
twelfth century the language began to decline, and public events
occurred which hastened its downfall, and reduced it to the con-
dition of a provincial dialect.

Among the numerous sects which sprang up in Christendom
during the Middle Ages, there was one which, though bearing
different names at different times, more or less resembled what
is now known as Protestantism ; in the twelfth and tliirteenth
centuries it was called the faith of tlie Albigenses, as it prevailed
most widely in the district of Albi. It easily came to be iden-
tified with the Proven9al language, as this was the chosen vehi-
cle of its religious services. This sect was tolerated and pro-
tected by the Court of Toulouse. It augmented its numbers ;
it devoted itself to conmierce and the art.s, and added nuich to
the prosperity which had long distinguislied the south of France.
The Albigenses had lived long and peaceably side by side with
the Catholics in the cities and villages ; but Innocent III. sent
legates to Provence, who preached, discussed, and threatened,
and met a freedom of thought and resistance to authority which
Rome was not mlling to brook. Bitter controversy was now
Bubstituted for the amiable frivolity of the tcnsons, and tlieolog-

250 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

ical disputes superseded those on points of gallantry. The long
struggle between the poetry of the troubadours and the preach-
ing of the monks came to a crisis ; the severe satires which the
disorderly lives of the clergy called forth became severer still,
and the songs of the troubadours wounded the power and pride
of Rome more deeply than ever, whUe they stimulated the Albi-
genses to a valiant resistance or a glorious death. A crusade
followed, and when the dreadful strife was over, Proven9al po-
etry had received its death-blow. The language of Provence
was destined to share the fate of its poetry ; it became identified
in the minds of the orthodox with heresy and rebellion. When
Charles of Anjou acquired the kingdom of Naples, he drew
thither the Provencal nobility, and thus drained the kingdom of
those who had formerly maintained its chivalrous manners. In
the beginning of the fourteenth century, when the Court of Rome
was removed to Avignon, the retinues of the three successive
popes were Italians, and the Tuscan language entirely super-
seded the Provencal among the higher classes.

2. The Trouveres. — While the Proven9al was thus relaps-
ing into a mere dialect, the north of France was maturing a
new language and literature of an entirely different character.
Normandy, a province of France, was invaded in the tenth cen-
tury by a new northern tribe, who, under the command of Rollo
or Raoul tlie Dane, incorporated themselves with the ancient
inhabitants. The victors adopted the language of the van-
quished, stamped upon it the impress of their own genius, and
gave it a fixed form. It was from Normandy that the first
writers and poets in the French language sprang. While the
Romance Proven9al spoken in the South was sweet, and expres-
sive of effeminate manners, the Romance-Wallon was energetic
and warlike, and represented the severer manners of the Ger-
mans. Its poetry, too, was widely different from the Proven-
cal. It was no longer the idle baron sighing for his lady-love,
but the songs of a nation of hardy warriors, celebrating the
prowess of their ancestors with all the exaggerations that fancy
could supply. The Langice d'oui became the vehicle of litera-
ture only in the twelfth century, — a hundred years subsequent
to the Romance Provencal. The poets and reciters of tales,
giving the name of Troubadour a French termination, called
themselves Trouveres. They originated the brilliant romances
of chivalry, the fabliaux or tales of amusement, and the dra-
matic invention of the Mysteries. The first literary work in
this tongue is the versified romance of a fabulous history of the
early kings of England, beginning with Brutus, the grandson of
iP>neas, who, after passing many enchanted isles, at length es.
tablishes himself in England, where he finds King Arthur, the

FRENCH LITERATURE. 251

fhivalrlc institution of the Round Table, and the enchanter
Merlin, one of the most popular personages of the Middle Ages.
Out of this legend arose some of the boldest creations of the
human fancy. Tlie word "romance," now synonymous with fic-
titious composition, originally meant only a work in the modern
dialect, as distinguished from the scholastic Latin. There is little
doubt that these tales were originally believed to be strictly true.
One of the first romances of chivalry was "■ Tristam de Leo-
nois," written in 1190. This was soon followed by that of the
" San Graal " and " Lancelot ; " and previously to 1213 Ville-
Hardouin had written in the French language a " History of
the Conquest of Constantinople." The poem of '' Alexander,"
however, which appeared about the same time, has enjoyed the
greatest reputation. It is a series of romances and marvelous
liistories, said to be the result of the labors of nine celebrated
poets of the time. Alexander is introduced, surrounded not by
the pomp of antiquity, but by the splendors of cliivalry. The
high renown of this poem has given the name of Alexandrine
verse to the measure in whic^h it is written.

The spirit of chivalry which burst forth in the romances of
the trouveres, the heroism of honor and love, the devotion of
the powerful to the weak, the supernatural fictions, so novel
and so dissimilar to everything in antiquity or in later times, the
force and brilliancy of imagination which they display, have been
variously attributed to the Arabians and the Germans, but they
were undoubtedly the invention of the Normans. Of all the
people of ancient F^urope. they were the most adventurous and
intrepid. They established a dynasty in Russia ; they cut their
way through a perfidious and sanguinary nation to Constanti-
nople ; they landed on the coasts of England and France, and
surprised nations who were ignorant of their existence ; they
conquered Sicily, and established a principality in the heart of
Syria. A people so active, so enterprising, and so intrepid,
found no greater delight in their leisure hours than listening to
tales of adventures, dangers, and battles. The romances of
chivalry are divided into three distinct classes. They relate to
three different epochs in the early part of the Middle Ages, and
repi-esent three bands of fabidous heroes. In the romances of
the first class, the exploits of Arthur, son of Pendragon, the last
British king who defended England against the invasion of the
Anglo-Saxons, are celebrated. In the second we find the Ama-
dises, but whether they belong to French literature has been
reasonably disputed. The scene is placed nearly in the same
countries as in the romances of the Round Table, but there is a
want of locality about them, and the name and the times are
absolutely fabulous. '' Amadis of Gaul," the first of these ro-

252 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

mances, and the model of all the rest, is claimed as the work
of Vasco Lobeira, a Portuguese (1290-1325) ; but no doubt
exists with regard to the continuations and numerous imitations
of this work, which are incontestably of Spanish origin, and
were in their highest repute when Cervantes produced liis inim-
itable " Don Quixote." The third class of chivalric romances,
relating to the court of Charlemagne and his Paladins, is entirely-
French, although their celebrity is chiefly due to the renowned
Italian poet who availed himself of their fictions. The most
ancient monument of the marvelous history of Charlemagne is
the chronicle of Turpin, of uncertain date, and which, though
fabulous, can scarcely be considered as a romance. This and
other similar narratives furnished materials for the romances,
which appeared at the conclusion of the Crusades, when a knowl-
edge of the East had enriched the French imagination with all
the treasui"es of the Arabian. The trouveres were not only the
inventors of the romances of chivalry, but they originated the
allegories, and the dramatic compositions of southern Europe.
Although none of their works have obtained a high reputation
or deserve to be ranked among the masterpieces of human intel-
lect, they are still worthy of attention as monuments of the prog-
ress of mind.

The French possessed, above every other nation of modern
times, an inventive spirit, but they were, at the same time, the
originators of those tedious allegorical j^oems which have been
imitated by all the romantic nations. The most ancient and
celebrated of these is the " Romance of the Rose," though not a
romance in the present sense of the word. At the period of its
composition, the French language was still called the Romance,
and all its more voluminous productions Romances. The " Ro-
mance of the Rose " was the work of two authors, Guillaume
de Lorris, who commenced it in the early part of the thirteenth
century, and Jean de Meun (b. 1280), by whom it was contin-
ued. Although it reached the appalling length of twenty thou-
sand verses, no book was ever more pojjular. It was admired
as a masterpiece of wit, invention, and philosophy ; the highest
mysteries of theology were believed to be concealed in this po-
etical form, and learned commentaries were written upon its
veiled meaning by preachers, who did not scruple to cite pas-
sages from it in the pulpit. But the tedious poem and its num-
berless imitations are nothing but rhymed prose, which it would
be impossible to recognize as poetry, if the measure of the verse
were taken away.

In considering the popularity of these long, didactic works,
it must not be forgotten that the people of that day were almost
entirely without books. A single volume was the treasure of a

FRENCH LITERATURE. 253

whole household. In unfavorable weather it was read to a cir-
cle around the fire, and when it was finished the perusal was
a^^ain coninienced. No comparison with other books enabled
men to torni a judgment upon its merits. It was reverenced
lilie holy writ, and they accounted themselves happy in being
able to (;omprehend it.

Another species of poetry peculiar to this period had at least
the merit of being exceedingly anmsing. This was the fabliaux,
tales written in verse in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
They are treasures of invention, simplicity, and gayety, of which
other nations can furnish no instances, except by borrowing
from the French. A collection of Indian tales, translated into
Latin in the tenth or eleventh century, was the first storehouse
of the trouveres. The Arabian tales, transmitted by the Moors
to the Castilians, and by the latter to the French, were in turn
versified. But above aU, the anecdotes collected in the towns
and castles of France, tlie adventures of lovers, the tricks of
gallants, and the numerous subjects gathered from the man-
ners of the age, afforded inexhaustible materials for ludicrous
narratives to the writers of these tales. They were treasures
common to all. We seldom know the name of the trouvere by
whom these anecdotes were versified. As they were related,
each one varied them according to the impression he mshed to
produce. At this period there were neither theatrical enter-
tainments nor games at cards to till up the leisure hours of so-
ciety- and the trouveres or relators of the tales were welcomed
at the courts, castles, and private houses w'ith an eagerness pro-
})ortioned to the store of anecdotes which they brought with
them to enliven conversation. Whatever was the subject of
their verse, legends, miracles, or licentious anecdotes, they were
equally acceptable. These tales were the models of those of
Boccaccio, La Fontaine, and others. Some of them have had
great fame, and have passed from tongue to tongue, and from
age to age, down to our own times. Several of them have been
introduced upon the stage, and others formed the originals of
Parnell's " Hermit," of the " Zaire " of Voltaire, and of the
" Renard," which Goethe has converted into a long poem. But
perhaps tlie most interesting and celebrated of all the fahllaux
is that of " Aucassin and Nicolette," which has furnished the
subject for a well-knowni opera.

It was at this period, when the ancient drama was entirely
forgotten, that a dramatic form was given to the great events
which accompanied the establishment of the Christian religion.
The first to introduce this grotesque sjjecies of composition,
were the pilgrims who had returned from the Holy Land. lu
the twelfth or thii'teenth centuries, theii- dramatic representations

254 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

were first exhibited in the open streets ; but it was only at the
conclusion of the fourteenth that a company of pilgrims under-
took to amuse the j)ublic by regular dramatic entertainments.
They were called the Fraternity of the Passion, from the passion
of our Saviour being one of their most celebrated representa-
tions. This mystery, the most ancient dramatic work of modern
Europe, comprehends the whole history of our Lord, from his
baptism to his death. The piece was too long for one represen-
tation, and was therefore continued from day to day. Eighty-
seven characters successively appear in this mystery, among
whom are the three persons of the Trinity, angels, apostles, dev-
ils, and a host of other personages, the invention of the poet's
brain. To fill the comic parts, the dialogues of the devils were
introduced, and their eagerness to maltreat one another always
produced much laughter in the assembly. Extravagant ma-
chinery was employed to give to the representation the pomp
which we find in the modern opera ; and this drama, placing
before the eyes of a Christian assembly all those incidents for
which they felt the highest veneration, must have affected them
much more powerfully than even the finest tragedies can do at
the present day.

The mystery of the Passion was followed by a crowd of imi-
tations. The whole of the Old Testament, and the lives of all
the saints, were brought upon the stage. The theatre on which
these mysteries were represented was always composed of an ele-
vated scaffold divided into three parts, — heaven, hell, and the
earth between them. The proceedings of the Deity and Lucifer
might be discerned in their respective abodes, and angels de-
scended and devils ascended, as their interference in mundane
affairs was required. The pomp of these representations went
on increasing for two centuries, and, as great value was set upon
the length of the piece, some mysteries could not be represented
in less than forty days.

The " Clerks of the Revels," an incorporated society at Paris,
whose duty it was to regulate the public festivities, resolved to
anmse the people with dramatic representations themselves, but
as the Fraternity of the Passion had obtained a royal license to
represent the mysteries, they were compelled to abstain from
that kind of exhibition. They therefore invented a new one, to
which they gave the name of "Moralities," and which differed
little from the mysteries, except in name. They were borrowed
from the Parables, or the historical parts of the Bible, or they
were purely allegorical. To the Clerks of the Revels we also
owe the invention of modern comedy. They mingled their mO"
ralitles with farces, the sole object of which was to excite laugh«
ter, and in which all the gayety and vivacity of the French chan

FRENCH LITERATURE. 255

acter were displayed. Some of these plays still retain their
place upon the F'rench stage. At the conimencenjent of the fif-
teenth century another comic company was established, who
introduced personal and even political satire upon the stage.
Thus every s})ecies of dramatic re})resentation was revived by
the French. This was the result of the talent for imitation so
peculiar to the French people, and of that pliancj'^ of thought
and correctness of intellect which enables them to conceive new
characters. All these inventions, which led to the establishment
of the Romantic drama in other countries, were known in France
more than a century before the rise of the Si)anish or Italian
theatre, and even before the classical authors were first studied
and imitated. At the end of the sixteenth century, these new
pursuits acquired a more immediate influence over the literature
of France, and wrought a change in its spirit and rules, without,
however, altering the national character and taste which had
been manifested in the earliest productions of the trouveres.

3. French Literature ix the Fifteenth Century.—
French had as yet been merely a popular language ; it varied
from pi'ovince to province, and from author to author, because
no masterpiece had inaugurated any one of its numerous dia-
lects. It was disdained by the more serious writers, who con-
tinued to employ the Latin. In the fifteenth century literature
assumed a somewhat wider range, and the language began to
take precision and force. But with much general improvement
and literary industry there was still nothing great or original,
nothing to mark an epoch in the history of letters. The only
poets worthy of notice were Charles, Duke of Orleans (1391-
1465), and Villon, a low rufiian of Paris (1431-1500). Charles
was taken prisoner at the battle of Agincourt, and carried to
England, where he was detained for twenty-five years, and where
he wrote a volume of poems in which he imitated the allegorical
style of the Romance of the Rose. The verses of Villon were
inspired by the events of his not very creditable life. Again
and again he suffered imprisonment for petty larcenies, and at
the age of twenty-five was condenmed to be hanged. His
language is not that of the court, but of the people ; and his
poetry marks the first sensible progress after the Romance of
the Rose.

It has been well said that literature begins with poetry ; but
it is established by prose, which fLxes the language. The ear-
liest work in French prose is the chronicle of Ville-Hardouin
(1150-1213), written in the thirteenth century. It is a personal
narrative, and relates with graphic ])articularity the conquest of
Constantinople by the knights of Christendom. This ancient
chronicle traces out for us some of the realities, of wliich the

256 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

medijeval romances were the ideal, and enables us to judge in a
measure how far these romances embody substantial truth.

A great improvement in style is apparent in Joinville (1223-
1317), the amiable and light-hearted ecclesiastic who wrote the
Life of St. Louis, whom he had accompanied to the Holy Land,
and whose pious adventures he affectionately records. Notwith-
standing the anarchy which prevailed in France during the four-
teenth century, some social progress was made ; but while public
events were hostile to poetry, they gave inspiration to the his-
toric muse, and Froissart arose to impart vivacity of coloring to
historic narrative.

Froissart (1337-1410) was an ecclesiastic of the day, but
little in his life or writings bespeaks the sacred calling. Having
little taste for the duties of his profession, he was employed by
the Lord of Montfort to compose a chronicle of the wars of the
time ; but there were no books to tell him of the past, no regular
communication between nations to infoi-m him of the present;,
so he followed the fashion of knights errant, and set out on
horseback, not to seek adventures, but, as an itinerant historian,
to find materials for his chronicle. He wandered from town to
town, and from castle to castle, to see the places of which he
would write, and to learn events on the spot where they oc-
curred. His first journey was to England ; here he was em-
ployed by Queen Philippa of Hainault to accompany the Duke
of Clarence to Milan, where he met Boccaccio and Chaucer.
He afterwards passed into the service of several of the princes
of Europe, to whom he acted as secretary and poet, always glean-
ing material for historic record. His book is an almost univer-
sal history of the different states of Europe, from 1322 to the
end of the fourteenth century. He troubles himself with no ex-
planations or theories of cause and effect, nor with the philosophy
of state policy ; he is simply a graphic story-teller. Sir Walter
Scott called Froissart his master.

Philippe de Commines (1445-1509) was a man of his age,
but in advance of it, combining the simplicity of the fifteenth
century with the sagacity of a later period. An annalist, like
Froissart, he was also a statesman, and a political philosopher;
embracing, like Machiavelli and Montesquieu, the remoter eon-
sequences which flowed from the events he narrated and the
principles he unfolded. He was an unscrupulous diplomat in
the service of Louis XL, and his description of the last years of
that monarch is a striking piece of history, whence poets and
novelists have borrowed themes in later times. But neither tho
romance of Sir Walter Scott nor the song of Beranger does jus-
tice to the reality, as presented by the faithful Commines.

FRENCH LITERATURE. 257

PERIOD SECOND.

The Renaissance and the Golden Age of French LiXERATnRE

(1500-1 700J.

1, The Renaissaxce and the Reformatiox. — During
the preceding ages, erudition and civilization had not gone hand-
in-hand. On the one side there was the hokl, chivah'ic mind of
young Europe, speaking with the tongues of yesterday, while on
the other was the ecclesiastical mind, expressing itself in degen-
erate Latin. The one was a life of gayety and nide disorder —
the life of court and castle as depicted in the literature just
scanned ; the other, that of men separated from the world, who
had been studying the literary remains of antiquity, and tran-
scribing and treasuring them for future generations. Hitherto
these two sections had held their courses apart ; now they were
to meet and blend in harmony. The vernacular poets, on the
one hand, borrowing thought and expression from the classics,
and the clergy, on the other, becoming purveyors of light litera-
ture to the court circles.

The fifteenth century, though somewhat barren, had prepared
for the fecundity of succeeding ages. The revival of the study
of ancient literature, which was promoted by the downfall of
Constantino])le, the invention of ])rinting, the discovery of the
new world, the decline of feudalism, and the consequent eleva-
tion of the middle classes, — all concurred to promote a rapid
imjirovement of the human intellect.

During the early part of the sixteenth century, all the ardor
of the French mind was turned to the study of the dead lan-
guages ; men of genius had no higher ambition than to excel in
them, and many in their declining years went in their gray hairs
to the schools where the languages of Homer and Cicero were
taught. In civil and political society, the same enthusiasm
manifested itself in the imitation of antique manners ; people
dressed in the Greek and Roman fashions, borrowed from them
the usages of hfe, and made a point of dying like the heroes of
Plutarch.

The religious reformation came soon after to restore the
Christian, as the revival of letters had brought back the jiagan
antiquity. Ignorance was dissipated, and religion wa.s disen-
gaged from philosophy. The Renaissance, as the revival of an-
tique learning was called, and the Reformation, at iirst made
common cause. One of those who most eagerly imiiibed the
spirit of both was the Princess INIarguerite de Valois (1492-
1549), elder sister of Francis I., who obtained the credit of
many generous actions wliich were truly hers. The principal
17

2o8 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

work of this lady was " L'Heptameron," or the History of the
Fortunate Lovers, written on the plan and in the spirit of the
Decameron of Boccaccio, a work which a lady of our times
would be unwilling to own acquaintance with, much more to
adopt as a model ; but the apology for Marguerite must be
found in the manners of the times. L'Heptameron is the ear-
liest French prose that can be read without a glossary.

In 1518, when Margaret was twenty-six years of age, she
received from her brother a gifted poet as valet-de-chambre ;
this was Marot (1495-1544), between whom and the learned
princess a poetical intercourse was maintained. Marot had im-
bibed the principles of Calvin, and had also drank deeply of
the spirit of the Renaissance ; but he displayed the poet more
truly before he was either a theologian or a classical scholar.
He may be considered the last type of the old French school,
of that combination of grace and archness, of elegance and sim-
plicity, of familiarity and propriety, which is a national charac-
teristic of French poetic literature, and in whicJi they have never
been imitated.

Francis Rabelais (1483-1553) was one of the most remark-
able persons that figured in the Renaissance, a learned scholar,
physician, and philosopher, though known to posterity chiefly as
an obscene humorist. He is called by Lord Bacon " the great
jester of France." He was at first a monk of the Franciscan
order, but he afterwards threw off the sacerdotal character, and
studied medicine. From about the year 1534, Rabelais was in
the service of the Cardinal Dubellay, and a favorite in the
court circles of Paris and Rome. It was probably during this
period that he published, in successive parts, the work on which
his popular fame has rested, the " Lives of Gargantiia and
Pantagruel." It consists of the lives and adventures of these
two gigantic heroes, father and son, with the waggeries and
practical jokes of Panurge, their jongleur, and the blasphemies
and obscenities of Friar John, a fighting, swaggering, drinking
monk. With these are mingled dissertations, sophistries, and
allegorical satires in abundance. The publication of the work
created a perfect uproar at the Sorbonne, and among the monks
who were its principal victims ; but the cardinals enjoyed its
humor, and protected its author, while the king, Francis I., pro-
nounced it innocent and delectable. It became the book of the
day, and passed through countless editions and endless com-
mentaries ; and yet it is agreed on all hands that there exists
not another work, admitted as literature, that would bear a
moment's comparison with it, for indecency, profanity, and re-
pulsive and disgusting coarseness. His work is now a mere cu-
riosity for the student of antique literature.

FRENCH UTERATURE. 259

As Rabelais was the leading type of the Renaissance, so was
Calvin (1509-15G4) of the Reformation. Having embraced the
principles of Liithei-, he went considerably farther in his views.
In 1532 he established himself at Geneva, where he organized
a church according to his own ideas. In 1535 he published his
"Institutes of the Christian Religion," distinguished for great
severity of doctrine. His next most celebrated work is a com-
mentary on the Scriptures.

Intellect continued to struggle with its fetters. Many, like
Rabelais, mistrusted the whole system of ecclesiastical polity es-
tablished by law, and yet did not pin their faith on the dictates
of the austere Calvin. The almost inevitable consequence was
a wide and universal skepticism, replacing the former implicit
subjection to Romanism.

The most eminent type of this school was Montaigne (1533—
1592), who, in his " Essays," shook the foundations of all the
creeds of his day, without offering anything to replace them.
He is considei-ed the earliest pliilosophical writer in French
prose, the first of those who contributed to direct the minds of
his countrymen to the study of human nature. In doing so, he
takes himself as his subject ; he dissects his feelings, emotions,
and tendencies with the coolness of an operating surgeon. To a
singular power of self-investigation and an acute observation of
the actions of men, he added great affluence of thought and ex-
cursiveness of fancy, which render him, in spite of his egotism,
a most attractive writer. As he would have considered it dis-
lionest to conceal anything about himself, he has told much that
our modern ideas of decorum would deem better untold.

Charron (1541-1603), the friend and disciple of Montaigne,
was as bold a thinker, though inferior as a writer. In his book,
" De la Sagesse," he treats religion as a mere matter of specu-
lation, a system of dogmas without practical influence. Other
writers followed . in the same steps, and affected, like him, to
})lace skepticism at the service of good morals. " License," says
a French writer, " had to come before liberty, ske])ticism before
philosophical inquiry, the school of Montaigne before that of
Descartes." On the other hand, iSt. Francis de Sales (1567-
1622), in his " Introduction to a Devout Life," and other works,
taught that the only cure for the evils of human nature was to
be found in the grace M-hich was revealed by Christianity.

In these struggles of thought, in tliis conflict of creeds, the
language acquired vigor and ])rccision. In the works of Calvin,
it manifested a seriousness of tone, and a severe j)urity of style
which commanded general respect. An ea.sy, natural tone was
imparted to it by Amyot (1513-1593), professor of Greek and
Latin at the University of Paris, who enriched the literature

260 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

with elegant translations, in which he hlended Hellenic graces
■with those strictly French.

2. Light Literature. — Ronsard (1524-1585), the favorite
poet of Mary Queen of Scots, flourished at the time that the
rao-e for ancient literature was at its height. He traced the
first outlines of modern French poetry, and introduced a higher
style of poetic thought and feeling than had hitherto heen
known. To him France owes the first attempt at the ode and
the heroic epic ; in the former, he is regarded as the precursor
of Malherbe, who is still looked on as a model in this style.
But Ronsard, and the numerous school which he formed, not
only imitated the spirit and form of the ancients, but aimed to
subject his own language to combinations and inversions like
those of the Greek and Latin, and foreign roots and phrases
began to overpower the reviving flexibility of the French idiom.

Under this influence, the drama was restored by Jodelle
(1532-1573) and others, in the shape of imitations and translar
tions. Towards the end of the century, however, there appeared
a reaction against this learned tragedy, led by Alexander Hardy
(1560-1631), who, with little or no original genius, produced
about twelve hundred plays. He borrowed in every direction,
and imitated the styles of all nations. Biit the general taste,
however, soon returned to the Greek and Roman school.

The glorious reign of Henry IV. had been succeeded by the
stormj' minority of Louis XIII., when Malherbe (1556-1628),
the tyrant of words and syllables, appeared as the reformer of
poetry. He attracted attention by ridiculing the style of Ron-
sard. He became the laureate of the court, and furnished for it
that literature in which it was beginning to take delight. In
the place of Latin and Greek French, he inaugurated the ex-
treme of formality ; the matter of his verse was made subordi-
nate to the manner ; he substituted polish for native beauty,
and effect for genuine feeling.

I. de Balzac (1594-1624), in his frivolous epistles, used prose
as Malherbe did verse, and a numerous school of the same char-
acter was soon formed. The works of Voiture (1598-1648)
abound in the pleasantries and affected simplicity which best
befit such compositions. The most trifling adventure — ^ the
death of a cat or a dog — was transformed into a poem, in which
there was no poetry, but only a graceful facility, which was con-
sidered perfectly charming. Then, as though native affectation
were not enough, the borrowed wit of Italian Marinism, which
had been eagerly adopted in Spain, made its way thence into
France, with Spanish exaggeration superadded. A disciple of
this school declares that the eyes of his mistress are as " large
as his grief, and as black as liis fate." Malherbe and his school

FRENCn LITERATURE. 261

fell afterwai'ds into neglect, for fashionable caprice had turned
its attention to ])urlesque, and every one believed himself capar
ble of writing in this style, from the lords and ladies of the
court down to the valets and maid-servants. It was men like
Scarron (](310-1G60), familiar with literary study, and, from
choice, with the lowest society, who introduced this form, the
pleasantry of which was increased by contrast with the finical
taste that had been in vogue. Fashion ruled the light literal-
ture of France during the first half of the seventeenth century,
and through all its diversities, its great characteristic is the ab*-
sence of all true and serious feeling, and of that inspiration
which is drawn from realities. In the productions of half a
century, we find not one truly elevated, energetic, or pathetic
work.

It is during this time, that is, between the death of Henry
IV. (1610), and that of Richeheu (1642), that we mark the
beginning of literary societies in France. The earliest in ])oint
of date was headed by Madame de Rambouillet (1610-1642),
whose hotel became a seminary of female authors and factious
politicians. This lady was of Italian origin, of fine taste and
education. She had turned away in disgust from the rude man-
ners of the court of Henry IV., and devoted herself to the study
of the classics. After the death of the king, she gathered a dis-
tinguished circle round herself, combining the elegances of high
life with the cultivation of literary taste. While yet young,
Madame de Rambouillet was attacked with a malady which
obliged her to keep her bed the greater part of every year. An
elegant alcove was formed in the great salon of the house, where
lier bed was placed, and here she received her friends. The
choicest wits of Paris flocked to her levees ; the Hotel de Ram-
bouillet became the fashionable rendezvous of literature and
taste, and bas-hleu-\i^m was the rage. Even the infirmities of
this accomplished lady were imitated. An alcove was essential
to every fashionable belle, who, attired in a coquettish dishabille,
and recUning on satin pillows, fringed with lace, gave audience
to whispered gossip in the ruelle, as the space around the bed
was called.

Among the personages renowned in their day, who frequented
the Hotel de Rambouillet, were IVIademoiselle de Scud^ry (1607-
1701), then in the zenith of her fame, Madame de Sevigne
(1626-1696), Mademoiselle de la Vergne, afterwards Madame
de Lafayette (1655-1 69;i), eminent as literary characters ; the
Duchess de Longueville, the Duchess de Chevreuse, antl Madame
Deshoulicres, afterwards distinguished for their political ability.
At the feet of these noble ladies reclineil a number of young
Beignours, dangling their little hats surcharged with plumes,

262 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

while their mantles of silk and gold were spread loosely on the
floor. And there, in more grave attire, were the professional
litterateurs, such as Balzac, Voiture, Menage, Scud^ry, Chaplain,
Costart, Conrad, and the Abbe Bossuet. The Cupid of the hotel
was strictly Platonic. The romances of Mademoiselle de Scud^ry
Avere long-spun disquisitions on love ; her characters were drawn
from the individuals around her, who in turn attempted to sus-
tain the characters and adopt the language suggested in her
books. One folly led on another, till at last the vocabulary of
the salon became so artificial, that none but the initiated could
understand it. As for Mademoiselle de Scuddry herself, apply-
ing, it would seem, the impracticable tests she had invented for
sounding the depths of the tender passion, though not without
suitors, she died an old maid, at the advanced age of ninety-
four.

The civil wars of the Fronde (1649-1654) were unfavorable
to literary meetings. The women who took the most distin-
guished part in these troubles had graduated, so to say, from the
Hotel de Rambouillet, which, perhaps for this reason, decUned
with the ascendency of Louis XIV. The agitations of the
Fronde taught him to distrust clever women, and he always
showed a marked dislike for female authorship.

3. The French Academy. — The taste for literature, which
had become so generally diffused, rendered the men whose prov-
ince it was to define its laws the chiefs of a brilliant empire.
Scholars, therefore, frequently met together for critical discus-
sion. About the year 1629 a certain number of men of letters
agreed to assemble one day in each week. It was a union of
friendship, a companionship of men of kindred tastes and occu-
pations ; and to prevent intrusion, the meetings were for some
time kept secret. When Richelieu came to hear of the existence
of the society, desirous to make literature subservient to his po-
litical glory, he proposed to these gentlemen to form themselves
into a corporation, established by letters patent, at the same time
hinting that he had the power to put a stop to their secret meet-
ings. The argument was irresistible, and the little society con-
sented to receive from his highness the title of the French Acad-
emy, in 1635. The members of the Academy were to occupy
themselves in establishing rules for the French language, and to
take cognizance of whatever books were written by its members,
and by others who desired its opinions.

4. The Drama. — The endeavor to imitate the ancients in
the tragic art displayed itself at a very early period among the
French, and they considered that the surest method of succeed-
ing in this endeavor was to observe the strictest outward regu-
larity of form, of which they derived their ideas more front

FRENCH LITERATURE. 263

Aristotle, and especially from Seneca, than from any intimate
ac([uaintan('e witli the Greek models themselves. Three of tlie
most celebrated of the French traffic poets, Corneille, Racine,
and Voltaire, have 5:;iven, it would seem, an immutable shape to
the tragic stage of France by adopting this system, whicli has
been considered by the French critics universally as alone enti-
tled to any authority, and who have viewed every deviation from
it as a sin against good taste. The treatise of Aristotle, from
which they have derived the idea of the far-famed three unities,
of action, time, and place, which have given rise to so many crit-
ical wars, is a mere fragment, and some scholars have been of
the oi)inion that it is not even a fragment of the true original,
but of an extract which some person made for his own improve-
ment. From this anxious observance of the Greek rules, under
totally different circumstances, it is obvious that great inconven-
iences and incongruities must arise ; and the criticism of the
Academy on a tragedy of Corneille, " that the poet, from the
fear of sinning against the rules of art, had chosen rather to sin
against the rules of nature," is often applicable to the dramatic
writers of France.

Corneille (1G06-1684) ushered in a new era in the French
drama. It has been said of him that he was a man greater in
himself than in his works, his genius being fettered by the rules
of the French drama and the conventional state of French verse.
The day of mysteries and moralities was past, and the comedies
of Hardy, the court poet of Henry IV., had, in their turn, been
consigned to oblivion, yet there was an increasing taste for the
drama. The first comedy of Corneille, '* IMelite," was followed
by many others, which, though now considered unreadable, were
better than anything then known. The ap])earance of the " Cid,"
in 1G35, a drama constructed on the foundation of the old Span-
ish romances, constituted an era in the dramatic history of
France. Although not without great faults, resulting from strict
adherence to the rules, it was the first time that the depths of
passion had been stirred on the stage, and its success was un-
j)recedented. For years after, his pieces followed each other in
rapid succession, and the history of the stage was that of Cor-
neille's works. In the "' Cid," the triumph of love was exhibited ;
in '* Les Horaces," love was represented as punished for its re-
bellion against the laws of honor ; in '* Cinna," all more tender
considerations are sacrificed to the implacable duty of avenging
a fatlier ; while in '* Polyeucte," duty trium})hs alone. Corneille
did not boldly abandon himself to the guidance of his genius ; he
feared criticism, although he defied it. His success proved the
signal for envy and detraction ; he became angry at being obliged
to fight his way, and therefore withdrew from the path in which

264 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

he was likely to meet enemies. His decline was as rapid as his
success had been brilliant. " The fall of the great CornelUe,"
says Fontenelle, " may be reckoned as among the most remark-
able examples of the vicissitudes of human affairs. Even that
of Belisarius asking alms is not more striking." As his years
increased, he became more anxious for popularity ; having been
so long in possession of undisputed superiority, he could not be-
hold without dissatisfaction the rising glory of his successors ;
and, towards the close of his life, this weakness was greatly in-
creased by the decay of his bodily organs.

5. Philosophy. — During this period, in a region far above
court favor, Descartes (1596-1650) elaborated his system of
philosophy, in creating a new method of philosojjhizing. The
leading peculiarity of his system was the attempt to deduce all
moral and religious truth from self-consciousness. / think, there-
fore I am, was the famous axiom on which the whole was built.
From this he inferred the existence of two distinct natures in
man, the mental and the physical, and the existence of certain
ideas which he called innate in the mind, and serving to connect
it with the spiritual and invisible. Besides these new views in
metaphysics, Descartes made valuable contributions to mathe-
matical and physical science ; and though his philosophy is now
generally discarded, it is not forgotten that he opened the way
for Locke, Newton, and Leibnitz, and that his system was in
reality the base of all those that superseded it. There is scarcely
a name on record, the bearer of which has given a greater im-
pulse to mathematical and philoso2)hical inquiry than Descartes,
and he embodied his thoughts in such masterly language, that it
has been justly said of him, that his fame as a writer would have
been gi'eater if his celebrity as a thinker had been less.

The age of Descartes was an interesting era in the annals of
the human mind. The darkness of scholastic philosophy was
gradually clearing away before the light which an improved
method of study was shedding over the natural sciences. A sys-
tem of philosophy, founded on observation, was preparing the
downfall of those traditional errors which had long held the mas-
tery in the schools. Geometi'icians, physicians, and astronomers
taught, by their example, the severe process of reasoning which
was to regenerate all the sciences ; and minds of the first order,
scattered in various parts of Europe, communicated to each other
the results of their labors, and stimidated each other to new ex-
ertions.

One of the most eminent contemporaries of Descartes was
Pascal (1628-1662). At the age of sixteen he wrote a treatise
on conic sections, which was followed by several important dis>
coveries in arithmetic and geometry. His experiments in nat«

FRENCH LITERATURE. 265

urai science added to his fame, and he was recognized as one of
the most eminent geometricians of modern times. But he soon
formed the design of al)an(h)ning science for pursuits exchisively
reholous, and circumstances arose which liecame the occasion of
those " Provincial Letters,"' which, with the " Pensees de la Re-
ligion," are considered among the finest specimens of French lit-
erature.

The ahbey of Port Royal occupied a lonely situation about six
leafTues from Paris. Its internal discipline had recently under-
gone a thorough reformation, and the ahhey rose to suc-h a high
reputation, that men of piety and learnijig took up their abode
in its vicinity, to enjoy literary leisure. The establishment re-
ceived pupils, and its system of education became celebrated in
a religious and intellectual point of view. The great rivals of
the Port Royalists were the Jesuits. Pascal, though not a mem-
ber of the establishment, was a frequent visitor, and one of his
friends there, having been drawn into a controversy with the
Sorbonne on the doctrines of the Jansenists, had recourse to his
aid in replying. Pascal published a series of letters in a dra-
matic form, in which he brought his adversaries on the stage with
himself, and fairly cut them up for the public amusement. These
letters, combining the comic ])leasantry of ISIoliere with the elo-
quence of Demosthenes, so elegant and attractive in style, and
so clear and popular that a child might understand them, gained
immediate attention ; but the Jesuits, whose policy and doctrines
they attacked, finally induced .the parliament of Provence to con-
denm them to be burned by the connnon hangman ; and the Port
Royalists, refusing to renounce their ojjinions, were driven from
their retreat, and the establishment broken up. Pascal's master-
piece is the " Pensees de la Religion ; " it consists of fragments
of thought, without apparent connection or unity of design.
These thoughts are in some places obscure ; they contain rc})e-
titions, and even contradictions, and require that arrangement
that could only have been supplied by the hand of the writer.
It has often been lamented tliat the author never constructed
the edifice which it is believed he had designed, and of which
these thoughts were the splendid materials.

G. Thk Risk of tiir Goldex Age of French Litera-
TURE. — When Louis XIV. came to the throne (1638-1715),
France was already subject to conditions certain to produce a
brilliant period in literature. She had been In-ought into close
relations with Spain and Italy, the countries then the most ad
vanced in intellectual culture ; and she had received from the
study of the ancient masters the best correctives of whatever
mii^ht have been extravagant in the national genius. She had
learned some useful lessons from the polemical distractions of

266 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the sixteenth century. The religious earnestness excited by con<
troversy was gratified by preachers of high endowments, and the
political ascendency of France, among the kingdoms of Europe,
imparted a general freedom and buoyancy. But of all the influ-
ences which contributed to perfect the literature of France in
the latter half of the seventeenth century, none was so powerful
as that of the monarch himself, who, by his personal power,
rendered his court a centre of knowledge, and, by his govern-
ment, imparted a feeling of security to those who lived under it.
The predominance of the sovereign became the most prominent
feature in the social character of the age, and the whole circle
of the literature bears its impress. Louis elevated and improved,
in no small degree, the position of literary men, by granting
pensions to some, while he raised others to high offices of state ;
or they were recompensed by the public, tln-ough the general
taste, which the monarch so largely contributed to diffuse.

The age, unlike that which followed it, was one of order and
specialty in literature ; and in classifying its literary riches, we
shall find the principal authors presenting themselves under the
different subjects : Racine with tragedy, Moliere with comedy,
Boileau with satirical and mock-heroic. La Fontaine with narra-
tive poetry, Bossuet, Bourdaloue, and Massillon with pulpit elo-
quence ; Patru, Pellisson, and some others with that of the bar ;
Bossuet, de Retz, and St. Simon with history and memoirs ;
Rochefoucauld and La Bruyere with moral philosophy ; Fenelon
and Madame de Lafayette with romance ; and Madame de Se-
vigne with letter-writing.

The personal influence of the king was most marked on pulpit
eloquence and dramatic poetry. Other branches found less
favor, from his dislike to those who chiefly treated them. The
recollections of the Fronde had left in his mind a distrust of
Rochefoucauld. A similar feeling of political jealousy, with a
thorough hatred of bel esprit, especially in a woman, prevented
him from appreciating Madame de Sevigne ; and he seems not
even to have observed La Bruyere, in his modest functions as
teacher of history to the Duke of Burgundy. He had no taste
for the pure mental speculations of Malebranche or Fenelon ;
and in metaphysics, as in religion, had little patience for what
was beyond the good sense of ordinary individuals. The same
hatred of excess rendered him equally the enemy of refiners and
free-thinkers, so that the like exile fell to the lot of Arnauld and
Bayle, the one carrying to the extreme the doctrines of grace,
and the other those of skeptical inquiry. Nor did he relish the
excessive simplicity of La Fontaine, or deem that his talent was
a sufficient compensation for his slovenly manners and inaptitude
for court life. Of all these writers it may be said, that they

FRENCH LITERATURE. 267

flourished rather in spite of the personal influence of the mon-
arch than under his favor.

7. Tragkdy. — The first dramas of Racine (1639-1699)
were but feeble imitations of Corneille, who advised the young
author to attenijjt no more tragedy. He replied by producing
" Andromaque," which had a most powerful effect upon the
stage. The poet had discovered that sympathy was a more
powerful source of tragic effect than admiration, and he accord-
ingly employed the powers of his genius in a truthful expression
of feeling and character, and a thrilling alternation of hope and
fear, anger and pity. ''Andromaque" was followed almost every
year by a work of similar character. Henrietta of England in- .
duced Corneille and Racine, unknown to each otlier, to produce
a tragedy on Berenice, in order to contrast the powers of these
illustrious rivals. They vvere represented in the year 1670 ; that
of Corneille proved a failure, but Racine's was honored by the
tears of the court and the city. Soon after, partly disgusted at
the intrigues against him, and partly from religious principle,
Racine abandoned his career while yet in the full vigor of his
life and genius. He was appointed historiographer to the king,
conjointly with Boileau, and afteir twelve years of silence he was
induced by Madame de Maintenon to compose the drama of
" Esther " for the pupils in the Maison de St. Cyr, which met
with prodigious success. " Athalie," considered the most per-
fect of his works, was composed with similar views ; theatricals
having been abandoned at the school, however, the play was
published, but found no readers. Discouraged by this second in-
justice, Racine finally abandoned the drama. " Athalie " was but
little known till the year 1716, since when its reputation has
considerably augmented. Voltaire pronounced it the most per-
fect work of human genius. The subject of this drama is taken
from the twenty-second and twenty-third chapter of II. Chron-
icles, where it is written that Athaliah, to avenge the death of
her son, destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah, but
that the young Joash was stolen from among the rest by his aunt
Jehoshabeath, the wife of the high-priest, and hidden with his
nurse for six years in the temple. Besides numerous tragedies,
Racine composed odes, epigrams, and spiritual songs. By a rare
combination of talents he wrote as well in prose as in verse. His
"History of the Reign of Louis XIV." was destroyed by a con-
flagration, but there remain the " History of Port Royal," some
pleasing letters, and some academic discourses. The tragedies
of Racine are more elegant than those of Corneille. though less
hold and striking. Corneille's principal characters are heroes
and hovoines thrown into situations of extremity, and disj)laying
strength of mind superior to their position. Racine's characters

268 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATUR/iJ.

are men, not heroes, — men such as they are, not such as they
might possibly be.

France produced no other tragic dramatists of the first class
in this age. Somewhat later, Crebillon (1674-1762), in such
wild tragedies as " Atrea," " Electra," and " Rhadamiste," in-
troduced a new element, that of terror, as a source of tragic
effect.

Cardinal Mazarin had brought from Italy the opera or lyric
tragedy, which was cultivated with success by Quinault (1637-
1688). He is said to have taken the bones out of the French
language by cultivating an art in which thought, incident, and
.dialogue are made secondary to the development of tender and
voluptuous feeling.

8. Comedy. — The comic drama, which occupied the French
stage till the middle of the seventeenth century, was the comedy
of intrigue, borrowed from Spain, and turning on disguises, dark
lanterns, and trap-doors to help or hinder the design of person-
ages who were types, not of individual character, but of classes,
as doctors, lawyers, lovers, and confidants. It was reserved for
Moliere (1622-1673) to demolish all this childishness, and en-
throne the true Thalia on the French stage. Like Shakspeare,
he was both an author and an actor. The appearance of the
" Precieuses Ridicules " was the first of the comedies in which
the gifted poet assailed the follies of his age. The object of this
satire was the system of solemn sentimentality which at this
tune was considered the perfection of elegance. It wiU be re-
membered that there existed at Paris a coterie of fashionable
women who pretended to the most exalted refinement both of
feeling and expression, and that these were waited upon and
worshiped by a set of nobles and litterateurs, who used towards
them a peculiar strain of high-flown, pedantic gallantry. These
ladies adopted fictitious names for themselves and gave enig-
matical ones to the commonest things. They lavished upon each
other the most tender appellations, as though in contrast to the
frigid tone in which the Platonism of the Hotel required them
to address the gentlemen of their circle. 3la chere, ma pre-
cleuse, were the terms most frequently used by the leaders of this
world of folly, and a precieuse came to be synonymous with a
lady of the clique ; hence the title of the comedy. The piece
was received with unanimous applause ; a more signal victory
could not have been gained by a comic poet, and from the time
of its first representation this bombastic nonsense was given up.
Moliere, perceiving that he had struck the true vein, resolved to
study human nature more and Plautus and Terence less. Com-
edy after comedy followed, v/hicli were true pictures of the
follies of society ; but whatever was the theme of his satire, all

FRENCH LITERATURE. 269

proved that he had a falcon's eye for detecting vice and folly in
every shape, and talons tor pouncing upon all a-s the natural
prey of the satirist. On the boards he always took the principal
character himself, and he was a comedian in every look and ges-
ture. The " Malade Iniaginaire " was the last of his works.
When it was produced upon the stage, the poet himself was
really ill, but repressing the voice of natural suffering, to affect
that of the hypochondriac for public anmsement, he was seized
with a convulsive cough, and carried home dying. Though he
was denied the last offices of the church, and his remains were
with difficulty allowed Christian burial, in the following century
his bust was placed in the Academy, and a monument erected
to his memory in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise. The best of
MoUere's works are, " Le Misanthrope," '" Les Femmes Sa-
vantes," and " Tartuffe ; " these are considered models of high
comedy. Other comedians followed, but at a great distance from
him in point of merit.

9. Fable, Satire, Mock-Heroic, and other Poetry. —
La Fontaine (1621-1695) was the prince of fabulists; his fables
appeared successively in three collections, and although the sub-
jects of some of these are borrowed, the dress is entirely new.
His versification constitutes one of the greatest charms of his
poetry, and seems to have been the result of an instinctive sense
of harmony, a delicate taste, and rapidity of invention. There
are few authors in France more popular, none so much the
familiar genius of every fireside. La Fontaine himself was a
mere child of nature, indolent, and led by the whim of the mo-
ment, rather than by any fixed principle. He was desired by
his father to take charge of the domain of which he was the
keeper, and to unite himself in marriage with a family relative.
With unthinking docility he consented to both, but neglected
alike his official tluties and domestic obligations with an innocent
unconsciousness of wrong. He was taken to Paris by the Duchess
of Bouillon and passed his days in her coteries, and those of
Racine and Boileau, utterly forgetful of his home and family,
except when his ]>ecuniary necessities obliged him to return to
sell portions of his property to sui)ply his wants. When this
was exhausted, he became dependent on the kindness of female
discerners of merit. Henrietta of England attached him to her
suite ; and after her death, INladame de la Sabliere gave him
apartments at her house, supjjlied liis wants, and indulged his
humors for twenty years. When she retired to a convent,
Madame d'Hei'vart. the wife of a rich financier, offered him a
similar retreat. Wliile on her way to make the proposal, she
met him in the street, and said, '"La Fontaine, will you come and
live in my house?" " I was just going, madame," he replied, a3

270 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

if his doing so had been the simplest and most natural thing in
the world. And here he remained the rest of his days. F'rance
has produced numerous writers of fables since the time of La
Fontaine, but none worthy of comparison with him.

The writings of Descartes and Pascal, with the precepts of
the Academy and Port Royal, had established the art of prose
composition, but the destiny of poetry continued doubtful. Cor-
neille's masterpieces afforded models only in one department ;
there was no specific doctrine on the idea of what poetry ought
to be. To supply this was the mission of Boileau (1636-1711) ;
and he fulfilled it, first by satirizing the existing style, and then
by composing an "• Art of Poetry," after the manner of Horace.
In the midst of men who made verses for the sake of making
them, and composed languishing love-songs upon the perfections
of mistresses who never existed except in their own imaginations,
Boileau determined to write nothing but what interested his
feelings, to break with this affected gallantry, and draw poetry
only from the depths of his own heart. His debut was made in
unmerciful satires on the works of the poetasters, and he con-
tinued to plead the cause of reason against rhyme, of true poetry
against false. Despite the anger of the poets and their fxuends,
his satires enjoyed immense favor, and he consolidated his vic-
tory by wi'iting the " Art of Poetry," in which he attempted to re-
store it to its true dignity. This work obtained for him the title
of Legislator of Parnassus. The mock-heroic poem of the " Lu-
trin " is considered as the happiest effort of his muse, though
inferior to the " Rape of the Lock," a composition of a similar
kind. The occasion of this poem was a frivolous dispute be-
tween the treasurer and the chapter of a cathedral concerning
the placing of a reading-desk {lutrm). A friend playfully chal-
lenged Boileau to write a heroic poem on the subject, to verify
his own theory that the excellence of a heroic poem depended
upon the power of the inventor to sustain and enlarge upon a
slender groundwork. Boileau was the last of the great poets of
the golden age.

The horizon of the poets was at this time somewhat circum-
scribed. Confined to the conventional life of the court and the
city, they enjoyed little opportunity for the contemplation of
nature. The policy of Louis XIV. proscribed national recollec-
tions, so that the social life of the day was alone open to them.
Poetry thus became abstract and ideal, or limited to the deline-
ation of those passions which belong to a highly artificial state
of society. Madame Deshoulieres (1634-1694) indeed wrote
some graceful idyls, but she by no means entered into the spirit
of rural life and manners, like La Fontaine.

10. Eloquence of the Pulpit and ok the Bar. — Louis

FRENCH LITERATURE. 271

XIV. afforded to religious elofiuence the most efficacious kind of
encouragement, that of ])ersonal attendance. The court preach-
ers had no more attentive auditor tlian their royal master, who
was singularly gifted with that tenderness of consciunce which
leads a man to condenm himself for his sins, yet indulge in their
commission ; to feel a certain ])leasure in self-accusation, and to
enjoy that reaction of mind wliich consists in occasionally hold-
ing his passions in aheyance. This attention on the part of a
great monai-ch, the liberty of saying everything, the refined taste
of the audience, who could on the same day attend a sermon of
Bourdaloue and a tragedy of Racine, all tended to lead pulpit
elocjuonce to a high degree of i)erfection ; and, accordingly, we
find the function of court preacher exercised successively by
Bossuet (1627-170-4), Bourdaloue (1632-1704), and Massillou
(1663-1742), the greatest names that the Roman Catholic Church
has boasted in any age or country. Bossuet addressed the con-
science through the imagination, Bourdaloue through the judg-
ment, and Massillon through the feelings. Flechier (1632-
1710), another court preacher, renowned chiefly as a rhetorician,
was not free from the affectation of Les Precieuses ; but Bos-
suet was perhaps the most distinguished type of the age of Louis
XIV., in all save its vices. For the instruction of the Dauphin,
to whom he had been appointed preceptor, he wrote his " Dis-
course upon Universal History," by which he is chiefly known
to us. The Protestant controversy elicited his famous " Expo-
sition of the Catliolic Doctrine." A still more celebrated work
is the " History of the Variations," the leading principle of
which is, that to forsake the authority of the church leads one
knows not whither, that there can be no new religious views
except false ones, and that there can be no escape from the faith
transmitted from age to age, save in the wastes of skepticism.
In his controversy with Fenelon, in relation to the mystical doc-
trines of Madame Guyon, Bossuet showed himself irritated, and
at last furious, at the moderate and submissive tone of his op-
ponent. He procured the banishment of Fenelon from court,
and the disgrace of his friends ; and through his influence the
pope condemned the " Maxims of the Saints," in which Fenelon
endeavored to show that the views of Madame Guyon were tliose
of others whom the church had canonized. The sennons of
Bossuet were ])aternal and familiar exhortations ; he seldom
prepared them, but, abandoning himself to the inspiration of the
moment, was now simple and touching, now energetic and sub-
lime. His familiarity with the language of inspiration imparted
to his discourses a tone of almost jn-ophetic authority ; his elo-
(pience ap])eared as a native instinct, a gift direct from heaven,
neither marred nor improved by the study of human rules.

272 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

France does not acknowledge the Protestant Saurin (1677-
1730), as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes expatriated
him in chiklhood ; but his sermons occupy a distinguished place
in the theological literature of the French language.

Political or parliamentary oratory was as yet unknown, for
tlie parliament no sooner touched on matters of state and gov-
ernment, than Louis XIV. entered, booted and spurred, with
whip in hand, and not figuratively, but literally, lashed the re-
fractory assembly into silence and obedience. But the eloquence
of the bar enjoyed a considerable degree of freedom in this age.
Law and reason, however, were too often overlaid by wortliless
conceits and a fantastic abuse of classic and scriptural citations.
Le Maitre (1608-1658), Patru (1604-1681), Pellisson (1624-
1693), Cochin (1687-1749), and D'Aguesseau (1668-1751),
successively purified and elevated the language of the ti-ibunals.

11. Moral Philosophy. — The most celebrated moralist of
the age was the Duke de Rochefoucauld (1613-1680). He was
early drawn into those conflicts known as the wars of the Fronde,
though he seems to have had little motive for fighting or in-
triguing, except his restlessness of spirit and his attachment to
the Duchess de Longueville. He soon quarreled with the duch-
ess, dissolved his alliance with Conde, and being afterwards in-
cluded in the amnesty, he took up his residence at Paris, where
he was one of the brightest ornaments of the court of Louis XIV.
His chosen friends, in his declining years, were Madame de
Sevigne, one of the most accomplished women of the age, and
Madame de Lafayette, who said of him, " He gave me intellect,
and I reformed his heart." But if the taint was removed from
his heart, it continued in the understanding. His famous " Max-
ims," published in 1665, gained for the author a lasting reputa-
tion, not less for the perfection of his style, than for the boldness
of his paradoxes. The leading peculiarity of this work is the
principle that self-interest is the ruling motive in human nature,
placing every virtue, as well as every vice, under contribution
to itself. It is generally agreed that Rochefoucauld's views of
human nature were perverted by the specimens of it which he
had known in the wars of the Fronde, which were stimulated
by vice, folly, and a restless desire of power. His " Memoirs
of tlie Reign of Anne of Austria " embody the story of the
Fronde, and his " Maxims " the moral philosophy he deduced
from it.

While Pascal, in proving all human remedies unworthy of
confidence, had sought to drive men upon faith by pursuing them
with despair, and Rochefoucauld, by his pitiless analysis of the
disguises of the human heart, led his readers to suspect their
most natural emotions, and well-uigh took away the desire of

FRENCH LITERATURE. 273

virtue by proving its impossibility, La Bruyere (1639-1696) en-
deavored to make tbe most of our nature, such as it is, to ren-
der men better, even with their imperfections, to assist them by
a moral code suited to their strength, or rather to their weakness.
His " Characters of our Age " is distinguished for the exactness
and variety of the portraits, as well as for the excellence of its
style. The philosophy of La Bruyere is unquestionably based
on reason, and not on revelation.

In the moral works of Nicole, the Port Royalist (1611-1645),
we find a system of truly Cliristian ethics, derived from the pre-
cepts of revelation ; they are elegant in style, though they dis-
play little originality.

The only speculative philosopher of this age, worthy of men-
tion, is Malebi'anche (1631-1715), a disciple of Descartes ; but,
unlike his master, instead of admitting innatejdeas, he held that
we see all in Deity, and that it is only by our spiritual union
with the Being who knows all things that we know anything.
He professed optimism, and explained the existence of evil by
saying that the Deity acts only as a universal cause. His object
was to reconcile philosophy with revelation ; his works, though
models of style, are now little read.

12. History and Memoirs. — History attained no degree
of excellence during this period. Bossuet's " Discourse on Uni-
versal History " was a sermon, with general history as the text.
At a somewhat earlier date, Mezeray (1610-1683) compiled a
history of France. The style is clear and nervous, and the
spirit which pervades it is bold and independent, but the facts
are not always to be relied on. The " History of Christianity,"
by the Abbe Fleury (1640-1723), was pronounced by Voltaire
to be the best work of the kind that had ever appeared. RoUin
(1661-1741) devoted his declining years to the composition of
historical works for the instruction of young people. His
" Ancient History " is more remarkable for the excellence of
his intentions than for the display of historical talent. Indeed,
the historical writers of this period may be said to have marked
rather than filled a void.

The writers of memoirs were more happy. At an earlier
period, BrantOme (1527-1614), a gentleman attached to the
suite of Charles IX. and Henry HI., employed his declining
years in describing men and manners as he had observed them ;
and his memoirs are admitted to embody but too faithfully a
representation of that singular mixture of elegance and gross-
ness, of superstition and impiety, of chivalrous feelings and
licentious morals, which characterized the sixteenth century.
The Duke of Sully (1559-1641), the skillful financier of Henry
IV., left valuable memoirs of the stirring events of his day.
18

274 ■ HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

The " Memoirs " of the Cardinal de Retz (1614-1679), who
took so active a part in the agitations of the Fronde, embody
the enlarged views of the true historian, and breathe the impet-
uous spirit of a man whose native element is civil commotion, and
who looks on the chieftainship of a party as worthy to engage
the best powers of his head and heart ; but his style abounds
with negligences and irregularities which would have shocked
the litterateurs of the day.

The Duke de St. Simon (1675-1755) is another of those who
made no pretensions to classical writing. All the styles of the
seventeenth century are found in him. His language has been
compared to a torrent, wliich appears somewhat incumbered by the
debris which it carries, yet makes its way with no less rapidity.

Count Hamilton (1646-1720) narrates the adventures of his
brother-in-law, Count de Grammont, of which La Harpe says,
" Of all frivolous books, it is the most diverting and ingenious."
Much lively narration is here expended on incidents better for-
gotten.

13. RoMAJfCE AND LETTER- Writixg. — The growth of kingly
power, the order which it established, and the civilization which
followed in its train, restrained the development of public life
and increased the interests of the social relations. From this
new state of things arose a modified kind of romance, in which
elevated sentiments replaced the achievements of mediaeval
fiction and the military exploits of Mademoiselle de Scuddry's
tales. Madame de Lafayette introduced that kind of romance
in which the absorbing interest is that of conflicting passion, and
external events were the occasion of developing the inward life
of thought and feeling. She first depicted manners as they
really were, relating natural events with gracefulness, instead of
narrating those that never could have had existence.

The illustrious Fenelon (1651—1715) was one of the few au-
thors of this period who belonged exclusively to no one class.
He ajjpears as a divine in his " Sermons " and " Maxims ; " as a
rhetorician in his " Dialogues on Eloquence ; " as a moralist in
his " Education of Girls ; " as a politician in his " Examination
of the Conscience of a King ; " and it may be said that all these
characters are combined in " Telemachus," whicli has procured
for him a widespread fame, and which classes him among the
romancers. Telemachus was composed with the intention of
its becoming a manual for his pupil, the young Duke of Bur-
gundy, on his ent/ance into manhood. Though its publication
caused him the loss of the king's favor, it went through numer-
ous editions, and was translated into every language of Europe
It was considered, in its day, a manual for kings, and it became
a standard book, on account of the elegance of its style, the

FRENCH LITERATURE. 275

purity of its morals, and the classic taste it was likely to foster
in tlie youthful mind.

Madame de Sevignd made no ])retension8 to authorship.
Her letters were written to her daughter, without the slightest
idea that they would be read, except by those to whom they
were addressed ; but they have immortalized their gifted au-
thor, and have been pronounced worthy to occujiy an eminent
place among the classics of French literature. The matter
which these celebrated letters contain is multifarious ; they are
sketches of Madame de Sevigne's friends, Madame de Lafay-
ette, Madame Scarron, and all the principal personages of that
brilliant court, from which, however, she was excluded, in con-
sequence of her early alliance with the Fronde, her friendship
for F'ouquet, and her Jansenist opinions. All the occurrences,
as well as the characters of the day, are touched in these letters ;
and so grajjliic is the pen, so clear and easy the style, that we
seem to live in those brilliant days, and to see all that was going
on. Great events are detailed in the same tone as court gos-
sip ; Louis XIV., Turenne, Conde, the wars of France and of
the empire are freely mingled with details of housewifery, proj-
ects of marriage, — in short, the seventeenth century is depicted
in the correspondence of two women who knew nothing so im-
portant as their own affairs.

Consideral)le interest attaches also to the letters of Madame
de Maintenon (1635-1719), a lady whose life presents singular
contrasts, worthy of the time. To her influence on the king,
after her private marriage to him, is attributed much that is in-
auspicious in the latter part of his reign, the combination of
ascetic devotion and religious bigotry with the most flagrant im-
morality, the apjjointment of unskillful generals and weak-minded
ministers, the j)ersecution of the Jansenists, and, above all, the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which had secured religious
freedom to the Protestants.

PERIOD THIRD.

TuE Literature of the Age of the REVOLnriON and of thk
Nineteenth Century (1700-1902).

1. The Dawn of Skepticism. — In the age just past we
have seen religion, antiquity, and the monarchy of Louis XIV.,
each exercising a distinct and powerful influence over the buoy-
ancy of French genius, which cheerfully submitted to their re-
straining power. A school of taste and elegance haxl been
formed, under these circumstances, which gave law to the rest
of Europe and constituted France the leatling spirit of the age.

276 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

On the other hand, the dominant influences of the eighteenth
century were a skeptical philosophy, a preference for modern
literature, and a rage for political reform. The transition,
however, was not sudden nor immediate, and we come now to
the consideration of those works which occupy the midway posi-
tion between the submissive age of Louis XIV. and the daring
infidelity and republicanism of the eighteenth century.

The eighteenth century began with the first timid protestation
against the splendid monarchy of Louis XIV., the domination
of the Catholic Church, and the classical authority of antiquity,
and it ended when words came to deeds, in the sanguinary i-ev-
olution of 1789. When the first generation of gi-eat men who
sunned themselves in the glance of Louis XIV. had passed
away, there were none to succeed them ; the glory of the mon-
arch began to fade as the noble cortege disappeared, and admi-
ration and enthusiasm were no more. The new generation,
which had not shared the glory and prosperity of the old mon-
arch, was not subjugated by the recollections of his early splen-
dor, and was not, like the preceding, proud to wear his yoke.
A certain indifference to principle began to prevail ; men ven-
tured to doubt opinions once unquestioned ; the habit of jesting
with everything and unblushing cynicism appeared almost under
the eyes of the aged Louis ; even Massillon, who exhorted the
people to obedience, at the same time reminded the king that
it was necessary to merit it by respecting their rights. The
Protestants, exiled by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
revenged themselves by pamplilets against the monarch and the
church, and these works found their way into France, and fos-
tered there the rising discontent and contempt for the authority
of the government.

Among these refugees was Bayle (1647-1706), the coolest
and boldest of doubters. He wrote openly against the intoler-
ance of Louis XIV., and he affords the first announcement of
the characteristics of the century. His " Historical and Critical
Dictionary," a vast magazine of knowledge and incredulity, was
calculated to supersede the necessity of study to a lively and
thoughtless age. His skepticism is learned and philosophical,
and he ridicules those who reject without examination still more
than those who believe with docile credulity. Jean Baptiste
Rousseau (1670-1741), the lyric poet of this age, displayed in
his odes considerable energy, and a kind of pompous harmony,
which no other had imparted to the language, yet he fails to
excite the sympathy. In his writings we find that free com-
mingling of licentious morals with a taste for religious sublim-
ities which characterized the last years of Louis XIV. The
Abbe Chaulieu (1639-1720) earned the appeUation of the

FRENCH LITERATURE. 277

Anaoreon of the Temple, but he did not, like Rousseau, prosti-
tute poetry in strains of low debau(rhery.

The tragedians followed in the footsteps of Racine with more
or less success, and comedy continued, with some vigor, to rep-
resent the corrupt manners of the age. Le Sage (1668-1747)
applied his talent to romance; and, like Moliere, appreciated
human foUy without analyzing it. " Gil Bias " is a picture of
the human heart under the aspect at once of the vicious and the
ridiculous.

Fontenelle (1657-1757), a nephew of the great Corneille, is
regarded as the link between the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, he having witnessed the splendor of the best days of
Louis XIV., and lived long enough to see the greatest men of
the eighteenth century. He made his debut in tragedy, in
which, however, he found little encouragement. In his " Plu-
rality of Worlds," and " Dialogues of the Dead," there is much
that indicates the man of science. His other works are valued
rather for their delicacy and impartiality than for striking orig-
inality.

Lamotte (1672-1731) was more distinguished in criticism
than in any other sphere of authorship. He raised the standard
of revolt against the worship of antiquity, and would have de-
throned poetry itself on the ground of its inutility. Thus ske})-
ticism began by making established literary doctrines matters of
doubt and controversy. Before attacking more serious creeds
it fastened on literary ones.

Such is the picture presented by the earlier part of the eight-
eenth century. Part of the generation had remained attached
to the traditions of the great age. Others opened the path into
which the whole country was about to throw itself. The faith of
the nation in its political institutions, its religious and literary
creed, was shaken to its foundation ; the positive and palpable
began to engross every interest hitherto occupied by the ideal ;
and tills disposition, so favorable to the cultivation of science,
brought with it a universal spirit of criticism. The habit of
reflecting was generally diffused, people were not afraid to ex-
ercise their own judgment, every man had begim to have a
higher estimate of his own opinions, and to care less for those
hitherto received as undoubted authority. Still, literature had
not taken any jiositive direction, nor had there yet ajjpeared
men of sufficiently powerful genius to give it a decisive impulse.

2. Progress of Skepticism. — The first powerful attack on
the manners, institutions, and establisliments of Fi'ance. and in-
deed of Europe in general, is that contained in the " Persian
Letters" of the Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) ; in which,
under the transparent veil of pleasantries aimed at the Moslem

278 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

religion, he sought to consign to ridicule the belief in every spe-
cies of dogma. But the celebrity of Montesquieu is founded on
his " Spirit of Laws," the greatest monument of human genius
in the eighteenth century. It is a profound analysis of law in
its relation wnth government, customs, climate, reUgion, and com-
merce. The book is inspired with a spirit of justice and human-
ity ; but it places the mind too much under the dominion of
matter, and argues for necessity rather than liberty, thus de-
priving moral obligation of much of its absolute character. It
is an extraordinary specimen of argument, terseness, and erudi-
tion.

The maturity of the eighteenth century is found in Voltaire
(1694-1778) ; he was the personification of its rashness, its zeal,
its derision, its ardor, and its universality. In him nature had,
so to speak, identified the individual wdth the nation, bestowing
on him a character in the highest degree elastic, having lively
sensibility but no depth of passion, little system of principle or
conduct, but that promptitude of self-direction which supplies its
place, a quickness of perception amounting almost to intuition,
and an unexampled degree of activity, by which he was in some
sort many men at once. No wi'iter, even in the eighteenth cen-
tury, knew so many things or treated so many subjects. That
which was the ruin of some minds was the strength of his. Rich
in diversified talent and in the gifts of fortune, he proceeded to
the conquest of his age with the combined power of the highest
endowments under the most favorable circumstances. He was
driven again and again, as a moral pest, from the capital of
France by the powers that fain woidd have preserved the people
from his opinions, yet ever gaining ground, his wit always wel-
come, and his opinions gradually prevailing, one audacious senti-
ment after another broached, and branded with infamy, yet
secretly entertained, till the futile struggle was at length given
up. and the nation, as with one voice, avowed itself his disciple.

It has been said that Voltaire showed symptoms of infidelity
from infancy. When at college he gave way to sallies of wit,
mirth, and profanity which astonished his companions and terri-
fied his preceptors. He was twice imprisoned in the Bastile,
and many times obliged to fly from the country. In England
he became acquainted with Bolingbroke and all the most distin-
guished men of the time, and in the school of English philosophy
he learned to use argument, as well as ridicule, in his war with
religion. In 1740 we find him assisting Frederick the Great to
get up a refutation of Machiavelli ; again, he is appointed histo-
riographer of France, Gentleman of the Bed-chamber, and Mem-
ber of the Academy ; then he accepts an invitation to reside at
the Court of Prussia, where he soon quarrels with the king.

FRENCH LITERATURE. 279

A-fter many vicissitudes he finally })urchase(l the estate of Fer-
ney, near the Lake of Geneva, where he resided ilurin^r the rest
of his days. From this retreat he i)oured out an exhaustless var
riety of hooks, which were extensively circulated and eagerly ])e-
vused. He was the admiration of all the wits and philosophers
of P^urope, and numbered among his pupils and correspondents
some of the greatest sovereigns of the age. At the age of eighty-
four he again visited Paris. Here his levees were more crow ded
than those of any emperor; princes and j)eers thronged his
ante-chaml)er, and when he rode through the streets a train
attended lum which stretched far over the city. He was made
president of the Academy, and crowned with laurel at the
theatre, where his bust was placed on the stage and adorned
with palms and {garlands. He died soon after, ^vithout the
rites of the church, and was interred secretly at a Benedictine
abbey.

The national enthusiasm which decreed Voltaire, as he de-
scended to the tomb, such a triumph as might have honored a
benefactor of the race, gave place to doubt and disputation as
to his merits. In tragedy he is admitted to rank after Corneille
and Racine ; in " Zaire," which is his masterpiece, there is
neither the lofty conception of the one, nor the perfect versifica-
tion of the other, but there is a warmth of passion, an enthusi-
asm of feeling, and a gracefulness of expression which fascinate
and subdue. As an epic poet he has least sustained his renown ;
though the *' Henriade " has unquestionably some great beauties,
its machinery is tame, and the want of poetic illusion is severely
felt. His poetry, especially that of his later years, is by no
means so disgi-aceful to the author as the witticisms m prose, the
tales, dialogues, romances, and j)asquinades which were eagerly
sought for and readily furnished, and which are, with little ex-
ception, totally unworthy of an honorable man. As a historian,
Voltaire lacked reflection and patience for investigation. His
•' History of Charles XII.," however, was deservedly successful;
the reason being that he chose for his hero the most romantic
and adventurous of sovereigns, to describe whom there was more
need of rapid narrative and brilliant cohn-ing than of profound
knowledge and a just appreciation of human nature. In his his-
tory of the age of Louis XIV., Voltaire sought not only to pre-
sent a picture, but a series of researches destined to instruct the
memoi-y and exercise the judgment. The English historians,
imitating his mode, have surpassed him in erudition and philo-
sophic impartiality. Still later, his own countrymeji have car-
ried this species of writing to a high degree of perfection.
Throughout the '' Essay on the Manners of Nations " we find
ti'acea of that hatred of religion which he openly cherished in

280 ^HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the latter part of his life. The style, however, is pleasing, the
facts well arranged, and the portraits traced with originality and
vivacity.

Some have attributed to Voltaire the serious design of over-
turning the three great bases of society, religion, morality, and
civil government ; but he had not the genius of a philosopher,
and there is no system of philosophy in his works. That he had
a design to amuse and influence his age, and to avenge himself
on his enemies, is obvious enough. Envy and hatred employed
against him the weapons of religion, hence he viewed it only as
an instrument of persecution. His great powers of mind were
continually directed by the opinions of the times, and the desire
of jiopularity was his ruling motive. The character of his earlier
writings shows that he did not bring into the world a very in-
dependent spirit ; they display the lightness and frivolity of the
time with the submission of a courtier for every kind of authoi--
ity, but as his success increased everything encouraged him to
imbue his works with that spirit which found so general a wel-
come. In vain the authority of the civil government endeavored
to arrest the impulse which was gaining strength from day to
day ; in vain this director of the public mind was imprisoned and
exiled ; the farther he advanced in his career and the more au-
daciously he propagated his views on religion and government,
the more he was rewarded with the renown which he sought.
Monarchs became his friends and his flatterers ; opposition only
increased his energy, and made him often forget moderation and
good taste.

3. Frexch Literature during the Revolution". — The
names of Voltaire and Montesquieu eclipse all others in the first
half of the eighteenth century, but the influence of Voltaire was
by far the most immediate and extensive. After he had reached
the zenith of his glory, about the middle of the century, there
appeared in France a display of various talent, evoked by his
example and trained by his instructions, yet boasting an inde-
pendent existence. In the works of these men was consum-
mated the literary revolution of which we have marked the be-
ginnings, a revolution more striking than any other ever wit-
nessed in the same space of time. It was no longer a few
eminent men that surrendered themselves boldly to the skeptical
philosophy which is the grand characteristic of the eighteenth
century ; writers of inferior note followed in the same path ; the
new opinions took entire possession of all literature and coop-
erated with the state of the morals and the government to bring
about a fearful revolution. The whole strength of the literature
of this age being directed towards the subversion of the nationaj
institutions and religion, formed a homogeneous body of science,

FRENCH LITERATURE. 281

fiterature, and the arts, and a compact phalanx of all writers
under the common name of ])hilosophers. Women had their
share in the maintenance of this league ; the salons of Mesdames
du Deffand (1690-1780), Geoffrin (b. 1777), and De I'Espinasse
(1732-1776) were its favorite resorts ; but the great rendezvous
was that of the Baron d'Holbach, whence its doctrines spread
far and Avide, blasting, like a malaria, whatever it met with on
its way that had any connection with religion, morals, or vener-
able social customs. Besides Voltaire, who presided over this
coterie, at least in spirit, the daily company included Diderot, an
enthusiast by nature and a cynic and sophist by profession ;
D'Alembert, a genius of the first order in mathematics, though
less distinguished in literature ; the malicious Marjnontel, the
philosopher Helvetius, the Abbe Raynal, the furious enemy of
all modern institutions ; the would-be sentimentalist Grimm, and
D'Holbach himself. Hume, Gibbon, Bolingbroke, and others
were affiliated members. Their plan was to write a book which
would in some sense supersede all others, itself forming a li-
brary containing the most recent discoveries in philosophy, and
the best explanations and details on every topic, literary and
scientific.

The project of this great enterprise of an Encyclopaedia as an
immense vehicle for the development of the opinions of the phi-
losophers, alarmed the government, and the parliament and the
clergy^ pronounced its condemnation. The philosophy of Des-
cartes and the eminent thinkers of the seventeenth century as-
sumed the soul of man as the starting-point in the investigation
of physical science. The men of the eighteenth century had be-
come tired of following out the sublimities and abstractions of
the Cartesians, and they took the opposite course ; beginning
from sensation, they did not stop short of the grossest material-
ism and positive atheism.

Such were the principles of the Encyclopaedia, more fully de-
veloped and explained in the writings of Condillac (1715-1780),
the head of this school of philosophy. His first work, " On the
Origin of Human Knowledge," contains the germ of all that he
afterwards published. In his " Treatise on Sensation," he en-
deavored, but in vain, to derive the notion of duty from sensa-
tion, and ex])ert as he was in logic, he could not conceal the
great gidf which his theory left between these two terms. Few
writers have enjoyed more success ; he brought the science of
thought within the reach of the vulgar by stripping it of everj'-
thing elevated, and every one was surprised and delighted to
find that philosophy was so easy a thing. Having determined
not to establish morality on any innate principles of the soul,
these philosophers founded it on the fact common to all animated

£82 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

nature, the feeling of self-interest. Already deism had rejected
the evidence of a divine revelation. Now atheism raised a more
audacious front, and proclaimed that all religious sentiment was
hut the reverie of a disordered mind. The works in which this
opinion is most expressly announced, date from the period of the
Encyclopaedia.

D'Alembert (1717-1773) is now cliiefly known as the author
of the preliminary discourse of the Encyclopaedia, which is
ranked among the principal works of the age.

Diderot (1714-1784), had he devoted himself to any one
sphere, instead of wandering about in the chaos of opinions
which rose and perished around him, might have left a lasting
reputation, and posterity, instead of merely repeating his name,
would have spoken of his w^orks. He may be regarded as a
writer injurious at once to literature and to morals.

The most faithful disciple of the philosophy of tliis period was
Helvetius (1715-1771), known chiefly by his work, "On the
Mind," the object of which is to prove that physical sensibility
is the origin of all our thoughts. Of all the writers who main-
tained this opinion, none have represented it in so gross a man-
ner. His work was condemned by the Sorbonne, the pope^ and '
the parliament ; it was burned by the hand of the hangman, and
the author was compelled to retract it.

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was a writer who
marched under none of the recognized banners of the day. The
Encyclopaedists had flattered themselves that they had tuned the
opinion of all Europe to their philosophical strain, when sud-
denly they heard his discordant note. Without family, without
friends, without home, wandering from place to place, from one
condition in life to another, he conceived a species of revolt
against society, and a feeling of bitterness against those civil
organizations in which he could never find a suitable place. He
combated the atheism of the Encyclopaedists, their materialism
and contempt for moral virtue, for pure deism was his creed.
He believed in a Supreme Being, a future state, and the excel-
lence of virtue, but denying all revealed religion, he would have
men advance in the paths of virtue, freely and proudly, from
love of virtue itself, and not from any sense of duty or obliga-
tion. In the " Social Contract " he traced the principles of gov-
ernment and laws in the nature of man, and endeavored to show
the end which they proposed to themselves by living in commu-
nities, and the best means of attaining this end.

The two most notable works of Rousseau are " Julie," or the
" Nouvelle Heloise," and " Emile." The former is a kind of
romance, owing its interest mainly to development of character,
and not to incident or plot. Emile embodies a system of educa-

FRENCH LITERATURE. 283

tion In which the author's thoughts are diijestecl and arranged.
He gives himself an inuigiiuiry pupil, the representative of that
life of spontaneous development which was the writer's ideal.
In this work there is an episode, the " Savoyard Vicar's Confes-
sion of Faith," which is a declaration of pure deism, leveled es-
pecially against the errors of Catliolicism. It raised a perfect
tempest against the author from every quarter. The council of
Geneva caused his hook to he burned by the executioner, and
the parliament of Paris threatened him with imprisonment.
Under these circumstances he wrote his " Confessions," which
he believed would vindicate him before the world. The reader,
who may expect to find this book abounding with at least as
nuich virtue as a man may possess wdthout Clu-istian principle,
will find in it not a single feature of greatness ; it is a proclama-
tion of disagreeable faults ; and yet he would persuade us that
he was virtuous, by giving the clearest proofs that he was not.

To the names of Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau, must
be added that of Buffon (1707-1788), and we have the four
writers of this age who left all their contemporaries far behind.
. Butfon having been appointed superintendent of the Jardin des
Plantes, and having enriched this fine establishment, and gath-
ered into it, from all parts of the world, various ])roductions of
nature, conceived the project of comj)osing a natural history,
which should embrace the whole inunensity of being, animate
and inanimate. He first laid down the theory of the earth, then
treated the natural history of nuin, afterwards that of viviparous
(juadrupeds and birds. The first volumes of his work appeared
in 1749 ; the most important of the supplementaiy matter which
followed was the '' Epochs of Nature." He gave incredible at-
tention to his style, and Is one of the most brilliant writers of
the eighteenth century. No naturalist has ever equaled him in
the magnificence of his theories, or the animation of his descrij)-
tlons of the manners and habits of animals. It is said that he
wrote the " Epochs of Nature " eleven times over. He not only
recited his com])ositions aloud, in order to judge of the rhythm
and cadence, but he made a point of being in full dress before
he sat down to wTite, believing that the splendor of his habili-
ments inq)ressed his language with that pomp and elegance
which he so much admired, and which Is his distinguishing char-
acteristic. Butt'on, while maintaining friendship with the cele-
brated men of his age, did not identify himself with the pai'ty of
the encyclopaedists, or the sects Into which they were divided.
But he lived among men who deemed physical nature alone
worthy of study, and the wits of the age who had succeeded in
discovering how a Supreme Being might be disjiensed with.
Buffon evaded the subject entirelj', and amid all his lofty soar-

284 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

ings showed no disposition to rise to the Great First Cause.
After his time, science lost its contemplative and poetical char-
acter, and acquired that of intelligent observation. It became
a practical thing, and entered into close alliance with the arts.
The arts and sciences, thus combined, became the glory of
France, as Uterature had been in the preceding age.

The declining years of Voltaire and Rousseau witnessed no
rising genius of similar power, but some authors of a secondary
rank deserve notice. Marmontel (1728-1799) is distinguished
as the writer of " Belisarius," a philosophical romance, " Moral
Tales," and " Elements of Literature." He endeavors to lead
his readers to the enjoyments of literature, instead of detaining
them with frigid criticisms.

La Harpe (1739-1803) displayed great eloquence in literary
criticism, and some of his works maintain their place, though
they have little claim to originality.

Many writers devoted themselves to history, but the spirit of
French philosophy was uncongenial to this species of composi-
tion, and the age does not afford one remarkable historian. The
fame of the Abbe Raynal (1718-1796) rests chiefly on his "His-
tory of the Two Indies." It is difficult to conceive how a sober
man could have arrived at such delirium of opinion, and how he
could so complacently exhibit principles which tended to over-
throw the whole system of society. Scarcely a crime was com-
mitted during the revolution, with which this century closes, but
could find its advocate in this declaimer. When, however, Ray-
nal found himself in the midst of the turmoils he had suggested,
he behaved with justice, moderation, and courage ; thus proving
that his opinions were not the result of experience.

The days of true religious eloquence were past ; faith was ex-
tinct among the greater part of the community, and cold and
timid among the rest. Preachers, in deference to their audi-
ence, kept out of view whatever was purely religious, and en-
larged on those topics which coincided with mere human moral-
ity. Religion was introduced only as an accessory which it was
necessary to disguise skillfully, in order to escape derision.^ Gen-
uine pulpit eloquence was out of the question under these circum-
stances.

Forensic eloquence had been improving in simplicity and seri-
ousness since the commencement of the eighteenth century, and
men of the law were now led by the circumstances of the times
to trace out universal principles, rather than to discuss isolated
facts. The eloquence of the bar thus acquired more extensive
influence ; the measures of the government converted it into a
hostile power, and it furnished itself with weapons of reason and
erudition which had not been thought of before.

FRENCH LITERATURE. 285

We come now close upon the epoch when the national spirit
was no lon<,'er to be traced in books, but in actions. The reign
of Louis XV. had been marked with general disorder, and while
he was sinking into the grave, amid the scorn of the people, the
magistrates were ])unished for o})posing the royal authority, and
tlie i)ublic were indignant at the arbitrary proceeding, lieau-
marchais (1732-1799) became the organ of tliis feeling, and his
memoirs, like his comedies, are replete with enthusiasm, cyn-
icism, and buffoonery. Literature was never so popiUar ; it was
regarded as the universal and powerful instrument which it be-
hooved every man to possess. All grades of society were filled
with authors and pliilosophers ; the public mind was tending to-
wards some change, without knowing wluit it would have ; from
the monarch on the tlu-one to the lowest of the people, all per-
ceived the utter discordance that prevailed between existing
opinions and existing institutions.

In the midst of the dull nuirmur wliich announced the ap-
proaching storm, literature, as though its work of agitation had
been completed, took up the shepherd's reed for public amuse-
ment. " Posterity would scarcely believe," says an eminent his-
torian, "that 'Paul and Virginia' and the 'Indian Cottage ' were
composed at this juncture by Bernardin de St. Pierre (1737-
1814), as also the ' Fables of Florian,' wliich are the only ones
that have been considered readable since those of La Fontaine."
About the same time ai)peared the " Voyage of Anacharsis," in
which the Abbe Barthelemy (1716-1795) embodied his erudi-
tion in an attractive form, presenting a lively picture of Greece
in the time of Pericles.

Among the more moral writers of this age was Necker
(1732-1804), the financial minister of Louis XVI., who inain-
tained the cause of religion against the torrent of public opinion
in works distinguished for delicacy and elevation, seriousness
and elegance.

When the storm at length burst, the country was exposed to
every kind of revolutionary tyranny. The first actors in the
work of destruction were, for the most part, actuated by good
intentions ; but these were soon superseded by men of a lower
class, envious of all distinctions of rank and deeply imbued with
the spirit of the i)hilosophers. Some derived, from the writings
of Rousseau, a hatreil of everything above them ; others had
taken from Mably his admiration of the ancient rei)ublics of
Greece and Rome, and would reproduce them in France ; othei-s
Jiad borrowed from Raynal the rovolntionary torch which he
had lighted for the destruction of all institutions ; others, edu-
cated in the atheistic fanaticism of Diderot, trembled with, rage
at the very name of a priest or religion ; and thus the R«volu-

286 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

tion was gradually handed over to the guidance of passion and
personal interest.

In hurrying past these years of anarchy and bloodshed, we
cast a glance upon the poet, Andre Chenier (1762-1794), who
dared to write against the excesses of his countrymen, in conse-
quence of wliich he was cited before the revolutionary tribunal,
condemned, and executed.

4. Frexch Literature under the Empire. — Napoleon,
on the establishment of the empire, gave great encouragement to
the arts, but none to literature. Books were in little request ;
old editions were sold for a fraction of their original price ; but
new works were dear, because the demand for them was so
limited. When literature again lifted its head, it appeared that
in the chaos of events a new order of thought had been gen-
erated. The feelings of the people were for the freer forms of
modern literature, introduced by Madame de Stael and Chateau-
briand, rather than the ancient classics and the French models
of the seventeenth century.

Madame de Stael (1766-1817) has been pronounced by the
general voice to be among the greatest of all female authors.
She was early introduced to the society of the cleverest men in
Paris, with whom her father's house was a favorite resort ; and
before she was twelve years of age, such men as Raynal, Mar-
montel, and Grimm used to converse with her as though she
were twenty, calling out her ready eloquence, inquiring into her
studies, and recommending new books. She thus imbibed a taste
for society and distinction, and for bearing her part in the brill-
iant conversation of the salon. At the age of twenty she became
the wife of the Baron de Stael, the Swedish minister at Paris.
On her return, after the Reign of Terror, Madame de Stael be-
came the centre of a political society, and her drawing-rooms were
the resort of distinguished foreigners, ambassadors, and authors.
On the accession of Napoleon, a mutual hostility arose between
him and this celebrated woman, which ended in her banishment
and the suppression of her works.

" The Six Years of Exile " is the most simple and interesting
of her productions. Her " Considerations on the French Revo-
lution " is the most valuable of her political articles. Among her
works of fiction, " Corinne " and " Delphine " have had the Iiigh-
est popularity. But of all her writings, that on " Germany " is
considered worthy of the highest rank, and it was cahnUated to
influence most beneficially the literature of her country, by open-
ing to the rising generation of France unknown treasures of lit-
erature and philosophy. Writers like Delavigne, Lamartine,
Beranger, De Vigny, and Victor Hugo, though in no respect
imitators of Madame de Stael, are probably much indebted t«
her for the stimulus to originality which her writings afforded.

FRENCH [JTERATURE. 287

Another female author, who lived, like IMadame de Stael
through the Revolution, and exercised an influence on jjuhlic
events, was Madame de Genlis (174(3-1«.)0). Her works,
which extend to at least eighty volumes, are chiefly educational
treatises, moral tales, and historical romances. Her ])olitical
power depended rather on her private influence in the Orleans
family than upon her i)en.

Chateauhriand (1769-1848) must he placed side by side with
Madame de Stael, as another of those brilliant and versatile
geniuses who have dazzled the eyes of their countrymen, and
exerted a permanent influence on French literature. While the
eighteenth century had used against religion all the weaijons of
ridicule, he defended it by poetry and romance. Christianity he
considered the most poetical of all religions, the most attractive,
the most fertile in literary, social, and artistic results, and he de-
velops his theme with every advantage of language and style in
the " Genius of Christianity " and the "Martyrs." Some of the
characteristics of Chateaubriand, however, have produced a seri-
ously injurious effect on French literature, and of these the most
contagious and corrupting is his passion for the glitter of words
and the pageantry of high-sounding phrases.

The salutary reaction against skepticism, ])roduced in litera-
ture by Madame de Staiil and Chateaubriand was carried into
philosophy by Maine de Biran (1706-1824), and more particu-
larly by Royer-Collard (1763-1846) who took a decided stand
against the school of Condillac and the nuiterialists of the eight-
eenth century. Royer-Collard restored its spiritual character to
the science of the human mind, by introducing into it the i)sy-
chological discoveries of the Scotch school. Benjamin Constant
(1767-1830) infused into juditical science a spirit of freedom be-
fore quite unknown. In his works he attempted to limit the au-
thority of the government, to build up society on personal free-
dom, and on the guaranties of individual right. His writings
combine extraordinary power of logic with great variety and
beauty of style.

Proceeding in another direction, Bonald (1753-1846) opposed
the spirit of the French Revolution, by establishing the authority
of the church as the only criterion of truth and morality. As
Rousseau had i)laced sovereign power in the will of the people,
Bonald placed it in that of God, as it is manifested to man
through language and revelation, and of this revelation he re-
garded the Catholic church as the inter]>reter. He develoi)s his
doctrines in numerous works, es])ecially in his " Primitive Legis-
lation," which is characterized by boldness, dogmatism, sophistry
m argument, and by severity and ])urity of style.

The peculiarities of Bonald were carried still farther by De

288 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Maistre (1755-1852), whose hatred of the Revolution led him
into the system of an absolute theocracy, such as was dreamed of
by Gregory VII. and Innocent III.

5. French Literature from the Restoration to the
Present Time. — The influences already spoken of, in connection
with the literary progress which began in Germany and England
towards the close of the eighteenth century, produced in the. be-
ginning of the nineteenth century a revival in French literature ;
but the conflict of opinions, the immense number of authors, and
their extraordinary fecundity, render it difficult to examine or
classify them. AVe first notice the great advances in history and
biography. Among the earlier specimens may be mentioned the
voluminous works of Sismondi and the "Biographic Universelle,"
in fifty-two closely printed volumes, the most valuable body of
biography that any modern literature can boast. Since 1830,
historians and literary critics have occupied the foreground in
French literature. The historians have divided themselves into
two schools, the descrijjtive and the philosophical. With the one
class history consists of a narration of facts in connection with a
picture of manners, bringing scenes of the past vividly before
the mind of the reader, leaving him to deduce general truths from
the particular ones brought before him. The style of these writ-
ers is simple and manly, and no opinions of their own shine
through their statements. The chief representatives of this class,
who regard Sir Walter Scott as their master, are Thierry, Ville-
main, Barante, and in historical sketches and novels, Dumas and
De Vigny.

The philosophical school, on the other hand, consider this
scenic narrative more suitable to romance than to history ; they
seek in the events of the past the chain of causes and effects in
order to arrive at general conclusions which may direct the con-
duct of men in the future. At the head of this school is Guizot
(1787-1876), who has developed his historical views in his es-
says on the " History of France," and more particu'arly in his
" History of European Civilization," in which he points out the
origin of modern civilization, and follows the progress of the
human mind from the fall of the Roman Empire. The philo-
sophical historians have been again divided according to their
different theories, but the most eminent of them are those whom
Chateaubriand calls fatalists ; men who, having surveyed tho
course of public events, have come to the conclusion that indi-
vidual character has had little influence on the political destinies
of mankind, that there is a general and inevitable series of events
which regularly succeed each other with the certainty of cause
and effect, and that it is as easy to trace it as it is impossible to
resist or divert it from its course. A tendency to these views ia

FRENCH LITERATURE. 289

visible in almost every French historian and philosopher of the
present time. The ])hilosophy of history thus grounded has, in
their hands, assumed the asj)ect of a science.

History. — Among the celebrated writers who have combined
the philosophical and narrative styles are the brothers Amadee
and Augustine Tliierry (1787-1873), (1795-1856), who pro-
duced a " History of the Gauls," of " The Norman Conc^uest,"
and other excellent works ; Sismondi (1773-1842), whose history
of the " Italian Republics " and of the " French People " are
characterized by mimense erudition; Thiers (1797-1877), whose
clearness of style is combined with comprehensiveness and elo-
quence ; Mignet (1796-1884), celebrated for his history of the
French Revolution. The voluminous " History of France," by
Henri Martin (1810-1884), is perhaps the best and most im-
portant work treating the whole subject in detail.

The downfall of the July Monarchy brought forth works of
importance on this subject, the most noted of which are those
by Lamartine, Michelet, and Louis Blanc. Laniartine's " His-
tory of the GIrondins " was written from a constitutional and re-
publican point of view, and was not without influence in produc-
ing the Revolution of 1848, but it is the work of an orator and
poet rather than that of a historian. The historical and political
works of Michelet (1778-1873) are of a more original character ;
his imaginative powers are of the highest order, and his style is
striking and picturesque. The work of Louis Blanc (1813—
1883) is that of a sincere and ardent republican, and is useful
from that point of view, as is that of Quinet (1803-1875).
Lanfrey places the character of Napoleon in a new and far from
favorable light. Taine, so distinguished in literary criticism, has
discussed elaborately the causes of the Revolution.

Poetry and the Drama; Rise of the Romaxtic School.
— During the Middle Ages men of letters followed each other
in the cultivation of certain literary forms, often with little re-
gard to their adaptation to the subject. The vast extension of
thought and knowledge in the sixteenth century broke up the
old forms and introduced the practice of treating each sub-
ject in a manner more or less a})proprlate to it. The seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed a return to the ob-
servance of arbitrary rules, though the evil effects were some-
what counterbalanced by the enlargement of thought and the
increasing knowledge of other literature, ancient and modern.
The great Romantic movement, which began in the second quar-
ter of the nineteenth century, repeated on a larger scale the
movement of the sixteenth to break up .-uul discard many stiff
and useless literary forms, to give strength and variety to such

as were retained, and to enrich the language by new inventions
19

290 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

and revivals. The supporters of this reform long maintained
an animated controversy with the adherents of the classical
school, and it was only after several years that the younger com-
batants came out victorious. The objects of the school were so
violently opposed that the king was petitioned to forbid the ad-
mission of any Romantic drama at the Theatre Fran^ais, the
petitioners asserting that the object of their adversaries was to
burn everything that had been adored and to adore everything
that had been burned. The representation of Victor Hugo's
" Hernani " was the culmination of the struggle, and since that
time all the greatest men of letters in France have been on the
innovating side. In belles-lettres and history the result has
been most remarkable. Obsolete rules which had so long regu-
lated the French stage have been abolished ; poetry not dramatic
has been revived ; prose romance and literary criticism have
been brought to a degree of perfection previously unknown ; and
in history more various and remarkable works have been pro-
duced than ever before, while the modern French language, if
it lacks the precision and elegance to which from 1680 to 1800
all else had been sacrificed, has become a much more suitable in-
strument for the accurate and copious treatment of scientific
subjects. At the time of the accession of Charles X. (1824),
the only WT-iters of eminence were Bei'anger (1780-1857), La-
martine (1790-1869), and Lamennais (1782-1854), and they
mark the transition between the old and new. Beranger was
the poet of the people ; most of his earlier compositions were
political, extolling the greatness of the fallen empire or bewail-
ing the low state of France under the restored dynasty. They
were received with enthusiasm and sung fi'om one end of the
country to the other. His later songs exhibit a not unpleasing
change fi-om the audacious and too often licentious tone of his
earlier days. In the hands of Lamartine the language, softened
and harmonized, loses that clear epigi'ammatic expression
which, before him, had appeared inseparable from French po-
etry. His works are pervaded by an earnest religious feeling
and a rare delicacy of expression. " Jocelyn," a romance in
verse, the " Meditations," and " Harmonies " are among his best
works.

Victor Hugo (d. 1885) at the age of twenty-five was the ac-
knowledged master in poetry as in the drama, and tliis position he
still holds. In liim all the Romantic (characteristics are expressed
and embodied, — disregard of arbitrary rules, free choice of
sul)jects, variety and vigor of metre, and beauty of diction.
His poetical influence has been represented in three different
schools, corresponding in point of time with the first outburst of
the movement, a brief period of reaction, and the closing years

FRENCH LITERATURE. 291

of the second empire. Of the first, Th^ophile Gautier (1811-
1872) was the most distinguished member. The next generar
tion produced those remarkable j)oets, Theodore de Banville
(b. 1820), who composed a large amount of verse faultless in
form and exquisite in shade and color, but so neutral in tone
that it has found few admirers, and Charles Baudelaire (1821—
1867), who offends by the choice of unpopular subjects and the
terrible truth of his analysis.

The poems of De Vigny are sweet and elegant, though
somewhat lacking in the energy belonging to lyric composition.
Those of Alfred de Musset (1800-1857) are among the finest
in the language.

The Gascon poet Jasmin has produced a good deal of verse
in the western dialect of the Langue (Toe, and recently a more
ciUtivated and literary school of poets has arisen in Provence,
the chief of whom is Mistral.

The effect of the Romantic movement on the drama has been
the introduction of a species of play called the drame, as op-
posed to regular comedy and tragedy, and admitting of freer
treatment. Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas (1803-1874), Vic-
torien Sardou (b. 1831), Alexandre Dumas fils (d. 1895), Le-
gouv^ (b. 1807), Scribe (1791-1861), Octave Feuillet (d. 1890),
have produced works of this class.

The literature of France during the last generation has been
prolific in dramas and romances, all of which indicate a chaos
of oi)inion. It is not professedly infidel, like tliat of the eight-
eenth century, nor professedly pietistic. like that of the seven-
teenth. It seems to have no general aim, the oi)inions and
efforts of the authors being seldom consistent with themselves
for any length of time. No one can deny that this literature en-
gages the reader's most intense interest by the seductive sagacity
of the movement, the variety of incident, and the most })erfect
command of those means calculated to produce certain ends.

In 1866 appeared a collection of poems, '' Le Parnasse Con-
tem})orain," which included contributions of many ])oets already
named, and of others unknown. Two other collections fol-
lowed, one in 1869 and one in 1876, by numerous contributors,
who have mostly j)ublished separate works. They are called
collectively, half seriously and half in derision, " Les Parnas-
siens." Their cardinal principle is a devotion to poetry as an
art, with diversity of aim and subject. Of these, Coppee de-
votes himself to domestic and social subjects ; Louise Siefert
indulges in the ])oetry of despair ; Glatigny excels all in indi-
viduality of poetical treatment. The Parnassiens number three
or four score poets ; the average of their work is high, though in
Hone can be assigned the first rank.

292 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Fiction. — Previous to 1830 no writer of fiction had formed
a school, nor had this form of literature been cultivated to any
great extent. From the immense influence of Walter Scott, or
from other causes, there suddenly appeared a remarkable group
of novehsts, Hugo, Gautier, Dumas, M^rimee, Balzac, George
Sand, Sandeau, Charles de Bernard, and others scarcely inferior.
It is remarkable that the excellence of the first group has been
maintained by a new generation, Murger, About, Feuillet, Flau-
bert, Erckmann-Chatrian, Droz, Daudet, Cherbuliez, Gaboriau,
Dumas ^Zs, and others.

During this period the romance-writing of France has taken
two different directions. The first, that of the novel of incident,
of which Scott was the model ; the second, that of analysis and
character, illustrated by the genius of Balzac and George Sand.
The stories of Hugo are novels of incident with ideal character
painting. Dumas's works are dramatic in character and charm-
ing for their brilliancy and wit. His " Trois Mousquetaires "
and " Monte Cristo " are considered his best novels. Of a
similar kind are the novels of Eugfene Sue. Both writers were
followed by a crowd of companions and imitators. The taste
for the novel of incident, which had nearly died out, was re-
newed in another form, with the admixture of domestic interest,
by the literary partners, Erckmann-Chatrian.

Th^ophile Gautier modified the incident novel in many short
tales, a kind of writing for which the French have always been
famous, and of which the writings of Gautier were masterpieces.
With him may be classed Prosper M^rimee (1803—1871), one
of the most exquisite masters of the language.

Since 1830 the tendency has been towards novels of contem-
porary life. The two great masters of" the novel of character
and manners, as opposed to that of history and incident, are
Honor^ de Balzac (1799-1850) and Aurore Dudevant, com-
monly called George Sand (d. 1876), whose early writings are
strongly tinged with the spirit of revolt against moral and social
arrangements ; later she devoted herself to studies of country
life and manners, involving bold sketches of character and dra-
matic situations. One of the most remarkable characteristics of
her work is the apparently inexhaustible imagination with which
she continued to the close of her long life to pour forth many
volumes of fiction year after year. Balzac, as a writer, was
equally productive. In the " Comedie Humaine " he attempted
to cover the whole ground of human, or at least of French life,
and the success he attained was remarkable. The influence of
these two writers affected the entire body of those who suc-
ceeded them with very few exceptions. Among these are Jules
Sandeau, whose novels are distinguished by minute character*
drawing in tones of a sombre hue.

FRENCH LITERATURE. 293

Saintine, the author of " Picciola," Mme. Craven (R^cit
d'une Soeur), Henri Beyle, who, under the 7iom de plume of
Stendhal, wrote the " Chartreuse de Parme," a powerfid novel
of the analytical kind, and Henri Murger, a painter of Bo-
hemian Ufe. Octave Feuillet has attained great popularity
in romances of fashionable life. Gustave Flaubert (d. 1880),
with great acuteness and knowledge of human nature, combines
scholarship and a power over the language not surpassed by any
writer of the century. J^dmond About (d. 1885) is distinguished
by his refined wit. One of the most popular writers of the
second empire is Ernest Feydeau (1821-1874), a writer of great
ability, but morbid and affected in the choice and treatment of
his subjects. Of late, many writers of the realist school have
striven to outdo their predecessors in carrying out the princi-
ples of Balzac ; among these are Gaboriau, Cherbuliez, Droz,
Bclot, Alphonse Daudet.

Criticism. — Previous to the Romantic movement in France
the office of criticism had been to compare all literary produc-
tions with certain established rules, and to judge them accord-
ingly. The theory of the new school was, that a work should
be judged by itself alone or by the author's ideal. The great
master of this school was Sainte-Beuve (1804-1869), who pos-
sessed a rare combination of great and accurate learning, com-
pass and profundity of thought, and above all sympathy in judg-
ment. Hij)poIyte Taine (d. 1893), the most brilliant of recent
French critics, Tlniophile Gautier, Arsene Houssaye, Jules Janiu
(tl. 1874), Sarcey, and others, are distinguished in this branch
of letters.

Miscellaneous. — Among earlier writers of the nineteenth
century are Sismondi, whose " Literature of Southern P^nrope "
remains without a rival, the work of Ginguene on " Italian
Literature," and of Renouard on '' Provencal Poetry." In intel-
lectual philosophy Jouffroy and Damiron continued the work
begun by Royer-CoUard, that of destroying the influence of sen-
sualism and materialism. The philosophical writings of Cousin
(1792-1867) are models of didactic prose, and in his work on
•' The Beautiful, True, and Good " he raises the science of
aesthetics to its highest dignity. Lamennais (1782-1854) exhib-
its in his writings various j)hases of religious thought, ending in
rationaUsm. Comte (1798-1857), in his "• Positive Philosophy,"
shows power of generalization and force of logic, though tending
to atheism and socialism. De Tocqueville and Chevalier are
distinguished in political science, the former particularly for his
able work on '■ Democracy in America." Renan (d. 1892) is a
prominent name in theological writing, and IVIontalembert (1810-
1870) a historian with strong religious tendencies.

294 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Among the orators Lacordaire, Pere F^lix, Pere Hyacinthe,
and Coquerel are best known.

Among the women of France distinguished for their literary
abilities are Mme. Durand, who, under the name of Henri
Gr^ville, has given, in a series of tales, many charming pictures
of Russian life, MUe. Clarisse Bader, who has produced valuable
historical works on the condition of women in aU ages, and Mme.
Adam, a brilliant writer and journalist.

In science, Pasteur and Milne-Edwards hold the first rank in
biology, Paul Bert in physiology, and Quatrefages in authi-opol*

The dominant fact in French literature of late years, accord-
ing to Professor Dowden, has been "the scientific influence,
turning poetry from romantic egoism to objective art, directing
the novel and the drama to naturalism and to the study of social
environments, informing history and criticism with the spirit
of curiosity, and prompting research for laws of evolution."
Among modern masters of fiction Pierre Loti would appear to
have escaped this influence. His mood is one of tolerant pes-
simism which finds expression in the vivid contrasting of the
hyper-civilized and the savage or primitive, as in " The Mar-
riage of Loti," and " Madame Butterfly." Provost also has
shown a reaction toward romance, and is especially clever in the
analysis of feminine character. Analysis, whether by the minute
dry method of Maupassant, or the full and sensuous method
of Bourget, the genial and spontaneous process of Daudet, or
the methodical and thorough-going process of Zola, has been
the characteristic of late fiction. Yet this scientific spirit has
something to do with the present artistic decadence — the litera-
ture of symbolism, of whatever coterie, has sprung, whether
directly or by reaction, from the naturalistic movement.

The literary drama has maintained its standard in France
more successfully than elsewhere, except in Germany. The
work of Sardou and Rostand is at once fit for acting and fit
for reading. Among minor playwrights who have accomplished
more than the success of esteem are Brieux, Lavadan, and Meu-
rice. In criticism France has continued to lead the world with
such names as Darmesteter, Faguet, Rod, and Brunetifere.

SPANISH LITERATURE.

iNTROnncnoN. — 1. Spanish Literature and its Divisions. — 2. Tlie Language.

Peki(>[i First. — 1. Karly National Literature; the Poem of the Cid ; Berceo, Alfonso
the Wise, Segura ; Don Juan Manuel, the Arclipriest of Hita, Santob, Ayala. — 2. Old
Ballads. — 3. The Chronicles. — 4. Romances of Chivalry. — 5. The Drama. — G. Provenijiil
Literature in Spain. — 7. The Intiuence of Italian Literature in Spain. — 8. The Cau-
cioueros and Prose Writing. — 9. The Inquisition.

Pkiuod Second. — 1. The Effect of Intolerance on Letters. — 2. Influence of Italy on
Spanish Literature ; Boscan, Oarcilasso de la Vega, Diego de Mendoza. — 3. History ;
Cortez, Goiuara, Oviedo, Las Casas. — 4. The Drama, Rueda, Lope de Vega, Calderon
de la Barca. — 5. Romances and Tales ; Cervantes, and other Writers of Fiction. — 6. His-
torical Narrative Poems; Ercilla. — 7. Lyric Poetry; the Argensolas; Luis de Leon,
Quevedo, Herrera, Gongora, and others. — 8. Satirical and other Poetry. — 9. History and
other Prose Writing ; Zurita, Mariana, Sandoval, and others.

Pf:rioi) Thiui). — 1. French Influence ou the Literature of Spain. — 2. The Dawn of
Spaiiisli Literature in the Kighteeutli Century ; Feyjoo, Isla, Moratin the elder, Yriarte,
Meleudez, Gonzalez, Quintana, Moratin the younger. — 3. Spanish Literature in the Nine-
teenth Century.

INTRODUCTION.

1. Spanish Literature and its Divisions. — At the pe-
riod of the subversion of the Empire of the West, in the fifth
century, Spain was invaded by the Suevi, the Alans, the Van-
dals, and the Visigoths. The country which had for six centu-
ries been 8u])jected to the dominion of the Romans, and had
adopted the language and arts of its masters, now experienced
those changes in manners, opinions, military spirit, and language,
which took place in the other provinces of the empire, and which
were, in fact, the origin of the nations wdiich arose on the over-
throw of the Roman power. Among the conquerors of Spain,
the Visigoths were the most numerous ; the ancient Roman sub-
jects were speedily confounded with tliem, and their dominion
soon extended over nearly the whole country. In the year 710
the peninsula was invaded by the Arabs or Moors, and from
that time the active and incessant struggles of the Spanish Chris-
tians against the invaders, and their necessary contact with Ara-
bian civilization, began to elicit s])arks of intellectual energy.
Indeed, the first utterance of that popular feeling which became
the foundation of the national literature was heard in the midst
of that extraordinary contest, which lasted for more than seven
centuries, so that the earliest Spanish poetry seems but a breath-
ing of the energy and heroism which, at the time it a])peared,
animated the Spanish Cliristians throughout the ])eiiinsula. Over-
whelmed by the Moors, they did not entirely yield ; a small but
valiant band, retreating before the fiery pursuit of their enemies.

296 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

established themselves in the extreme northwestern portion of
their native land, amidst the mountains and the fastnesses of
Biscay and Asturias, while the others remained under the yoke
of the conquerors, adopting, in some degree, the manners and
habits of the Arabians. On the destruction of the caliphat of
Cordova, in the year 1031, the dismemberment of the Moslem
territories into petty independent kingdoms, often at variance
■with each other, afforded the Christians a favorable opportunity
of reconquering their country. One after another the Moorish
states fell before them. The Moors were driven farther and
farther to the south, and by the middle of the thirteenth century
they had no dominion in Spain except the kingdom of Granada,
which for two centuries longer continued the splendid abode of
luxury and magnificence.

As victory inclined more and more to the Spanish arms, the
Castilian dialect rapidly grew into a vehicle adequate to express
the pride and dignity of the prevailing people, and that enthu-
siasm for liberty which was long their finest characteristic. The
poem of the Cid eaily appeared, and in the thirteenth century a
numerous family of romantic ballads followed, all glowing with
heroic ardor. As another epoch drew near, the lyric form be-
gan to predominate, in which, however, the wann expressions of
the Spanish heart were restricted by a fondness for conceit and
allegoiy. The rudiments of the drama, religious, pastoral, and
satiric, soon followed, marked by many traits of original thought
and talent. Thus the course of Sjianish literature proceeded,
animated and controlled by the national character, to the end of
the fifteenth century.

In the sixteenth, the original genius of the Spaniards, and their
proud consciousness of national greatness, conti'ibuted to the
maintenance and improvement of their literature in the face of
the Inquisition itself. Released by the conquest of Granada
(1492) from the presence of internal foes, prosperous at home
and powerful abroad, Spain naturally rose to high mental dig-
nity ; and with all that she gathered from foreign contributions,
her writers kept much of their native vein, more free than at
first from Orientalism, but still breathing of their OAvn romantic
land. A close connection, however, for more than one hundred
years with Italy, familiarized the Spanish mind with eminent
Italian authors and with the ancient classics.

During the seventeenth century, especially from the middle to
the close, the decay of letters kept pace with the decline of Span-
ish power, until the humiliation of both seemed completed in the
reign of Charles II. About that time, however, the Spanish
drama received a full development and attained its perfection.
In the eighteenth century, under the government of the Bour.

SPANISH LITERATURE. 297

bons, and partly tlirough the patronage of Philip V., there was
a certain revival of literature ; but unfortunately, parties divided,
and many of the educated Spaniards were so much attracted
by French glitter as to turn with disgust from their own wi-iters.
The political convulsions, of which 8i)ain has been the victim
since the time of Ferdinand VII., have greatly retarded the prog-
ress of national literature, and the nineteenth century has thus
far j)roduced little which is worthy of mention.

The literary history of Spain may be divided into three pe-
riods : —

The first, extending from the close of the twelfth century to
the becfinnine: of the sixteenth, will contain the literature of the
country from the first appearance of the present written language
to the early ])art of the reign of Charles V., and will include the
genuinely national literature, and that portion wliich, by imitat-
ing the refinement of Provence or of Italy, was, during the same
interval, more or less sepai-ated from the popular spirit and
genius.

The second, the period of literary success and national glory,
extending from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the
close of the seventeenth, will embrace the literature from the
accession of the Austrian family to its extinction.

The third, the period of decline, extends from the beginning
of the eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth century, or
from the accession of the Bourbon family to the present time.

2. The Language. — The Spanish Christians who. after the
Moorish conquest, had retreated to the mountains of Asturias,
carried with them the Latin language as they had received it
corrupted from the Romans, and still more by the elements in-
troduced into it by the invasion of the northern tribes. In their
retreat they found themselves amidst the descendants of the Ibe-
rians, the earliest race which had inhabited Spain, who appeared
to have shaken off little of the barbarism that had resisted alike
the invasion of the Romans and of the Goths, and who retained
the original Iberian or Basque tongue. Coming in contact with
this, the language of those Christians underwent new modifica-
tions ; later, when they advanced in their conquest toward the
south and the east, and found themselves surrounded by those
portions of their race that had remained among the Arabs,
known as Mozarabians, they felt that they were in the presence
of a civilization and refinement altogether superior to their own.
As the Goths, between the fifth and eighth centuries, had re-
ceived a vast number of words from the Latin, because it was
the language of a people with whom they were intimately min-
gled, and who were mucli more intellectual and uilvanced tlian
themselves, so, for the same reason, the whole nation, between

298 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the eighth and thirteenth centuries, received another increase of
their vocabulary from the Arabic, and accommodated themselves
in a remarkable degree to the advanced culture of their southern
countrymen, and of their new Moorish subjects.

It appears that about the middle of the twelfth century this
new dialect had risen to the dignity of being a written lan-
guage ; and it spread gradually through the country. It differed
from the pure or the corrupted Latin, and still more from the
Arabic ; yet it was obviously formed by a union of both, modi-
fied by the analogies and spirit of the Gothic constructions and
dialects, and containing some remains of the vocabularies of the
Iberians, the Celts, the Phoenicians, and of the German tribes,
who at different periods had occupied the peninsula. This, like
the other languages of Southern Europe, was called originally
the Romance, from the prevalence of the Roman and Latm ele-
ments.

The territories of the Christian Spaniards were divided into
three longitudinal sections, having each a separate dialect, aris-
ing from the mixture of different primitive elements. The Cat-
alan was spoken in the east, the Castilian in the centre, while
the Galician, which originated the Portuguese, prevailed in the

west.

The Catalan or Limousin, the earliest dialect cultivated in
the peninsula, bore a strong resemblance to the Proven9al, and
when the bards were driven from Provence they found a home
in the east of Spain, and numerous celebrated troubadours arose
in Aragon and Catalonia. But many elements concurred to
produce a decay of the Catalan, and from the beginning of the
sixteenth century it rapidly declined. It is stiU spoken in the
Balearic Islands and among the lower classes of some of the
eastern parts of Spain, but since the sixteenth century the Cas-
tilian alone has been the vehicle of literature.

The Castilian dialect followed the fortune of the Castilian
arms, until it finally became the established language, even of
the most southern provinces, where it had been longest withstood
by the Arabic. Its clear, sonorous vowels and the beautiful ar-
ticulation of its syllables, give it a greater resemblance to the
Italian than any other idiom of the peninsula. But amidst this
euphony the ear is struck with the sound of the German and
Arabic guttural, which is unknown in the other languages in
wliich Latin roots jiredominate.

SPANISH LITERATURE. 299

PERIOD FIKST.

From the First Appearance of the Written Lanouace to the
Early Taut of the Keign of Charles V. (1200-1500).

1. E.AJiLY National Literature. — There are two traits
of the earliest Spanish literature which so peculiarly distinguish
it that they deserve to be noticed from the outset — religious
faith and knightly loyalty. The Spanish national character, as
it has existed from the earliest times to the present day, was
formed in that solemn contest which began when the Moors
landed beneath the rock of Gibraltar, and which did not end
until eight centuries after, when the last remnants of the race
were driven from the shores of Spain. During this contest,
especially that part of it when the earliest Spanish poetry ai>
peared, nothing but an invincible faith and a not less invincible
loyalty to their own princes could have sustained the Christian
Spaniards in their struggles against their infidel oppressors. It
was, therefore, a stern necessity which made these two high
qualities elements of the Spanish national character, and it is
not surprising that we find submission to the church and loyalty
to the king constantly breathing through every portion of Span-
ish literature.

The first monument of the Spanish, or, as it was oftener called,
the Castilian tongue, the most ancient epic in any of the Romance
languages, is " The Poem of the Cid." It consists of more than
three thousand lines, and was i)robably not composed later than the
year 1200. This poem celebrates the achievements of the great
hero of the chivalrous age of Spain, Rodrigo Diaz (1020-1099),
who obtained from five Moorish kings, whom he had vanquished
in battle, the title of El Seid, or my lord. He was also called
by the Spaniards El Campeador or El Cid Cam])eador, the Cham-
pion or the Lord Champion, and he well deserved the honorable
title, for he passed almost the whole of his life in the field against
the oppressors of his country, and led the conquering arms of
the Christians over nearly a quarter of Spain. No hero has
been so universally celebrated by his countrymen, and poetry
and tradition have deliglited to attach to his name a long series
of fabulous achievements, which remind us as often of Amadis
and Arthur, as they do of the sober heroes of history. His
memory is so sacredly dear to the Spanish nation, that to say
'' by the faith of Rodrigo," is still considered the strongest vow
of loyalty.

The poem of the Cid is valuable mainly for the living ])icture
it presents of manners and character in the eleventh century. It
is a contemporary and spirited exhibition of the chivalrous times

300 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

of Spain, given occasionally with an admirable and Homeric
simplicity. It is the history of the most romantic hero of Span,
ish tradition, continually mingled with domestic and personal
details, that bring the character of the Cid and his age very
near to our own sympathies and interests. The language is the
same which he himself spoke — still only imperfectly developed
— it expresses the bold and original spirit of the time, and the
metre and rhyme are rude and unsettled ; but the poem through-
out is striking and original, and breathes everywhere the true
Castilian spirit. During the thousand years which elapsed from
the time of the decay of Greek and Roman culture down to the
appearance of the Divine Comedy, no poetry was produced so
original in its tone, or so full of natural feeling, picturesqueness,
and energy.

There are a few other poems, anonymous, like that of the Cid,
whose language and style carry them back to the thirteenth cen-
tury. The next poetry we meet is by a known author, Gonzalo
(1220-1260), a priest commonly called Berceo, from the place
of his birth. His works, all on religious subjects, amount to
more than thirteen thousand lines. His language shows some
advance from that in which the Cid was written, but the power
and movement of that remarkable legend are entirely wanting in
these poems. There is a simple-hearted piety in them, however,
that is very attractive, and in some of them a story-telling spirit
that is occasionally vivid and graphic.

Alfonso, surnamed the Wise (1221-1284), united the crowns
of Leon and Castile, and attracted to his court many of the phi-
losophers' and learned men of the East. He was a poet closely
connected with the Provengal troubadours of his time, and so
skilled in astronomy and the occult sciences that his fame spread
throughout Europe. He had more political, philosophical, and
elegant learning than any man of his age, and made further ad-
vances in some of the exact sciences. At one period his consid-
eration was so great, that he was elected Emperor of Germany ;
but his claims were set aside by the subsequent election of Ru-
dolph of Hapsburg. The last great work undertaken by Alfonso
was a kind of code known as "LasSiete Partidas," or The
Seven Parts, from the divisions of the work itself. This is the
most important legislative monument of the age, and forms a
sort of Spanish common law, which, with the decisions under it,
has been the basis of Spanish jurisprudence ever since. Be-
coming a part of the Constitution of the State in all Spanish col-
onies, it has, from the time Louisiana and Florida were added
to the United States, become in some cases the law in our own
country.

The life of Alfonso was full of painful vicissitudes. He was

SPANISH LITERATURE. 301

driven from his throne hy factious nohles and a rebellious son,
and died in exile, leavini,' beliind him the rei)uf;ation of being the
wisest fool in ChrlslLMuloni. Mariana says of him : " He was
more fit for letters than for the government of his subjects ; he
studied the heavens and watciied the stars, but forgot the earth
and lost his kingdom." Yet Alfonso is among the chief found-
ers of his country's intellectual fame, and he is to be remembered
alike fen- the great advancement Castilian prose composition
made in his hands, for his poetry, for his astronomical tables —
which all the progi-ess of modern science has not deprived of
their value — and for his great w^ork on legislation, which is at
this moment an authority in both hemispheres.

Juan Lorenzo Segura (1176-1250) was the author of a poem
containing more than ten thousand lines, on the history of Alex-
ander the Great. In this poem the manners and customs of
Spain in the thirteenth century are substituted for those of an-
cient Greece, and the Macedonian hero is invested with all the
virtues and even equi})ments of European chivalry.

Don Juan Manuel (1282-1347), a nephew of Alfonso the
Wise, was one of the most turbulent and dangerous Spanish bar-
ons of his time. His life was full of intrigue and violence, and
for thirty years he disturbed his country by his military and re-
bellious enterprises. But in all these circumstances, so adverse
to intellectual pursuits, he showed himself worthy of the family
in which for more than a century letters had been honored and
cultivated. Don Juan is known to have Avrltten twelve works,
but it is uncertain how many of these are still in existence ; only
one, "Count Lucanor," lias l)een placed beyond the reach of ac-
cident l)v being printed. Tlie Count Lucanor is the most valu-
able monument of Spanish literature in the fourteenth century,
and one of the earliest prose works in the Castilian tongue, as
the Decameron, which a})peared about the same time, was the
first in the Italian. Both are collections of tales ; but the object
of the Decameron is to amuse, while the Count Lucanor is the
production of a statesman, instructing a grave and serious nation
in lessons of policy and morality in the form of apologues.
These stoi-ies have suggested many subjects for the Spanish
stage, and one of them contains the groundwork of Shakspeare's
" Taming of the Shrew."

Juan Ruiz, arch-priest of Hita (1292-1351), was a contempo-
rary of Don Manuel. His works consist of nearly seven thou-
sand verses, forming a series of stories which ai>pear to be
sketches from his own history, mingled with fictions and allego-
ries. The most curious is •• The Battle of Don Carnival with
Madame Lent," in which Don Bacon, Madame Hungbeef, and
a train of other savory personages, are marshaled in mortal com'

302 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

bat. The cause of Madame Lent triumphs, and Don Carnival
is condemned to solitary imprisonment and one spare meal each
day. At the end of forty days the allegorical prisoner escapes,
raises new followers, Don Breakfast and others, and re-appears
in alliance with Don Amor. The poetry of the arch-priest is
very various in tone. In general, it is satirical and pervaded
by a quiet humor. His happiest success is in the tales and apo-
logues which illustrate the adventures that constitute a frame-
work for his poetry, which is natural and spirited ; and in tliis,
as in other points, he strikingly resembles Chaucer. Both often
sought their materials in Northern French poetry, and both have
that mixture of devotion and of licentiousness belonging to their
age, as well as to the personal character of each.

Rabbi Santob, a Jew of Carrion (fl. 1350), was the author of
many poems, the most important of which is " The Dance of
Death," a favorite subject of the painters and poets of the Mid-
dle Ages, representing a kind of spiritual masquerade, in which
persons of every rank and age appear dancing with the skeleton
form of Death. In this Spanish version it is perhaps more strik-
ing and picturesque than in any other — the ghastly nature of
the subject being brought into very lively contrast with the fes-
tive tone of the verses. This grim fiction had for several centu-
ries great success throughout Europe.

Pedro Lopez Ayala (1332-1407), grand chancellor of Castile
under four successive sovereigns, was both a poet and a histo-
rian. His poem, " Court Rhymes," is the most remarkable of
his productions. His style is grave, gentle, and didactic, with
occasional expressions of poetic feeling, which seem, however, to
belong as much to their age as to their author.

2. Old Ballads. — From the thirteenth to the fifteenth cen-
tury, the period we have just gone over, the courts of the differ-
ent sovereigns of Europe were the principal centres of refine-
ment and ci\'ilization, and this was peculiarly the ease in Spain
during this period, when literature was produced or encouraged
by the sovereigns and other distinguished men. But this was
not the only literature of Spain. The spirit of poetry diffused
throughout the peninsula, excited by the romantic events of
Spanish history, now began to assume the form of a popular lit-
erature, and to assert for itself a place which in some particulars
it has maintained ever since. Tliis popular literature may be
distributed into four different classes. The first contains the
Ballads, or the narrative and lyrical poetry of the common peo-
ple from the earliest times ; the second, the Chronicles, or the
half-genuine, half-fabulous histories of the great events and he«
roes of the national annals ; the third class comprises the Ro'
viances of Chivalry, intunately connected with both the otheri,

SPAXrSn LITERATURE. 303

»nd, after a time, as passionately admired by the whole nation ;
and the fourth includes the Drama, which in its origin has al-
ways been a ])oj)ular and religious amusement, and was hardly
less so in Spain than it was in Greece or in France. These four
classes compose what was generally most valued in Spanish lit-
erature during the latter part of the fourteenth century, the
whole of the fifteenth, and much of the sixteenth. They rested
on the deep foundations of the national character, and therefore
by their very nature were opposed to the Provencal, the Italian,
and the courtly schools, which flourished during the same pe-
riod.

The metrical structure of the old Spanish ballad was extremely
simple, consisting of eight-syllable lines, which are composed
with great facility in other languages as well as the Castilian.
Sometimes they were broken into stanzas of four lines each,
thence called redondillas, or roundelays, but their prominent
peculiarity is that of the asonante, an imperfect rhyme that
echoes the same vowel, but not the same final consonant in the
terminating syllables. This metrical form was at a later period
adopted liy the dramatists, and is now used in every department
of Spanish poetry.

The old Spanish ballads comprise more than a thousand
poems, first collected in the sixteenth century, whose authors and
dates are alike unknown. Indeed, until after the middle of that
century, it is dithciilt to find ballads written by known authors.
These collections, arranged without regard to chronological order,
relate to the fictions of chivalry, especially to Charlemagne and
his peers, to the traditions and history of Spain, to Moorish ad-
ventures, and to the private life and manners of the Spaniards
themselves ; they belong to the unchronicled popular life and
character of the age which gave them birth. The ballads of
chivalry, with the exception of those relating to Charlemagne,
occupy a less important place than those founded on national
subjects. The historical ballads are by far the most numerous
and the most interesting ; and of those the first in the order of
time are those relating to Bernardo del Carpio, concerning whom
there are about f(jrty. Bernardo (fl. 800) was the offspring of
a secret marriage between the Count de Saldaiia and a sister of
Alfonso the Chaste, at which the kinor was so much offended
that he sent the Infanta to a convent, and kept the Count m per-
petual iin])risonment, educating Bernardo as his own son, and
keeping him in ignorance of his birth. The acliievements of
Bernardo ending with the victory of Roncesvalles, his efforts to
procure the release of his father, the falsehood of the king, and
the despair and rebellion of Bernardo after the death of the
Count in prison, constitute the romantic incidents of these bal'
{ads.

S04 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

The next series is that on Fernan Gonzalez, a chieftain who,
in the middle of the tenth century, recovered Castile from the
Moors and became its fii'st sovereign count. The most roman-
tic are those which describe liis being twice rescued from prison
by his heroic wife, and liis contest with King Sancho, in which
he displayed all the turbulence and cunning of a robber baron
of the Middle Ages.

The Seven Lords of Lara form the next group ; some of
them are beautiful, and the story they contain is one of the
most romantic in Spanish history. The Seven Lords of Lara
are betrayed by their uncle into the hands of the Moors, and
put to death, while their father, by the basest treason, is con-
fined in a Moorish prison. An eighth son, the famous Mudarra,
whose mother is a noble Moorish lady, at last avenges all the
wrongs of his race.

But from the earliest period, the Cid has been the occasion
of more ballads than any other of the great heroes of Spanish
history or fable. They were first collected in 1612, and have
been continually republished to the present day. There are at
least a hundred and sixty of them, forming a more complete
series than any other, all strongly marked with the spirit of
their age and country.

The Moorish baUads form a large and brilliant class by them-
selves. The period when this style of poetry came into favor
was the century after the fall of Granada, when the south, with
its refinement and effeminacy, its magnificent and fantastic ar-
chitecture, the foreign yet not strange manners of its people,
and the stories of their warlike achievements, all took strong
hold of the Spanish imagination, and made of Granada a fairy
land.

Of the ballads relating to private life, most of them are
effusions of love, others are satirical, pastoral, and burlesque,
and many descriptive of the manners and amusements of the
people at large ; but all of them are true representations of
Spanish life. They are marked by an attractive simplicity of
thought and expression, united to a sort of mischievous shrewd-
ness. No such popular poetry exists in any other language, and
no other exhibits in so great a degree that nationality which is
the truest element of such poetry everywhere. The English
and Scotch baUads, with which they may most naturally be
compared, belong to a ruder state of society, which gave to the
poetry less dignity and elevation than belong to a people who.
like the Spanish, were for centuries engaged in a contest enno-
bled by a sense of religion and loyalty, and which could not fail
to raise the minds of those engaged in it far above the atmos-
phere that settled around the bloody feuds of rival barons, or

SPANL'iJI LITERATURE. 305

the gross maraudinfi^s of border warfare. The great Castilian
heroes, the Cid, Bernardo del Carpio, and Pelayo, are even now
an essential portion of the faith and })oetry of the common peo-
ple of Spain, and are still honored as they were centuries ago.
The stories of Guarinos and of the defeat at Roncesvalles are
still sung by the wayfaring uudeteers, as they were when Don
Quixote heard them on his journey to Toboso, and the show-
men still I'ehearse the same adventures in the streets of Seville,
that they did at the sohtary inn of Montesinos when he encoun-
tered them there.

3. The Chronicles. — As the great ^loorish contest was
transferred to the south of Spain, the north became compara-
tively quiet. AVealth and leisure followed ; tlie castles became
the abodes of a crude but free hospitality, and the distinctions
of society grew more apparent. The ballads from this time
began to subside into the lower portions of society ; the educated
sought forms of literature more in accordance with their in-
creased knowledge and leisure, and their more settled system of
social life. The oldest of these forms was that of the Spanish
prose chronicles, of which there are general and royal chroni-
cles, chronicles of particular events, chronicles of particular per-
sons, chronicles of travels, and romantic chronicles.

The first of these chronicles in the order of time as well as
that of merit, comes from Uie royal hand of Alfonso the "Wise,
and is entitled " The Chronicle of Spain." It begins with the
creation of the world, and concludes with the death of St. Fer-
dinand, the father of Alfonso. The last part, relating to the
history of Spain, is by far the most attractive, and sets forth in
a truly national s])irit all the rich old tratlitions of the country.
This is not only the most interesting of the Spanish chronicles,
but the most interesting of all that in any country mark the
transition from its ])oetical and romantic traditions to the grave
exactness of historical truth. The clironicle of the Cid was
probably taken from this work.

Alfonso XI. ordered the annals of the kingdom to be con-
tinued down to his own reign, or through the period from 12r)2
to 1312. During many succeeding reigns the royal chronicles
were continued, — that of Ferdinand and Isabella, by Pulgar,
is the last instance of the old style ; but though the annals were
still kept u]), the free and picturesque spirit that gave them life
was no longer there.

The chronicles of particular events and persons are most of
them of little value.

Among the chronicles of travels, the oldest one of any value
is an account of a Spanish embassy to Tamerlane, the great
Tartar potentate.

806 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Of the romantic clironieles, the principal specimen is that
of Don Rbderic, a fabulous account of the reign of King Rod-
eric, the conquest of the country by the Moors, and the firs';
attempts to recover it in the beginning of the eighth century.
The style is heavy and verbose, although upon it Southey has
founded much of his beautiful poem of " Roderic, the last of the
Goths." This chronicle of Don Roderic, which was little more
than a romance of chivalry, marks the transition to those ro-
mantic fictions that had already begun to inundate Spain.
But the series which it concludes extends over a period of two
hundred and fifty years, from the time of Alfonso the Wise to
the accession of Charles V. (1221-1516), and is unrivaled in
the richness and variety of its poetic elements. In truth, these
old Spanish chronicles cannot be compared with those of any
other nation, and whether they have their foundation in truth
or in fable, they strike their strong roots further down into the
deep soil of popular feeling and character. The old Spanish
loyalty, the old Spanish religious faith, as both were formed
and nourished in long periods of national trial and suffering,
everywhere appear; and they contain such a body of antiq-
uities, traditions, and fables as has been offered to no other
people ; furnishing not only materials from which a multitude
of old Spanish plays, ballads, and romances have been drawn,
but a mine which has unceasingly been wrought by the rest of
Europe for similar purposes, and wliich stiU remains unex-
hausted.

4. Romances of Chivalry. — The ballads originally belonged
to the whole nation, but especially to its less cultivated portions.
The chronicles, on the contrary, belonged to the knightly
classes, who sought in these picturesque records of their fathers
a stimulus to their own virtue. But as the nation advanced in
refinement, books of less grave character were demanded, and
the spirit of poetical invention soon turned to the national tra-
ditions, and produced from these new and attractive forms of
fiction. Before the middle of the fourteenth century, the ro-
mances of chivalry connected with the stories of Arthur and
the knights of the Round Table, and Charlemagne and his
peers, which had appeared in France two centuries before, were
scarcely known in Spain ; but after that time they were imi-
tated, and a new series of fictions was invented, which soon
spread through the world, and became more famous than either
of its predecessors.

This extraordinary family of romances is that of which
" Amadis " is the poetical head and type, and this was probably
produced before the year 1400, by Vasoo de Lobeira, a Portu-
guese. The structure and tone of this fiction are original, and

SPANISU LITERATURE. 307

much more free than those of the Fieiu-li romances that had
preceded it. The stories of Arthur and Cliarleniagne are botli
somewhat hmited in invention by the adventures ascribed to
them in the traditions and chronicles, while that of Aniadis be-
longs purely to the imagination, and its sole ])urpose is to set
forth the character of a perfect knight. Amadis is admitted by
general consent to be the best of all the old romances of chiv •
airy. The series which followed, founded upon the Amadis,
reached the number of twenty-four. They were successively
translated into French, and at once became famous. Consider-
ing the passionate admiration which this work so long excited,
and the influence that, with little merit of its own, it has ever
since exercised on the poetry and romance of modern Europe,
it is a phenomenon without parallel in literary history.

Many other series of romances followed, numbering more
than seventy volumes, most of them in folio, and their influence
over the Spanish character extended through two hundred years.
Their extraordinary popularity may be accounted for, if we re-
member that, when they first appeared in Spain, it had long
been pecidiarly the land of knighthood. Extravagant and im-
possible as are many of the adventures recorded in these hooks
of chivalry, they so little exceeded the absurdities of living men
that many persons took the romances themselves to be true his-
tories, and believed them. The happiest work of the greatest
genius Spain has produced bears witness on eveiy page to the
]jrevalence of an absolute fanaticism for these books of chivalry,
and becomes at once the seal of their vast popularity and the
monument of their fate.

5. The Dkama. — The ancient theatre of the Greeks and
Romans was continued in some of its grosser forms in Constan-
tinople and in other parts of the fallen empire far into the Mid-
dle Ages. But it was essentially mythological or heathenish, and,
as such, it was opposed by the Christian church, which, how-
ever, provided a substitute for what it thus op])osed, by adding a
dramatic element to its festivals. Thus the manger at Bethle-
hem, with the worship of the shepherds and magi, was at a
very early period solenmly exhibited every year before the altars
of the churches, at Christmas, as were the tragical events of the
last days of the Saviour's life, during Lent and at the approach
of Easter. To these spectacles, dialogue was afterwards added,
and they were called, as we have seen. Mysteries ; they were
used successfully not only as a means of amusement, but for the
religious edification of an ignorant multitude, and in some coun-
tries they have been continued (julte down to our own times.
The period when these representations were first made in Spain
eannot now be detenu ined, though it was certainly before the

308 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

middle of the thirteenth century, and no distinct account of them
now remains.

A singular combination of pastoral and satirical poetry indi-
cates the first origin of the Spanish secular drama. Towards
the close of the fifteenth century, these pastoral dialogues were
converted into real dramas by Euzina, and were pubHcly repre-
sented. But the most important of these early productions is
the " Tragi-comedy of Calisto and Meliboea," or " Celestiiia."
Though it can never have been represented, it has left unmis-
takable traces of its influence on the national drama ever since.
It was translated into various languages, and few works ever
had a more brilliant success. The great fault of the Celestina
is its shameless libertinism of thought and language ; and its
cliief mei'its are its life-like exhibition of the most unworthy
forms of human character, and its singularly pure, rich, and
idiomatic Castilian style.

The dramatic writers of this period seem to have had no idea
of founding a popular national drama, of which there is no trace
as late as the close of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.

6. Provencaij Literature in Spain. — When the crown
of Provence was transferred, by the marriage of its heir, in 1113,
to Berenger, Count of Barcelona, numbers of the Provencal
poets followed their liege lady from Aries to Barcelona, and
established themselves in her new capital. At the very com-
mencement, therefore, of the twelfth century, Proven9al refine-
ment was introduced into the northeastern corner of Spain.
Political causes soon carried it farther towards the centre of the
country. The Counts of Barcelona obtained, by marriage, the
kingdom of Aragon, and soon spread through their new territo-
ries many of the refinements of Provence. The literature thus
introduced retained its Provencal character till it came in con-
tact with that more vigorous spirit which had been advancing
from the northwest, and which afterwards gave its tone to the
consolidated monarchy.

The poetry of the troubadours in Catalonia, as well as in its
native home, belonged much to the court, and the highest in
rank and power were earliest and foremost on its lists. From
1209 to 1229, the war against the Albigenses was carried on
with extraordinary cruelty and fury. To this sect nearly all the
contemporary troul)a(lonrs belonged, and when they were com-
pelled to escape from the burnt and bloody ruins of their homes,
many of them hastened to the friendly court of Aragon, sure of
being protected and honored by princes who were at the same
time poets.

From the close of the thirteenth century, the songs of the
troubadours were rarely heard in the land that gave them birth

SPANFSH LITERATURE. 309

three hundred years before ; and the plant that was not per-
mitted to exjjand in its native soil, soon perished in that to
wliicli it had been transplanted. After the opening of the four-
teenth century, no genuinely Provencal poetry a})pears in Cas-
tile, and from the middle of that century it begins to recede
from Catalonia and Aragon ; or rather, to be corrupted by the
hardier dialect spoken there by the mass of the people. The
retreat of the troubadours over the Pyrenees, from Aix to liar-'
celona, from Barcelona to Saragossa and Valencia, is every-
where marked by the wrecks and fragments of their peculiar
poetry and cultivation. At length, oi)pressed by the more pow-
erful Castilian, what remained of the language, that gave the
first impulse to poetic feeling in modern times, sank into a neg-
lected dialect.

7. The Influence of Italian Literature in Spain. —
The influence of the Italian literature over the Spanish, though
less apparent at first, was more deep and lasting than that of the
Proven9al. The long wars that the Christians of Spain waged
against the Moors brought them into closer spiritual comiection
with the Church of Rome than any other people of modern times.
Spanish students repaired to the famous universities of Italy,
and returned to Spain, bringing with them the influence of Ital-
ian culture ; and commercial and political relations still further
promoted a free communication of the manners and literature
of Italy to Spain. The language, also, from its affinity with the
Spanish, constituted a still more im])ortant and effectual medium
of intercourse. In the reign of John II. (1407-1454), the at-
tem])t to form an Italian school in Spain became apparent.
This sovereign gathered about him a sort of poetical court, and
gave an impulse to refinement that was perceptible for several
generations.

Among those who interested themselves most directly in the
progress of jioetry in Si)ain, the first in rank, after the king him-
self, was the Marquis of Villena (1384-1434), whose fame rests
chiefly on the " Labors of Hercules," a short prose treatise or
allegory.

First of all the courtiers and poets of this reign, in point of
merit, stands the INLarquis of SantUlana (1398-1458), whose
works belong more or less to the Provencal, Italian, and Spanish
schools. He was the founder of an Italian and courtly school in
Spanish poetry — one adverse to the national school and finally
overcome by it, but one that long exercised a considerable sway.
Another poet of the court of John II. is Juan de IVIena, his-
toriogi-apher of Castile. His ])rincij)al works are, "The Coro-
nation " and '' The Labyrinth," both imitations of Dante. Thev
are of consequence as marking the progress of the language.

310 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

The principal poem of Manrique the younger, one of an illuS'
trious family of that name, who were poets, statesmen, and sol-
diers, on the death of his father, is remarkable for depth and
truth of feeling. Its greatest charm is its beautiful simplicity,
and its merit entitles it to the place it has taken among the most
admired portions of the elder Spanish literature.

8. The Cancioneros ajstd Prose Writings. — The most
distinct idea of the poetical culture of Spain, during the fifteenth
century, may be obtained from the " Cancioneros," or collections
of poetry, sometimes all by one author, sometimes by many.
The oldest of these dates from about 1450, and was the work of
Baena. Many similar collections followed, and they were among
the fashionable wants of the age. In 1511, Castillo printed at
Valencia the " Cancionero General," which contained poems
attributed to about a hundred different poets, from the time of
Santillana to the period in which it was made. Ten editions of
tliis remarkable book followed, and in it we find the poetry most
in favor at the court and with the refined society of Spain. It
contains no trace of the earliest poetry of the country, but the
spirit of the troubadours is everywhere present ; the occasional
imitations from the Italian are more apparent than successful,
and in general it is wearisome and monotonous, overstrained,
formal, and cold. But it was impossil^le that such a state of
poetical culture should become permanent in a country so fuU
of stirring events as Spain was in the age that followed the fall
of Granada and the discovery of America ; everything announced
a decided movement in the literature of the nation, and ahnost
everything seemed to favor and facilitate it.

The prose writers of the fifteenth century deserve mention
chiefly because they were so much valued in their own age.
Their writings are encumbered with the bad taste and pedantry
of the time. Among them are Lucena, Alfonso de la Torre,
Pulgar, and a few others.

9. The Inquisition. — The first period of the history of
Spanish literature, now concluded, extends through nearly four
centuries, from the first breathings of the poetical enthusiasm of
the mass of the people^ down to the decay of the courtly litera-
ture in the latter part of the reign of F'erdinand and Isabella.
The elements of a national literature which it contains — the old
ballads, the old chronicles, the old theatre — are of a vigor and
jiromise not to be mistaken. They constitute a mine of more
various wealth than had been offered under similar circum-
stances, at so early a period, to any other people ; and they
give indications of a subsequent literature that must vindicate
for itself a place among the permanent monuments of moders
eivilization.

SPANISH LITERATURE. 311

The condition of things in Spain, at the close of the reign of
Ferdinand and Isabella, seemed to j)roniise a long period of na-
tional prosperity. But one institution, destined to check and
discourage all intellectual freedom, was already beginning to
give token of its great and blighting power. The Christian
Spaniards had from an early period been essentially intolerant.
The Moors and the Jews were regarded by them with an intense
and bitter hatred ; the first as their concpierors, and the last for
the oppressive claims which their wealth gave them on numbers
of the Christian inhabitants ; and as enemies of the Cross, it
was regarded as a merit to punish them. The establishment
of the Inquisition, therefore, in 1481, which had been so effect-
ually used to exterminate the heresy of the Albigenses, met with
little opposition. The Jews and the Moors were its first vic-
tims, and with them it was permitted to deal unchecked by the
])ower of the state. But the movements of this power were in
darkness and secrecy. From the moment when the Inquisition
laid its grasp on the object of its suspicions to that of his execu-
tion, no voice was heard to issue from its cells. The very wit-
nesses it summoned were punished with death if they revealed
the secrets of its dread tribunals ; and often of the victim noth-
ing was known but that he had disappeared from liis accustomed
haunts never again to be seen. The effect was appalling. The
imaginations of men were filled with horror at the idea of a
power so vast, so noiseless, constantly and invisibly around them,
whose blow was death, but whose step could neither be heard
nor followed amidst the gloom into which it retreated. From
this time, Spanish intolerance took that air of sombre fanaticism
which it never afterwards lost. The Inquisition gradually en-
larged its jurisdiction, until none was too humble to escajje its
notice, or too high to be reached by its ])Ower. From an inquiry
into the private opinions of individuals to an interference with
books and the press was but a step, and this was soon taken,
hastened by the appearance and progress of the Reformation of
Luther.

PERIOD SECOND.

From thb Accession of the Austrian Family to its Extinc-
tion (1500-1700).

■* . The Effect of Intolerance on Letters. — The cen-
tral ])oint in S])anish history is the cai)ture of Granada. During
nearly eight centuries before that event, the Christians of Spain
were occu])ied with conflicts that developed extraordinary ener-
gies, till the whole land was filled to overflowing with a power
which had hardly yet been felt in Europe. But no sooner was

312 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the last Moorish fortress yielded up, than this accumulated flood
broke loose and threatened to overspread the best poi'tions of
the civilized world. Charles the Fifth, grandson of Ferdiimnd
and Isabella, inherited not only Spain, but Naples, Sicily, and
the Low Countries. The untold wealth of the Indies was al-
ready beginning to pour into liis treasury. He was elected Em-
peror of Germany, and he soon began a career of conquest such
as had not been imagined since the days of Charlemagne. Suc-
cess and glory ever waited for him as he advanced, and this
brilliant aspect seemed to promise that Spain would erelong be
at the head of an empire more extensive than the Roman. But
a moral power was at work, destined to divide Europe anew,
and the monk Luther was already become a counterpoise to the
military master of so many kingdoms. During the hundred and
thirty years of struggle, that terminated with tiae peace of West-
phalia, though Spain was far removed from the fields where the
most cruel battles of the religious wars were fought, the interest
she took in the contest may be seen from the presence of her
armies in every part of Europe where it was possible to assail
the great movement of the Reformation.

In Spain, the contest with Protestantism was of short dura-
tion. By successive decrees the chnrch ordained that all persons
who kept in their possession books infected with the doctrines
of Luther, and even all who failed to denounce such persons,
should be excommunicated, and subjected to cruel and degrading
punishments. The power of the Inquisition was consummated
in 1546, when the first " Index Expurgatorius " was published
in Spain. This was a list of the books that all persons were
forbidden to buy, sell, or keep possession of, under penalty of
confiscation and death. The tribunals were authorized and re-
quired to proceed against all persons supposed to be infected
with the new belief, even though they were cardinals, dukes,
kings, or emperors, — a power more formidable to the progress
of intellectual improvement, than had ever before been granted
to any body of men, civil or ecclesiastical.

The portentous authority thus given was freely exercised. The
first public auto da fi of Prcjtestants was held in 1559, and many
others followed. The number of victims seldom exceeded twenty
burned at one time, and fifty or sixty subjected to the severest
punishments ; but many of those who suffered were among the
active and leading minds of the age. Men of learning were par-
ticularly obnoxious to suspicion, nor were persons of the holiest
lives beyond its reach if they showed a tendency to inquiry. So
effectually did the Inquisition accomplish its purpose, that, from
the latter part of the reign of Philip II., the voice of religious
dissent was scarcely heard in the land. The great body of the

SPANISH LITERATURE. 313

Spanish people rejoiced alike in their loyalty and their ortho-
doxy, and the few who diifered from the mass of their fellow-
subjects were either silenced by their fears, or sunk away from
the surface of society. From tbat time down to its overthrow,
in 1808, this institution was chiefly a ])olitical engine.

The result of such extraordinary traits in the national charac-
ter could not fail to be impressed ujjon the literature. Loyalty,
which had once been so generous an element in the Spanish char-
acter and cultivation, was now infected with the ambition of
universal empire, and the Christian spirit which gave an air of
duty to the wildest forms of adventure in its long contest \vith
misbelief, was now fallen into a bigotry so pervading that the
romances of the time are full of it, and the national theatre be-
comes its grotesque monument.

Of course the literature of Spain produced during this interval
— the earlier part of which was the period of the greatest glory
the country ever enjoyed — was injuriously affected by so dis-
eased a condition of the national mind. Some departments
hardly appeared at all, others were strangely perverted, while
yet others, like the drama, ballads, and lyrical verse, grew exu-
berant and lawless, from the very restraints imposed on the rest.
But it would be an error to suppose that these peculiarities in
Spanish literature were produced by the direct action either of
the Inquisition or of the government. The foundations of this
dark work were laid deep and sure in the old Castilian character.
It was the result of the excess and misdirection of that very
Christian zeal which fought so gloriously against the intrusion
of Mohammedanism into Spain, and of that loyalty which sus-
tained the Spanish princes so faithfully through the whole of
that terrible contest. This state of things, however, involved
the ultimate sacrifice of the best elements of the national char-
acter. Only a little more than a century elapsed, before the
government that had threatened the world with a universal em-
pire, was hardly able to repel invasion from abroad or maintain
its subjects at home. The vigoi-ous poetical life which had been
kindled through the country in its ages of trial and adversity,
was evidently passing out of the whole S])anish character. The
crude wealth from their American possessions sustained, for a
century longer, the forms of a miserable political existence ; but
the earnest faith, the loyalty, the dignity of the Spanish jieojde
were gone, and little remained in their ])lace but a weak sub-
serviency to unworthy masters of state, and a low, timid bigotry
in whatever related to relisrion. The old enthusiasm faded awav,
and the poetry of the couTitry, which had always d(']iended more
on the state of the pojiular feeling than any other poetry of
modern times, faded and failed with it.

314 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

2. Influence of Italy on Spanish Literature. — The
political connection between Spain and Italy in the early part
of the sixteenth century, and the superior civilization and refine-
ment of the latter country, could not fail to influence Spanish
literature. Juan Boscan (d. 1543) was the first to attempt the
proper Italian measures as they were then practiced. He es-
tablished in Spain the Italian iambic, the sonnet, and canzone of
Petrarch, the terza rima of Dante, and the flowing octaves of
Ariosto. As an original poet, the talents of Boscan were not
of the highest order.

Garcilasso de la Vega (1503-1536), the contemporary and
friend of Boscan, united with him in inti'oducing an Italian
school of poetry, which has been an important part of Spanish
literature ever since. The poems of Garcilasso are remarkable
for their gentleness and melancholy, and his versification is un-
commonly sweet, and well adapted to the tender and sad char-
acter of his poetry.

The example set by Boscan and Garcilasso so well suited the
demands of the age, that it became as much a fashion at the
court of Charles V. to write in the Italian manner, as it did to
travel in Italy, or make a military campaign there. Among
those who did most to establish the Italian influence in Spanish
literature was Diego de Mendoza (1503-1575), a scholar, a
soldier, a poet, a diplomatist, a statesman, a historian, and a
man who rose to great consideration in whatever he undertook.
One of his earliest works, " Lazarillo de Tormes," the auto-
biograi)hy of a boy, little Lazarus, was written with the object
of satirizing all classes of society under the character of a ser-
vant, who sees them in undress behind the scenes. The style of
this work is bold, rich, and idiomatic, and soma of its sketches
are among the most fresh and spirited that can be found in the
whole class of prose works of fiction. It has been more or less
a favorite in all languages, down to the present day, and was
the foundation of a class of fictions which the " Gil Bias " of Le
Sage has made famous throughout the world. Mendoza, after
liaving filled many high offices under Charles V., when Philip
ascended the throne, was, for some slight offense, banished from
the court as a madman. In the poems which he occasionally
wrote during his exile, he gave the influence of his example to
the new form introduced by Boscan and Garcilasso. At a later
period he occupied himself in writing some portions of the his-
tory of his native city, Granada, relating to the rebellion of the
Moors (1568-1570). Familiar with everything of which he
speaks, there is a freshness and power in his sketches that carry
us at once into the midst of the scenes and events he describes.
" The "War of Granada " is an imitation of Sallust. Nothing

SPANISH LITERATURE. 315

in the style of the old chronicles is to be compare<l to it, and
little in any subsequent period is equal to it for manliness, vigor,
and truth.

3. History. — The imperfect chronicles of the age of Charles
V. were surpassed in importance by the liistories or narratives,
more or less am])le, of the discoverers of the western world, all
of which were interesting from their subject and their materials.
First in the foreground of this picturesque group stands Fer-
nando Cortes (1485-1554), of whose voluminous documents the
most remarkable were five long reports to the Emperor on the
affairs of Mexico.

The marvelous achievements of Cortes, however, were more
fully recorded by Gomara (b. 1510), the oldest of the regular
liistorians of the New World. His principal works are the
" History of the Indies," chiefly devoted to Columbus and the
conquest of Peru, and the '• Chronicle of New Spain," which is
merely the history and life of Cortes, under which title it has
since been republished. The style of Gomara is easy and flow-
ing, but his work was of no permanent authority, in consequence
of the great and frequent mistakes into which he was led by
those who were too much a part of the story to relate it fairly.
These mistakes Bernal Diaz, an old soldier who had been long
in the New World, set himself at work to correct, and the book
he thus produced, with many faults, has something of the honest
nationality, and the fervor and faith of the old chronicles.

Among those who have left records of their adventures in
America, one of the most considerable is Oviedo (1478-1557),
who for nearly forty years devoted himself to the affairs of the
Spanish colonies in which he resided. His most important work
is " The Natural and General History of the Indies," a series
of accounts of the natural condition, the aboriginal inhabitants,
and the political affairs of the Spanish provinces m America, as
they stood in the middle of the sixteenth century. It is of great
value as a vast repository of facts, and not without merit as a
composition.

In Las Casas (1474—1566) Qv'iedo had a formidable rival,
who, pursuing the same course of inquiries in the New World,
came to conclusions quite opj)osite. Convinced from his first
arrival in Hispaniola that the gentle nature and slight frames
of the natives were subjected to toil and ser\ntude so hard that
they were wasting away, he thenceforth devoted his life to tlieir
emancipation. He crossed the Atlantic six times, in order to
persuade the government of Cliarles V. to ameliorate their con-
dition, and always witli more or less success. His earliest work,
"A Short Account of the Knin of the Indies," was a tract in
which the sufferings and wrongs of the Indians were doubtless

816 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

much overstated by the zeal of its author, but it awakened all
Europe to a sense of the injustice it set forth. Other short trea-
tises followed, but none ever produced so deep and solemn an
effect on the world.

The gi-eat work of Las Casas, however, still remains inedited,
— " A General History of the Indies from 1492 to 1525." Like
his other works, it shows marks of haste and carelessness, but
its value is great, notwithstanding his too fervent zeal for the
Indians. It is a repository to which Herrera, and, through him,
all subsequent historians of the Indies resorted for materials,
and without which the history of the earliest period of the Span-
ish settlements in America cannot even now be written.

There are numerous other works on the discovery and con-
quest of America, but they are of less consequence than those
already mentioned. As a class, they resemble the old chronicles,
though they announce the approach of the more regular form of
history.

4. The Drama. — Before the middle of the sixteenth century,
the Mysteries were the only dramatic exhibitions of Spain. They
were upheld by ecclesiastical power, and the people, as such,
had no share in them. The first attempt to create a popular
drama was made by Lope de Rueda, a goldbeater of Seville,
who flourished between 1544 and 1567, and who became both
a dramatic writer and an actor. His works consist of comedies,
pastoral colloquies, and dialogues in prose and verse. They
were written for representation, and were acted before popular
audiences by a strolling company led about by Lope de Rueda
himself. Naturalness of thought, the most easy, idiomatic Cas-
tilian terms of expression, a good-humored gayety, a strong sense
of the ridiculous, and a happy imitation of the tone and man-
ners of common life, are the prominent characteristics of these
plays, and their author was justly reckoned by Cervantes and
Lope de Vega as the true founder of the popular national
theatre. The ancient simplicity and severity of the Spanish
people liad now been superseded by the luxury and extrava-
gance which the treasures of America had introduced ; the
ecclesiastical fetters imposed on o})inion and conscience had so
connected all ideas of morality and religion with inquisitorial
severity, that the mind longed for an escape, and gladly took
refuge in amusements wluire these unwelcome topics had no
place. So far, the number of dramas was small, and these had
been written in forms so different and so often opposed to each
other as to have little consistency or authority, and to offer no
sufficient indication of the channel in which the dramatic litera-
ture of the country was at last to flow. It was reserved for
Lope de Vega to seize, with the instinct of genius, the crude

SPANISH LITERATURE. 317

and unsettled elements of the existing drama, and to form from
them, and from the abundant and rich inventions of lus own
overflowing fancy, a drama which, as a whole, was uidike any-
thing that had ])receded it, and yet was so truly national and
rested so faithfully on tradition, that it was never afterwards
disturbed, till the whole literature of which it was so brilliant a
part was swept away with it.

Lope de Vega (1562-1635) early manifested extraordinary
powers and a marvelous poetic genius. After completing his
education, he became secretary to the Duke of Alba. Engaging
in an affair of honor, in which he dangerously wounded his ad-
versary, he was obliged to fly and to remain several years in
exile. On his return to Madrid, reUgious and patriotic zeal
induced him to join the expedition of the Invincible Ai-niada for
the invasion of P^ngland, and he was one of the few who returned
in safety to his native country. Domestic afflictions soon after
determined him to renounce the world and to enter holy orders.
Notwithstanding this change, he continued to cultivate poetry
to the close of his long life, with so wonderful a facility that a
drama of more than two thousand lines, intermingled with son-
nets and enlivened with all kinds of unexpected incidents and
intrigues, frequently cost him no more than the labor of a single
day. He composed more rapidly than his amanuensis could
transcribe, and the managers of the theatres left him no time to
copy or correct his compositions ; so that his plays were fre-
quently represented within twenty-four hours after their first
conce])tion. His fertility of invention and his talent for versi-
fication are un])aralleled in the history of literature. He pro-
duced two thousand two hundred dramas, of which only about
five hundred were printed. His other poems were published at
Madrid in 1776, in twenty-one volumes quarto. His prodigious
literary labors produced him neai'ly as much money as glory ; but
his liberality to the poor and his taste for pomp soon dissipated
his wealth, and after living in splendor, he died almost in pov-
erty.

No poet has ever in his lifetime enjoyed such honors. Eager
crowds surrounded him whenever he showed himself abroad, and
saluted him with tlie appellation of Proditjij of Nature. Pilvery
eye was fixed on him, and cliildren followed him Avith cries of
pleasure. He was chosen President of the S])iritual College at
Madrid, and the po])e conferred upon him high marks of dis-
tinction, not only for his poetical talents, but for his enthusiastic
zeal for the interests of religion. He was also appointed one of
the fain'diars of the Inquisition an office to which the highest
honor was at that time attached.

The fame of Lope de Vega rests upon his dramas alone, and

818 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

in these there is no end to their diversity, the subjects varying
from the deepest tragedy to the broadest farce, from the solemn
mysteries of religion to the loosest frolics of common life, and
the style embracing every variety of tone and measure known to
the language of the country. In these dramas, too, the sacred
and secular, the tragic and comic, the heroic and vulgar, all run
into each other, until it seems that there is neither separate form
nor distinction attributed to any of them.

The fii'st class of plays that Lope seems to have invented, and
the one which still remains most popular in Spain, are dramas oj
the cloak and sword, so called from the picturesque national
dress of the fasliionable class of society from which the princijjal
characters were selected. Their main principle is gallantry.
The story is almost always involved and intriguing, accompanied
with an under-plot and parody on the principal parties, formed
by the servants and other inferior persons. The action is chiefly
carried on by lovers fuU of romance, or by low characters, whose
wit is mixed with buffoonery.

To the second class belong the historical or heroic dramas.
Their characters are usually kings, princes, and personages in
the highest rank of hfe, and their prevailing tone is imposing
and tragical. A love story, filled as usual with hair-breadth
escapes, jealous quarrels, and questions of honor, runs through
nearly every one of them ; but truth, in regard to facts, man-
ners, and customs, is entirely disregarded.

The third class contains the dramas founded on the manners
of common life ; of these there are but few. Lope de Vega would
doubtless have confined himself to these three forms, but that
the interference of the church for a time forbade the representa-
tions of the secular drama, and he therefore turned his attention
to the composition of religious plays. The subjects of these are
taken from the Scriptures, or lives of the saints, and they ap-
proach so near to the comedies of intrigue, that but for the re-
ligious passages they would seem to belong to them. His " Sac-
ramental Acts " was another form of the religious drama which
was still more grotesque than the last. They were performed
in the streets during the religious ceremonies of the Corpus
Christi. The spiritual dramas of Lope de Vega are a hetero-
geneous mixture of bright examples of piety, according to the
views of the age and country, and the wildest flights of imagi-
nation, combined into a whole by a fine poetic spirit.

The variety and inexhaustible fertility of the genius of this
writer constituted the corner-stone of his success, and did much
to make him the monarch of the stage while he lived, and the
great master of the national theatre ever since. But there
were other circumstances that aided in producing these surpria

SPANISH LITERATURE. 319

ing results, the first of which is the ])rmciple, that runs through
all his plays, of making all other interests subonlinate to the in-
terest of the story. For this purpose he used dialogue rather
to bring out the plot than the characters, and to this end also
he sacrificed dramatic probabilities and possibilities, geography,
history, and a decent morality.

Another element which he established in the Spanish drama,
was the comic under-plot, and the witty gracioso or droll, the
parody of the heroic character of the play. INIuch of his power
over the peoi)le of his time is also to be found in the charm of
his versification, which was always fresh, flowing, and effective.
Tlie success of Lope de Vega was in proportion to his rare
powers. For the forty or fifty years that he wrote, nobody else
was willingly heard upon the stage, and his dramas were per-
formed in France, Italy, and even in Constantinople. His extra/-
ordinaiy talent was nearly allied to improvisation, and it required
but a little more indulgence of his feeUng and fancy to have
made him not only an hnprovisator, but the most remarkable
one that ever lived.

Nearly thirty dramatic writers followed Lope de Vega, but
the school was not received with universal applause. In its
gross extravagances and irregularities, severe critics found just
cause for comjilaint. The opposition of the church to the theatre,
however, which had been for a time so formidable, had at last
given way, and from the beginning of the seventeenth century,
the popular drama was too strong to be subjected either to clas-
sical criticism or ecclesiastical rule.

Calderon de la Barca (1600-1681) was the great successor
and rival of Lope de Vega. At the age of thirty-two, his repu-
tation as a poet was an enviaUe one. Soon after, when the
death of Lope de Vega left the theatre without a master, he was
formally attached to the court for the purpose of furnishing
dramas to be represented in the royal theatres. In 1651, he
followed the example of Lope de Vega and other men of letters
of his time, by entering a religious brotherhood. Many eccle-
siastical dignities were conferred upon him, but he did not,
however, on this account intermit his dramatic labors, but con-
tinued through his long life to write for the theatres, for the
court, and for the churches. Many dramas of Calderon were
printed without his consent, and many were attributed to him
which he never wi-ote. His reputation as a dramatic ])()et rests
on the seventy-three sacramental autos, and one hundred and
eight dramas, which are known to be his. The autos. from the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, were among the favorite amuse-
ments of the people ; but in the age of Calderon they were much
increased in number and importance ; they had become attrac-

320 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

tive to all classes of society, and were represented with great
luxury and at great expense in the streets of all the larger cities.
A procession, in which the king and court appeared, preceded by
the fantastic figures of giants, with music, banners, and religious
shows, followed the sacrament through the street, and then,
before the houses of the great officers of state, the autos were
performed ; the giants made sport for the multitude, and the
entertainment concluded with music and dancing. Sometimes
the ])rocession was headed by the figure of a monster called the
Tarasca, half serpent in form, borne by men concealed in its
cumbrous bulk, and surmounted by another figure representing
the woman of Babylon, — all so managed as to fill with wonder
and terror the country people who crowded round it, and whose
hats and caps were generally snatched away by the grinning
beast, and became the lawful prize of his conductors. This
exhibition was at first rude and simple, but under the influence
of Lope de Vega it became a well-defined, popular entertauiment,
divided into three parts, each distinct from the other. First
came the loa, a kind of prologue ; then the entremes, a kind of
interlude or farce ; and last, the autos sacramentales, or sacred
acts themselves, which were more grave in their tone, though
often whimsical and extravagant.

The seventy-three autos written by Calderon are all allegorical,
and by the music and show with wliich they abound, they closely
approach to the opera. They are upon a great variety of sub-
jects, and indicate by their structure that elaborate and costly
machinery must have been used in their representation. They
are crowded with such personages as Sin, Death, Judaism, Mercy,
and Charity, and the purpose of all is to set forth the Real Pres-
ence in the Eucharist. The grpat enemy of mankind of course
fills a large place in them. Almost all of them contain passages
of striking lyrical poetry.

The secular plays of Calderon can scarcely be classified, for in
many of them even more than two forms of the drama are
mingled. To the principle of making a story that should sustain
the interest throughout, Calderon sacrificed almost as much as
Lope de Vega did. To him facts are never obstacles. Corio-
lanus is a general under Romulus ; the Danube is placed between
vSweden and Russia ; and Herodotus is made to describe Amer-
ica. But in these dramas we rarely miss the interest and charm
of a dramatic story, which provokes the curiosity and enchains
the attention.

In the dramas of the Cloak and Sword the plots of Calderon
are intricate. He excelled in the accumulation of surprises, in
plunging his characters into one difficulty after another, main-
taining the interest to the last. In style and versification Cat

SPANISH LITERATURE. 321

deron has high merits, though they are occasionally mingled
with the defects of liis age. He added no new forms to dra-
matic composition, nor did he much modify those which had
heen already settled by Lope de Vega ; but he showed greater
skill in the arrangement of his incidents, and more poetry in the
structure and tendency of his dramas. To his elevated tone we
owe much of what distinguishes Calderon from his predecessor^,
and nearly all that is most individual in his merits and defects.
In carrying out his theory of the national drama, he often suc-
ceeds and often fails ; and when he succeeds, he sets before us
an idealized drama, resting on the noblest elements of the Span-
ish national character, and one which, with all its unquestionable
defects, is to be placed among the extraordinary phenomena of
modern poetry.

The most brilliant period of the Spanish drama falls within
the reign of Philip II., wliich extended from 1620 to IGOo, and
embraced the last years of the life of Lope de Vega, and the
thirty most fortunate years of the life of Calderon. After this
period a change begins to be apparent ; for the school of Lope
was that of a drama in the freshness and buoyancy of youth,
while that of Calderon belongs to the season of its maturity and
gradual decay. The many writers who were either contempo-
rary with Lope de Vega and Calderon, or who succeeded them,
had little influence on the character of the theatre. This, in its
proper outlines, always remained as it was left by these great
masters, who maintained an almost unquestioned control over it
while they lived, and at their death left a character impressed
U])on it, which it never lost till it ceased to exist altogether.

When Lope de Vega first appeared as a dramatic writer at
Madrid, the only theatres he found were two unslieltered court-
yards, which depended on such companies of strolling players as
occasionally visited the cajntal. Before he died, there were, be-
sides the court-yards in Madrid, several theatres of great mag-
nificence in the royal palaces, and many thousand actors ; and
half a century later, the passion for dramatic representations
had spread into every part of the kingdom, and tliere was hardly
a village that did not ])ossess a theatre.

During the whole of the successful ])eriod of the drama, the
representations took place in the daytime. Dancing was early
an important })art of the theatrical exhibitions in Spain, even of
the religious, and its importance has continuotl do^^^l to the })res-
ent day. From the earliest antiquity it was the favorite anmse-
ment of the rude inhabitants of the country, and in modern times
dancing has been to Spain wliat music has been to Italy, a J)a3-
sion with the whole jiopulation.

In all its forms and subsidiary attractions, the Spanish drama

322 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

was essentially a popular entertainment, governed by the popu-
lar will. Its purpose was to please all equally, and it was not
only necessary that the play should be interesting; it was, above
all, required that it should be Spanish, and, therefore, whatever
the subject might be, whether actual or mythological, Greek or
Roman, the characters were always represented as CastUian, and
Castilian of the seventeenth century. It was the same with their
costumes. Coriolanus appeared in the costume of Don Juan of
Austria, and Aristotle came on the stage dressed like a Spanish
Abbe, with curled periwig and buckles on his shoes.

The Spanish theatre, therefore, in many of its characteristics
and attributes, stands by itself. It is entirely national, it takes
no cognizance of ancient example, and it borrowed nothing from
the drama of France, Italy, or England. Founded on traits of
national character, with all its faidts, it maintained itself as long
as that character existed in its original attributes, and even now
it remains one of the most striking and interesting portions of
modern literature.

5. Romances and Taxes. — Hitherto the writers of Spain
had been little known, except in their own country ; but we are
now introduced to an author whose fame is bounded by no lan-
guage and no country, and whose name is not alone familiar to
men of taste and learning, but to almost every class of society.

Cervantes (1547—1616), though of noble family, was born in
poverty and obscurity, not far from Madrid. When he was
about twenty-one years of age, he attached himself to the person
of Cardinal Aquaviva, with whom he visited Rome. He soon
after enlisted as a common soldier in the war against the Turks,
and, in the great battle of Lepanto, 1572, he received a wound
which deprived him of the use of his left hand and arm, and
obliged him to quit the military profession. On his way home
he was captured by pirates, carried to Algiers, and sold for a
slave. Here he passed five years full of adventure and suffering.
At length his ransom was effected, and he returned home to find
his father dead, his family reduced to a still more bitter poverty
by his ransom, and himself friendless and unknown. He with-
drew from the world to devote himself to literature, and to gain
a subsistence by his pen.

One of the first productions of Cervantes was the pastoral ro-
mance of " Galatea." This was followed by several dramas, the
principal of which is founded on the tragical fate of Numantia
Notwithstanding its want of dramatic skill, it may be cited as a
proof of the author's poetical talent, and as a bold effort to raise
the condition of the stage.

After many years of poverty and embarrassment, in 1605,
when Cervantes had reached his fiftieth year, he jiublished the

SPANISH LITERATURE. 323

first part of " Don Quixote." The success of this effort was in-
credible. Many thousand copies are said to have been printed
during the author's lifetime. It was translated into various lan-
guages, and eulogized by every class of readers, yet it occasioned
little improvement in the jiecuniary circumstances of the author.
In 1G15, he published the second part of the same work, and,
in the year following, liis eventful and troubled life drew to its
close.

" Don Quixote," of all the works of all modern times, bears
most deeply the impression of the national character it repre-
sents, and it has in return enjoyed a degree of national favor
never granted to any other. The object of Cervantes in writing
it was, as he himself declares, " to render abhorred of men the
false and absurd stories contained in books of chivahy." The
fanaticism for these romances was so great in Spain during the
sixteenth century, and they were deemed so noxious, that the
burning of all copies extant in the country was earnestly asked
for by the Cortes. To destroy a 2)assion that had struck its roots
so deeply in the character of all classes of men, to break up the
only reading which, at that time, was fashionable and popular,
was a bold undertaking, yet one in which Cervantes succeeded.
No book of chivahy was written after the apjjearance of " Don
Quixote ; " and from that time to the present they have been
constantly disappearing, until they are now among the rarest of
literary curiosities, — a solitary instance of the power of genius
to destroy, by a well-timed blow, an entire department of litera-
ture.

In accomplishing this object, Cervantes represents " Don
Quixote " as a country gentleman of La Mancha, full of Castil-
ian honor and enthusiasm, but so completely crazed by reading
the most famous books of chivalry, that he not only believes
them to be true, but feels himself called upon to become the im-
possible knight-errant they describe, and actually goes forth into
the world, like them, to defend the oppressed and avenge the in-
jured. To comj)lete his chivalrous ecpiipment, which he had be-
gun by fitting up for himself a suit of armor strange to his cen-
tury, he took an esquire out of his neighborhood, a middle-aged
peasant, ignorant, credulous, and good-natured, but shrewd
enough occasionally to see the folly of their jjosition. Tlie two
sally forth from their native village in search of adventures, of
which the excited imagination of the knight — turning windmills
into giants, solitary turrets into castles, and galley slaves into
o])pressed gentlemen — finds abundance wherever he goes, while
the esquire translates them all into tlie jilain prose of truth, with
a simplicity strikingly contrasted ^Wth the lofty dignity aiid the
magnificent illusions of the knight. After a series of ridiculous

824 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

discomfitures, the two are at last brought home like madmen to
their native village.

Ten years later, Cervantes published the second part of Don
Quixote, which is even better than the first. It shows more
vigor and freedom, the invention and the style of thought are
richer, and the finish more exact. Both Don Quixote and San-
cho are brought before us like such living realities, that at this
moment the figures of the crazed, gaunt, and dignified knight,
and of liis round, selfish, and most amusing esquire, dwell bodied
forth in the imagination of more, among all conditions of men
tliroughout Christendom, than any other of the creations of hu-
man talent. In this work Cervantes has shown himself of kin-
di'ed to all times and all lands, to the humblest as well as to
the highest degrees of cultivation, and he has received in return,
beyond all other writers, a tribute of sympathy and admiration
from the universal spirit of humanity.

This romance, which Cervantes threw so carelessly from him,
and wliich he regarded only as a bold effort to break up the ab-
surd taste for the fancies of chivalry, has been established by an
uninterrupted and an unquestioned success ever since, as the old-
est classical specimen of romantic fiction, and as one of the most
remarkable monuments of modern genius. But Cervantes is
entitled to a higher glory : it should be borne in mind that tliis
delightful romance was not the result of a youthful exuberance of
feeling, and a happy external condition ; with all its unquench-
able and irresistible humor, its bright views, and its cheerful trust
in goodness and virtue, it was written in his old age, at the con-
clusion of a life which had been marked at nearly every step
with sti-uggle, disappointment, and calamity ; it was begun in
prison, and finished when he felt the hand of death pressing cold
and heavy upon his lieart. If this be remembered as we read,
we may feel what admiration and reverence are due, not only to
the living power of Don Quixote, but to the character and genius
of Cervantes ; if it be forgotten or underrated, we shall fail in
regard to both.

The first form of romantic fiction which succeeded the ro-
mances of chivalry was that of prose pastorals, which was intro-
duced into Spain by Montemayor, a Portuguese, who lived,
probably, between 1520 and 1561. To divert his mind from
the sorrow of an unrequited attachment, he composed a romance
entitled " Diana," which, with numerous faults, possesses a high
degree of merit. It was succeeded by many similar tales.

The next form of Spanish prose fiction, and the one which
has enjoyed a more permanent regard, is that known as tales in
the gusto picaresco, or style of the rogues. As a class, they
constitute a singular exhibition of character, and are as separate

SPANISH LITERATURE. 325

snd national as anythinjj in modern literature. The first fiction
of this class was the " Lazarillo de Tonnes " of Mendoza, al-
ready sjjoken of, i)ublished in 1554, — a bold, unfinished sketch
x)f the life of a rogue from the very lowest condition of society.
Forty-five years afterwards this was followed by the " Guzman
de Alfai-ache " of Aleman, the most ample portraiture of its
class to be found in S})ani.sh literature. It is chiefly curious and
interesting because it shows us, in the costume of the times, the
life of an ingenious Machiavelian rogue, who is never at a loss
for an expedient, and who speaks of himself always as an hon-
est man. The woi-k was received with great favor, and trans-
lated into all the languages of P^urope.

But the work which most plainly shows the condition of social
life which produced this class of tales, is the " Life of Esteva-
nillo Gonzalez," first printed in 1646. It is the autobiography
of a buffoon who was long in the service of Piccolomini, the
great general of the Thirty Years' War. Tiie brilliant success
of these works at home and abroad subsequently produced the
Gil Bias of Le Sage, an imitation more brilliant than any of the
originals that it followed.

The serious and historical fictions produced in Spain were
limited in number, and with few exceptions deserved little favor.
Slioi't stories or tales were more successful than any other form
of prose-fiction during the latter part of the sixteenth, and the
■whole of the seventeenth century. They belonged to the spirit
of their own times and to the state of society in which they ap-
peared. Taken together, the number of fictions in Spanish lit-
erature is enormous ; but what is more remarkable than their
multitude, is the fact that they were produced when the rest of
Europe, with a partial exception in favor of Italy, was not yet
awakened to corresponding efforts of the imagination. The cre-
ative spirit, however, soon ceased, and a spirit of French imita-
tion took its ])lace.

6. Historical Narrative Poems. — Epic poetry, from its
dignity and pretensions, is almost uniformly placed at the head
of the different divisions of a nation's literature. But in Spain
little has been achieved in this de])avtment that is worthy of
memory. The old half-e})ic poem of the Cid — the first attempt
at narration in the languages of modern Europe that deserves
the name — is one of the most remarkable outbreaks of poetical
and national enthusiasm on record. The few similar attempts
that followed during the next three centuries, while they serve
to mark the progress of Spanish culture, show little of the power
manifested in the Cid.

In the reign of Charles V., the poets of the time evidently
imagined that to them was assigned the task of celebrating the

826 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

achievements in the Old World and in the New, which had
raised their country to the first place among the powers of Eu-
rope. There were written, therefore, during this and the suc-
ceeding reigns, an extraordinary number of epic and narrative
poems on subjects connected with ancient and modern Spanish
glory, but they all belong to patriotism rather than to poetry ;
the best of these come with equal pretension into the province
of history. There is but one long poem of this class which
obtained much regard when it appeared, and which has been
remembered ever since, the " Araucana." The author of this
work, Ercilla (1533-1595), was a page of Philip the Second,
and accompanied him to England on the occasion of his mar-
riage with Mary. News having arrived that the Araucans, a
tribe of Indians in Chili, had revolted against the Spanish au-
thority, Ercilla joined the adventurous expedition that was sent
out to subdue them. In the midst of his exploits he conceived
the plan of wi-iting a narrative of the war in the form of an epic
poem. After the tumult of a battle, or the fatigues of a march,
he devoted the hours of the night to his literary labors, wielding
the pen and sword by turns, and often obliged to write on pieces
of skin or scraps of paper so small as to contain only a few lines.
In this poem the descriptive powers of Ercilla are remarkable,
and his characters, especially those of the American chiefs, are
drawn with force and distinctness. The whole poem is per-
vaded by that deep sense of loyalty, always a chief ingredient
in Spanish honor and heroism, and which, in Ercilla, seems
never to have been chUled by the ingratitude of the master to
whom he devoted his life, and to whose glory he consecrated this
poem.

These narrative and heroic poems continued long in favor in
Spain, and they retained to the last those ambitious feelings of
national greatness which had given them birth. Devoted to the
glory of their country, they were produced when the national
character was on the decline ; and as they sprang more directly
from that character, and depended more on its spirit than did
the similar poetry of any other people in modern times, so they
now visibly declined with them.

7. Lyric Poetry. — The number of authors in the various
classes of Spanish lyric poetry, whose works have been preserved
between the beginning of the reign of Charles V. and the end
of that of the last of his race, is not less than a hundred and
twenty ; but the number of those who were successful is small.
A little of what was written by the Argensolas, more of Her-
rera, and nearly the whole of the Bachiller de la Torre and Luis
de Leon, with occasional efforts of Lope de Vega and Quevedo,
and single odes of other writers, make up what gives its char*

SPANISH LITERATURE. 327

ftcter to the graver and less |)oj)ular portion of Spanish lyric
poetry. 1'heir writings form a body of poetry, not large, but
one that fi-oin its living, national feeling on the one side, and its
dignity on the otlier, may be placed without question among
the most successful efforts of modern literature.

The Argensolas were two brothers who flourished in Spain at
the beginning of the seventeenth century ; both occupy a high
place in this de})artment of poetry. The original poems of Luis
de Leon (1528-1591) fill no more than a hundred pages, but
there is hardly a line of them which has not its value, and the
whole taken together are to be placed at the head of Spanish
lyri(! poetry. They are chiefly religious, and the source of
their inspiration is the Hebrew Scriptures. Herrera (1534—
1597) is the earUest classic ode writer in modern literature, and
his poems are characterized by dignity of language, harmony of
versification, and elevation of ideas. Luis de Leon and Herrera
are considered the two great masters of Spanish lyric poetry.

Quevedo (1580-1645) was successful in many departments of
letters. The most prominent characteristics of his verse are a
broad, grotesque humor, and a satire often imitated from the
ancients. His amatory and religious poems are occasionally
marked by extreme beauty and tenderness. The works upon
which his reputation principally rests, however, are in prose, and
belong to theology and metaphysics rather than to elegant lit-
erature. They were produced during the weary years of an
unjust imprisonment. His prose satires are the most celebrated
of his compositions, and by these he will always be remembered
throughout the world.

In the early part of the seventeenth century there arose a sect
who attempted to create a new epoch in Spanish poetry, by af-
fecting an exquisite refinement, and who ran into the most ridic-
ulous extravagance and pedantry. The founder of this " culti-
vated style," as it was called, was Luis Gongora (1561-1627),
and his name, like that of JMarini in Italy, has become a byword
in literature. The style he introduced became at once fashion-
able at court, and it struck so deep root in the soil of the whole
country, that it has not yet been completely eradicated. The
most odious feature of this style is, that it consists entirely of
metaphors, so heaped upon one another that it is as difficult to
find out the meaning hidden under their grotesque mass, as if
it were a series of confused riddles. The success of tliis style
was very gi-eat, and mferior poets bowed to it throughout the
country.

8. Satirical axd other Poetry. — Satirical poetry never
enjoyed a wide success in Spain. The nation has always been
too grave and dignified to endure the censure it implied. It

828 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

was looked upon with distrust, and thought contrary to the con-
ventions of good society to indulge in its composition. Neither
was elegiac poetry extensively cultivated. The Spanish temper-
ament was httle fitted to the subdued, simple, and gentle tone
of the proper elegy. The echoes of pastoral poetry in Spain
are heard far back among the old ballads ; but the Itahan forms
were early introduced and naturalized. Two Portuguese writ-
ers, Montemayor and Miranda, were most successful in this de-
partment of poetry. Equally characteristic of the Spanish gen-
ius, with its pastorals, were the short epigrammatic poems which
appeared through the best age of its literature. They are gen-
erally in the truest tone of popular verse. Of didactic poetry,
there were many irregular varieties ; but the popular character
of Spanish poetry, and the severe nature of the ecclesiastical
and political constitutions of Spain, were unfavorable to the
development of this form of verse, and unlikely to tolerate it
on any important subject. It remained, therefore, one of the
feeblest and least successful departments of the national litera-
ture.

In the seventeenth century, ballads had become the delight of
the whole Spanish people. The soldier solaced himself with
them in his tent, the maiden danced to them on the green, the
lover sang them for his serenade, the street beggar chanted
them for alms ; they entered into the sumptuous entertainments
of the nobility, the holiday services of the chui'ch, and into the
orgies of thieves and vagabonds. No poetry of modern times
has been so widely spread through all classes of society, and
none has so entered into the national character. They were
often written by authors otherwise little known, and they were
always found in the works of those poets of note who desired to
stand well with the mass of their countrymen.

9. Hlstory axd other Prose Writin'gs. — The fathers of
Spanish history are Zurita and Morales. Zurita (1512-1580)
was the author of the " Annals of Aragon," a work more im-
portant to Spanish history than any that had preceded it. Mo-
rales (1513-1591) was historiographer to the crown of Castile,
and his unfinished history of that country is marked by much
general ability. Contemporary with these writers was Mendoza,
already mentioned. The honor of being the first historian of the
country, however, belongs to Mariana (1536-1623), a foundling
who was educated a Jesuit. His main occupation for the last
thirty or forty years of his life was his great "History of Spain."
There is an air of good faith in his accounts and a vividness in
his details wliich are singidarly attractive. If not in all respects
the most trustworthy of annals, it is at least the most remark-
able union of picturesque chronicling with sober history that the

SPANISH LITERA TURE. 329

^orld has ever seen. Sandoval (d. 1621) took up the history
of Spain where Mariana left it ; but while his is a work of au-
tliority, it is unattractive in style. " The General History of
the Indies." by Herrera, is a work of great value, and the one
on which the reputation of the author as a historian chiefly rests.

One of the most ])leasing of the minor Spanish histories is
Argensola's account of tlie Moluccas. It is full of the traditions
found among the natives by the Portuguese when they first
landed there, and of the wild adventui-es that followed when
they had taken possession of the island. Garcilasso de la Vega,
the son of one of the unscrupulous conquerors of Peru, descended
on • his mother's side from the Incas, wrote the " History of
Florida," of which the adventures of De Soto constitute the most
brilliant portion. His " Commentaries on Peru " is a striking
and interesting work.

The last of the historians of eminence in the elder school of
Spanish history was Sohs, whose " Conquest of Mexico " is
beautifully wi-itten, and as it was flattering to the national his-
tory, it was at once successful, and has enjoyed an imimpaired
popularity down to our times.

The spirit of political tyranny in the government, and of rehg-
ious tyranny in the Inquisition, now more than ever united,
were more hostile to bold and faithful in(juii-y in the department
of history than in almost any other. Still, the historians of this
period were not unworthy of the national character. Their
works abound in feeling rather than philosophy, and are -ivritten
in a style that marks, not so much the peculiar genius of their
authors, perhaps, as that of the country that gave them birth.
Although they may not be entirely classical, they are entirely
Spanish ; and what they want in finish and grace they make up
in picturesqueness and originality.

In one form of didactic composition, Spain stands in advance
of other countries : that of proverbs, which Cervantes has hap-
])ily called " short sentences drawn from long experience."
Spanish proverbs can be traced back to the earliest times. Al-
though twenty-four thousand have been collected, many thou-
sands still remain known only among the traditions of the hum-
bler classes of society that have given birth to them all.

From the early part of the seventeenth century, Spanish prose
became infected ^vith that pedantry and affectation already
spoken of as Gongorism, or "the cultivated style;" and from this
time, everything in prose as well as in poetry announced that
corrupted taste which both precedes and hastens the decay of a
literature, and which in the latter half of the seventeenth cen-
tury was in Sjiain but the concomitant of a general decline in
the arts and the gradual degradation of the monarchy. No

330 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

country in Christendom had fallen from such a height of poweT
as that which Spain occupied in the time of Charles V. into such
an abyss of degradation as she reached when Charles II., the
last of the house of Austria, ceased to reign. The old religion
of the country, the most prominent of all the national character-
istics, was now so perverted from its true character by intoler-
ance that it had become a means of oppression such as Europe
never before witnessed. The principle of loyalty, now equally
perverted and mischievous, had sunk into ser^dle submission, and
as we approach the conclusion of the century, the Inquisitiorr
and the despotism seem to have cast their blight over every
thing.

PERIOD THIRD.

From the Accession of the BouRBoy Family to the Present

Time (1700-1902).

1. French Influence on the Literature of Spain. —
The death of Charles II., in 1700, was followed by the War of
the Succession between the houses of Hapsburg and Bourbon,
which lasted thirteen years. It was terminated by the treaty of
Utrecht and the accession of Philip V., the grandson of Louis
XIV. Under his reign the influence of France became appar-
ent in the customs of the country. The Academy of Madrid
was soon established in imitation of that of Paris, with the ob-
ject of establishing and cultivating the purity of the Castilian
language. The first work published by this association was a
Dictionary, which has continued in successive editions to be the
proper standard of the language. At tliis time French began
to be spoken in the elegant society of the court and the capital,
translations from the French were multiplied, and at last, a poet-
ical system, founded on the critical doctrine of Boileau, prev-
alent in France, was formally introduced into the country by
Luzan, in his " Art of Poetry," which from its first appearance
(1737) exercised a controlling authority at the court, and over
the few writers of reputation then to be found in the country.
Though the works of Luzan offered a remedy for the bad taste
which had accompanied and in no small degree hastened the
decline of the national taste, they did not lay a foundation for
advancement in literature. The national mind had become
dwarfed for want of its appropriate nourishment; the moral and
physical sciences that had been advancing for a hundred years
throughout Europe, were forbidden to cross the Pyrenees. The
scholastic philosophy was still maintained as the highest form
of intellectual culture; the system of Copernicus was looked
upon as contrary to the inspired record ; while the philosophy of
Bacon and the very existence of mathematical science were gen-

SPANISH LITERATURE. 331

erally unknown even to the graduates of universities. It seemed
as if the faculties of thinking and reasoning were becoming ex-
tinct in Spain.

2. The Dawn of Spanlsh Literature in the Eighteenth
Century. — The first effort for intellectual emancipation was
made by a monk, Benito Feyjoo (1G76-17G4), who, having made
himself acquainted with the truths brought to light by Galileo,
Bacon, Newton, Leibnitz, and Pascal, devoted his life to the labor
of diffusing them among his countrymen. The opposition raised
against him only drew to his works the attention he desired.
Even the Incjuisition summoned him in vain, for it was impossi-
ble to question that he was a sincere and devout CathoUc, and
he had been careful not to interfere with any of the abuses sanc-
tioned by the church. Before his death he had the pleasure of
seeing that an impulse in the right direction had been imparted
to the national mind.

One of the striking indications of advancement was an attack
upon the style of popular preaching, which was now in a state of
scandalous degradation. The assailant was Isla (1703-1781), a
Jesuit, whose " History of Friar Gerund" is a satirical romance,
slightly resembling Don Quixote in its plan, describing one of
those bombastic orators of the age. It was from the first suc-
cessful in its object of destroying the evil at which it aimed, and
preachers of the class of Friar Gerund soon found themselves
without an audience.

The policy of Charles III. (1759-1788) was highly favorable
to the progress of literature. He abridged the power of the
Inquisition, and forbade the condemnation of any book till its
writer or publisher had been heard in its defense ; he invited the
suggestion of improved plans of study, made arrangements for
popular education, and raised the tone of instruction in the in-
stitutions of learning. Finally, perceiving the Jesuits to be the
most active opponents of these reforms, he expelled them from
every part of his dominions, breaking up their schools, and con-
fiscating their revenues. During his reign, intellectual life and
health were infused into the country, and its powers, which had
been so long wasting away, were revived and renewed.

Among tiie writers of this age are Moratin the elder (1737-
1780), whose poems are marked by purity of language and har-
mony of versification; and Yriarte (1750-1791), who was most
successful in fables, which he applied to the correction of the
faults and follies of literary men. To this period may also be
referred the school of Salanumca, whose object was to combine
in literature the power and richness of the olil writers of the
time of the Philips with the severer taste then prevailing on the
«ontinent. Melendez (1754-1817), who was the founder of this

332 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

school, devoted lils muse to the joys and sorrows of rustic love,
and the leisure and amusements of country life. Nothing can
surpass some of his descriptions m the graceful deUneation of
tender feeling, and liis verse is considered in sweetness and
native strength, to be such a return to the tones of Garcilasso, as
had not been heard in Spain for more than a century. Gonza-
lez (d. 1794), who, with happy success, imitated Luis de Leon,
Jovellanos (1744-1811), who exerted great influence on the
literary and political condition of his country, and Quintana
(b. 1772), whose poems are distinguished by their noble and
patriotic tone, are considered among the principal representa-
tives of the school of Salamanca.

The most considerable movement of the eighteenth century
in Spain, is that relating to the theatre, which it was earnestly
attempted to subject to the rules then prevailing on the French
stage. The Spanish theatre, in fact, was now at its lowest ebb,
and wholly in the hands of the populace. The plays acted for
public amusement were still represented as they had been in
the seventeenth century, — in open court-yards, in the^ daytime,
without any pretense of scenery or of dramatic ingenuity.
Soon after, through the influence of Isabella, the second wife of
Phihp v., improvements were made in the external arrange-
ments and architecture of the theatres ; yet, owing to the exclu-
sive favor shown to the opera by the Italian queens, the old
spirit continued to prevail.

In the middle of the eighteenth century a reform of the com-
edy and tragedy was undertaken by Montiano and others, who
introduced the French style in dramatic compositions, and from
that time an active contest went on between the innovators and
the followers of the old drama. The latter was attacked, in
1762, by Moratin the elder, who wrote against it, and especially
against the autos saeramentales, showing that such wild, coarse,
and blasphemous exhibitions, as they generally were, ought not
to be tolerated in a civilized and religious community. So far
as the autos were concerned, Moratin was successful ; they were
prohibited in 1768, and since that time, in the larger cities, they
have not been heard.

The most successful writer for the stage was Ramon do la
Cruz (1731-1799), the author of about three hundred dramatic
compositions, founded on the manners of the middle and lower
classes. They are entirely national in their tone, and abound
in wit and in faithful delineations of character.

While a number of writers pandered to the bad taste of low
and vulgar audiences, a formidable antagonist appeared in the
person of Moratin the younger (1760-1828), son of that poet
who first produced, on the Spanish stage, an original drama

SPANTSff LITERATURE. 333

m-itten according to the French doctrines. Notwithstanding
the taste of the ])ul)lic, he determined to tread in the footsteps
of liis father, Tlioiigh hi.s comedies have failed to educate a
school stron<f enou<i;h to drive out the bad imitations of the old
masters, they have yet been able to keep then- own place.

Tile eighteenth century was a period of revolution and change
with the Spanish theatre. While the old national drama was
not restored to its ancient rights, the drama founded on the
doctrines taught by Luzan, and ])racticed by the Moratins, had
only a limited success. The audiences did as much to degrade
it as was done by the poets they patronized and the actors they
applauded. On the one side, extravagant and absurd dramas
in great numbers, full of low buffoonery, were offered ; on the
other, meagre, sentimental comedies, and stiff", cold translations
from the French, were forced, in almost equal numbers, upon
the actors, by the voices of those from whose authority or sup-
port they could not entirely emancii)ate themselves.

3. Spanish Literature in the Nineteenth Century.
— The new life and health infused into literature in the age of
Charles III. was checked by the French revolutionary wars in
the reign of Charles IV., and afterwards by the restoration of
civil despotism and the Inquisition, brought again uito the coun-
try by the return of the Bourbon dynasty in 1814. Amidst the
violence and confusion of the reign of Ferdinand YII. (1814-
1833), elegant letters could hardly hope to find shelter or rest-
ing-place. Nearly every poet and ])rose writer, known as such
at the end of the reign of Charles IV.. became involved in the
fierce political changes of the time, — changes so various and so
opposite, that those who escaped from the consequences of one,
were often, on that very account, sure to suffer in the next that
followed. Indeed, the reign of Ferdinand VII. was an inter-
regnum in all elegant culture, such as no modern nation has yet
seen, — not even Spain herself during the War of the Succes-
sion. Tliis state of things continued through the long civil war
which arose soon after the death of that king, and, indeed, it is
not yet entirely abated. But in despite of the troubled condi-
tion of the country, even while Ferdinand was living, a move-
ment was begun, tlie first traces of which are to be found amoiig
*lie emigrated Spaniards, who cheered with letters their exile in
.^^ngland and France, and whose subsequent ])rogress from the
time when the death of their unfaithful monarch permitted them
to return home, is distinctly perceptible in their own country.

The two principal writers of the first hidf of tlie century are
the satirist Jose de Larra (d. 1837). and the poet Espronceda
fd. 1842) ; both were brilliant writers, and both died young.
Zon-illa (d. 1893), has great wealth of imagination, and Fenum

334 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Caballero is a gifted woman whose stories have been often trans*
lated. Antonio tie Trueba is a writer of popular songs and short
stories not without merit. Campoamor (b. 1817) and Bequer
represent the poetry of a generation ago. The short lyrics of
the first named are remarkable for their delicacy and finesse.
Bequer, who died at the age of thirty, left behind him poems
wliich have already exercised a wide influence in his own country
and in Spanish America ; they tell a story of passionate love,
despair, and death. Perez Galdos, a writer of fiction, attacks
the problem of modern life and thought, and represents with
vivid and often bitter fidelity the conflicting interests and pas-
sions of Spanish life. Valera, who was formerly minister from
Spain to the United States, is the author of the most famous
Spanish novel of the day, " Pepita Jimenez," a work of great
artistic perfection, and his skill and grace are stUl more evident
in his critical essays. Castelar has gained a European celebrity
as an orator and a political and miscellaneous writer.

During the past forty years much good criticism has been
produced in Spain, by Alas, Emilia Bazan, Cotarelo, Yxart, and
many others. In history eminence has been achieved by Pujol,
Duro, and Menendez y Pelayo. About tliirty years ago the
strongest tendency manifested in fiction was in the direction of
the naturalistic school, as exemplified in the work of Vald^s
and Emilia Bazan. Since 1880, however, a new movement has
become dominant, directed by an increase in national feeling.
Into the current of this movement have been swept many of the
older writers. Leaders like Galdos, Valera, Vald^s, Seilora
Bazan, and Echegaray, have all shown a desire to escape past
traditions, and interest themselves in the problems of modern
life. Echegaray and Nuiiez de Arce have been the only drama-
tists of vital significance.

It is noteworthy that at the same moment when pure letters
have begun to find a closer connection with modern conditions,
scholarship has been submitting itself to the exactions of the
modern scientific method. The most distinguished exemplar of
this tendency may be found in Menendez y Pelayo, soundest
of Spanish scholars, critics, and literary historians.

PORTUGUESE LITERATURE.

1. The Portufjiiese Lanqiiage. — 2. Early Literature of Portugal. —3. Poets of tha
Fifteenth Century ; Macias, Ribeyro. — 4. Introduction of the Italian Style ; Saa da
Miranda, Moiitenmyor, Kerreira. — 5. Epic Poetry; Camoi-ns ; The Luaiad. — G Dra-
matic Poetry; tiil Vi<«ute. — 7. Prose Writing; Rodriguez Lolx), Barros, Brito, Veira.
— 8. Portuguese Literature in the Seventeentli, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Centuries ;
Antonio Jos6, Manuel do Nascimento, Manuel de Bocage.

1. The Portuguese Language. — Portugal was long con-
sidered only as an integral part of Spain ; its inhabitants called
themselves Spaniards, and conferred on their neighbors the dis-
tinctive appellation of Castilians. Their language was origi-
nally the same as the Galicnan ; and had Portugal remained a
province of Spain, its peculiar dialect would })robably, like that
of Ai-agon, have been driven from the fields of literature by
the Castilian. But at the close of the eleventh century, Al-
phonso VI., celebrated in Spanish liistory for his triumphs over
the Moors, gave Portugal as a dowTV to his daughter on her
marriage with Henry of Burgundy, with i)ennission to call his
own whatever accessions to it the young prince might be able to
conquer from the Moorish territorj\ Alphonso Henriquez, the
son of this pair, was saluted King of Portugal by his soldiers
on the battle-field of Castro- Yerd, in the year 1139, his king-
dom comprising all the provinces we now call Portugal, except
the province of Algarve. Thenceforward the Portuguese be-
came a separate nation from the Spaniards, and their language
asserted for itself an independent existence. StiU, however, the
Castilian was long considered the proper vehicle for literature ;
aud while few Portuguese writers whoUy disused it, there were
many who employed no other.

Although the Portuguese language, founded on the Galiciau
dialect, bears much similarity to the Spanisli in its roots and
structure, it difi'ers widely from it in its grammatical combina-
tions and derivations, so that it constitutes a language by itself.
It has far more French, and fewer Bascjue and Arabic elements
than the Spanish ; it is softer, but it lias, at the same time, a
truncated and incomplete sound, conqjured witli the sonorous
beauty of the Castilian, and a predominance of nasal sounds
stronsrer than those of the French. It is graceful and easy in
its construction, but it is the least energetic of all the Romance
tongues.

836 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

2. Early Literature of Portugal. — The people, as well
as the language, of Portugal possess a distinctive character.
Early in the history of the country the extensive and fertile
plains were abandoned to pasturage, and the number of shep-
herds in proportion to the rest of the population was so great,
that the idea of rural life among them was always associated
with the care of flocks. At the same time, their long extent of
coast invited to the pursuits of commerce and navigation ; and
the nation, thus divided into hardy navigators, soldiers, and shep-
herds, was better calculated for the display of energy, valor,
and enterprise than for laborious and persevering industry. Ac-
customed to active intercourse with society, rather than to the
seclusion of castles, they were far less haughty and fanatical
than the Castilians ; and the greater number of Mozarabians that
were incorporated among them, diffused over their feelings and
manners a much stronger influence of orientalism. The passion
of love seemed to occupy a larger share of their existence, and
their poetry was more enthusiastic than that of any other people
of Europe.

Although the literature of Portugal, like the character of its
people, is marked by excessive softness, elegiac sentinientality,
and an undefined melancholy, it affords Httle originality in the
general tone of its productions. Henry of Burgundy and his
knights early introduced Provencal poetry, and the native genius
Avas nurtured in the succeeding age by Spanish and Italian taste,
and afterwards modified by the influence of French and English
civilization. National songs were not wanting in the early his-
tory of the country, yet no reUcs of them have been preserved.
The eariiest monuments of Portuguese literature relate to the
age of the French knights who founded the political independ-
ence of the country, and must be sought in the " Cancioneros,"
containing courtly ballads composed in the Galician dialect, after
the Proven9al fashion, and simg by wandering minstrels. The
Cancionero of King Dionysius (1279-1325) is the most ancient
of those collections, the king himself being considered by the
Portuguese as the earliest poet. In fact, Galician poetry, mod-
eled after the Proven9al, was cultivated at that time all along
the western portion of the Pyrenean peninsula. Alfonso the
Wise, King of Castile, used this dialect in his poems ; and as a
poet and patron of the Spanish troubadours, he may be consid-
ered as belonging both to the Spanish and Portuguese litepa-

tures.

In the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century, Poi>
tuguese poetry preserved its Proven9al character. The poets
rallied around the court, and the kings and princes of the age
sang to the Proven9al lyre both in the Castilian and the Galician

PORTUGUESE LITERATURE. 337

dialects ; but only a few fragments of the poetry of the four-
teenth century are extant.

3. Poets ok the Fikieexth Cextuuy. — Early in the fif-
teenth century, the same chivalrous spirit which had acliieved
the contjuest of the country from the Moors, led the Portuguese
to cross the Straits of Gibraltar, and plant their banner on the
walls of Ceuta. Many other cities of Africa were afterwards
taken ; and in 1487, Bartolomeo Diaz doubled the Cape of Good
Hope, and Vasco da Gama pointed out to Europe the hitherto,
unknown track to India. Within fifteen years after, a Portu-
guese kingdom was founded in Hindostan, and the treasures of
the East flowed into Portugal. The enthusiasm of the people
was thus awakened, and high views of national importance, and
high hopes of national glory, arose in the public mind. The time
was peculiarly favorable to the development of genius, and es-
pecially to the spirit of poetry. Indeed, the last part of the ftf-
teenth century, and the beginning of the sixteenth, the age of
King John (1481-1495), and of Emanuel (1495-1521), may be
called the golden age of the Portuguese poetry.

At the head of the poetical school of the fifteenth century,
stands Macias, surnaraed the Enamored (fl. 1420). He was dis-
tinguished as a hero in tlie wars against the Moors of Granada,
and as a poet in the retinue of the Marquis of Villena. He be-
came attached to a lady of the same princely household, who
was forced to marry another. Macias continuing to express his
love, though prohibited by the marquis from doing so, was
tfirown into jjrison ; but even there, he still jjoured forth his
songs on his ill-fated love, regarding the hardsliips of captivity
as light, in comparison with the pangs of absence from his mis-
tress. The husband of the lady, stung with jealousy, recogniz-
incr Macias throusrh the bars of his prison, took deadly aim at
him wath his javelin, and kiUed him on the spot. The weapon
was suspended over the poet's tomb, in the Church of St. Cath-
erine, with the inscription, " Here lies Macias the Enamored."

The death of Macias produced such a sensation as could only
belong to an imaginative age. All tliose who desired to be
thought cultivated mourned his fate. His few poems of moder-
ate merit became generally known and admired, and his melan-
choly history continued to be the theme of songs and ballads,
until, in the poetry of Lope de Vega and Calderon, the name of
Macias passed into a ju'overb, and became synonymous with the
highest and tenderest love.

Ribeyro (1495-1521), one of the earliest and best poets of
Portugal, was attached to the court of King PZmanuel. Here
he indulged a passion for one of the ladies of the court, which
gave rise to some of his most ext|uisite elfusions. It is supposed

838 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

that the lady, whose name he studiously conceals, was the In-
fanta Beatrice, the king's own daughter. He was so wholly de-
voted to the object of his love, that he is said to have passed
whole nights wandering in the woods, or beside the banks of a
solitary stream, pouring forth the tale of his woes in strains of
mingled tenderness and despaii". The most celebrated produc-
tions of Ribeyro are eclogues. The scene is invariably laid in
his own country ; his shepherds are all Portuguese, and his peas-
ant gu'ls have Christian names. But under the disguise of fic-
titious characters, he evidently sought to place before the eyes
of his beloved mistress the feelings of his own breast ; and the
wretchedness of an impassioned lover is always his favorite
theme.

The bucolic poets of Portugal may be regarded as the earliest
in Europe, and their favorite creed, that pastoral hfe was the
poetical model of human life, and the ideal point from which
every sentiment and passion ought to be viewed, was first reprei
sented by Ribeyro. This idea thi"ew an air of romantic sweet,
ness and elegance over the poetry of the sixteenth century, but
at the same time it gave to it a monotonous tone and an air of
tedious affectation.

4. Introduction of the Italian Style. — The poet who
first introduced the Italian style into Portuguese poetry was so
-Successful in seizing the delicate tone by which the blending of
the two was to be effected that the innovation was accomplished
without a struggle. Saa de Miranda (1495-1558) was one of
the most pleasing and accomplished men of his age. He trav-
eled extensively, and on his return was attached to the court of
Lisbon. It is related of him that he would often sit silent and
abstracted in company, and that tears, of which no one knew
the cause, would flow from liis eyes, while he seemed uncon-
scious of the circumstance, and indifferent to the observation he
was thus attracting. These emotions were of course attributed
to poetic thought and romantic attachments. He insisted on
marrying a lady who was neither young nor handsome, and
whom he had never seen, having been captivated by her repu-
tation for amiability and discretion. He became so attached to
her, that when slie died he renounced all his previous pursuits
and ])urposes in life, remained inconsolable, and soon followed
her to the grave. Miranda is chiefly celebrated for his lyric
and pastoral poetry.

Montemayor was a contemporary of Miranda, and a native of
Portugal, but lie declined holding any literary position in his
own country. The pastoral romance of " Diana," written in the
CastUian language, is his most celebrated work. It was received
with great favor, and extensively imitated. With many faults,

PORTUGUESE LITERATURE. 339

it possesses a high degree of poetic merit, and is entitled to the
eateem of all ages.

Ferreu'a (1528-1569) has been called the Horace of Portu-
gal. His works are correct and elegant, but they are wanting
in those higher efforts of genius wliich strike the iniagiiuitiou
and fire the spirit. The glory, advancement, and civihzation of
his country were his darling themes, and it was this enthusiasm
of patriotism tliat made him great. In his tragedy of Inez de
Castro, Ferreira raised himself far above his Italian contempo-
raries. Many similar writers shed a lustre on this, the briglitest
and indeed the only brilliant period of Portuguese literature ;
but they are all more remarkable for taste and elegance than for
richness of invention.

5. Epic Poetry. — The chief and only boast of his country,
the sole poet whose celebrity has extended beyond the peninsula,
and whose name appears in the list of those who have conferred
honor upon Europe, is Luis de Camoens (1524-1579). He was
descended from a noble, but by no means a wealthy familj'.
After having comjileted his studies at the university, he conceived
a passion for a lady of the court, so violent that for some time
he renounced all hterary and worldly pursuits. He entered the
military service, and in an engagement before Ceuta, in which
he greatly distinguished himself, he lost an eye. Neglected and
contemned by his country, he embarked for the East Indies.
After various vicissitudes there, he wrote a bitter satire on the
government, which occasioned his banishment to the island of
Macao, where he remained for five years, and where he com-
pleted the great work which was to hand down his name to pos-
terity. There is still to be seen, on the most elevated point of
the isthmus which unites the town of Macao to the Chinese con-
tinent, a sort of natural gallery formed out of the rocks, appar-
ently almost suspended in the air, and commanding a magnifi-
cent prospect over both seas, and the lofty chain of mountains
which rises above their shores. Here he is said to have invoked
the genius of the epic muse, and tradition has conferred on this
retreat the name of the Grotto of Camoens.

On his return to Goa, Camoens was shipwrecked, and of all
his little property, he succeeded only in saving the manuscript
of the Lusiad, which he bore in one hand above the water, while
swimming to the shore. Soon after reaching Goa, he was thrown
into prison upon some imjust accusation, and suffered for a long
time to linger there. At length released, he took passage for
his native country, which he reached after an absence of sixteen
years. Portugal was at this time ravaged by the plague, and
in the universal sorrow and alarm, the poet and his great work
were alike neglected. The king at length consented to accept

340 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the dedication of this poem, and made to the author the wretched
return of a pension, amoimting to about twenty-five dollars.
Camoens was not unfrequently in actual want of bread, for which
he was in part indebted to a black servant who had accompanied
him from India, and who was in the habit of stealing out at night
to beg in the streets for what might support his master during
the following day. But more aggravated evils were in store for
the unfortunate poet. The young king perished in the disas-
trous expedition against Morocco, and with him expired the
royal house of Portugal. The independence of the nation was
lost, her glory eclipsed, and the future pregnant with calamity
and disgrace. Camoens, who had so nobly supported his own
misfortunes, sank under those of his country. He was seized
with a violent fever, and expired in a public hospital without
having a shroud to cover his remains.

The poem on which the reputation of Camoens depends, is
entitled " Os Lusiadas ; " that is, the Lusitanians (or Portu-
guese), and its design is to present a poetic and epic grouping
of all the great and interesting events in the annals of Portugal.
The discovery of the passage to India, the most brilliant point
in Portuguese history, was selected as the groundwork of the
epic unity of the poem. But with this, and the Portuguese con-
quests in India, the author combined all the illustrious actions
performed by his countrymen in other quarters of the world, and
whatever of splendid and heroic achievement history or tradi-
tion could supply. Vasco da Gania has been represented as the
iiero of the work, and those portions not immediately connected
with his expedition, as episodes. But there is, in truth, no
other leading subject than the country ,_ and no episodes except
such parts as are not immediately connected with her glory.
Camoens was familiar with the works of his Italian contempo-
raries, but the circumstance that essentially distinguishes him
from them, and which forms the everlasting monument of his
own and his country's glory, is the national love and pride
breathing through the whole work. His patriotic spirit, devot-
ing a whole life to raise a monument worthy of his country,
seems never to have indulged a thought which was not true to
the glory of an ungrateful nation.

The Greek mythology forms the epic machinery of the Lu-
Biad. Vasco da Gama, having doubled the Cape of Good Hope,
is steering along the western coast of Africa, when the gods
assemble on Mount Olympus to deliberate on the fate of India.
Venus and Bacchus form two parties ; the former in favor, the
latter opposed to the Portuguese. The poet thus gratified his
national ])ride, as Portugal was eminently the land of love, and
moderation in the use of wine was one of its highest virtuea

PORTUGUESE LITERATURE. 341

Bacchus lays many snares to entrap and ruin the adventurers,
who are warned and protected by Venus. He visits the palace
of the gods of the sea, who consent to let loose the Winds and
Waves upon the daring adventurers, but she summons her
nymphs, and adorning themselves with garlands of the sweetest
flowers, they subdue tlie boisterous Winds, who, charmed by the
blandishments of love, become calm. Vasco is hospitabiy re-
ceived by the African king of Melinda, to whom he relates the
most interesting parts of the history of his native country. On
the homeward voyage, Venus prepares a magic festival for the
adventurers, on an enchanted island, and the goddess Thetis be-
comes the bride of the admiral. Here the poet finds the oppor-
tunity to complete the narrative of his comitry's history, and a
prophetic nymph is brought forward to describe the future
achievements of the nation from that period to the time of Cam-
oens.

The Lusiad is one of the noblest monuments ever raised to
the national glory of any people, and it is difficult to conceive
how so grand and beautiful a whole could be formed on a plan
s^ trivial and irregular. The plan has been compared to a scaf-
folding surrounded and concealed by a majestic building, serv-
ing to connect its parts, but having no share in producing the
unity of the effect. One of the most affecting and beautiful of
all the passages of the Lusiad, is the narrative of the tragical
fate of Ifiez de Castro, who, after her death, was proclaimed
queen of Portugal, upon the accession of her lover to the tlirone.

In the poems of Camoens we find examples of every species
of composition practiced in his age and country. Some of them
bear the im])ress of his ])ersonal character, and of his sad and
agitated career. A wild tone of sorrow runs through them,
which strikes the ear like wailings heard through the gloom of
midnight and darkness. We know not by what calamity they
were called forth, but it is the voice of grief, and it awakens an
answering throb witliin the breast.

6. Dramatic Poetry. — The drama is quite a barren field
in Portuguese literature. The stage of Lisbon has been occupied
almost exclusively by the Italian opera and Spanish comedy.
Only one poet of any name has written in the Portuguese spirit.
This was Gil Vicente (1490-1556). He resided constantly at
the court, and was iMn])l()yod in providing occasional })ieces for
its civil and religious festivities. It is probable that he was an
actor, and it is certain that he educated for the stage his daugh-
ter, Paula, who was equally celebrated as an actress, a poetess,
and a nmsician. The dramas of Vicente consist of autos, come-
dies, tragi-comedies, and farces- The autos, or religious })ieces,
were ^vi-itten chiefly to furnish entertainment for the court on

342 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Christmas night. The shepherds had naturally an important
part assigned to them, and the whole was pervaded by the pas-
toral feeling which tlistinguishes them remarkably from the
Spanish autos. But the best productions of this author are his
farces, which approach much nearer to the style of true comedy
than the plays published under that name.

Saa de Miranda, desirous of conferring on bis country a clas-
sical theatre, produced two erudite comedies, but he was born a
pastoral poet, and made himself a dramatist only by imitation.
Ferreira belonged to the same school, and the favor bestowed
by the court on the dramas of these two poets, was one obstacle
to the formation of a national drama. Another was, the perti-
nacious attachment of the Portuguese to pastoral poetry, and
nothing could be more contrary to dramatic life than the languor,
sentimentality, and monotony peculiar to the eclogue.

7. Prose Writing. — After Camoens, Saa de Miranda, and
Ferreira, the language and the literature of Portugal are in-
debted to no other writer so much as to Rodriguez Lobo (b.
1558). The history of Portuguese eloquence may be said to
commence with him, for he laid so good a foundation for the
cultivation of a pure prose style that, in every effort to obtain
classic perfection, subsequent writers have merely followed in
his steps. His verse is nowise inferior to his prose. Among
his poetic works appears a whole series of historic romances,
written by way of ridiculing that species of composition.

I^obo stood alone, in the sixteenth century, in his efforts to
improve the prose of his country. Gongorism had, meanwhile,
introduced bombast and metaphorical obscurity, and no writer
of eminence arose to attempt a more natural style, till the end of
the seventeenth century.

Foremost among those who undertook to relate the history of
their country, especially of her oriental discoveries, and who
communicated to their records an ardent patriotic feeling, is
Barros (1496-1571) ; he took Livy for his model, and his labors
are worthy of honorable notice. India was the favorite topic of
Portuguese historians ; and several similar works, but inferior to
that of Barros, appeared in the same age. Bernardo de Brito
(d. 1617) undertook the task of compiling a history of Portugal.
His narration begins with the creation of the world, and breaks
off where the history of modern Portugal commences. It is em-
inently distinguished for style and descriptive talent. The biog-
raphy of Juan de Castro, written by Jacinto de Andrade, is con-
sidered as a masterpiece of the Portuguese prose.

The conquered Indians found an eloquent defender in Veira
(1608-1697), a Catholic missionary, who spent a great part of
his life in the deserts of South America, and wrote catechisms

PORTUGUESE LITERATURE. 343

in different languages for the use of the natives. Having re-
turned to the court of John IV., he undertook to defend the nat-
ural rights of Indians against the rapacity of the conquerors.
He undertook also the defense of tlie Jews in his native country,
and showed so much interest in their cause that he was twice
brought before the Inquisition. His sermons and letters are
models of ])rose writings, full of the inspiration which springs
from the boldness of his subjects.

8. FoKTUGUESK Literature ix the Seventeenth, Eigh-
teenth, AND Nineteenth Centuries. — Portuguese literature
during the seventeenth century would present an utter blank,
but for the few literary productions to which we have alluded.
Previous to that time, patriotic valor and romantic enterprise
expanded the national genius ; but before it could mature, the
despotism of the monarchy, the horrors of the Inquisition, and the
influence of wealth and luxury, had done their work of destruc-
tion, and the prostrate nation had in the seventeenth century
reaped the bitter fruits. The most brilliant period of Portuguese
poetry had j)assed away, and no new era commenced. The
flame of patriotism was extinct, Brazil was the only colony that
remained, the spirit of national enterprise Avas no more, and a
general lethargy overspread the nation. Labor was reckoned a
disgrace, commerce a degradation, and agriculture too fatiguing
for even the lowest classes of the community. Both Spain and
Portugal felt the paralyzing influence of their humbled position
in the scale of nations, and civil and religious despotism had
overthrown, in both countries, the inteUectual j)ower which had
so long withstood its degrading influence.

Thousands of sonnets, chiefly of an amorous nature, fiUed up
the seventeenth century in Portugal, while Spain was exhaust-
ing its expiring energies in dramas. Souza, the most eminent
of the sonneteers, alone produced six hundred. In the first, he
announc^es that the coUection is designed to celebrate '' the pen-
etrating shafts of love, which were shot from a })air of heavenly
eyes, and which, after inflicting immortal wounds, issued tri-
umphant from the poet's breast."

In the eighteenth century, the influence of French taste crept
quietly into the literature as well as the manners of the Portu-
guese nation. Royal academies of history and language were
founded, and an academy of sciences, which, since 1792, has
exercised an influence over literary taste, and given birth to
many excellent treatises on philosophy and criticism.

About the year 1735, the nation seemed on the eve of pos-
sessing a drama of its own. Antonio Jose, an obscure Jew,
composed a number of comic operas, in the vernacular tongue,
which had long been banished from the theatre of Lisbon. In

344 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

spite of much coarseness, their genuine humor and familiar
gayety excited the greatest enthusiasm, and for ten years the
theatre was crowded with delighted audiences. But the Jew
was seized and burnt, by order of the Inquisition, at the last
auto da fe, which took place in 1745, and the theatre was
closed.

Although French literature continued to exert its influence in
the beginning of the nineteenth century, masterpieces of English
literature at that time found their way into Portugal, and ex-
cited much admiration and imitation. Manuel do Nascimento
(1734—1819) is the representative of the classic style, and his
works, both in poetry and prose, are distinguished by purity of
language. Manuel de Bocage (1766—1805) is one of the most
celebrated modern poets, and though his poems are not exam-
ples of refined taste or elegance of style, they evince enthusiasm
and poetical fire. Among the poets of the present day, there
are some who have emancipated themselves from the imitation
of foreign models, and have attempted to combine the earliest
national elements of their literature with the characteristic ten-
dencies of the present age.

FINNISH LITERATURE.

1. The Finnish Lanfriage and Literature : Poetry ; the Kalevala ; Lonnrot ; Korhonen.
— 2. The Hungarian Lan^iage and Literature : the Age of Stephen I. ; Influence of the
House of Anjou ; of tlie Reformation ; of the House of Austria ; Kossuth ; Josika ; Kot-
v6s : Kuthy ; Szigligeti ; Petofi.

1. The Finnish Language and Literature. — On pass-
ing northward from the Iranian plateaux through Turan to the
Uralian mountains, which separate Europe and Asia, we arrive
at the primitive seat of the Finnish race. Driven westward by
other invading tribes, it scattered through northern Europe,
and established itself more particularly in Finland, where, at
the present time, we find its principal stock. From the earliest
period of the history of the Finns, until the middle of the twelfth
century, they lived under their own independent kings. They
were then subjected by the Swedes, who established colonies
upon their coasts, and introduced Christianity among them.
After having been for many centuries the theati'e of Russian
and Swedish wars, in the beginning of the present century Fin-
land passed under the dominion of Russia ; yet, tkrough these
ages of foreign domination, its inhabitants preserved their
national character, and maintained the use of their native
tongue.

The Finnish language is a branch of the Turanian family ; it
is ^\Titten witli the Roman alphabet, but it has fewer sounds ; it
is complicated in its declension and conjugation, but it has great
capacity of expressing compound ideas in one word ; it is har-
monious in sound, and free, yet clear, in its construction.

The Finns at an early period had attained a high degree of
civilization, and they have always been distinguished for their
love of poetry, especially for the melancholy strains of the elegy.
They possess a vast number of popular songs or ballads, which
are either lyrical or mythological ; they are sung by the song-
men, to the kantele, a kind of harp with five wire strings, a fa-
vorite national instrument. They have also legends, tales, and
proverbs, some of which have recently been collected and pub-
lished at Helsingfors, the cajiital of Finland.

The gi'eat monument of Finnish literature is the " Kalevala,"
a kind of epic poem, which was arranged in a systematic collec-
tion, and given to the world iu 1833, by Elias Liinnrot (d. 1884).

346 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

He wandered from place to place in the remote districts of Fin"
land, living with the peasants, and taking down from their lips
the popular songs as he heard them chanted. The imjDortance
of this indigenous epic was at once recognized, and translations
were made in various languages. The poem, which strongly
resembles "Hiawatha," takes its name from the heroes of Ka-
leva, the land of happiness and plenty, who struggle with
three others from the cold north and the land of death. It be-
gins with the creation, and ends in the triumph of the heroes of
Kaleva. Max Miiller says of tliis poem that it possesses merits
not dissimilar to those of the Iliad, and that it will claim its
place as the fifth national epic of the world, beside that of the
" Mahabharata," "Shah Nameh," and " Nibelungen." It is
doubtless the product of different minds at different periods,
having evidently received additions from time to time.

During the present century there has been considerable liter-
ary activity in Finland, and we meet with many names of poets
and dramatists. The periodical literature is specially rich and
voluminous, and valuable works on Finnish history and geography
have recently appeared. Of recent poets the most popular is
Korrhoinen, a peasant, whose pi'oductions are characterized by
their sharj^ and biting sarcasm. The prose of Finland has a
religious and moral character, and is especially enriched by
translations from Swedish literature.

2. HuxGARiAx Lajn'guage and Literature. — The language
of the Magyars belongs to the Turanian family, and more par-
ticularly to the Finnish branch. The Hungarian differs from
most European languages in its internal structure and external
form. It is distinguished by harmony and energy of sound,
richness and vigor of form, regularity of inflexion, and power of
expression.

Towards the close of the seventh century, the Magyars emi-
grated from Asia into Europe, and for two hundred years they
occupied the country between the Don and Dneiper. Being at
length jjressed forward by other emigrant tribes, they entered
and established themselves in Hungary, after subjugating its
former inhabitants.

In the year 1000, Stephen I. founded the kingdom of Hun-
gary. He had introduced Christianity into the country, and
with it a knowledge of the Latin language, which was now taught
in the schools and made use of in public documents, while the
native idiom was spoken by the people, and in part in the as-
semblies of the Diet. On the accession of the House of Anjou
to the throne of Hungary, in the fourteenth century, a new im-
pulse was given to the Hungarian tongue. The Bible was trans-
lated into it, and it became the language of the court ; although

HUNGARIAN LITERATURE. 347

the Latin was still the organ of the church antl state, and from
the fourteenth to the dose of the fifteenth century remained the
literary langua<je of the country. This Latin literature boasted
of many distinguished writers, but so little influence had they on
the nation at large, that during this period it appears that many
of the high officers of the kingdom could neither read nor write.

The sixteenth century was more favorable to Hungarian liter-
ature, and the political and religious movements which took
l)lace in the reign of Ferdinand I. and Maximilian II. (1527-
1576) proved to be most beneficial to the intellectual devel-
opment of the people. The Reformation, wlaich was introduced
into Hungary through Bohemia, the example of this neighbor-
ing country, and the close alliance which existed between the
two people, exercised great influence on the public mind. The
Hungarian language was introduced into the church, the schools,
and the religious controversies, and became the veliicle of sacred
and popular poetry. It was thus enriched and polished, and
acquired a degree of perfection which it retained mitil the lat-
ter part of the eighteenth century. Translations of the Bible
were multiplied ; chronicles, liistories, grammars, and dictiona-
ries were published, and the number of schools, particularly
among the Protestants, was greatly increased.

But these brilliant prospects were soon blighted when the
countiy came under the absolute dominion of Austria. In order
to crush the national tendencies of the Magj^ars, the govern-
ment now restored the Latin and German languages ; and news-
papers, calendars, and publications of all kinds, including many
valuable works, apjieared in Latin. Indeed, the interval from
1702 to 1780 was the golden age of this literature in Himgary.
Maria Theresa and Joseph II., however, by prescribing the use
of the Gei-man language in the schools, official acts, and public
transactions, produced a reaction in favor of the national tongue,
which was soon after taught in the schools, heard in the lecture-
room, the theatre, and po])ular assemblies, and became the
organ of the ]Hiblic press. These measures, however, the good
effects of which were mainly confined to the higher classes,
were gradually i)uvsued with less zeal. It is only of late that
the literature of Hungary has assumed a ])0])ular character, and
become a powerful engine for the advancement of i)olitical ob-
jects.

Kossuth may be considered as the founder of a national party
vvhich is at the head of the contemporary literature of the Mag-
yars. Through the action of this party and of its leader, the
Hungarian Diet ])assed, in 1840, the celebrated " Law of the
Language," by which the su])remacy of the Hungarian tongue
Was established, and its use prescribed in the administration and

348 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

in the institutions of learning. From 1841 to 1844, Kossuth
published a paper, in which the most serious and important
questions of ppHtics and economy were discussed in a style
characterized by great elegance and simplicity, and by a fervid
eloquence, which awakened in all classes the liveliest emotions of
patriotism and independence. His writings greatly enriched
the national language, and excited the emulation even of those
who did not accept his political views. His memoirs, lately
published, have been extensively translated.

The novels of Josika (1865), modeled after those of Walter
Scott, the works of Eotvds and Kemeny after the writers of
Germany, and those of Kuthy and others who have followed
the French school, have greatly contributed to enrich the litera-
ture of Hungary. The comedies and the dramas of Eotvos and
Gal, and particularly those of Szigligeti, show great progress in
the Hungarian theatre, while in the poems of Petofi and others
is heard the harmonious yet sorrowful voice of the national muse.

After 1849, the genius of Hungary seemed for a while buried
under the ruins of the nation. Many of the most eminent writers
either fell in the national struggle, or, being driven into exile,
threw aside their pens in despair. But the intellectual condition
of the people has of late been greatly improved. Public educar
tion has been promoted, scholastic institutions have been estab-
lished, and at the present time there are eloquent voices heard
which testify to the presence of a vigorous hfe latent in the very
heart of the country.

Among many other writers of the present day, are Jokai
(b. 1825), the author of various historical romances which have
been extensively translated, Varga, a lyric poet, and Arany,
perhaps the greatest poet Hungary has produced, some of whose
works are worthy of the literature of any age.

3. TheTurk'lsh Language and Literature. — The Turks,
or Osmanhs, are descendants of the Tartars, and their language,
which is a branch of the Turanian family, is at the present day
the commercial and jwlitical tongue throughout the Levant.
This language is divided into two principal dialects, the eastern
and the western. The eastern, though rough and harsh, has
been the vehicle of certain literary productions, of which the
most important are the biograi)hies of more than three hundred
ancient poets, written by Mir-Ali-Schir, who flourished in the
middle of the fifteenth century, and who was the Maecenas of
several Persian poets, particularly of Jami ; several historical
memoirs, and a number of ballads, founded on the traditions of
the aixrient Turkish tribes, belong also to the literature of this
dialect. The western idiom constitutes what is more properly
called the Turkish language. It is euphonious in sound and

TURKISH LITERATURE. 349

regular in its c^rammatical forms, though poor in its vocabulary.
To supply its deliciencies, the Osnianlis have introduced many
elements o£ the Arabic and Persian. They have also adopted
the Arabic alphabet, with some alterations ; and, like the Arabi-
ans, they write from right to left.

The literature of Turkey, although it is extremely rich, con-
tains little that is original or national, but is a successful imita-
tion of Persian or Arabic. Even before the capture of Constan-
tinople works had been ])roduced which the nation has not let
perish. The most flourishing period was dm-ing the reign of
Solyman the Magnificent and his son Selim in the sixteenth
century. Fasli (d. 1563) was an erotic poet, who attained a
high reputation; and Baki (d. 1600), a lyric poet, is ranked by
the Orientals with the Persian Hafiz. In the seventeenth cen-
tury a new period of literature arose, though inferior to the last.
Nebi was the most admired poet, Nefi a distinguished satirist,
and Hadji Khalfa a historian of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish lit-
erature, who is the chief authority upon this subject for the East
and West. The annals of Saad-Kl-Din (d. 1599) are important
for the student of the liistory of the Ottoman Empire. The style
of these wn-iters, however, is for the most part bombastic, con-
sisting of a mixture of poetry and prose overladen with figures.
Novels and tales abound in this literature, and it affords many
specimens of geographical works, many important collections of
juridical decisions, and valuable researches on the Persian and
Arabian languages.

The press was introduced into Constantinople early in the
eighteenth century, and has been actively engaged in publishing
translations of the most important works in Persian and Arabic,
as well as in the native tongue. Societies are established for
the jjromotion of various branches of science, and many scientific
and literary journals are published. There are numerous pri-
mary free schools and high scholastic institutions in Constanti-
no))le, and some public libraries.

4. The Akmenian Language and Literature. — Tho
language of Armenia belongs to the Indo-European family, and
])articularly to the Iranian variety; but it has been greatly modi-
lied by contact with other languages, especially the Turkish. At
present the modern dialect is spoken in southern Russia around
the sea of Azof, in Turkey, Galicia, and Hungary. The ancient
Armenian, which was spoken down to the twelfth century, is
preserved in its purity in the ancient books of the people, and is
still used in their best works. This tongue, owing to an abun-
dance of consonants, is lacking in eu])hony ; it is deficient in
distinction of gender, though it is redundant in cases and iuHeX'
ions. Its alphabet is modeled after the Greek.

85(> HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

The Armenians, from the earliest period of their existence,
through all the political disasters which have signalized their
history, have exhibited a strong love for a national literature,
and maintained themselves as a cultivated people amidst aU the
revolutions which barbarism, despotism, and war have occasioned.
During so many ages they have faithfully preserved not only
their historical traditions, reaching back to the period of the
ancient Hebrew histories, but also their national character.
Their first abode — the vicinity of Mount Ararat — is even at
the present day the centre of their religious and political union.
Commerce has scattered them, like the Israelites, among all
nations, but without debasing their character ; on the contrary,
they are distinguished by superior cultivation, manners, and
honesty from the barbarians under whose yoke they live. The
cause is to be found in their creed and in their religious union.

Until the beginning of the fourth century A. D. the Armenians
were Parsees ; the literature of the country uj) to tliis period was
contained in a few songs or ballads, and its civihzation was only
that which could be wrought out by the philosophy of Zoroaster.
In 319, when Clii-istianity was introduced into Armenia, the
language and learning of the Greeks were exciting the profound
admiration of the most eminent fathers of the church, and this
attention to Greek literature was immediately manifest in the
literary history of Armenia. A multitude of Grecian works
was translated, commented upon, and their philosophy adopted,
and the literature was thus established upon a Grecian basis.

About the same period, the alphabet at present in use in the
Armenian language was invented, or the old alphabet perfected
by Mesrob, in connection with which the language underwent
many modifications. Mesrob, with his tlu'ee sons, especially
educated for the task, commenced the translation of the Bible
411 A. D., and its completion nearly half a century later gave a
powerful impulse to Armenian learning, and at the same time
stamped upon it a religious character which it has never lost.
The jieriod from the sixth to the tenth century is the golden age
of this literature. Its temporary decline after this period was
owing to the invasion of the Arabians, when many of the inhab-
itants were converted to the Mohammedan faith and many more
compelled to suffer persecution for their refusal to abjure Chris-
tianity. After the subjection of Armenia to the Greek empire,
literature again revived, and until the fourteenth century was in
a flourishing condition. In 1375, when the Turks took posses-
sion of the country, the inhabitants were again driven from their
homes, and from that time their literature has steadily declined.
After their emigration, the Armenians established themselves
in various countries of Europe and Asia, and amidst all the dia-

AlUfENIAN LITERATURE. 351

advantages of their position they still preserve not only the
unity of their relifjlous faith, hut the same unwearied desire to
sustain a national literature. Wherever they have settled, in
Amsterdam, Leghorn, Venice, Constantinople, and Calcutta,
they have established jjrlnting presses and ])ublished valuable
books. Of their colonies or monasteries, the most mteresting
and fruitful in literary works is that of Venice, which was
founded in the eighteenth century by Mechitar, an Armenian,
and from him its monks are called Mechitarists. From the
time of their establishment tliey have constantly issued transla-
tions of important religious works. They now publish a semi-
monthly i)aper in the Armenian language, which is circulated
and read among the scattered families of the Armenian faith
over the world. They also translate and publish standard works
of modern literature.

About the year 1840, through the influence of American mis-
sionaries, the Bible was translated into Armenian, freed as far
as possible from foreign elements ; school-books Avere also trans-
lated, newspapers established, and the language awoke to new
life. Within the last twenty years the intellectual progress in
Armenia has been very great. In 1863 Christopher Robert, an
American gentleman, established and ei^dowed a college at Con-
8tantino])le for the education of pu])ils of all races, religions, and
languages found In the empire. This institution, not sectarian,
though Christian, has met with great success. It has two hun-
dred and fifty students from fifteen nationalities, though chiefly
A^'uieulan, Bulgarian, and Greek.

SLAVIC LITERATURES.

The Slavic Race and Languages ; the Eastern and Western Stems ; the Alphabets;
the Old or Church Slavic Language ; St. Cyril's Bible ; the Pravda Russkaya ; the Annala
of Nestor.

The Slavic Race and Languages. — The Slavic race,
which belongs to the great Indo-European family of nations,
probably first entered Europe from Asia, seven or eight centu-
ries B. c. About the middle of the sixth century A. D. we find
Slavic tribes crossing the Danube in great multitudes, and set-
tling on both the banks of that river ; from that time they fre-
quently appear in the accounts of the Byzantine historians, under
different appellations, mostly as involved in the wars of the two
Roman empires ; sometimes as allies, sometimes as conquerors,
often as vassals, and oftener as emigrants and colonists, thrust
out of their own countries by the pressing forward of the more
warlike Teutonic tribes. In the latter half of the eleventh cen-
tury the Slavic nations were already in possession of the whole
extent of territory which they still occupy, from the Arctic Ocean
on the north to the Black and Adriatic seas on the south, and
from Kamtschatka and the Russian islands of the Pacific to the
Baltic, and along the banks of the rivers Elbe, Muhr, and Ruab,
again to the Adriatic. They are represented by early historians
as having been a peaceful, industrious, hospitable people, obe-
dient to their chiefs, and religious in their habits. Wherever
they established themselves, they began to cultivate the earth,
and to trade in the productions of the country. There are also
early traces of their fondness for music and poetry.

The analogy between the Slavic and the Sanskrit languages
indicates the Oriental origin of the Slavonians, which appears
also from their mythology. The antithesis of a good and evil
princijjle is met with among most of the Slavic tribes ; and even
at the present time, in some of their dialects, everything good
and beautiful is to them synonymous with the purity of the white
color ; they call the good spirit the White God, and the evil sj)irit
the Black God. We find also traces of their Oriental origin in
the Slavic trinity, which is nearly allied to that of the Hindus.
Other features of their mythology remind us of the sprightly
and poetical imagination of the Greeks. Such is the life at-
tributed to the inanimate objects of nature, rocks, brooks, and

RUSSIAN LITERATURE. 353

trees ; such are also the supernatural beings dwelling in the
woods and mountains, nymj)lis, naiads, and satyrs. Indeed, the
Slavic languages, in their construc-lion, richness, and precision,
ai)pear nearly related to the Greek and Latin, with which they
have a common origin.

Following the division of the Slavic nations into the eastern
and western stems, tlieir languages may be divided into two
classes, tlie iirst containing the Russian and the Servian idioms,
the second embracing the Bohemian and the Polish varieties.
The Slavi of the Greek faith use the Cyrillic alphabet, so called
from St. Cyril, its -inventor, a Greek monk, who went from Con-
stantinople (862 A. D.) to preach to them the gospel. It is
founded on the Greek, with modifications and additions from
Oriental sources. The Hieronymic alphabet, particularly used
by the priests of Dalmatia and Croatia, is so called from the tra-
dition which attributes it to St. Hieronymus. The Bohemians
and Poles use the Roman alphabet, with a few alterations.

St. Cyril translated the Bible into the language called the Old
or Church Slavic, and froni the fact that this translation, made in
the middle of the ninth century, is distinguished by great copious-
ness, and bears the stamp of uncommon perfection in its forms,
it is evident that this language must have been flourishing long
before that time. The celebrated '* Pravda Russkaya," a collec-
tion of the laws of Jaroslav (1035 A. d.), and the " Annals of
Nestor," of the thirteenth century, are the most remarkable
monuments of the old Slavic language. This, however, has for
centuries ceased to be a living tongue.

RUSSIAN LITHRATURE.

1 . Tlie Language. — 2. Literature in the Reij:n of Peter the Great ; of Alexander ; of
Nicholas; Dauilof, Lomonosof, ICheraskof, Der:;havm, Karanizin. — 3. History, Poetry,
the iNovol : Di.iitrief, Zlmkotf&ki, Krylof, Pu.ihkiu, Loriimutoff. Koltsoff, Gogol, Gon-
tliarov, Grifforovitcli, Turgeuieff, Chtcliediiie, Pissemski, Nekrassoff, Dostoievski,
Tolstoi, Tcheklov.

1. The Language. — In the Russian language three prin-
cipal dialects are to be distinguished ; but the Russian proper,
as it is spoken in ^loscow and all tlu' central and northern ])arls
of Em-opean Russia, is the literary language of the nation. It
is distinguished by its immense copiousness, the consequence of
its great flexibility in adopting foreign words, merely as roots,
from which, by means of its own resources, stems and branches
seem naturally to spring. Another excellence is the great free-
dom of construction which it allows, without any danger of be-
coming ambiguous. It is clear, euphonious, and admirably
adapted to ])oetrv.

The germs of Russian civLUzation arose with the foundation of
23

354 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

tlie empire by the Varegians of Scandinavia (862 A. D.), but
more particularly with the introduction of Christianity by Vladi-
mir the Great, who, towards the close of the tenth century, estab-
lished the first schools, introduced the Bible of St. Cyril, called
Greek artists from Constantinople, and became the patron, and
at the same time the hero of poetry. Indeed, he and his knights
are the Russian Charlemagne and his peers, and their deeds
have proved a rich source for the popular tales and songs of suc-
ceeding times. Jaroslav, the son of Vladiriiir, was not less active
than his father in advancing the cause of Cliristianity ; he sent
friars through the country to instruct the people, founded theo-
logical schools, and continued the translation of the church books.
To this age is referred the epic, " Igor's Expedition against the
Polovtzi," discovered in the eighteenth century, a work charac-
terized by uncommon grace, beauty, and power.

From 1238 to 1462 a. d. the Russian princes were vassals of
the Mongols, and during this time nearly every trace of culti-
vation perished. The invaders burned the cities, destroyed aU
written documents, and demolished the monuments of national
culture ; but at length Ivan I. (1462-1505) delivered his coun-
try from the Mongols, and prepared a new era in the history of
Russian civilization.

At this early period the first germs of dramatic art were car-
ried from Poland to Russia. In Kief the theological students
performed ecclesiastical dramas, and traveled about, during the
holidays, to exhibit their skill in other cities. The tragedies of
Simeon of Polotzk (1628-1680), in the old Slavic language,
penetrated from the convents to the court, Avhere they were per-
formed in the middle of the seventeenth century. At this tlmo
the first secular drama, a translation from Moliere, was also
represented.

2. The Literature. — Peter the Great (1689-1725) raised
the Russian dialect to the dignity of a written language, introduced
it into the administration and courts of justice, and caused many
books to be translated from foreign languages. He rendered the
Slavic characters more conformable to the Latin, and these let-
ters, then generally adopted, continue in use at the present time.
Among the writers of the age of Peter the Great may be men-
tioned Kirsha Danilof, who versified the popular traditions of
Vladimir and his heroes ; and Kantemir, a satirist, who trans-
lated many epistles of Horace, and the work of Fontenelle on
the plurality of worlds.

Peter the Great laid the corner-stone of a national literature,
but the temple was not reared above the ground until the reign
of EHzabeth and of Catharine II. Lomonosof (1711-1765), a
peasant, born in the dreary regions of Archangel, has the honoi-

RUSSIAN LITERATURE. 355

of being the true founder of the Russian literature. In his
Russian grammar he lirst Uiid (hjwn the i)rincii)le.s and fixed the
rulcK of the language ; he hrst ventured to draw the boundary
line between the old Slavic and the Russian, and endeavored to
fix the rules of ])oetry according to the Latin standard. Among
his contemporaries maybe mentioned Sumarokof (1718-17 < 7)
and Kheraskof (1733-1807), both very productive writers in
prose and verse, and highly admired by their contemporaries.

In the middle of the eighteenth century the dramatic talent of
the Russians was awakened, through the estabUshment of thea-
tres at Jaroslav, St. Petersburg, and Moscow ; and several
gifted literary men emi)loyed themselves in dramatic compo-
sitions ; but of all the productions of this time, those of Von
Wisin (1745-1792) only have continued to hold possession of
the stage.

Among the poets of the eighteenth century, Derzhavin (1743-
181G) sang the glory of Catharine II., and of the Russian arms.
His " Ode to God " has obtained the distinction of being trans-
lated into several Em-opean languages, and also into Chinese,
and hung up in the Emperor's palace, prmted on white satin in
golden letters.

The reign of Alexander I. (1801-1825) opened a new era in
the literature. He manifested gi-eat zeal for the mental eleva-
ti(m of his subjects ; he increased the number of universities,
established theological seminaries and institutions for the study
of oriental languages, and founded gymnasia and numerous com-
mon schools for the people ; he ricldy endowed the Asiatic nm-
seum of St. Petersburg, and for a tune patronized the Russian
Bible Society, and promoted the printing of books on almost all
subjects. But toward the close of his reign, in consequence of
certain political measures, literature sank with great rapidity.

Karamzin (1765-182G), the representative of this age, mider-
took to shake off the yoke of the classical rules established by
Lomonosof, and introduced more simi)licity and naturalness.
His reputation rests chiefly upon his "History of the Russian
Empire," which, with many faults, is a standard work in Slavic
literature. The reign of tlie Emperor Nicholas opened with a
bloody tragedy, which exhibited in a striking manner the dissat-
isfied and unhealthy spirit of the literary youth of Russia. Sev-
eral ])oets and men of literary fame were among the conspirators ;
and to awaken i)atriotism and to counteract the tendencies of the
age, the government promoted historical and archaeological i-e-
searches, but at the same time abolished ])rofessorships of i)hi-
losophy, increased the vigilance of its censorship of the press,
lengthened the catalogue of forbidden books, and reduced the
term of lawful absence for its subjects. It took tlie most enev

356 HANDBOOK OF UNU^RSAL LITERATURE.

getic measures to promote national education, and to cultivate
those fields of science where no political tares could be sown.

The leading idea of the time was Panslavism, the object of
which was the imion of the Slavic race, an opposition to all for-
eign domination, and the attainment of a higher intellectual and
political condition in the general march of mankind. Panslavism
rose to a special branch of literature, and its principal writers
were KoUar, Grabowski, and Gurowski.

3. History, Poetry, the Novel. — History is a depart-
ment of letters wliicli has been treated very successfully in Rus-
sia ; critical researches have been extended to all branches of
archeology, philology, mythology, and kindred subjects, and val-
uable works have been produced.

Dmitrief (1760-1827) combined in his poems imagination,
taste, correctness, and purity of language. Zhukotfski (b. 1785)
a poet of deep feeling, took his models from the Germans.

The fables of Krylof (b. 1768) are equally celebrated among
all classes and ages, and are among the first books read by Rus-
sian children.

Above all the others, Pushkin (1799-1835) must be consid-
ered as the representative of Russian poetry in the nineteenth
century. He was in the service of the government, when an ode
" to Liberty," written in too bold a spirit, induced Alexander I.
to banish him from St. Petersburg. The Em.peror Nicholas re-
called him, and became his patron. Though by no means a
mere imitator, his poetry bears strong marks of the influence of
Byron.

Lermontoff (d. 1841) was a poet and novehst whose writings,
like those of Pushkin, were strongly influenced by Byron. Kolt-
Goff (d. 1842) is the first song writer of Russia, and his favorite
theme is the joys and sorrows of the people. Through the influ-
ence of Pushkin and Gogol (d. 1852), Russian literature became
emancipated from the classic rule and began to develop original
tendencies. Gogol in his writings manifests a deep sentiment
of patriotism, a strong love of nature, a fine sense of humor,
and an unusual mastery of style. He possessed, however, but
little pure intellectual power. Gogol's chief distinction is that
he was tlie creator of the Russian novel, which has become
hitherto the most characteristic and significant product of Rus-
sian letters. By no other means, probably, could Russia have
made so strongly toward the breaking of the barrier of indiffer-
ence bordering upon antipathy which had for centuries sepa-
rated her from Western Europe. In France especially the
response was early and general.

The Russian novel differs, however, in many respects, both
as to rationale and as to method, from Western fiction. Whether

RUSSIAN LITERATURE. 357

realistic or romantic, — it is seldom the latter, — it lacks a sound
basis in ethics or in j)hilosophy. A historian of Russian litera-
ture has remarked that " a national trait is the inability to
bring its beliefs into harmony." Life seldom presents itself
to the Russian novelist as inteUigible or harmonious. Gon-
tcliarov, one of Gogol's earliest successors, expresses very clearly
the sense of fatalism and conse(£uent inertia which is the Rus-
sian's inheritance from the East. Grigorovitch, his contempo-
rary, a master of the genre sketch, represents the characteristic
Russian talent for exact portraiture.

In the three masters of fiction who follow Gogol these two
characteristics continue to be apparent — the inability to frame
an artistic whole founded upon a sound philosophy of life, and
the abihty to paint. Turgenietf (1818-1888) came of a noble
family. His first book, " Klior and Kalinitch " (later given
the subtitle of " A Sportsman's Sketches ") was written before
the abolition of serfdom, and was not without actual influence
upon the movement for emancipation. Turgenieff was pre-
ceded by several writers who had dealt with peasant life. Some
of them had been pictorially skilful, but while giving excellent
pictures of the external conditions of the life of the serfs, they
had been quite barren of interpretation. In the work of
Turgenieff was expressed for the first time a deep sense that the
serf was a human being capable of f eeUng and suffering, and not
a mere brute to be bought and sold with the soil. The attitude
was, however, the effect of instinctive spnpathy rather than of
deep conviction. Turgenieff's first experience in novel writing
resulted in a number of conventional and colorless love-stories,
with heroes from the noble class, the possessors of excellent
manners and small intellect. After the Crimean war, the
broadening of national energy, and the liberation of the serfs,
Turgenieff, like most other Russians, was carried into the cur-
rent of social speculation. Among the novels which resvdted,
attempting to deal imaginatively with various social problems,
the two most famous were " Fathers and Sons " and " Virgin
Soil." Great as the vogue and influence of these two books
have been, it is diflicult to see what sound basis of tliought
underlies the action. A certain pessimism aside, it would be
hard to determine of what philosophical idea Turgenieff was
sure. He had in an unusual degree for a Russian the })ower
to compose in the larger sense — to arrange and verify: but
he had little refinement of style. In his treatment of details he
was much influenced by Dickens. He was, in short, eminently
a writer of tales.

Among Turgenieff's minor contemporaries were Chtchedine,
Pissemski, and Nekrassoff, in whose work the pessimism of

358 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Turgenieff becomes a bitterly ironical view of modern life as
an organism in a state of decomposition. This view is not
absent from the work of a greater writer, Dostoievski (1822-
1881) . His early life was a struggle against poverty and politi-
cal oppression. After his first success, it is characteristic of
the fierce iU-regulated intensity of his nature that he should
have begun ten novels at once. Their completion was inter-
rupted by imprisonment, the result of his association with a
radical group of young visionaries. His later work displays a
remarkable talent, linked with a nature of morbid sensitiveness
to detached impressions. He was more than anything else the
inspired interpreter of spiritual hallucination and what we
should now call the psychology of neurasthenia.

The greatest name in Russian fiction has still to be consid-
ered — that of Tolstoi. The later perversion or diffusion of his
remarkable powers need not be discussed here. It need only be
mentioned by way of emphasizing once more the fact of that
organic weakness which appears to belong to the character of
the Russian artist — the lack of study, deliberate and consist-
ent convictions. It is significant that Tolstoi's artistic power
should have been so purely instinctive in its exercise. Founda-
tion in refined taste he had none, if we are to judge by his dicta
upon art. His mind utterly lacks the sense of classical values.
Greek art he finds to be "coarse," and Shakespeare " fooHsh."
Nevertheless, from this ill-balanced and scantily cultivated nature
have come works of extraordinary force : such works as " War
and Peace," " Anna Kar^nina," " The Kreutzer Sonata," and
" Resurrection," — full of the subtle knowledge of human
nature and marvelously skilful records of human experience.
His talent, it will be noticed, is the talent of Gogol raised to a
higher power. It is perhaps corollary to his fatalism that he
should almost utterly lack synthetic power. The events and
characters which leap into life from his pen have whatever con-
vincing appeal can possibly inhere in the presentation of de-
tached facts. But he refuses to compose or harmonize them.
Such things fate intended to be : take them or leave them,
read into them what meaning you will, — for him it is a matter
of indifference.

It is on the whole a natural thing that such a school of fiction,
having fulfilled itself, should have paved the way for no new
movement of power in pure literature. Since 1880 little im-
portant creative work has been done. According to a compe-
tent Russian critic, " the intellectual level has fallen," the
younger school of writers being marked by " premature sen-
ility," manifesting itself in a tendency to cultivate " symbolism "
and other barren and decadent forms. Tcheklov has been the

SERVIAN LITERATURE. 359

only writer generally recognized by foreign reviewers. The
most hopeful sign for pure letters lias been the tendency to
translate much from foreign literatures, pai'ticularly from the
English. It is noteworthy that such critics as Fypine and
Skabitchevski should iind little to say of contemporary litera-
ture.

In science Russia for some time kept pace with Western
Europe, but here a similar decline is now manifested, activity
in scientific research being restricted to geography, ethno-
graphy, and in a politically restricted sense, history. Owing to
the rigor of the censorship, the ordeal of book publication is
even less connnonly attempted than formerly ; and most writ-
ing is done for the magazines. Tlie immense development of
industrial enterprise may be named as another cause of literary
inertia. One who wishes to find hope for Russian letters must
now pin his faith to the work of such critics as Golovin, such
sociological essayists as Kareieff, and such biographers as
Liaskovski. He may also expect that the general European-
izing due to commercial expansion will, in time, produce in
Russia a new and perliaps saner and better balanced literature
than that of the nineteenth century.

THE SERVIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

The Servian alphabet was first fixed and the language re-
duced to certain general rules only within the present century.
The language extends, with some slight variations of dialect,
and various systems of writing, over the Turkish and Austrian
provinces of Servia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, and
Dalmatia, and the eastern part of Croatia. The southern sky,
and the beauties of natural scenery that abound in all these
regions, so favoi-able to the development of poetical genius,
appear also to have exerted a happy influence on the language.
AVhile it yields to none of the other Slavic dialects in richness,
clearness, and precision, it far surpasses them all in euphony.

The most interesting feature of the literature of these coun-
tries is their popular poetry — a branch of literature that still
survives among the Servians, though it is almost extinct in
other nations. Much of this poetry is of unknown antitpiity,
and has been handed down by tradition from generation to
generation. It was first collected by Vuk Stejihanovitcli Karad-
shitch (b. 1786), a Turkisli Servian, the author of the first Ori-
ental Servian grammar and dictionary, who gathered the songs
from the lips of the ])easaiitry.

The poetry of the Servians is intimately interwoven with their
daily life. The hall where the women sit spinning around the

360 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

fireside, the mountain on which the boys pasture their flocks, the
square where the village youth assemble to dance, the plains
where the harvest is reaped, and the forests thi-ough which the
lonely traveler journeys, aU resound with song. Short composi-
tions, sung without accompaniment, are mostly composed by
women, and are called female songs ; they relate to domestic
life, and are distinguished by cheerfulness, and often by a spirit
of graceful roguery. The feeling expressed in the Servian love-
songs is gentle, often playful, indicating more of tenderness than
of passion. In their heroic poems the Servians stand quite
isolated ; no modern nation can be compared to them in epic
productiveness, and the recent publication of these poems throws
new Mght on the grand compositions of the ancients. The gen-
eral character of these Servian tales is objective and plastic ; the
poet is, in most cases, in a remarkable degree above his subject ;
he paints his pictures, not in glowing colors, but in prominent
features, and no explanation is necessary to interpret what the
reader thinks he sees with his own eyes. The number and vari-
ety of the Servian heroic poems is immense, and many of them,
until recently preserved only by tradition, cannot be supposed to
have retained their original form ; they are frequently inter-
woven with a belief in certain fanciful creatures of pagan super-
stition, which exercise a constant influence on human affairs.
The poems are often recited, but most frequently sung to the
music of a rude kind of guitar. The bard chants two lines, then
he pauses and gives a few plaintive strokes on his instrument;
then he chants again, and so on. While in Slavic poetry gener-
ally the musical element is prominent, in the Servian it is com-
pletely subordinate. Even the lyric poetry is in a high degree
monotonous, and is chanted rather than sung.

Goethe, Grimm, and " Talvi " drew attention to these songs,
many translations of which were published in Germany, and
Bowring, Lytton, and others have made them known in Eng-
land.

At present there is much intellectual activity among the Ser-
vians in various departments of literature, tragedy, comedy,
satire, and fiction, but the names of the writers are new to Eu-
ropeans, and not easily remembered.

THE BOHEMIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
John Hubs, Jerome of Prague, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Comenius, and others.

Thk Bohemian is one of the principal Slavic languages. It
is spoken in Bohemia and in Moravia, and is used by the Slovaks
V)f Hungary in their literary productions. Of aU the modern

BOHEMIAN LITERATURE. 361

Slavic dialects, the Bohemian was the first cultivated ; it early
adopted the Latin characters, and was developed under the in-
iluence of the German language. In its free construction, the
Bohemian approaches the Latin, and is capable of imitating the
Greek in all its lighter shades.

The first written doc-uments of the Bohemians are not older
than the introduction of Christianity into their country ; but
there exists a collection of national songs celebrating battles and
victories, which probably belongs to the eighth or ninth century.
During the eleventh and twelfth centuries the influence of Ger-
man customs and habits is apparent in Bohemian literature ; and
in the thirteenth and fourteenth this influence increased, and
was manifest in the lyric poetry, which echoed the lays of the
German Mmnesingers. Of these popular songs, however, very
few are left.

In 1348 the first Slavic university was founded in Prague, on
the plan of those of Paris and Bologna, by the Emjjcror Charles
IV., who united the cro\vns of Germany and Bohemia. The
influence of this institution was felt, not merely ui the two coun-
tries, but throughout Europe.

The name of Jolm Huss (1373-1415) stands at the head of a
new period in Bohemian literature. He was professor at the
university of Prague, and early became acquainted with the
writings of AVicklitfe, whose doctrines he defended in liis lectures
and sermons. The care and attention he bestowed on his com-
positions exerted a decided and lasting influence on the lan-
guage. The old Bohemian alphabet he arranged anew, and first
settled the Bohemian orthography according to fLxed principles.
Summoned to appear before the council of Constance to answer
to the charges of heresy, he obeyed the caU under a safe-conduct
from the Emperor Sigismund. But he was soon arrested by oi*-
der of the council, condemned, and burned alive.

Among the coadjutors of Huss was Jerome of Prague, a pro-
fessor in the same university, who in his erudition and eloquence
surpassed his friend, whose doctrinal views he adopted, but he
had not the mildness of disposition nor the moderation of con-
duct whicli distinguished Huss. He wrote several works for the
instruction of the peojjle, and translated some of the ^^Titings of
WicklifEe into the Bohemian language. On hearing of the
dangerous situation of his friend he hastened to Constance to
assist and support him. He, too, was arrested, and even terri-
fied into temporary submission ; but at the next audience of the
council he reafiirmed his faith, and declared that of all his sins
he repented of none more than his aposta~<5y from the doctrines
he had maintained. In consetpience of this avowal he was con-
demned to the same fate as his friend.

3G2 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

These illustrious martyrs were, with the exception of Wick-
lifi'e, the first advocates of truth a century before the Reforma-
tion. Since then, in no language has the Bible been studied
with more zeal and devotion than in the Bohemian. The longj
contest for freedom of conscience which desolated the country
until the extinction of the nation is one of the great tragedies of
human history.

The period from 1520 to 1620 is considered the golden age of
Bohemian literature. Nearly two hundred writers distinguished
the reign of Rudolph I. (1526-1611), and among them were
many ladies and gentlemen of the court, of which Tycho Brahe,
Kepler, and other scientific men, from foreign countries, were
the chief ornaments. Numerous historical works were published,
theology was cultivated with talent and zeal, the eloquence of
the pulpit and the bar acquired a higli degree of cultivation, and
in religious hymns all sects were equally jn-oductive.

The triumph of the Catholic party, which followed the battle
of the White Mountain, near Prague (1620), gave a fatal blow
to Bohemia. The leading men of the country were executed,
exiled, or imprisoned ; the Protestant reHgion was abolished, and
the country was declared a hereditary Catholic monarchy. The
Bohemian language ceased to be used in public transactions ;
and every book written in it was condemned to the flames as
necessarily heretical. Great numbers of monks came from
southern Europe, and seized whatever native books they could
find ; and this destruction continued to go on until the close of
the last century.

Among the Bohemian emigrants who continued to write in
their foreign homes, Comenius (1592-1691) surpassed all oth-
ers. When the great persecution of the Protestants broke out
he fled to Poland, and in his exile he published several works in
Latin and in Bohemian, distinguished for the classical perfection
of their style.

In the latter part of the eighteenth century the efforts to in-
troduce into Bohemia the German as the official language of the
country awoke the national feeling of the people, and produced
a strong reaction in favor of their native tongue. When the
tolerant views of Joseph II. were known, more than a hundred
thousand Protestants returned to their country ; books long hid-
den were brought to light, and many works were reprinted.
During the reign of his *\vo successors, the Bohemians received
still more encouragement ; the use of the language was ordained
in all the schools, and a knowledge of it was made a necessary
qualification for office. Among the writers who exerted a favor-
able influence in this movement may be mentioned Krameriua
(1753-1808), the editor of the first Bohemian newspaper, and

POLISH LITERATURE. 363

&e author of many original works ; Dobrovsky (1753-1829),
the patriarch of modern .Slavic literature, and one of the j)ro-
foundest scholars of the age ; and KoUar (b. 1763), the leading
poet of modern times in the Bohemian language. Schatfarik
(b. 1795), a Slovak, is the author of a "History of the Slavic
Language and Literature," in German, which has, })erha])s, con-
tributed more than any other work to a knowledge of Slavic lit-
erature. Palacky, a Moravian by birth, was the faitliful fellow-
laborer of Scliatiarili ; his most important work is a "• History
of Bohemia."

Since 1848 there has arisen a school of poets whose writings are
more in accordance with those of the western nations. Among
them are Hiilek (d. 1874) and Cech, the most celebrated of liv-
ing Bohemian jxiets. Caroline Soetla (b. 1830) is the originator
of the modern Bohemian novel. Since 1879 many poems have
appeared, ej)ic in their character, taking their materials both
from the past and the present. In various branches of litera-
ture able writers are found, too numerous even to name.

THE POLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
Rey, Bielaki, Copemicua, Czartoryski, Niemcewicz, Mickiewicz, and others.

The Polish language is the only existing representative of
that variety of idioms originally spoken by the Slavic tribes,
wliich, under the name of Lekhes, in the sixth or seventh cen-
turv, settled on the banks of the Vistula and Varta. Although
very little is known of the progress of the language into its
present state, it is sufficiently obvious that it has developed from
the conflict of its natural elements with the Latin and German
idioms. Of the other Slavic dialects, the Bohemian is the only
one wliich has exerted any influence upon this tongue. The
Polish language is refined and artificial in its grammatical struc-
ture, rich in its words and phrases, and, like the Bohemian, ca-
pable of faithfully imitating the refinements of the classical lan-
guages. It has a great variety and nicety of shades in the
pronunciation of the vowels, and such cond»inations of conso-
nants as can only be conquered by a Slavic tongue.

The literary history of Poland begins, like that of Bohemia, at
the e])och of the introduction of Christianity. lu the year 965,
ISIiecislav, Duke of Poland, married the Bohemian jirincess Dom-
brovka, who consented to the marriage on the condition of the
duke becoming a convert to Christianity ; and from that time the
Polish ]mnces, and the greater ])art of the nation, adojited the
new faith. The clergy in those early ages in Poland, as well as
elsewhere, were the depositaries of mental light ; and the Bene-

'364 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

dictine monks who, with others, had been invited to the con*
verted country, founded convents, to which they early attached
schools. Their example was followed, at a later period, by
other orders, and for several centuries the natives were excluded
from all clerical dignities and privileges, and the education of
the country was directed by foreign monks. They burned the
few wi-itings which they found in the vernacular tongue, and
excited unnatural prejudices against it. From the ninth to the
sixteenth century Polish literature was almost entirely confined
to the translation of a part of the Bible and a few chronicles
written in Latin. Among these must be noticed the chronicle
of Martin Gallus (d. 1132), an emigrant Frencliman, who is
considered as the oldest historian of Poland.

Casimir (1333-1370) was one of the few princes who ac-
quired the name of tlie Great, not by conquests, but by the
substantial benefits of laws, courts of justice, and means of ed-
ucation, which he procured for his subjects. In his reign
was formed the first code of laws, known by the name of " Stat-
ute of Wislica," a part of which is wi-itten in the Polish lan-
guage ; and he laid the foundation of the university of Cracow
(1347), which, however, was only organized half a century later.
Hedevig, the granddaughter of Casimir, married Jagello of
Lithuania, and under their descendants, who reigned nearly two
centuries, Poland rose to the summit of power and glory. With
Sigismund I. (1505-1542), and Sigismund Augustus (1542-
1613), a new period of Polish literature begins. The university
of Cracow had been organized in 1400, on the model of that of
Prague, and this opened a door for the doctrines, first of the
Bohemian, then of the German reformers. The wild flame of
superstition which kindled the fagots for the disciples of the
new doctrines in Poland was extinguished by Sigismund I. and
Sigismund II., in whom the Reformation found a decided sup-
port. Under their administration Poland was the seat of a tol-
eration then unequaled in the world ; the Polish language be-
came more used in literary productions, and was fixed as the
medium through which laws and decrees were promulgated.

Rey of Naglowic (1515-1569), who lived at the courts of the
Sigismunds, is called the father of Polish poetry. Most of his
productions are of a religious nature, and bear the stamp of
a truly poetical talent. John Kochanowski (1530-1584) pub-
lished a translation of the Psalms, which is still considered as a
classical work. His other poems, in which Pindar, Anacreon,
and Horace were alternately his models, are distinguished for
their conciseness and terseness of style. Rybinski (fl. 1581)
and Simon Szymonowioz (d. 1629), the former as a lyric j^oet,
the latter as a writer of idyls, maintain a high rank.

POLISH LITERATURE. 365

The Poles possess all the necessary qualities for oratory, and
the sixteenth century was eminent for forensic and pulpit elo-
quence. History was cultivated with much zeal, but mostly in
the Latin language. Martin Bielski (1500-1576) was the au-
thor of the " Clu-onicle of Poland," the first historical work in
PoUsh. Scientific works were mostly written in Latin, the cul-
tivation of which, in Poland, has ever kept pace \vith the study
of the vernacular tongue. Indeed, the most eminent writers
and orators of the sixteenth century, wiio made use of the
Polish language, managed the Latin with equal skill and dex-
terity, and in common conversation both Latin and Polish were

used.

Among the scientific writers of Latin is the astronomer
Copernicus (1473-1543). He early went to Italy, and was
appointed professor of mathematics at Rome. He at length
returned to Poland, and devoted himself to the study of astron-
omy. Having spent twenty years in observations and calciUa-
tions, he brought his scheme to perfection, and established the
theory of the universe which is now everywhere received.

The interval between 1622 and 1760 marks a period of a
general decadence in Polish literature. The perversion of taste
which, at the beginning of that age, reigned in Italy, and thence
spread over Europe, reached Poland ; and for nearly a hundred
and fifty years the country, under the influence of the Jesuits,
was the victim of a stifling intolerance, and of a general mental
paralysis. But in the reign of Stanislaus Augustus (1762-
1795), Poland began to revive, and the national literature
received a new impulse. Though the French language and
manners prevailed, and the bombastic school of Marini was only
supi)lanted by that of the cold and formal poets of France, the
cultivation of the Polish language was not neglected ; a peri-
odical work, to which the ablest men of the country contributed,
was published, public instruction was made one of the great con-
cerns of the government, and the power of the Jesuits was de-
stroyed.

The dissolution of the kingdom which soon foUowed, its par-
tition and amalgamation with foreign nations, kindled anew the
patriotic spirit of the Poles, who devoted themselves Avith more
zeal than ever to the cultivation of their native language, the
sole tie which still binds them together. The following are the
principal representatives of this ])eriod : Stejjhen Konarski
(1700-1773), a writer on politics and education, who devoted
himself entirely to the literary and mental reform of his coun-
try ; Zaluski (1724-1786), known more es])ecially as the founder
of a large library, which, at the dismemberment of Polantl. was
transferred to St. Petersburg ; and, above all, Adam Czartorj'ski

366 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

(1731-1823), and the two brothers Potocki, distinguished as
statesmen, orators, writers, and patrons of literature and art.
At the head of the historical writers of the eighteenth century
stands Naruszewicz (1753-1796), whose history of Poland is
considered as a standard work. In repect to erudition, philo-
soi)hical conception, and purity of style, it is a masterpiece of
Polish literature. Krasicki (1739-1802), the most distinguished
poet under Stanislaus Augustus, was called the Polish Voltaire.
His poems and prose writings are replete with wit and spirit,
though bearing evident marks of French influence, which was
felt in almost all the poetical productions of that age.

Niemcewicz (1767-1846) is regarded as one of the greatest
poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Having fought
by the side of Kosciusko, and shared his fate as a prisoner, he
accomjjanied him to America, where he became the friend and
associate of Washington, whose life he afterwards described.
His other works consist of historical songs, dramas, and a his-
tory of the reign of Sigismund.

There is no branch of literature in which the Poles have man-
ifested greater want of original power than in the drama, where
the influence of the French school is decided, and, indeed, ex-
clusive. Novels and tales, founded on domestic life, are not
abundant in Polish literature ; philosophy has had few votaries,
and the other sciences, with the exception of the mathematical
and physical branches, have been, till recently, neglected.

The failure of the revolution of 1830 forms a melancholy
epoch in PoUsh history, and especially in Polish literature. The
universities of Warsaw and Wilna were broken up, and their
rich libraries removed to St. Petersburg. Even the lower
schools were mostly deprived of their funds, and changed to
Russian government schools. The press was placed under the
strictest control, the language and the national peculiarities of
the country were everywhere persecuted, the Russian tongue
and customs substituted, and the poets and learned men either
silenced or banished. Yet since that time the national history
has become more than ever a chosen study with the people ; and
as the results of these researches, since 1830, cannot be -m-itten
in Poland, Paris has become the principal seat of Polish learn-
ing. One of the first works of importance published there was
the " History of the Polish Insurrection," by Mochnachi (1804-
1835), known before as the author of a work on the Polish
literature of the nineteenth century, and as the able editor of
several periodicals. Lelewel, one of the leaders of the revolu-
tion, wrote a work on the civil rights of the Polish peasantry,
which has exercised a more decided influence in Poland than that
of any modern author. Mickiewicz (1798-1843), a leader of

ROUMANIAN LITERATURE. 367

the same revolution, is the most distinguished of the modern
poets of Poland. His magnificent poem of " The Feast of the
Dead " is a powerful expression of genius. His "Sonnets on the
Crimea " are among his happiest productions, and his " Sir Thad-
deus " is a graphic description of the civil and domestic life of
Lithuania. Mickiewicz is the founder of the modern romantic
school in Poland, to which belong the most popular productions
of Polish literature. Zalesski, Grabowski, and others of this
school have chosen the Ukraine as the favorite theatre of their
poems, and give us pictui-es of that country, alternately sweet,
wild, and romantic.

Of all the Slavic nations, the Poles have most neglected their
popular poetry, a fact which may be easily explained in a nation
among whom whatever refers to mere boors and serfs has always
been regarded ^vith the utmost contempt. Their beautiful na-
tional dances, however, the gi'aceful Polonaise, the bold Masur,
the ingenious Cracovienne, are equally the property of the nobil-
ity and peasantry, and were formerly always accompanied by
singing instead of instrumental music. These songs were extem-
porized, and were probably never committed to writing.

Of late years the novel has received a powerful develop-
ment in the hands of Madame Orgaszo and Henrik Sienkie-
wicz.

ROUMANIAN LITERATURE.
Carmen Sylva.

The kingdom of Roumania, composed of the principalities of
Moldavia and Wallachia, united in 1859, has few literary mon-
uments. The language is Wallachian, in which the Latin pre-
dominates, with a mixture of Slavic, Turkish, and Tartar, and
has only of late been classed Avith the Romance languages, by
the side of Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. There are some
historical fragments of the fifteenth century remaining ; the lit-
erature that followed was mostly theological. In recent times a
great number of learned and ])oetical works have been produced,
and political movements have led to many political writings and
to the establishment of many newspapers.

The most distinguished name in Roumanian literature is that
of "Carmen Sylva," the nom de plume of the beautiful and
gifted queen of that country, whose writings in prose and verse
are remarkable for passionate feeling, grace, and finished execu-
tion.

DUTCH LITERATURE.

1. The Language. — 2. Dutch Literature to the Sixteenth Century : Maerlant ; MellB
Btoke ; De Weert ; the Chambers of Rhetoric ; t)ie Flemisli Chroniclers ; the Rise of the
Dutch RepubUc. — 3. The Latin Writers: Erasmus; Grotius ; Arminius ; Lipsius; the
Sealigers, and others; Salmasius ; Spinoza ; Boerhaave ; Johannes Secundus. — 4. Dutch
Writers of the Sixteenth Century : Anna Byns ; Coornhert ; Marnix de St. Aldegonde ;
Bor, Visscher, and Spieghel. — 5. Writers of the Seventeeth Century: Hooft ; Vondel ;
Cats; Antonides ; Brandt, and others ; Decline in Dutch Literature. — C. The Eighteenth
Century : Foot ; Langendijk ; Hoogvliet ; De Marre ; Feitama ; Huydecoper ; the Van
Harens : Smita ; Ten Kate ; Van Winter: Van Merken ; De Lannoy ; Van Alphen ; Bel-
luijy; Nieuwland, Styl, and others. — 7. The Nineteenth Century: Feitli ; Helmers ;
Bil ierdyk ; Van der Palm ; Loosjes ; Loots, Tollens, Van Kampen, De s' Gravenweert,
Van Hotjvell, and others. The closing decades of the century.

1. The Language. — The Dutch, Flemish, and Frisic lan-
guages, spoken in the kingdoms of Holland and Belgium, are
branches of the Gothic family. Toward the close of the fifteenth
century, the Dutch gained the ascendency over the others, which
it has never since lost. Tliis language is energetic and flexible,
rich in synonyms and dehcate shades, and from its fullness and
strength, better adapted to history, tragedy, and odes, than to
comedy and the lighter kinds of poetry. The Flemish, which
still remains the literary language of the southern provinces, is
inferior to the Dutch, and has been greatly corrupted by the ad-
mixture of foreign words. The Frisic, spoken in Friesland, is
an idiom less cultivated than the others, and is gradually disap-
pearing. In the seventeenth century it boasted of several writers,
of whom the poet Japix was the most eminent. The first gram-
mar of the Frisic language was published by Professor Rask, of
Copenhagen, in 1825. In some parts of Belgium the Walloon,
an old dialect of the French, is still spoken, but the Flemish
continues to be the common language of the people, although
since the establishment of Belgium as an independent kingdom
the use of the French language has prevailed among the higher
classes.

2. Dutch Literature to the Sixteenth Century. —
When the obscurity of the dark ages began to disappear with
the revival of letters, the Netherlands were not last among the
countries of Europe in coming forth from the darkness. The
cities of Flanders were early distinguished for the commercial
activity and industrial skill of their inhabitants. Bruges reached
the height of its splendor in the beginning of the fifteenth cen-
tury, and was for some time one of the great commercial empo.
riums of the world, to which Constantinople, Genoa, and Venice

DUTCn LITERATURE. 369

Bent their precious argosies laden with the products of the East.
At the close of the thirteenth century Ghent, in wealth and power,
eclipsed the French metropolis ; and at the end of the fifteenth
century there was, according to Erasmus, no town in all Christen-
dom to compare with it for magnitude, power, political institu-
tions, or the culture of its citizens. The lays of the minstrels
and the romances of chivalry were early translated, and a Dutch
version of " Reynard the Fox " was made in the middle of the
thirteenth century. Jakob Maerlant (1235-1300), the first au-
thor of note, translated the Bible into Flemish rhyme, and made
many versions of the classics ; and Melis Stoke, his contemporary,
wrote a rhymed '• Chronicle of Holland."

The most im])ortant work of the fourteenth century is the
'' New Doctrine," by De Weert, which, for the freedom of its
expression on religious subjects, may be regarded as one of the
precursors of the Reformation.

Towards the close of the fourteenth century there arose a class
of wandering poets called S])rekers, who, at the courts of prince*
and elsewhere, rehearsed their maxims in prose or verse. In
the fifteenth century they formed themselves into literary socie-
ties, known as " Chambers of Rhetoric " (jjoetry being at that
time called the "Ai-t of Rhetoric"), which were similar to the
Guilds of the Meistersingers. These institutions were soon nud-
tiplied tliroughout the country, and the members exercised them-
selves in rhyming, or composed and performed mysteries and
plays, which, at length, gave rise to the theatre. They engaged
in poetical contests, distributed prizes, and were ])rominent in all
national fetes. The number of the rhetoricians was so immense,
that during the reign of Phllii) II. of Spain more than thirty
chambers, composed of fifteen hundred mend)ers, often entered
Antwerp in triumphal procession. But the effect of these asso-
ciations, composed for the most part of illiterate men, was to
destroy the purity of the language and to produce degeneracy in
the literature. Tlie Chamber of Amsterdam, however, was an
honorable exception, and towards the close of the sixteenth cen-
tury it counted among its members distinguished scholars, such
as S])ieghel, Coornhert, IMariiix, and Visscher, and it may be
considered as the school which formed Hooft and Vondel.

During the reign of the House of Burgundy (1383-1477),
which was essentially French in tastes and manners, the native
tongue became corrupted by the admixture of foreign element^s.
The poets and chroniclers of the time were chiefly of Flemish
origin : the most widely known among the latter are Henricourt
(d. 1403), INIonstrelet (d. 1453). and Chastelain (d. 1475). A
translation of the Bible and a few more works close the literary
record of the fifteenth century.
24

870 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

The Invention of printing, the great event of the age, if
claimed by the cities of Mayence, Strasbourg, and Harlem ; but
if the art which preserves hterature originated in the Nether-
lands, it did not at once create a native Hteratui-e, the growth of
which was greatly retarded by the use of the Latin tongue,
wliich long continued to be the organ of expression with the
principal ^\Tlters of the comitry, nearly all of whom, even to the
present day, are distinguished for the purity and elegance with
which they compose in this language. ■

The Reformation and the great political agitations of the six-
teenth century ended in the independence of the northern prov-
inces and the estabhshment of the Dutch Republic (1581) under
the name of the United Provinces, commonly caUed Holland,
from the province of that name, which was superior to the others
in extent, population, and influence. The new republic rose
rapidly in power ; and while Intolerance and religious disputes
distracted other European states, it offered a safe asylum to the
•persecuted of all sects. The expanding energies of the people
soon sought a field beyond the narrow boundaries of the coun-
try ; their ships visited every sea, and they monopoUzed the rich-
est commerce of the world. They alone supplied Europe with
the productions of the Spice Islands, and the gold, pearls, and
jewels of the East aU passed through their hands ; and in the
middle of the seventeenth century the United Provinces were the
first commercial and the first maritime power in the world. A
rapid development of the literature was the natural consequence
of this increasing national development, which was stlU more
powerfully promoted by the great and wise William I., Prince
of Orange, who in 1575 founded the university of Leyden as a
reward to that city for its valiant defense against the Spaniards.
Similar institutions were soon established at Gronlngen, Utrecht,
and elsewhere ; these various seats of learning produced a rivalry
highly advantageous to the diffusion of knowledge, and great
men arose in all branches of science and literature. Among the
distinguished names of the sixteenth century those of the Latin
writers occupy the first place.

3. Latix Writers. — One of the great restorers of letters in
Europe, and one of the most elegant of modern Latin authors,
was Gerard Duller, a native of Rotterdam, who took the name
of Erasmus (1467-1536). To profound learning he joined 3
refined taste and a delicate wit, and few men have been so
greatly admired as he was during his lifetime. The principal
Bovereigns of P^urope endeavored to draw him into their king-
doms. He several times visited England, where he was received
with great deference by Henry VIII., and where he gave lee
hires on Greek literature at Cambridge. He made many trans-

DUTCn LITERATURE. 371

/ations from Greek authors, and a very valuable translation of
the New Testament into Latin. His writings introduced tlie
spirit of free inquiry on all subjects, and to his inHuence may be
attributed the lirst dawning of the Rct'ormaticn. But his cau-
tion offended some of the best men of the times. His treatise
on " Free Will " made an open breach between liim and Luther,
whose opinions favored predestination ; his " Colloquies " gave
great offense to the Catholics ; and as he had not declared for
the Protestants, he had but lukewarm friends in either party. It
has been said of Erasmus, that he would have purified and re-
jmired the venerable fabric of tlie c^hurch, with a light and cau-
tious touch, fearful lest learning, virtue, and religion should be
buried in its fall, while Luther struck at the tottering ruin with
a bold and reckless hand, confident that a new and more beauti-
ful temple would rise from its ruins.

Hugo de Groot, who, according to the fashion of the time,
took the Latin name of Grotius (1583-1645), was a scholar and
statesman of the most diversified talents, and one of the master
minds of the age. He was involved in the religious controversy
which at that time disturbed Holland, and he advocated the doc-
trines of Arminius, in common vnth. the great statesman, Barne-
veldt, whom he supported and defended by his pen and influ-
ence. On the execution of Barneveldt, Grotius was condemned
to imprisonment for life in the castle of Louvestein ; but after
nearly two years spent in the prison, his faithful wife planned
and effected his escape. She had procured the privilege of send-
ing him a chest of books, which occasionally passed and repassed,
closely scrutinized. On one occasion the statesman took the
place of the books, and was borne forth from the prison in the
chest, which is still in the possession of the descendants of Gro-
tius, in his native city of Delft. The States-General perpetuated
the memory of the devoted ^\^fe by continuing to give her name
to a frigate in the Dutch navy. After his escape from prison,
Grotius found an asylum in Sweden, from whence he was sent
ambassador to France. His countrymen at length repented of
having banished the man who was the honor of his native land,
and he was recalled ; but on his way to Holland he was taken ill
and died before he could profit by this tardy act of justice. The
writings of Grotius greatly tended to diffuse an enlightened and
liberal manner of thinking in all matters of science. He was a
profound theologian, a distinguished scholar, an acute philoso-
pher and jurist, and among the modern Latin poets he holds a
high place. The phik)sophy of juris])rudeiice has been especially
promoted by his great work on natural and national law, which
laid the foundation of a new science.

Arminius (1560-1609), the founder of the sect of Arminiaus

872 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

or Remonstrants, was distinguished as a preacher and for his
zeal in the Reformed Religion. He attempted to soften the Cal-
vinistic doctrines of predestination, in which he was violently
opposed by Gomarus. He counted among his adherents Gro-
tius, Barneveldt, and many of the eminent men of Holland.
Other eminent theologians of this period were Drusius and Coc-
ceius.

Lipsius (1547-1606) is known as a philologist and for his
treatises on the military art of the Romans, on the Latin classics,
and on the philosophy of the Stoics. Another scholar of exten-
sive learning, whose editions of the principal Greek and Latin
classics have rendered him famous all over Europe, was Daniel
Heinsius (1580-1655). Gronovius and several of the members
of the Spanheim family became also eminent for their scholar-
ship in various branches of ancient learning.

The two Scaligers, father and son (1483-1554) (1540-1609),
Italians, resident in Holland, are eminent for theii* researches in
chronology and archaeology, and for their valuable works on the
classics. Prominent among those who followed in the new path
of philological study opened by the elder Scahger was Vossius,
or Voss (1577-1649), who excelled in many branches of learn-
ing, and particularly in Latin philology, which owes much to
him. He left five sons, all scholars of note, especially the young-
est, Isaac Vossius (1618-1689).

Peter Burmann (1668-1741) was a scholar of great erudition
and industry.

Christian Huyghens (1629-1695) was a celebrated astronomer
and mathematician, and many gTcat men in those branches of
science flourished in Holland in the seventeenth century. Among
the great philologists and scholars must also be mentioned Hem-
sterhuis, Ruhnkenius, and Valckenaer.

Menno van Coehorn (1641-1704) was a general and engineer
distinguished for his genius in military science ; his great work
on fortifications has been translated into many foreign languages.
Helmont and Boerhaave have acquired world-wide fame by
their labors in chemistry ; Linnaeus collected the materials for
his principal botanical work from the remarkable botanical treas-
ures of Holland ; and zoology and the natural sciences gener-
ally counted many devoted and eminent champions in that coun-
try.

Salmasius (1588-1653), though born in France, is ranked
among the wi-iters of Holland. He was professor in the Uni-
versity of Leyden, and was celebrated for the extent and depth
of his erudition. He wrote a defense of Charles I. of England,
which was answered by Milton, in a work entitled "• A Defense
»f the English People against Salmasius' Defense of the King."

DUTCH LITERATURE. 373

Salmasius died soon after, and some did not scruple to say that
Milton killed him by the acuteness of his rei)ly.

Boerhaave (1GG8-1738) was one of the most eminent writers
on medical science in the eighteenth century, and from the time
of Hippocrates no physician had excited so much admiration.
Spinoza (1632-1677) liolds a conmiandin^j position as a philo-
sophical wTiter. His metaphysical system, as expounded in his
])rincipal work, "Ethica," merges everything individual and par-»
ticular in the Divine substance, and is thus essentially pantheis-
tic. The ])hiloso])hy of Spinoza exercised a powerful influence
upon the mind of Kant, and the master-minds and great poets of
modern times, particularly of Germany, have drawn copiously
from the dee]) wells of his suggestive thought.

Among the many Latin poets of Holland, John Everard
(1511-1536) (called Jan Second or Johannes Secundus, because
he had an uncle of the same name) is most celebrated. His
poem entitled '' The Basia or Kisses " has been translated into
the principal European languages. Nicholas Heinsius (1620-
1681), son of the great philologist and poet Heinsius, wrote va-
rious Latin poems, the melody of which is so sweet that he was
called by his contemporaries the '' Swan of Holland."

4. Dutch AVritebs of the Sixteenth Centubt. — The
first writer of this century in the native language was Anna
Byns, who has been called the Flemish Sappho. She was bit-
terly ojjposed to the Reformation, and such of her writings as
were free from religious intolerance evince more poetic fire than
is found in those of her contemporaries. Coornhert (1522-1605)
was a poet and philosopher, distinguished not less by his literary
works than by his })articipation in the revolution of the Prov-
inces. In pui'ity of style and vigor of tliought he far sur])assed
his predecessors. Marnix de St. Aldegonde (d. 1598) was a
soldier, a statesman, a theologian, and a poet. He was the au-
thor of the celebrated "Compromise of the Nobles," and his sat-
ire on the Roman Catholic Church was one of the most effective
productions of the time. He translated the Psahns from the
original Hebrew, and was the author of a lyric which, after two
centuries and a half, is still the rallying song of the nation on all
occasions of peril or triumph.

Bor (1559-1635) Avas commissioned by the States to write
a history of their struggles with S])ain, and his work is still reail
and valued for its truthfulness and impartiality. Meteren. the
contemporaiy of Bor. wi-ote the history of the country from the
accession of the House of liui'gundy to the year 1612 — a work
wliich, with some faults, has a high ])lace in the literature.

Visscher (d. 1612) and Spieghel (d. 1613) form the connecting
link between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Visscher,

374 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the Maecenas of the day, was distinguished for his epigrammatic
and fugitive poems, and rendered immense ser\dce to letters by
his inliuence on the literary men of his time. His charming
daughters were both distinguished in literature. Spieghel is
best remembered by his poem, the " Mirror of the Heart," which
abounds in lofty ideas, and in sentiments of enUghtened patriot-
ism.

5. The Seventeenth Century. — At the close of the six-
teenth century, although the language was established, it stUl re-
mamed hard and inflexible, and the literature was still destitute
of dramatic, erotic, and the lighter kinds of poetry ; but an ear-
nest, patriotic, reUgious, and national character was impressed
upon it, and its golden age was near at hand.

The commencement of the seventeenth century saw the people
of the United Provinces animated by the same spirit and energy,
prefeiTing death to the abandonment of their principles, strug-
gling with a handful of men against the most powerful monarchy
of the time ; conquering their political and religious independ-
ence, after more than half a century of conflict, and giving to
the world a great example of freedom and toleration ; covering
the ocean with their fleets, and securing possessions beyond the
sea a hundred times more vast than the mother country ; becom-
ing the centre of universal commerce, and cultivating letters, the
sciences, and the arts, with equal success. Poetry was national,
for patriotism predominated over all other sentiments ; and it
was original, because it recognized no models of imitation but
the classics.

The spirit of the age naturally communicated itself to the
men of letters, who soon raised the literattire of the country to
a classic height ; first among these were Hooft, Vondel, and Ja-
cob Cats.

Hooft (1581-1647), a tragic and lyric poet as well as a his-
torian, greatly developed and perfected the language, and by a
careful study \i& the Italian poets imparted to his native tongue
that sonorous sweetness which has since characterized the poetry
of Holland. He was the creator of native tragedy, as well as
of erotic verse, in which his style is marked by great sweetness,
tenderness, and grace. He rendered stiU greater service to the
native prose. His histories of " Henry IV.," of the " House of
Medici," and above all the history of the " War of Independence
in the Low Countries," without sacrificing truth, often border on
poetry, in their brilliant descriptions and paintings of character,
and in their nervous and energetic style. Hooft was a man of
noble heart ; he dared to protect Grotius in the days of his per*
secution ; he defended Descartes and offered an asylum to Gal
Ueo.

DUTCH LITERATURE. 875

Vondel (1587-1660), as a lyric, epic, and tragic poet, far sur-
passed all his contemporaries, and liis name is honoied in Hol-
land as that of Sliakspeare is in Kngland. His tragedies, which
are numerous, are his most celehrated productions, and among
them " Falamedes Unjustly Sacrificed " is jjarlicularly interesting
as representing the heroic lirmness of Barneveldt, who repeated
one of the odes of Horace when undergoing the torture. VgH'
del excelled as a lyric and epigrammatic poet, and the faults of
his style helonged rather to his age than to himself.

No Avriter of the time accjuired a greater or more lasting repu-
tation than Jacob Cats (1577-1660), no less celebrated for the
])urity of his life than for t!ie sound sense and morality of his
writings, and the statesmanlike abilities which he disi)layed as
ambassador in England, and as grand pensioner of Holland.
His style is simple and touching, his versification easy and har-
monious, and his descriptive talent extraordinary. His works
consist chiefly of apologues and didactic and descriptive poems.
No writer of Holland has been more read than Father Cats, as
the people affectionately call him ; and up to the present hour,
in all families his works have their place beside the Bible, and
liis verses are known by heart all over the country. An illus-
trated edition of his poems in English has been recently published
in London.

Hooft and Vondel left many disciples and imitators, among
whom are Antonides (1647-1684), surnamed Van der Goes,
whose charming poem on the River Y, the model of several sim-
ilar compositions, is still read and admired. Among numerous
other writers were Huygens (b. 1596), a poet who wrote in
many languages besides his own ; Heinsius (b. 1580), a pu])il
of Scaliger, the author of many valuable works in ])rose and
poetry ; Vallenhoven, contemporary with Antonides, a religious
poet ; Rotgans, the author of an epic poem on William of Eng-
land ; Elizal^eth Hoofman (b. 16()4), a poetess of rare elegance
and taste, and Wellekens (b. 1658), whose eclogues and idyls
occupy the first place among that class of poems. As a histo-
rian Hoot't found a worthy successor in Brandt (1626-1683),
also a })oet, but best known by his " History of the Reforma-
tion in the Netherlands," whicli has been translated into French
and English, and which is a model in point of style. At this
period the Bible was translated and commented upon, and biog-
raphies, criticisms, and many other prose works a2)i>eaied. The
voyages and discoveries of the Dutch merchants and navigators
were illustrated by numerous narratives, which, for their interest
both in style and detail, deserve honorable mention.

From the conmiencement of the last (juarter of the seventeenth
century, however, many causes combined to produce a decline

376 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

in the literature of the Netherlands. The honors which were
accorded not only by the Dutch universities, but by all Europe
to their Latin writers and learned professors, were rarely be-
stowed on writers in the native tongue, and thus the minds of
men of genius were turned to the study of the classics and the
sciences. The Dutch merchants, while they cultivated all other
languages for the facilities they thus gained in their commercial
transactions, restricted by so much the diffusion of their own.
Other causes of this decline are to be found in the indifference
of the republican government to the interests of literature, and
in the increasing number of alliances with foreigners, who were
attracted to Holland by the mildness of its laws, in the grow-
ing commercial spirit and taste for luxury, and especially in the
influence of French literature, which, towards the close of the
seventeenth century, became predominant in Holland as else-
where.

6. The Eighteenth Century. — For the first three quarters
of the eighteenth century the literature of Holland, like that of
other countries of Europe, with the exception of France, re-
mained stationary, or slowly declined. But in the midst of uni-
versal mediocrity, a few names shine with distinguished lustre.
Among them that of Foot (1689-1732) is commonly cited with
those of Hooft and Vondel. He was a young peasant, whose
rare genius found expression in a sweet and unaffected style.
He excelled in idyllic and erotic poetry, and while he has no
rival in Holland, he may perhaps be compared to Burns in Scot-
land, and Beranger in France. The theatre of Amsterdam, the
only one of the country, continued to confine itself to transla-
tions or imitations from the French. There appeared, however,
at the commencement of this period, an original comic author,
Langendijk (1662-1735), whose works still hold their place
upon the stage, partly for their merit, and partly to do honor to
the only comic poet Holland has produced.

Hoogvliet (1689-1763) was distinguished as the author of a
poem entitled " Abraham," which had great and merited suc-
cess, and which still ranks among the classics ; for some years
after it appeared, it produced a flood of imitations.

De Marre (b. 1696), among numerous writers of tragedy, oc-
cupies the first place. From his twelfth year he was engaged
in the merchant marine service, and besides his tragedies his
voyages inspired many other works, the chief of which, a poem
entitled " Batavia," celebrates the Dutch domination in the
Asiatic archipelago. Feitama (1694-1758), with less poetic
merit than De Marre, had great excellence. He was the first
translator of the classics who succeeded in imparting to his verse
the true spirit of his originals.

DUTCH LITERATURE. 377

Huydecoper (d. 1778) was the first grammarian of merit, and
he unitetl great erudition with true poetic power. His tragedies
are still represented.

Onno Zwier Van Haren (1713-1789) was also a writer of
tragedy, and the author of a long poem in the epic style, called
the Gueux (beggars), a name given in derision to the allied no-
blemen of the NL'tht-rlands in the time of Philip, and adopted
by them. This poem represents the great struggle of the coun-
try with Spain, which ended in the establishment of the Dutch
republic, and is distinguished for its fine episodes, its brilliant
pictures, and its powerful develo})ment of character.

The only strictly epic poem that Holland has produced is the
" Friso " of William Van Haren (1710-1758), the brother of
the one already named. Friso, the mythical founder of the
Frisons, is driven from his home on the shores of the Ganges,
and, after many adventures, finds an asylum and establishes his
govei'nment in the country to wliich he gives his name. This
work with many faults is full of beauties. The brothers Van
Haren were free from all foreign influence, and may justly be
regarded as the two great poets of their time. The poems of
Smits (1702-1750) are full of grace and sentiment, but, like
those of almost all the Dutch poets, they are characterized by a
seriousness of tone nearly allied to melancholy. Ten Kate
(1676-1723) stands first among the grammarians and etymolo-
gists, and his works are classical authorities on the subject of
the language.

Preeminent among tlie crowd of historians is Wagenaar
(1709-1773), the worthy successor of Hooft and Brandt, whose
" History of the United Provinces " is particularly valuable for
its simplicity of style and truthfulness of detail.

Of the lighter literature. Van Effen, who had visited England,
produced in French the " Spectator," in imitation of the English
periodical, and, like that, it is still read and considered classical.

Towards the conclusion of the century, other jjcriodicals were
established, which, in connection with literary societies and
academies, exercised great influence on literature. The con-
temporary writers of Germany were also read and translated,
and henceforth in some degi-ee they counterbalanced French
influence.

First among the writers who mark the close of the eighteenth
century are Van "Winter (d. 1795), and his distinguished wife,
Madame Van Merken (d. 1789). They published conjointly a
volume of tragedies in which the chief merit of those of Van
Winter consists in their originality and in the expression of those
eentiments of justice, humanity, and ecjuality before the law,
which were just then beginning to fiiid a voice in Europe.

878 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Madame Van Merken, who, late in life, married Van Winter,
has been called the Racine of Holland. To masculine energy
and power she united all the virtues and sweetness of her own
sex. Besides many long poems, she was the author of several
tragedies, many of which have remarkable merit. Madame
Van Merken gave a new impulse to the literature of her coun-
try, of wliich she is one of the classic ornaments, and prepared
the way for Feith and Bilderdyk.

The Baroness De Lannoy, the contemporary of Madame Van
Merken, was, like her, eminent in tragedy and other forms of
poetry, though less a favorite, for in that free country an illus-
trious birth has been ever a serious obstacle to distinction in the
republic of letters.

Nomz (d. 1803) furnished the theatre of Amsterdam with
many pieces, original and translated, and merited a better fate
from his native city than to die in the pubUc hospital.

The poets who mark the age from Madame Van Merken to
Bilderdyk, are Van Alphen, Bellamy, and Nieuwland. Van
Alphen (d. 1803) is distinguished for his patriotism, originahty,
and deeply religious spirit. His poems for children are known
by heart by all the children of Holland, and he is their national
poet, as Cats is the poet of mature life and old age. Bellamy,
who died at the early age of twenty-eight years (1786), left
many poems characterized by originality, force, and patriotic
fervor, no less than by beauty and harmony of style. Nieuw-
land (d. 1794), like Bellamy, rose from the lower order of
society by the force of his genius ; at the age of twenty-three he
was called to the chair of philosophy, mathematics, and astron-
omy at Utrecht, and later to ihe university of Leyden. He was
equally great as a mathematician and as a poet in the Latin lan-
guage as well as his own. All his productions are marked by
elegance and power.

Styl (d. 1804) was a poet as well as a historian ; one of the
most valuable works on the history of the country is his
" Growth and Prospects of the United Provinces." Te Water,
Bondam, and Van de Spiegel contributed to the same depart-
ment.

Romance writing has, with few exceptions, been surrendered
to women. Among the romances of character and manners,
those of Elizabeth Bekker Wolff (d. 1804) are distinguished
for their brilliant and caustic style, and those of Agatha Deken
for their earnest and enlightened piety. The works of both
present lively pictures of national character and manners.

7. The Nixetkenth Century. — The political convulsions
of the last years of the eighteenth century and the early i)art of
the nineteenth, which overthrew the Dutch Republic, revolu-

DUTCH LITERATURE. 379

tionized the literature not less than the state, — and the new era
was illustrated by its poets, historians, and orators. But in the
elevation of inferior men by the popular party, the more emi-
nent men of letters for a time withdrew from the held, and the
noblest i)roductions of native genius were forgotten in the flood
of poor translations which inundated the country and corrupted
the taste and the language by their Germanisms and Galli-
cisms.

Among the crowd of poets, a few only rose superior to the
influences of the time. Feith (d. 1824) united a lofty patriot-
ism to a brilliant poetical genius ; his odes and other poems
possess rare merit, and his prose is original, forcible, and ele-
gant.

Helmers (d. 1813) is most honored for his poem, " The Dutch
Nation," which, with some faults, abounds in beautiful episodes
and magnificent passages.

Bilderdyk (1756-1831) is not only the greatest poet Holland
has produced, but he is equally eminent as a universal scholar.
He was a lawyer, a physician, a theologian, a historian, astron-
omer, draftsman, engineer, and anti(;[uarian, and he was ac-
quainted with nearly all the ancient and modern languages. In
1820 he published five cantos of a poem on " The Destruction
of the Primitive World," which, though it remains unfinished,
is a superb monument of genius and one of the literary glories
of Holland. Bilderdyk excelled in every species of poetry,
tragedy only excepted, and liis published works fill more than
one hundred octavo volumes.

Van der Palm (b. 1763) occuj)ies the same place among the
prose writers of the nineteenth century that Bilderdyk does
among the poets. He held the highest position as a pulpit ora-
tor and member of the Council of State, and his discourses, ora-
tions, and other prose works are models of style, and are counted
among the classics of the country. His great work, however,
was the translation of the Bible.

Since the time of Bilderdyk and Van der Palm no remark-
able genius has appeared in Holland.

Loosjes (d. 1806) added to his reputation as a poet by his
historical romances, and Fokke (d. 1812) was a satirist of the
follies and errors of liis age. Among the historians who have
devoted themselves to the history of foreign countries are Stu-
art, Van Hamelsveld, and IMuiitinghe, who, in a short space of
time, enriched their native literature with more than sixty
volumes of history, of a ])rofoiindly religious and ])hilosoj)hical
character, which bear the stamj) of originality and nationality.

The department of oratory in Dutch literature, with the ex-
ception of that of the pulpit, is poor, and this is to be explained

880 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

in part by the fact that the deliberations of the States-General
were always held with closed doors. Holland was an aristo-
cratic republic, and the few families who monopolized the power
had no disposition to share it with the people, who, on the other
hand, were too much occupied with their own affairs and too
confident of the wisdom and moderation of their rulers, to wish
to mingle in the business of state. The National Assembly,^
however, from 1775 to 1800, had its orators, chiefly men carried
into public life by the events of the age, but they were far infe-
rior to those of other countries.

The impulse given to literature by Bilderdyk and Van der
Palm is not arrested. Among the numerous authors who have
since distinguished themselves, are Loots, a patriotic poet of the
school of Vondel ; ToUens, who ranks with the best native au-
thors in descriptive poetry and romance ; Wiselius, the author
of several tragedies, a scholar and political writer ; Klyn (d.
1856) ; Van Walre and Van Halmaal, dramatic poets of great
merit ; Da Costa and Madame Bilderdyk, who, as a poetess,
shared the laurels of her husband. In romance, there are Anna
Toussaint, Bogaers, and Jan Van Lennep, son of the celebrated
professor of that name, who introduced into Holland historical
romances modeled after those of Scott, and who contributed
much to discard French and to popularize the national litera-
ture. In prose, De Vries must be named for his eloquent his-
itory of the poetry of the Netherlands ; Van Kampen (1776-
1839) for his historical works ; Geysbeck for his biographical
dictionary and anthology of the poets, and De s'Gravenweert, a
poet and the translator of the Iliad and Odyssey. Van Hoevell
is the author of a work on slavery, which appeared not many
years since, the effect of which can be compared only to that of
" Uncle Tom's Cabin."

In Belgium, Conscience is a successful author of fiction and
history, and his works have been frequently translated into other
languages. De Laet, one of the ablest writers of the country
in connection with Conscience, has done much for the revival of
Flemish literature, which now boasts of many original writers in
various departments.

The literature of the Netherlands, like the people, is earnest,
religious, always simple, and often elevated and sublime. It is
aspecially distinguished for its reflective and patriotic character,
and bears the mark of that accurate study of the classic models
which has formed the basis of the national education, and to
which its purity of taste, naturalness, and simplicity are un-
doubtedly to be attributed. There exists no nation of equal
population which, within the course of two or three centuries^
Uas produced a greater number of eminent men.

DUTCH LITERATURE. 381

From the age of Hooft and Vondel to the present day, though
tlie Dutch literature nuiy have submitted at times to foreign in-
fluence, and though, like aU others, it niay have paid its tribute
to the fashions and faults of the day, it has still preserved its
nationality, and is worthy of being known and admired.

As has been true in other European countries during the same
period a large part of the literature produced in Holland in the
closing decades of the nineteenth century has been determined
or moditied by the spirit of science. This is true whether the
work has been done in the direct field of science, or in an ana-
lytical spirit inspii'ed by the scientific method. Whether in the
work of Adema or Van Doorne, of Van Oordt, Paap, or Coupe-
rus, accuracy of observation and registry, rather than creative
imagination, has been the distinguishing mark. Little verse of
power has been produced. This is partly due, no doubt, to the
difficulty which the comparative poverty of the language im-
poses upon the imaginative writer. So strongly has this been
felt that not a few wi-iters of Dutch birth and residence have
chosen French or English as a better medium for their work.
This has been done, for example, by Maarten Maartens, whose
work may fairly represent the creditable but not masterly
achievement in fiction which we now look for from Holland.

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE.

1. Introduction. The Ancient Scandinavians; their Influence on the English Race.— 2.
The Mythology. —3. The ScandinaWan Languages. — 4. Icelandic, or Old Norse Litera*
tare: the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, the Scalds, the Sagas, the " Ileiraskringla." The
Folks-Sagas and Ballads of the Middle Ages. — 5. Danish Literature : Saxo Grammaticua
and Tlieodoric ; Arreboe, Kingo, Tycho Brahe, Holberg, Evald, Baggesen, Oehlenschla-
ger, Grundtvig, Blicher, Ingemann, Heiberg, Gyllenbourg, Wintlier, Hertz, Miiller, Hana
Andersen, Ploug, Goldschmidt, Hastrup, and others; Malts Brun, Rask, Rafn, Magnu-
sen, the brothers Oersted. — 6. Swedish Literature: Messenius, Stjemhjelm, Lucidor,
and others. The Gallic period : Dalin, Nordenflycht, Grutz and Gyllenborg, Gustp.vua
III., Kellgren, Leopold, Oxenstjema. The New Era : Bellman, Hallman, Kexel, Wallen-
berg, Lidner, Thorild, Lengren, Franzen, Wallin. The Phosphorists : Atterbom, Hain-
marskold, and Palmblad. The Gothic School : Geijer, Te^n^r, Stagnelius, Almquist, Vi-
Ulis, Runeberg, and others. The Romance Writers : Cederborg, Bremer, Carl(5n, Knor-
ring. Science: Swedenborg, Linnaeus, Scheele. Recent Scandinavian Literature.

1. Introduction. — It is a singular fact that the progressive
and expanding spirit which characterizes the English race should
he so universally referred to their Anglo-Saxon blood, while the
transcendent influence of the Scandinavian element is entirely
overlooked. The so-called Anglo-Saxons were a handful of
people in Holstein, where they may still be found in inglorious
obscurity, the reluctant subjects of Demnark. The early emi-
grants who bore that name, were, it is true, from various por-
tions of Germany ; but even if the glory of our English ancestry
be transferred from Anglen, and spread over the whole country,
we find a race bearing no resemblance to the English in their
more active and powerful qualities, but an intellectual people,
possessed of a patient and conceding nature, which, without
other more aspiring attributes, doubtless would have left the
English people in the same condition of political slavery that the
Germans continue in to this day. Of all those institutions so
commonly and gratuitously ascribed to them, of representative
government, trial by jury, and such machinery of political and
social independence, there is not a vestige to be found in any
age in Germany, from the Christian era to the present time.
During the period of their dominion in England, the Anglo-
Saxons, so far from showing themselves an enterprising people
were notoriously weak, slothful, and degenerate, overrun by the
Danes, and soon permanently subjected by the Normans. It
is evident, from the trifling resistance they made, that they had
neither energy to fight, nor property, laws, nor institutions to de-
fend, and that they were merely serfs on the lands of the nobles
or of the church, who had nothing to lose by a change of mas-
ters. It is to the renewal of the original spirit of the Anglo-

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE. 383

Saxons, by the fresh infusion of the Danish conquerors into a
very large proportion of the whole population, in the eleventh
centnry, that we must look for the actual origin of the national
cliaracter and institutions of the English people, and for that
check of popular opinion and will upon arbitrary rule which
grew up by degrees, and which slowly but necessarily produced
the English law, character, and institutions. These belong not
to the German or Anglo-Saxon race settled in England previous
to the tenth or eleventh century, but to that smaU, cognate
branch of Northmen or Danes, who, between the ninth and
twelfth centuries, l)rought their paganism, energy, and social in-
stitutions to conquer, mingle with, and invigorate the inert de-
scendants of the old race. That this northern branch of the
common race has been the more influential in the society of mod-
ern Europe, we need only compare England and the United
States with Saxony, Prussia, Hanover, or any country of strictly
ancient Teutonic descent, to be satisfied. From whatever quar-
ter civil, religious, and political liberty and indej^endence of
mind may have come, it was not from the banks of the Rliine or
the forests of Germany.

The difference in the spirit of the two branches of the same
original race was immense, even at the earliest period. When
the Danes and Norwegians overran England, the Germans had,
for six centuries, been growing more and more pliant to despotic
government, and the Scandinavians more and more bold and in-
dependent. At home they elected their kings, and decided
everything by the general voice of the Althing, or open Parlia-
ment. Abroad they became the most daring of adventurers ; their
Vikings spread themselves along the shores of Europe, plundei*-
ing and planting colonies ; they subdued England, seized Nor-
mandy, besieged Paris, conquered a large portion of Belgium,
anil made extensive inroads into Spain. They made themselves
masters of lower Italy and Sicily under Robert Guiscard, in the
eleventh century ; during the Crusades they ruled Antioch and
Tiberias, under Tancred ; and in the same century they marcheil
across Germany, and established themselves in Switzerland,
where the traditions of their arrival, and traces of their lan-
giuige still remain. In 8()1 they discovered Iceland, and soon
after peopled it ; thence they stretched still farther west, dis-
covered Greenland, and proceeding southward, towards the close
of the tenth century they struck ujion the shores of North Amer-
ica, it would ai)peiU", neai* the coast of ^lassachusetts. They
seized on Novgorod, and became the founders of the Russian
Empire, and of a line of Czars which became extinct only in
1598, when the Slavonic dynasty succeeded. From Russia they
made their way to the Black Sea, and in 8GG appeared before

384 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Constantinople, where their attacks were bought off only on the
payment of large sums by the degenerate emperors. From
902 to the fall of the empire, the emi)erors retained a large
body-guard of Scandinavians, who, armed with double-edged
battle-axes, were renowned tlii'ough the world, under the name
of Varengar, or the Vdringjar of the old Icelandic Sagas.

Such were the ancient Scandinavians. To this extraordinary
people the English and their descendants alone bear any resem-
blance. In them the old Norse fire still burns, and manifests
itself in the same love of martial daring and fame, the same in-
domitable seafaring spirit, the same passion for the discovery of
new seas and new lands, and the same insatiable longing, when
discovered, to seize and colonize them.

2. The Mythology. — The mythology of the northern na-
tions, as represented in the Edda, was founded on Polytheism ;
but through it, as through the religion of all nations, there is
dimly visible, like the sun shining through a dense cloud, the
idea of one Supreme Being, of infinite power, bomidless knowl-
edge, and incorruptible justice, who could not be represented by
any corporeal form. Such, according to Tacitus, was the su-
preme God of the Germans, and such was the primitive belief
of mankind. Doubtless, the poet priests, who elaborated the
imaginative, yet philosophical mythology of the north, were
aware of the true and only God, infinitely elevated above the
attributes of that Nature, wliich they shaped into deities for the
multitude whom they believed incapable of more than the wor-
ship of the material powers which they saw working in every-
thing aroimd them.

The dark, hostile powers of nature, such as frost and fire, are
represented as giants, "jotuns," huge, chaotic demons; while
the friendly powers, the sun, the summer heat, all vivifying prin-
ciples, were gods. From the opposition of light and darkness,
water and fii-e, cold and heat, sprung the first life, the giant
Ymer and his evil progeny the frost giants, the cow Adhumla,
and Bor, the father of the god Odin. Odin, with his brothers,
slew the giant Ymer, and from liis body formed the heavens and
earth. From two stems of wood they also shaped the first man
and woman, whom they endowed with Hfe and spirit, and from
whom descended all the human race.

There were twelve principal deities among the Scandinavians,
of whom Odin was the chief. There is a tradition in the north
of a celebrated warrior of that name, who, near the 2>eriod of
the Christian era, fled from his country, between the Caspian
and the Black Sea, to escape the vengeance of the Romans, and
Inarched toward the north and west of Europe, subduing all
who opposed him, and finally established himself in Sweden,

SCANDINAnAN LITERATURE. 385

where he received divine honors. According to the Eddas,
however, Odin was the son of Bor, and the most powerful of the
gods ; the fatlier of Thor, Balder, and others ; the god of war,
eloquence, and poetry. He was made acquainted with every-
thing that happened on earth, through two ravens, Hugin and
Munin (mind and memory) ; they flew daily round the world,
and returned every night to whisper in his ear all that they luul
seen and heard. Thor, the god of thunder, was the inqjlacable
and dreaded enemy of the giants, and the avenger and defender
of the gods. I lis stature was so lofty that no horse could bear
him, and lightning flashed from liis eyes and from liis chariot
wheels as they rolled along. His mallet or hammer, his belt of
strength and his gauntlets of iron, were of wonderful power, and
with them he could overthrow the giants and monsters who were
at war with the gods. Balder, the second son of Odin, was the
noblest and fairest of the gods, beloved by everything in nature.
He exceeded all beings in gentleness, pi"udence, and eloquence,
and he was so fair and graceful that light emanated from lum
as he moved. In his palace nothing impure coidd exist. The
death of Balder is the principal event in the mythological drama
of the Scandinavians. It was foredoomed, and a prognostic of
the approaching dissolution of the universe and of the gods
themselves. Heimdall was the warder of the gods ; his post
was on the sunnnit of Bifrost, called by mortals the rainbow —
the bridge wliich connects heaven and earth, and down which
the gods daily traveled to hold their councils under the shade
of the tree Yggdrasil. The i-ed color was the flaming fire,
which served as a defense against the giants. Heimdall slept
more lightly than a bird, and his ear was so exquisite that he
could hear the gi-ass gi-ow in the meadows and the wool upon the
backs of the sheej). He carried a trumpet, the sound of which
echoed through all worlds. Loki was essentially of an evil
nature, and descended from the giants, the enemies of the gods ;
but he was mysteriously associated with Odin from the infancy
of creation. He instilled a spark of his fire into a man at his
creation, and he was the father of three monsters, Hela or
Death, the Midgard Serpent, and the wolf Fenris, the constant
terror of the gods, and destined to be the means of their de-
struction.

Besides tliese deities, there were twelve goddesses, the chief of
whom was Frigga, the wife of Odin, and the queen and mother
of the gods. She knew the future, but never revealed it ; and
she understood the language of animals and plants. Freya was
the goddess of love, unrivaled in gi-ace and beauty — the Scan-
dinavian Venus. Iduna was possessed of certain apj)les, of such
vii'tue that, by eating of them, the gods became exempted from
25

386 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERAtURE.

the consequences of old age, and retained, unimpaired, all the
freshness of youth. The gods dwelt above, in Asgard, the gar-
den of the Asen or the Divmities ; the home of the giants, with
whom they were in perpetual war, was Jotunheim, a distant,
dark, chaotic land, of which Utgard was the cliief seat. J\Iid-
gard, or the earth, the abode of man, was represented as a disk
in the midst of a vast ocean ; its caverns and recesses were peo-
pled with elves and dwarfs, and around it lay coiled the huge
Midgard Serpent. Muspelheim, or Flameland, and Nifellieim or
]Mistland, lay without the organized universe, and were the ma-
terial regions of light and darkness, the antagonism of wliich had
produced the universe with its gods and men. NifeUieim was a
dark and dreary realm, where Hela, or Death, ruled ynth des-
potic sway over those who had died uigloriously of disease or old
age. Hellieim, her cold and gloomy palace, was thronged with
their sliivering and shadowy spectres. She was livid and ghastly
pale, and her very looks inspu'ed horror.

The cliief residence of Odhi-, m Asgard, was Valhalla, or the
HaU of the Slain ; it was hung round with golden spears, and
shields, and coats of mail ; and here he received the souls of war-
riors killed in battle, who were to assist him in the final conflict
with the giants ; and here, every day, they armed themselves for
battle, and rode forth by thousands to their mknic combat on the
plains of Asgard, and at night they returned to Vallialla to feast
on the flesh of the boar, and to cbink the intoxicatmg mead.
Here dwelt, also, the numerous virgins called the Valkyriur, or
Choosers of the Slain, whom Odin sent forth to every battle-field
to sway the victory, to make choice of those who should fall in
the combat, and to direct them on their way to Valhalla. ^ They
were called, also, the Sisters of "War ; they watched with intense
interest over their favorite warriors and sometimes lent an ear
to their love. In the field they were always in complete armor ;
led on by Skulda, the youngest of the Fates, they were foremost
in battle, with helmets on their heads, armed with flaming
swords, and surrounded by lightning and meteors. Sometimes
they were seen riding thi'ough the air and over the sea on shad-
owy horses, from whose manes fell hail on the mountains and
dew on the valleys ; and at other times their fiery lances gleamed
in" the spectral lights of the aurora borealis ; and again, they
were represented clothed in white, with flowing hair, as cupbear-
ers to the heroes at the feasts of Valhalla.

In the centre of the world stood the great ash tree Yggdrasil,
the Tree of Life, of which the Christmas tree and the Maypole
of northern nations are doubtless emblems. It spread its life-
giving arms through the heavens, and struck its three roots down
through the three worlds. It nourished all Me, even that of

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE. 387

Nedhofj, the most venomous of serpents, which continually-
gnawed at the root tluit penetrated Nifellieim. A second root
entered the region of the frost giants, where was the well in
which wisdom and understanding were concealed. A third root
entered the region of the gods ; and there, beside it, dwelt the
tlu'ee Nornor or Fates,' over whom even the gods liad no ])ower,
and who, every day, watered it from the primeval fountain, so
that its boughs i-emained greeu.

The gods were benevolent spu-its — the friends of mankind,
but they were not inmiortal. A destiny more powerfid than they
or their enemies, the giants, was one day to overwhelm them. At
the Ragnarcik, or twilight of the gods, foretold in the Edda, the
monsters shall be unloosed, the heavens be rent asunder, and the
sun and moon disappear ; the great Midgard Serpent shall lash
tlie waters of the ocean till they ovei-flow the earth ; the wolf
Fenris, whose enormous mouth reaches from heaven to earth,
shall rush upon and devour all within his reach ; the genii of fire
shall ride forth, clothed in flame, and lead on the giants to the
storming of Asgard. Heimdall sounds his trumpet, wliich echoes
through all worlds ; the gods fly to arms ; Odhi ajjpears in his
golden casque, his resplendent cuirass, with his vast scunitar in
his hand, and marshals his heroes in battle array. The gieat ash
tree is shaken to its roots, heaven and earth are full of horror and
affright, and gods, giants, and heroes are at length buried in one
common ruin. Then comes forth the mighty one, who is above all
gods, who may not be named. He pronounces his decrees, and
establishes the doctrines which shall enihire forever. A new
earth, fairer and more verdant, springs forth from the bosom of
the waves, the fields brmg forth without culture, calamities are
unkno^vn, and in Heaven, the abode of the good, a palace is
reared, more shining than the sun, where the just shall dwell for-
evermore.

Traces of the worship of these deities by our pagan ancestors
still remain in the names given to four days of the week. Tues-
day was consecrated to Tyr, a son of Odin : Wednesday, Odin's
or Wooden's day, to Odin ; Thursday, or Thor's day, to Thor ;
and Friday, or Freya's day, was sacred to the godtless Freya.

3. The Language. — The Scandinavian or Norse languages
include the Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian dialects.

The Icelandic or Old Noi-se, which was the common language
of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, in the ninth century, was
carried into Iceland, where, to the present time, it has wonder-
fully retained its early characteristics. The written alphabet
was called Runic, and the letters. Runes, of which the most an-
tient specimens are the inscriptions on Rune stones, rings, and
wooden tablets.

388 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

The Danish and Swedish may be called the New Norse Ian.
j^ao-es ; they began to assmne a character distinct from the Old
Norse about the beginning of the twelfth century. The Danish
lanoniafi-e is not confined to Denmark, but is used in the Utera-
ture, and by the cultivated society of Norway.

The Swedish is the most musical of the Scandinavian dialects,
its pronunciation being remarkably soft and agreeable. Its char-
acter is more purely Norse than the Danish, wliich has been
greatly affected by its contact with the German.

The Norwegian exists only in the form of dialects spoken by
the peasantry. It is distinguished from the other two by a rich
vocabulai-y of words peculiar to itself, and by its own pronuncia-
tion and peculiar construction ; only literary cultivation is wanted
to make it an independent language Hke the others.

4. Icelandic or Old Norse Literature. — In 868 one of
the Norwegian vikings or sea rovers, being driven on the coast
of Iceland, first made known the existence of the island. Har-
old, the fair-haired, having soon after subdued or slam the petty
kings of Norway, and introduced the feudal system, many of the
inhabitants, disdaining to sacrifice their independence, set forth
to colonize this dreary and inhospitable region, whose wild and
desolate aspect seemed to attract their imagmations. Huge
momitains of ice here rose against the northern sky, from which
the smoke of volcanoes rolled balefully up ; and the large tracts
of lava, which had descended from them to the sea, were cleft into
fearful abysses, where no bottom could be found. Here were
strange, desolate valleys, with beds of pure suli)hur, torn and
overhanging precipices, gigantic caverns, and fountains of boiling
water, which, mmgled with flashing fires, soared up into the air,
amid the undergroans of earthquakes, and bowlings and hissings
as of demons in torture. Subterranean fires, in terrific contest
with the wintry ocean, seemed to have made sport of rocks,
mountains, and rivers, tossing them into the most fantastic and
appalling shapes. Yet such was the fondness of the Scandma-
vian imagination for the vrild and desolate, and such their ha-
tred of oppression, that they soon peopled this chaotic island to
an extent it has never since reached. In spite of the rigor of
the climate, where corn refused to ripen, and where the labors
of fishing and agriculture could only be pursued for four months
of tlie year, the people became attached to this wild country.
They established a repu])lic which lasted four hundred years, and
for ages it was destined to be the sanctuary and preserver of the
grand old literature of the North. The people took with them
their Scalds and their traditions, and for a century after the
peopling of the island, they retained their Pagan belief. Ages
rolled away ; the religion of Odin had perished from the main-

SCANDIXAVTAy LITERATURE. 389

land, and the very liyiniis and poems in whidi its doctrines were
recorded had perished with it, when, in the middle of the seven-
teenth century, the Rhythmical Kddaof Sanumd was discovered,
followed by the Prose Edda of Snorre Sturleson. These dis(!Ov-
eries roused the xeal of the Scandinavian literati, and led to fur-
ther investigations, which resulted in the discovery of a vast
number of chronicles and sagas, and much has since been done
by the learned men of Iceland and Demnark to bring to light
the remote annals of northern Europe.

These remains fall into the tlu-ee divisions of Eddaic, Scaldic,
and Saga literature. Samund the Wi^e (1050-1 lol), a Chris-
tian priest of Iceland, was the first to collect and commit to
writing the oral traditions of the mythology and poetry of the
Scandinavians. His collection has been termed the " Edda," a
word by some supposed to signify gi-andmother, and by others
derived, with more i)robability, from the ol)solL'te word ceda, to
teach. The eliler or poetic Edda consists of thirty-eight jjoems,
and is divided into two parts. The first, or mythological cycle,
contains everything relating to the Scandinavian ideas of the
creation of the world, the origin of man, the morals taught by
the priests, and stories of the gods ; the second, or heroic cycle,
contains the original materials of the " Nibelungen Lied " of
Germany. The poems consist of strophes of six or eight lines
each, with little of the alliteration by which the Scalds were
afterwards cUstinguished. One of the oldest and most interest-
ing is the " Voluspa," or Song of the Prophetess, a kind of sibyl-
line lay, which contains an accoimt of the creation, the origin of
man and of evil, and concludes with a prediction of the destruc-
tion and renovation of the universe, and a description of the fu-
ture abodes of ha})piness and misery. *' Vafthrudnir's Son"- " is
in the form of a dialogue between Odin, disguised as a mortal,
and the giant Vafthrudnir, in which the same subjects are dis-
cussed. '* Grinmer's Song " contains a description of twelve
liabitations of the celestial deities, considered as symbolicid of
the signs of the zodiac. " Rig's Song " explains, allegorically,
the origin of the three castes : the thrall, the churl, and tlie noble,
which, at a very early jjcriod, appear to have formed the frame-
work of Scandinavian society. "The Havamal" or the High
Song of Odin, is the complete code of Scandinavian etliics.
The maxims here brought together more resemble the Proverbs
of Solomon than anything in buuuui literature, but without the
high religious views of the Scrijiture maxims. It shows a worldly
wisdom, experience, and sagacity, to which modern life can add
nothing. In the Havamal is included the Rune Song.

Runes, the primitive rudely-shaped letters of the Gothic race,
appear never to have been used to record their literature, which

390 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

was committed to the Scalds and Sagamen, but they were re-
served for inscriptions on rocks or memorial stones, or they were
cut in staves of wood, as a rude calendar to assist the memory.
Odin was the great master of runes, but all the gods, many of
the giants, kings, queens, prophetesses, and poets possessed the
secret of their power. In the ballads of the Middle Ages, long
after the introduction of Christianity, we find everywhere the
boast of Runic knowledge and of its power. Queens and prin-
cesses cast the runic spell over their enemies ; ladies, by the use
of runes, inspire warriors with love ; and weird women by their
means perform witchcraft and sorcery. Some of their rune
songs taught the art of healing ; others had power to stop flying
spears in battle, and to excite or extinguish hatred and love.
There were runes of victory inscribed on swords ; storm runes,
which gave power over sails, inscribed on rudders of ships, drink
runes, which gave power over others, inscribed on drinking
horns ; and herb runes, cut in the bark of trees which cured sick-
ness and wounds. These awful characters, which struck terror
into the hearts of our heathen ancestors, and which appalled and
subdued alike kings, warriors, and peasants, were simple letters
of the alphabet ; but they prove to what a stupenduous extent
knowledge was power in the dark ages of the earth. The poet
who sings the Rune Song in the Havamal does it with every
combination of mystery, calculated to inspire awe and wonder in
the hearer.

The two poems, " Odin's Raven Song " and the " Song of the
Way-Tamer," are among the most deeply poetical hj-mns of the
Edda. They relate to the same great event — the death of Bal-
der — and are full of mystery and fear. A strange trouble has
fallen upon the gods, the oracles are silent, and a dark, woeful
forebodmg seizes on all things living. Odin mounts his steed,
Sleipner, and descends to hell to consult the Vala there in her
tomb, and to extort from her, by runic incantations, the fate of
his son. This " Descent of Odin " is familiar to the English
reader through Gray's Ode. In all mythologies we have glimpses
continually of the mere humanity of the gods, we witness their
limited powers and their consciousness of a coming doom. In
this respect every mythology is kept in infinite subordination to
the true faith, in which all is sublime, infinite, and worthy of
the Deity — in which God is represented as pure spirit, whom
the heaven of heavens cannot contain ; and all assumption of di-
vinity by false gods is treated as a base superstition.

The remaining songs of the first part of the Edda relate
chiefly to the exploits, wanderings, and love adventures of the
gods. The " Sun Song," with which it concludes, is believed to
be the production of Samund, the collector of the Edda. In this

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE. 391

he retains some of the machinery of the old creed, but introduces
the Christian Deity and doctrines.

The second part ot" the elder Edda contains the heroic cycle
of Icelandic poems, the first part of which is the Song of Vo-
land, the renowned northern smitli. The story of Voland, or
Wayland, the Vulcan of the North, is of unknown anti([uity ;
and liis fame, wliich spread throughout Europe, still lives in the
traditions of all northern nations. The poems concerning Sigurd
and the Niflunga form a grand epic of the simplest construction.
The versification consists of strophes of six or eight lines, with-
out rhyme or alliteration. The sad and absorbing story here
narrated was wonderfully po])ular throughout the ancient Scan-
dinavian and Teutonic world, and it is impossible to say for how
many centuries these great tragic ballads had agitated the hearts
of the warlike races of the north. It is clear that Sigurd and
Byrnhilda, with all their beauty, noble endovvnnent, and sorrowful
history, were real personages, who had taken })Owerful hold on
the popular affections in the most ancient times, and had como
down from age to age, receiving fresh incarnations and embel-
lishments from the popular Scalds. There is a great and power-
fiU nature living through these poems. They are pictures of men
and women of godlike beauty and endowments, and full of the
vigor of simple but impetuous natures. Though fragmentary,
they stand in all the essentials of poetry far beyond the German
Lied, and, in the tragic force of passion which they portray, they
are superior to any remains of ancient poetry except that of
Greece. Their gi-eatness lies less in their language than their
spirit, which is sublime and colossal. Passion, tenderness, and
sorrow are here depicted with the most vivid power ; and the
noblest sentiments and the most heroic actions are crossed by
the foulest crimes and the most terrific tragedies. They con-
tain materials for a score of dramas of the most absorbing char-
acter.

The Prose or Younger Edda was the work of Snorre Sturle-
eon (1178-1241), who was born of a distinguished Icelandic
family, and, after leading a turbulent and ambitious life, and
being twice supreme magistrate of the republic, was at last assas-
sinated. The younger Edda repeats in prose the sublime poetry
of the elder Edda, mixed with many extravagances and absurdi-
ties ; and in point of literary and ])hil()so])hical value it bears no
comparison with it. It murks the transition from the art of the
Scalds to the prose relation of the Sagaman. This work con-
cludes with a treatise on tlie jjoetic pliraseology of the Scalds,
and a system of versification by Snorre.

The Bard, or Scald (literally smoothers of language, from
icaldre, to polish), formed an important feature of the courts of

892 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the princes and more powerful nobles. They often acted, at the
same time, as bard, councilor, and warrior. Until tlie twelfth
century, when the monks and the art of writing put an end to
the Scaldic art, this race of poets continued to issue from Ice-
land, and to travel from country to country, welcomed as the
honored g-uests of kings, and receiving in return for their songs,
rings and jewels of great value, but never money. There is pre-
served a list of two hundred and thiity scalds, who had dis-
tinguished themselves from the time of Ragnor Lodbrok to that
of Vladimu* II., or from the latter end of the eighth to the
beginning of the thirteenth century. Ragnor Lodbrok was a
Danish king, who, in one of his })redatory excursions, was taken
prisoner in England and thiown into a dungeon, to be stung
to death by serpents. His celebrated death song is said to
have been composed during his torments. The best of the
scaldic lays, however, are greatly inferior to the Eddaic poems.
Alliteration is the chief characteristic of the versification.

The word Saga means literally a tale or narrative, and is used
in Iceland to denote eveiy species of tradition, whether fabulous
or true. In amount, the Saga literature of ancient Scandinavia
is sxirprisingly extensive, consisting of more than two hundred
volumes. The Sagas are, for the most part, unconnected biog-
raphies or narratives of greater or less length, principally describ-
ing events which took place from the ninth to the thirteenth
century. They are historical, mythic, heroic, and romantic.

The first annalist of Iceland of whom we have any remains
was Ari the Wise (b. 10G7), the contemporary of Samund, and
his annals, for the most part, have been lost. Snorre Sturleson,
already spoken of as the collector of the Prose Edda, was the
author of a great original work, the " Heimskringla," or Home-
Circle, so called from the first word of the manuscript, a most
admirable history of a great portion of northern Europe from
the period of the Christian Era to 1177, including every species
of Saga composition. It traces Odin and his followers from the
East, from Asaland and Asgard, its chief city, to their settle-
ment in Scandinavia. It narrates the contests of the kings, the
establishment of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Den-
mark, the Viking expeditions, the discovery and settlement of
Iceland and Greenland, the discovery of America, and the con-
quests of England and Normandy. The stories are told vf\i\\ a
life and freshness that belong only to true genius, and a picture
is given of human life in all its reality, genuine, vivid, and true.
Some of the Sagas of the " Heimskringla " are grand romances,
full of brilliant adventures, while at the ?ame time they lie so
completely within the range of history that they may be regarded
as authentic. That of Harold Haardrada narrates his expedi-

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE. 393

tion to the East, his brilliant exploits in Constantinople, Syria,
and Sicily, his scaldic accomplislimeiits, and his battles in Eng-
land against Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, wliere he fell only
a few days before Godwin's son himself fell at the battle of Has-
tings. This Saga is a splendid epic in ])rose, and is particularly
interesting to the E^nglish race. The first part of the " Heinis-
kringla " is necessarily derived from tradition ; as it advances
fable and fact all cui-iously intermingle, and it terminates in au-
thentic history.

Among the most celebrated Sagas of the remaining divisions
are the " Sagas of Erik the Wanderer," who wen^ in search of
the Island of Immortality ; " Frithiof's Saga," made the subject
of Tegner's great poem ; the Saga of Ragnor Lodbrok, of Diet-
rich of Bern, and the Volsunga Saga, relating to the ancestors
of Sigurd or Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungen Lied. There
are, besides. Sagas of all imaginable fictions of heroes, saints,
magicians, conquerors, and fair women. Almost every leading
family of Iceland had its written saga. The Sagamen, hke the
Scalds, traveled over all Scandinavia, visited the courts and
treasured up and transmitted to posterity the whole history of
the North. This wonderful activity of the Scandinavian mind
from tlie ninth to the thirteenth century, both in amount and
originality, throws completely into the shade the literary achieve-
ments of the Anglo-Saxons during the same period.

When Christianity superseded the ancient religion, the spirit
and traditions of the old mythology remained in the minds of
the people, and became their fireside literature under the name
of " Folk Sagas." Their legends and nursery tales are diffused
over modern Scandinavia, and appear, with many vai-iations,
through all the literature of Europe. Among them are found
the originals of " Jack the Giant Killer," " Cinderella." " Blue
Beard," the " Little Old Woman Cut Shorter," " The Giant who
smelt the Blood of an Englishman," and many others.

The Folk Sagas have only recently been collected, but they
are the true productions of ancient Scandinavians.

The ai"t of the Scald and Sagaman, which was extinguished
with the introduction of Christianity, revived after a time in the
Romances of Chivalry and the pojjular ballads. These ballads
are classified as heroic, supernatural, historic, and ballads of love
and romance ; they successively describe all the changes in tlie
life and opinions of society, and closely resemble those of Eng-
land, Scotland, and Germany. They are the common expression
of the life and feelings of a common race, under the prevailing
mfluences of the same ])eriod, and the same stories often inspired
the nameless bards of both countries. They are comj^osed in tlie
lame form and possess the same curious characteristic of tho

S94 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

refrain or chorus which distinguishes this poetry in its transition
from the epic to the lyric form. They express a peculiar poetic
feeling which is sought for in vain in the epic age — a sentiment
which, without art and without name, wanders on until it is
caught up by fresh lips, and becomes the regular interpreter of
the same feelings. Thus this simple voice of song travels onward
from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, the language of the
general sorrows, hopes, and memories ; strange, and yet near to
every one, centuries old, yet never growing older, since the
human heart, whose liistory it relates in so many changing im-
ages and notes, remains forever the same.

Though the great majority of the popular ballads of Scandi-
navia are attributed to the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth
centuries, the composition of them by no means ceased then.
This voice of the people continued more or less to find expres-
sion down to the close of the last century, when it became the
means of leading back its admirers to truth and genuine feeUng,
and, more than anything else, contributed to the revival of a new
era in literature.

5. Danish Literatuee. — In taking leave of the splendid
ancient literature of Scandinavia, we find before us a waste of
nearly four centuries from the thirteenth, which presents scarcely
a trace of intellectual cultivation. The baUads and tales, indeed,
lingered in the popular memoiy and heart ; fresh notes of genu-
ine music were from tune to time added to them, and they form
the connecting link between the ancient and modern hterature.
Saxo Grammaticus and Theodoric the monk, in the thirteenth
century, adopted the Latin language in their chronicles of Den-
mark and Norway, and from that time it usurped the place of
the native tongue among the educated. In the sixteenth century
the spirit of the Reformation began to exert an influence, and
the Bible was translated into the popular tongue. New fields of
thought were opened, a passion for literature was excited, and
translations, chiefly from the German, were multiplied ; a knowl-
edge of the classics was cultivated, and, in time, a noble harvest
of literature foUowed.

The first author who marks the new era is Arreboe (1587-
1637), who has been called the Chaucer of Denmarlc. His cliief
work was the " Hexameron," or " The World's First Week."
It abounds with learning, and displays great poetic beauty. The
religious psahns and hymns of KIngo (1634-1703) ar6 charac-
terized by a simple yet powerfully expressed spirit of piety, and
are still held In high esteem. His Morning and Evening Prayers,
or, as he beautifully terms them, " SIglis," are admirable.

Many other names of note are found in tlie literature of this
period, but the only one who achieved a world-wide celebrity,

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE. 895

was Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), who, for a time, was the centre
of a brilliant world of science and literature. The learned and
celebrated, from all countries, visited him, and he was loaded
with gifts and honors, in return for the honor which he conferred
upon his native land. But at length, through the machinations
of liis enemies, he lost the favor of the king, and was forced to
exile liimself forever from his country. The services rendered
to astronomy by Tycho Brahe were great, although his theory of
the universe, in which our own i)lanet constituted the centre, has
given way before the more profound one of Copernicus.

Holberg (1684-1754), a native of Norway, is commonly styled
the creator of the modern literature of Denmark, and would
take a high place in that of any country. In the field of satire
and comedy he was a great and unquestional)le master. All his
actors are types, and are as real and existent at the present hour
as they were actual when he sketched them. Besides satires
and numerous comedies, Holberg was the author of various his-
tories, several volumes of letters, and a book of fables.

The princij)al names which appear in Danish literature, from
Holberg to Evald, are those of Stub, Sneedorf, Tallin, and
Sheersen. Evald (1743-1780) was the first who perceived the
superb treasury of poetic wealth which lay in the far antiquity
of Scandinavia, among the gods of the Odinic mythology, and
who showed to his nation the grandeur and beauty which the
national history had reserved for the true poetic souls who should
dare to appropriate them. But the sound which he drew from
the old heroic hai"]) startled his contemporaries, while it did not
fascinate them. The august figures wdiich he brought before
them seemed monstrous and uncouth. Neglected in life, and
doomed to an early death, the history of this ])oet was painfully
interesting ; a strangely brilliant web of mingled gold and ordi-
nary thread — a strangely blended fabric of glory and of grief.
Solitary, poor, bowed down wth physical and mental suffering,
from his heart's wound, as out of a dark cleft in a rock, swelled
the clear stream of song. The poem of " Adam and Eve,"
" Rolf Krage," the first original Danish tragedy, '' Balder's
Death." and " The Fishermen," are lus ])rincipal jjroductions.
" Rolf Krage " is the outpouring of a noble heart, in which the
most generous and exalted sentiments revel in all the inexperi-
ence of youth. " Balder's Death " is a masterpiece of beauty,
sentiment, and eloquence of diction. It is full of the passion of
an unhappy love, and thus expresses the burning emotions of the
poet's own heart. The old northern gods and mythic ]ierson-
ages are introduced, and the lyric element is blended with the
dramatic. The lyrical drama of "The Fishermen " is j)erhai)s
ihe most perfect and powerful of all Evald's works. The intense

896 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

interest it excites testifies to the power of the writer, while the
music of the versification delights the ear. His lyric of '' King
Christian," now the national song of Denmark, is a masterly
production of its kind.

During the forty years which succeeded the death of Evald,
Demnark produced a great number of poets and authors of vari-
ous kinds, who advanced the fame of their country ; but the
chief of those who closed the eighteenth century are Baggesen
(1764-1826) and Rahbek (1760-1830). Though they still wrote
in the nineteenth century, they belonged in spirit essentially to
the eighteenth. The life of Baggesen was a genuine romance,
Avith all its sunshine and shade. He was born in poverty and
obscurity, and when a child of seven years old, on one occasion,
attracted the momentary attention of the young and lovely Queen
Caroline, who took him in her arms and kissed him. " Still,
after half a century," he writes, "glows the memory of that
kiss ; to all eternity I shall never forget it. From that kiss
sprang the germ of my entire succeeding fate." After a long
and severe struggle with poverty, he suddenly found himself the
most popular poet of the country, and for a quarter of a century
he was the petted favorite of the nation. Supplanted in public
favor by the rising glory of Oehlenschliiger, he had the misfor-
tune to see the poetic crown of Denmark placed on the head of
his rival ; and the last years of his life were embittered by dis-
appomtment and care. The works of Baggesen fill twelve vol-
umes, and consist of comic stories, numerous letters, satires and
impassioned lyrics, songs and ballads, besides dramas and operas.
His " Poems to Nanna," who, in the northern mythology, is the
bride of Balder, are among the most beautiful in the Danish
language, and no poet could have written them until he had
gone through the deep and ennobling baptism of sufliering. In
these, Nanna is the symbol of the pure and eternal principle of
love, and Balder is the tyjjc of the human heart, perpetually
yearning after it in borrow, yet in hope. Nanna appears lost —
departed into a higher and invisiljle world ; and Balder, while
forever seeking after her, bears with him an internal conscious-
ness that there he shall overtake her, and possess her eter-
nally. One of Baggesen's characteristics was the projection of
great schemes, which were never accomplished. He was too
fond of living in the present — in the charmed circle of admir-
ing friends — to achieve works otherwise within the limit of
his powers. But with all his faults, his works will always re-
main brilliant and beautiful amid the literary wealth of his
country.

In the early part of the nineteenth century the new light
which radiated fi-nm Germany found its way into Deumai'k, and

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE. 897

in no country was the result so rajiid or so brilliant. There soon
arose a sdiool of poets who created for themselves a reputation
in all parts of Eiiro])e that would have done honor to any age
or country. A new epoch in the language began with Oehlen-
schliiger (1779-1856), the greatest jxjet of Denmark, and the
representative, not only of the Nortli, but, like Scott, Byron,
Goethe, and Schiller, the outgi'owth of a great era as well, and
the incarnation of the broader and more natural spii'it of hia
time. In 1819 he published the '* Gods of the North," in which
he combines all the legends of the Edda into one connected
whole. He entered fidly into the spirit of these grand old
poems, and condensed and elaborated them into one. In the
variinis regions of gods, giants, dwarfs, and men, in the striking
variety of characters, the great and wise Odin, the mighty Thor,
the good Balder, the malicious Loke, the queenly Frigga, the
genial Freya, the lovely Iduna, the gentle Nanna — in all
the magnificent scenery of Midgard, Asgard, and Nifellieim,
with the glorious tree Yggdrasil and the rainbow bridge, the poet
found inexhaustible scope for poetical embellishment, and he
availed himself of it all with a genuine poet's power. The
dramas of OehlensclUiiger are his masterpieces, but they form
only a small portion of his works. His ])rose stories and ro-
mances fill several volumes, and his smaller poems would of
themselves have established almost a greater reputation than
that of any Danish poet who went before him.

Grundtvig (b. 1783) is one of the most original and inde-
pendent minds of the North. As a preacher he was fervid and
eloquent; as a writer on the Scandinavian mythology and hero-
life, he gave, perhaps, the truest idea of the spirit of the north-
ern myths.

Blicher (1782-18G8) was a stern realist, who made his native
province of Jutland the scene of his poems and stories, wliicli in
many respects resemble those of Crabbe.

Ingemann (1789-1802) is a voluminous writer in every de-
partment of literature. His historical romances are the delight
of the peoples who, by their winter firesides, forget their snow-
barricaded woods and mountains in listening to his pages.

Heiberg (1791-1860) as a critic ruled the Danish world of
taste for many years, and by his «Titings did much to elevate
dramatic art and ])nblic sentiment. The greatest authoress that
Denmark has produced is the Countess Gyllembourg (17 7o-
18r)6). Her knowledge of life, 8])arkling wit, and faultless
style, make her stories, the authorship of which was unknown
before her death, masterpieces of their kind.

The greatest ])avStoral lyrist of this country is Winther (1796—
1876). His descriptions of scenery and rural life have an ex-

898 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

traordinary charm. Hertz (1796-1870) is the most cosmopolitan
Danish writer of his time. Muller (1809-1876) is celebrated
for his comedies, tragedies, lyrics, and satires, all of which prove
the immense breadth of his compass and the inexhaustible riches
of liis imagination.

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) is known to the Eng-
lish reader by his stories and legends for the young, his ro-
mances, and autobiography. He was born of humble peasants,
and early attracted the attention of persons in power, who, -vvith
that liberality to youthful genius so characteristic of Denmark,
enabled him to enter the university, and afterwards to travel
over Europe. The " Improvisatore " is considered the best of
his romances.

Three writers connect the age of romanticism with the pres-
ent day, — Ploug (b. 1812), a vigorous politician and poet; Gold-
schmidt (b. 1818), author of novels and poems in the purest
Danish ; Hastrup (b. 1818), the author of a series of comedies
unrivaled in delicacy and wit.

Among the names distinguished in science are those of Malta
Brun in geography ; Rask, Grundtvig, Molbech, Warsaae, Rafn,
Finn Magnusen and others in philology and Uterary antiquities.
Of the two brothers Oersted, one, a lawyer and statesman, has
done much to establish the principles of state economy, while the
discoveries of the other entitle him to the highest rank in phys-
ical science.

6. Swedish Literature. — The first independent literature
of modern Scandinavia was, as we have seen, the popular songs
and ballads which, during the Middle Ages, kept alive the germ
of intellectual life. The effect of the Reformation was soon
seen in the literature of Sweden, as of other countries. The
first intellectual development displayed itself in the dramatic
attempt of Messenius and his son, who changed and substituted
actual history for legendary and scriptural subjects. The genius
of Sweden, however, is essentially lyrical, rather than dramatic
or epic. Stjernhjelm (1598-1672) was a writer of great merit,
— the author of many dramas, lyrics, and epic and didactic
poems. He so far surpassed his contemporaries that he decided
the character of his country's literature for a century ; but his
influence was finally lost in the growing Italian and German
taste. The principal names of this period are those of Lucidor,
a wild, erratic genius ; Mrs. Brenner, the first female writer of
Sweden, whose numerous poems are distinguished for their neat
and easy style ; and Spegel (d. 1711), whose Psalms, full of the
simplest beauty, give him a lasting place in the literature of the
country. The Uterary taste of Sweden, in the seventeenth cenr
tury, made great progress; native genius awoke to conscious

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE. 399

power, and the finest productions of Europe were quoted and
commented on.

Durinjj the eigliteenth century, French taste prevailed all
over Europe ; not only the manners, etiquette, and toilets of
France were imitated, the fashion of its literature was also
adopted. Corneille, Raci;ie, Moliere, and Boileau stamped their
peculiar philosophy of literature on the greater portion of the
civilized world. Imagination was frozen by these cold, glittering
modt4s ; life and originality became extinct, imitator followed
upon imitator, until there was a universal dearth of soul ; and
men gravely asserted that everything had been said and done in
poetry and literature that could be said and done. What a glo-
rious reply has since been given to this utterance of inanity and
formalism, in a countless host of great and original names, all
the world knows. But in no country was this Gallomania more
strongly and enduringly prevalent than in Sweden. The princi-
pal writers of the early ])art of the Gallic period are Dalin, Nor-
denflycht, Creutz, and Gyllenborg. As a prose writer, rather
than a poet, Dalin deserves remembrance. He established a pe-
riodical in imitation of the " Spectator," and through this con-
ferred the same benefits on Swedish literature that Addison con-
ferred on that of p]ngland, — a great improvement in style, and
the origination of a national ])eriodlcal literature. Charlotte
Nordenflycht (b. 1718) is called the Swedish Sappho. Her po-
etry is all love and sorrow, as her life was ; in a better age she
would have been a better poetess, for she possessed great feeling,
passion, and imagination. She exerted a wide influence on the
literary life of her time, in the ca])ital, where the coteries which
sprung up about her embraced all the poets of the day. Gyllen-
borg and Creutz were deficient in lyric depth, and were neither
of them poets of the first order.

Of the midday of the Gallic era, the king, Gustavus III.
(1771-1792), Kellgren, Leopold, and Oxenstjerna are the
chiefs. Gustavus was a master of rhetoric, and in all his poet-
ical tendencies fast bound to the French system. He was, how-
ever, the true friend of literature, and did whatever lay in his
power to promote it, and to honor and reward literary men. In
1786 he established the Swedish Academy, which for a long
time continued to direct tlie public taste. As an orator, Gus-
tavus has rarely found a rival in the annals of Sweden, and liis
dramas in prose possess much merit, and are still read with
interest.

Kellgren (1751-1795) was the principal lyric j)oet of this
period. His works betray a tendency to escape from the bond-
age of liis age, and open a new s])ring-time in Swedish poetry.
For liis own fame, and that of his age, his early death was a

400 HANDBOOK OF UNU^RSAL LITERATURE.

serious loss. Leopold (1756-1829) continued to sway the liter-
ary sceptre, after the death of Kellgren, for the remainder of
the century. He is best known by his dramas and miscellane-
ous poems. His plays have the faults that belong to his school,
but many of liis poems abound with striking thoughts, and are
elastic and graceful in style. The great writer of this period,
however, was Oxenstjerna (1750-1818), a descriptive poet, who,
with all the faults of his age and school, displays a deep feeling
for nature. His pictures of simple life, amid the fields and
woods of Sweden, are full of idyllic beauty and attractive grace.

As the French taste overspread Europe at very nearly tha
same time, so its influence decayed and died out almost simulta-
neously. In France itself, long before the close of the eighteenth
centmy, elements were at work destined to produce the most
extraordinary changes in the political, social, and literary con-
dition of the world. Even those authors who were most French
were most concerned in preparing this astoundmg revolution.
In many countries it was not the French doctrines, but the
French events, that startled, dazzled, and excited the human
heart and imagination, and produced the greatest effects on lit-
erature. Those who sympathized least with French views were
often most influenced by the magnificence of the scenes which
swept over the face of the civilized world, and antagonism was
not less potent than sympathy to arouse the energies of mind.
But even before these movements had produced any marked
effect, Galhc influence began to give way, and genius began
freely to range the earth and choose its materials wherever God
and man were to be found.

The heralds of the new era in Sweden were Bellman, HaU-
man, Kexel, Wallenberg, Lidner, Thorild, and Lengren. Bell-
man (1740-1795) is regarded by the Swedes with great enthu-
siasm. There is something so perfectly national in his spirit
that he finds an echo of infinite delight in all Swedish hearts.
Everything patriotic, connected with home life and feelings,
home memories, the loves and pleasures of the past, aU seem to
be associated with the songs of Bellman. Hallman, his friend,
wrote comedies and farces. His characters are drawn from the
bacchanalian class described in Bellman's lyrics, but they are
not sufficiently varied in their scope and sphere to create an
actual Swedish drama. Kexel, the friend of the two last named,
lived a gay and vagabond life, and is celebrated for his come-
dies. Wallenberg was a clergyman, full of the enjoyment of
life, and disposed to see the most amusing side of everytliing.
Lidner and Thorild, unlike the writers just named, were gi'ave,
passionate, and sorrowful. Lidner was a nerve-sick, over-excited
genius ; but many of his inspired thoughts struck deep into the

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE. 401

heart of the time, and Swedish literature is lii;,dily indebted to
Thorild for the sj)irit of manly freedom and the principles of
sound reasoninj^ and taste which he introduced into it.

One of the most interesting names of the transition period is
that of Anna Maria Lengren (1754-1811). She has depicted
the scenes of domestic antl social life with a skill and firmness,
yet a delicacy of touch that is perhajjs more difficult of attain-
ment than the broa(f lines of a much more ambitious style. Her
scenes and personages are all ty])es, and her heroes and hero-
ines continually i)resent themselves in Swedish life in perpetual
and amusing reproduction. These poems wiU secure her a place
among the classical writers of her country.

The political revolution of 1809 secured the freedom of the
press, new men arose for the new times, and a deadly war was
waged between the old school and the new, until the latter
triumphed. The first distinguished names of the new school are
those of Franzen and AVallin. Franzen (1772-1847), a bishop,
was celebrated for his lyrics of social life, and in many points
resembles Wordsworth. The fpialities of heart, the home affec-
tions, and the gladsome and felicitous appreciation of the beauty
of life and nature found in his poems, give him his great charm.
Archbishop Wallin (1779-1839) is the great religious poet of
Sweden. In his Jiymns there is a strength and majesty, a sol-
emn splendor und harmony of intonation, that have no parallel
in the Swedish language.

Among other writers of the time are Atterbom, Hammarskcild,
and Palmblad. The works of Atterbom (1). 1790) indicate
great lyrical talent, but they have an airy unreality, which dis-
appoints the healthy ap])etite of modern readers. Hammarskold
(1785-1827) was an able critic and literary historian, though
his poems are of little value. Palmblad, besides ])eing a critic,
is the author of several novels and translations from the Greek.
These three -WTitevs belonged to the Phosphoric School, so called
from a periodical called "The Phosphorus," wliich advocated
their opinions.

The most distinguished school in Swedish literature is the
Gothic, which took its rise in 1811. and which, aiming at a na-
tional spirit and character, embraced in that nationality all the
Gothic race as one original family, possessing the same ancestry,
original religion, traditions, and even still the same spirit, jiredi-
lections, and language, although broken into several dialects.
Tills new school had truth, nature, and the spirit of the nation
and the times with it. and it speedily triumphed. First in the
rank of its originators may be placed Geijer (1783-1847), who
was at once a poet, musician, and historian ; his poems are
among the most ])recious treasures of Swedish literatui-e. In his
26

402 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

" Chronicles of Sweden " he penetrates far into the mists and
darkness of antiquity, and brings thence magnificent traces of
men and ages that point still onward to the times and haunts of
the world's youth. The work presents all that belongs to the
North, its gods, its mythic doctrines, its grand traditions, its he-
roes, vikings, runes, and poets, carrying whole ages of history in
their trains. In his hands the diy bones of liistory and chronol-
ogy live like the actual flesh and blood of tRe present time. As
Geijer is the first historian of Sweden, so is Tegner (1782-1846)
the first poet ; and in his " Frithiof's Saga " he has made the
nearest approach to a successful epic writer. Although tliis
poem has rather the character of a series of lyrical poems woven
into an epic cycle, it is stUl a complete and great poem. It is
characterized by tender, sensitive, and delicate feeling rather
than by deep and overwhelming passion. In the story he has,
for the most part, adhered to the ancient Saga. Tegner is as
yet only the most popular poet of Sweden ; but the bold advance
which he has made beyond the established models of the country
shows what Swedish poets may yet accomplish by following on
in the track of a higher and freer enterprise. The other most
prominent poets of the new school are Stagnelius (1793-1828),
who bears a strong resemblance to Shelley in his tendency to the
mythic and speculative, and in his wonderful power of language
and affluence of inspired phrase ; Almquist (d. 1866), an able
and varied writer, who has written with great wit, brilliancy,
and power in almost every department; Vitalis (d. 1828), the
author of some religious poetry ; Dahlgren, an amusing author,
and Fahlcrantz, who wrote " Noah's Ark," a celebrated humor-
ous poem. Runeberg, one of the truest and greatest poets of
the North, is a Finn by birth, though he writes in Swedish ;
with all the wild melancholy character of his countiy he mingles
a deep feeling of its sufferings and its wrongs. His verse is sol-
emn and strong, like the spirit of its subject. He brings before
you the wild wastes and the dark woods of his native land, and
its brave, simple, enduring people. You feel the wind blow
fresh from the vast, dark woodlands ; you foUow the elk-hunters
tlu-ough the pine forests or along the shores of remote lakes ; you
lie in desert huts and hear the narratives of the struggles of the
inhabitants with the ungenial elements, or their contentions with
more ungenial men. Runeberg seizes on Ufe wherever it pre-
sents itself in strong and touching forms, — in the beggar, the
gypsy, or the malefactor, — it is enough for him that it is human
nature, doing and suffering, and in these respects he stands pre-
emineittly above all the poets of Sweden.

Besides the poets already spoken of, there are many others
who cannot here be even named.

SCANDINAIIAX LITERATURE. 403

If the literature of Sweden is almost wholly modern, its ro-
mance literature is especially so. Cederborg was not unlike
Dickens in his peculiar walk and character, and in all his bur-
lesque there is something kind, amiable, and excellent. He was
followed by many others, who displayed much talent, correct
sketching of costumes and manners, and touches of true de-
scriptive nature.

But an authoress now appeared who was to create a new era
in Swedish novel-AVi-iting, and to connect the hterary name and
interests of Sweden more intimately with the whole civilized
world. In 18L'8, Fredrika Bremer (1802-1865) pubHshed her
first works, wliich were soon followed by others, all of which
attracted immediate attention. Later they were made known to
the English and American public through the admirable transla-
tions of Mrs. Howitt, and now they are as familiar as " Robinson
Crusoe," or the " Vicar of Wakefield," wherever the English
language is spoken. Wherever these works have been known
they have awakened a more genial judgment of life, a better
view of the world and its destinies, a deeper trust in Providence,
and a persuasion that to enjoy existence truly ourselves is to
spread that enjoyment around us to our fellow-men, and espe-
cially by the daily evidences of good-will, affection, cheerfulness,
and graceful attention to the feelings of others, which, in the
social and domestic circle, are so small in their appearance, but
immense in their consequences. As a teacher of this quiet,
smiling, but deeply penetrating philosophy of life, no writer has
yet arisen superior to Fredrika Bremer, while she has all the
time not even professed to teach, but only to entertain.

The success of Miss Bremer's writings })roduced two contem-
poraneous female novelists of no ordinary merit — the Baroness
Knorring (d. 1833) and Emily Carlen (d. 1802). The works of
the former are distinguished by a brilliant wit and an extraor-
dinary power of painting life and passion, wliile a kind and
amiable feeUng pervades those of the latter. Among the later
novelists of Sweden are many names distinguished in other de-
partments of literature.

In conclusion, there are in Sweden hosts of able authors in
whose hands all sciences, history, philology, antiquities, theol-
ogy, every branch of natxiral and moral ])hil()soj)hy and miscel-
laneous literature have been elaborated with a talent and industry
of which any nation might be proud. Among the names of a
world-wide fame are those of Swedenborg (1688-1772), not
more remarkable for his peculiar religious ideas than for his
profound and varied acquirements in science ; Linnasus (1707-
1778), the founder of the established system of botany ; and
Scheele (1742-1786), eminent in chemistry.

404 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

If the literature of Scandinavia continues to develop during
the present century with the strength and rapidity it has mani-
fested during the last, it will present to the mind of the English
race rich sources of enjoyment of a more congenial spirit than
that of any other part of the European continent ; ^nd the more
this literature is cultivated the more it wiU be perceived that we
are less an Anglo-Saxon than a Scandinavian race.

The last few years in Sweden have been a period of political
rather than literary activity. The remarkable strengthening
of national feeling has, however, reacted favorably upon his-
torical study. There has also been a renewed interest in roman-
tic writing, as evidenced in the popularity of Tegner and Sager-
lof, wliile among new poets may be named Snoilsky and af
Wirs^n.

Norway cannot be said to have had a literature distinct from
the Danish until after its union with Sweden in 1814. The
period from that time to the present has been one of great liter-
ary activity in all departments, and many distinguished names
might be mentioned, among them that of Bjornson (b. 1832),
whose tales have been extensively translated. Jonas Lie, who
enjoys a wide popularity, Camilla CoUett, and Magdalene
Thoresen are also favorite writers. Wergeland and Welhaven
were two distinguished poets of the first half of the century.
Kielland is an able novelist of the realistic school, and Professor
Boyesen is well known in the United States for his tales and
poems in English. Henrik Ibsen is the most distinguished
dramatic writer of Norway. The strange power of his plays,
with their ruthlessness of analysis and baldness of form, has
made itself felt throughout two continents.

In Denmark the supremacy in fiction has long been held
by Spielhagen and Heyse. The later work of Drachmann and
Ewald has, however, been very successful. Little poetry of
great distinction has been produced, unless from the hand of
Jcirgensen. The most remarkable fact connected with the liter-
ary situation in Denmark is that Georg Brandes, a great literary
critic, should have been for thirty years the acknowledged leader
in letters. The philosophy of Brandes is founded upon Comte,
and employs methods akin to that of Taine and Sainte-Beuve.
It is noteworthy that und^ the influence of the prevailing pessi-
mism, a reaction against the enthusiastic idealism of Brandes
has concluded the century.

GERMAN LITERATURE.

Introdcction. — 1. German Literature and ita Divisions. — 2. Tlie Mythology. — 3. The
language.

Pkmoi> Fin.sT. — 1. Early Literature ; Translation of the Bible by Ulphilas ; tlie Hilde-
braiid Lied. — _. The Age of CliarlemaRiie ; his Successors ; the Ludwig's Lied ; Ros-
witlia; the Lombard Cycle. — 3. The Suabian Age; the Crusades; the Minnesingers;
the Romances of Chivalry; the Holdenbuch ; the Nibelungen Lied. — 4. The Fourteenth
and Fifteentli Centuries ; tlie Mastersiugers ; Satires and Fables ; Mysteries and Dra-
matic Representations ; the Mystics ; the Universities ; the Invention of Printing.

Period Skcond. — From 151" to 17(K).— 1. The Lutheran Period : Luther, Melanchthon.

— 2. Manuel, Zwingle, Fischart, Franck, Arnd, Boehm. — 3. Poetry, Satire, and Demonol-
ogy ; Paracelsus and Agrippa ; the Tliirty Years' War. — 4. The Seventeenth Century :
Opitz, Leilniitz, Pulfondorf, Kepler, Wolf, Tliomasius, Gerhard ; Silesian Schools ; Holf-
mannswaldau, Lohenstein.

Pkiuod Tiiiitn. — 1. The Swiss and Saxon Schools: Gottsched, Bodmer, Rabener,
GoUert, Kiistuer, and others.— 2. Klopstock, Lessing, Wieland, and Herder.— 3. Goethe
and Schiller. — 4. The Gottingen School : Voss, Stolberg, Claudius, Burger, and others.

— 5. The Romantic School : the Schlegels, Novalis : Tieck, Korner, Amdt, Uhland,
H'jine. and others. — f). The Drama: Goethe and Schiller; the Power Men; MuUner.
Werner, Howald, and Grillparzer. — 7. Pliilosophy : Kant, Ficlite, ScheUing, hegei,
Si'liopenhauer, and Hartmann : Science ; Liebig, Du Bois- Raymond, Virchow, Helmbolst,
lia^ckel. — 8. Miscellaneous Writings. Recent Literature.

INTRODUCTION.

1. Germax Literature axd its Dmsioxs. — Central Eu-
rope, from the Adriatic to the Baltic, is occujiied by a peoj)le
who, however politically divided as respects language and race,
form but one nation. The name Germans is that given to them
by the Romans ; the appellation which they apply to themselves
is Deutsche a tenn derived from Teutones, by which they were
generally known, as also by the term Goths, in the early history
of Europe.

In glancing at the various phases of German literature, we
see the bards at first uttering in primitive strains their war songs
and traditions. The introduction of Christianity brought with
it the cultivation of the classic languages, although the peo])le
had no part in this learned iiteratui-e, which was confined to the
monasteries and schools. In the twelfth and tlm'teenth cen-
turies, letters, so long monopolized by the clergy, passed fi'om
their hands to those of the })rinces and nobles ; and in the next
century the songs of the mimiesingers gave way to the pedantic
craft of the master.singers.

A great intellectual regeneration followed the Reformation,
but it was of brief duration. AVith the death of Luther and
Melanchthon the lofty spirit of reform degenerated into scholas-

406 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

ticism, and the scholars were as exclusive in their dispensation
of intellectual light as the clergy had been at an earlier period.
While the priests, the minstrels, and the bookmen had each en-
larged the avenues to knowledge, they were still closed and
locked to the masses of the people ; and so they remained, until
philosophy arose to break down all barriers and to throw open
to humanity at large the whole domain of knowledge and litera-
ture.

In the midst of the convulsions which marked the close of
the eighteenth century, the leading minds of Germany sought a
solution of the great problems of civilization in the abysses of
philosophy. Kant and his compeers gave an electric impulse to
the German mind, the effects of which were manifest in the men
who soon arose to apply the new discoveries of philosophy to
hterature. In Lessing, Herder, Goethe, and Schiller, the
clergy, the minstrels, and the bookmen were each represented,
but philosophy had breathed into them an all-embracing, cosmi-
cal spirit of humanity, and under their influence German litera-
ture soon lost its exclusive and sectional character, and became
cosmopolitan and universal.

The long cycle of literary experiments, however, is not yet
completed. Since the philosophers have accomphshed their
mission by establishing principles, and the poets have made
themselves intelligible to the masses, the German mind has en-
tered upon the exploration of all spheres of learning, and is
making new and great advances in the solution of the problems
of humanity. The most eminent scholars, no longer pursuing
their studies as a matter of art or taste, are inspired by the no-
ble desire of diffusing knowledge and benefiting their fellow-
beings ; and to grapple with the laws of nature, and to secure
those conditions best adapted to the highest human welfare, are
their leading aims. The German explorers of the universe have
created a new school of natural philosophers ; German histori-
ans are sifting the records of the past and bringing forth great
political, social, and scientific revelations. In geography, eth-
nology, philology, and in all branches of science, men of power-
ful minds are at work, carrying the same enthusiasm into the
world of fact that the poets have shown in the fairy-land of the
imagination. To these earnest questioners, these mitiring ex-
plorers, nature is reluctantly unveiling her mysteries, and history
is giving up the buried secrets of the ages. The lyre of the
bard may be silent for a time, but this mighty struggle with the
forces of nature and with the obscurities of the past wUl at last
inspire a new race of poets and open a new vein of poetry, far
more rich than the world of fancy has ever afforded. Science,
regarded from this lofty point of view, will gradually assuma

GERMAN LITERATURE. 407

epic proportions, and other and more powerful Schillers and
Goethes will arise to illustrate its achievements.

The history of German literatme may be divided into three
periods.

The first, extendiuLT from the earUest times to the beginning
of the Reformation, 1517, embraces the early literature ; that of
the reign of Charlemagne and his successors ; that of the Sua-
bian age (llo8-1272), and of the first centuries of the reign of
the House of liapsburg.

The second period, extending from 1517 to 1700, includes
the literature of the age of the Reformation, and of the Thirty
Years' War.

The third period, from 1700 to the present time, contains the
development of German literature in the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries.

2. Thp: Mythology. — The German mythology is almost
identical with the Scandinavian, and in it, as in all the legends
of the North, women play an important part. Indeed, they
occupied a far higher position among these ancient barbarians
tlian in the polished nations of Greece and Rome. "It is be-
lieved," says Tacitus, " that there is somethuig holy and pro-
phetic about them, and therefore the warriors neither despise
their counsels nor disregard their responses."

The Paganism of the North, less graceful and beautiful than
that of Greece, had still the same tendency to people earth, air,
and water with beings of its own creation. The rivers had their
Undines, the ocean its Nixes, the caverns their Gnomes, and the
woods their Sprites. Christianity did not deny the existence of
these supernatural races, but it invested them with a demoniac
character. They were not regarded as inunortal, although per-
mitted to attain an age far beyond that granted to mankind, and
they were denied the hope of salvation, unless purchased by a
union with creatures of an earthly mould.

According to the Edda, the Dwarfs were formed by Odin
from the dust. They were either Coholds — house spirits who
attach themselves to the fortunes of the family, and, if well fed
and treated, nestle beside the domestic hearth — or Gnomes,
who haunt deserted mansions and deep caverns. The mountain
echoes are the mingled sounds of their voices as they mock the
eries of the wanderer, and the fissures of the rocks are the en-
trances to their subterranean abodes. Here tliey have heaped
up countless treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones, and
here they pass their time in fabricating costly armor. The Ger-
man Elves, like those of other climes, have an irresistible })ro-
pensity to dance and song, especially the NLxes, who. rising from
their river or ocean home, will seat themselves on the shore and

408 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

pour forth such sweet music as to enchant all who hear them,
and are ever ready to impart their wondrous skill for the hope
or promise of salvation. To secure this, they also lure young
maidens to their watery domains, and force or persuade them to
become their brides. If they submit, they are allowed to sit on
the rocks and wreathe their tresses with corals, sea-weeds, and
shells ; but if they manifest any desire to return to their homes,
a streak of blood on the surface of the waters teUs the dark story
of their doom.

The Walkyres are the youthful maidens who have died upon
their bridal eve, and who, unable to rest in their graves, return
to earth and dance in the silver rays of the moon ; but if a mor-
tal chances to meet them, they surround and d)'aw him within
their magic ring, till, faint and exhausted, he falls Hfeless to the
earth. Not less dangerous are the river-maids, who, rising to
the surface of the stream, lure the unwary traveler into the
depths below. There are also the Wliite Women, who often ap-
pear at dawn or evening, with their pale faces and shadov»y
forms ; these are the goddesses of ancient Paganism, condemned
to wander through ages to expiate the guilt of having received
divme worship, and to suffer eternal punishment if not redeemed
by mortal aid. Among the goddesses who, in the form of White
Women, were long believed to exercise an influence for good or iU
on human affairs, Hertlia and Frigga play the most conspicuous
parts, and figure in many wild legends ; proving how strong
was the hold which the creed of their ancestors had on the
minds of the Germans long after its idols had been broken and
its shrines destroyed. Hertha still cherished the same benefi-
cent disposition ascribed to her in the old mythology, and con-
tinued to watch over and aid mankind until driven away by the
calumnies of which she was the victim, while Frigga appears as
a fearful ogress and sorceress.

These popular superstitions, which retained their power over
the minds of the people during the Middle Ages, and which
even now are not wholly eradicated, have furnished a rich mine
from which the poets and tale-writers of Germany have derived
that element of the supei'natural by which they are so often
characterized.

3. The Language. — The Teutonic languages, which belong
to the Indo-European stock, consist of two branches ; the Northern
or Scandinavian, and the Southern or German of the continent.
The latter has three subdivisions ; the Eastern or Gothic, with its
kindred idioms, the high German or German proper, — the lit-
erary idiom of Germany, — and the low German, which includes
the Frisian, old Saxon, Anglo-Saxon, Dutch, and Flemish. The
Vigh German, or German proper, comprehends the language of

GERMAN LITERATURE. 409

Ihree periods: the old high German, which prevailed from the
Beventli to the eleventh century ; the middle high German, from
the eleventh century to the time of the Reformation ; and the
new high Gennan, which dates from the time of Luthei", and is
the present literary language of the country.

No modern language equals the Gennan in its productiveness
and its capacity of constant and homogeneous gi'owth, in its aes-
thetical and philoso})hical character, and in its originality and
independence. Instead of horrowing from the Greek, Latin,
and other languages, to find expressions for new combinations of
ideas, it develo])s its own resources by manifold compositions of
its own roots, words, and particles. To express one idea in its
various modifications, the English requires Teutonic, Greek, and.
Latin elements, while the German tongue unfolds all the varie-
ties of the same idea by a series of compositive words founded
upon one Gothic root. The German language, therefore, while
it is far superior in originality, flexibility, riclmess, and univer-
eality, does not admit the vaiieties which distinguish the English.

PERIOD FIRST.
Fbom the Earliest Times to the Reformation (360-1517).

1. Early Literature. — Previous to the introduction of
Christianity the Germans had nothing worthy of the name of
literature. The first monument that has come down to us is the
translation of the Bible into IMceso-Gothic, by Ulphilas, bishop
of the Goths (3G0-388), who thus anticipated the work of Lu-
ther by a thousand years.

As the art of writing was unknown to the Goths, Ulphilas
{omied an alphabet by combining Runic, Greek, and Roman
letters, and down to the ninth century this version was held in
high esteem and seems to have been in general use. For nearly
four hundred years after Ulphilas. no trace of literature is dis-
covered among the Teutonic tribes. They, however, had their
war-songs, and minstrel skill seems to have been highly prized
by them. These lays were collected by Charlemagne, and are
described by Eginhardt as " ancient barbarous poems, celebrating
the deeds and wars of the men of old ; " but tliey have nearly
all disappeared, owing, probably, to the refusal of the monks,
then the only scribes, to transmit to ])aper aught which tendeil
to recall the rites and myths of Paganism. Only two relics of
Ihis age, in their primitive form, remain ; they are rhymeless,
but alliterated, — a kind of versification connnon to the Ger-
man, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian jioetry, and which, early
in the mnth century, gave place to rh^Tue. Of these two

410 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

poems, the Hildebrand Lied is probably a fragment of the tradi-
tions which had circulated orally for centuries, and which, with
many modifications, were transcribed by the Scandinavians in
their sagas, and by Charlemagne in his collection. None of the
other poems which have come down to us from this period bear
an earlier date than the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when
they were remodeled and appeared in the form of the Helden-
buch and Nibelungen Lied. The Hildebrand Lied belongs to
the cycle of Theodoric the Great, or Dietrich of Bern or Ve-
rona, as he is called in poetry, from that town being the seat of
his government after he had subdued the Empire of the West
This poem, though rude and wild, is not without grandeur and
dramatic effect.

2. Charlemagne and hls Successors. — The era of Charle-
magne, in all respects so memorable, could not be without influ-
ence on the literature of Germany, then in a condition of almost
primitive rudeness. The German language was taught by his
command in the schools and academies which he established in
all parts of the empire ; he caused the monks to preach in the
vernacular tongue, and he himself composed the elements of a
grammar for the use of his subjects. He recompensed with im-
perial munificence the learned men who resorted to his court ;
Alcuin, Theodophilus, Paul Winifred, and Eginhardt were hon-
ored with his peculiar confidence. Under his influence the mon-
asteries became literary as well as ecclesiastical seminaries,
which produced such men as Otfried (fl. 840), the author of the
rhymed Gospel-book, and Notker Teutonicus, the translator of
the Psalms.

After the death of Charlemagne the intellectual prospects of
Germany darkened. The empire was threatened by the Nor-
mans from the west, and the Hungarians from the east, and
there were few places where the peaceful pursuits of the monas-
teries and schools could be carried on without interruption.

The most important relic of the last part of the ninth century-
is the " Ludwig's Lied," a hymn celebrating the victory of Louis
over the Normans, composed by a monk with whom that mon-
arch was on terms of great intimacy. The style is coarse and
energetic, and blends the triumphant emotions of the warrior
with the pious devotion of the recluse. Towards the close of the
tenth century, Roswitha, a nun, composed several dramas in
Latin, characterized by true Christian feeling and feminine ten«
derness.

The eleventh century presents almost an entire blank in the
history of German literature. The country was invaded by the
Hungarian and Slavonic armies from abroad, or was the scene
of contest between the emperors and their vassals at home, and

GERMAN LITERATURE. 411

in the struggle between Henry IV. and Pope Gregory VII., the
clergy, who had hitherto been the chief supporters of their liter-
ature, became estranged from the German people.

A series of lays or poems, however, known as the Lombard
Cycle, belongs to this age, among which are " Duke Ernest,"
" Count Rudolph," and others, which combine the wild legends
of Paganism with the more courtly style of the next period.

3. The Suabiax Age. — A splendid epoch of belles-lettres
dates from the year 1138, when Conrad III., of the Hohen-
etauifen dynasty, ascended the throne of the German Empire.
The Crusades, which followed, filled Germany witli religious and
martial excitement, and cliivalry was soon in the height of its
splendor. The grand specimens of Gothic arclutecture produced
during this period, the cathedrals of Ulra, Strasbourg, and Co-
logne, in which ponderous piles of matter were reduced to forms
of beauty, speak of the great ideas and the gi-eat powers called
into exercise to fulfill them. The commercial wealth of Germany
was rapidly developed ; thousands of serfs became freemen ; large
cities arose, mines were discovered, and a taste for luxury began
to prevail.

In 1149, when the emperor undertook a crusade in concert
with Louis VII. of France, the nobility of Germany were
brought into habitual acquaintance with the nobility of France,
who at that time cultivated Provencal poetry, and the result was
quickly apparent in German literature. The poets began to take
their inspiration from real life, and though far from being imi-
tators, they borrowed their models from the romantic cycles of
Brittany and Provence.

The emperors of the Suabian or Hohenstauffen dynasty
formed a new rallying-point for the national sympathies, and
their courts and the castles of their vassals proved a more genial
home for the Muses than the monasteries of Fulda and St. Gall.
In the Crusades, the various divisions of the German race, separ
rated after their inroad into the seats of Roman civilization,
again met ; no longer with the impetuosity of Franks and Goths,
but with the poUshed reserve of a Godfrey of Bouillon and the
chivalrous bearing of a Frederic Barbarossa. The German em-
perors and nobles o})ened their courts and received theu* guests
with brilliant hospitality ; the splendor of theu' tournaments and
festivals attracted crowds from great distances, and foremost
among them poets and singers ; thus French and German ])oetry
Were brought face to face. While the Hohenstauffen djTiasty
remained on the imperial throne (1138-1272) the Suabian dia-
lect prevailed, the literature of chivalry was ])ati'onized at the
court, and the Suabian minstrels were everywhere heard. These
poets, who sang theii* love-songs, or viiuiie sonys (so called from

412 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

an old German word signifying love), have received the name
of Minnesingers. During a century and a half, from 1150 to
1300, emperors, princes, barons, priests, and minstrels vied with
each other in translating and producing lays of love, satiric fa^
bias, sacred legends, fabliaux, and metrical romances. Some of
the bards were poor, and recited their songs from court to court ;
but many of them sang merely for pleasure when their swords
were unemployed. This poetry was essentially cliivalric ; ideal
love for a chosen lady, the laments of disappointed affection, or
the charms of spring, formed the constant subjects of their verse.
They generally sang their own compositions, and accompanied
themselves on the harp ; yet some even among the titled min-
strels could neither read nor write, and it is related of one that
he was forced to keep a letter from his lady-love in his bosom
for ten days until he could find some one to decipher it.

Among the names of nearly two hundred Minnesingers that
have come down to us, the most celebrated are Wolfram of Es-
chenbach (fl. 1210), Henry of Ofterdingen (fl. 1250), and Wal-
ter of the Vogel Welde (1170-1227).

The numerous romances of chivalry which were translated
into German rhyme during the Suablan period have been divided
into classes, or cycles. The first and earliest cycle relates to
Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table ; they are of An-
glo-Norman origin, and were probably derived from Welsh
chronicles extant in Britain and Brittany before the poets on
either side of the Channel began to rhyme in the Langue d'oui.
Of all the Round Table traditions, none became so popular in
Germany as that of the " San Graal," or ''Sanff Real " (the real
blood). By this was understood a cup or charger, supposed to
have served at the Last Supper, and to have been employed in
receiving the precious blood of Christ from the side-wound given
on the cross. This relic is stated to have been brought by Joseph
of Arimathea into northern Europe, and to have been intrusted
by him to the custody of Sir Parsifal. Wolfram of Eschenbach,
in his " Parsifal," relates the adventures of the hero who passed
jnany years of pilgrimage In search of the sanctuary of the
Graal. The second cycle of romance, respecting Charlemagne
and his twelve peers, was mostly translated from the literature
of Fiance. The third cycle relates to the heroes of classical an-
tiquity, and exhibits them in the costume of chivalry. Among
them are the stories of Alexander the Great, the " -^neld," and
the " Trojan War."

But the age of German chivalry and chivalrlc poetry soon
passed away. Toward the end of tlie thirteenth century the
Crusades languished, and the contest between the imperial and
papal powers raged fiercely ; with the death of Frederic I. the

GERMAN LITERATURE. 413

Btar of the Saalnan dynasty set, and the sweet sounds of the Sua/-
bian lyre dietl away with tlie last breath of Conradm on the scaf-
fold at Naples, in 12G8.

During this period there was a Avide difference between the
minstrelsy patronized by the nobility and the old ballads pre-
served by the jjopular memory. These, however, were seized
upon by certain poets of the time, probably Henry of Ofterdui-
gen, Wolfram of Eschenbach, and others, and reduced to the
epic form, in which they have come down to us under the titles
of the Heldenbuch and the Nibelungen Lied. They contain
many singular traits of a warlike age, and we have proof of
their great antiquity in the morals and manners which they de-
scribe.

The Heldenbuch, or Book of Heroes, which, in its present
form, belongs to the close of the twelfth century, is a collection
of poems, containing traditions of events which happened in the
time of Attila, and the irruptions of the German nations into the
Roman P2mpire. The principal personages who figure in these
tales of love and war are Etzel or Attila, Dietrich or Theodoric.
the Great, Siegfried, the Achilles of the North, Gudrun, Hagan,
and others, who reappear in the Nibelungen Lied, and who
have been already alluded to in the heroic legends of the Scan-
dinavian Edda. The Nibelungen Lied (from Nibelungen, the
name of an ancient powerful Burgundian race, and Lied, a lay
or song) occupies an important place in German literature, and
in grandeur of design and beauty of execution it far surpasses
any other poetical })roducti()n of this period. The " Horny Sieg-
fried," one of the poems of the Heldenbuch, serves as a sort of
prelude to the Nibelungen. In that, Siegfried appears as the
personification of manly beauty, virtue, and prowess ; invulner-
able, from having bathed in the blood of some dragons which he
had slain, save in one spot between his shoulders, upon which a
leaf happened to full. Having rescued the beautiful Chriemhild
from the power of a giant or dragon, and possessed himself of
the treasures of the dwarfs, he restores her to her father, the
King of the ancient city of Worms, where he is received with
regal honors, and his marriage with Chi-iemhild celebrated \\\\.\\
un])aralleled splendor.

In the Nibelungen, Chriemhild is represented as the sister of
Giinther the King oi Burgundy ; the gallant Siegfried having
heard of her sur])assing beauty, resolves to woo her for his bride,
but all his sj)lenilid achievements fail to secure her favors. In
Uie mean time tidinirs reach the court of the fame of the beau-
tiful Brunhild, queen of Isenhuul, of her matchless courage and
strength ; every suitor for her hand being forced to abide three
eombats with her, aad if vanquished to suffer a cruel death.

414 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Giinther resolves to try his fortune, and to win her or perish,
and Siegfried accompanies him on condition that the hand of
Clu-iemhild shall be his reward if they succeed.

At the court of Brunhild, Siegfried presents himself as the
vassal of Giinther, to increase her sense of his friend's power,
and this falsehood is one cause of the subsequent calamities. In
the coml)ats, Siegfried, becoming invisible by means of a magic
cap he had obtained from the dwarfs, seizes the arm of Giinther
and enables him to overcome the martial maid in every feat of
arms : and the vanquished Brunhild bids her vassals do homage
to him as their lord. A double union is now celebrated with
the utmost pomp and rejoicing. The proud Brunhild, however,
is indignant at her sister-in-law wedding a vassal. In vain Giin-
ther assures her that Siegfried is a mighty prince in his own
country ; the offended queen determines to punish his deception,
and ties him hand and foot with her magic girdle, and hangs
him upon a nail ; Siegfried pitying the condition of the king,
promises his aid in depriving the haughty queen of the girdle,
the source of all her magic strength. He successfully accom-
plishes the feat, and in a luckless hour presents the trophy to
Chriemhild, and confides the tale to her ear. A dispute having
afterwards arisen between the two queens, Chriemhild, carried
away by pride and passion, produces the fatal girdle, a token
which, if found in the possession of any save the husband, was re-
garded as an almost irrefutable proof of guilt among the nations
of the North. At this Brunhdd vows revenge, and is aided by
the fierce Hagan, Giinther's most devoted follower, who, having
induced Chriemhild to confide to him the secret of the spot
where Siegfried is mortal, seizes the first occasion to plunge a
lance between his shoulders, and afterwards bears the body to
the chamber door of Chriemhild, who is overwhelmed with grief
and burning with resentment. To secure her revenge she at
length marries Etzel, or Attila, king of the Huns, who invites
the Burgundians to his court, and at a grand festival Chriemhild
involves them in a bloody battle, in which thousands are slain on
both sides. Giinther and Hagan are taken prisoners by Dietrich
of Bern, and put to death by Chriemhild, who in turn suffers
death at the hands of one of the followers of Dietrich.

Such is an imperfect outline of this ancient poem, which, de-
spite all its horrors and improbabilities, has many passages of
touching beauty, and wonderful power. Siegfried, the hero, is
one of the most charming characters of romance or poetry.
Chriemhild, at first all that the poet could fancy of loveliness,
becomes at last an avenging fury. Brunhild is proud, haughty,
Btern, and vindictive, though not incapable of softer emotions.

In the Scandinavian legend we find the same personages in

GERMAN LITERATURE. 415

prander outlines and more gip;anti(! proportions. The mytholog-
ical portion of the story occupies the most j)rominent j)lace, and
Brunhild is there represented as a Valkyriur.

The time in which the scene of this historical tragedy is laid
is about 430 A. d. From the thirteenth to the sixteenth century
it was widely read, and highly appreciated. But in the succeed-
ing age it was almost entirely forgotten. It was brought again to
light in the beginning of the present century, and since that time
it has been the subject of many learned commentaries and re-
searches.

4. Thr Foukteexth and Fifteenth Centurie.s. — The
period from the accession of the House of Hapsburg to the be*
ginning of the lleformation was crowded with events of great
social im])ortance, but its literature was remarkably poor. The
palmy days of the minstrels and romancists had passed away.
Rudolph was an economical prince, who mended his own doublet
to spare money, and as he had no taste for minstrelsy, the com-
posers of songs who went to his court found no rewards there.
The rank and influence of the metropolis were transferred from
Frankfort to Vienna, and the communication with the southern
and southwestern parts of Europe was greatly impeded. The
Germans were occupied in crusades against the Huns ; the court
language was changed from west Gothic to an east Gothic dia-
lect, which was less national, and much of the southern culture
and the European sym2)athies which had characterized the reign
of the Suabian emperors disapjieared.

Some inferior princes, however, encouraged versification, but
the prizes were so reduced in value that the knights and noble-
men left the field in favor of inferior competitors. A versifying
mania now began to pervade all classes of society ; chaplains,
doctors, schoolmasters, weavers, blacksmiths, shoemakers — all
endeavored to mend their fortunes by rhyming. Poetry sank
rapidly into dullness and mediocrity, while the so-called poets
rose in conceit and arrogance. The spirit of the age soon em-
bodied these votaries of the muse in corporations, and the Em-
peror Charles IV. (1346-1378) gave them a charter. They
generally called twelve poets among the minnesingers their mas-
ters, and hence their name INIastersingers. They met on certain
days and criticised each other's productions. Correctness was
their cliief object, and they seemed to have little idea of the dif-
ference between ])()etical and prosaic expressions. Every fault
was marked, and he who had fewest received the prize, and was
allowed to take a})i)rentices in the art. At the expiration of his
I)oetical a])])riMiticeship the young poet was admitted to the cor-
poration antl declared a master.

Though the institution of the Mastersingers was established

'a" ""^ .»*.^v»i-^civ/i» ui i^v. iia.«,oi,CiOlilj,5

V.J

416 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

at the close of the thirteenth century, it was not until the fit
teenth and sixteenth that it really flourished, particularly through
the genius of Hans Sachs. The institution survived, however,
though languishing, thi-ough the seventeenth century, and the
calamities of the Thirty Years' War. At Ulm it outlasted even
the changes which the French Revolution effected in Europe,
and as late as 1830 twelve old Masterslngers yet remained, who,
after being driven from one asylum to another, sang their ancient
melodies from memory in the little hostelry where the workmen
used to meet in the evening to drink together. In 1839 four
only were living, and in that year these veterans assembled with
great solemnity, and declaring the society of Masterslngers for-
ever closed, presented their songs, hymns, books, and pictures
to a modern musical institution at Ulm.

While the early Masterslngers were pouring forth their strains
with undiminished confidence in their own powers, a new species
of poetic literature was growing up beside them in the form of
simple and humorous fables, or daring satires, often directed
against the clergy and nobility, which were among the most pop-
ular productions of the Middle Ages. Such were " Friar Amis "
and the '' Ship of Fools." Indeed, from the year 1300 to the
era of the Reformation, we may clearly trace the progress of a
school of lay doctrine which was opposed to a great part of the
teaching of the church, and which was yet allowed to prevail
among the people.

Among the fables, " Reynard the Fox " had a very early ori-
gin, and has remained a favorite of the German people for sev-
eral centuries. After many transformations it reappeared as a
popular work at the era of the Reformation, and it was at last
immortalized by the version of Goethe.

5. The Drama. — We find the first symptoms of a (jrerman
drama as early as the thirteenth century, in rude attempts to
perform religious pieces like the old Mysteries once so popular
thi'oughout Europe. At first these dramatic readings were con-
ducted in the churches and by the priests, but when the people
introduced burlesque digressions, they were banished to the open
fields, where they assumed stiU greater license. Students in the
universities delighted to take part in them, and these exhibi-
tions were continued after the Reformation. There is no reason
to suppose that the early Christians objected to these sacred
dramas or mysteries when they were compatible with their relig-
ion. They were imported into Europe from Constantinople, by
crusaders and pilgi'ims, and became favorite shows to an illiterate
populace. Indeed, Christianity was first taught throughout the
north of Europe by means of these Mysteries and miracle plays,
and the first missionaries had familiarized their rude audiences

GERMAN LITERATURE. 417

with the prominent incidents of Biblical history, long before the
art of reading could liave been called in to communicate the
chronicles themselves.

The most imporUint writings of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries are the works of the monks of the mystic school, which
form the connecting link between the great era of the Crusades
and the greater era of the Reformation. They kindled and kept
alive a new religious fervor among the inferior clergy and the
middle and lower classes, and without the labors of these reform-
ers of the faith, the reformers of the church would never have
found a whole nation waiting to receive them, and ready to
support them. While the scholastic divines who wrote in Latin
introduced abstruse metaphysics into their theology, the mystics
represented religion as abiding in the sentiments of the heart,
rather than in doctrines. Their main principle was that piety
depended not on ecclesiastical forms and ceremonies, but that it
consisted in the abandonment of all selfish passions. The senti-
ments of the mystic writers were collected and arranged by
Tauler (1361), in a well-known work, entitled " Gei-man The-
ology." Luther, in a preface to this book, expresses his ad-
miration of its contents, and asserts that he had found in it the
doctrines of the Reformation.

Another celebrated work of this school is " The Imitation of
Clirist," written in Latin, and generally attributed to Thomas h
Kempis, a monk who died 1471. It has passed tlu"ough num-
berless editions, and still maintains its place among the standard
devotional works of Germany and other countries.

Two other events prepared the way for the German reform-
ers of the sixteenth century — the foundation of the universities
(1350), and the invention of printing. The universities were
national institutions, open alike to rich and poor, to the knight,
the clerk, and the citizen. The nation itself called these schools
into life, and in them the great men who inaugurated the next
period of literature were fostered and formed.

The invention of printing (1438) admitted the middle classes,
who had been debarred from the use of books, to the privileges
hitherto enjoyed almost exclusively by the clergy and the nobil-
ity, and placed in tlieir hands weapons more powerful than the
swords of the knights, or the thundcrliolts of the clergy. The
years from 1450 to 1500 form a period of preparation for the
great struggle that was to signalize the coming age.

418 : nANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

PERIOD SECOND.

Fbom the Reformation to the Beginning of the Eighteenth

Century (1517-1700).

1. The Lutherai^- Period. — With the sixteenth century
we enter upon the modern history and modem hterature of
Germany. The language now becomes settled, and the literature
for a time becomes national. Luther and the Reformers be-
longed to the people, who, through them, now for the first time
claimed an equaUty with the old estates of the realm, the two
representatives of which, the emperor and the pope, were never
more powerful than at this period. The armies of the emperor
were recruited from Spain, Austria, Naples, Sicily, and Bur-
gundy ; while the pope, armed with the weapons of the Inquisi-
tion, and the thunderbolts of excommunication, levied his armies
of priests and monks from all parts of the Chi'istian world.
Against these formidable powers a poor Augustine monk came
forth from his study in the small university of Wittenberg, with
no armies and no treasures, with no weapon in his hand but the
Bible, and in his clear manly voice defied both emjjeror and
pope, clergy and nobility. History affords no more memorable
spectacle.

After the Reformation nearly all eminent men in Germany,
poets, philosophers, and historians, belonged to the Protestant
party, and resided chiefly in the universities, which were what
the monasteries had been under Charlemagne, and the castles
under Frederic Barbarossa — the centres of gravitation for the
intellectual and political life of the country. A new aristocracy
now arose, founded on intellectual preeminence, which counted
among its members princes, nobles, divines, soldiers, lawyers,
and artists. But the danger which threatens all aristocracies
was not averted from the intellectual nobility of Germany ; the
spirit of caste, which soon pervaded all their institutions, de-
prived the second generation of that power which men like
Luther had gained at the beginning of the Reformation. The
moral influence of the universities was great, but it would have
been far neater if the intellectual leaders of the realm had not
separated themselves from the ranks whence they themselves
had risen, and to which alone they owed their influence. This
intellectual aristocracy manifested a disregard of the real wants
of the people, a contempt of all knowledge which did not wear
the academic garb, and the same exclusive spirit of caste that
characterizes all aristocracies. Latin continued to be the lit-
erary medium of scholars, and at the close of the seventeenth
century Gei-man was only beginning to assert its capabilities as
It vehicle of elegant and refined literature.

GERMAN LITERATURE. 419

The sixteenth century may he called the Lutheran period, for
Martin Luther (1483-1546) was the most prominent character
in the general literature as well as in the theology of Germany.
He was the exponent of the national feehng, he gave shape and
utterance to thoughts and sentiments which had heen before
only obscui-ely expressed, and his influence was felt in almost
every department of life and literature. The remodeling of the
German tongue may be said to have gone hand in hand with
the Reformation, and it is to Luther more than to any other that
it owes its rapid progress. His translation of the Bible was the
great work of the period, and gives to him the deserved title of
creator of German prose. The Scriptures were now familiarly
read by all classes, and never has their beautiful simplicity been
more admirably rendered. The hynms of Luther are no less
remarkable for their vigor of style, than for their high devotional
feeling. His prose works consist chiefly of twenty volumes of
sermons, and eight volumes of polemical writings, besides his
" Letters " and " Table Talk," which give us a view of the sin-
gular mixture of quahties which formed the character of the
great Reformer.

The literature of that period also owes much to Melanehthon
(1497-15G0), the author of the "Confession of Augsburg,"
who by his classical learning, natural sagacity, simplicity and
clearness' of style, and above aU by his moderation and mild-
ness, greatly contributed to the progress of the Reformation.
He devoted himself to the improvement of schools and the dif-
fusion of learning, and through his influence the Protestant
j)rinces of Germany i)atronized native literature, established pub-
lic libraries, and promoted the general education of the people.

The earnest polemical writings of the age must be passed over,
as they belong rather to ecclesiastical and political than to lit-
erary history. Yet these are the most characteristic jjroductions
of the times, and display the effects of controversy in a very un-
favorable light. The license, ])ersonality, acrimony, and gross-
ness of the invectives published by the controversial writers,
particularly of the sixteenth century, can hardly be imagined by
a modern reader who has not read the originals. The better
specimens of this style of writing are found in the remains of
Manuel and Zwingle. Manuel (1484-1530), a native of Switz-
erland, is an instance of the versatility of talent, which was not
uncommon at this time ; he was a soldier, a poet, a ])ainter, a
8culi)tor, and a wood-engraver. The boklness and license of his
satires are far beyond modern toleration. Zwingle (1484—
1531), the leading reformer of Switzerland, was a sUxtesman, a
theologian, a musician, and a soldier. His principal work is the
" Exposition of the Ciuistian Faith." A celebrated writer of

420 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

prose satire was Fisehart (1530-1590), whose numerous works,
under the most extravagant titles, are distinguished by wit and
extensive learning. His " Prophetic Almanac " was the selling
book at all the fairs and markets of the day, and was read with
an excitement far exceeding that produced by any modern
novels. In his " Gargantua," he borrowed some of his descrip-
tions from Rabelais ; and this extravagant, satirical, and humor-
ous book, though full of the uncouth and far-fetched combi-
nations of words found in his other writings, contains many
ludicrous caricatures of the follies of society in his age.

Franck (fl. 1533), one of the best writers of German prose on
history and theology during the sixteenth century, was the rep-
resentative of the mystic school, and opposed ^iUther, whom
he called the new pope. His religious views in many respects
correspond with those of the Society of Friends. Rejecting all
ecclesiastical authority, he maintained that there is an internal
light in man which is better fitted than even the Scriptures to
guide him aright in religious matters. He wrote with bitterness
and severity, though he seldom used the coarse style of invective
common to his age.

Arnd (1555-1621) may be classed among the best theological
writers of the period. His treatise " On True Christianity " is
still read and esteemed. He belonged to the mystic school, and
the pious and practical character of his work made it a favorite
amonsr relifjious men of various sects.

Jacob Boehm (1575-1624) was a poor shoemaker, who, with-
out the advantages of education, devoted his mind to the most
abstruse studies, and professed that his doctrines were derived
from immediate revelation ; his works contain many profound
and lofty ideas mingled with many confused notions.

2. Poetry, Satire, and Demonology. — In the sixteenth
century the old poetry of Germany was in a great measure for-
gotten ; the Nibelungen Lied and the Heldenbuch were despised
by the learned as relics of barbarian life ; classical studies en-
gaged the attention of all who loved elegant literature, and
while Horace was admired, the title of German poet was gen-
erally applied as a badge of ridicule. A propensity to satire of
the most violent and personal description seems to have been
almost universal in these excited times. Hutten (1488-1523)
shared the general excitement of the age, and warmly defended
the views of Luther. He addressed many satirical pamphlets
in prose and verse to the people, and was compelled to flee from
one city to another, his life being always in danger from the
numerous enemies excited by his severity. Next to invectives
and satires, comic stories and fables were the characteristic pro-
ductions of these times. Hans Sachs (1494-1576), the most dis-

GERMAN LITERATURE. 421

tinguished of the IVfastersingers of the sixteenth century, excelled
in that kind of ])oetry as well as in all other styles of composi-
tion, and foUowinfj his husiness as shoemaker, he made verses
with equal assiduity. He employed his pen chiefly in writing in-
numerable tales and fables containing common morality for com-
mon peoj)le. In one of these he i'e])resents tlie Apostle St. Peter
as being greatly perj)lexed by the disorder and injustice prevail-
ing in the world. Peter longs to have the reins of government
in his own hand, and believes that he could soon reduce the
world to order. AVliile he is thinking thus, a peasant girl comes
to him and complains tliat slie has to do a day's work in the
field, and at the same time to keep within bounds a frolicsome
young goat. Peter kindly takes the goat into custody, but it
escapes into the wood, anil the apostle is so much fatigued by
his efforts to recover the animal that he is led to this conclusion :
" If I am not competent to keep even one young goat in my
care, it cannot be my proper business to perplex myself about
the management of the whole world."

The best lyrical poetry was devoted to the service of the
church. Its merit consists in its simple, energetic language.
Hymns were the favorite literature of the people ; they were the
cradle songs which lulled the children to sleep, they were sung
by mechanics and maid-servants engaged in their work ; and they
were heard in the streets and market-places instead of ballads.
Luther, who loved music and psalmody, encouraged the people
to take a more prominent part in public worship, and wrote for
them several German hymns and psalms.

The belief in demonology and witchcraft, which was univer-
sally diffused through P^urope in the Middle Ages, raged in Ger-
many with fearful intensity and fury. While in other countries
persecution was limited to the old, the ugly, and the poor, here
neither rank nor age offered any exemption from suspicion and
torture. While this persecution was at its height, from 1580
to 1680, more than one Inmdred thousand individuals, mostly
women, were consigned to the flames, or otherwise sacrificed to
this blood-thirsty insanity. Luther himself was a devout believer
in witchcraft, and in the bodily presence of the Sjjirit of Evil
upon the earth ; all his harassing doubts and mental struggles
he ascribes to his visible agency. Germany, indeed, seemed to
live and breathe in an atmosphere of mysticism.

Among the mystic philosophers and s])eculators on natural
history and the occult sciences who flourished in this jieriod are
Paracelsus (1493-1540). and Cornelius Agripi)a (1486-1539).
Camerarius was distinguished in the classics and philosophy ;
Gesner in botany, zoolog\% and the classics ; Fuchs in botany and
medicine ; and Agricola in mineralogy.

422 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Among the legends of the period, that of Faust, or Dr. Faus-
tus, has obtained the most lasting popularity. There are good
reasons for believing that the hero of this tale was a real person-
age, who lived in Suabia in the early part of the sixteenth cen-
tury. He is frequently mentioned as a well-known character
who gained his celebrity by the profession of magic. In the
" History of Dr. Faustus," first published 1587, he is repre-
sented as a magician, who gained by unlawful arts a mastery
over nature. The legend rapidly spread ; it was versified by
the English dramatist Marlowe, it became the foundation of in-
numerable tales and dramas, until, transformed by the genius of
Goethe, it has acquired a prominent place in German Uterature.

At the conclusion of the sixteenth century, owing to the dis-
turbed state of religious, social, and political life, and to the fact
that the best minds of the age were occupied in Latin writings
on theology, while a few, devoted to quiet study, cultivated only
the classics, the hopes which had been raised of a national poetry
and literature were blighted, and a scholastic and polemical the-
ology continued to prevail. The native tongue was again neg-
lected for the Latin ; the national poems were translated into
Latin to induce the learned to read them ; native poets composed
their verses in Latin, and all lectures at the universities were
delivered in that tongue. The work of Luther was undone :
ambitious princes and quarrelsome divines continued the rulers
of Germany, and everything seemed drifting back into the Mid-
dle Ages. Then came the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648),
with all its disastrous consequences. At the close of that war
the public mind was somewhat awakened, literary societies were
organized, and literature was fostered ; but the nation was so
completely demoralized that it hardly cared for the liberty sanc-
tioned by the treaty of Westphalia, or for the effoi-ts of a few
princes and scholars to better its intellectual condition. The
population of Germany was reduced by one half ; thousands of
villages and towns had been burnt to the ground ; the schools,
the churches, the universities, were deserted ; and a whole gener-
ation had grovm up during the war, particularly among the
lower classes, with no education at all. The once wealthy mer-
chants were reduced to small traders. The Hanse League was
broken up ; commerce was suspended, and intellectual activity
paralyzed. Where any national feeling was left, it was a feel-
ing of shame and despair.

3. The Sevkxteenth Century. — During the seventeenth
century the German language was regarded by comparatively
few writers as a fit vehicle for polite literature, and was re-
served almost exclusively for satires, novels, and rehgious dis«
courses.

GERMAN LITERATURE. 423

Opitz (1597-1639) attempted to introduce the use of his na-
tive tongue, and, in a work on German j)oetry, exphiined the
laws of poetic composition and the mechanism of versification.

Several scholars at length directed their attention to the gram-
mar of the language, which, through their influence, now hegan
to he used in the treatment of scientific subjects. Meantime
great mathematical and j)hysical discoveries were matle through
the Academy of Berlin, which was founded under the auspices
of Leibnitz, and scientific and literary associations were every-
where established. Books became a vast branch of commerce
and great philologists and archaeologists devoted themselves to the
study of classical antiquity. Puffendorf expounded his theories
of political history, Kepler, of astronomy, Arnold, of ecclesiasti-
cal history ; and Leibnitz laid a basis for the scientific study of
philosophy in Germany. Wolf shaped the views of Leibnitz
into a comprehensive system, and popularized them by publish-
ing his works in the German language. Thomasius, the able
jurist and pietistic philosopher, was the first, in 1688, to substi-
tute in the universities the German for the Latin language as the
medium of instruction.

Satirical novels form a prominent feature in the prose litera-
ture of the time, and took the place of the invectives and satires
of the sixteenth century. No work of fiction, however, produced
such an excitement as the translation of Defoe's " Robinson Cru-
soe." Soon after its publication more than forty imitations ap-
peared.

During this century the Mastersingers went on composing, ac-
cording to the rules of their guilds, but we look in vain for the
raciness and simplicity of Hans Sachs. Some poets wrote plays
in the style of Terence, or after English models ; and fables in
the style of Phaedrus became fashionable. But there was no
trace anywhere of originality, truth, taste, or feeling, except in
sacred poetry. Paul Gerhard (1606-1696) is yet without an
equal in his sacred songs ; many of the best hymns which are
still heard in the churches of Germany date from the age of this
poet. Soon, however, even this class of poetry degenerated on
oiio side into dry theological phraseology, on the other into sen-
timental affectation.

This century saw the rise and the fall of the first and the sec-
ond Silesian schools. The first is represented * by Opitz (1597-
1639), Paul Flennning, a writer of hymns (1609-1(540), and a
number of less gifted poets. Its character is pseudo-classical.
All these poets endeavored to write correctly, sedately, and elo-
quently. Some of them aimed at a certain sim])licity and sin-
cerity, particularly Flennning. But it would be dillicult to find
in all their writings one single thought or expression that had

424 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

not been used before ; although the works of Opitz and of his
followers were marked by a servile imitation of French and
Dutch poets, they exerted an influence on the literary taste of
their country, enriched the German language with new words
and phi-ases, and established the rules of prosody.

The second Silesian school is represented by Hoffmanswaldau
(1618-1679) and Lohenstein (1635-1683), who undertook to in-
troduce into the German poetry the bad taste of Marini which
at that time so corrupted the literature of Italy. Their composi*
tions are bombastic and full of metaphors, — the poetry of adjec.
tives, without substance, truth, or taste.

Dramatic writing rose little above the level of the first period.
The Mysteries and Moralities still continued popular, and some
of them were altered to suit the new doctrines. Opitz wrote
some operas in imitation of the Italian, and Gryphius acquired
popularity by his translations from Marini and his introduction
of the pastoral drama. The theatrical productions of Lohen-
stein, characterized by pedantry and bad taste, together with
the multitude of others belonging to this age, are curious in-
stances of the folly and degradation to which the stage may be
reduced.

PERIOD THIRD.

Feom the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century to the Pbesent

Time (1700-1902).

1. The Saxonic and Swiss Schools. — In contrast to the
barrenness of the last period, the eighteenth and nineteenth cen-
turies present us with a brilliant constellation of writers in every
department of letters, whose works form an era in the intellec-
tual development of Germany unsurpassed in many respects by
any other in the history of literature. Gottsched and Bodmer
each succeeded in establishing schools of poetry which exerted
great influence on the literary taste of the country. Gottsched
(1700-1766), the founder of the Saxonic school, exercised the
same dictatorship as a poet and critic which Opitz had exercised
at the beginning of the seventeenth century. He was the advo-
cate and copyist of French models in art and poetry, and he
used his widespread influence in favor of the correct and so-
called classical style. After having rendered good service in
putting down the senseless extravagance of the school of Lohen-
stein, he became himself a pedantic and arrogant critic ; then
followed a long literary warfare between him and Bodmer
(169&-1783), the founder of the Swiss school. Gottsched and
his followers at Leipsic defended the French and insisted on
classical forms and traditional rules ; Bodmer and his friends in
Switzerland defended the English style, and insisted on natural

GERMAN LITERATURE. 425

Bentiment and spontaneous expression. A paper war was car-
ried on in their respective journals, which at length ended far
vorably to the Swiss or Bodnier's school, which, although the
smaller party, obtained a splendid victory over its antagonist.

Many of the followers of Gottsched, disgusted with his ped-
antry, finally separated themselves from him and formed a
new poetical union, called the Second Saxonic School. They
established at the same time a periodical, which was at once the
channel of their communications and the point around which
they centred. The ])rincii)al representatives of this school were
Rabener (1714—1771), very ])opular for the clteerful strain of
wit that runs through his satires, and for the correctness of his
language and style ; Gellert (1715-1769), whose " Fables "
contain great moral truth enlivened by vivid pictures of life, full
of sprightliness and humor, and expressed in a style of extraor-
dinary ease and clearness ; Kastner (1719-1800), a celebrated
and acute mathematician, and the author of many epigrams,
elegies, odes, and songs ; John Elias Schlegel (1718-1749),
distinguished for his dramatic compositions ; and Zacharise
(1726-1777), endowed Mith a j)oetical and witty invention,
which he displayed in his comic epopees and descriptive poems.

The following two poets were the most celebrated of them
all: Hagedorn (1708-1754), whose fables and poems are re-
markable for their fancy and wit; and Haller (1708-1777),
who acquired an enduring fame as a poet, anatomist, physiolo-
gist, botanist, and scholar. Of inferior powers, but yet of great
])opularity, were : Gleim (1719-1803), upon whom the Germans
bestowed the title of " father," which shows at once how high
he ranked among the poets of his time ; Kleist (1715-1759),
whose poems are characterized by pleasant ])ortraitures. harmo-
nious numbers, great ease, and richness of thought, conciseness
of expression, and a noble morality; Ramler (17U5-1798), who
has been styled the German Horace, from liis odes in praise of
Frederic the Great; Nicolai (1733-1811). who acquired consid-
erable fame, both for the promotion of literature and for the cor-
rection of German taste particularly, through his critical re\news ;
and Gessner (1730-1787), who gained a great reputation for his
" Idyls," which are distinguished by freshness of thought and
grace and eloquence of style.

2. Klopstock, Lessing, Wikland, and Herder. — Kloi>
Ktock (1724-1803), inspired by the pm-est enthusiasm for Chris-
tianity, and by an exalted love for his fatherland, expi-essed Ids
thoughts and feelings in eloquent but somewhat mystic strains.
He was hailed as the herald of a new school of sacred and na-
tional literature, and his '• IMessiah " announced him in some
lespects as the rival of MUton. In comparing the Messiah

426 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

with the " Paradise Lost," Herder says : " Milton's poem is a
building resting on mighty pillars ; Klopstock's, a magic picture
hovering between heaven and earth, amid the tenderest emotions
and the most moving scenes of human nature."

Lessing (1729-1781) produced a reformation in German lit-
erature second only to that effected by Luther in theology. He
was equally eminent as a dramatist, critic, and philosopher. His
principal dramatic productions are " Emilie Galotti " and " Na-
than the Wise." As a critic he demanded creative imagination
from all who would claim the title of poet, and spared neither
friends nor foes in liis eiforts to maintain a high standard of lit-
erary excellence. The writings of Lessing exerted a command-
ing influence on the best minds of Germany in almost all depart-
ments of thought. They marli, and in a great measure produced,
the important change in the tone of German literature, from the
national and Christian character of Kbpstock to the cosmopoh-
tan character which prevails in the writings of Goethe and
Schiller.

Wieland (1733-1813) was, in his youth, the friend of Klop-
stock, and would tolerate nothing but religious poetry ; but he
suddenly turned to the opposite extreme, and began to write
epicurean romances as vehicles of his new views of human life
and happiness. Among his tales are " Agathon," " Musarion,"
and " Aristippus," which last is considered his best work. In
all these writings his purpose was to represent pleasure or utility
as the only criterion of truth. Although there is much in his
prose writings to subject him to severe censure, he maintains his
place in the hterature of his native country as one of its most
gay, witty, and gracefid poets. His " Oberon " is one of the
most charming and attractive poems of modern times.

Herder (1741-1803) was deeply versed in almost all branches
of study, and exercised great influence, not only as a poet, but
.'is a theologian, philosopher, critic, and philologist. He studied
philosophy under Kant, and, after filling the offices of teacher
and clergyman, he was invited to join the circle of poets and
other literary men at Weimar, under the patronage of the Grand
Duke Karl August. Here he produced a series of works on
various subjects, all marked by a kindly and noble spirit of
humanity. Among them are a treatise " On the Origin of Lan-
guage," an essay on " Hebrew Poetry," and a work entitled
" Ideas for the Philosophy of Humanity," besides poetical and
critical writings. In his collection of popular ballads from vari-
ous nations he showed his power of appreciatmg the various na-
tional tomes of poetry.

The most noble feature in Herder's character was his constant
striving for the highest interests of mankind. He did not em*

GERMAN LITERATURE. 427

ploy literature as the means of satisfying personal amLltion, and
the melancholy of his last days arose from his lofty and unful-
filled aspirations.

His friend Richter said of him : " Herder was no poet, — he
was sometliing far more sublime and better than a poet, — he
was himself a ])oem, — an Indian Greek Epic composed by one
of the purest of the gods."

3. GoETUE AND ScHLLLER. — The close of the eighteenth
and the beginning of the nineteenth century, the age of Herder,
Goethe, and Scliiller, was one of remarkable intellectual excite-
ment, and it has produced a hterature richer, more voluminous,
and more important than that of all preceding periods taken col-
lectively.

The time extending between 1150 and 1300 has been styled
the First Classic Period, and that we are now entering ujjon is
regarded as the second. These two epochs resemble each other
not only in their productiveness, but in the faihu-e of both to
maintain a distinct national school of poetry. In the thirteenth
century the national epic; appeared, but was soon neglected for
the foreign legends and sentimental verses of the romancists and
minnesingers. In the eighteenth century, when Lessing had
made a path for original genius by clearing away French ped-
antry and affectation, there appeared some hope of a revival of
tme national hterature. But Herder directed the literary enthusi-
asm of his time towards foreign poetry and universal studies, and
a cosmopolitan rather than a national style has been the result ;
although for thoughtfulness and sincerity, and for the number of
important ideas which it has brought into circulation, modern
German literature may justly claim the highest honor.

Goethe (1749-18.'V_') was a man of universal genius; he was
born at Frankfort-on-the-JNIaine, and of his boyhood he gives a
pleasant account in his work entitled " Poetry and Truth." In
1773 the appearance of his " Gotz von Berlicliingen," a drama
founded upon the autobiography of that national and popular
hero, was regarded as the commencement of an entirely new ])e-
liod in German dramatic literature. It was followed, in 1774,
by the sentimental novel, " The Sorrows of Werther," in which
Goethe gave expression to the inorl)id sentiments of many of bis
contemporaries. The Grand Duke of Weimar invited him to his
court, where he was elevated to an honorable position. Here he
jiroduced his dramatic ])oems, '• Iphigenia," " Egmont," " Tasso,"
and " F'aust," besides many occasional poems and other works,
and continued writing until his eighty-second year, while he var
tied his literary life with the ]>leasures of society.

As a poet, Goethe is chielly known by hie dravias, " Faust,"
" Tasso," and *' Egmont ; " his lyrical and occasiona' poems, and

428 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

his domestic epic, entitled " Hermann and Dorothea." The first
part of " Faust " is the poem by which the fame of tliis author
has been most widely extended. Though incomplete, it is re-
markably original, and suggests important reflections on human
character and destiny. The nari-ative is partly founded on the
old legend of Faust, the magician. We are introduced to the
hero at the moment when he despairs of arriving at any valuable
result, after years of abstruse study, and is about to put the cup
of poison to his lips. The church bells of Easter Sunday recall
to his mind the scenes of his innocent childhood, and he puts
aside the cup and resolves to commence a new career of life. At
this moment, liis evil genius, Mepliistopheles, appears, and per-
suades hun to abandon philosophy and to enjoy the pleasm-es of
the world. Faust yields to liis advice, and after many adven-
tures ends his career in crime and in misery. Many parts of
the poem are v/ritten in a mystical vein, and intimate rather
than express the various reflections to be deduced from it. The
second part of " Faust " is remarkable for its varied and harmo-
nious versification.

Goethe was a voluminous writer, and much devoted to the
fine arts and the natural sciences, as is attested by his remarkable
work on the theory of colors. He extended his wide sympathies
over almost every department of literature.

The great merit of Goethe hes not so much in his separate
productions, as in the philosophy of life and individual develop-
ment which pervades his works, all of which, from " Faust," his
greatest achievement, to his songs, elegies, and shorter poems,
have tlie same pecuhar character, and are tinged with the same
profound reflections. The service he rendered to the German
language was immense. The clearness and simplicity of his prose
style make the best model for the imitation of his countrymen.
During his lifetime, professors of various universities lectured on
his works, and other authors wrote commentaries on his produc-
tions, wliile his genius has been amply recognized in foreign coun-
tries, especially within the last thirty years.

Schiller (1759-1805) was born at Marbach, a town of Wur-
temberg. At the age of fourteen he was admitted to the mili-
tary academy at Stuttgart, where, in spite of its dull routine, he
Becretly educated himself as a poet. At the age of twenty-tAvo,
he gave to the world his tragedy of the " Robbers " (composed
when he was only seventeen), in which his own wild longings
for intellectual lilaerty found a turbulent and exaggerated ex-
pression. The public received it vdth great enthusiasm, as the
production of a vigorous and revolutionary genius, and Schiller
soon after escaped from the academy to try his fortune as a the«
atrical anthor. Accompanied by a young musician, with only

GERMAN LITERATURE. 429

twenty-thi'ee florins in liis pocket, he set out for Manheim, on
the night when the Grand Duke Paul of Russia paid a visit to
Stuttgart, and all the peojjle were too full of tlie excitement of
the royal i)reparations and illuminations to observe the dei)arture
of the young poet. The good citizens did not dream that an
obscure youtli was leaving the city gate, of whom they would one
day be far more i)roud than of the glittering visit of the Grand
Duke. Yet the royal entrance is only now remembered because
on that night young Schiller ran away ; and the people of Stutt-
gart, when they would sliow a stranger their objects of interest,
point first of all to the statue of Friedrich Schiller.

After many adventures, SchiUer was appointed poet to the
theatre at Manheim. At a later period he was made Professor
of History at the University of Jena, a position for which his ge-
nius eminently fitted him, and every prospect of happiness
opened before him. But his health soon failed, and, after a
short illness, he expired at the early age of forty-five.

The principal works of Schiller are the dramas of " Wallen-
stein," " Marie Stuart," " The Maid of Orleans," " The Bride of
Messina," and the celebrated ode called the " Song of the Bell."
Besides these, he ^VTote many ballads, didactic poems, and lyrical
pieces. The " Song of the Bell " stands alone as a successful
attempt to unite poetry with the interests of daily life and indus-
try. In his lyrical ballads and romances, Schiller rises above
the didactic and descriptive style, and is inspired with noble pur-
poses. The " Cranes of Ibycus " and the " Piglit with the
Dragon " may be mentioned as instances. Schiller was so inter-
esting as a man, a philosopher, a historian, and critic, as well as
poet, that, as Carlyle observes, in the general praise of liis labors,
his particular merits have been overlooked. His aspirations in
literature were noble and benevolent. He regarded poetry es-
pecially as something other than a trivial amusement, — as the
companion and cherisher of the best hopes and affections that
can be developed in human life.

While Goethe excels Schiller in completeness of aesthetical and
philosophical perception, and in the versatility of lus world-em-
bracing and brilliant attainments, as a lover of his race, and as a
poet who knew how to embody that love in the most exquisite
conceptions, Schiller far surpassed him, and stands preeminent
among all other poets. "While Goethe represented the actual
thoughts and feelings of his age, Schiller reflected its ideal
yearnings ; while the practical result of Goethe's influence was
to develop the capacities of each individual to their utmost extent,
Schiller's aim was to lead men to consecrate their gifts to the
goal, the beautiful, and the true, the ethical trinity of the ages.
The one poet represents the majesty, and at the same time the

430 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

tjTanny of the intellect ; the other, the power and the loveliness
of the affections ; and although Goethe will always receive the
respect and admiration of the world, Schiller will command its
love.

4. The Gottingen School. — This association was formed
at the epoch of Goethe and SchiUer, when poets such as no other
times had produced started up in quick succession. The follow-
ing are among the principal members of this school : Voss
(1756-1826) is distinguished by a classical taste and great flu-
ency of style. His " Louise " is a masterpiece of bucolic poetry.
His " Idyls " are the best of his minor poems. Christian Stol-
berg (1748-1821) was the author of two dramas, many elegiac
poems and translations from the Greek. Leopold Stolberg (1750-
1817), his brother, was still more successful as a poet, and distin-
guished for liis acute observation of the beautiful in nature.
Hoelty (1748-1776) was a poet of the gentler affections, the elo-
quent advocate of love, friendship, and benevolence. Claudius
(1743—1815), in his poetical productions, ranges through song,
elegy, romance, and fable. Burger (1748-1794) was remarkable
as the author of wild, picturesque ballads and songs. His most
celebrated poem is " Leonore," wliich was at one time known by
heart aU over Germany. Schubart (1739-1791), though not
belonging to the Gottingen association, may be here referred to.
His songs and poems evince a warm imagination, and his descrip-
tions are true and beautiful. One of the most powerful waiters
of this period was Klinger (1753-1831). whose highly wrought
productions reflected most vividly the vehemence of thought and
feeling of his time, and whose drama, " Storm and Stress," gave
the name to that peculiar school known as the Storm and Stress
literature.

5. The Romantic School. — The founders of the Romantic
School, Novalis, the two Schlegels, and Tieck, opposed the sys-
tem which held up the great masters of antiquity as exclusive
models of excellence ; they condemned this theory as cold and
narrow, and opposed alike to the true interests of literature and
])rogress. They pointed out the vast changes in religion, mo-
I'ality, thought, habits, and manners which separated the ancient
from the modern world, and declared that to follow bUndly the
works of Virgil and Cicero was to repress all originality and
creative power. From the times of Pericles or Augustus they
turned to the Middle Ages, and, forgetting their crimes and
miseries, threw around them a halo of illusive romance. It was
not only in poetry that this reaction was visible — in art and
architecture the same tendency appeared. The stiff and quaint
but vigorous productions of the old German painters were drawn
forth from the obscurity where they had long mouldered ; the

GERMAN LITERATURE. 431

glorious old cathedrals were repaired and embellished ; the lays
of the minnesinf:fej's, collected l)y Tieck, were on every lii), and
the records of tlie oldeu times were ransacked for historic and
traditionary lore.

Althougli the Romantic vSchool soon fell into extravagances
which did much to diminish its influence, the whole of Germany
was to some extent atfected by it. The love for particular epochs
led to researches in the language and antiquities, as such, as in
Oriental studies, and during the calamitous period of the French
invasion the national feeling was revived and kept alive by the
stin-ing and patriotic songs which recalled the glories of the
past.

The brothers Schlegel are more celebrated as philologists and
critics than as poets ; although their metrical compositions are
aumerous, they are wholly deficient in warmth, passion, and
imagination. Tieck is more distinguished as a novelist than a
poet, but even his prose tales are so pervaded by tlie spirit of
poetry that they may be said to belong to this department.

Among other poets, Kcirner and Arndt are best remembered
by their patriotic songs, which once tlu-illed every German heart.

Seldom in romance or history is there found a more noble or
heroic character than Theodore Korner (1791-1813). Short as
was his existence, he had already struck, with more or less suc-
cess, almost every chord of the poetic lyre. His di-amas, with
many faults, abound in scenes glowing with power and passion,
and prove what lie might have achieved had life been si)ared to
him. But it is his ])atriotic poems, liis *' Lyre and Sword," which
have invested the name of Korner with the halo of fame and
rendered his memory sacred to his countrymen.

The name of Arndt (17G9-1860) is also associated in every
German mind with the cause of national liberty ; and his poems
have incited many German hearts to the achievement of heroic
deeds. His patriotic song, " Where is the German's fatherland,"
is a universal favorite. Arndt is not less celebrated for liis his-
torical and scientific works than for his poems.

The Suabian School is represented by Uhland, Schwab, Ker-
ner, and others who have enridied German ])()etry with many
original lyrics. Uliland (1787-18G2) is the most distinguished
ballad writer of the present age in Germany. The conceptions
embodied in his poetry refer cliiefly to the Middle Ages, and his
stories are many ()f them founded on weU-known legends.

Kerner (b. 178G) is more intrinsically romantic tlian Uhland,
but he is ecpially at home in other species of composition. Schwab
(1792-18.50) is distingiiislied among the lyric poet^. An epic
tendency, combined with groat facility in depicting scenery and
describuig events, is the main feature of his metrical romances.

432 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Ruckert (1789-1866), one of the most original lyric poets of
Germany, is distinguished for the versatility of his descriptive
powers, the richness of his imagination, and his bold, fiery spirit.
He has been followed by Daumer, Bodenstedt, and others.

The most remarkable poet whom Germany has produced in
the present century is Heinrich Heine (1800-1856), and his
poems are among the most fascinating Ijrrics in European htera-
ture. The delicacy, wit, and humor of his writings, their cruel
and cynical laughter, and their tender pathos, give him a unique
place in the hterature of his country. A school of writers knowii
as Young Germany was deeply influenced by Heine. ^ Their
object was to revolutionize the political, social, and rehgious in-
stitutions of the country. Borne (d. 1837), the rival of Heine
in the leadership of the party, was inferior to him in poetical
power, but his superior in earnestness, moral beauty, and eleva-
tion. Borne was the nightmare of the German princes, at
whom he darted, from his place of exile in Paris, the arrows of
his bitter satire. Some of his writings are among the most elo-
quent of modern German compositions. Prominent among the
followers of Heine and Borne are Gutzkow (d. 1878), a nov-
elist, essayist, and dramatist ; Laube (d. 1884) ; and Mundt
(d. 1861).

From about 1830 a group of Austrian poets, more or less
political in tendency, conunanded the respect of all Germans,
the chief among them was Count Auersperg, who, under the as-
sumed name of Anastasius Griin, wrote lyrical and other brill-
iant and effective poems. Of the writers who before 1848 at-
tempted to force poetry into the service of freedom, the best
known is Herwegh, who advocated liberty with a vehemence
that won for him immense popularity. The poems of Freili-
grath (1810-1876) have graphic force, and possess merit of a
high order. He has a rich imagination, great power of lan-
guage, and musical versification. Among the more distinguished
contemporary poets, Hamerling is remarkable for the boldness
of his conceptions, and the passionate vehemence of his expres-
sion.

6. The Drama. — At the beginning of the eighteenth cen-
tury, Gottsched and his followers had rendered good service to
the stage, not so much by their own productions as by driving
from it the bombast of Lohenstein. Lessing foliowed this move-
ment by attacking the French dramas, which had hitherto been
esteemed the highest productions of human genius, and by bring-
ing forward Shakspeare as the true model of dramatic style.
This attack was so successful that the influence of the French
drama soon declined, and in the reaction, Greeks, Romans, kings
and princesses were replaced by honest, tiresome burghers, with

GERMAN LITERATURE. 433

their commonplace wives and daughters, and the toga and tunic
gave way to woolen petticoats and dress-coats. Everything like
poetry, either in language or sentiment, was banished from the
stage. Such was the state of things when Goethe appeared.
His rapid glance at once discerned the poverty of dramatic art,
and his flexible and many-sided genius set itself to supply the
deficiency. His " Gotz von Berlichingen " illustrated the possi-
bility of a dramatic hterature founded upon national history and
national character. His " Egmont " is a highly poetic and elo-
quent dramatization of that poj)ular hero, and of the struggles of
the Netherlands agamst the tyi-anny of Spain. His '' Tasso " is
a poem of psychological interest, illustrating a favorite maxim
of the author that a poet, like every other artist, for his true
development, needs education. " A huncbed times," says Goethe,
" have I heard artists boast that they owed everything to them-
selves, and I am often provoked to add, ' Yes, and the result is
just what might be expected.' What, let me ask, is a man in
and of himself ? "

Tlie lesson of the drama of " Tasso " is this — that the poet
cannot fulfill his duty by cultivating merely his imagination,
however splendid and powerful it may be. Like all other men
who would be good and great, he must exercise patience and mod-
eration ; must learn the value of self-denial ; must endure the
hardships and contradictions of the real world ; contentedly
occupy his place, with its pains and jjleasures, as a part of the
great whole, and patiently wait to see the beauty and brightness
which flow from his soul, win their way tlirough the obstacles
presented by human society. The singular merit of this di"amatlc
poem is this : that it is the fruit of genuine experience, adorned
with the hues of a beautiful imagination, and clothed in classical
language ; but it is a work written for the few.

'' Iphlgenia " Is a fine imitation of the ancient Greek style, but
not well suited to the stage.

In his dramatic, as in all his other works, the only end and aim
of Goethe was to carry to perfection the art in which he was so
great a master. Virtue and vice, truth and falsehood, are each
portrayed ^vith the same gi-aceful complacency and the same ex-
quisite skill. His Immense and \vide-spreadlng Influence renders
this singular indifterence, which seems to confound the very sense
of right and VTong, doubly lamentable.

In plastic skill and variety, the dramatic creations of Scliiller
are regarded, in some respects, inferior to those of Goethe, but
they all glow vdi\\ the love of true goodness and greatness, and
\vith an enthusiasm for xnrtue and liberty which connnunlcates
itself, as by an electric spark, to his readers. The violent tone
of Schiller's fii'st tragedy, the " Robbers," was suggested by other
28

434 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

theatrical -writers of the period, who esteemed wildness and ab-
KUi'dity the chief characteristics of poetical genius. Schiller gave
to his dramatic works more movement and popular interest than
can be found in Goethe's dramas, but yielded in some instances
to the sentimental tone so prevalent in German poetry. " Fi-
esco " was wi-itten in abetter style than the " Robbers," though
less suited to please the low theatrical taste of the time. " Don
Carlos " showed more maturity of thought, and is pervaded by
a coloring of poetic sentiment ; " Wallenstein " won for the poet
a universal reputation in his native land, and was translated into
Enghsh by Coleridge. " Marie Stuart," the " Maid of Orleans,"
and the " Bride of Messina," contributed still more to increase
the poet's fame. " Wilhelm Tell " was the most popular of
Schiller's plays, and is still esteemed by some as his best pro-
duction. Here the love of hberty, so wildly expressed in the
" Robbers," appears in its true and refined character.

Kotzebue (1760-1819) was one of the most successful play-
wTights of Gei-many. He composed an almost countless number
of plays, and his plots were equally versatile and anmsing ; but
he was entirely destitute of poetic and moral beauty. His op-
position to li1)eral principles caused him to be regarded as the
enemy of liberty, and to be assassinated by an enthusiastic stu-
dent named George Sand, who, on obtaining admittance to him
under the pretense of business, stabbed him to the heart.

While the influence of the Romantic School tended to invest
all poetry with a dreamy and transcendental character, in the
drama it was mingled with stormy and exciting incidents, often
carried to the extreme of exaggeration and absurdity. The Ro-
mancists dealt almost exclusively vrith the pertm-bed elements
of the human mind and the fearful secrets of the heart. They
called to their aid the mysteries of the dark side of nature, and
ransacked the supernatural world for its marvels and its horrors.
The principal of these " Power Men," as they were called, are
Milliner, AVerner, Howald, and GriUparzer.

Milliner (1774-1829) displayed no common order of poetic
genius ; but the elements of crime, hoi-ror, and remorse often
supply the place of originality of thought and delineation of char-
acter. Werner (1768-1823), after a youth of alternate prof-
ligacy and remorse, embraced the Catholic faith and became a
preacher. His dramas of " Martin Luther," " Attila," and the
" Twenty-ninth of February," have rendered him one of the
most popular authors in Germany. GriUparzer (d. 1872) is the
author of a drama entitled the "Ancestress." The \\41dest
dreams of Milliner and Werner sink into insignificance before
the extravagance of this production, both in language and senti-
ment. The " Sappho " of this author displays much lyric beauty.

GERMAN LITERATURE. 435

Iffland (1759-1 SI 4) was a fertile l)ut dull dramatist. One of
the best national traj^edies was wiitten l)y Miinch liellinghausen.
Charlotte Birchpfeifer has dramatized a gi'eat number of stories.
Rau2)ach (1784-1852) was one of the most able of recent Ger-
man writers of Jjlays. Gutzkow is distinji^iished among con-
temporary dramatists ; and Freytag and Buuernfeld are excel-
lent writers of comedy. Kleist (d. 1811) was also a distinguished
^Vl■iter of dramas of the Romantix- School. Mosenthal, the au-
thor of "■ Deborah," has achieved distinction by aiming at some-
tliing higher than stage effect.

7. Philosophy. — The appearance of Kant (1724-1804)
created a new era in German philosophy. Previous to his time,
the two systems most in vogue were the sensualism of Locke
and his followers and the idealism of Leibnitz, Wolf, and othei-s.
Kant, in his endeavors to ascertain what we can know and wliat
we originally do know, was led to the fundamental laws of the
mind, and to investigate original or transcendental ideas, those
necessary and unchangeable forms of thought, without which
we can perceive nothing. For instance, our perceptions are sul)-
mitted to the two forms of time and space. Hence these two
ideas must be within us, not in the objects and not derived from
experience, but the necessary and pure intuitions of the internal
sense. The work in which Kant endeavored to ascertain these
ideas, and the province of certain human knowledge, is entitled
the " Critique of Pure Reason," and the doctrines there ex-
pounded have been called the Critical Philoso])hy and also the
Transcendental. In the " Critique of Practical Reason " the
subject of morals is treated, and that of aesthetics in the " Obser-
vations on the Sublime and Beautiful."

The advent of Kant created a host of philosophical writers
and critics, and besides Lessing and Herder there were Moses
Mendelssohn, Hamann (the Magus of the North), Reinhold,
Jacobi, and many others who speculated in various directions
upon the most momentous i)roblems of humanity and of the hu-
man soul.

Fichte (1762-1814) carried the doctrine of Kant to its ex-
treme point, and represented all that the individual ])erceives
without himself, or all that is distinguished ii-om the individual,
as the creation of this / or ego ; that the life of the mind is the
only real life, and that everything else is a delusion.

Schelling (1775-1854), in his "Philosophy of Identity," ar-
gues that the same laws ])revail throughout the material and the
intellectiml world. His later writings contain theories in whicii
the doctrines of CInistianity are united witli philosophical specu-
lations. The leading ju-inciple of Schelling is found in a sup
posed intuition, which he describes as superior to all reasoning,

436 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

and admitting neither doubt nor explanation. Coleridge adopted
many views of tliis philosopher, and some of his ideas may be
foimd in the contemplative poems of Wordsworth.

He"-el (1770-1831), in his nmnerous, profound, and abstruse
wi'itings, has attempted to reduce all the departments of knowl-
edge to one science, founded on a method which is expounded
in his work on Logic. The " Identity System " of Schelling
and the "Absolute Logic" of. Hegel have already produced an
extensive library of philosophical controversy, and the indirect
influence of the German schools of philosophy has aflPected the
tone of the literature in France, England, America, Denmark,
and Sweden. The effect of German philosophy has been to de-
velop intense intellectual activity. The habit of searching into
the hidden mysteries of being has inclined the German mind to
what is deepest, and sometimes to what is most obscm-e in
thought ; and the tendency to rise to the absolute, which is char-
acteristic of this philosophy, manifests its influence not only in
the blending of poetry and metaphysics, but in every department
of science, Hterature, and art. The literary theory thus devel-
oped, that ideal beauty and not the imitation of nature is the
highest principle of art, is everywhere applied even to the study
of the great monuments of the past, and in the wa-itings of the
German archaeologists new youth seems to spring from the ruins
of the ancient world. The physical sciences are also introduced
into that universal sphere of ideas where the most minute obser-
vations, as well as the most important results, pertain to general
interests.

From 1818 to the time of his death, in 1831, the influence of
Hegel dominated the highest thought. Later, his school broke
into three divisions ; Ruge, one of the most brilliant writers of
the school, led the extreme radicals ; Strauss resolved the nar-
ratives of the gospel into myths, and found the vital elements
of Christianity in its spiritual teaching ; while Feuerbach urged
that all religion should be replaced by a sentiment of humanity.
Ulrici and the younger Fichte exercised considerable influence
as advocates of a pantheistic doctrine which aims to reconcile
religion and science. None of these names, however, have the
importance which attaches to that of Schopenhauer (d. 1860),
who, at the present day, stirs a deeper interest than any other
thinker. His main doctrine is that Will is the foundation prin-
ciple of existence, the one reality in the universe, and all else is
mere appearance. History is a record of turmoil and wretch-
edness, and the world and life essentially evil. High moral
earnestness and great literary genius are shown in his graphic
and scornful pictures of the darker aspects of the world.

Van Hartmann, the most prominent leader of the Pessimistic

GERMAN LITERATURE. 437

School (1842-1872), the latest original thinker of Germany, in
his " Philosophy of the Unconscious," follows essentially the same
line of thouyht. He assumes that there is in nature a blind,
impersonal, unconscious, all-pervading will and idea, a pure and
spiritual activity, independent of brain and nerve, and mani-
festing itself in thought, emotion, instinct, morals, language, i)er-
ception, and liistory. He teaches that this is the last i)rinciple
of philosophy, described by Spinoza as substance, by Fichte as
the absolute J, by Plato and Hegel as the absolute idea, and by
Schopenhauer as Will. He believes the world to be utterly
and hopelessly bad, and the height of wisdom to suppress the
desire to live. At the same time he believes that there is no
peace for the heart and intellect until religion, philosophy, and
science are seen to be one, as root, stem, and leaves are all or-
ganic expressions of one same living tree.

8. Mlscell.\xeous Writings. — The best German minds
of the nineteenth century have been absorbed by severe labor
in all branches of learning and the sciences. Many memoirs of
eminent persons have a])i)eared, and many books of travel, since
the days of George Forster (1754-1794:), the teacher of Hum-
boldt and the inaugurator of a new scientific and picturesque
school of the literature of travel. Lichtenstein has written liis
travels in Southern Africa ; Prince Maximilian von Wied and
Martius, in Brazil ; Piippig, in Chili, Peru, etc. ; Burmeister and
Tschudi, in South America j Lepsius and Brugsch, in Egypt ;
and more recently, Giitzlatf, in China ; Siebold, in Japan ; liarth
and Vogel, in Africa ; Leichhardt, in Australia ; the brothers
Schlagintweit, one of whom fell a victim to his zeal, in Asia ;
and Ida Pfeitfer (1797-1858), a woman of rare intrepidity,
who visited, mostly on foot, the most remote regions of the globe.
Another tom-ist and voluminous WTiter is KolJ (d. 1878).
Qualities rarely united in one individual met in the character of
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), an enterprising traveler,
a man of extensive science, and an accomplished writer. Ac-
companied by his friend Bon])land, he visited South America,
and after five years of adventm'ous research among the wonders
of nature, he returned, and prepared for the })ress the residts of
his travels — the " Aspects of Nature," " Picturesque Views of
the Cordilleras," and " Travels in the Equinoctial Regions of
America." This veteran student produced at an advanced age
a remarkable work entitled " Cosmos," containing the results of
a long life of observation and contemplation. In the first part
he gives general views of the economy of nature, while in the
second we find ingenious speculations regarding the influence of
nature on human society, in its various stages of culture.

The Chevalier Bunsen (d. 1860) celebrated by his theological

438 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

and liistorico-philosophical researches, has written, among other
works, one on the " Position of Egypt in the History of the
World," which is a learned dissertation on the antiquities and
especially on the primitive language of Egypt.

In the periodicals of Germany every department of letters
and science is represented, and through the book-fairs of Leipsic
all the literature of the ancient and modern world passes. They
are the magazines of the productions of all nations. Every
class of contending tastes and opinions is represented and all the
contrasts of thought which have been developed m the course of
ages meet in the Leipsic book-market.

Science. — The growth of science has been one of the most
powerful factors in the recent development of Germany, and
some of the best works present in a popular form the results of
scientific labor. Among these the first place belongs to the
*' Cosmos " of Humboldt. Although no longer in accordance
with the best thought, it has enduring merit from the author's
power of handling vast masses of facts, his poetic feeling and
purity and nobility of style.

In chemistry Liebig (d. 1873) is widely and popularly kno^vii ;
DuBois-Raymond has made great researches in animal electric-
ity, physics, and physiology ; Virchow in biology ; Helmholtz in
physiological optics and sound; Hteckel has extended the theo-
ries and investigations of Darwin, and all have made admirable
attempts to render science intelligible to ordinary readers.

With the death of Goethe began a new era in German litera-
ture not yet closed. The period has been one of intense political
excitement, and while much of the best of the nation has been
devoted to poHtics there has also been great literary activity
deeply influenced by the practical struggles, hopes, and fears of
the time. There has been a tendency in German writers hith-
erto to neglect the laws of expression, although their writings
have evinced great originality and power of imagination, owing
dou1>tless to the fact that they were addressed only to particular
classes of readers. But since the political unity of the country
has been accomplished, increasing numbers of thinkers and schol-
ars have appealed to the whole nation, and, in consequence, have
cultivated more directness and force of style.

NovKLS, Romances, and Popular Legends. — Poetry and
prose fiction form the general literature of a nation, and are dis-
tinguished from the literature of the study or from special litera-
ture, which consists cliiefly of l>ooks for the use of distinct classes
or parties. Fiction borders closely on the province of history,
■which, in its broad and comprehensive outlines, must necessarily
leave unnoticed many of the finer lights and shades of human
life, descriptions of motives, private characters, and domesti*

GERMAN LITERATURE. 439

Bcenes. To supply these in the picture of humanity is the dis-
tinct office of fiction, which, wliile free in many resj)ects, should
Btill he essentially true. The poetry and fiction of a country
should be the worthy comj)anion to its history. The true poet
shoidd be the interpreter and illustrator of life. While the liis-
torian describes events and the outward lives of men, the poet
penetrates into the inner life, and portrays the spirit that moves
them. The historian records facts ; the poet records feelings,
thoughts, hopes, and desires; the historian keeps in view the
actual man ; the poet, the ideal man ; the historian tells us what
man has been ; the poet reminds us either in his dreams of the
past, or in his visions of the future, what man can be ; and the
true poet who fulfills such a duty is as necessary to the develop-
ment and education of mankind as the historian.

The numerous fictitious works of Germany may be arranged
in four different classes. The first, comprehending historical
romances, affords few writers who bear comparison with Scott.
In the second class, containing novels which describe characters
and scenes in real life, German literature is also comparatively
poor. The third class comprises all the fictions marked by par-
ticular tendencies respecting art, literature, or society. In the
fourth class, which includes imaginative tales, German literature
is especially rich. To this department of fiction, in wliich the
imagination is allowed to wander far beyond the bounds of real
life and probability, the Germans apply distinctively the term
poetical. In these imaginative and mystical fictions there is an
important distinction between such tales as convey moral truth
and interest under an array of visionary adventures, and those
which are merely fantastic and almost destitute of meaning.

Goethe's novel, '' Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship," may be
classed with fictions intended to convey certain views of life ;
but its chief defect is, that the object of the wi-iter remains in
a mist, even at the end of the story. The " Elective Affinities,"
while it contains many beauties as a work of art, is objectionable
in a moral point of view.

Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825) describes human Ufe in all
its aspects of light anil shade, and liis voluminous works embrace
all subjects, from the liighest problems of transcendental })hiloso-
phy and the most passionate poetical delineations to " Instruc-
tions in the Art of Falling Asleep ; " but his essential character,
however disguised, is that of a pliilosopher and moral poet,
whose study has been human nature, and whose delight is in all
that is beautiful, tender, and mysteriously sublime in the fate or
history of man. Humor is the ruling quality of his mind, the
eentral fire that ])er\'ades and vivifies his whole being. The
thief productions of Jean Paul (the title under which he wrotej

440 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

are novels, of which " Hesperus" and "Titan " are considered hia
masterpieces. These and the charming prose idyl, " The Years
of Wikl Oats," keep their place as works of permanent excellence.
In his famous " Dream," in which he describes a imiverse with-
out religion, he rises to the loftiest height of imagination.

Tieck (1773-1853) was at once a noveUst, poet, and critic ;
but his fairy tales have perhaps rendered liim most popular.
His fancy was brilliant and sportive, and his imagination varied j

and fantastic. The world of liis creation was peopled by demons
who shed their malignant influence on mankind, or by spirits
such as the Rosicrucians had conjured up, nymphs of the air,
the woods, or waters. These airy visions he wove into form and
shape with a master hand, and he invested even the common ob-
jects of life with a supernatural hue. At times he seems almost
to have acquired a closer intimacy with nature than that granted
to common men, and to have dived into the secret of her opera-
tions and the working of her laws. But wliile Tieck is unrivaled
in the world of phantasy, he becomes an ordinary writer when
he descends to that of daily life.

Hardenberg, known by the assumed name of Novalis (1772-
1801), by liis unsullied character, liis early death, and the mystic
tone of his productions, was long regarded with an enthusiasm
wliich has now gi'eatly dechned. His romance, "Henry von Of-
terdingen," contains elements of beauty, but it deals too exclu-
sively with the shadowy, the distant, and the unreal. His "Aph-
orisms " are sometimes deep and original, but often paradoxical
and unintelligible.

La Motte Fouque (1777-1843) is best known by his charm-
ing story of " Undine," founded on one of those traditions in
which the ancient fairy mythology of Germany abounded. Un-
dine, a beautiful water-spirit, wins the heart of a noble knight,
and consents to be his bride. We have seen that it was only
through the union with a being of mortal mould that the spirits
of air or water could obtain the gift of a soul. But before giv-
ing her hand to her lover, Undine reminds him that the relentbss
laws of her race condemn her to become herself the instrument
of his destruction if he should break his plighted vow. The
knight accepts the conditions, and for a time he remains true to
his beautiful wife. But at length, weary of her charms, he seeks
the daughter of a neighboring baron for his bride, and in the
midst of the wedding festivities the faitliless knight is suffocated
by an embrace from Undine, who is forced by the race of spirits
thus to destroy him. The sweetness and pathos of this tale and
its dream-like beauty have given it a place among those creations
which appeal to all the world, and do not depend for their popUf
larity on the tendencies of any particular age.

GERAfAN LITERATURE. 441

Chamisso (1781-1836), one of the most popular poets of
Germany, was tlie author of " Peter Schlemilil," a well-kuown
tale describing the adventures of a man who sold his shadow for
a large sum of money, and found afterward that he liad made a
very bad bargain. The moral it seems to indicate is that gold
is dearly obtained at the sacrifice of any part, even of the sliadow,
of our humanity.

Hoffmann (1776-1822) surpassed all other imaginative writ-
ers in inventing marvelous incidents, while he was inferior to
many of them in poetical genius. His stories mingle the cir-
cumstances of real life with grotesque amd visionary adventures.

Zschokke (1771-1847) was remarkable as a man and an
author. His literary activity extended over more tlian half a
century, and his tales and miscellaneous writings have had ex-
tensive popularity. His studies were generally tUrected toward
human improvement, as in " The Goldmaker's Village," where he
describes the progress of industry and civilization among a de-
graded population.

Of the other numerous writers of fiction the names of a few
only can be mentioned.

Theresa Huber (1764-1829) was the authoress of several
popular novels. Benedicte Naubert wrote several historical ro-
mances mentioned by Scott as having afforded him some sugges-
tions. Caroline Pichler's " Tales " were accounted among the
best fictions of her times. Henriette Hanke produced eighty-
eight volumes of domestic narratives and other writings of a moral
character ; the Countess Hahn-Hahn follows the tendencies of
Madame Dudevant (George Sand), thougli with less genius.

Brentano, the author of " Godiva." and Araim, author of the
" Countess Dolores," may also be mentioned among the remark-
able writers of fantastic romances.

Bettina (178i")-18o9), the sister of Brentano, and the wife of
Arnim, who resembles these authors in her imaginative char-
acter, wrote a singularly enthusiastic book, entitled, " Goethe's
Correspondence with a Child." Imaginative jjictures in words,
interspei-sed \v\i\\ sentiments, characterize the wn-itings of Bettina
and many other romancists, while they show little power in the
construction of plots and the development of character.

Among the more renowned female writers are Auguste von
Paalzow, Amalie Schoppe, Johanna Schoppenhauer, Friederike
Brun, Talvi (Mrs. Robinson). Henriette Herz (1764-1841)
and Rahel (1771-1844) also occu])ied a brilliant ])osition in the
literary and social world. Tlie latter was the wiff of Varnhagen
von Ense (d. 1859), the most able and attractive biographical
wi-iter of Gt^rmany. Wilhelm Iliiring (Wilibald Alexis) is par-
ticularly eminent as a romance wi-iter.

442 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

The historical novelists of the early part of this century, aa
Van der Velde, Spindler, ReUstab, Storch, and Rau, have been
succeeded by Konig, HeUer, and several others. Good French
and English novels are translated into German, ahnost immedi-
ately after their appearance, and the comparative scarcity of in-
teresting German novels is accounted for by the taste for this
foreign literature, and also by the increasing absorption of lit-
erary talent in the periodical press. Schucking is remarkable
for his power of vividly conceiving character. Fanny Lewald is
artistic in her methods and true and keen in her observation of
hfe ; and among novelists of simple village life Auerbach (1812—
1883) takes the fii'st place. Gustave Freytag (b. 1816), whose
" Debit and Credit " is an intensely reahstic study of commer-
cial life, is also one of the distinguished writers of fiction.

The popular legends of Germany are numerous and charac-
teristic of the country. These narratives are either legends of
local interest, associated with old castles, or other antiquities,
or they are purely fabulous. Though they are sometimes fan-
tastic and in their incidents show little respect to the laws of
probability, they are genuine and fairly represent the play of the
popidar imagination ; while under their wild uuagery they often
convey symbolically a deep and true meaning.

Literary History and Criticism. — Modern German lit-
erature is singularly rich in this department. In the Republic
of Letters, German students have foimd the liberty they could
not enjoy in actual life, and this cause has promoted investiga-
tion in ancient and modern literature. Poets, historians, phi-
losophers, and other writers have been studied and criticised,
not merely as authors, but with especial reference to their re-
spective contri])utions to the progress of ideas and the move-
ments of society. Some of the most eminent German critical
writers have already been mentioned under various preceding
heads. Winckclmann (1717-1768) devoted himself with enthu-
siasm to the study of antique sculpture, and wrote elegant dis-
sertations on the grace and beauty of the works of ancient art.
His writings display true enthusiasm and refined taste. It may
be said that the school of art-criticism in Germany owes its ori-
gin to the studies of "VVinckelmann. The critical writings cf
Herder were more remarkable for the impulse which they gave
to the studies of authors than for their intrinsic merits. Goethe
in his prose writings showed with what grace and precision the
German language might be written. The letters of Schiller are
pervaded by a lofty and ideal tone. AVilliam von Humboldt
(1762-1832) was the founder of the science of comparative
philology, a scholar of remarkable comprehensiveness and scien-
tific knowledge, and the author of several highly importanl

GERMAN LITERATURE. 443

K^orks on language and literature. The l)rothers Sehlegel devel-
oped that taste for universal Hterature which had heen intro-
duced hy Herder. Tlie mind of Augustus Scldegel (17G7-1845)
was rather comprehensive than endowed with original and crea-
tive genius. His ])oems are elegant, hut not remarkahle. Fried-
rich Scldegel (1772-1829), like his ])r()ther, was opposed to the
skeptical character of some of the ])hikjsophical theories of his
day, and after entering the Catholic Church he expressed his re-
ligious and polemical opinions in his works on literature. His
lectures on '• The Philosophy of History " were evidently writ-
ten with political and religious purposes. He participated with
his hrother in the study of Oriental literature and language, but
liis lectures on " The Literature of all Nations " have chiefly ex-
tended his fame for great cajjacity, critical acumen, and exten-
sive learning. The nuiiu purpose of the author is to describe
the development of literature in its connection with the social
and reUgious institutions of various nations and periods. He
thus elevates literature, and especially poetry, far above the
views of tcivial and commonplace criticism, and regards it in ita
highest aspect as the product of hmnan life and genius in vari-
ous stages of cidtivation. The history of the world of books is
thus represented as no dry and pedantic study, but as one inti-
mately connected with the best interests of humanity. In the
estabUslunent of this humanitarian style of literature, tlie ser-
vices of this author were of great value, although many of his
works, as well as those of others in this department, have been
written rather for the use of scholars than for the public. There
still remains in Gernumy that distinction between a'po])ular and
scholastic style which characterized the Middle Ages, when the
literati excluded their thoughts from the peojde l)v writing in
Latin. The literature of the past, which is in itself too diffuse
to be comprehended by men of scanty leisure in modern times,
is with most writers too often rather complicated and extended,
than sim])lified and compressed into a readable form. If the
labors of learned historians and critics had been directed to pop-
ularize the results of their extensive scholarship, readers with-
out nuich time for study might have acquired a fair general ac-
quaintance with universal literature. But while concise and
masterly summarie'^ are required, many scholars love to wa.uler
in never-ending disquisitions, and the consequence is that the
greater number of readers actjuire only a fragmentary and acci-
dental knowledge of books.

Wliile the brothers Scldegel, and many other ^^Titers, followed
the tendencies of Herder in universal literature, a national
school of criticism was founded and sujjported by the brothers
Grimm, with many able associates. Jacob, the eldest (d 1863),

444 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

devoted his researches to the German literature of the Middle
Ages, and collected the scattered remnants of old popular leg-
ends. In conjunction with his brother William (d. 1860) he
published liis " Children's Fables," or " Household Tales," which
are marked by great simplicity, and often convey pleasing senti-
ments and good morals mingled with fantastic and supernatural
adventures. Later works on the " German Language," " Legal
Antiquities," and " GeiTaan Mythology," have secured for this
author the highest position among national philologists and anti-
quaries. The example of these brothers gave a strong impulse
to the study of German archaeology, and the residts have been
received with great enthusiasm. Many relics of old literature
have been recovered, and these remains form a considerable
library of literary antiquities.

Menzel (d. 1855), well known as a critical and polemical
writer of the national school, has written the " History of Ger-
man Literature," " The Spirit of History," and other works, in
which he has warmly opposed the extreme revolutionary tenden-
cies of recent political and social theorists.

Gervinus (d. 1871) may be considered as a historian, politi-
cian, and critic. In liis " History of the Poetical National Lit-
eratm-e of the Germans," he traces the development of poetry
va. its relations to civilization and society. He has also written a
work on Shakspeare, and a history of the nineteenth century,
which is characterized by its liberal tendencies. His views of
literature are directly opposed to those of Frederic Sclilegel.

As historians of ancient classical literature, German scholars
have maintained the highest position, and to them the world is
prodigiously indebted. Their works, however, are too compre-
hensive to be described here, and too numerous even to be men-
tioned. The idea of classical erudition, as maintained by them,
is extended far beyond its common limitation, and is connected
with researches respecting not the language only, but also the
religion, philosophy, social economy, arts, and sciences of ancient
nations.

Karl Ottfried Miiller (d. 1840) must be mentioned as an ac-
complished scholar and the author of a standard work, the
" History of Greek Literature." Among the other great writ-
ers on ancient history are Bockh, Duncker, Droysen, Mommsen,
and Kortiim.

Several works on the modern literature of European nations
have recently been published in Germany ; and much industry
and research have been displayed in numerous criticisms on the
fine arts. The principles of Winckelmann and Lessing have
been developed by later authors who have wTitten excellent criti«
cal and historical works on the plastic arts, sculpture, paintingj

GERMAN LITERATURE. 445

and architecture. Tii general, the literary criticism of Germany
deserves the highest commendation for its candor, carefulness,
and philosopliical consistency.

History and Theology. — The extensive hi.storical works of
the modern writers of Germany form an important feature in
the literature. The jjolitical (circumstances of the country have
been in many respects favorable to the progi-ess of these studies.
Professors and students, excluded in a great measure from poUt-
ical life, have explored the histories of ancient nations, and have
given opinions in the form of liistorical essays, which they could
not venture to apply to the institutions of Germany. "While
Prussia and Austria were perilous topics for discussion, liberal
and innovating doctrines might be promidgated in lectures on
tlie 2)rogress and decline of liberty in the ancient world. Ac-
cordingly, the study of universal history, to which the philosoph-
ical views of Herder gave the impulse, has been industriously
prosecuted during the last fifty years, and learned and diligent
collectors of historical material are more numerous in Germany
than in any other country.

MUller (d. 1804), a native of Switzerland, displayed true his-
torical genius and extended erudition in his " Lectures on Uni-
versal History." Among other writers on the same subject are
Rotteck, Becker, Bottiger, Dittmar, and Vehse. Of the two
last authors, the one wrote on this vast subject especially in ref-
erence to Christianity, and the other describes the progress of
civilization and intellectual culture.

Schlosser's (b. 178G) '' History of the Ancient World and it3
Culture " holds a prominent place among historical works. His
writings are the result of laborious and conscientious researches
to which he has devoted his life.

Heeren (d. 1842) opened a new vein of ancient history in his
learned worli on the '* Commercial Relations of Antiquity."
While other historians have been attracted by the sword of the
conqueror, Heeren followed the merchant's caravan laden ^\^th
corn, wine, oils, silks, and spices. His work is a valuable con-
tribution to the true history of humanity.

Carl Ritter (d. 1859) has united the studies of geography and
history in his " Geograi)hy \'iewed in its Relations to Nature and
History." This great work, the result of a life devoted to in-
dustrious research, has established the science of comparative
geography.

Le])sius and Brugsch have rendered important services to
Egv'i)tology, and Lachmann, K. O. Miiller, Von der Hagen,
Bockh, the brothers (irinnn, Moritz Haupt, and others, to an-
cient and German philology.

In Roman liistury, Niebuhr (177G-1831), stands alone as

446 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the founder of a new school of research, by which the fictions
so long mingled with the early history of Rome, and copied
from book to book, and from century to century, have been
fuUy exploded. Thi'ough the labors of this liistorian, modern
readers know the ancient Romans far better than they were
known by nations who were in close contact with them. Nie-
buhi' made gTeat preparations for his work, and took care not to
dissipate his powers by appearing too soon as an author.

Besides many other histories relating to the Roman Empire,
German literature is especially rich in those relating to the Mid-
dle Ages. The historical writings of Ranke (d. 1886) connect
the events of that period with modern times, and give valuable
notices of the age of the Reformation. " The History of Pa-
pacy in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries " is highly
esteemed, though Catholic critics have objected to some of its
statements. Histories of the German people, of the Hohen-
staufEen Dynasty, of the Crusades ; histories of nations, of
cities, of events, and of individuals, all have found their inter-
preters in German genius. Schlosser (d. 1861), the vigorous
and truthful historian of the eighteenth century ; Dahlmann (d-
1860), the German Guizot, aiid Raumer (d. 1873), the historian
of the Hohenstauffens, deserve particular mention. Nor is the
department of ecclesiastical history and theology less distin-
guished by its research.

No wi'iter of his time contributed more towards the formation
of an improved prose style than Mosheim (1694-1755) ; al-
though his " Ecclesiastical History " is now superseded by works
of deeper research. His contemporary, Reimarus, wrote in
favor of natural theology, and may be considered the founder of
the Rationalistic School. Neander (d. 1850) wrote a history of
the church, in ten volumes, distinguished for its liberal views.
The sermons of Reinhard (d. 1812), in thirty -nine volumes, dis-
play earnestness and unaffected solemnity of style. Schleier-
macher (d. 1834), celebrated as a preacher at Berlin, was the
author of many works, in which he attempted to reconcile the
doctrines of Protestantism with certain philosophical specula-
tions. De Wette, the friend of Schleiermacher, is one of the
most learned and able representatives of the Rationalistic School.
Tholuck (b. 1799) is celebrated as a learned exegetical wi-iter.

Mommsen (b. 1817) is the vigorous historian of ancient
Rome, and Curtius (d. 1896), the author of a history of Greece,
not more remarkable for its learning than for the clear and at-
tractive arrangement of its material. In histories of philosophy
recent German literature is absolutely supreme. Hegel still
ranks as one of the greatest writers in this line, and Ueberweg,
Uedraann, and others are important workers in the same de-

GERMAN LITERATURE. 447

partment. Fischer writes the liistory of philosophy with sym-
pathetic appreciation and in a fascinating style, and Lange, in
his '' History of ^Materialism," does full justice to the different
phases of materialistic pliilosophy.

Since the time of Lessing, aesthetics have formed a prominent
hranch of philosophy with the Germans, and they have heen no
less successful as historians of art than of meta[)hysics. Among
the most distinguished are Kugkr, Carriere, and Lubke. Biog-
rajjhers and liistorians of literature are numerous. •

One of the most powerful, though by no means one of the
most wholesome influences upon modern German thought has
lain in the work of the pessimist philosopher, Nietzsche. But
it is encouraging to note that however materialistic may be the
tendency of the age in the field of speculative thought, idealism
continues to control the field of art, and it is significant of the
vital hold upon the sympathy of the public which the ideal
maintains, that it should have found its fullest expression upon
the stage. Even more truly than in Norway or France the
literature of the stage constitutes an important factor in the
intellectual and aesthetic life of the people. During the closing
years of the century the German theatre has been the scene of
numerous successes wliich were at once artistic and popidar.
During this period three playwrights. Von Wildenbruch, Suder-
mann, and Hauptmann, have all had their share of the public
favor, in a rivalry which has never degenerated into a compe-
tition in catering. Between Hauptmann and Sudermann the
contest has been specially close. Of late it seems to have been
decided in favor of the former, whose beautiful " Versunkene
Glocke," with its romantic idealism and delicate poetry, is on©
of the greatest achievements in modern dramatic art.

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

brrROBV(^Tiov.—l. EnglM Literaiure. Its Divisions. — 2. The Language.

Period First. —1. Celtic Lileraiure. Irish, Scotcli, and Cymric Celts; the Chroni-
eles of Ireland ; Ossian's Poems ; Traditions of Arthur ; the Triads ; Tales. — 2. Latin
LUerature. Bede ; Alcuin ; Erigena. — 3. Anglo-Saxon Literature. Poetry; Prose;
Versions of Scripture ; the Saxon Chronicle ; Alfred.

Period Second. — The Norman Age and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. —
1. Literature in the Latin Tongue. — 2. Litm-ature in Norman-French. Poetry ; Ro-
mances of Chivalry. — 3. Saxon-English. Metrical Remains. — 4. Literature in the Four-
teenth Century.— FToae Writers: Occam, Duns Scotus, Wickliffe, Mandeville, Chaucer.
Poetry; Langland, Gower, Chaucer.— 5. Literature in the Fifteenth Century. Ballads.
— 6. Poets of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries in Scotland. Wyntoun, Barbour,
and others. . , „ , . , j

Period Third. — 1. Age of the Reformaiion (1509-1558). Classical, Theological, and
Miscellaneous Literature : Sir Thomas More and others. Poetry : Skeltou, Surrey, and
Sackville; the Drama. — 2. The Age of Spenser, Shakspeare, Bacon, and Milton {,\5^S-
1660). Scholastic and Ecclesiastical Literature. Translations of the Bible : Hooker,
Andrews, Donne, Hall, Taylor, Baxter ; other Prose Writers : Fuller, Cudworth, Bacon,
Hobbes. Raleigh, Milton, Sidney, Selden, Burton, Browne, and Cowley. Dramatic Po-
etry : Marlowe and Greene, Shakspeare, Beaumont and Fletcher, Ben Jonson, and oth-
ers; Massinger, Ford, and Shirley; Decline of the Drama. Non-dramatic Poetry:
Spenser and the Minor Poets. Lyrical Poets : Donne, Cowley, Denham, Waller, Mil-
ton.— 3. The Age of the Restoration and Revolution (1660-1702). Prose: Leighton, Til-
lotson, Barrow, Bunyan, Locke, and others. The Drama : Drydeu, Otway. Comedy :
Didactic Poetry : Roscommon, Marvell, Butler, Pryor, Dryden. — 4. The Eighteenth Cen-
tury. The First Generation (1702-1727) : Pope, Swift, and others ; the Periodical Essay-
ists : Addison, Steele. The Second Generation (1727-17C0) ; Theology : Warburton, But-
ler, Watts, Doddridge. Philosophy : Hume. Miscellaneous Prose : Johnson ; the
Novelists : Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne. The Drama ; Non-dramatic
Poetry : Young, Blair, Akenside, Thomson, Gray, and Collins. The Third Generation
(1760-1800); the Historians: Hume, Robertson, and Gibbon. Miscellaneous Prose:
Johnson, Goldsmith, " Junius," Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and Burke. Criticism : Burke,
Reynolds, Campbell, Kames. Political Economy : Adam Smith. Ethics : Paley, Smith,
Tucker. Metaphysics: Reid. Theological and Religious Writers : Campbell, Paley,
Watson, Newton, Haimah More, and Wilherforce. Poetry : Comedies of Goldsmith and
Sheridan; Minor Poets; Later Poems ; I'.eattis's Minstrel ; Cowper and Burns. 5. Tlie
Nineteenth Century. The Poets : Campbell, Southey, Scott, Byron ; Coleridge and
Wordsworth ; Wilson, Shelley, Keats ; Crabbe, Moore, and others ; Tennyson, Browning,
Procter, and others. Fiction : the Waverley and other Novels ; Dickens, Thackeray, and
others. Hi.story : Arnold, Thirlwall, Grote, Macaulay, Alison, Carlyle, Freeman, Buckle.
Criticism : HaUam, De Quincey, Macaulay, Carlyle, Wilson, Lamb, and others. Theol-
ogy : Fo.ster, Hall, Chalmers. Philosophy : Stewart, Brown, Mackinto.sh, Benthaiu,
Alison, and others. Political Economy : Mill, Whewell, Whately, De Morgan, Hamilton.
Periodical Writings : the Edinburgh, Quarterly, and Westminster Reviews, and Black-
wood's Magazine, Jeffrey, Hazlitt. — Since 18C0. Criticism, History, Science: Arnold,
Swinburne, Pater, Saintsbury, Dowden, Courthope, Dobson, Gosse, Lang, Hamerton,
Leslie Stephen, Morley, Froude, Lecky, Green, Darwin, Spencer, Tyndall, Huxley.
Poetry: Matthew Arnold, Clough, the Rossettis, Swinburne, "Owen Meredith," Sir
Edwin Arnold, Henley, George Meredith, Kipling, Stephen Phillips, and others. Fic-
tion : " George Eliot," Mrs. Humphry Ward, Trollope, Macdonald, Black, Be-sant, Black-
more, Barrie, Kipling, George Meredith, Stevenson, Henry James, Thomas Hardy.

INTRODUCTION.

1. Engllsh Literature and its EtrvisiONrs. — The originaV
inhabitants of P^nghmd, belonging to the great race of Celts,
were not the true founders of the English nation ; and their

ENGLISH LITE RAT iniE. 449

language, wliicli is still spoken unchanged in various parts of
the kingdom, has exerted but an incredibly small influence on
the English tongue. During the period of the Roman domuia-
tion (55 B. c. -447 A. d.), the relations between the conquerors
and the natives did not materially alter the nationality of tlie
people, nor did the Latin language permanently displace or
modify the native tongue.

The great event of the Dark Ages which succeeded the fall
of the Roman emj)ire was the vast series of emigrations wliich
planted tribes of Gotliic blood over large tracts of Europe, and
wliich was followed by the formation of all the modern Euro-
pean languages, and by the general profession of Christianity.
The Anglo-Saxon invaders of England continued to emigrate
from the Continent for more than a hundred years, and before
many generations had j)assed away, their language, customs, and
character prevailed throughout the provinces they had seized.
During the six hundred years of their independence (448-1066),
the nation made wonderful progress in the arts of life and
thought. The Pagans accepted the Christian faith ; the pirate
ical sea-kings apjjlied themselves to the tillage of the soil and
the practice of some of the ruder manufactures ; the fierce sol-
diers constructed, out of the materials of legislation common to
the whole Teutonic race, a manly political constitution.

The few extant literary monuments of the Anglo-Saxons pos-
sess a singular value as illustrations of the character of the ])eo-
ple, and have the additional attraction of being written in what
was really our mother tongue.

In the Middle Ages (from the eleventh to the sixteenth centu-
ries), the painfid convidsions of infant society gave way to the
growing vigor of liealthy though undisciplined youth. All the
relations of life were modified, more or less, by the two influ-
ences predominant in the early part of the period, but decaying
in the latter, — Feudalism and the Chm-ch of Rome, — and by
the consolidation of the new languages, which were successively
developed in all European countries, and were soon qualified a.-j
instruments for communicating tlie results of intellectual activity.
The Middle Ages closed by two events occurring nearly at the
same time : the erection of the gi-eat monarcliies on the ruins of
feudalism, and the shattering of the sovereignty of the Romish
Church by the Reformation. At the same i)eriod, the invention
of printing, the most important event in the annals of literatui-e,
became available as a means of enlightenment.

The Norman conquest of Enghuul (1066) subjected the na-
tion at once to both of the ruling mediaeval impulses : feudalism,
which metamorphv^sed the relative positions of the people and
the nobles, and the recognition of papal suj)remacy, which al-
29

450 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

tered not less thoroughly the standing of the church. Wliile
these changes were not unproductive of good at that time, they
were distasteful to the nation, and soon became injurious, both
to freedom and knowledge, mitil at length, under the dynasty
of the Tudors, the ecclesiastical shackles were cast off, and the
feudal bonds began gradually to be loosened.

The Norman invaders of England took possession of the
country as mihtary masters. They suppi-essed the native polity
by overwhelming force, made Norman-French the fashionable
speech of the court and the aristocracy, and imposed it on the
tribunals. Their romantic literature soon weaned the hearts of
educated men from the ancient rudeness of taste, but the mass
of the English people clung so obstinately to their ancestral
tongue, that the Anglo-Saxon language kept its hold in substance
until it was evolved into modern English ; and the Norman no-
bles were at length forced to learn the dialect which had been
preserved among their despised English vassals.

Emerging from the Middle Ages into the illuminated vista
of modern history, we find the world of action much more
powerfully influenced by the world of letters than ever before.
Among the causes which produced this change are the invention
of printing, the use of a cultivated living language, and in Eng-
land the vindication of freedom of thought and constitutional
liberty.

The period from the accession of Elizabeth to the Restoration
(1558-1660) is the most brilliant in the Uterary history of Eng-
land. The literature assumes its most varied forms, expatiates
over the most distant regions of speculation and investigation ;
and its intellectual chiefs, while they breathe the spirit of mod-
ern knowledge and freedom, speak to us in tones which borrow
an irregular stateUness from the chivalrous past. But this mag-
nificent panorama does not meet the eye at once ; the unveiling
of its features is as gradual as the passing away of the mists
that shroud the landscape before the morning sun.

The first quarter of the century was unproductive in all de-
partments of literature. Of the great writers who have immor-
talized the name of Elizabeth, scarcely one was born five years
before she ascended the throne, and the immense and invaluable
series of literary works which embellished the period in question
may be regarded as beginning only with the earliest poem of
Spenser, 1579.

" There never was anywhere," says Lord Jeffrey, " anything
like the sixty or seventy years that elapsed from the middle of
the reign of Elizabeth to the Restoration. 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., or of Louis XIV., can

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 451

come at all into coin])ai-i.son. In that short period we shall find
the names of almost all the very great men that this nation has
ever })roduce(l."

Among the influences which made the last generation of the
sixteenth century so strong in itself, and capable of bequeathing
so much strength to those who took iq) its inheritance, was the
expanding elasticity, the gi'owing freedom of thoiiglit and action.
The chivalry of the Middle Ages began to seek more useful fields
of adventure in search of new worlds, and fame, and gold.
There was an increasing national prosperity, and a correspond-
ing advance of comfort and refinement, and mightier than all
these forces was the silent working of the Reformation on the
hearts of the people.

The minor writers of this age deserve great honor, and may
almost be considered the builders of the structure of English
literature, whose intellectual cliiefs were Spenser, Shakspeare,
and Hooker.

Spenser and Shakspeare were both possessed of thoughts,
feelings, and images, wliich they could not have had if they had
lived a centmy later, or much earlier ; and, although their views
were very dissimilar, they both bear the characteristic features
of the age in wliich they lived. Spenser dwelt with animation
on the gorgeous scenery which covered the elfin land of knight-
hood and romance, and present realities were lost in his dream
of antique grandeur and ideal loveliness. He was the modern
poet of the remote past ; the last minstrel of chivalry, though
incomparably gi-eater than his forerunners.

Shakspeare was the poet of the present and the future, and
of universal humanity. He saw in the past the fallen fragments
on which men were to build anew — august scenes of desolation,
whose ruin taught men to work more ■wisely. He painted them
as the accessory features and distant landscape of colossal pic-
tures, in whose foreground stood figures soaring beyond the lim-
its of their ])lace, instinct with the spirit of the time in which
the poet lived, yet lifted out of it and above it by the inq)ulse of
potent genius prescient of momentous truths that lay slumbering
in tlie bosom of futurity-

By the side of ])oetrv contemporary prose shows poorly, with
one great exception. In respect to style. Hooker stands almost
alone in his time, and may be considered the first of the illustri-
ous train of great prose \\'Titers. His " P^cclesiastical Polity "
appeared in 1594. Sir Philip Sidney's *' Arcadia " had been
Nvritten before 1587. Bacon's Essays appeared in 1596, and
also Spenser's *' View of Ireland." I5ut none of these are com-
parable in point of style to Hooker.

The reign of Elizabeth gave the key-note to tlie literature of

452 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

the two succeeding reigns, that of James I. (1G03-1625), and
Charles (1625-1649), and the Hterary works of this jieriod were
not only more numerous, but stand higher in the mass than those
which closed the sixteenth century. But Spenser remained un-
imitated and Shakspeare was inimitable ; the drama, however,
wliich in tliis as in the last generation monopohzed the best
minds, received new develoj^ments, poetry was enriched beyond
precedent, and jirose writing blossomed into a harvest of unex-
ampled eloquence. But although, under the rule of James,
learning did good service in theology and the classics, English
^vriting began to be infected with pedantic affectations. The
chivah'ous temper of the preceding age was on the wane, coarse-
ness began to pass into licentiousness, and moral degeneracy
began to diffuse its poison widely over the hghter kinds of hter-
ature. Bacon, the great pilot of modern science, gave to the
world the rudiments of his pliilosophy. Bishop Hall exemplified
not only the elotpience and talent of the clergy, but the begin-
ning of that resistance to the tendencies by which the church
was to be soon overthrown. The drama was headed by Ben
Jonson, honorably severe in morals, and by Beaumont and
Fletcher, who heralded the licentiousness which soon corrupted
the art generally, while the poet Donne introduced fantastic
eccentricities into poetical composition.

Some of the most eloquent prose writings of the English
language had their Inrth amidst the convulsions of the Civil
War, or in the strangely perplexed age of the Commonwealth
and protectorate (1649-1660), that stern era wliich moulded the
mind of one poet gifted with extraordinary genius. Although
Milton would not, in all likelihood, have conceived the " Para-
dise Lost " had he not felt and acted with the Puritans, yet it
would have been less the consummate work of art wliich it is,
had he not fed his fancy with the courtly pomp of the last days
of the monarchy.

The prose writers of this time are rej)resented by Bishop Hall
and Jeremy Taylor, among the clergy, and Selden and Camden
among the laymen. The roughness of speech and manners of
EhzalK'th's time, followed, in the next reign, by a real coarse-
ness and lowness of sentiment, grew rapidly worse under Charles,
whose reign was especially prolific in poetry, the tone of which
varied from grave to gay, from devotion to licentiousness, from
severe solemnity to in(lecent levity ; })ut no great poet appeared
in the crowd. The drama Avas still rich in genius, its most dis-
tinguished names being those of Ford, Massinger, and Shirley ;
but here depravity had taken a deeper root than elsewhere, and
it was a blessing that, soon after the breaking out of the war, the
theatres were closed, and the poets left to idleness or repentance.

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 453

The Commonwealth and Protectorate, extending over eleven
years (lG49-lt)GU), made an epoi-h in Uterature, as well as in
the state and church. The old Enjrhsh di-ama was extinct, and
poetry had few votaries. Cowley now closed with great brill-
iancy the eccentric and artificial school of wliich Donne had
been the founder, and Milton was undergoing the last stejjs of
that mental discipline that was to qualify him for standing forth
the last and all but the greatest of the poetical ancients. At the
same time, the approach of a modern era was indicated by the
frivolity of sentiment and ease of versification wliich prevailed in
the poems of Waller.

In philosophy, Hobbes now uttered his defiance to constitu-
tional freedom and ecclesiastical mdependence ; Heniy More
expounded his ])latonic dreams in the cloisters of Camljridge ;
and Cudworth vindicated the behef in the being of the Ahnighty
and in the foundations of moral distinctions. The Pm-itans, the
ruling power in the state, became also a power in literature, nobly
represented by Richard Baxter. INIilton, like many of his re-
markable contemporaries, lived into the succeeding generation,
and he may be accepted as the last representative of the elo-
quence of English prose in that brilliant stage of its history
which terminated about the date of the Restoration.

The aspect of the last forty years of the seventeenth century
— the age of the Restoration and the Revolution — is far from
being encouraging, and some features marking many of their
literary works are positively revolting. Of the social evils of
the time, none infected litei-atui'e so deeply as the depravation of
morals, into which the court and aristocracy plunged, and many
of the people followed. The drama sunk to a frightful gross-
ness, and the tone of all other poetry was lowered. The rein-
stated courtiers imported a mania for foreign models, especially
French, literary works were anxiously moulded on the tastes of
Paris, and this pi-evalence of exotic predilections lasted for more
than a century. But amidst these and other weaknesses and
blots there was not wanting either strength or brightness.

The literary career of Dryden covers the whole of this period
and marks a change which contained many improvements.
Locke was the leader of ])hiloso])hical speculation ; and mathe-
matical and physical science had its distinguished votaries,
headed by Sir Isaac Newton, whose illustrious name alone would
have made the age innnortal.

The Nonconformists, forbidden to speak, wrote and jirinted.
A younger generation was gro\ving up among them, and some
of the elder race still survived, such as Baxter, Owen, and Cal-
amy. But greatest of all, and only now reaching the climax of
his strength, was Milton, hi his neglected old age consoling him-

454 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

self for the disappointments which had darkened a weary life,
by consecrating its waning years, with redoubled ardor of devo«
tion, to religion, to truth, and to the service of a remote pos-
terity.

In England, as elsewhere in Europe, the temper of the
eighteenth century was cold, dissatisfied, and hypercritical.
Old principles were called in question, and the literary man, the
statesman, the philosoplier, and the theologian found their tasks
to be mainly those of attack or defence. The opinions of the
nation and the sentiments which they prompted were neither
sj^eculative nor heroic, and they received adequate literary ex-
pression in a philosophy which acknowledged no higher motive
than utility, — in a kind of poetry which found its field in didactic
discussion, and sunk in narrative into the coarse and domestic.
In all departments of literature, the form had come to be more
regarded than the matter ; and melody of rhythm, elegance of
phrase, and symmetry of parts were held to be higher excel-
lences than rich fancy or fervid emotion. Sucli an age could
not give birth to a literature possessing the loftiest and most
striking qualities of poetry or of eloquence ; but it increased the
knowledge previously possessed by mankind, swept away many
wrong opinions, produced many literary works, excellent in
thought and expression, and exercised on the English language
an influence partly for good and partly for evil, which is shown
in every sentence which we now speak or write.

The First Generation is named from Queen Anne (1702-
1714), but it includes also the reign of her successor. Our no-
tion of its literary character is derived from the poetry of Pope
and the prose of Addison and his friends. In its own region,
which, though not low, is yet far from the highest, the lighter
and more popular literature of Queen Anne's time is valuable ;
its lessons were full of good sense and correct taste, and as liter-
ary artists, the winters of this age attained an excellence as emi-
nent as can be attained by art not inspired by the enthusiasm of
genius nor emjjloyed on majestic themes. In its moral tone,
the early part of the eighteenth century was much better than
that of the age before it.

The Second Generation of the century may be reckoned as
contained in the reign of George II. (1727-1760). It was more
remarkable than the preceding for vigor of thinking and often
for genuine poetic fancy and susceptibility, though inferior in
the skill and details of literary composition. Samuel Johnson
produced his principal works before the close of this period.
Among the novelists, Richardson alone had anything in common
with him. Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne are equally distant
from the dignified pomp of liis manner and the ascetic elevation

ENGLISH LITERATUIiE. 455

of his morality. In contrast to the looseness of the novels and
the skepticism of Hume, the reasoning:,' of liutler was emjJoyed
in defense of sacred trutii, and tlie stern dissent of Whitefield
and Wesley was entered against religious deadness. Poetry
began to stir with new life ; a noble ambition animated Young
and Akenside, and in Thomson, (iray, and Collins a finer poetic
sense was percfptible.

The Third Generation of the eighteenth century, beginning
with the acoession of George III. (17G0), was by no means so
fertile in literary genius as either of the other two. But the
earliest of its remarkable writers, Hume, Robertson, and Gib-
bon, produced works which have rarely been exceeded as liter-
ary compositions of their class. In ethics, there were Paley
and Adam Smith ; in psychology and metaphysics, Reid and
the founders of the Scottish school ; and in the list of poets
who adorned these forty years were Goldsmith, Cowper, and
Burns.

The nineteenth century, for us naturally more interesting than
any other period of English literature, is, in its intellectual char-
acter, peculiarly difficult of analysis, from its variety and nov-
elty. For the reason that we have been moulded on its lessons,
we are not favorably ]>laced for com})rehending it profoundly, or
for impartially estimating the value of the monuments it has pro-
duced.

It has been a time of extraordinary mental activity more
widely diffused than ever before throughout the nation at large.
AVhile books have been multiplied beyond jirecedent, readers
have increased in a yet greater proportion, and the diffusion of
enlio-htenment has been aimed at as zealously as the discovery
of new truths. AYliile no other time has exhibited so surpris-
ing a variety in the kinds of literature, none has been so distin-
guished for the prevalence of enlightened and pliilanthropic sen-
timent.

In point of literary merit, the half centm-y presents two suc-
cessive and dissimilar stages, of wliich the first or opening epoch
of the century, embraced in its first thirty years, was by far the
most brilliant. The animation and energy which characterized
it arose from the universal excitation of feeling and the mighty
collision of opinions which broke out over aU Europe with the
first French Revolution, and the fierce struggle so long main-
tained almost single-handed by England against Napoleon I.
The strength of that age was greatest in poetry, but it gave birth
to much valuable speculation and eloquent writing. The poeti-
cal literature of that time has no i)arallel in English literatm-e,
unless in the age of Shakspeare.

A marked feature in the Bnglish poetry of the nineteenth

456 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

century is the want of skill in execution. Most of the poets not
only neglect polisliing in diction but also in symmetry of plan,
and this fault is common to the most reflective as well as the
most passionate of them. Byron, in his tales and sketches, is
not more deficient in skill as an artist than Wordsworth in his
" Excursion," the huge fragment of an unfathomable design,
cherished throughout a long and thoughtful lifetime.

Another feature is tliis, that the poems which made the strong-
est impression were of the narrative kind. That and the drama
may be said to be the only forms of representation adequate to
embody the spirit or to interest the sympathies of an age and na-
tion immersed in the turmoil of energetic action.

Among the prose writings of this period, two kinds of compo-
sition employed a larger fund of literary genius than any other,
and exercised a wider influence ; these were the novels and ro-
mances, and the reviews and other periodicals. Novel-writing
acquired an unusually high rank in the world of letters, through
its greatest master, and was remarkable for the high character
imprinted on it. By Scott and two or three precursors and
some not unworthy successors, the novel was made for us nearly
all that the drama in its palmy days had been for our fore-
fathers, imbibing as much of its poetic spirit as its form and pur-
pose allowed, thoughtful in its ^^ews of life, and presenting pic-,
tures faithful to nature.

In the beginning of the present century was founded the dy-
nasty of the reviews, which now began to be chosen as the vehi-
cles of the best prose writing and the most energetic thinking
that the nation could command. Masses of valuable knowledge
have been laid up, and streams of eloquence have been poured
out in the periodicals of our century by authors who have often
left their names to be guessed at. But the best writers have
not always escaped the dangers of this form of writing, which
is unfavorable to completeness and depth of knowledge, and
strongly tempting to exaggeration of style and sentiment. This
evil has worked on the ranks of inferior contributors with a
force which has seriously injured the purity of the public taste.
The strong points of periodical writers are their criticism of Ut-
erary works and their speculation in social and political philoso-
phy, which have nowhere been handled so skillfully as in the
Reviews. After poetry, they are the most valuable departments
in the literature of the fh'st age.

Since the Anglo-Saxon period, English literature has derived
much of its materials and inspiration from the teaching of other
countries. In the Middle Ages, France furnished the models of
chivalrous poetry and much of the social system ; the Augustan
age of French letters, the reign of Louis XIV., ruled the liten

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 457

ary taste of Enjjland from the Restoration to the middle of the
eighteenth century ; and from Germany, more than from any
other foreign nation, have come the intluences hy whicli the in-
tellect of Great Britain has been affe(;ted, especially during the
last thirty years. Within this time, the study and translation of
Gennan literature have become fashionable pui-suits, and on the
whole, liigldy beneficial. The philology of Germany and its
profound poetical criticism have taught much : the j)hilosophical
tendency of German theolog}- has engaged the attention of
teachers of reUgion, and had its effect both for good and evil,
and the accurate study of the highest bi-anches of German phi-
losophy has tended decidedly to elevate the standard of abstract
speculation.

The most hopeful sjnnptom of English Uterature in the last
thirty years is to be found in the zeal and success with which its
teachings have been extended beyond the accustomed limits.
Knowledge has been diffused with a zeal and rapidity never be-
fore dreamed of, and the spirit which jjrompted it has been
worthily embodied in the enlarged and enlightened temper with
which it has been communicated. In the midst of much error,
there are many featm-es prominent wliich presage the birth of a
love of mankind more expansive and generous than any that has
ever yet pervaded society.

The present age possesses no poetry comparable to that of the
preceding, and few men who unite remarkable eloquence with
power of thought. Among the thinkers, there is greater activ-
ity of speculation in regard to questions affecting the nature and
destiny of man ; and problems have been boldly propounded,
but tlie solutions have not been found, and amidst much doubt
and dimness, the present generation seems to be strugglmg to-
ward a new organization of social and intellectual life.

Tlie literatm-e of England may be divided into three periods :
the first, extending from the departure of the Romans to the
Norman Conquest (448-lOGG), comprises the literatui'e in the
Celtic, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon tongues.

The second period, extending from tlie Norman Conquest to
the accession of Henry YIII. (1066-1509). contains the liter-
ature of the Norman ])eriod from 1066 to 1307, in the Latin,
' Norman-French, and Anglo-Saxon tongues, the transition of the
Anglo-Saxon into P^nglish, and the Uterature of the fom*teenth
and fifteenth centiu'ies.

The tliird period, extending from 1509 to 1884, includes the
literature of the age of the Reformation, that of the age of
Spenser, Shakspcare, Bacon, and INIilton, of the Restoration
and Revolution, and of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

2. TuE Lajiguage. — The English language is directly de'

458 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

scended from the Anglo-Saxon, but derives much from the Nor-
man-French, and from the Latin. Although the Celtic in its
branches of Cymric and Gaelic still continues to be the speech
of a portion of the inhabitants of Great Britain, it has never ex-
ercised any influence on the language of the nation.

The origin of the Anglo-Saxon tongue is involved in obscurity.
It most nearly resembles the Frisic, a Low German dialect once
spoken between the Rhine and the Elbe, and which is the parent
of modern Dutch.

Before the battle of Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon tongue had
been spoken in England for at least six hundred years, during
which time it must have undergone many changes and dialectic
variations. On the subjugation of the conflicting states by the
kings of Wessex, the language of the West Saxons came to be
the ruling one, and its use was extended and confirmed by the
example of Alfred, himself a native of Berks. But it does not
necessarily follow that this dialect is the parent of the English
language. We must look for the probable ground-work of this
in the gradual coalescence of the leading dialects.

The changes by which the Anglo-Saxon passed into the mod-
em English assumed in succession two distinct types, marking
two eras quite dissimilar. First came the Semi-Saxon, or tran-
sition period, throughout which the old language was suffering
disorganization and decay, a period of confusion, perplexing
ahke to those who then used the tongue, and to those who now
endeavor to trace its vicissitudes. This chaotic state came to
an end about tlie middle of the thirteenth century, after a durar
tion of nearly two hundred years. The second era, or period
of reconstruction, follows, during which the language may be de-.
scribed as English.

A late critic divides the Old English Period, extending from
1250 to 1500, into the Early English (1250-1330) and the
Middle English (1330-1500). The latter was used by Chaucer
and Wickliffe, and is in all essentials so like the modern tongue,
except in the spelling, that a tolerable English scholar may easily
understand it. A great change was effected in the vocabulary
by the introduction and natm-alization of words from the French.
The poems of Chaucer and Gower are studded with them, and
the style of these favorite writers exercised a commanding in-
fluence ever after.

The gi'ammar of the English language, in all points of impor-
tance, is a simplification of the grammar of the Anglo-Saxon.
In considering the sources of the English vocabulary, we find
that from the Anglo-Saxon are derived fo-st, almost all those
words which import relations ; secondly, not only all the adjec
lives, but all the other words, nouns, and verbs which grammar

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 459

rians call irrej^ilar ; thirdly, the Saxon gives us in most in-
stances our only names, and in all instances those which snggest
themselves most readily for the objects perceived throu<rh the
sensea ; fourthly, all words, with a few exceptions, whose signifi-
cation is specific;, are Anglo-Saxon. For instance, we use a
foreign, naturalized term when we speak of color, or motion, in
general, but the Saxon in speaking of the particidar color or mo-
tion, and the style of a writer becomes animated and suggestive
in proportion to the frequency with which he uses these specific
terms ; fifthly, it furnishes a rich fund of expressions for the
feelings and affections, for the persons who are the earliest and
most natural objects of our attachment, and for those inanimate
things whose names are figuratively significant of domestic
union ; sixthly, the Anglo-Saxon is, for the most part, the lan-
guage of business ; of the counting-house, the shop, the street,
the market, the farm. Among an eminently practical ])eople it
is eminently the organ of practical action, and it retains this pre-
rogative in defiance alike of the necessary innovations caused by
scientific discovery and of the coi'ruptions of ignorance and af-
fectation. Seventhly, a very large proportion of the language of
invective, humor, satire, and colloquial pleasantry is Anglo-
Saxon. In short, the Teutonic elements of our vocabulary are
equally valuable in enabling us to speak and ^^Tite perspicuously
and with animation ; and besides dictating the laws wliich con-
nect our words, and furnishing the cement which binds them to-
gether, they yield all our aptest means of describing imagination,
feeling, and the every-day facts of life.

From the Latin the English has borrowed more or less for
two thousand years, and freely for more than six centm-ies ; but
from the time of the Conquest it is difficult to distinguish words
of Latin origin from those of French. The Latinisms of the
language have arisen chiefly in three epochs. The first was the
thirteenth century, which followed an age devoted to classical
studies, and its theological \^Titers and poets coined freely in the
Roman mint. The second was the Elizabethan age, when, in
the enthusiasm of a new revival of admiration for antiquity, the
privilege of naturalization was used to an extent which tlireat-
ened serious danger to the ])urity and ease of s])eech. In the
third epoch, the latter part of the eighteenth century, Johnson
was the dictator of form and style, and the ])()ini)i)us rotundity
that then prevailed has been ])ennanently injurious, although
our Latin words, on the Avhole, have done nuich more good than
harm.

The introduction of French words began witli the Conquest,
when the political condition of the country made it imperativo
that many words should be understood. The second stage be'

460 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

gan about a century later, when the few native Enghshmen who
loved letters entered on the study of French poetry. The third
era of EngUsh Gallicisms opened in the fourteenth century, when
the French tastes of the nobles, and the zeal with which Chaucer
and other men of letters studied the poetry of France, greatly
contributed to introduce that tide of French diction which flowed
on to the close of the Middle Ages. By that time the new
words were so numerous and so strongly ingrafted on the native
stock that aU subsequent additions are unimportant. The dic-
tionaries of modern English are said to contain about 38,000
words, of which about 23,000 or five eighths of the whole num-
ber, come from the Anglo-Saxon.

The English language, by its remarkable combination of
strength, precision, and copiousness, is worthy of being, as it
already is, spoken by many miUions, and these the part of the
human race that appear likely to control, more than any others,
the futm-e destinies of the world.

PERIOD FIRST.

Feom the Departure of the Romans to the Norman Conquest

(448-1066),

1. Celtic Literature. — During this period four languages
were used for literary communication in the British Islands;
two Celtic tongues spoken by nations of that race, who still oc-
cupied large portions of the country ; Latin, as elsewhere the
organ of the church and of learning ; and Anglo-Saxon. The
first of the Celtic tongues, the Erse or Gaelic, was common only
to the Celts of Ireland and Scotland, where it is still spoken.
The second, that of the Cymrians or ancient Britons, has been
preserved by the Welsh.

The literary remains of this period in Ireland consist of
bardic songs and historical legends, some of which are asserted
to be older than the ninth century, the date of the legendary
collection called the " Psalter of Cashel," which still sui-yives.
There exist, also, valuable prose chronicles which are believed
to contain the substance of others of a very early date, and
which furnish an authentic contemporary history of the country
in the language of the people from the fifth century. No other
modern nation of Europe is able to make a similar boast.

All the earliest relics of the Scotch Celts are meti-ical. The
poems which bear the name of Ossian are professedly celebra-
tions by an eye-witness of events which occurred in the third
century. They were first presented to the world in 1762 by
Macpherson, a Scotch poet, and represented by him to be trans-

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 461

lations from the ancient Gaelic poetry handed down hy tradition
through so many (centuries and still found among the Higlilands.
The question of their authenticity excited a fierce literary con-
troversy which still remains unsettled. By some recent English
and German critics, however, Ossian's poems are considered
genuine. The existence of bards among the Celtic nations is
well established, and tlieir songs were preserved with pride. The
name of Ossian is mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis in the
twelfth century, and that of Fingal, the hero of the legends, was
so popular that in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries many
bishops complained that their people were more familiar with
Fingal than witli tlie catecliism. The GaeUc original of Ossian
was 2)ul)lislu'd in 1807.

The literature of the Cymric Celts is particularly interesting,
as affording those fragments of British poetry and history from
which the magnificent legends were built up to immortalize
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. In the
bardic songs and elsewhere, frequent allusion is made to this
heroic prince, who with his warriors resisted the Saxon enemies
of his country, and who, we are told, died by domestic treason,
the flower of the British nobles perishing with him. His deeds
were magnified among the Welsh Britons, and among those who
sought refuge on the banks of the Loire. The chroniclers wove
these traditions into a legendary history of Britain. From this
compilation Geoffrey of jNIonmouth, in the twelfth century, con-
structed a Latin historical work ; and the poets of cliivalry, al-
lured by the beauty and pathos of the tale, made it for ages the
centre of the most animated pictures of romance.

Many ancient Welsh writings are extant which treat of a
wonderful variety of to])ics, both in prose and verse. The sin-
gular pieces called the Triads show a marked character of primi-
tive anticjuity. They are collections of historical facts, mytho-
logical doctrines, maxims, traditions, and rules for the structure
of verse, expressed with extreme brevity, and disposed in groups
of three. Among the Welsh metrical remains, some are plausi-
bly assigned to celebrated bards of the sixth century. There is
also a considerable stock of old Welsh romances, the most re-
markable of which are contained in a series called the " ]\Iabi-
nogi," or Tales of Youth, many of which have been translated
into English. Some of these stories are verv similar to the older
Norse Sagas, and must have sprung from traditions of a very
rude and early generation.

2. Latix Litkk.vtukk. — Tlie Latin learning of the Dark
Ages foi'med a point of contact between instructed men of all
countries. At first it was necessarily ado])ted, — the native
tongues bemg m their infancy ; and it was afterwards so tena*

462 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

ciously adhered to, that the Latin literature of the ISIiddle Ages
far exceeds in amount all other. Its cultivation in England
arose out of the introduction of Christianity, and its most valued
uses related to the chui'ch.

Almost all who cultivated Latin learning were ecclesiastics,
and by far the larger nmnber of those who became eminent in
it were natives of Ireland. Amidst the convulsions which fol-
lowed the fall of the Roman empire, Ireland was a place of rest
and safety to fugitives from England and the Continent, and it
contained for some centm-ies a larger amomit of learning than
could have been collected in all Europe.

With the introduction of the Christian faith each nation be-
came a member of the ecclesiastical commmiity, and maintained
its connection Avith other nations and with Rome as the common
centre ; thus commimication between different countries received
a new impulse. The churches and schools of England received
nany distinguished foreigners, and many of the native chm'ch-
men lived abroad. Of the three scholars who held the highest
place in the literature of this period — Bede (d. 735), Alcuin
(d. 804), and Erigena (d. 884), (celebrated for his original
views in philosophy) — the two last gave the benefit of their
talents to France. The writings of the Venerable Bede, as he is
called, exhibit an extent of classical scholarship surprising for
his time, and his " Ecclesiastical History of England " is to this
day a leading authority not only for church annals, but for all
public events that occurred in the earher part of the Saxon
period.

3. Literature in the Anglo-Saxox Tongue. — The re-
mains of Anglo-Saxon literature, both in prose and verse, differ
essentially from the specimens of a similar age which come down
to us from other nations. The ancestral legends, which were at
once the poetry and history of their contemporaries, the Anglo-
Saxons entirely neglected ; they even avoided the choice of
national themes for their poetry, which consisted of ethical re-
flections and religious doctrines or narratives. They eschewed
all expression of impassioned fancy, and embodied in rough but
lucid phrases practical information and every-day shrewdness.

Among the Anglo-Saxon metrical monuments thi-ee historical
poems are still preserved, which embody recollections of the Con-
tinent, and must have been composed long before the emigra-
tions k) England ; of these the most important is the tale of
" Beowulf," consisting of six thousand lines, which is essentially
a Norse Saga.

After the introduction of Christianity there appeared many
fiymns, metrical lives of the saints, and religious and reflective
poems. The most remarkable relics of this period are the works

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 463

attributed to Csedinon (d. 680), whose narrative poems on scrijK
tural events are ins])ired by a noble tone of solemn imaj^ination.

'J'he melody of the Saxon verse was regulated by syllabic ac-
cent or emphasis, and not by quantity, like the classical metres.
Alliteration, or the use of several syllables in the same stanza
beginning with the same letter, takes the ])lace of rhyme. The
alliterative metres and the strained and figurative diction com-
mon to the Anglo-Saxon poets was common to the Northmen,
and seems to have been derived from them.

Anglo-Saxon prose was remarkable for its straightforward and
perspicuous simplicity, and, especially after the time of Alfred,
it had a marked preference over the Latin. Translations were
early made from the Latin, jiarticularly versions of parts of the
Scriptures, which come next, in point of date, to the Mceso-Gothic
translation of Ul])hilas, and preceded by several generations all
similar attempts in any of the new languages of Europe.

The most imjjortant monument of Saxon prose literature is the
series of historical records arranged together under the name
of " The Saxon Chronicle," which is made up from records kept
in the monasteries, })robably from the time of Alfred, and brought
down to the year 1154.

The illustrious name of Alfred (849-900) closes the record of
Anglo-Saxon literature. From liim went forth a spirit of moral
strength and a thirst for enlightenment wliich worked marvels
among an ignorant and half-barbarous people. Besides his trans-
lations from the Scri2)tures, he made selections from St. Augus-
tine. Bede, and other writers ; he translated " The Consolations
of Philosophy," by Boethius, and he incorporates his own reflec-
tions with all these authors. It is impossible, at this time, to
estimate justly the labors of Alfred, since the obstacles which in
his time impeded the acquisition of knowledge cannot even now
be conceived. '* I have wished to live worthily," said he, " while
I lived, and after my life, to leave to the men who should come
after me, my remembrance in good works."

PERIOD SECOND.

From the Norman Conquest to the Accession of Henrt VIII.

(1066-1509).

1. LiTERATURK IN THE Latin Tongue. — The Norman Con-
quest introduced into England a foreign race of kings and barons,
with their military vassals, and churchmen, who followed the
conqueror and his successors. The generation succeeding the
Conquest gave birth to little that was remarkable, but the twelfth
century was particularly distinguished for its classical scholarship,
and Norman-French poetry began to find English imitators.

464 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

The thirteenth century was a decisive epoch in the constitu-
tional as well as in the intellectual history of England. The
Great Charter was extorted from John ; the representation of
the commons from his successors ; the universities were founded
or organized ; the romantic poetry of France began to be trans-
fused into a language intelligible throughout England ; and above
all, the Anglo-Saxon tongue was in this century finally trans-
formed into English. Three of the Crusades had already taken
place ; the other four fell within the next century ; and these
wars diffused knowledge, and kindled a flame of zeal and devo-
tion to the church.

The only names which adorned the annals of erudition in
England in the latter half of the eleventh century were those
of two Lombard priests — Lanfranc (d. 1089) and Anselm (d.
1109). They prepared the means for diffusing classical learning
among the ecclesiastics, and both acquired high celebrity as the-
ological writers. Their influence was visible on the two most
learned men whom the country produced in the next century —
John of Salisbury (d. 1181), befriended by Thomas a Becket,
and Peter of Blois, the king's secretary, and an active states-
man.

In the thirteenth century, when the teachings of Abelard and
Rosellinus had made philosophy the favorite pursuit of the schol-
ars of Europe, England possessed many names which, in this
field, stood higher than any others — among them Alexander do
Hales, called "the Irrefragable Doctor," and Johannes Duns
Scotus, one of the most acute of thinkers. In the same age,
while Scotland sent Michael Scott in+o Germany, where he prose-
cuted his studies with a success that earned for him the fame
of a sorcerer, a similar character was acquired by Roger Bacon
(d. 1292), a Franciscan friar, who made many carious con-
jectures on the possibility of discoveries which have since been

made.

Very few of the liistorical works of this period possess any
merit, except as curious records of fact.^ Chronicles were kept
in the various monasteries, which furnish a series extending
through the greater part of the Middle Ages. Among these his-
torians are William of Malmesbury, who belonged properly to
\,he twelfth century ; Geoffrey of Monmouth, who preserved for
us the stories of Arthur, of Lear, and Cymbeline ; Gerald de
Barri, or Giraldus Cambrensis ; Matthew Paris, a Benedictine
monk, of St. Albans ; Henry of Huntingdon ; Gervase of Til-
bury ; and Roger de Hoveden.

The spirit of resistance to secular and ecclesiastical tyranny,
which now began to show itself among the English people, found
also a medium of expression in the Latin tongue. The most

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 465

biting satires against the church, and the most lively political
pas(|uinades, were thus expressed, and written abnost always by
churchmen. To give these satires a wider circiUation, the Nor-
man-French came to be frecjuently used, but at the close of the
period the English dialect was almost the only organ of this
satirical minstrelsy.

The Latin tongue also became the means of preserving and
transmitting an immense stock of tales, by which the later poetry
of Europe jirofited largely. One of these legends, narrated by
Gervase of Tilbury, suggested to Scott the combat of Mai-mion
with the spectre knight.

A series of fictions called the " Gesta Romanorum " attained
great celebrity. It is composed of fables, traditions, and familiar
pictures of society, varying with the diifereiit countries it passed
through. The romance of Ai)ollonius, in the Gesta, furnished
the plot of two or three of Chaucer's tales, and of Gower's most
celebrated poem, which again gave the ground-work of Pericles,
Prince of Tyre. The Merchant of Venice, the Three Black
Crows, and Parnell's Hermit, are indebted also to the Gesta
Romanorum.

4. Literature ix Norman-French. — From the prefer-
ence of the Norman kings of England for the poets of their own
country, the distinguislied literary names of the first two centu-
ries after the Conquest are those of Norman poets. One of the
chief of these is AVace (fl. 1160), who composed in French his
" Brut d'Angleterre " (Brutus of England), the mj'thical son of
./Eneas and founder of Britain. The Britons settled in Cornwall,
AVales, and Bretagne had long been distinguished for their tra-
ditionary legends, which were at length collected by Geoffrey
of Monmouth (fl. 1138). and gravely related by him in Latin as
serious history. This jjroduction, composed of incretlible stories,
furnished the ground-work for Wace's poem, and proved an
unfailing resource for writers of romantic narration for two cen-
turies ; at a later period Shakspeare drew from it the story of
Lear ; Sackville that of Ferrex and Porrex ; Drayton repro-
duced it in his Poly-Olbion, and INIilton and other poets frequently
draw allusions from it. The Romances of chivalrN'. drawn from
tliL' same source, were composed fur the P>nglish court and nobles,
and the translation of them was the most fre<iuent use to which
the infant English was api)lied. They imprinted on English
poetry characteristics which it did not lose for centuries, if it
can be said to have lost them at all.

A poetess known as Marie of France made copious use of
British materials, and addressed herself to a king, suj)j)osed to
have been Henry VL Her twelve lays, which celebrate the
marvels of the Round Table, are among the most beautiful relics

466 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

of the Middle Ages, and were freely used by Chaucer and other
English j)oets.

The romances are, many of them, in parts at least, delightfully
imaginative, spirited, or pathetic, and their history is important
as iUustrating mediaeval manners and customs, and for their con-
nection '^^^th early English literature. Among the oldest of
these romances is " Havelok," relating to the early Norse settle-
ment in England, the " Gest of King Horn," and " Guy of War-
wick."

But of all the French romances, the most interesting by far
are those that celebrate the glory and fall of King Arthur and
the Knights of the Round Table. The order in which they were
composed seems to have been the same with that of the events
narrated.

First comes the romance of " The Saint Graal," relating the
history of this sacred reUc which was carried by Joseph of Ari-
mathea or his descendants into Britain, where it vanished for
ages from the eyes of sinful men.

Second, the romance of "Merlin," which derives its name
from the fiend-born prophet and magician, celebrates the birth
and exploits of Artluir, and the gathering round liim of the
Knights of the Round Table. The historic origin of this story
is from Geoffrey of Monmouth, though it is disguised by its
supernatural and chivalrous features.

In the third romance, that of Launcelot, the hero nurtured
by the Lady of the Lake in her fairy realm beneath the waters,
grows up the bravest champion of chivalry, admired for all its
virtues, although guilty of treachery to Ai-thur, and from his guilt
is to ensue the destruction of the land.

Fourth, the " Quest of the Saint Graal " relates the solitary
wanderings of the knights in this search, and how the adventure
is at last achieved by Sir Gallahad, who, wliile the vision passes
before him, prays that he may no longer live, and is immediately
taken away from a world of calamity and sin.

Fifth, " The Mort Artus," or Death of Arthur, winds up with
supernatural horrors the tale into which the fall of the ancient
Britons had been thus transformed. Arthur, wounded and dying,.
is carried by the fairy of the lake to the enchanted island of
Avalon, there to dream away the ages that must elapse before
his return to reign over the perfected world of chivaby.

Sixth, " The Adventures of Tristram," or Tristan, is a repe-
tition of those which had been attributed to Launcelot of the
Lake.

These six romances of the British cycle, the originals of aU
others, were written in the latter half of the twelfth century for
the English court and nobles, some of them at the suggestion of

ENGUSn LITERATURE. 467

king Henry II. Although composed in French, the authors
were Englishnu'ii, ;uul from these prose romances tlie ])oets of
P^-ance constructed many metrical romances whi(;h iii the fif-
teenth centuiy reappeared as English metrical romances.

5. SiVXOx Ex(iLisii. — The vSaxon tongue of England decayed,
but like the healthy seed in the ground it germinated again.
The Saxon Chi-onicle wliich had been kept in the monasteries
ceased abruptly on the accession of Henry II., 1154, and at the
same ])eriod the Saxon language began to take a form in ■which
the beginning of the present English is apparent.

During the thirteenth century appeared a series of rhyming
chroniclers, the chief of whom were Layamon and Robert of
Gloucester. All the remains of the English tongue, in its tran-
sition state, are cliiefly in verse ; among them are the " Ormu-
lum " (so called from the name of the author, Ormin), which is
a metrical harmony of ])assages from the gospels contained in
the service of the mass, and the long fable of " The Owl and the
Nightingale," one of the most pleasing of these early relics.
" The Land of Cockayne," a satirical poem, said to have been
written by Michael of Kildare, belongs also to the thirteenth
century, as well as many anonymous poems, both amatory and
religious.

The old English drama was almost contemporaneous with the
formation of the Old English language ; but all dramatic efforts
previous to the sixteenth centmy were so rude as to deserve Uttle
notice.

6. Literature ix the Fourteenth Cextury. — The four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries, the afternoon and evening of the
Middle Ages, are the picturesque period in English history. In
the contemporary clironicle of Froissart, the reign of Edward
III. shines with a long array of knightly pageants, and a loftier
cast of imaginative adornment is imparted by the historical
dramas of Shakspeare to the troubled ride of the house of Lan-
caster and the crimes and fall of the brief dynasty of York.

The reign of Edward II. was as inglorious in literature as in
the Idstory of the nation. That of liis son was not more remark-
able for the victories of Poictiers and Cressy than for the tri-
umj)hs in poetry and thought. The Black Prince, the model of
historic chivalry, and Occam, the last and greatest of the English
scholastic philoso])hers, lived in the same century with Chaucer,
the father of English poetry, and Wicldiife, the herakl of the
Beformation.

The earlier half of the founeenth century, in its literary as-
pects, may be regarded as a separate period from the later. The
genius of the nation seemed to sleep. England, indeed, was the
birth-place of Occam (1300-1347), but he neither remained in

468 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

his own country, nor imparted any strong impulse to his coun-
trymen. Educated abroad, he hved chiefly in France, and died
in Munich. While the writings of his master, Dmis Scotus (d.
1308), were the chief authorities of the metaphysical sect called
Realists, Occam himself was the ablest and one of the earUest
writers among tlie NominaUst^. While the former of these
sects was held especially favorable to the Romish Chui'ch, the
latter was discouraged as heretical, and Occam was persecuted
for enunciating those opinions which are now held in one form
or another by almost all metaphysicians. No eminent names ap-
pear in the ecclesiastical literature of this period, nor in that of
the spoken tongue ; but the dawn of EngUsh literature was close
at hand.

The latter half of this century was a remarkable era in the
ecclesiastical and intellectual progress of England. Many col-
leges were founded, and learning had munificent patrons. The
increase of papal power led to claims wliich were resisted by the
clergy as well as by the parhament. Foremost among those who
called for refonn was the celebrated John Wickliffe (1324-1384).
A priest of high fame for his knowledge and logical dexterity,
he was placed at the head of several of the colleges of Oxford,
and there, and from the country parsonages to which he was
afterwards compelled to retreat, he thundered forth his denunci-
ations against the abuses of the church, attacked the papal su-
premacy, and set forth doctrinal views of his own nearly ap-
proaching to Calvinism. Although repeatedly called to account
for his opinions he was never even imprisoned, and he enjoyed
his church-livings to the last. But the church was weakened by
the Great Schism, and he was protected by powerful nobles.
Soon after his death, however, a storm of persecution burst on
his disciples, which crushed dissent till the sixteenth century.
We owe to Wickliffe the earhest version of the Scriptures into
English, which is among the first j^rose writings in the old
tongue.

The very oldest book in English prose, however, is the account
given by Sir John Mandeville of his thirty-three years' travel in
the P^ast, from wliich he returned about 1355. It is an odd and
amusing compound of facts and marvelous stories. But the best
specimens of English prose of this period are Chaucer's transla-
tion of Boethius, his " Testament of Love," and two of his Can-
terbury Tales.

In poetical literature, " The Vision of Piers Plowman," writ-
ten (1362) by a priest named Robert Langland, is one of the
highest works in point of genius and one of the most curious as
illustrating manners and opinions. The poet supposes liimself
falling asleep on Malvern Hills, and in his vision he describes

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 469

the vices of tlie times in an allegorical form, which has been
compared to " The Pilgrim's Progress." The poetical vigor of
many passages is extraordinary.

Jolm Gower (d. 1408), a cantemporary and friend of Chaucer,
is chiefly renu-mbered for liis " Confessio Amantis," or Lover's
Confession, a long English poem, containing physical, metaphys-
ical, and etliical reflections and stories taken from the common
repertories of the Miiidle Ages. It is tedious, and often feeble,
but it has many excellences of language and description.

Geoffrey Chaucer (i;528-140U) was born in London. He was
early thrown into public life and intimacy with men of liigh
rank. John of Gaunt was his chief patron, and he was several
times employed in embassies to France and Italy. A very large
projjortion of Chaucer's writings consists of free versions from
the Latin and French, and perhaps also from the Italian ; but
in some of these he has incorporated so much that is his own as
to make them the most celebrated and valuable of his works.
His originals were not the chivalrous romances, but the comic
Fabliaux, and the allegorical poetry cidtivated by the Trouveres
and Troubadours. Three of his largest minor works are thus
borrowed ; the '• Romance of the Rose," from one of the most
popular French poems of the preceding century ; *' Troilus and
Cressida," a free translation, probably, from Boccaccio ; and the
" Legend of Good Women," founded on Ovid's Epistles. The
poetical immortality of Chaucer rests on his " Canterbury Tales,"
a series of stories linked together by an ingenious device. A
party of about thirty ])ersons, the poet being one, are bound on
a pilgi-image to the tomb of Thomas h. Becket, at Canterbury ;
each person is to tell two tales, one in going, and the other in
returning. Twenty-four only of the stories are related, but they
extend to more than 17,000 lines. In the prologue, itself a poem
of great merit, the poet draws up the curtain from a scene of life
and manners which has not been surpassed in subsequent litera-
ture, a picture whose figures have been studied with the truest
observation, and are outlined with the firmest, yet most delicate
pencil. The vein of sentiment in these tales is always unaffected,
cheerful, and maidy, the most touching seriousness varj-ing with
the keenest humor. In some the tone rises to the highest flicrht
of heroic, reflective, and even religious poetry ; while in others it
sinlvs below coarseness into positive licentiousness of thought and
sentiment.

LiTKRATURK ix THE FIFTEENTH Cextury. — The fifteenth
century, usually marked in continental history as the epoch of
the Revival of Classical Learning, was not in England a period
of erudition or of original invention. The unwise and unjust
ivars with France, the revolts of the populace, and the furioua

470 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

struggles between the partisans of the rival houses desolated the
country, and blighted and dwarfed all intellectual growth. For
more than a hundred years after the death of Chaucer, scarcely
any names of mark distinguish the literary annals of England,
and the poetical compositions of this period are principally valu-
able as specimens of the rapid transition of the language into
modern English, Almost aU the literary productions previous
to the time of Chaucer were designed only for a limited audi-
ence. Neither comprehensive observation of society nor a wish
to instruct or please a wide circle of readers was observable be-
fore tliis period. Chaucer was indeed a national poet, an active
and enlightened teacher of all classes of men who were suscepti-
ble of literary instruction.

John Lydgate (d. 1430), a Benedictine monk, the best and
most popular poet of the fifteenth century, began to write before
the death of Chaucer, but in passing from the works of the latter
to those of Lydgate, we seem to be turning from the open high-
way into the dark, echoing cloisters. If he was the pupil of
Chaucer in manner and style, his masters in opinion and senti-
ment were the compilers of the " Gesta Romanorum."

Stephen Hawes, who wrote in the reign of Henry VII., is the
author of " The Pastime of Pleasure," an allegorical poem in the
same taste as the " Romance of the Rose." This allegorical
school of poetry, so widely spread through the Middle Ages, re-
appears in the Elizabethan age, where the same turn of thought
is seen in the immortal " Faerie Queene."

In leaving tliis period we bid adieu to metrical romances,
which, introduced into EngHsh in the latter half of the thirteenth
century, continued to be composed until the middle of the fif-
teenth century, and were to the last almost always translations
or imitations. Chivalrous stories next began to be related in
prose. The most famous of these, one of the best specimens of
Old EngHsh, and the most delightful of all repositories of ro-
mantic fiction is the " Morte Darthur," in which Sir Thomas
Malory, a priest in the reign of Edward IV., combined into one
narrative the leading adventures of the Roimd Table. '

As the romances ceased to be produced, the ballads gradually
took their place, many of which indeed are either fragments or
abridgments of them. The ballad-poetry was to the popular
• audience what the recital of the romances had been among the
nobles. The latter half of the fifteenth centmy appears to have
been fertile in minstrels and minstrelsy. " Chevy Chase," of
which Sir Philip Sidney said it would move him like the blast
of a trumpet, is one of the most ancient ; but, according to
Hallam, it relates to a totally fictitious event. The ballad of
"Robin Hood" had probably as little origin in fact.

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 471

Towards the close of the fifteenth century, a mifrhty revolu-
tion took place. William Caxtoii, a merchant of London resid-
in<r abroad, became acquainted with the recently invented art of
printing, and embraced it as a profession. He mtroduced it
into England about 1474, and practiced it for nearly twenty
years. He printed sixty-four works in all, and the low state of
taste and information in the pul)lic for which they were desig-
nated is indicated by the selection. But the enterprise and jia-
tience of Caxton hastened the time when tliis mighty discovery
• became available in England, and his name deserves to stand
with honor at the close of the survey of English literature in the
Middle Ages. Thenceforth literary works were to undergo a
total change of character, brought about by many causes, but
none more active than the substitution of the jjrinted book for
the manuscript.

6. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries in Scot-
land. — From the twelfth and thirteenth centm-ies there might
be collected the names of a few scholastic theologians of Scottish
birth, whose works have smwived ; but they spent their lives
mostly on the continent, as was the case with INIichael Scott, who
gained his fame as a wizard at the court of the Emperor Fred-
eric If. His extant writings are wholly inferior to those of
Friar Bacon, his contemporary.

Two metrical romances of note belong to the fourteenth cen-
tury, the " Original Cronykil " of Andrew Wyntoun (d. 1420),
a long history of Scotland, and of the world at large ; and " The
Bruce " of John Barbour (d. 1396), a narrative of the adven-
tures of King Robert in more than thirteen thousand rhpned
lines. Dramatic vigor and occasional breadth of sentiment en-
title this poem to a high rank. Sir Walter Scott, in his " Lord
of the Isles," owes much to " The Bruce."

^The earhest Scottish poem of the fifteenth century, "The
King's Quair," or Book, in which James I. (d. 1437) celebrates
the lady whom he afterwards married, presents no traces of a
distinct Scottish dialect. But James was educated in P^ngland,
and probably wrote there, and his pleasmg poem exhibits the
influence of those English writers whom he acknowledges as
his masters. From this time, however, the develojmient of the
language of Scotland into a dialect went rapidly on. The
" Wallace " of Henry the Minstrel, or Blind Harry, rivaled the
^' Bruce " in popularity, on account of the nu)re ])icturesque chai-
acter of the incidents, its passionate fervor, anil the wildness of
fancy by which it is distinguished.

Towards the close of this century, and in the beginning of the
next, Scottish poetry, now couched in a dialect decidedly pecul-
iar, was cultivated by men of high genius, iiobert Henrysou

472 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

(d. 1400) wrote " The Testament of the Faire Cresside," a coiv
tinuation of Chaucer's poem, and " Robin and Makyne," a beau-
tiful pastoral, preserved in Percy's '' Reliques."

More vigorous in thought and fancy, though inferior in skill
and expression, was Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld (d.
1522). His " King Hart " and " Palace of Honor " are com-
plex allegories ; and his translation of the ^neid is the earliest
attempt to render classical poetry into the living language of the
country.

William Dunbar (d. 1520), the best British poet of his age,
exhibits a versatility of talent which has rarely been equaled ;
but in his comic and familiar pieces, the grossness of language
and sentiment destroys the effect of their force and himior.
Allegory is his favorite field. In his " Golden Terge," the tar-
get is Reason, a protection against the assaidts of love. " The
Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins " is wonderfidly striking ; but
the design even of tliis remarkable poem could not be decorously
described.

While Scotland thus redeemed the poetical character of the
fifteenth century, her living tongue was used only in versified
compositions. Scottish prose does not appear in any literary
shape until the first decade of the sixteenth century.

PERIOD THIRD.

Feom the Accession of Henry VIII. to the Present Time

(1509-1902).

1. Age of the Reformation. — In the early part of the
sixteenth century human intellect began to be stln-ed by im-
pulses altogether new, wliile others, which had as yet been held
in check, were allowed, one after another, to work freely. But
there was no sudden or universal metamorphosis in literature, or
in those phenomena by which its form and spirit were deter-
mined. It was not untU 1568, when the reign of Elizabeth was
witliin thirty years of its close, that English literature assumed a
character separating it decisively from that of the ages wliich
had gone before, and took its station as the worthy organ of a
new epoch in the history of civilization. But the literary poverty
of the age of the Reformation was the poverty which the settler
in a new country experiences, while he fells the woods and sows
liis half-tilled fields ; a poverty, in the bosom of which lay rich
abundance.

The students of classical learning profited at first more than,
others by the diffusion of the art of printing, from the greater
number of classical works which were given to the press. For.
eign men of letters visited England ; Erasmus, especially, gave

ENGUSH LITERATURE. 473

a strong impulse to study, and Greek and Latin were learned
with an accuracy never before attained. Among the scholars of
the time were Cardinals Pole and Wolsey, Ridley, Aschani, and
Sii- Thomas More, the author of the '' Utopia," a romance in the
scholastic garb. It describes an imaginary common weak)', the
chief feature of wliich is a comnumity of property, on an imag-
inary island, from wluch the book takes its name. The epithet
"■ Utopian " is still used as descrij)tive of cliimerical schemes.

The most important works in the living tongue were those de-
voted to theology, and iu-st among them were the translations
of the Scriptiu-es into P^nglish, none of which had been publicly
attempted since that of Wickliffe. In 1526, William Tyndala
(afterwards strangled and burnt for heresy, at Antwerp), trans-
lated the New Testament, and the five books of Moses. In
1537, after the final breach of Henry VIII. with Rome, there
was published the first complete translation of the Bible, by
Miles Coverdale. Many others followed until the accession of
Mary, when the circiUation of the translation was made in
secrecy and fear. The theological v.riters of this period are
cliiefly controversial. Among them are Ridley, famous as a
preacher ; Cranmer, remarkaljle for his patronage of theologi-
cal learning, and Latuner (d. 1555), whose sermons and letters
are higldy instructive and interesting. The " Book of Martyrs,"
by John Fox (d. 1527), was printed towards the close of this
period.

The miscellaneous writings of this age in prose are most valu-
able as specimens of the language in its earliest maturity. None
of them are entitled to high rank as monuments of English liter-
ature. The style of Sir Thomas More (1480-1535) had great
excellence ; but his works were only the recreation of an accom-
plished man in a learned age. The writings of the learned
Ascham (1515-1565) have a value not to be measured by their
inconsiderable bidk. Their language is pure, idiomatic, vigorous
English ; and they exhibit a great variety of knowledge, re-
markable sagacity, and somid common sense. His most cele-
brated work, the ''Schoolmaster," proposes improvements in
education for which there is stiU both room and need. Thomas
Wilson, who AVTote a treatise on the " Art of Logic " and
•' Rhetoric," may be considered the first critical v,Titer in the
living tongue.

The poetry of England during the reigns of Henry VIII. and
his innnediate successors is like the ])rose. valuable for its rela-
tion to other things, rather than for its o\m merit. Yet it occu-
pies a higher j)lace than the j)rose ; it exliibits a decided con.
trast to that of tlie times past, and in many jioints bears a close
resemblance to the poetry of the energetic age that ^vas soon to
open.

474 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

The names of the poets of this age may be arrayed in three
grou23s, headed by Skelton, Surrey, and Sackville. The poems
of Skelton (d. 1529) are singiilarly though coarsely energetic.
He was the tutor of Henry VIU., and dm-ing the greater part
of the reign of his pupil he continued to satirize social and
ecclesiastical abuses. His poems are exceedingly curious and
grotesque, and the volubility with wliich he vents his acrid
humors is truly surjirising. Henry Howard, Earl of Sm-rey
(1516-1547), opened a new era in EngUsh poetry, and by his
foreign studies, and his refinement of taste and feeling, was en-
abled to turn poetical Uterature into a path as yet untrodden,
although in vigor and originality this ill-fated poet was inferior
to others who have been long forgotten. His works consist of
sonnets and poems of a lyrical and amatory cast, and a transla-
tion of the ^neid. He first introduced the sonnet, and the re-
fined and sentimental turn of thought borrowed from Petrarch
and the other Italian masters. In liis ^neid he introduced
blank verse, a form of versification in which the noblest EngUsh
poetry has since been couched. This was also taken from Italy,
where it had appeared only in the century. Surrey's versions of
some of the Psalms, and those of liis contemporary. Sir Thomas
Wyatt, are the most poHshed of the many similar attempts made
at that time, among which was the collection of Sternhold and
Hopkins.

Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst (1686-1608) wrote those
portions most worthy of notice, of the " Mirror for Magis-
trates," a collection of poems celebrating illustrious but unfor-
tunate personages who figure in the history of England. From
his " Induction," or preparatory poem, later writers have drawn
many suggestions.

The dramatic exhibitions of the Middle Ages, which origi-
nated in the church, or were soon apjiropriated by the clergy,
were of a religious cast, often composed by priests and monks
who were frequently the performers of them in the convents. All
the old religious plays called Mysteries were divided into Mira-
cles, or Miracle plays, founded on Bible narratives or legends
of the saints ; and Moralities or Moral plays, which arose out of
the former by the introduction of imaginary features and alle-
gorical personages, the story being so constructed as to convey
an ethical or religious lesson. They became common in England
about the time of the reign of Henry VI. (1422-1461). Some
of the Miracle plays treated of all the events of Bible history,
trom the Creation to the Day of Judgment ; they were acted on
festivals, and the perfoi-mance often lasted more than one day.
The most sacred things are here treated with undue freedom,
and the broadest and coarsest mirth is introduced to keep the

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 475

attention of the rutle audience. Many of them had a character
called Iniquity, whose avowed function was that of buffoonery.
The- Mysteries were not entirely overtlu-own by the lieforuia/-
tion, the Protestant Bishop Bale having composed several, in-
tended to instruct the people in the errors of popery. After the
time of Henry VIII. these plays are known by the name of
Interludes, the most celebrated of which are those by John
Heywood (the epigi-ammatist). They deal largely in satire, and
are not devoid of spirit and humor. But they have little skiU
in character-])ainting, and little interest in the story.

About the middle of the century (sixteenth) the drama extri-
cated itself completely from its ancient fetters, and both comedy
and tragedy began to exist in a rude reality. The oldest known
comedy was written by Nicholas Udall (d. looG) ; it has the
title of " Ralph Roister Bolster," a personage whose nusadven-
tures are represented with much comic force.

Ten years later the earliest tragedy, known by two names,
*' Gorboduc " and " Ferrex and Porrex," was ])ubUcly played in
the Lower Temple. It is fovmded on the traditions of fabulous
British liistory, and is believed to have been written by Thomas
Norton and Lord Bucklim'st. The chief merit of this earliest
English tragedy lies in its stately language and solemnly reflec-
tive tone of sentiment.

2. The Age ok Spenser, Shakspeabe, Bacon, and Milton
(1558-1 6G0). — The prose of this illustrious period is vast in
amount and various in range. The study of the Oriental lan-
guages and other pursuits bearing on theologj^ were prosecuted
with success, and many of the pliilosopliical and polemical writ-
ings were composed in Latin. A second series of translations
of the Scriptures were among the most imjiortant works of the
time. The first of the three versions which now appeared
(1560), came from a knot of English and Scotch exiles who
sought refuge in Geneva, and their work, known as the Geneva
Bible, though not adojjted by the Church of England, long con-
tinued in favor with the English Puritans and Scotch Presbyte-
rians, Cranmer's version was next revised (1568) under the
superintendence of jNIatthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury,
eminent among the fathers of the Englisli church, and called
the Bishops' Bible, a majority of fifteen translators having been
selected from the bench. The Catholic version, known as the
Douay Bible. a])])eared in 1610. Our current translation, which
also ajjpeared in 1610, during the reign of James I., occupied
forty-seven learned men, assisted by other eminent scholars, for
d period of three years.

Amonsr theolotrical writinsrs, the '* Ecclesia^^tical Politv" of
Hooker (1553-1600) is a striking effort of pliilosophical think-

il6 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

ing, and in point of eloquence one of the noblest monuments of
the language. More than Ciceronian in its fullness and dignity
of style, it wears with all its riclmess a sober majesty which is
equally admirable and rare. The sermons of Bishop Andrews
(1565-1626), though corrupt as models of style, made an ex-
traordinary impression, and contain more than any other works
of the kind the inwrought materials of oratory. The sermons of
Donne (1573-1631), while they are superior in style, are some-
times fantastic, Uke his poetry, but they are never coarse, and
they derive a touching interest from liis history.

But the most eloquent of all the old English divines are the
two celebrated prelates of the reign of Charles I., Joseph Hall
(1574-1656) and Jeremy Taylor (1613-1671), alike enainent
for Christian piety and conscientious zeal. Besides his pulpit dis-
courses. Bishop Hall has left a series of " Contemplations " on
passages of the Bible, and " Meditations," which are particu-
larly rich in beautiful descriptions. Among the most practical
and popular of Taylor's works are his " Holy Living " and
" Holy Dying," while his sermons distinguish him as one of the
great ornaments of the English pulpit. The chief theologian of
the close of the period was Richard Baxter (1615-1691). His
works have great value for their originality and acuteness of
thought, and for their vigorous and passionate though unpolished
eloquence. His " Call to the Unconverted " and " The Saint's
Everlasting Rest " deserve their wide popularity. Among the
semi-theological writers of the time are Fuller, Cudworth, and
Henry More. Fuller (1608-1661) is most widely known through
his " "Wortliies of England," a book of lively and observant gos-
sip. Cudworth and More, liis contemporaries, deviated in their
philosophical writings from the tendencies of Bacon and the
sensualistic doctrines of Hobbes, and regarded existence rather
from the spiritual point of view of Plato ; in the preceding gen-
eration, the skepticism of Lord Herbert of Cherbury taught a
different lesson from theirs.

In this period we encounter in the pliilosophical field two of
the strongest thinkers who have appeared in modern Europe,
Bacon and Hobbes. Bacon (1561-1620) aimed at the solution
of two great problems, the answers to which were intended to
constitute the " Instauratio Magna," the great Restoration of
Philosophy, that ctJossal work, towards which the chief writings
of tills illustrous authoi- w^ere contributions. The fii'st problem
was an Analytic Classification of all departments of Human
Knowledge, which occupies a portion of his treatise " On the
Advancement of Learning." Imperfect and erroneous as lus
sclieme may be allowed to be, D'Alembert and his coadjutors in
the last century were able to do no more than to copy and dis-

ENGLTSn LITERATURE.- 477

tort it. In his " Novum Orf,'anuni " he undertakes to supply
certain deficiencies of the AristoteUan system of h^f^c, and ex-
pounds his mode of philos<)])hi/.infj ; he was the first to unfold
the inductive metliod, whidi lie did in so masterly a way, that he
has earned, with jjosterity, the title of the father of experimental
science. His " Essays," from the excellence of their i^tyle and
the interesting nature of the subjects, are the most generally
read of all the author's productions. No English wi-iter sur-
passes Bacon in fervor and brilliancy of style, in force of expres-
sion, or in richness and significance of imagery. His writings,
though they received during his lifetime the neglect for wliich
he had proudly prejjared himself, gave a mighty impulse to sci-
entific thought for at least a century after his time. In his will,
the following strikingly proplietic passage is found : " My name
and memory I leave to foreign nations, and to mine own coun-
tiy, after some time is passed over."

The influence of Hobbes on philoso])hy in England has been
gi'eater than that of Bacon. In politics, his theory is that of
uncontrolled absolutism, subjecting religion and morahty to the
will of the sovereign ; in ethics he resolves all our impulses re-
garding right and wrong into self-love. His reasoning is close
and consistent, and if his premises are granted, it is hiirdly pos-
sible to avoid his conclusions. Other departments in the j)rose
literature of this period were amply filled and i-ichly adorned.
Speculations upon the Theory of Society and Civil Pohty were
frequent. Among them are the Latin works of Bellenden " On
the State," the '* New Atlantis," a romance by Lord Bacon, the
" Oceana" of Harrington, and the "Leviathan" of Hobbes.

In the collection of materials fo'' national history the period
was exceedingly active. Camden and Selden stand at the head
of the band of antiquaries. Hobbes wrote in liis old age '• Be-
hemoth, or a History of the Civil Wars," and the "Turkish His-
tory " of Knolles has been pronounced one of the most spirited
narratives in the language.

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618), while lying in the Tower
under sentence of death, wrote a " History of the World," from
the Creation to the Republic of Rome. The narrative is spii'ited
and })ervaded by a tone of tlcvout sentiment.

The accomplished Sir Philip Sidney (1554-158G). in his
" Defense of Poesy," pays an eloquent tribute to the value of
the most powerful of all the literary arts. His " Arcadia " is a
ponderous combination of romantic and pasU)ral incidents, the
unripe production of a young poet, but it abounds in isolated
passages beautiful alike in sentiment and language.

Towards the close of the period, Milton manifested extraordi-
nary power in prose vvi-iting ; his defense of the " Liberty of

478 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Unlicensed Printing " is one of the most impressive pieces of
eloquence in the English tongue. His style is more Latinized
than that of most of has contemporaries, and this exotic infection
pervades both his terms and liis arrangement ; yet he has passages
marvelously sweet, and others in which the grand sweep of his
sentences emulates the cathedral music of Hooker.

The press now began to pour forth shoals of short novels,
romances, and essays, and pamphlets on various subjectSo
Among other productions is Burton's " Anatomy of Melan»
choly," a storehouse of odd learning and quaintly-original ideas ;
it is deficient, however, in style and power of consecutive rea-
soning. Far above Burton in eloquence and strength of thought
is Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), whose writings have all
the characteristics of the age in a state of extravagant exaggera-
tion. The thoughtful melancholy, the singular mixture of skep-
ticism and credulity, and the brilliancy of imaginative illustra-
tion, give his essays a peculiarity of character that renders them
exceedingly fascinating. The poet Cowley, in liis prose writings,
is distinguished for his undeviating simplicity and perspicuity,
and for smoothness and ease, of which hardly another instance
could be produced from any other book written before the Res-
toration.

The English drama has been called Irregular in contrast to
the Regular drama of Greece and that of modern France,
founded upon the Greek, by the French critics of the age of
Louis XIV. The principal law of this system, as we have seen,
prescribed obedience to the Three Unities, of Time, of Place,
and of Action ; the two first being founded on the desire to imi-
tate in the drama the series of events which it represents, the
time of action was allowed fo extend to twenty-four hours, and
the scene to change from place to jilace in the same city. But
by Shakspeare and his contemjioraries no fixed limits were ac-
knowledged in regard either of time or place, the action stretch-
ing through many years, and the scene changing to very wide
distances. The rule prescribing unity of action, that everything
siiall be subordinate to the series of events which is taken as the
guiding-thread, is a much more sound one ; and in most of Shak-
speare's works, as well as those of his contemporaries, this unity
of impression, as it has been called, is fully preserved.

Before the year 1585 no perceptible advance had been made
in the drama, and for the period of sixty years, from that date
to the closing of the theatres in 1645, on the breaking out of
the Civil War, the history of Shaksjieare's works forms the lead-
ing thread. Men of eminent genius lived around and after him,
but there were none who do not derive much of their importance
from the relation in which they stand to him, and liardly any

ENGLISH lATERArURE. 470

whose U'orks do not owe much of their excellence to the influ-
ence of his.

Thus considered, the stages through which the drama now
passed may be said to have been four, three of whicJi occurred
chiefly during tlic life of the poet, the fourth after his death.
The first of tiiese periods witnessed the early manho<jd of Shak-
speare, and closes about 1593. Among his innnediate prede-
cessors and coadjutors were Marlowe and Greene. The jjlays
of Marlowe (15G2-1593) are stately tragedies, serious in pur-
pose, energetic and often extravagant in jjassion and in language,
and riclily and i)t)mpously imaginative. His " Tragical History
of Doctor P\mstus " is one of the finest poems in the language.
The jn-oductions of Greene are loose, legendary plays of a form
exemplified in C}^nbeline.

To the first period of the dramatic life of Shakspeare (1564-
1616) belong the " Two Gentlemen of Verona," the " Comedy
of Errors," and " Love's Labor 's Lost," which show that the
mighty master, even in these juvenile essays, had taken a wide
step beyond the dramas of the time. Pure comedy had no ex-
istence in England until he created it, and in these comedies it
is evident that everything is juvenile, unripe, and marvelously
imlike the grand pictures of life which he soon afterwards began
to ])alnt. But if he was more than a student in this first stage
of his progress, he was a teacher and model ever after. The
second period for Shakspeare and the drama closes with the
year 1600. During tliis most active part of his literaiy life, he
produced eight comedies, and re-wrote '' Romeo and Juliet."
But the most elevated works of these six years were his magnif-
icent series of historical plays. The series after 1600 began
with the great tragedies, Othello, Hamlet (recomposed), Mac^
beth, and Lear, followed by Henry VIII., the three tragedies
on Roman subjects, and the three singular pieces, '" Timon of
Athens," '" Troilus and Cressida," and " Measure for Measure,"
ap])arently of tlie same date. " Cymbeline " and the " Winter's
Tale " were probably composed after he had retired from the
turmoil of his ])rofession to the repose of his early home. In
the " Tempest," doubtless his last work, he ])eopled his haunted
island with a group of beings whose conception indicates a greater
variety of imagination, and in some points a greater depth of
thought than any others which he has bequeathed to us.

The name of Shakspeare is the greatest in all literature. No
man ever came near him in creative power — no man had ever
such strength combined with such variety of imagination. Of
all authors, he is the most natural in his style, and yet there is
none whose words are so nuisical in arrangement, so striking
and picturesque in themselves, or contain so many thoughts.

480 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Every j^age furnishes instances of that intensifying of expres«
sion, wliere some happy word conveys a whole train of ideas
condensed into a single limiinous point — words so new, so full
of meaning, yet so unforced and natural, that the rudest mind
intuitively perceives their meaning, and yet wliich no study
could improve or' imitate. This constitutes the most striking
peculiarity of the Shakspearean language, and while it justifies
the almost idolatrous veneration of his countrymen, renders him,
of all writers, the most untranslatable. Of all authors, Shak-
speare has least imitated or repeated himself. While he gives
us, in many places, portraits of the same passion, the delinear
tions are as distinct and dissimilar as they are in nature ; all his
personages involuntarily, and in spite of themselves, express
their own characters. From his works may be gleaned a com-
plete collection of precepts adapted to every condition of Ufa
and every conceivable circumstance of human affairs. His wit
is unbounded, his passion inimitable, and over all he has thrown
a halo of human sympathy no less tender than his genius was
immeasurable and profound.

The effect of Shakspeare's influence on his contemporaries
was predominating in everything but the moral aspect of his
plays. The licentiousness, begun in the earlier years of the sev-
enteenth century, increased with accelerated speed down to the
closing of the theatres by the Civil War.

Highest by far, in poetical and dramatic value, stand the works
of Beaumont (1586-1615) and Fletcher (1576-1625). Many
of them are said to have been written by the two jointly, a few
by the former alone, and a large number by the latter after he
had lost his friend ; such alUances in dramatic poetry were com-
mon in England at this period. But the looseness of fancy which
deformed the drama, and which degenerated at last into delib-
erate licentiousness, is nowhere so glaring as in these finest and
most imaginative productions of their day, and which are poet-
ically superior to aU of the kind in the language, except those of
Shakspeare.

The classical model was closely approached by Ben Jonson
(1574-1637) in both tragedy and comedy, and he deserves im-
mortality for other reasons than his comparative purity of mor-
als. He was the one man of his time besides Shakspeare who
deserves to be called a reflective artist, who perceived the rules
of art and worked in obedience to them. His tragedies are
stately, eloquent, and poetical ; his comedies are more faithful
poetic portraits of contemporary English life than those of any
other dramatist, Shakspeare excepted.

Jonson wrote for men of sense and knowledge ; Beaumont
and Fletcher for men of fashion and the world. A similar au?

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 481

dience to that of Jonson may have been aimed at in the stately
tragedies of Chapman, anil the othor class would have relished
the plays of IVIiddleton and Webster.

Among the dramatists of the commonalty may be named
Thomas Heywood, one of the most moral l)lav writers of his
time, who has sometunes been called the prose Shakspeare, and
Decker, a voluminous writer, who cooperated in several plays of
more celebrated men, especially those of Massinger.

The closing })eriod of the old English drama is represented by
Massinger, Ford, and Shirley. Massinger (1584-1640) is by
some critics ranked next to Shakspeare. The theatres have re-
tained unaltered his *' New Way to Pay Old Debts," and his
" Fatal Dowry " is preserved in Rowe's plagiarism from it, in
the " Fair Penitent." But the low moral tone of the time is in-
dicated in all these works, in wliich heroic sentiments, rising
often even to religious rapture, are mingled with scenes of the
grossest ribaldry.

By Ford, incidents of the most revolting kind are laid down
as the foundation of his plots, upon wliich he wastes a ])atho3
and tenderness deeper than is elsewhere found in the drama ;
and with Shirley vice is no longer held up as a mere picture,
but it is indicated, and sometimes directly recommended, as a
fit example. When the drama was at length suppressed, the
act destroyed a moi-al nuisance.

Spenser (1553-1599), among the English poets, stands lower
only than Shakspeare, Chaucer, and Milton. His works unite
rare genius with moral purity, exquisite sweetness of language,
luxuriant beauty of imagination, and a tenderness of feeling
rarely surpassed, and never elsewhere conjoined with an imagi-
nation so vivid. His magnificent poem, the " Faerie Qneene,"
though it contains many thousand lines, is yet inconij)lete, no
more than half of the original design being executed. The dic-
tion is studded purposely with forms of expression ah'eady be-
come antiquated, and many peculiarities are forced upon the
author from the difficulties of the complex measure which he
was the first to adopt, and wliich still bears his name.

The Fairy Land of Spenser is rather the Land of Chivalry
than the region we are accustomed to understand by that term ;
a scene in which heroic daring and ideal ])urity are the objects
chiefly presented to our imagination, in which the jtrincipal ]»er-
sonages are knights achie\nng perilous adventures, ladies rescueil
from frightful miseries, and good and evil enchanters, whose
spells affect the destiny of those human persons. Sjjenser would
probably not have written ])recisi'ly as he did. if Ariosto had not
written before him, nor is it unlikely that he was also guided by
the later examjde of Tasso ; but his design was in many features
31

482 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

nobler and more arduous than that of either. His deep serious-
ness is unlike the mocking tone of the " Orlando Furioso," and
in his moral enthusiasm he rises higher than the " Jerusalem ; "
although the poetic effect of his work is marred by his design
of producing a series of ethical allegories.

The hero is the cliivalrous Arthur of the British legends, but
wrapt in a cloud of symbols. Gloriana, the Faerie Queene, who
was to be the object of the prince's warmest love, was herself
an emblem of Vii-tuous Renown, and designed also to represent
the poet's queen, Elizabeth. All the incidents are significant of
moral truth, and all the personages are allegorical. The adven-
tures of the characters, connected by no tie, excej)t the occasional
interposition of Arthur, form really six independent poetic tales.
The First Book, by far the finest of all, relates the Legend of
the Red Cross Knight, who is a type of Holiness, and who shad-
ows forth the history of the Church of England. In the second,
which abounds in exquisite painting of picturesque landscapes,
we have the Legend of Sir Guyon, illustrating the vii'tue of
Temperance. The theme of the Third Book is the Legend of
Britomart, or of Chastity, in wliich we are introduced to Bel-
phoebe and Amoret, two of those beautiful female characters
which the poet takes such pleasure in delineating. Next comes
the Legend of Friendship, personified in the knights Cambel and
Triamond. In the Fifth Book, containing the Legends of Sir
Artegal, the emblem of Justice, there is a perceptible falling off.
The Sixth Book, the Legend of Sir Calidore, or Courtesy, though
it lacks unity, is in some scenes inspired with the warmest glow
of fancy.

The mind of Spenser embraced a vast range of imaginary cre-
ation, but the interest of real life is wanting. His world is ideal,
abstract, and remote, yet affording in its multiplied scenes ample
scope for those nobler feelings and heroic virtues which we love
to see even in transient connection with human nature.

The non-dramatic poets of this time begin with Spenser and
end with Milton, and between these two there were vrriters of
great excellence. The vice of the age was a laboring after con-
ceits or novel turns of thought, usually false, and resting upon
some equivocation of language or remote analogy. No poet of
the time was free from it ; Shakspeare indulged in it occasionally,
others incessantly, holding its manifestations to be theii' finest
strokes of art.

The poetical works of this age were metrical translations from
the classics — narrative, historical, descriptive, didactic, pastoral,
and lyrical poems. One of the most beautiful religious poems in
any language is " Clirist's Victory and Triumph," by Giles
Fletcher (d. 1623) ; it is animated in narrative, lively in fancy,

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 483

and touchinp^ in feeling. Drayton (d. 1631) was the author of
the " Poly-()lbion," a topographical description of England, and
a signal insUince of fine fancy and great connnand of language,
almost thrown away from its prosaic design. Fulke Greville
(Lord Brooke), the friend of Sir Philip Sidney, exhibits great
powers of philosophical thought, in ])ointud and energetic, diction,
in his j)oem on " Human Learning." Among the religious poets
are "Holy George Herbert" (d. 1C32), who, by his hfe and
Avritings, presented the belief and offices of the church in their
most amiable aspect, and Quarles (d. 1644), best known by his
" Divine Emblems," which abound in quaint and grotesque illus-
trations.

The lyrical poems of the time were numerous, and were writ-
ten by almost all the poets eminent in other departments. In
those of Donne, in spite of their conceits and affectations, are
many passages wonderfully fine. Those of Herrick (b. 1591),
in gi-acefid fancy and delicate expression, are many of them un-
surpassed ; in subject and tone they vary from grossly licentious
expression to the utmost warmth of devout aspiration. Cowley
(1618-1667), the latest and most celebrated of the lyric poets,
was gifted with extraordinary poetic sensibility and fancy, but he
was prone to strained analogies and unreal refinements. Among
the minor lyrical poets are Carew, Avton, Habington, Suckling,
and Lovelace. Denham (1615-1668) and Waller (1605-1687)
form a sort of link between the time before the Restoration and
that which followed. The " Cooper's Hill " of the first is a re-
flective and descriptive poem in heroic verse, and the diversified
poems of the last were remarkable advances in ease and correct-
ness of diction and versification.

The poetry of that imaginative period which began with Spen-
ser closes yet more nobly with Milton (1608-1674). He, stand-
ing in some respects apart from his stern contemporaries of the
Conunon wealth as from those who debased literature in the age
of the Restoration, yet belongs rather to the older than the newer
period. In the midst of evil men and the gloom of evil days the
brooding thought of a great poetical work was at length matured,
and the Clu-istian ejuc, chanted at first when there were few dis-
posed to hear, became an enduring monument of genius, learning,
and art. His early poems alone would indicate his su])eriority
to all the poets of the period, excej)t Shaks])eare and Spenser.
The most pojndar of them, " L' Allegro " and " 11 Penseroso,"
are the best of their kind in any language. In the " Comus "
there are passages exquisite for imagination, for sentiment, and
for the musical flow of the rhythm, in which the majestic swell
of the poet's later blank verse begins to be heard. The '* Para-
dise Regained " abounds with passages in themselves beautiful,

484 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

but the plan is poorly conceived, and the didactic tendency pre*
vails to weariness as the work proceeds. The theme of the " Par-
adise Lost" is the noblest of any ever chosen. The stately
inarch of its diction ; the organ peal with which its versification
rolls on ; the continual overflowing of beautiful illustrations ; the
brightly-colored pictures of human happiness and innocence ; the
melancholy gi-andeur with which angelic natures are clothed in
their fall, are features which give the mind images and feelings
not soon or easily effaced.

3. The Age of the Restoration a^td the Revolution
(1660-1702). — Among the able churchmen who passed from
the troubles of the Commonwealth and Protectorate to the Res-
toration were Jeremy Taylor, Ai'chbishop Leighton, and others
of eminence. South, Tillotson, and Barrow were more able the-
ologians, but their writings lack the charm of sentiment which
Leiofhton's warmth of heart diffuses over all his works. South
(d. 1716) was a man of remarkable oratorical endowments, sar-
castic, intolerant, and fierce in polemical attacks. The writings
of Tillotson (d. 1694) are pervaded by a higher and better spirit,
and the sermons of Barrow (d. 1677) combine comprehensive-
ness, sagacity, and clearness. Other divines, such as Stillingfleet,
Pearson, Burnet, Bull, hold a more prominent place in the his-
tory of the church than in that of letters. But all the wi-iters of
this age are wanting in that impressiveness and force of undisci-
plined eloquence which distinguished the first half of the seven-
teenth century. Among the nonconformist clergy, Howe (d.
1715) wrote the " Living Temple," which is ranked among the
religious classics.

The great though untrained genius of John Bunyan (1628-
1688) produced the " Pilgrim's Progress," which holds a distin-
guished place in permanent English literature.

John Locke (1632—1704) may be taken as the representative
of the English Philosophy of the time, and his influence on the
speculative opinions of his day was second only to that of Hobbes.
His " Essay on the Understanding " contains the germ of utter
skepticism and was the gi"ound on which Berkeley denied the ex-
istence of the material world, and Hume involved all human
knowledge in doubt.

In classical learning the greatest of the scholars of this period
was Bentley (1662-1742).

In liistory Lord Clarendon (1608-1774) wrote the " History
of the Rebellion," and Burnet (1643-1715) his " History of the
Reformation," one of the most thoroughly digested works of the
century. His " History of his own Times " is valuable for its
facts, and for the shrewdness with which he describes the state
of things around liim.

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 485

In miscellaneous prose, John Evelyn wrote several useful and
tasteful works, and Izaak Walton (1593-1G88), a London trades-
man, wrote his interesting Biographies and the quaint treatise
" On Anjjlinj;." Both in diction and sentiment these works re-
mind us of the ])receding age ; and Walton, surviving Milton,
closes the series of old English prose writers.

Samuel Butler (1G1L'-1G80), the unfortunate, ill-requited lau-
reate of the Royalists, who satirized the Puritans and Republi-
cans in his celebrated '* Hudiln-as," left some exceedingly witty
and vigorous prose writings; and Andrew JNIarvell (1G2U-1678),
the friend and i)rotector of INIilton, was most successful in sarcas-
tic irony, and in his attacks on the High Church opinions and
doings.

John Dryden (1G31-1700) was the literary chief of the inter-
val between Cromwell and Queen Anne. His prose wTitings,
besides comedies, are few, but in these he taught principles of
poetical art previously unknown to his countrymen, and showed
the capabilities of the tongue in a new light. Inferior to Dryden
in vigor of thought was Sir William Temple (1 628-1 G98), who
may yet share with him the merit of having founded regular Eng-
lish prose. His literary character rests chiefly on liis " Miscella-
neous Essays."

The symmetrical structure and artificial polish of contempora-
neous French literature, while it was not without some good in-
fluence on Enghsh prose, was less beneficial to poetry, and its
worst effect was on the drama, which soon ceased to be pictures
of human beings in action and became only descriptive of such
pictures. In this walk as in others Dryden was the literary cliief,
and of his plays it can truly be said that the serious ones contain
many striking and ])oetical pieces of declamation, finely versified.
His comedies are bad morally, and as dramas even worse than
those of his rival Shadwell. Lee was only a poor likeness of
Dryden. «

In the '' Orphan " and " Venice Preser^-ed " of Otway we have
something of the revival of the ancient strength of feeUng though
alloyed by false sentiment and poetic poverty.

Congreve showed great power of language in tragedy, and
Southerne not a little nature and jjathos.

In comedy the fame of these writers was eclipsed by a knot
of dramatists who a(l()])ted i)rose, but whose works are the foul-
est that ever disgraced the literature of a nation. They are ex-
cellent specimens of that which has been callcil the comedy of
manners ; vice is inextricably interwoven in the texture of all
alike, in the broad humor of Wycherly (the most vigorous of
the set), in the \\\t of Congreve, in the character painting of
Vanbrugh, and the lively invention of Farquhar.

48b HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

In other kinds of poetry we find similar changes of taste
which affected the art injuriously, although the increased atten-
tion paid to correctness and refijienient was a step in improve-
ment. These mischievous changes related both to the themes
and forms of poetry, and in neither can the true functions of
art be forgotten without injury to the work. An age must be
held unpoetical, and cannot produce great poetical works, if its
poetry chooses insufficient topics ; and the aims of the age of
the Restoration were low, producing only a constant crop of
poems celebrating contemporary events or incidents in the fives
of individuals. The dramatic and narrative forms of poetry are
undoubtedly those in which that imaginative excitement of pleas-
ino- emotion, which is the immediate and characteristic end of
the art, may be most powerfully worked out, and to one of these
forms all the greatest poems have belonged. But in the age of
the Restoration the drama had lost its elevation and poetic sig-
nificance, and original narrative poetry was hardly known.
Ahnost aU the poems of the day were didactic, and the preva-
lence of this style of poetry is a palpable symptom of an un-
poetical age. The verse-making of these forty years, after set-
ting aside a very few works, maintains a dead level. Among
the dwarfish rhymers of the day there fingered some of the
august shapes of a former age. Milton stiU walked his sofitary
com-se, and WaUer wi-ote his occasional odes and verses, but of
names not already given there are no more than two or three
that reqvure commemoration. One of the famous poems of the
day was an " Essay on Translated Verse," by Lord Roscom-
mon ; and the smaller poems of MarveU are felicitous in feeling
and diction ; both writers are distinguished for their moral
purity.

The " Hudibras " of Butler, which properly belongs to the age
before, is a phenomenon in the history of English literature.
His pungent wit, his extraordinary ingenuity, and his command
of words are rare endowments, but he has no poetic vein that
yields jewels of the first water, and his place is not a high one
in the path which leads upward to the ethereal regions of the
imagination.

Pryor (1661-1721) in his lighter pieces shows wit of a less
manly kind. His serious poems have great facifity of phrase
and melody.

Dryden was a man of high endowments as a poet and thinker,
condemned to labor for a corrupt generation, and he has received
from posterity no higher fame than that of having improved
English prose style and versification. His poems are rather es-
says couched in vigoi-ous verse, with here and there passages of
great poetical beauty. His " Annus Mirabilis," celebrating with

EXGLISn LITERATURE. 487

great animation the year IGCG, is an effusion of historical pan«
egyric. The " Absalom and At-hitophel " is a satire on the
unfortunate Duke of Monmouth and his adviser Shaftesbuiy.
" The Hind and Panther," full of poetical and satirical force,
was an argument to justify the author's recent change of relig-
ion. One of the most thoroughly sustained poems is the " Ode
on Alexander 's Feast." His translation of the iEneid, as im-
perfect a picture of the original as Pope's translation of the
Iliad, is yet full of vigor and one of his best specimens of the
heroic couplet, a measm'e never so well written in English as by
Dry den.

4. The P^igiiteenth Century. — The influence of the
eighteenth century on prose style has been great and perma-
nent, and the two dissimilar manners of writinir wliich were
then formed, have contributed to all that is distinctive in om*
modern form of expression. Tlie earlier of these is found in the
language of Addison and Swift, the later in that of Jolmson.
The style of Addison and his friends reproduced those genuine
idiomatic peculiarities of our speech which had been received
into the conversation of intelligent men. The style of wliich
Johnson was the characteristic example abandons in part the
native and familiar characteristics of the Saxon for those expres-
sions and forms common to the modern Em-opean tongues. Large
use was made of words derived from the Latin, which, in addi-
tion to the effect of novelty, gave greater impressiveness and
pomp to the style.

Li the First Generation, named from Queen Anne, but in-
cluding also the reign of George I. (d. 1727), the drama scarcely
deserves more than a parenthesis. Although the moral tone
had improved, it was stiU not high, wlien Gay's " Be'T'gar's
Opera " and Gibber's " Careless Husband " were the most fa-
mous works. The " Fair Penitent " has been noticed as a clever
plagiarism from Massinger ; in Addison's " Cato " the strict
rules of the French stage were preserved, but its stately and im-
pressive speeches cannot be called dramatic. The '* Revenge "
of Young had more of tragic passion ; but it wanted the force of
characterization which seemed to have been buried with the old
dramatists.

The heroic measure, as it was now used, aimed at smoothness
of melody and i)ointedness of expression, and in this the great
master was Pope.

In the poems of Pope (1688-1744), we find ])assages beauti-
fully poetical, exquisite thoughts, vigorous portraits of character,
shrewd observation, and reflective good sense, but we are \vafted
into no bright worlil of imagination, rapt in no dream of strong
passion, and seldom raised into any high region of moral thought.

488 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Like all the poets of his day, he set a higher value on skill of
execution than on originality of conception, and systematically
abstained from all attempts to excite imagination or feeling.
The taste of the poet and of his times is most clearly shown in
his " Essay on Criticism," pubhshed before his twenty-first year.
Kone of his works imites more happily, regularity of plan,
shrewdness of thought, and beauty of verse. His most success-
ful effort, the " Rape of the Lock," assumed its complete shape
in his twenty-sixth year, and is the best of aU mock-heroic poems.
The sharpest wit, the keenest dissection of the follies of fashion-
able life, the finest grace of diction, and the softest flow of mel-
ody, come appropriately to adorn a tale in which we learn how
a fine gentleman stole a lock of a lady's hair. In the " Epistle
of Eloisa to Abelard," and in the " Elegy on an Unfortunate
Lady," he attempted the pathetic not altogether in vain. The
last work of his best years was his " Translation of the Iliad ; "
of the Odyssey he translated only half. Both misrepresent the
natural and simple majesty of manner which the ancient poet
never lost ; yet if we could forget Homer, we might be proud of
them. In the " Dunciad " he threw away an infinity of wit
upon writers who would not otherwise have been remembered.
His " Essay on Man " contains much exquisite poetry and
finely solemn thought ; it abounds in striking passages which,
by their feUcities of fancy, good sense, music, and extraordinary
terseness of diction, have gained a place in the memory of every

one.

Among the philosophical writers none holds so prominent a
place as Bishop Berkeley (1684-1753), whose refinement of style
and subtlety of thought have seldom been equaled. His philo-
sophical Idealism exercised much influence on the course of met-
aphysical inquiry.

Lord Shaftesbury's brilliant but indistinct treatises have also
been the germ of many discussions in ethics.

Bolingbroke wrote with great livehness, but with equal shal-
lowness of thought and knowledge.

Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) is not likely to be forgotten on
account of one of his many novels, '' Robinson Crusoe." His
idiomatic English style is not one of the least of his merits.

Among the prose WTitings of Swift (1667-1745) there is none
that is not a masterpiece of strong Saxon-English, and none
quite destitute of his keen wit or cutting sarcasm. His satirical
romances are most pungent when human nature is his victim, as
in " Gulliver's Travels ; " and not less amusing in " The Battle
of the Books," or where he treats of church disputes in the
" Tale of a Tub." The burlesque memoir of " Martinus Scrib-
ierus " was the joint production of Swift, Pope, and Arbuthnot

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 489

It contains more good criticism than any of the serious writ-
ings of the generation, and it abounds in the most biting strokes
of wit. Ai'buthnot is supposed to have been the sole author of
the whimsical, national satire called the " History of John
Bidl," the best work of the class jiroduced in that day. The
*' Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu " belong to this age.

Of all the popular writers, however, that adorned the reign
of Queen Anne and her successor, those whose influence has
been the greatest and most salutary are the Essayists, among
whom Joseph Addison and Richard Steele are preeminently dis-
tinguished.

" The Tatler," begun in Ireland by Steele, aided first by
Swift, and afterwards by Addison, appeared three times a week
from 1709 to 1711; "The Spectator," in which Addison took
the lead, from 1711 to 1712 ; and " The Guardian," a part of
the next year. Steele (1676-1729) had his merits somewhat
unfairly clouded by the fame of his coadjutor. The extraordi-
nary popularity of those periodicals, especially " The Spectator,"
was creditable to the reading persons of the community, then
much fewer than now. The writers discarded from their papei-s
all party-spirit, and designed to make them the veliicle of judi-
cious teaching in morals, manners, and literary criticism. Thus
they -widened the circle of readers, and raised the standard of
taste and thinking.

Of some of the more serious papers of the " Spectator," those
of Addison (1672-1719) on the " Immortality of the Soul" and
the " Pleasures of the Imagination " may be cited.

Among the theological writers of the Second Generation of
the eighteenth century (the reign of George II., 1726-1760),
one of the most famous in his day, tliough not the most merito-
rious, was Bishop Warburton ; Bishop Butler (d. 1752), wrote
his " Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Consti-
tution and Course of Nature," a work of extraordinary force of
thought ; and there is much literary merit in the writings of the
])ious Watts and the devout Doddridge. The increasing zeal
both in the Church of England and among the Dissenters, and
the more cordial recognition of the importance of religion,
greatly affected the literature of the times.

Philosophy had also its distinguished votaries. Tlie philo-
sojjhical works of Hume (1711-1776) are allowed by those who
dissent most strenuously from their results to have constituted
an epoch in the history of the science. In accepting the princi-
ples which had been received before liim, and showing that they
led to no conclusion but universal doubt, he laid bare the flaws
in the system, and prepared the way for the subtle speculations
of Kant and the more cautious systems of Reid and the Scottish
school.

490 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

The miscellaneous literature of this, the age of Johnson, can-
not stand comi)arison with that of the preceding, which was
headed by Addison.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), one of the most celebrated of
the professional authors of the eighteenth century, however, be-
longs to this period. Compelled by poverty to leave his educa-
tion uncompleted, he sought the means of living in London,
where, for a long time, unpatronized and obscure, he labored
with dogged perseverance, until at lengtli he won a fame which
must have satisfied the most grasping ambition, but when, as he
says, "most of those whom he had wished to please had sunk
into the grave, and he had little to fear from censure or praise."
That the reputation of his writings was above their deserts, cannot
be denied, though it must also be admitted that the literature of
our time is deficient in many of their excellences, both of thought
and expression. They are the fruit of a strong and original
mind, working with imperfect knowledge and an madequate
scope for activity. The language of Johnson is superior to his
matter ; he has striking force of diction, and many of his sen-
tences roll on the ear like the sound of the distant sea, while the
thoughts they convey impress us so vividly that we are slow to
scrutinize them. His great merit lies in the two departments of
morals and criticism, but everywhere he is inconsistent and un-
equal. His Dictionary occupied him for eight years, but it is of
little value now to the student of language, being poor and in-
correct in etymology and unsatisfactory though acute in defini-
tion. His poems, which are of Pope's school, would scarcely
have preserved his name. The " Rambler," and " Rasselas,"
are characteristic of his merits and defects. The " Tour to the
Hebrides " is one of the most pleasant and easy of liis writings.
His " Lives of the Poets " is admirable for its skill of narration,
but it is alternately enlightened and unsound in criticism, and
frequently marred by political prejudices and personal jeal-
ousies.

Of the novels of the time, the series begun by Richardson's
(1689-1761) " Pamela," " Clarissa Harlowe," and " Sir Charles
Grandison " have a virtuous aim, but they err by the plainness
with wliich they describe vice. The tediousness and over-
wrought sentimentality of these works go far towards disquali-
fying the reader from appreciating their extraordinary skill in
invention and in the ])ortraiture of character.

Fielding (1707-1757) miites these qualities with greater knowl
edge of the world, pungent wit, and idiomatic strength of style.
His mastery in the art of fictitious narrative has never been ex-
celled ; but his living pictures of familiar life, as well as the
whimsical caricatures of Smollett and the humorous fantasies o!

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 491

Sterne, are disfigured by faults of which the very smallest are
coarseness of language and bareness of licentious descri])tion, ia
which they outdid Richardson. Not only is their st;indurd of
morality low, but they dis^jlay indilt'erence to the essential dis-
tinctions of right and wrong, in legard to some of the cardinal
relations of society.

The drama of the period has little literary importance. In
non-dramatic poetry, several men of distinguished genius aj)-
peared, and changes occurred which indicated more just and
comprehensive views of the art than those that had been preva-
lent in the last generation.

Young (1681-1765), in his " Night Thoughts," produced a
work eloquent rather than poetical, dissertative when true po-
etry would have been imaginative, but suggesting much of im-
agery and feeling as well as religious reflection.

Resembling it in some points, but with more force of imag-
ination, is the train of gloomy scenes which appears in Blair's
" Grave." In Akenside's '* Pleasures of Imagination," a vivid
fancy and an alluring pomp of language are lavished on a series
of pictures illustrating the feelings of beauty and sublimity ; but,
theorizing and poetizing by turns, the poet loses liis hold of the
reader.

The more direct and effective forms of poetry now came
again into favor, such as the Scottish pastoral drama of Ramsay,
and Falconer's " Ship\ATeck." But the most decisive instance
of the grownng insight into the true functions of poetry is fur-
nished by Thomson's (1700-1748) "Seasons." No poet has ever
been more inspired by the love of external nature, or felt with
more keenness and delicacy those analogies between the mind
and the things it looks ujjon, which are the fountains of poetic
feeling. The faults of Thomson are triteness of thought when
he becomes arginnentative and a prevalent pomposity and ped-
antry of diction ; though his later work, " The Castle of Indo-
lence," is surprisingly free from these blemishes.

But the age was an unpoetical one, and two of the finest poet-
ical minds of the nation were so dwarfed and weakened by the
imgenial atmosphere as to bequeath -to posterity nothing more
than a few lyrical fragments. In the age which admired the
smooth feebleness of Shenstone's pastorals and elegies, and
which closed when the libels of Churchill were held to be good
exam])les of poetical satire. Gray turned aside from the unre-
quited labors of verse to idle in his study, and Collins lived anil
died almost unknoAvn. Gray (1716-1771) was as consummate
a poetical artist as Pope. His fancy was less lively, but his
sympatliies were warmer and more expanded, though the pol-
ished aptness of language *nd symmetry of consti'uctiou wliich

492 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

give so classical an aspect to his Odes bring with them a tingo
of classical coldness. The " Ode on Eton College " is more gen-
uinely lyrical than "The Bards," and the "Elegy in a Comitry
Churchyard " is perhaps faultless.

The Odes of Co)lins (1720-1759) have more of the fine and
spontaneous enthusiasm of genius than any other poems ever
written by one who wrote so little. We close his tiny volume
with the same disappointed surprise which overcomes us when a
harmonious piece of music suddenly ceases unfinished. His
range of tones is very wide, and the delicacy of gi-adation with
which he passes from thought to thought has an indescribable
charm. His most popular poem, " The Passions," conveys no
adequate idea of some of his most marked characteristics. AU
can understand the beauty and simplicity of liis odes " To Pity,"
"To Simplicity," "To Mercy;" and the finely woven harmo-
nies and the sweetly romantic pictures in the " Ode to Evening "
recall the youthful poems of Milton.

Between the period just reviewed and the reign of George
III., or the Third Generation of the eighteenth century, there
were several connecting links, one of which was formed by a
group of historians whose works are classical monuments of
English literature. The publication of Hume's "History of
England" began in 1754. Robertson's "History of Scotland"
appeared in 1759, followed by his " Reign of Charles V." and
his " History of America ; " Gibbon's " Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire" was completed in twelve years from 1776.
The narrative of Hume is told with great clearness, good sense,
and quiet force of representation, and if his matter hatl been as
carefuUy studied as his manner, if his social and religious theo-
ries had been as sound as his theory of literary art, his history-
would stiU hold a place from which no rival could hope to de-
grade it.

The style of Robertson and Gibbon is totally unlike that of
Hume. They want Ids seemingly unconscious ease, his delicate
tact, and his calm yet lively simplicity. Hume tells his tale to
us as a friend to friends ; his successors always seem to hold
that they are teachers and we pupils. This change of tone had
long been coming on, and was now very general in all depart-
ments of prose. Very few writers of the last thirty years of
Johnson's life escaped this epidemic desire of dictatorship.
Robertson (1722-1793) is an excellent story-teller, perspicuous,
lively, and interesting. His opinions are wisely formed and
temperately expressed, his disquisitions able and instructive, and
liis research so accurate that he is still a valuable historical au«

thority.

The learning of Gibbon (1737-1794), though not always e»

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 493

act, was remarkably extensive, and sufficient to make liiin a
trustworthy guide, unless in tlioso points where he was inclined
to lead astray. There is a j)atrician haughtiness in the stately
march of his narrative and in the air of careless superiority willi
which he treats his heroes and his audience. He is a master in
the art of painting and narration, nor is he less skillful in indi-
rect insinuation, which is, indeed, liis favorite mode of commu-
nicating his own oi)ini<)ns, hut he is most striking in those pas-
sages in his history of the church, where he covertly attacks a
religion which he neither believed nor understood.

Other historians produced works useful in their day, but now,
for the most ])art, su])erseded ; and in various other departments
men of letters actively exerted themselves.

Johnson, seated at last in his easy-chair, talked for twenty
years, the oradj of the literary world, and Boswell, soon after
his death, gave to the world the clever record of these conversa-
tions, which has aided to secure the place in literature he had
obtained by his writings. Goldsmith (1728-1774), had he never
written poems, would stand among the classic wi'iters of P^nglish
prose from the few trifles on which he was able, in the intervals
of literary drudgery, to exercise his powers of observation and
invention, and to exhibit his warm affections and purity of moral
sentiment. Such is his inimitable little novel, '• The A'icar of
Wakefield," and that good-natured satire on society, the "• Citi-
zen of the "World."

Among the novelists, Mackenzie (1745-1831) wrote his
" Man of Feeling," not unworthy of the companionship of Gold-
smith's masterpiece ; and among later novelists, Walpole, Moore,
Cumberland, INIrs. Inchbald, and Charlotte Smith, Miss Barney
and Mrs Radclitt'e may also be named.

In literary criticism, the authoritative book of the day was
Johnson's " Lives of the Poets." Percy's "• Reliques of Ancient
English Poetry " (17G5) was a delightful compilation, which,
after being quite neglected for many years, became the poetical
text-book of Sir Walter Scott and the poets of his time. A more
scientific and ambitious effort was Warton's (1729-1790) '' His-
tory of P^nglish Poetry," which has so much of antiquarian learn-
ing, poetical taste, and spirited ^^Titing, that it is not only an
indispensable and valual)le authority, but an interesting book to
the mere amateur. With many errors and deficiencies, it has
yet little chance of being ever entirely superseded.

In parliamentary eloquence, before the middle of the eighteenth
century, wc have the commanding addresses of the elder Pitt
'Lord Chatham), and at the close, still leading the senate, are
the younger Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and Burke. Burke (1730-
1797) must be remembered not only for his speeches but for hia

494 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

writing on political and social questions, as a great thinker of
comprehensive and versatile intellect, and extraordinary power
of eloquence.

The letters of " Junius," a remarkable series of papers, the
authorsliip of which is still involved in mystery, appeared in a
London daily journal from 1769 to 1772. They v.'ere remark-
able for the audacity of their attacks upon the government, the
court, and persons high in power, and from their extraordi-
nary abihty and point they produced an indeUble impression on
the public mind. The " Letters " of Walpole are poignantly
satirical ; those of Covrper are models of easy wi'iting, and les-
sons of rare dignity and purity of sentiment.

In the history of pliilosophy, the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury was a very important epoch ; before the close of the century,
almost all of those works had appeared wliich have had the
greatest influence on more recent thinking. These words may
be divided into four classes. Under the first, Philosophical
Criticism, may be classed Burke's treatise "On the Sublime and
Beautiful," Sir Joshua Reynolds's " Discourse on Painting,"
Campbell's " Philosoijhy of Rhetoric," Kames's " Elements of
Criticism," Blair's " Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres,"
and Home Tooke's " Philosophy of Language."

In the second department, Political Economy, Adam Smith's
gi-eat work, "• The Wealth of Nations," stands alone, and is still
acknowledged as the standard text-book of this science.

In the third department. Ethics, are Smith's "Theory of Moral
Sentiment," Tucker's " Light of Natm-e," and Paley's " Moral
and Political PhLloso])hy."

In the fourth or Metaphysical department, we have only to
note the rise of the Scottish School, under Thomas Reid (1710-
1796), who combats each of the three schools, the Sensualistic
evolved from Locke, holding that our ideas are all derived from
sensation ; the Idealistic, as proposed by Berkeley, which, allow-
ing the existence of mind, denies that of matter ; and the Skep-
tical, headed by Hume, which denies that we can know any-
thing at all. Reid is a bold, dry, but very clear and logical
writer, a sincere lover of truth, and a candid and honorable dis-
putant ; his system is original and important in the history of
philosophy.

In the theological literature of this time are found Campbell's
" Essay on Miracles," Paley's " Evidences of Christianity " and
"Natural Theology," and Bishop Watson's "Apology for Chris-
tianity."

Among the devout teachers of religion was John Nevrton of
Olney, the spiritual guide of Cowper ; and of the moral writers,
Hannah More and Wilberforce may be mentioned.

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 495

The only tragedy that has survived from these last forty years
of the eighteenth (-entury is the " Douglas " of Home, whose
melody and romantic pathos lose nuu-h of their effect from its
/nonotony of tone and feebleness in the representation of charac-
ter. Comedy was oftener successful. Tiiere was little merk in
the plays of the elder Colman or those of Mrs. Cowley, or of
Cumberland. The comedies of Goldsmith abound in humor and
gayety, and those of Sheridan have an unintermitted fire of epi-
grams, a keen insight into the follies and weaknesses of society,
and great ingenuity in inventing whimsical situations. Of the
verse-writers in the time of Johnson's old aire. Goldsmith has
alone achieved immortality. " The Traveller " and " The De-
serted Village " cannot be forgotten wliile the English tongue is
remembered.

The foundations of a new school of j)oetry were already laid.
Percy's "• Relirpies " and Macpherson's •• Fingal " attracted
great attention, and many minor jjoets followed.

The short career of the unhai)py Chatterton (1752-1770) held
out wonderful promise of genius.

Darwin, in his " Botanic Garden." went back to the mazes of
didactic verse. Beattie's (1735-1803) " Minstrel " is the out-
pouring of a mind exquisitely poetical in feeling ; it is a kind of
autobiogra])hy or analytic narrative of the early growth of a
poet's mind and heart, and is one of the most delightful poems
in our language.

Opening with Goldsmith, our period closes with Cowper and
Burns. The unecjualed pojndarity of Co-\v]jer's (1731-1800)
poems is owing, in part, to the rarity of good religious poetry,
and also to their genuine foi'ce and originality. He unhesitat-
ijigly made poetry use, always when it was convenient, the fa-
miliar forms of connnon conversation, and he showed yet greater
boldness by seeking to interest his readers in the scenes of every-
day life. In spite of great faults, the effect of his works is
such as only a genuine poet could have produced. His transla-
tion of the Iliad Ims the simplicity of the original, though want-
ing its warlike fervor, and portions of the Odyssey are rendered
with exceeding felicity of poetic effect.

Our estimate of Cowjjcr's poems is heightened by our love
and pity for the poet, «Titing not for fame but ior consolation,
and uttering from the depths of a half-broken heart his reverent
liomage to the power of religious truth. ()ur affection is not
colder, and our compassion is more i)r()f(>und, wlien we con-
template the agitated and erring life of Robert Burns (1759-
1796), the Scottish ])easant, who has given to the literature of
the Anglo-Saxon race some of its most precious jewels, although
ail wliich tliis extraordinary man achieved was inadequate to the

496 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

power and the vast variety of his endowments. It is on his
Bongs that his fame rests most firmly, and no lyi'ics in any
tongue have a more wonderful union of thi'illing passion, melt-
ing tenderness, concentrated expressiveness of language, and apt
and natural poetic fancy. But neither the song nor the higher
kinds of lyrical verse could give scope to the qualities he has
elsewhere shown ; his aptness in representing the phases of hu-
man character, his genial breadth and keenness of humor, and
his strength of creative imagination, indicate that if born under
a more benignant star he might have been a second Chaucer.

5. The Nineteenth Century. — In the illustrious band of
poets who enriched the literature of England during the fu'st
generation *of the present century, there are four who have gained
greater fame than any others, and exercised greater influence on
their contemporaries. These are Coleridge, Wordsworth, Scott,
and Byron, who, though unlike, yet in respect of their ruHng
spirit and tendencies may be classed in pairs as they have been
named ; and aU whose woi'ks call for exact scrutiny may be dis-
tributed into four groups. In the first of them stand Thomas
Campbell and Robert Southey, dissimilar to each other, and dif-
fering as widely from their contemporaries. Campbell (17.77—
1844) employed an unusually delicate taste in elaborating his
verses both in diction and melody. His " Pleasures of Hope "
was wi'itten between youth and manhood, and " Gertrude of
Wyoming," the latest of liis productions worthy of him, appeared
soon after his thirtieth year. His mind, deficient in manly vigor
of thought, had worked itself out in the few first bursts of youth-
ful emotion, but no one has clothed with more of romantic
sweetness the feelings and fancies which people the fairy-land of
early dreams, or thrown around the enchanted region a purer
atmosphere of moral contemplation.

Southey (1774-1843), with an ethical tone higher and sterner
than Campbell's, offers in other features a marked contrast to
him. He is careless in details, and indulges no poetical rever-
ies ; he scorns sentimentalism, and throws off rapid sketches
of human action with great pomp of imagery, but he seldom
touches the key of the pathetic. In much of this he is the man
of his age, but in other respects he is above it. He is the only
poet of his day who strove to emulate the great masters of epic
song, and to give his works external symmetry of plan. He
alone attempted to give poetry internal union, by making it the
representation of one leading idea ; a loftier theory of poetic art
than that which ruled the irregular outbursts of Scott and
Byron. But the aspiration was above the competency of the
aspirer. He wanted spontaneous de])th of sympathy ; his emo-
tion has the measured flow of the artificial canal, not the leap*

EXGLISH LITERATURE. 497

ing giish of the river in its self-worn channel. In two of his
three best poems he has founded the interest on supernatural
agency of a kind which cannot command even momentary belief,
and the splendid ])anoramas of "Thulaba the Destroyer" pass
away like the sliadows of a magic lantern. In the '' Curse of
Kehama," he strives to interest us in the monstrous fables of the
Hindoo mythology, and in *' Roderick, the Last of the Goths,"
the story contains circumstances that deform the fairest proof
the author gave of the jiracticability of his poetic theory.

The second gi-oup of poets, unless Moore find a place in it, will
contain only Scott and Byron, who were in succession the most
popular of all, and owed their ])oj)ularity mainly to characteristics
which they had in common. They are distinctively the poets of
active life. They portray idealized resemblances of the scenes of
reality, events which arise out of the universal relations of society,
hopes, fears, and wishes which are open to the consciousness of
all mankind. The originals of Scott were the romances of chiv-
alry, and tliis example was a])])lied by Byron to the construction
oi narratives founded on a different kind of sentiment. Scott,
wearying of the narrow round that afforded him no sco])e for
some of his best and strongest powers, turned aside to lavish them
on liis prose romances, and Byron, as his knowledge grew and
Ais meditations became deeper, rose from Turkish tales to the
later cantos of " Childe Harold."

Scott (1771-1832), in his ])oetical narratives, appealed to na-
tional sjTnpathies through ennobling historic recollections. He
painted the externals of scenery and manners with unrivaled pic-
turesqueness, and embellished all that was generous and brave in
the world of chivalry with an infectious enthusiasm. '' The Lay of
the Last Minstrel." a romance of border chivalry, has a more con-
sistent unity than' its successors, and is more faithful to the ancient
models. " INIarmion " seeks to combine the chivalrous romance
Avith the metrical chronicle. " The Lady of the Lake " is a kind
of romantic pastoral, and " Rokeby " is a Waverley novel in verse.

The moral faults of the poetry of Byron (17«S8-1824) became
more glaring as he grew older. Starting with the carelessness of
ill-trained youth in regard to most serious truths, he ])rovoked
censure without scruple, and was censured not without caprice ;
thus placed in a dangerous and false position, he hardened him-
self into a contempt for the most sacred laws of society, and
although the closing scenes of his life give reason for a belief that
purer and more elevated views were beginning to dawn upon Ids
mind, he died before the amendment had found its way into his
writings. He endeavored to inculcate lessons tliat are ])0sitively
bad ; his delincpicncy did not consist in clioosing for re])resenta-
tion scenes of violent passion and guilty horror, it lay deeper than
32

498 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

in his theatrical fondness for identifying himself with his misan-
thi-opes, pirates, and seducers. He siruied more grievously stUl,
against morahty as against possibility, by mixing up, in one and
the same character, the utmost extremes of vice and virtue, gen-
erosity and vindictiveness, of lofty heroism and actual grossness.
But with other and great faults, he far excelled all the poets of
his time in impassioned strength, varying from vehemence to
pathos. He was excelled by few of them in his line sense of the
beautiful, and liis combination of passion with beauty, standing
unapproachable in his own day, has hardly ever been surpassed.

His tales, except " Parisina " and the " Prisoner of ChiUon,"
rise less often than his other poems into that flow of poetic imag-
ery, prompted by the loveliness of nature, which he had attempted
in the two first cantos of " Cliilde Harold," and poured forth
with added fullness of thought and emotion in the last two.
" Manfred," with all its shortcomings, shows perhaps most ade-
quately his poetic temperament ; and his tragedies, though not
worthy of tli^ poet, are of all his works those which do most
honor to the man.

The third section of this honored file of poets contains the
names of Coleridge and Wordsworth ; they are characteristically
the poets of imagination, of reflection, and of a tone of sentiment
that owes its attraction to its ideal elevation. Admired and emu-
lated by a few zealous students, Coleridge became the poetical
leader from the very beginning of his age, and effects yet wider
have since been worked by the extended study of Wordsworth.

Coleridge (1772-1834) Is the most oi'Iglnal of the poets of his
very original time, and among the most original of Its thinkers.
His most frequent tone of feeling is a kind of romantic tender-
ness or melancholy, often solemnized by an intense access of re-
Hglous awe. This fine passion is breathed out most finely when
it is associated with some of his airy glimpses of external nature,
and his power of suggestive sketching Is not more extraordinary
than his immaculate taste and nervous precision of language.
His images may be obscure, from the moonlight haze in which
they float, but they are rarely so through faults of diction. It Is
disappointing to remember that this gifted man executed little
more tlian fragments ; his life ebbed away in the contemplation
of undertakings still to be achieved, the result of weakness of vnW
rather than of indolence. The romance of " Clmstabel," the
most poweiful of all his works, and the prompter of Scott and
Byron, was thrown aside when scarce begun, and stands as an
interrupted vision of mysterious adventures clothed In the most
exquisite fancies. His tragedy of " Remorse " is full of poetic
pictures ; the " Ode to the Dei)arting Year " shows his force of
thought and moral earnestness ; " Khubla Khan " represents in

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 499

Its jTorgeons incoherence his sin^Uar power of lighting up laiid-
Bcapes with thrilling fancies ; and "The Dark Latlye " is one of
the most tender and romantic love-poems ever written.

The most ohvious feature of Wordsworth (1770-1850) is the
intense and unwearied delight which he takes in aU the shaj)es
and appearances of rural antl mountain scenery. He is carried
away by an almost passionate raptm-e when he broods over the
gi-andeur and loveliness of the earth and air ; his verse lingers
wth fond reluctiince to depart on the wild flowers, the misty
lake, the sound of the wailing blast, or the gleam of sunshine
breaking tlirough the passes among the liills, and the thoughts
and feelings these objects suggest flow forth Avith an enthusiasm
of expression which in a man less pious and rational might be
interpreted as a raismg of the inanimate world to a level with
human dignity and intelligence. The tone which jjrevails in liis
contemplation of mortal act and suffering is a serene seriousness,
on which there never breaks in anything rightly to be called pas-
sion ; yet it often rises to an intensely solemn awe, and is not
less often reUeved by touches of a quiet pathos. Almost all his
poems may be called ])oems of sentiment and reflection, and liis
own ambition was that of being worthy to be honored as a pliil-
osophical poet. His theory that the poet's fimction is Hmited to
an exact representation of the real and the natural, a heresy
which his own best poems triumphantly refute, often led him to
triviality and meanness in the choice both of subjects and dic-
tion, and marred the beauty of many otherwise fine pooms. A
fascinating airiness and delicacy of conception prevail in these
poems, and the tender sweetness of expression is often wonder-
fully touching. They were the effusions of early manhood, and
tlie imperfect embodiments of a strength which found a freer
outlet in prose. " Laodamia " and "■ Dion " are classical gems
without a flaw ; many of the somiets unite original thought and
poetic A-ividness with a perfection hardly to be sur])assed ; above
all, " The Excursion " rolls on its thousands of blank verse lines
Avith the soul-felt harmony of a divine h\Tnn pealed forth from a
cathedral organ. We forget the insignificance characterizing
the jdan, which embraces nothing but a three days' walk among
the mountains, and we refuse to be aroused from our trance of
meditative pleasm-e by the occasional tediousness of dissertation.
" The Excursion " abounds in verses and jihrases once heard
never to be forgotten, and it contains trains of ])oetical nuising
through which the poet moves ^vith a majestic fullness of reflec-
tion and imagination not paralleled, by very far, in anytliing else
5f which our century can boast.

Wilson, Shelley, and Keats make up the fourth poetical group.

The principal poems of Professor Wilson (1785-1854) are the

500 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

"Isle of Palms," a romance of shipwreck and solitude, full of
rich pictures and delicate pathos, and the " City of the Plague,"
a series of dramatic scenes, i-epresenting with great depth of
emotion a domestic tragedy from the plague of London.

SheUey was the pure apostle of a noble but ideal philanthropy ;
yet it is easy to separate his poetry from his philosophy, wliich,
though hostile to existmg conditions of society, is so ethereal, so
imbued with love for everythuig noble, and yet so abstract and
impracticable, that it is not likely to do much harm.

Keats poured forth with great power the dreams of his imma-
ture youth, and died in the behef that the radiant forms had
been seen in vain. In native felicity of poetic adornment these
two were the first minds of their time, but the inadequacy of
their performance to their poetic facvdties shows how needful to
the production of effective poetry is a substratum of solid
thought, of practical sense, and of manly and extensive sympa-
thy.

If we would apprehend the fullness and firmness of the powers
of Shelley (1792-1822) without remaining ignorant of his weak-
ness, we might study the lyrical drama of " Prometheus Un-
bound," a marvelous galaxy of dazzUng images and wildly
touching sentiments, or the " Alastor," a scene in which the mel-
ancholy quiet of sohtude is visited but by the despairing poet
who lies down to die. We find here, instead of sympathy with
ordinary and universal feehngs, warmth for the abstract and un-
real, or, when the poet's own unrest i)rompts, as in the " Stanzas
Written in Dejection near Naples," a strain of lamentation which
sounds lilce a passionate sigh. Instead of clearness of thmking,
we find an indistinctness which sometimes amomits to the unin-
telligible. In the " Revolt of Islam," his most ambitious poem,
it is often difficult to apprehend even the outlines of the story.

No youthful poet ever exhibited more thorough possession of
those fa(;ulties that are the foundation of genius than Keats
(1796-1820), and it is impossible to say what he might have
been had he lived to become acquainted with himself and with
mankind. It was said of his " Endymion " most truly, that no
book could be more aptly used as a test to determine whether a
reader has a genuine love for poetry. His works have no inter-
est of story, no insight into human nature, no clear sequence of
thought; they are the ra])tiu-ous voice of youthful fancy, luxuri-
ating in a world of beautiful unrealities.

It may be questioned whether Crabbe and Moore are entitled
to rank with the poets already reviewed.

Crabbe's (1754-1832) "Metrical Tales," describing every,
ilay life, are striking, natm-al, and sometimes very touching, but
they are warmed by no kindly thoughts and elevated by nothing
i>f ideahty.

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 501

Moore (1780-1851), one of the most popular of English po-
ets, will long be remembered for his songs, so melodious and so
elegant in phrase. His fund of imagery is inexhaastible, ])ut
oftener ingenious than poetical. His Eastern romances in " Lalla
Rookh," with all their occasional fehcities, are not powei-ful po-
etic narratives. He was nowhere so successful as in liis satirical
effusions of comic rhyme, in wliich his fanciful ideas are proi.ipted
by a wit so gayly sharp, and exjjressed with a neatness and
})()intedncss so unusuid, that it is to be regi-etted that these pieces
should be condemned to speedy forgetfulness, a^ they must be,
from the temporary interest of their topics.

Among the works of the numerous minor poets, the tragedies
of Joanna Baillie, with all their faults as plays, are noble addi-
tions to the literature, and the closest approach made in recent
times to the merit of the old English drama. After these may
be named the stately and imposing dramatic poems of Milman,
Maturin's impassioned " Bertram," and the finely-conceived
« Juhan" of Miss Mitford.

Rogers and Bowles have given us much of pleasing and re-
flective sentiment, accompanied with great refinement of taste.

To another and more modern school belong Procter (Barry
Cornwall) and Leigh Hunt; the former the pm-er in taste, the
latter the more original and inventive.

Some of the lyiical and meditative poems of Walter Savage
liandor are very beautiful ; his longer poems sometimes delight
but oftener })uz7.1e us by their obscuiity of thought and want o£
constructive skiU.

The poems of Mrs. Hemans breathe a singularly attractive
tone of romantic and melancholy sweetness, and many of the
baUads and songs of Hogg and Cunningham will not soon be
forgotten.

The poems of Kirke White are more pleasing than original.
Montgomery has written, besides many other poems, not a few
meditative and devotional pieces among the best in the language.
PoUok's " Course of Time " is the immature work of a man of
genius who possessed very imperfect cultivation. It is clumsy
in plan and tediously dissertative, but it has ])assages of genuine
poetry. The pleasing verses of Bishop Heber and the more re-
cent effusions of Keble may also be named.

Of the Scotch poets, James Hogg (d. 1835) is distinguislied
for the beauty and creative power of his fairy tales, ami Allan
Cunningham (d. 1842) for the fervor, simplicity, and natural
grace of his songs.

Edward Lytton Bulwer (Lord L^-tton) deserves honorable
mention for his high sense of the functions of jjoetic art ; for
the skill with which his dramas are constructed, and for the

502 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

overflowing picturesqueness wliich fills his " King Arthur."
Elliott, the Corn-Law Rhymer, is vigorous in conception, and
Hood has a remarkable miion of grotesque humor with depth
of serious feeling.

Henry Taylor (b. 1800) deserves notice for the fine medita-
tiveness and weU-balanced judgment shown in liis dramas and
prose essays. " Philip Van Artevelde " is his masterpiece.

The poems of Arthur Hugh Clough (d. 1861) are worthy of
attention, although it may be doubted if his genius reached its
full development; in those of Milnes (Lord Houghton, b. 1809),
emotion and intellect are harmoniously blended. R. H. Home
(d. 1884) is the author of some noble poems ; Aytoun (d. 1865),
of many baUads of note ; and in Kingsley (d. 1875) the poetic
faculty finds its best expression in liis popular lyrics.

Alfred Tennyson (b. 1810) is by eminence the representative
poet of his era. The central idea of his poetry is that of the
dignity and efiiciency of law in its widest sense and of the prog-
ress of the race. The elements which form liis ideal of human
character are self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-conti-ol, the rec-
ognition of a divine order, of one's own place in that order, and
a faithful adhesion to the law of one's highest life. " In Me-
moriam " is his most characteristic work, distinctly a poem of
this century, the great threnody of our language. The " IdyUs of
the King" present in epic form the Christian ideal of chivalry.

In Browning (b. 1812) the gi'eatness and glory of man lie not
in submission to law, but in infinite aspiration towards something
higher than himself. He must perpetually grasp at things attain-
able by his highest striving, and, finding them unsatisfactory, he
is urged on by an endless series of aspirations and endeavors.
In his poetry strength of thought struggles through obscurity of
expresssion, and he is at once tbe most original and unequal of
living poets.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (d. 1861) may be regarded as
the re})resentative of her sex in the present age. The Instinct
of worship, the religion of humanity, and a spiritual unity of zeal,
love, and worship preside over her work.

To this period belong the writings of Mrs. Norton, Mrs.
Blackwood, Mrs. Crosland, Mary Ilowitt, and P^liza Cook.

Fiction. — Previous to the appearance of Scott's novels the
de])artment of prose wi'iting had undergone an elevating ])rocess
in the hands of Godwin, Miss Austen, Miss Porter, and Miss
Edgeworth. " Waverley " appeared in 1814, and the series
which followed with surjmsing rapidity obtained universal and
unexampled popularity. The Waverley Novels are not merely
love stories, but pictures of human life animated by sentiments
tvhieh are cheerful and correct, and they exhibit Iiistory in a

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 603

most effective li,i:^ht without degrading facts or falsifying them
beyond tlie kiwt'ul stretch of poetical eniljellishnient. These
novels stand in literary value as far above all other prose works
of fiction as those of Fielding stand above all others in the lan-
guage excej)t these.

The novels of Lockhart are strong in the representation of
tragic passion. Wilson, in his "Lights and Shadows of Scot-
tish Life," shows the visionary loveliness and ])athos which ap-
jjear in his ])oenis, though they give no scope to those jjowers
of sarcasm and humor which found ex})ression elsewhere. Ex-
tremes in the tone of thought and feehng are shown in the de-
sj)ondent iniagiuatiou of Mrs. Shelley and the coarse and slu-ewd
humor of Gait. To this time belong Hope's " Anastasius,"
which unites reflectiveness with pathos, and the delightful scenes
which Miss Mitford has constructed by embellishing the facts of
English rural life.

Among the earlier novels of the time, those of Bulwer had
more decidedly than the others the stamp of native genius.
Though not always morally instructive, they have great force
of serious passion, and show unusual skill of design. In some
of his later woi-ks he rises into a much liigher sphere of etliical
contemplation. The novels of Theodore Hook, sparkling as
they are, have no substance to endure long continuance, nor is
there much promise of life in the showy and fluent tales of
James, the sea-stories of Marryat, or the gay scenes of Lever.
The novels and sketches of IMrs. Marsh and Mrs. Hall are
pleasing and tasteful ; Mrs. TroUopes portraits of character are
rough and clever caricatures. In describing the lower depart-
ments of Irish life, Banim is the most original. Griffin weaker,
and Carleton better than either. The novels of Disraeli are
remarkable for their brilliant sketches of English life and their
embodiment of i)olitical and social theories. Miss Martineau's
stories are fiUl of the writer's clearness and sagacity. Kings-
ley, the head of the Cluistian socialistic school, is the author of
many romances, and the eloquent preacher of a more earnest
and practical Christianity. The narrative sketches of Douglas
Jerrold deserve a place among the speculative fictions of the
day.

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) had consummate mastery of
expression, and a ]ierce])tion of the depth of human nature that
is only revealed through suffering experience. The works of
her sister Emily show a powerful imagination, regidated by no
consideration of beauty of j)ro])ortion, or of artistic feeling.

Amontr those writers who aim at making the novel illustrate
questions that agitate society most i)owerfully are the founders
of a new school of novelists, Thackeray and Dickens (1812-

604 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

1870). The former has given his pictures of society all that
character they could receive from extraordinary skill of mental
analysis, acute observation, and strength of sarcastic irony, but
he has never been able to excite continuous and lively sympathy
either by interesting incidents or by deep passion. Dickens
has done more than all which Thackeray has left unattempted ;
while his painting of character is as vigorous and natural, his
power of exciting emotion ranges with equal success from hor-
ror sometimes too intense, to melting pathos, and thence to a
breadth of humor which degrenerates into caricature. He cannot
soar into the higher worlds of imagination, but he becomes strong,
inventive, and affecting the moment his foot touches the firm
gi'ound of reality, and nowhere is he more at ease, more sharply
observant, or more warmly sympathetic, than in scenes whose
meanness might have disgusted, or whose moral foulness might
have appalled. Of the later novelists, the names of Mrs. Craik
(Miss Muloch) and Charles Reade (d. 1884) may be mentioned
as having acquired a wide ])opularity.

History. — In history Niebuhr's masterly researches have
communicated their sjjirit to the " Roman History " of Arnold ;
the history of Greece has assumed a new aspect in the hands o£
Thirlwall and Grote ; and that of Grecian literature has been in
part excellently related by Muir (d. 1860). Modern history
has Hkewise been cultivated with great assiduity, and several
works of great literary merit have appeared which are valuable
as storehouses of research. Macaulay, in his great work, " The
History of England," showed that history might be written as it
had not been before, telling the national story with accuracy and
force, making it as lively as a novel, through touches of individ-
ual interest and teaching precious truths with fascinating elo-
quence. Alison's " History of Europe " takes its place among
the highest works of its kind. Carlyle's " History of the French
Revolution " and " Life of Frederic the Great " are most pic-
turesque, attractive, and original works. The History of the
Norman Conquest of England is the most important work of
Freeman. Buckle (d. 1862) in his Introduction to the projected
History of Civilization in Europe reiterated the theory that all
events depend upon the action of inevitable law.

Criticism and Reviews. — In the art of criticism, Hallam's
(d. 1 859) " Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fif-
teenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries " has taken its
place as a classical standard. Among the fragments of criti-
cism, the most valuable are those of De Quincey (d. 1860). The
essays of Macaulay (d. 1860) aie among the most impressive of
all the periodical papers of our century.

In Carlyle, a generous sentiment alternates with despondent

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 605

{rloom and passionate restlessness and inconsistency. But it is
impossible to hear, without a deep sense of original jx)\yer, the
oracular voices that issue from the cell ; enigmatical, like the
ancient responses, and like them illuminating doubtfid vaticlnar
tion with flashes of wild and half poetic fantasy. His language
and thoughts alike set aside hereditary rides, and are com-
j)ounded of elements, English and German, and elements pre-
dominant over all, wliich no name woidd fit except that^ of the
author.

Among numerous other writers may be mentioned the names
of William and Mary Howitt, Isaac Taylor, Arthur Helps, and
the brothers Hare, and in artrcriticism the brilliant and pai-adox-
ical Ruskin (b. 1819) and the accomphshed JMi's. Jameson (d.
18G0).

The m-itings of Christopher North (Professor Wilson) are
characterized by the quaintest humor and the most ])ractical
shi-ewdness combined with tender and passionate emotion (d.
1854). Those of Charles Land) (d. 1835) it is impossible to
describe intelligibly to those who have not read them. Some of
Ids scenes are in sentiment, imagery, and style the most anoma-
lous medleys by which readers were ever alternately perplexed
and amused, moved and delighted.

No man of his time influenced social science so much as
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). Of his immediate pupils James
Mill is the ablest. Cobbett, a vigorous and idiomatic writer
of English, in the coiu-se of his long life advocated all varieties
of ])olitical ])rincl]de. In political science we have the accurate
McCuUoch ; Malthus, known through his Theory of Population ;
and Ricardo, the most original thinker in science since Adam
Smith.

Foster (1770-1843) had originality and a wider grasp of
mind than the other two. Hall (1761-1831) is more eloquent,
but in oratorical power Chalmers (1780-1847) was one of the
great men of our century, which has produced few comparable
to him in original keenness of intuition, and who cond)ined so
much power of thought with so much power of impressive com-
munication.

In philosophy, Dugald vStewart (1753-1828) is one of the
most attractive \\Titers. Thomas Brown (1778-1820), his suc-
cessor in the chair of Edinburgh, exhibited a subtlety of thought
hardly ever exceeded in the history of philos()])hy ; probably no
writings on mental philosophy were ever so ])opular.

Equally worthy of a place in the annals of their era <are those
dissertations on the History of Philoso])liy contributed to the
Encyclopjedia Britannica by Playfair, Leslie, and Mackintosh,
and a system of Etliics by Bentham. Among the specidations

506 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

in mental pliilosophy must also be placed a group of interesting
treatises on the " Theory of the Sublime and Beautiful," a
matter deeply important to poetry and the other fine arts, rep-
resented by Ahson's essays on Taste, Jeffrey's on Beauty, and
by contributions from Stewart, Thomas Brown, and Payne
Knight.

In political economy John Mill is one of the most powerful
and original minds of the nineteenth century. The pure sci-
ences of mind have been enriched by important accessions ; logic
has been \ngoroasly cultivated in two departments ; on the one
hand by Mill and W he well, the former following the tendencies
of Locke and Hobbes, the latter that of the German school;
on the other hand, Archbishop Whately has expounded the
Ai-istotelian system with clearness and sagacity, and De Mor-
gan has attempted to supply certain deficiencies in the old anal-
ysis. But by far the greatest metaphysician who has appeared
in the British empire during the present century is Sir William
Hamilton. In his union of powerful thinking with profound
and varied erudition, he stands higher, perhaps, than any other
man whose name is preserved in the annals of modern specula-
tion.

Revtews akt> Magazines. — A most curious and important
fact in the literary history of the age is the prominence ac-
quired by the leading Ile\dews and Magazines. Their high po-
sition was secured and their power founded beyond the possibil-
ity of overturn by the earhest of the series, the " Edinburgh
Review." Commenced in 1802, it was placed immediately
under the editorship of Francis Jeffrey, who conducted it till
1829. In the earher part of its history there were not many
distinguished men of letters in the emj^ire who did not furnish
something to its contents ; among others were Sir Walter Scott,
Lord Brougham, Malthus, Playfair, Mackintosh, and Sydney
Smith. Differences of political opinion led to the estabHsh-
ment of the " London Quarterly, "which advocated Tory prin-
ciples, the Edinburgh being the organ of the Whigs. Its editors
were first Gifford and then Lockhart, and it numbered among
its contriliutors many of the most famous men of the time. The
*' Westminster Review " was established in 1825 as the organ
of Jeremy Bentham and liis disciples.

" Blackwood's Magazine," begun 1817, has contained articles
of the highest literary merit. It was the unflinching and idola-
trous advocate of Wordsworth, and some of its writers were the
first translators of German poetry and the most active intro.
ducers of German taste and laws in poetical criticism.

The best efforts in literary criticism — the most brilliant de-
partment of recent literature — have been with few exceptions

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 607

contributed as essays to periodicals. Francis Jeffrey, the bril-
liant editor of the " Edinburgh Review," would naturally be
mentioned first in any resume of such literature. Not only was
his own work of singular scope and importance (though suffer-
ing from the limitations of an academic mind), but he succeeded
in impressing his general critical method upon a whole generation
of reviewers, numbering among them such diverse talents as
Macaulay and Carlyle, for example. Jeffrey may be said to
have set the pace for nineteenth-century criticism ; and though
many of his dicta now seem hidebound or otherwise inadequate,
we cannot afford entirely to outgrow his method, the outcome
of a singularly clear if cold intelligence. Much warmer and
on the whole much less reliable is the criticism of Jeffrey's
contemporary (" Christopher North "). A not inferior place
among the critical essayists for that period must be assigned
to William Hazlitt, with all his faults of temperament one of
the most suggestive of English essayists, and the master of a
fluent pellucid style which has hardly its like among English
authors. De Quincey, too, though sometimes given to wiredraw-
ing and the labored illumination of the obvious, was at times a
critic of subtle discernment : it is, however, with De Quincey as
with Carlyle, the original imaginative power rather than the
critical faculty, for which the author is now valued. ]\Iacaulay,
much of whose critical work appeared first in the " Edinburgh,"
had a great deal in conmion with Jeffrey — a mind also aca-
demic, and a power distinctly more analytical than creative.
He has, however, much greater rhetorical feeling and a capacity
for expressing the opinion of the average mind which has given
him place among the three or four popular English writers of
the century.

SINCE 1860.

Between 1860 and 1890 the literary product of England was
equally large and significant ; and if during the last decade of
the century a decided falling off was to be noticed in its quality,
we shall take it to be due to one of those inevitable reactions
which, whether we label them " decadent" or not, appear to
be inevitably incident to any national literature.

Since the day of Jeffrey great strides have been taken in the
art of criticism. This fact is partly due to French influence —
to the increasing familiarity among Englishmen with such
critics as Sainte-lieuve and Taine. This again was due largely
to the insistence of Matthew Arnold (1822-1889), the apostle
of classical culture for all P^nglish-speaking peoj)les. Tlie i)ub-
lication of the " Essays in Criticism " marks the setting in of a
new tide in English letters. But the progi-ess of critical methods

508 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

has not stopped with Arnold ; for sound as his practice in criti-
cism almost invariably was, his theory had about it — or about
its expression, at least — a vagueness and lack of definition
somewhat suggestive of the dilettante. The criticism of Swin-
burne was informed with a heady enthusiasm which is quite ab-
sent from Arnold's work, and from the cool and elaborate criti-
cism of Walter Pater. Later, in the hands of finished theorists
like Professor Saintsbury, Professor Dowden, and Arnold's
successor in the chair of Poetry at Oxford, Professor Courthope,
criticism has become a far more efficient and reliable engine of
culture. During this period England has covered the field of
belles-lettres with a remarkable trio of critics, Austin Dobson,
Edmund Gosse, and Andrew Lang. Ruskin's ardent champion-
ship of art has found equally sincere and possibly more dis-
criminating successors in such writers as Philip Gilbert Hamer-
ton ; and literary biography has attained something very near
perfection in such judicial hands as those of Leslie Stephen and
John Morley. In the meantime the average of journalistic
criticism has become very high in England. Except in the
" Saturday Review," the famous " this will never do " method
has been pretty much abandoned ; and nowhere is such a
tendency to wholesale flattery and puffery manifested as is
common with us. There is probably but one critical organ in
America — possibly two — which can compare for fairness and
straightforwardness with the London " Spectator ; " and there
are not a few in England.

In history also a much higher standard of care and accuracy
has come to prevail since the time of Macaulay, and in three
cases, at least, — in the cases of Froude, Lecky, and John
Richard Green, — without sacrifice of the quality of style which
alone can make a work of history a permanent contribution to
literature. In the field of science this point may be strikingly
illustrated. Among the four names which might be given as
the scientific leaders among Englishmen of the nineteenth cen-
tury, that of Charles Darwin (1809-1883) has probably been
of greatest moment to science. Yet " The Origin of Species,"
one of the most memorable of scientific documents, is a crabbed
and unskilful piece of writing. One turns to the work of
Spencer, Tyndall, and Huxley to find writing which is both
literary and scientific.

PoETKY. — But it is in poetry and fiction that we may scan
most carefully the work of the past forty years.

One naturally considers first the later work of three poets
whose fame was won in an earlier period : Tennyson, Brown-
ing, and Landor. Each of them continued to produce verse
until well toward the end of the century, each of them suffered

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 509

some impairment of judgment, and each of them retained his
lyric power unimpaired to the end. Tennyson's genius had
reached its highest expression in " In Memoriam ; " the at-
tempts of his okl age at formal dramatic writing, far from add-
ing to his fame, have served to define somewhat sharply his
limitations in range and manner. In Browning we find, not
the attempt at new forms of expression, but a gi-adual tendency
toward exaggerating the faults of his early prime. The meth-
ods and mannerisms which are tolerable in such sheer poetry as
" Sordello " become a sad burden in " Red Cotton Night-cap
Country." Landor, more than either of the others, retained
the stately graces of his youth ; but Landor never lost his youth,
and has besides the great advantage of an excellence in prose
so pure as to reflect, perhaps, some added glamour upon his
verse for the cultivated few to whom it could appeal.

Before 1860 Matthew Arnold had written most of the verse
which has given him rank among nineteenth-century poets.
It was slow in gaining public recognition, and has indeed never
become popular. Its equality is rather intellectual than lyrical,
and it is significant that in later life Arnold devoted himself
almost entirely to prose. Naturally associated with Arnold's
name is that of his friend Arthur Hugh Clough. With some-
what less firmness of mental fibre, he shared the scholarly skep-
ticism of Arnold, and doubtless missed doing many things in
literature because they did not seem, on the whole, worth while.

No sketch of that mid-century poetry can afford to leave out
of account the work of the pre-Raphaelite school. It suffered the
disadvantage of any poetry of coterie. Whatever its perfection
of form and intensity of feeling, it is seldom quite inartificial.
The studied archaism of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, however, the
virginal asceticism of Christina Rossetti, and the touch of morbid-
ness which belonged to them both, did not prevent their pro-
ducing some poetry of singular power. To the same order of
poets, though not to the same school, belongs Algernon Charles
Swinburne. With an astonishing control of metres and a gen-
uine lyric impulse, he has never quite succeeded in coordinating
thought and expression. Not infrequently the melody of his
verse appears to exist independently of substance. He is, how-
ever, the greatest living survivor of that older group of poets
whose prestige was at its height during the third (pxarter of the
century. Inferior to liim. l)ut in some respects akin, are Theo-
dore Watts-Dunton, and William Watson, self-styled " the idle
singer of an empty day."

In the meantime there were otlier idle singers — poets, that
is, of no message — who were proceeding to turn their iiUeness
to good account. Mr. Edmund Clarence Stedman finds the

510 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

most promising movement of the eighties to consist in the work
of the writers of vers de societe, of whom the best was Austin
Dobson. One other " school " was to arise which may perhaps
be mentioned here — the Neo-Celtic, wliich attempts to render
the spirit of the GaeHc poetry in English. Prominent among
such poets have been Fiona McLeod, Anna MacManus ('' Etlina
Carbery "), and, working upon a more pretentious scale, W. B.
Yeats.

Among other poets of the period may be mentioned such
popular writers as Lord Lytton (" Owen Meredith ") and Sir
Edwin Arnold. Less read and far greater than these are Henley,
master of a pure pagan lyric strain, and George Meredith, mod-
ern and psychological, yet at liis best displaying an equally
legitimate poetic feeling. Last of all have come two widely
diiferent singers, Kipling, the inspired journalist and celebrator
of imperialism, and Stephen Phillips, the accomplished and
restrained composer in both the lyric and the dramatic veins,
the creator of " Marpessa " and " Paolo and Francesca."

FiCTiox. — The years which have passed since Mary Ann
Evans (" George Eliot ") wrote her novels have, on the whole,
added to the critical estimation in which they are held. In her
later work her artistic instinct was unfortunately overbalanced
by her instinct as a moraUst and lecturer on life ; but the two
parts of her nature were never wholly divorced, and her works
as a whole stand as the gi-eatest feminine achievement in Eng-
lish fiction after Jane Austen. Much of her spirit and method
are suggested in the novels of Mrs. Humphry Ward. Fortu-
nately in this case the didactic bent, very strong at first, appears
to be yielding to the artistic element in the author's nature.
More akin to Miss Austen than to George Eliot is the work of
Anthony Trollope, the genial chronicler of Barchester — that
is, of the life of the upper middle class in the England of a
generation ago. George Macdonald, William Black, Sir Wal-
ter Besant, and R. D. Blackmore may be classed together as
sentimentalists ; and the Barrie whom we are now reading is,
with a certain added vein of humor, their lineal descendant.
One is tempted to add Rudyard Kipling to the list, for with
all his bluntness and surface cynicism it is hard not to believe
that the author of " Wee Willie Winkie " and " The Reces-
sional " is at heart both sentimentalist and idealist. Kipling
has, liowever, preferred the method of the journalist. It is
even harder to classify the Avork of George Meredith, whose
novels have been the delight of the few and the mystification of
the many. Perhaps the recent verdict of an American critic
comes as near fairness as it is yet possible to come — that Mr.
Meredith is more dilettante than artist, an experimenter in

ENGLISH LITERATURE^ 511

literary psychology rather than a true novelist. Robert Louis
Stevenson, on the other hand, was a born teller of tales, and
the popularity of his earlier work is largely responsible for the
revival of romantic fiction against which public taste is just
beginning to react.

For many years the most prominent masters of the realistic
method have been Henry James and Thomas Hardy ; the
former an American by birth, but now long an Englishman by
preference. James's work deals for the most part with the
subtle problems of an over-civilized society ; his method is
deliberate and qualifying in the extreme, and perhaps appeals
mainly to over-civilized readers. Hardy, on the other hand,
prefers to handle human nature in less compromised forms and
by less compromising methods. James is dryly, and Hardy is
coldly, deficient in sentiment ; and one is likely to lay down
their work with a baffled feeling of uncertainty as to the moral
and intellectual stability of the race. It cannot be denied that
the century has closed without giving decided tokens of the new
forms of strength which, it seems, must give power to a litera*
ture now long enough concerned with the perfecting of certain
lyrical and narrative media.

AMERICAN LITERATURE.

The Colonial Period. — 1. The Seventeenth Century. George Sandys ; The Bay Psalm
Book ; Auue Bradstreet, John Eliot, and Cotton Mather. — "2. From 1700 to 1770 ; Joua*
than Edwards, Benjamm Franklin, Cadwallader Colden.

First American Period from 1771 to 1820. — 1. Statesmen and Political Writers : Wash-
ington, Jefferson, Hamilton. The Federalist : Jay, Madison, Marshall, Fisher Ames, and
others. — 2. The Poets : Freneau, Trumbull, Hopkinson, Barlow, Clitton, and Dwight. —
3. Writers in other Departments : Bellamy, Hopkins, Dwight, and Bishop White. Rush,
McClurg, Lindley Murray, Charles Brockden Brown. Ramsay, Graydon. Count Rum-
ford, Wirt, Ledyard, Pinkney, and Pike.

Second American Period since 1820. — 1. History, Biography, and Travels : Bancroft,
Prescott, Motley, Irving, John Fiske, Parkman, Kane, Bayard Taylor, and others. — 2.
Oratory : Webster, Lincoln, and others. — 3. Fiction : Cooper, Irving, Hawthorne, Poe,
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Elizabeth Stoddard, Cable, Howells, F. Marion Crawford, Frank
R. Stockton, Aldrich, Joel Chandler Harris, Bret Harte, Sarah Orne Jewett, and others.
— 4. Poetry: Bryant, Poe, Walt Whitman, Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, Holmes,
Lowell, Aldrich, Richard Watson Gilder, Edmund Clarence Stedman. R. H. Stoddard,
Edith M. Thomas, and others. —5. The Transcendental Movement in New England:
Ripley, Parker, Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Emerson. — G. Essays and Criticism ; Irving,
Donald G. Mitchell, Holmes, Warner, Curtis, Whipple, Richard Grant White, Lowell,
Howells, W. C. Brownell, Thoreau, Burrongh.s, pnd others. —7. Newspapers and Peri-
odicals ; The International Quarterly, Science, The Scientific American, The Popular
Science Monthlv, The North American Review, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's,
Scrihner's, The Century, The Forum, The Review of Reviews, Harper's Weekly, The
Nation.

The Colonial Period (1640-1770).

1. The Seventeenth Century. — Of all the nations which
have sprung into existence through the medium of European col-
onization, since the discovery of America, the United States is
the only one having a literature of its own creation, and contain-
ing original works of a high order. Its earliest productions,
however, are of Uttle value ; they belong not to a period of liter-
ary leisure, but to one of trial and danger, when the colonist was
forced to contend with a savage enemy, a rude soil, and all the
privations of pioneer life. It was not until the spirit of freedom
began to influence the national character, that the literature of
the colonies assumed a distinctive form, although its earliest pro-
ductions are not without value as marking its subsequent devel-
opment.

Among the bold spirits who, with Captain .John Smith, braved
the pestilential swamps and wily Indians of Virginia, there were
some lovers of literature, the most prominent of whom was
George Sandys, who translated Ovid's " Metamorphoses '' on the
banks of James River. The work, published in London in 1620^
was dedicated to Charles I. and received the commendations of

AMERICAN LITERATURE. 513

Pope and Dryden. The Puritans, too, carried a love of letters
with them to the shores of New England, and their literary ])ro-
diictions, like their colony, took a far more lasting root than did
those of their more southern hretlu-en. The intellect of tlie col-
onies first developed itself in a theological form, whicli was the
natural consequence of emigi-ation, induced by difference of re-
ligious opinion, the free scope afforded for discussion, and the
variety of creeds represented by the different races who thus met
on a common soil. The clergy, also, were the best educated and
the most influential class, and the colonial era therefore boasted
chiefly a theok)gical literature, though for the most part contro-
versial and fugitive. While there is no want of learning or rea-
soning power in the tracts of many of the theologians of tliat day,
they are now chiefly referred to by the antiquarian or the curious
student of divinity.

The first book printed in the colonies was the " Bay Psalm
Book," which apjjeared in 1640 ; it was reprinted in England,
where it passed tlu-ough seventy editions, and retained its })opu-
larity for more than a century, although it was not strictly orig
inal, and was devoid of literary merit.

This was followed by a volume of original poems, by LIrs.
Anne Bradstreet (d. 1672) ; though not above mediocrity, these
effusions are chaste in language and not altogether insipid in
ideas. A few years later, Jolm Eliot (1604-1690), the famous
Apostle to the Indians, published a version of the Psalms and of
the Old and New Testaments in the Indian tongue, wliich was
the first Bible printed in America. The next production of value
was a " Concordance of the Scriptures," by John Newman (d.
1663), compiled by the light of pine knots in one of the frontier
settlements of New England ; the first work of Its kind, and for
more than a century the most perfect. Cotton Mather (d. 1728)
was one of the most learned men of his age, and one of its rej>
resentative \vi-iters. His princi])al work is the " INIagnalia Clu-isti
Americana," an ecclesiastical history of New England, from 1620
to 1698, including the ci\'il history of the times, several biogra-
phies, and an account of the Indian wars, and of New England
witchcraft. Eliot and Mather were the most prominent colonial
writers down to 1700.

2. From 1700 to 1770. — From the year 1700 to the break-
ing out of the Revolution, it was the custom of many of the col-
onists to send their sons to England to be educated. Yale Col-
lege and other institutions of learning were established at home,
from wliich many eminent scholars gi-aduatod, and. although it
Was the fasliion of the day to imitate the writers of the time of
Queen Anne and tiie two Georges, the productions of this age
exhibit a manly vigor of thought, and mark a ti-ansltion from the

514 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

theological to the more purely literary era of American author-
ship.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1785) was the first native writer
who gave unequivocal evidence of great reasoning power and
originality of thought ; he may not unworthily be styled the first
man of the world dui-ing the second quarter of the eighteenth
century ; and as a theologian, Dr. Chalmers and Robert HaU de-
clare him to have been the greatest in aU Christian ages. Of the
works of Edwards, consisting of diaries, discourses, and treatises,
that on *' The Will " is the most celebrated.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was equally illustrious in
statesmanship and philosophy. The style of his political and
pliilosopliical writings is admirable for its simplicity, clearness,
precision, and condensation ; and that of his letters and essays
has all the wit and elegance that characterize the best writers of
Queen Anne's time. His autobiography is one of the most pleas-
ing compositions in the English language, and his moral writings
have had a powerful mfluence on the character of the American
people.

From the early youth of Franklin until about the year 1770,
general literature received much attention, and numerous pro-
ductions of merit both in prose and verse appeared, which, if not
decidedly great, were interesting for the progress they displayed.
Many practical minds devoted themselves to colonial history, and
their labors have been of great value to subsequent historians.
Among these historical writings, those of Cadwallader Colden
(1688-1776) take the first rank. As we approach the exciting
dawn of the Revolution, the growing independence of thought
becomes more and more manifest.

First American Period (1770-1820).

1. Statesmen and Political Wkiters. — Among the causes
which rapidly developed literature and eloquence in the colonies,
the most important were the oppressions of the mother country,
at first silently endured, then met with murmurs of dissatisfac'
tion, and finally with manful and boldly-expressed opposition.
Speeches and pamplilets were the weapons of attack, and treat-
ing as they did upon subjects affecting the individual hberty of
every citizen, they had a powerful influence on the public mind,
and went far towards severing that mental reliance upon Europe
which American authorship is now so rapidly consummating.
The conventionalism of European literature was cast aside, and
the fii'st fruits of native genius appeared. The public documents
of the principal statesmen of the age of the Revolution were de-
clared by Lord Chatham to equal the finest specimens of Greek

AMERICAN LITERATURE. 515

or Roman wisdom. The historical correspondence of this period
constitutes a reinarkahle portion of American literature, and is
valuable not only for its high ([ualities of wisdom and patriotism,
but for its graces of expression and felicitous illustration. The
letters of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Jay, Morris,
Hamilton, and many of their compatriots, possess a permanent
literary value aside from that which they derive from their au-
thorship and the gravity of their subjects.

The speeches of many of the gi-eat orators of the age of the
Revolution are not preserved, and are known only by tradition.
Of the eloquence of Otis, which was described as " flames of
fire," there are but a few meagre reports ; the passionate appeals
of Patrick Henry and of the elder Adams, which " moved the
hearers from their seats," and the resistless declamation of Pink-
ney and Rutledge, are preserved only in the liistory of the effects
which these orators produced.

ThewTitings of Wasliington (1732-1799), produced chiefly in
the camp surrounded by the din of arms, are remarkable for
clearness of expression, force of language, and a tone of lofty
patriotism. They are second to none of similar character in any
nation, and they display jiowers which, had they been devoted
to literature, would have acliieved a position of no secondary
character.

Jefferson (1743-1826) early published a " Summary View of
the Rights of British America," which passed tlirough several
editions in London, under the supervision of Bm-ke. His " Notes
on Virginia " is still a standard work, and his varied and exten-
sive correspondence is a valuable contribution to American polit-
ical history.

Hamilton (1757-1804) was one of the most remarkable men
of the time, and to his })rofound sagacity the country was chiefly
indebted for a regulated currency and an established credit after
the conclusion of the war. During a hfe of varied and absorb-
ing occupation as a soldier, la^vyer, and statesman, he found time
to record his principles ; and liis WTitings, full of energy and
sound sense, are noble in tone, and deep in A\-isdom and insight.
" The Federalist," a joint production of Hamilton, Madison, and
Jay, exhibits a profundity of research and an acuteness of under-
standing which would do honor to the most illustrious statesmen
of any age. The name of Madison (1751-1836) is one of the
most prominent in the history of the country, and his writings,
chiefly on political, constitutional, and liistorical subjects, are of
extraordinary value to the student in liistory and political plii-
Vosophy.

Marshall (1755-1835) was for thirty-five years chief-justice
of the Supreme Court of the United States ; a court, the powers

516 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

of which are greater than were ever before confided to a judicial
tribunal. Determining, without appeal, its own jurisdiction and
that of the legislative and executive departments, this court is not
merely the highest estate in the country, but it settles and contin-
ually moulds the constitution of the government. To the duties
of his office, Judge Marshall brought a quickness of conception
commensurate with their difiicidty, and the spirit and strength
of one capable of ministering to the development of a nation.
The vessel of state, it has been said, was launched by the pat-
riotism of many ; the chart of her course was designed chiefly by
Hamilton ; but when the voyage was begim, the eye that observed,
the head that reckoned, and the hand that compelled the ship to
keep her com-se amid tempests without, and tlu-eats of mutiny
within, were those of the gi-eat chief-justice, whom posterity will
reverence as one of the founders of the nation. Marshall's
" Life of Washington " is a faithfiU and conscientious narrative,
written in a clear, unpretending style, and possesses much liter-
ary merit.

Fisher Ames (1758-1808), one of the leaders of the federal
party during the administration of Washington, was equally ad-
mired for his learning and eloquence ; although, owing to the
temporary interest of many of the subjects on which he wi-ote,
his reputation has somewhat declined.

Among other writers and orators of the age of the Revolu-
tion were Warren, Adams, and Otis, Patrick Henry, Rutledge,
Livingston, Drayton, Quincy, Dickinson, and numerous firm and
gifted men, who, by their logical and earnest appeals roused the
comitry to the assertion of its rights and gave a wise direction
to the power they thus evoked.

2. The Poets. — One of the most distinguished poets of the
Age of the Revolution was Philip Freneau (1752-1832). Al-
though many of his compositions which had great political effect
at the time they were WTitten have little merit, or relate to for-
gotten events, enough remains to show that he was not wanting
in genius and enthusiasm.

John Trumbull (1750-1831) was the author of " McFingal,"
a humorous poem in the style of Butler's Hudibras, the object of
which was to render ludicrous the zeal and logic of the tories.
There is no contemporaneous record which supplies so Vivid a
representation of the manners of the age, and the habits and
modes of thinking that then prevailed. The popularity of ]\Ic-
Fingal was extraordinary, and it had an important influence on
the gi-eat events of the time. Trumbull was a tutor in Yale Col-
lew-e, and attempted to introduce an improved course of study
and discipline into the institution, which met with much opposi-
tion. His most finished poem, " The Progress of Dullness," was

AMERICAN LITERATURE. 517

hardly less serviceable to the cause of education than his Mc-
Fingul was to that of libt'ily. Francis Hopkinson (1738-1791),
another wit of the Kevolution, nuiy be ranked beside Trumbull
for his efficiency in the national cause.

Joel Barlow (1755-1812) as an author was among the first of
Iiis time. His j)rincij)al work is the " Columbiad," an epic poem
which, with many faults, has occasional bursts of patriotism and
true eloquence, which, should preserve it from oblivion. His
pleasing poem celebrating '' Hasty Pudding " has gained a more
extensive popidarity. The few songs of William Clifton (1772-
1799), a more original and vigorous poet, are imbued with the
true spirit of lyric poetry.

Timothy Dwight (1752-1819) was the author of "Greenfield
Hill," the *' Conquest of Canaan," an epic poem, and several
other productions ; but his fame rests chiefly on his merits as a
theologian, in which department he had few if any equals.
Many other names might be cited, but none of commanding ex-
cellence.

3. "Writers ix othkr Departments. — Although in the
period innnediately succeeding the Revolution there was a
strong tendency to political discussion, not a few WTiters found
exercise in other departments. Theology had its able expound-
ers in Bellamy, Hopkins, Dwight, and Bishop White. Barton
merits especial notice for his work on botany, and for his ethno-
logical investigations concerning the Indian race, and Drs. Rush
and McClurg were eminent in various departments of medical
science. In 1795, Lindley Murray (1745-1826) jjublished his
English Grammar, which for a long tune held its place as the
best work of the kind in the language.

It shoidd be borne in mind, however, that during this period
very few writers devoted themselves exclusively to literature.
Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810) was the tii'st purely jiro-
fessional author. His chief productions are two works of fiction,
" Wieland " and " Ai'thur Mer\')ni," Avhich from their merit,
and as the first of American creations in the world of romance,
were favorably received, and early attracted attention in Eng-
land.

One of the earliest laborers in the field of history was David
Ramsay (1749-1815), and his numerous Avorks are monmuents
of his unwearied research and patient labor for the public good
and the honor of his country. Graydon's (1742-1818) " Mem-
oirs of his own Times, with Reminiscences of Men and Events
of the Revolution," illustrates the most interesting and important
period of our liistory, and conibines the various excellences of
style, scholarshii), and impartiality.

Benjamin Thompson (1753-1814), better known by his title

518 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

of Count Rumford, acquired an extensive reputation in the scien*
tific world for liis various philosophical improvements in private
and political economy. William Wirt was the author of the
" Letters of the British Spy," which derives its interest from its
descriptions and notices of individuals. His " Life of Patrick
Henry " is a finished piece of biography, surpassed by few works
of its kind in elegance of style and force of narrative.

John Ledyard (1751-1788), who died in Egypt while prepar-
ing for the exploration of Central Africa, was the first important
contributor to the literatm'e of travel, in America, and his jour-
nals, abounding in pleasing description and truthful narratives,
have become classic in this department of letters. A captivat-
ing book of travels in France, by Lieutenant Pinkney, which ap-
peared in 1809, created such a sensation in England, that Leigh
Hmit tells us it set all the idle world going to France. Zebulon
Pike, under the auspices of the government, published the first
book ever written on the country between the Mississippi and the
Rocky Mountains.

Second American Period (since 1820).

1. History, Biography, anb Travels. — From the year
1820, American literature may be considered as fairly launched
upon its national career. The early laborers in the field had
immense difficulties to encounter from ridicule abroad and want
of appreciation at home ; but they at last succeeded in dispelling
all doubts as to the capability of the American mind for the ex-
ercise of original power, and to some extent diverted public
thought from Europe as an exclusive source of mental supphes.
The era we are now to consider will be found prolific in works
of merit, and the expansion of mind will be seen to have kept
pace with the political, social, and commercial progress of the
nation. No subject of human knowledge has been overlooked ;
many European works have been elucidated by the fresh light
of the American mind ; a new style of thought has been devel-
oped ; new scenes have been opened to the world, and Europe is
receiving compensation in kind for the intellectual treasures she
has heretofore sent to America.

The marvelous growth of the United States, its relations to
the past and future, and to the great problem of humanity, ren-
der its history one of the most suggestive episodes in the annals of
the world, and give to it a universal as well as a special dignity.
Justly interpreted, it is the practical demonstration of principles
which the noblest spirits of England advocated with their pens,
and often sealed with their blood. The early colonists were famil-
iar with the responsibilities and progressive tendency of liberal
institutions, and in achieving the Revolution they only carried

AMERICAN LITERATURE. 519

out what had long existed in idea, and actualized the \'iews of
Sidney and his illustrious compeers. Through this intimate re-
lation with the past of the Okl World, and as initiative to its fu-
ture self-enfranchisement, our history daily unfolds new meaning
and increases in importance and interest. It is only within the
last quarter of a century, however, that this tlieme has found
any adequate illustration. Before that time the lahors of Amer-
ican historians liad heen chiefly confined to the collection of
materials, tlie unadorned record of facts which rarely derived
any charm from the graces of style or the resources of philoso-
phy-

The most successful attempt to reduce the chaotic but rich
materials of American liistory to order, beauty, and moral signifi-
cance has been made by Bancroft (b. 1800), who has brought to
the work not only talent and scholarship of high order, but an
earnest symjjathy with the spirit of the age he was to illustrate.
In sentiment and principle his history is thoroughly American,
although in its style and philosophy it has that broad and eclec-
tic spirit appropriate to the general interest of the subject, and
the enhghtened sympathies of the age. Unwearied and patient
in research, discriminating and judicious in the choice of author-
ities, and possessed of all the qualities required to fuse into a
vital unity the narrative thus carefully gleaned, Bancroft has
written the most accurate and philosophical account that has
been given of the United States.

The works of Prescott (1796-1858) are among the finest
models of historical composition, and they breathe freely the
spirit of our liberal institutions. His " History of P'erdinand
and Isabella," of the " Conquest of Mexico," and the " Conquest
of Peru," unite all the fascination of romantic fiction ^^^th the
gi-ave interest of authentic events. The })icturesque and roman-
tic character of liis subjects, the harmony and beauty of his style,
the dramatic interest of his narrative, and the careful research
which renders his works as valuable for their accuracy as they
are attractive for their style, have given Prescott's histories a
brilliant and extensive reputation ; and it is a matter of deep re-
gret that his last and crowning work, " The History of Philip II.,"
should remain uncompleted. Another im])ortant contribution to
the literature of the country is Motley's (1814-1877) "History
of the Rise of the Dutch Re])ublic," a work distinguislied for its
historical accuracy, ])liilosophical breadth of treatment, and
clearness and vigor of style. The narrative proceeds with a
steady and easy flow, and the scenes it traces are portrayed
with the hand of a master ; wliile the whok^ work is pervaded
by a spirit of humanity and a genuine synqjathy with liberty.
Parke Godwin's '' History of France " is remarkable for its com-

520 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

bination of deep research and picturesqueness of style. The
most distinguished later contribution to French history has been
made by Andrew D. White. Washington Irving's " Voyages
of Columbus " and " Life of Washington " have been found
occasionally inaccurate in the light of later knowledge, but
although not the work of a scholar, they are among the first
fruits of the scholarly impulse in America. They are, of course,
like everything else from the same hand, delightful reading.
Of later historians not hitherto mentioned, the most valuable
have been John Fiske and Francis Parkman. Fiske possessed
in an extraordinary sense the power of assimilating and arran-
ging for popular comj^rehension facts due largely to the research
of others. His fine and lucid style has made literature of ma-
terial which had hitherto been of interest only to special stu-
dents. Francis Parkman, on the other hand, was a man of
exact and original scholarship, whose interest lay in research,
but who fortunately had also the instinct for expression.
Among younger writers of history should be named J. B.
McMaster and Woodrow Wilson.

The restlessness of the American character finds a mode of
expression in the love of travel and adventure, and within the
past century no nation has contributed to literature more inter-
esting books of travel than the United States. Among such
books we can mention only a few, such as Irving's " Astoria,"
an account of the romantic enterprise which established the fur-
trade on the Pacific coast ; Kane's account of his Arctic ex-
plorations ; Bayard Taylor's books of travel ; Curtis's " Nile
Notes ; " John Hay's " Castilian Days ; " Mark Twain's " In-
nocents Abroad ; " and W. D. Howells's " Italian Journeys."

2. Oratory. — It is characteristic of the American people
that the first century of their national existence should have
seen a remarkable number of public speakers of note. With
such names in mind as Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Rufus
Choate, John C. Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, Edward Ever-
ett, John Randolph, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Sumner, Wen-
dell Phillips, and Henry Ward Beecher, no one can doubt the
influence of the spoken word upon the national mind. Very
few of these orators, however, have obtained a permanent place
of importance in the national literature. With the exception
of a few speeches of Webster and Lincoln, indeed, nearly all
this mass of persuasive writing has already sunk to merely
documentary importance. The last generation, moreover, has
seen a waning in the popular interest in oratory. In the imme-
diate future, it is clear, cultivated America will be compara-
tively unsusceptible to public speaking.

3. Fiction. — Romantic fiction found its first national devel-

AMERICAN LITERATURE. 521

opment in the wTitings of James Fenlmore Cooper (1789-1851),
and through his works American literature first became widely
known in Europe. His nautical and Indian tales ; his deUnear
tions of the American mind in its adventurous character, and
his vivid pictures of the aborigines, and of forest and frontier
life, from their freshness, power, and novelty, attracted univer-
sal attention, and were translated into the princi})al European
languages as soon as they appeared. " The Spy," " The
Pioneers," "The Last of the Mohicans," and numerous other
l)roductions of Cooper, umst hold a lasting place in English
literatui-e.

The genial and refined humor of Washington Irving (1783-
1859), his lively fancy and poetic imagination, have made his
name a favorite wherever the English lanjniacfe is known. He
depicts a great variety of scenbc* and character with singular
skill and felicity, and his style has all the ease and grace, the
purity and charm, that distinguish that of Goldsmith, witli whom
he may justly be compared. " The Sketch-Book " and " Knick-
erbocker's History of New York " are among the most admired
of his earlier writings, and his later works more than sustained
his early fame.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is remarkable for the delicacy of his
psychological insight, his ])ower of intense characterization, and
for his mastery of the spiritual and the supernatural. His
genius is most at home when delineating the darker passages
of life and the emotions of guilt and ])ain. He does not feel
the necessity of time or space to realize his spells, and the early
liistory of New England and its stern ]ieo])le have found no
more vivid illustration than his pages afford. The style of
Hawthorne is the pure colorless medium of his thought ; tlie
plain current of his language is always equable, full, and unvary-
ing, whether in the company of playful children, among the
ancestral associations of family or history, or in grappling with
the mysteries and terrors of the supernatural world. " The
Scarlet Letter " is a psychological romance, a study of character
in which the human heart is anatomized with striking poetic
and dramatic power. "The House of the Seven Gables" is a
tale of retribution and exj)iation, dating from the time of the
Salem witchcraft. " The Marble Faun " is the most elaborate
and powerfully drawn of his later works.

Edgar Allan Poe accpiired much re]nitation as a writer of
tales, and many of his ])roductions exhll)it extraordinary meta-
physical acuteness, and an imagination that delights to dwell in
the shadowy confines of human ex])erienco, amonsj the abodes
of crime and liorror. A subtle jiower of analysis, a minuteness
of detail, a refinement of reasoning in the anatomy of mystery,
give to his most improbable inventions a woi-.derful reality.

522 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

Harriet Beecher Stowe was well known as a writer before the
appearance of the work which has given her a world-wide repu-
tation. No work of fiction of any age ever attained so immediate
and extensive a popularity as " Uncle Tom's Cabin ; " before the
close of the first year after its publication it had been translated
into all the languages of Europe ; many millions of copies had
been sold, and it had been dramatized in twenty different forms,
and performed in every capital of Europe. The book was, how-
ever, a book of the hour. It has the power of conviction, but
the death of the issue involved has exposed the literary crude-
ness of the work.

Of far greater artistic power are the novels of Elizabeth
Stoddard, less attended to upon their first publication, but of a
value now being proved by the aroused interest which has
lately manifested itself in them.

The later story of the American novel may be quickly told ;
it is implied by the names of two writers (since Henry James
has been classed among English novelists), G. W. Cable and
W. D. Howells. Mr. Howells's method is realistic, and is more
nearly akin to that of Mr. James than to that of Mr. Cable.
His realism, however, is quite free from the taint of morbid-
ness which the word has come to connote ; and indeed is mainly
involved in his preference for the average person and the aver-
age event. Mr. Cable, on the contrary, has an undisguised
fondness for a special flavor in his subject and persons. In
" Dr. Sevier " and " The Grandissimes," with their warmly
colored picture of the Creole life of old New Orleans, Mr.
Cable has brought a new exotic into the garden of fiction.
Only the perfect and lovable humanness of his characters,
particularly of his women, could have prevented the impression
of an artificial selection of them which has stultified so much
ambitious American fiction of late.

It is difficult to know what other name (unless it were that of
Marion Crawford) to mention in connection with these two.
Most of the best recent novels have been written by women —
by Margaret Deland, Mary E. Wilkins, and Sarah Orne Jewett,
for example.

But fiction has had another development in America — the
short story, a medium singularly adapted to the national taste.
Here the names of those who have gained marked success are
surprisingly numerous. They may perhaps be cast in two
groups, that of higher merit to include Poe, Hawthorne, Stock-
ton, Mr. Aldrich, Mr. Harris, Bret Harte, Miss Jewett, and
Mrs. Wharton. The second would contain Henry van Dyke,
Thomas Nelson Page, F. Hopkinson Smith, Mrs. Deland, Ruth
McEnery Stuart, and numerous younger writers, among whom

AMERICAN LITERATURE. 523

may be mentioned Josephine Dodge Daskam and Alice Cald-
well Hegan.

But the list must be largely arbitrary unless it were to go to
too great lengths. The short story has called forth a talent,
some of which, it seems, might be spared for the service of the
novel, a more dignified form of which the mastery is a far
harder and therefore far rarer achievement.

4. Poetry. — An account of poetry written in America pro-
perly begins with Bryant (1794-1878), since verse written before
his day failed of such quality as gives assurance of permanence.
It is fanciful, however, to attribute to Bryant any distinctly
national character. Far from being a poet of democracy (if
indeed that is what an American poet should be), his power is
rather retrospective and elegiac. Nor is there visible any re-
markable originality of feeling or expression. " Thanatopsis "
gives utterance to truths familiar to all ages, and the beautiful
" Lines to a Water-Fowl " are as simple in thought as they are
perfect in expression. There were more popular verse-writers
in Bryant's early days, of whom little is now known. Fitz-
Greene Halleck's stirring poems, except for one or two which
still linger in school speakers, have now quite vanished from
the memory. In the verse of Edgar Allan Poe (1811-1849),
we find for the first time a sort of poetry which is quite dis-
tinctive, and which certain English critics have regarded as
better than any other American verse. If this is so, we have
again to admit that it is not because of its Americanism. Tlie
land of Poe's poetry is not included in any map of this world ;
it was a country of his imagination, peopled with the dim chil-
dren of his fancy. As pure melody his verse has certainly been
unapproached hitherto in America. In connection with Poe it
is most convenient to speak of Walt Whitman, though the only
point they have in common is their uncommonness. Whitman,
too, has been lauded by foreign voices ; and it may readily be
admitted, if we admit that he wrote poetry at all, that he was
the poet of democracy. With the exception of a very few bits
of verse, however, he scorned metrical restraint, and produced
in conse(pience an amorjjhous hybrid medium, neither prose nor
verse, by means of wliich he expressed most forcibly, at least,
his peculiar doctrine of individualism. We find a certain provo-
cation for his rebellion against form in the insipid " Correct-
ness " of many of his contemporaries of the " Knickerbocker
school." Whitman's first volimie of verse was written in the
year of the jjublication of the '* Knickerbocker Gallery." The
verse of Willis and his friends is dead enough now, while
Whitman will long be a power.

Apart from Bryant, Poe, and Whitman (not to consider at

624 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

length such delicate but distinctively minor poetry as that of
Sidney Lanier and E. R. .Sill), the history of American poetry
has to do with a single famous group : Longfellow, Whittier,
Emerson, Holmes, and Lowell. They are not all very great
poets ; we cannot yet say how great they are ; but there is no
sort of doubt that they are the greatest we have. Perhaps the
strongest trait which they possess in common is their didactic
bent. Otherwise they are very different. Longfellow is the
most careful artist among them, as Emerson is the most inspired.
Whittier somewhat deliberately sacrificed the aesthetic to the
ethical, and, preached when he might have sung. Holmes had
a delicate command of lighten." forms, and was one of the great-
est writers of occasional verse. Lowell had true inspirations,
but lacked the patient hand of the artist. A scholarly critic in
prose, he was a brilliant improvisatore in verse.

Of later poets we can hardly do more than give a few names.
The tenure of poetry is so tardily adjusted that even these few
may not be the best. Somewhere in the future of American
letters, it seems certain that these names will be cherished, how-
ever : T. B. Aldrlch ; R. W. Gilder ; E. C Stedman ; R. H.
Stoddard ; and Edith M. Thomas.

5. The Transcendental Movement in New England.
— The Transcendental Philosophy, so-called, had its distinct
origin in the "Critique of Pure Reason," the work of Immanuel
Kant, which appeared in Germany in 1781, although, under
various forms, the questions it discussed are as old as Plato and
Aristotle. The first principle of tliis })liilosophy is that ideas
exist in the soul which transcend the senses, while that of the
school of Locke, or the School of Sensation, is that there is
nothing in the intellect that was not fiist in the senses. The
Transcendentallst claimed an intuitive knowledge of God, belief
in immortality, and in man's abiUty to apprehend absolute ideas
of truth, justice, and rectitude. The one regarded expediency,
prudence, caution, and practical wisdom as the liighest of thi
virtues, and distrusted alike the seer, the prophet, and the re-
former. The other was by nature a reformer and dissatisfied with
men as they are, but with ])asslonate aspirations for a ]>ure so-
cial state, he recognized, above all, the dignity of the individual
man.

Tliese two schools of jjhilosojihy aimed at the same results, but
by different methods. The one worked up from beneath by
material processes, the other worked down from above by intel-
lectual ones. There had been in other countries a transcen-
dental philosophy, but in New England alone, where the sense
of individual freedom was active, and where there wei-e no fixed
sind unalterable social conditions, was tlus pliilosophy applied

AMERICAN LITERATURE. 525

to actual life. Of late the scientific method, so triumphant in
the natural world, luis been ai)])lied to the spiritual, and the
ju'ineipk's of the sensational philosophy have been re-stated by-
Bain, Mill, Spencer, and other leaders of speculative 0]nnion,
who present it under the name of the " Philosophy of Exjjeri-
ence," and resolve the intuitions of the ideal into the results of
experience and the })rocesses of organic life. ^lill was the first
to organize the psychological side, while Lewes, Spencer, and
Tyndall have approached the same problem from the side of
organization. Should these analyses be accepted. Idealism as a
philosophy must disa])pear. There is, however, no cause to ap-
prehend a return to the demoralization Avhich the sensualist
doctrines of the last century were accused of encouraging. Tlie
attitude of the human mind towards the gi-eat i)roblems of des-
tiny has so far altered, and the ])roblems tliemselves have so far
changed their face, that no shock will be felt in the passage
from the philosophy of intuition to that of ex])erience.

Eai-ly in the second quarter of our century the doctrines oi
Kant and of his German followers, Jacobi, Hchte, and Schelling,
found their way into New England, and their influence on
thought and life was immediate and powerful, atiectuig religion,
literature, laws, and institutions. As an episode or special
phase of thought, it was of necessity transient, but had it be-
queathed nothing more than the literature that sjjrang from it
and the lives of the men and women who had their intellec-
tual roots in it, it would have conferred a lasting benefit on
America.

Among the first to plant the seeds of the Transcendental
Philosophy in New England was George Ri})ley (1802-1880), a
philanthropist on ideal i)rincii)les, whose faith blossomed into
works, and whose well known attem})t to create a new earth in
preparation for a new heaven, althougli it ended in failure, com-
manded sym})athy and i'es])ect. Later, as a critic, he aided the
development of literature in America by erecting a high stand-
ard of judgment and by his just estimation of the rights and
duties of literary men.

Theodore Parker (d. 1860) owed his gi-eat power as a preacher
to his faith in the Transcendental i)hilosoi)hy. The Absolute
God, the Moral Law, and the Immortal Life he held to be the
three cardinal attestations of the universal consciousness. The
authority of the " higher law," the absolute necessity of religi<in
for safely conducting the life of the individual and the life of the
state, he asseverated with all . the earnestness of an entlmsiaslic

believer.

A. Bronson Alcott (d. 1888) is a jihilosopher of the Mystic
Bchool. Seeking wisdom, not through books, but by intellecturJ

526 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

processes, he appeals at once to consciousness, claims immediate
insight, and contemplates ultimate laws in his own soul. His
'• Orphic Sayings " amused and perplexed the critics, who made
them an excuse for assailing the entire Transcendental school.

Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) adopted the spiritual philoso-
phy, and had the subtlest perception of its bearings. Her vig-
orous and original writings possess a lasting v^alue, although they
imperfectly represent her remarkable powers.

Among the representatives of the Spiritual Philosophy the
first place belongs to Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), who
lighted up its doctrines with the rays of ethical and poetical im-
agination. Without the formality of dogma, he was a teacher
of vigorous morality in line with the ruling tendencies of the
age, and bringing all the aid of abstract teaching towards the
solution of the moral problems of society.

The first article of his faith is the primacy of Mind ; that
Mind is supreme, eternal, absolute, one, manifold, subtle, living,
immanent in all things, permanent, flowing, self-manifesting;
that the universe is the result of mind ; that nature is the sym-.
bol of mind ; that finite minds live and act through concurrence
with infinite mind. His second is the connection of the individ-
ual intellect with the primal mind and its ability to draw thence
wisdom, will, virtue, prudence, heroism, all active and passive
qualities.

In his essays, which are prose poems, he lays incessant em-
phasis on the cardinal virtues of humility, sincerity, obedience,
aspiration, and acquiescence to the will of the Supreme Power,
and he sustains the mind at an elevation that makes the heights
of accepted morality disappear in the level of the plain. With
many inconsistencies to be allowed for, Emerson still remains
the highest mind that the world of letters has produced in Amer-
ica, inspiring men by word and example, rebuking their despond-
ency, awakening them from the slumber of conformity and con-
vention, and lifting them from low thoughts and sullen moods
of helplessness and impiety.

Among other writers identified with the Transcendental
movement in New England are O. B. Frothingham, Orestes A.
Brownson, James Freeman Clarke, William H. Channing,
Henry D. Thoreau, C. P. Cranch, W. E. Channing, and T. W.
Higginson.

6. Essays and Criticism. — It may be fairly said that the
distinctive American success in essay-writing has been mainly
in the field of the light essay, or essay-sketch. The first writer
to win European recognition in this sort was Washington Irving,
whose work was modeled upon that of Addison and Goldsmith.
"Bracebridge Hall," with its English theme and Addisonian

AMERICAN LITERATURE. 527

method, came perhaps too near conscious imitativeness. But
the j)resejice of the same flavor in his Dutch sketches shows
that the resemblance was that of kinship rather than of imita-
tion. However un-American his manner may have been,
nothing more graceful or genuine has been produced in this
kind of writing. P^cjually unmarked by national feeling is the
late work of Donald G. Mitchell, whose " Reveries of a Bache-
lor " attained an astonishing vogue. That was doubtless due in
part to a public susceptibility to sentiment which we liave now,
for better or worse, largely outgrown. But a similar tone is
to be remarked in the early work of Holmes, and in the much
later sentimental writing of men like Charles Dudley Warner
and George William Curtis (e. g. " Prue and I ").

Criticism in the early ])art of the century was marked by the
same uncompromising methods which obtained in England.
The critic was not inclined to go halfway in either praise or
censure ; and only too often his eulogy or his condemnation was
based upon mere whim or personal prejudice. We have no
more melancholy reminders of the instability of Poe's judgment
and character than are offered by his harsh and malicious stric-
tures upon Longfellow and others of his distinguished contem-
poraries.

One of the first American writers to gain respect as a serious
critic was Pxiwin P. Whipple, whose work, though much of it
has now been discredited by time, was not without disci'imina-
tion and vigor. Richard Grant White also made some genuine
contributions to criticism, even to Shakespearean criticism. The
confidence, however, with which one of so little academic train-
ing, provincially suckled and reared in journalism, dared the
work fit for ripe and finished scholarsliip, is no little indication
of the amateurishness of American criticism in that day. In
literary scholarship we have since that period arrived at the
standard represented by the work of Professor Child, Charles
Eliot Norton, and Dr. Furness.

To the mind of the foreign critic James Russell Lowell is the
earliest and greatest of our critical essayists. Indeed, we can-
not now doubt that he has won a far more unqualified success
in that field than in poetry. His mind possessed singular dis-
crimination and justice which the occasional exuberance of his
style could not deprive of its weighty effect. The criticism of
W. D. Howells is not of the academic sort. It is restricted
almost entirely to modern belles-lettres, and too often bears the
mark of personal bias ; but it is always honest and suggestive,
if occasionally lacking in catholicity and even in temperance.
Undoubtedly our most finished critic of letters at present is Mr.
W. C. Brownell.

528 HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE.

But the essay serves as medium for other than social or criti-
cal themes. With Emerson, with George WiUiam Curtis, and
not infrequently with Holmes and Charles Dudley Warner, the
essay lias served the noblest uses in the development of civic
a,nd ethical themes. Just now, indeed, the prestige of the liter-
ary essay appears to have been obscured by the general prefer-
ence for the " special article," dealing with concrete problems
and conditions of modern life. We have, however, to note a
single other development of this mode, a rich possession in the
nature essay. Henry D. Thoreau, the first and in some respects
gi-eatest in this field, has had a host of successors, among whom
John Burroughs is undoubtedly the most eminent.

7. Newspapers and Periodicals. — One of the most
powerful engines in creating a taste for literature among the
people of the United States is the newspaper and periodical
press. Every interest, every social and poUtical doctrine has its
organ, and every village has its newspaper ; not devoted solely
to special, local, or even to national topics, but registering the
principal passing events of the actual as well as of the intellectual
world, and in this respect differing essentially from the press of
all other countries. These papers are offered at so small a price
as to place them within the reach of all ; and in a country where
every one reads, the influence of such a power as a public-educa-
tor, in stimulating and diffusing mental activity, and in creating
cosmopolitan interests, can scarcely be comprehended in its full
significance. While there is much in these publications that is
necessarily of an evanescent character, and much that might per-
haps be better excluded, it cannot be denied that the best of our
daily and weekly papers often contain literary matter which in
a less fugitive form would become a permanent and valuable
contribution to the national literature.

The magazines and reviews of the United States take a
worthy glace beside those of Great Britain, and present a vari-
ety of reading which exhibits at once the versatility of the people
and the cosmopolitan tendency of the literature which addresses
itself to the sympathies of the most diversified classes of readers.
Among the quarterly reviews, " The International Quarterly"
occupies a prominent position. "Science," "The Scientific
American," and " The Popular Science Monthly " are among
the most eminent of the scientific periodicals.

Among the oldest, and probably quite the most authoritative
of the magazines are " The North American Review " and " The
Atlantic Monthly." Tlie policy of the two publications is in
some respects different, the scope of " The Atlantic IMonthly "
being considerably more flexible. They are both remarkable,
however, for the consistency with which they have adhered to

AMERICAN LITERATURE. 529

the pure text, while almost all other magazines have come to
depend largely ujjon the attractiveness of their illustrations
for their popularity- Of the pictorial magazines, " Harper's,"
" Scribner's," and '" The Century," have long been the leaders.
" The Forum " stands high in the discussion of public questions,
and " The Review of Reviews " gives each month an intelligent
summary of current events and literature. " Harper's Weekly "
has always been the most popular of weekly publications, as
" The Nation " has been the most sane and valuable.

INDEX.

Abassidgs, 184, 185.

Abd al Wahab, 183.

Abd Arabiuaii. See Jami.

Abelard, Pierre, 243.

Abou-Siiubel, temple of, 2.

Aboul Feda, 190.

Aboul Teraau, 188.

About, Edraoiid, 292, 293.

Abraham, 50, 179.

" Abraham," 376.

" Absalom and Achitophel," 487.

" Absolute Logic," 436.

Abubeker, 180.

Abul Kasim Mansur. See Ferdusi.

Academia, 105, 151.

" Academics, The, or a History and De-
fense of the Belief of the New Acad-
emy," 151.

Academy del Ciraento, 220.

Academy of Madrid, 330.

Academy of Sciences, 220.

Academy, the French, 244, 262 ; dictionary
of, 245.

Academy, school of the, 111, 151.

Academy, Swedish, 399.

Accadians, 35.

Achaia, 121.

"Achilleid," 161.

Achilles, 74.

"Adam," 2-25.

" Adam and Eve," 395.

Adams, John, 513.

Adams, John Quincy, 520.

Addison, Joseph, 454, 487, 489.

" AdelchI," 232.

Adelphi, 132.

Adema, 381.

Adhuraba, 384.

Adonis, 72.

" Adonis " (Marini's), 224.

Adriani, John Baptist, 219.

" Adventures of the Ten Princes," 28.

"Adventures of Tristram," 4C6.

j*2(fpan Sea, 69.

" vEneid." 143, 412, 472, 474,487.

.£olic dialect, 69 ; poetry, 79.

^Kachines, 100, 103.

iEschylus, 68, 77, 83, 91, 97, 98, 100.

.^Isop, 78, 157.

jEsopus, 141.

Afghanistan, 4.

Agamemnon, 74.

"Agathon," 426.

Agglutinated languages, 3, 15,35.

Agricola, Georg, 421.

" Agricola. Life of," 162.

Agrippa, Cornelius, 421.

Aguesseau, H. F. d", 272,

Ahab, 55.

Ahriman, 41.

Akenaide, Mark, 455, 491.

Ali, Caliph, 185.

Al-Mamoun, 184, 185, 187.

Al-Mooleuabbee, 188.

"Al Sehah,"186.

Al Sirat, 181.

Alamanni, Louis, 215.

Alas, 334.

" Alastor," 500.

Alba, 124.

Altxirgati, Marquis d', 230.

Albigenses, 249, 308.

Alca'US, 79, 80.

Alcman, ISl, 82.

Alcott, A. Bronson, 525.

Alcuin, 3, 242, 410, 462.

Aldrich, T. B., 522. 524.

Aleardi, Aleardo, 240.

Aleman, Matthew, 325.

Alembert, Jean le Rond d', 281, 282, 476.

" Alexander," 251.

Alexander the Great, 40, 63, 68, 106, 107,
110,412.

" Alexander the Great " rCurtius'), 164.

" Alexander the Great " (Segura's), 301.

"Alexandra," 109.

Alexandria, 65, 69, 107 ; fiction, 116 ; his-
tory, 109; Jews, 57, 110; library, 65,
108, 115; literature, 107, 116; obelisks,
61; philosophy, 65, 109, 111; poetry,
108; religion, 110; science, 110, 116.

Alexandrine verse, 251.

Alexis, Wilibald, 441.

Alfieri, Victor, 194, 228, 231.

Alfonso XI., 305.

Alfonso the Wise, 300, 305, 336.

Alfred, King, 173, 178, 458, 463.

Algarotti, Francesco, 235.

Alison, Rev. Archibald, 506.

Alison, Sir Archibald, 504.

Allegories, 252.

Allegro, L', 483.

Alliteration, 392, 409, 463.

Almquist, 402.

Alphabet, 1 ; Anglo-Saxon, 3 ; Arabic, 349 ;
Armenian ; 349, XiO ; Assyrian, .15 ; Baby-
lonian, 35 ; Black letter, 3 ; Bohemian,
3iU; Chinese, 7; Coptic, 3; Cuflc, 179;
Cyrillic, 3i">3; Egyptian, 5, 60; Finnish,
345; Gothic, 3, :J89. 409; Greek, 1, 2, 3,
CO, 62, 349, 353, 409; Hebrew, 2, 50;
Hieratic, 60, 64; Hieronymic, 3,')3; Hit-
tite, 1; Indo-European, 37; Ionic, 2, 3;
Irish, 3; Italic, 2, 3; .lapanese, 15; Latin,
361; Mediaeval, 3; Neshki, 179; Norse,
389; Pehlvi, 39; Persian, 179; Phoeni-

532

INDEX.

cian, 1, 2, 5, 15, 37 ; Romaic, 3; Roman,
3, 345, 353, 409; Runic, 3, 387, 40'J; Sa-
maritan, 1; Semitic, 35, 37; Servian,
358; Slavic, 3, 354; Syriac, 179 ; Turkish,
179, 349.

Alphen, Van, 378.

Alplionso v., 205.

Althing, 383.

" Amatlis,"' 30G.

" Amadis of Gaul," 251.

Ambrose, St., 172, 174.

American biography, 518 ; colonial period,
512; criticism, 527 ; education, 513; fic-
tion, 517, 520 ; history, 518 ; literature,
512-.J30; oratory, 515, 51(5, 520 ; periodi-
cals, 528 ; philosophy, 524 ; poetry, 51G,
523; politics, 514 ; transcendental move-
ment, 524; travels, 520.

Ames, Fisher, 516.

" Aminta," 117, 210, 215.

Ammou Ra, (J3.

Ammonius Saccas, 112, 116.

Amoret, 482.

Amos, 54.

Amrou, 184.

Amyot, Bishop, 259.

" Anabasis," 104.

Anacreon, 81, 90.

Anacreon of the Temple, 277.

"Analogy" (Butler's), 489.

" Anastasi Papyri," 64.

" Anastasius," 503.

" Anatomy of Melancholy," 478.

Anaxagoras, 86, 87.

Anaxiiuander, 86.

Anaximenes, 86.

" Ancestress," 434.

" Ancient History," 273.

Andersen, Hans Christian, 398.

Andrade, Jacinto de, 342.

Andreini, G. Battista, 225.

Andrews, Bishop, 476.

"Andrian," 132.

" Andromaque," 267.

Andronicus, Livius, 129, 133, 134, 140.

Anghiera, D', 219.

" Angiola Maria," 235.

Aiiglen, 382.

Anglo-Saxons, 382, 449; alphabet, 3; his-
tory, 463; language, 178, 408, 4.50, 458-
460, 462; literature, 457, 462, 463;
poetry, 462 ; religion, 462.

"Anna Kan'-nina," 358.

"Annals, The," 1.30.

".\nnals of Aragon," .328.

" Annals of Italy," 236.

" Annals" of Livy, 154.

".\nnal8 of Nestor," 353.

" Annals " of Tacitus, 162, 163.

Anne, Queen, 454, 487.

Aiinunzio, Gabriele d', 241.

"Annus Mirabilis," 486.

Anselm, Archbisliop, 464.

" Autliologies," 113.

Antisthenes, 10.5.

Antonides, .7. van der Goes, 375.

Antonius, M., 138.

Antony, 144, 1.50.

" Aphorisms " (Novalis'), 440.

Aphro<lite, 71.

" .\pocrvpha," .57, 117.

Apollo, 70-72, 84, 126.

Apollo, Delphian, 2.

Apollo, Temple of, 2.

Apollodorus, 110.

Apollonius, 465.

Apollonius of Perga, 110.

Apollonius Rhodius, 108, 109, 110, 161.

" Apology for Christianity," 494.

Apostolic Fathers, 118.

Apuleius, 173.

Aquinas, Thomas, 243.

" Arabian Nights' Entertainments," 188.

Arabian alpliabet, 349 ; art, 176, 179 ; dis-
coveries, 191; education, 185,192; em-
pire, 176; fiction, 182, 187,188, 189, 253;
history, 189 ; inventions, 191 ; language,
4, 39, 48, .50, 57, 60, 66, 179, 180, 349 ;
literature, 67, 176, 192, 193, 349; litera-
ture compared with France, Greece
Rome, 184; mythology, 179, 180, 182
people, 38, 40, 51, 115 ; people in Arme
nia, 350 ; philosophy, 190 ; poetry, 187
religion, 179-183 ; sciences, 176, 185-187,
189-191. See Koran and Spanish Litera-
ture.

Arabic numerals, 191.

Aragona, TuUia d', 213.

Aramaean language. See Chaldaic.

Aramaic language, 4, 38.

Arany, 348.

" Araucana," 326.

Arbuthnot, John, 488, 489.

"Arcadia," 451, 477.

"Arcadia" (Saunazzaro's), 214.

Arcadians, The, 233.

Archelaus, 140.

Archias, speech for, 149.

Archilochus, 77, 78.

Archimedes, 110.

Archipelago, Grecian, 69.

Arctic Ocean, 4.

Ares, 71.

Aretino, Pietro, 214.

Argensola, Bartolom^ de. 326, 327.

Argensola, Luperciode, 326, 327, 329.

" Argonautic Expedition," 109.

" Argonautica," 161.

Ari the Wise, 392.

Arici, 2.34.

Arion, 82.

Ariosto, Ludovico, 183, 189, 194, 207, 208,
212, 214, 21.5.

Aristarchus, 109.

Aristippus, 105.

" Aristippus," 426.

" Aristodemus," 232.

Aristophanes, 99, 109.

Aristotle, 47, (38, 88, 95, 98, 104, 106, 108,
111, 190,205,222, 263.

Arius, 119.

Armenian alphabet, 349, 350; education,
a51 ; language, 349 ; literature, 349-.351 ;
influence of Greek literature on, 350 ;
monasteries, 351 ; periodicals, 351 ; reli-
gion, 350. See Finnis/i Literature.

Arminius, 371..

Amauld, 260.

Amd, Johan, 420.

Amdt, E. M.,431.

Amim, Bettina. 441.

Amim, L. A. von, 441.

Amobius, 174.

Arnold, Sir Edwin. 510.

Arnold, Godfrey, 42.3.

Arnold, Matthew, 507-509.

INDEX

633

Arnold, Thomas, rM.

Arreboe, Auders, 394.

Arri^u, ll'J.

Art. See Arabic, Athens, Greek, Italian.

" Art of Ix>gic ' (Wilsou's), 473.

"Art of Love," 148.

" Art of Poetry " (Boileau's), 270.

" Art of Poetry " (Luzan's), 330.

"Art of War" (Macliiavelli's), 218.

Artegal, Sir, 482.

Artemis, 71.

Arthur, King, 2.'>0, 251, 306, 412, 461, 464,

4i;i;, 482.

" Artliur Mervjti," .517.

Aryan books, 23 ; languages, R ; literature,
24 ; races, 20, 22, 24 ; aiguificatiou, 5.

Aryavarta, .'j.

Asalaiid, 3',)2.

Ascliam, Roger, 473.

Asen, 386.

Asgard, 386, 387, 392.

Asia, Central, 30 ; langiuvges, 4 ; literature,
12, 23 ; Minor, 4, 69 ; Southwestern, 4.

Asiatic school of rhetoric, 103.

Asioli, 23',).

Asonante, 303.

" Aspects of Nature," 437.

Assyria, 35, 36.

Assyrian alphabet, 35 ; history, 36 ; monu-
ments, 35 ; jieople, 35, 36, 38 ; poetry,
36 ; science, 36.

" Astoria," 520.

Astrology, 16, 36.

"Athalie," 207.

Athauasius, 110.

Athena, 70, 71.

Athens, 69, 80, 90, 101, 107, 108. Ill ; art,
92 ; drama, 93, 99 ; history, 90, 100 ; lit-
erature, 90^107 ; oratory, 100 philoso-
phy, 111 : rhetoric, 100.

"Atlantic Monthly," 528.

Atomic philosophy, 30.

" Atrea," 268.

Attar, 45, 46.

Atteius, 155.

Atterbom, 401.

Attic dialect, 69 ; school of rhetoric, 103.

"Attic Nights," 172.

Attica, 69, 90.

"Atticus, Letters to," 151.

Attila, 413, 414, 4;M.

Attius, 133-135.

" Aucassin and Nicolette," 253.

Auerbach, 442.

Auersperg, Count, 432.

Augurs, 126.

Augiistan age, 132 ; poets, 126.

Augustine, St., 173, 174, 4(i3.

Augustus, 113, 122, 131, 144, 147, 154, 156.

" Aulularia," 132.

Auruspices, 126.

Austen, .lane, 502, 510.

Auto da fe, 312.

" Autobiography of Benrenuto Cellini,"
219.

Autos, 319, 332, 341.

Avalou, 466.

Averrhoes, 190.

Avicenna, 190.

Ayala, Pedro Lopez, 302.

Ayton, Robert, 4S:{.

Aytoun, Sir Robert, 502.

Azad, 33.

" Azazel," 182.

Azeglio, Massimo d', 235.

Azrael, 182.

" Babylonian Adventures," 117.

Babylonian alphabet, 35 ; country, 5 ; his-
tory, 36 i monuments, 35 ; people, 35,
36, 38 ; poetry, 36 ; science, 36 Talmud,
57.

" Babylonian Aanals," 110.

Bacchic festivals, 82, 96.

Bacchus, 71, 84, 91, 94-97, 99, 117, 126.

Bacchylides, 81, 82, 120.

Bacon, Lord, 2,58, 451, 452, 476, 477.

Bacon, Roger, 4()4, 471.

Bactria, 39, 40.

Baden, Mile. Clarisse, 294.

Baena, 310.

Bagdad, 184, 185, 191, 192; caUph of, 44.

Baggesen, Jens, 396.

Baillie, Joanna, 501.

Baki, ;M9.

Balaam, 53. '

Balbo, Caesar, 237.

Balbus, L. Lucilius, 140.

Balder, 385, 390, ,396.

" Balder's Death," 395.

Bale, Bishop, 475.

Balearic Islands, 298.

Balkh, 185.

Balzac, Honori^ de, 292.

Balzac, J. de, 200, 262.

Bancroft, 519.

Bandello, Matteo, 217.

Banim, John, 503.

Bantine table, 124.

Barante, Baron, 288.

Barbatus, L. Cornelius Scipio, 125.

Barbieri, 2154.

Barbour, John, 471.

B.arca, Calderon de la, .319, 320.

Barcelona, Counts of, 308.

Bards, 177, 183.

" Bards, Tlie," 492.

Baretti, Giuseppe, 238.

Barlow, Joel, 517.

Bame veldt, Johan van Olden, 371, 372, 375.

Barri, Gerald de. See Giraldus Cambren-
sis.

Barrie, 510.

Barros, J. de, 342.

Barrow, Isaac, 484.

Barth, 4;{7.

Barth«^lemy, Abb6, 285.

Barton, Benjamin, 517.

Bashmuric dialect, 60.

«' Basia," ,373.

Basil, 119.

Basque language. See Iberian.

Bassora, 18,5, 186.

" Basvilliana," 233.

" Batavia," 376.

" Battle of Benevento," 235.

" Battle of the Books," 488.

" Battle of Don Carnival with Madame
Lent," 301.

" Battle of the Frogs and Mice," 78.

Baudelaire, Charles, 291.

Bauernfeld, 435.

Bauville, Theodore de, 291.

Baxter, Richard, 4.5.3, 476.

" Bay Psalra-Book," 513. "

Bayle, Peter, 266, 276.

534

INDEX.

Bazan, Emilia, 334.

Beatrice, 196, 197, 199.

" Beatrice Cenci," 235.

Beattie, James, 495.

Beaumarchais, Pierre de, 285.

Beaumont, Francis, 452, 480.

" Beautiful, The " (Gioberti's), 238.

" Beautiful, True, and Good, The," 293.

Beccari, Agostino, 214.

Beccaria, Marquis di, 228.

Becker, G. W., 445.

Becket, Thomas a, 464.

Bede, the Venerable, 462, 463.

Bedouins, 192.

Beecher, H. W., 520.

" Bees, The," 21.5.

" Beggar's Opera," 487.

" Behemoth," 477.

" Belfagor," 216.

Belgium, 368.

" Belisariua," 284.

Bellamy, Jacob, 378.

Bellamy, Joseph, 517.

Bellenden, William, 477.

Bellinghausen, Munch, 435.

Bellini, Laurentio, 222.

Bellman, Charles M., 400.

Belot, 293.

Belphoebe, 482.

Belzoni, 227.

Bembo, Cardinal, 212, 219.

Benares, 33.

Benedict XIV., 227.

Bentham, Jeremy, 505, 506.

Bentivoglio, Ercole, 214.

Bentlvoglio, Guido, 226, 227.

Bentley, Richard, 484.

" Beowulf," 462.

Bequer, 334.

B^ranger, Pierre Jean de, 290.

Berceo, Gonzalo, 300.

Berchet, 233.

" Berenice," 267.

Berkeley, Bishop, 488, 494.

Berlin, 58.

Bernard, Charles de, 292.

Bernard, St., 243.

Bernardo del Carpio, 305.

Berni, Francis, 207, 216.

Berosus, 35, 110.

Bert, Paul, 294.

Berti, 241.

"Bertram," 501.

Besant, Sir Walter, 510.

" Betrothed," 235.

Betti, 234.

Bettina. See Arnim, Beitina.

Beyle, Henri, 293.

Beyrout, 192.

" Bhagavad-Gita," 27, 30.

Bhavabhuti, 20.

Bianchi, the, 197.

Bianchini, Francis, 236.

Bibiena, Cardinal, 214.

Bible, 38, 49, 51, .56, 57, GO, 110, 111, 180;
Anglo-Saxon, 463 ; Armenian, 350, 351 ;
Bishops', 475 ; Bohemian, 362 ; Brescia,
56; Danish, 394; Douay, 475; Dutch,
373, 37.5, 379; English, 468, 473, 475;
Flemish, 369 ; Geneva, 475, German, 419 ;
Gothic, 409.; Hungarian, 346, 347; In-
dian, 513; Latin, 174,371; Polish, 364;
ReviBion, 58 ; Russian, 354 ; Slavic, 353.

See Chrisiinnity, New and Old Testa-
7nents, Septuagint, and Vulgate.

"Bibliotheca," 110.

Bielski, Martin, 363, 365.

Bifrost, 385.

Bilderdyk, Madame, 380.

Bilderdyk, W., 379.

" Biographie Uuiverselle," 288.

Biography. See American, Egyptian,
and French Biography.

Bion, 85, 108, 109.

Biran, Maine de, 287.

Birchpfeifer, Charlotte, 435.

" Bishops' Bible," 475.

Bjornson, 404.

Blab Phelair, 47.

Black, William, 510.

Black letter character. See Gothic Alpha-
bet.

Blackmore, R. D., 510.

Blackwood, Mrs., 502.

" Blackwood's Magazine," 506.

Blair, Hugh, 494.

Blair, Robert, 491.

Blanc, Louis, 289.

Blicher, 397.

Blondel, 248.

" Bluebeard," 230, 393.

Bocage, Manuel de, 344.

Boccaccio, 183, 189, 194, 195, 197, 201-230.

Bockh, 444, 445.

Bodenstedt, 432.

Bodmer, John J., 424.

BoEotia, 75, 83.

Boehra, Jacob, 420.

Boerhaave, Herman, 372, 373.

Boethius, 115, 173, 195, 463, 468.

Bogaers, 380.

Bohemian alphabet, 361 ; education, 361 ;
fiction, 363 ; history, 362, 363 ; influence
of German on, 361 ; language, 353, 360 ;
literature, 360-363; oratory, 362; peri-

? odicals, 362 ; poetry, 361, 363 ; theology,
362.

Boiardo, M. M., 207.

Boileau, Abb6, 112, 266, 267, 270, 330.

Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, 278, 281, 488.

Bologna, 193, 220, 221, 225.

Bombay, 33.

Bonald, 287.

Bonaventure, Cardinal, 243.

Bondam, 378.

Bonpland, 437,

" Book of the Dead," 64.

" Book of Heroes," 413.

"Book of History," 8.

" Book of Martyrs," 473.

"Book of Odes," 8, 9, 12.

" Book of Rites," 8.

" Book of Transformations," 8.

Bor, 373, 384, 385.

Borelli, G. A., 221.

Borgia, Csesar, 217.

" Bormua," 72.

Bom, Bertrand de, 248.

Borne, Ludwig, 432.

Borsippa, University of, 36.

Boscan, .luan, 314.

Bosnia, 359.

Bossuet, Abb6, 262, 266, 271, 273.

" Bostan," 45.

Boswell, James, 493.

" Botanic Garden," 495.

INDEX.

635

BotU, C. J. W., 237.

Bettiger, C. A., 445.

Bourdaloue, Louis, 266, 271.

Bourget, '2^H.

Bowles, W. L.,C01.

Bowring, Sir John, SCO.

Boyesen, Professor, 404.

Bracciolini, Francesco, 226.

'• Bracebridge Hall," 526.

Bradstreet, Mrs. Anne, 513.

Brahe, Tycho, 3TO, 302, 395.

Brahm, 21,24, 25, 28-30.

Brahma. 21,31.

Bramo-Somaj, 34.

BrandeB, Georg, 404.

Brandt, Gerard, 375.

BrantSme. Abbot of, 273.

Bremer, Kredrika, 403.

Brenner, Mrs., 398.

Brentano, Clemens, 441.

Brescia, Old Testament of, 66.

Brieux, 2<.)4.

Briseis, 74.

British Museum, 2, 12, 36, 38, 64, 65.

Brito, Bernardo de, 342.

" Britomart," 482.

Britons, language, 400.

BronttS Charlotte, 503.

Bronte, Emily, 503.

Brooke, Lord, 483.

Brougham, Lord, 506.

Brown, Charles Brockden, 517.

Brown, Thomas, 505, 506.

Browne, Sir Thomas, 478.

Brownell, W. C, 527.

Brow^ling, Elizabeth Barrett, 502.

Browning, Robert, 502, 508, 509.

Brownson, Orestes A., 526.

" Bruce, Tlie," 471.

Bruges, 368.

Bnigsch, 437, 445.

Brun, Friederike, 441.

Brun, Malte, 398.

Bruneti^re, 294.

Brunhild, 413-415.

Bruno, Giordano, 222.

" Brut d'Angleterre," 466.

Brutus, 250.

" Brutus; or, the IlluBtrious Orators," 150.

Bryant, W. C, 523.

Bryennios, 59.

Buckhurst, Lord. See SnrkvUle.

Buckle, Henry Thomas, 504.

" Bucolics," 144.

Buddha, 30.

Buddhism, 10, 16, 30 ; literature, 31.

" Bride of Messina." 429, 434.

Buffon, Count de, 283.

Bull, Bishop, 484.

Bulwer, Edward Lj-tton, 501.

Bunsen, Baron 0. K. J., 64, 437.

Bunyan, John, 484.

Buonmattei, Benedetto, 219.

Burchiello, Donienico, 216.

Burger, G. A., 430.

Burgundy, Duke of, 274.

Burke, Edmund, 493, 494.

Burmann, Pieter, 372.

Burmeister, 437.

Buniet, Bishop, 484.

Burney, Frances. 493.

Burns, Robert, 45.''>, 495.

Burroughs, John, 528.

Burton, Robert, 478. '
Butler, Bishop, 489.
Butler, Joseph, 455.
Butler, Samuel, 485, 486.
Byns, Anna, 373.
BjTuhilda, 391.
Byron, Lord, 456, 496-498.
Byzantium, 2, C9 ; fiction, 117; history^
110, 117 ; literature, 117 ; poetry, 117.

Caaba, 180, 183.

Cabala, 58.

Caballero, Fernan, 334.

Cable, George W., 522.

Cachina-Afet, Princess, 66.

Cadmus, 2, 88.

Cufdmon, 463.

CKsar, Julius, 122, 142, 148, 149, 162.

Cairo, 186 ; university of, 65.

Calamy, Edmund, 453.

Calcutta, 33.

Calderon, Pedro, 337.

Calhoun, John C, 520.

Calidore, Sir, 482.

Caligula, 15C.

Calisthenes, 36.

" Calila and Dimna," 28.

" Call to the Unconverted," 476,

Callimachus, 108, 116.

Calvin, John, 259.

Calypso, 74.

Cambel, 482.

Cambyses, 62.

Camden, W., 452, 477.

Camerarms, Joachim, 421.

Camoens, Luisde, 339.

Campanella, Tommaso, 222.

Campbell, George, 494.

Campbell, Thomas, 496.

Campeador, El. See Cid.

Campoamor, 334.

Canaan. See Palestine.

" Cancionero General," 310.

Cancioneros, 310, 336.

Canterbury, 59.

" Canterbury Tales," 468, 469.
Cantii, 235, 237.

Capponi, 241.

Captivi, 132.

Caraites, 58.
Carbery, Ethna, 510.

Carcano, 235.

Cardano, Jerome, 221, 223.

Carducci, 240.

" Careless Husband," 487.

Carew, Thomas, 483.

Carlen, Emily, 403.

Carleton, William, 503.

Carlyle, Thomas, 504, 507.

"Carmen Saliare," 125.

Carmen Svlva, 367.

Caro, Aniiibale. 214, 220.

Cnrpio, Bernardo del, 303.

Carrit-re. 447.

Casa, Giovanni della, 212, 220, 222.

" Cashmere, History of," 29.

Casimir the Great, 364.

Cassn, 241.

" Cassandra," 109.

Cassini, 6. D., 221.

Cassiodorns, 172, 195.

Caatelar, 334.

Castiglioue, B., 222.

536

INDEX.

•' Castilian Days," 520.

Castilian dialect, 296, 298.

CastiUo, 310.

" Castle of Indolence," 491.

Castor, 127.

Castro, Inez de, 339, 341.

Castro, Juan de, 342.

Catalan dialect, 298.

'• Catalogue of the Fixed Stars," 111.

Catherine, St., of Siena, 203.

Catiline, 148, 154 ; Cicero's orations against,

150.
Cato, 129, 130, 136.
'• Cato," 487.
Cats, Jacob, 374, 375.
Cattaueo, 239.
Catullus, 146, 147.
Caucasian language, 4.
Cavalcanti, B., 220.
Cavalcanti, Guido, 195.
Cavalieri, Bonaventura, 221.
Cavallotti, 241.
Cavour, Count, 240.
Caxton, William, 471.
Cech, 363.
Cederborg, 403.
"Celestiua," 308.
Cellini, Benvenuto, 219.
Celsus, 170.
Celtic fiction, 461 ; history, 461 ; language,

6, 298, 449, 458 ; literature, 457, 460, 461;

poetry, 460.
Celts, 243, 448, 460.
"Century, The," 529.
Ceres, 126.

Cervantes, Miguel de, 316, 322.
Cesari, 239.

Cesarotti, Melchior, 227, 238.
Ceylon, 30.

Chaldaic language, 4, 38, 39, 50, 57.
Chaldea, 50.

Chaldeans, 35 ; science, 35.
Chalmers, Thomas, 505, 514.
Chambers of Rhetoric, 369.
Chamisso, Adelbert von, 441.
Champollion, Jean Francois, 62.
Channing, W. E., 52G.
Channing. W. H., 526.
Chanzos, 240, 247.
Chaplain, 262.
Chapman, George, 481.
" Characters of our Age," 273.
Charlemagne, 3, 176-178,207,208,234, 242,

243, 'J.52, ,303, 306, 409, 410, 412.
Charles I., 452.
Charles III., 331.
Charles v., 312.
Charles, Duke of Orleans, 255.
Charron, Pierre, 2.=')9.
" Chartreuse de Parme," 293.
Chastelain, 369.

Chateaubriand. Vicomte de, 286, 287.
Chatham, Lord, 493, 614.
Chatterton, Thomas, 495.
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 248, 458, 460, 465-470.
Chaulieu, Abbe, 270.
Ch«5nler, Andrt?, 280.
Cherbuliez, 29'J, 293.
Chesterfield, Lord, 222.
Chevalier, Michael, 293.
Chevreuse, Duchess de, 261.
"Chevy Chase," 470.
Chiabrera, Gabriello, 212, 224.

Child, Francis J., 527.
" Childe Harold," 497, 498.
" Children's Fables," 444.
Chilon, 85.

Chinese alphabet, 7 ; classics, 8; drama,
13; education, 14; fiction, 13; govern-
ment, 10 ; history, 11 ; language, 3, 7, 17;
literature, 7, 14, 23, 67; philosophy, 9;
picture writing, 1 ; poetry, 9, 12 ; print-
ing, 11; religion, 9; science, 11, 18;
social constitution, 10 ; theatres, 13 ;
writing, 7.

" Chinese Empire, General Geography of,"

17.
Chivalry, 178, 193, 246, 251 ; romances of,
246, 251, 302, 306, 323, 393, 412, 461, 465.

Choate, Rufus, 520.

Choosers of the Slain, 386.

Chorus, 73, 81, 96, 97.

Chriemhild, 413, 414.

'* Christabel " 498.

Christianity ,'lll, 112, 115-118, 168; fathers,
173 ; hymns, 172 ; in Trajan's reign, l(i5-
167 ; opposition to the drama, 142. See
Bible, Religion, Theology.

Christmas tree, 386.

•' Christ's Victory and Triumph," 482.

" Chronicle of Holland," 369.

" Chronicle of New Spain," 315.

" Chronicle of Poland," 365.

" Chronicle of Spain," 305.

" Chronicle of the Cid," 305.

"Chronicles," 49, 55.

Chronicles, Spanish, 305.

" Chronicles of Sweden," 402.

Chrysostom, John, 119.

Chtchedine, 357.

Churchill, Charles, 491.

Cibber, Colley, 487.

Cicero, 87, 102, 113, 122, 126-128, 130, 132,
138, 140, 142, 148, 150, 151, 153.

" Cicero" (Passeroni's), 234.

Cicero, the Christian, 174.

Cid, the, 248, 304, 305.

" Cid, The," 263, 2%, 299, 304, 305, 325.

Cincinnati, 58.

Cincius Alimentus, 136.

" Cinderella," 393.

" Cinna," 263.

Cino daPistoca, 195, 196.

Cinomo, 219.

" Cistellaria," 132.

" Citizen of the World," 493.

"City of God," 174.

" City of the Plague," 500.

" Civil History of the Eongdom of Naples,"
236.

" Civil Wars of Flanders," 226.

" Civil Wars of France," 226.

Clarendon, Lord, 484.

" Clarissa Harlowe," 490.

Clarke, J. F., 626.

Clasio, 235.

Classification of languages, 3.

Claudian, 171.

Claudius, 15G.

Claudius (poet), 430.

Clay, Henry, 520.

Clemens, Samuel (" Mark Twain "), 520.

Clement XIV., 227.

Clement of Alexandria, 118.

Cleopatra, 144.

Cleopatra's Needles, 61.

INDEX.

537

Clerks of the Revels, 254.

Clifton, Williatu, r,n.

Clough, Arthur HuRh, SOi, 509.

Cobbett, WilUam, 605.

Cobolds, 407.

Coccajo, Merlino, 216.

Cocceius, John, 372.

Cochin, Henri, 272.

" Code of Justinian," 174.

" Code of TheodosiuB," 174.

Coehorn, Menuo van, 372.

Colbert, Jean Baptiste, 189.

Golden, Cadwallader, 514.

Coleridge, S. T., 434, 43G, 49C, 498.

Collett, Camilla, 404.

CoUetta, Peter, 237.

Collins, Wilkie, 508.

Collins, William, 455, 491.

"Colloquies," 371.

Colman, George, 495.

Colonna, Vittoria, 212.

"Columbiad,"5r

Columbine, 214.

Columbus, 315.

Columella, 170.

" Comt^die Humaine," 292.

" Comedy of Errors," 479.

Comenius, John Amos, 360, 362.

"Commentaries" (Caesar's), 52.

" Commentaries on Peru," 329.

" Commercial Relations of Antiquity," 445.

Commines, Philip de, 256.

Commonwealth, 452, 453.

Comneni, 116.

Compass, 191.

" Compendium of the History of Italy,"
237.

*' Compromise of the Nobles," 373.

Comte, Auguste, 293.

Comus, 99.

"Comus," 483.

Conclusion, 5'JO.

" Concordance of the Scriptures," 513.

Concorde, Place de la, 61.

Condillac, £tienne Bonnot da, 239, 281.

" Confessio Amantis," 469.

" Confession of Augsburg," 419.

" Confessions " (Rousseau's), 283.

" Confucian Analects," 9.

Confucius, 8, 9, 13.

" Congress of Citera," 235.

Congreve, William, 485.

" Conic Elements," 110.

" Conquest of Canaan," 517.

" Conquest of Mexico " (Prescott's), 519;
(Soils'), 3'29.

" Conquest of Peru," 519.

Conrad, 262.

Conradin, 413.

Conscience, Henri, 380.

Consentes, 126.

" Considerations on the French Revolu-
tion," 286.

" Consolations of Pliilosophy," 4()3.

Constant, Benjamin, 287.

Constantine, 2, 115.

Constantinople, 2, 59, 69, 115, 116.

" Conte di Carmagnola," 232.

" Contemplations " (Hall's), 476.

Cook. Eliza, 502.

Cooper, J. F., 521.

" Cooper's Hill," 483.

Coomhert. 369, 373.

Copernicus, Nicholas, 363, 365.

Coppee, 291.

Coptic alpliabet, 3, 60, 64; lang^uage, 4,60;

literature, 61.
Coquerel, Atbauase, 294.
Cora, 70, 71.
" Corals," 231.
Cordova, 58, 186, 191.
Corea, 10.
Corinna, 83.
" Corinne," 286.
Corn-Law Rhymer, 602.
CorneiUa, Pierre, 100, 203, 267.
Corniani, Count de, 238.
Cornwall, Barry, 501.
" Coronation, The," 309.
Cortes, Fernando, 315.
" Cortigiano," 222.
" Cosmos," 437, 438.
Cossa, 241.
Costa, Isaac Da, 380.
Costanzo, Angelo di, 212.
Costart, 262.
Cotarelo, 334.
" Count Lucanor," 301.
"Count Rudolph," 411.
" Countess Dolores," 441.
Couperus, 381.
" Course of Time," 501.
Court of Literature, 11.
" Court Rhymes," 302.
Courthope, Professor, 508.
Courts of Love, 246.
Cousin, Victor, 293.
Coverdale, Miles, 473.
Cowley, Abraham, 453, 478, 483.
Cowley, Mrs. Hannah, 495.
Cowper, William, 455, 494, 495.
Crabbe, Rev. George, 500.
Cracow, University of, 364.
Craik, Mrs. D. M., 504.
Cranch, C. P., 526.
" Cranes of Ibycus," 429.
Cranmer, Thomas, 473, 475.
Crassus, L. Licinius, 138.
Crates Mallotes, 140.
Cratinus, 99.
Craven, Madame, 293.
Crawford, F. Marion, 522.
Crt^billon, P. J. de, 268.
CreobuIuB, 85.
Creutz, Count of, 399.
Critical Philosophy, 435.
Criticism. See A nifrican, English, French,

Gemum, and Italian Criiicisvi.
" Critique of Practical Reason," 435.
" Critique of Pure Reason," 435, 524.
Croatia, 359.
Crosland, Mrs., 502.
Crusaders, 67, 170.
Crusades, 178, 193, 211, 248.
Cruz, Ramon de la, 332.
Cudworth, Ralph, 453, 476.
Cufa, 185, 186.
Cufic letters, 179.
" Cultivation," 215.
" Cultivation of Mountains," 2^.
"Cultivation of Olive Trees," 234.
Cumic* 2.

Cumberland, Richard, 493, 495.
Cuneiform writing, 1, 35, 36.
Cuntjingham, Allan, 501.
" Curse of Kehama," 497.

538

INDEX.

Curtis, G. W., 520, 527, 528,

Curtius, 164, 446.

Cyclic poets, 75.

•' Cymbeline," 464; (Greene's), 479;

(Shakspeare's), 479.
Cymrians, 460.
Cymric history, 461 ; lan^age, 458; 460;

literature, 461 ; poetry, 461.
Cyuic philosophy, 105, 111.
Cyprian, St., 173.
Cyrenaics. See Cyrenian School.
Cyreuian school of philosophy, 105, 111.
Cyril, St., 353.
Cyrillac alphabet, 353.
Cyrus, 104.
Czartoryski, Adam, 363, 365.

DiEMONION, 89.

Dahlgren, C. J., 402.

Daiihuann, 44G.

Dalin, Olof von, 399.

Ualmatia, 359.

Damascus, 192.

Damasus, 172.

Damiron, 293.

Damopbila, 81.

'•Dance of Death," 302.

" Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins," 472.

Dances, Etruscan, 129; Spanish, 321.

Dandin, 28.

Daniel, 53.

" Daniel, Book of," 38.

DanUof, Kirsha, 354.

Danish criticism, 404; drama, 395-397;
fiction, 397, 398, 404; history, 395; lan-
guage, 387, 388; literature, 394-398, 404;
people, 383; philosophy, 404; poetry,
394-397, 404 ; science, 395, 398.

Dante Alighieri, 194-196.

" Dant " (Balbo's), 237 ; (Boccaccio's),
203.

Dark Ages, 115, 176, 195, 242, 449, 461.

" Dark Ladye, The," 499.

Darmesteter, 294.

Darwin, Charles, 508.

Darwin, Erasmus, 495.

Dasaratha, 26.

Daskam, Josephine Dodge, 523.

Daudet, Alphonse, 292-294.

Daumer, G. F., 432.

Davanzati, Bernardo, 219.

David, 49, 52, 55.

Davila, Enrico Caterino, 226.

" Day, The," 234.

" De la Sagesse," 259.

" De Re Rustica " (Cato's), 137 ; (Columel-
la's), 170.

" Debit and Credit," 442.

Deborah, 53.

" Deborah," 435.

•' Decameron," 202.

Decker, Thomas, 481.

" Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,"
492.

Deev, 182.

" Defense of the English People," 372.

"Defense of Poesy," 477.

Deffand, Madame du, 281.

Defoe, Daniel, 488.

Deken, Agatha, 378.

Deland, Margaret, 522.

Delphi, 78, 79.

" Delphine," 286.

" Deluge, The," 36.

Demeter, 70, 84.

Demetrius, 109.

" Democracy in America," 293.

Democritus, 86, 87, 111.

Demosthenes, 68, 100-102, 104, 149.

Demotic writing, 60, 62.

Deuham, Sir John, 483.

Denmark, 387.

De Quincey, Thomas, 504, 507.

Deri language, 39.

Derzhavin, 355.

Descartes, Ren«J, 239, 259, 264, 281, 374.

" Descent of Istar into Hades," 36.

" Descent of Odin," 390.

"Deserted Village," 495.

Deshoulieres, Madame, 261, 270.

Destiny, 160.

" Destruction of the Primitive World,"

379.
" Deuteronomy," 55.
Deutsch, 405.
Dial, 35.

Dialectic philosophy, 30.
Dialectics, 104.
Dialects. See Languages.
" Dialogues of the Dead," 277.
" Dialogues on Eloquence," 274.
" Dialogues on the Supreme Good," 151.
Diana, 126.

"Diana," 117,324,338.
Diaz, Bemal, 315.
Dickens, Charles, 503, 504.
Dickinson, John, 516.
"Dictionary della Crusca," 219, 239.
Dictionary (Johnson's), 490.
Diderot, Denis, 281, 282, 285.
Didier, Gerard. See Erasmus.
Dido, 143, 144.

Dietrich of Bern. See Theodoric the Great.
"Digest," 175.
Diodorus, 114.
Diogenes, 105.
" Dion," 499.
Dione, 70.

"Dionysian Adventures," 117.
Dionysius, 70, 71, 84, 85, 94, 113, 336.
" Discourse on Painting," 494.
" Discourse upon Universal History," 271,

273.
" Discourses of Animals," 217.
Discoveries. See Arabian ducoveries.
" Dispute between Day and Night," 44,
" Disputes with the Gentiles," 174.
Disraeli, 503.
Dithyramb, 82, 95.
Dittmfir 445

" Divine Comedy," 197, 215, 248, 300.
" Divine Emblems," 483.
" Divine Institutes," 174.
Dmitrief, 356.
Dobrovsky, J., 363.
Dobson, Austin, 508, 510.
" Dr. Sevier,"' 522.
Doddridge, Philip, 489.
Dombrovka, Princess, 363.
"Don Carlos," 434.
" Don Quixote," 252, 305, 323.
Donne, John, 452, 453, 476, 483.
Doorne, Van, 381.
Dorians, 95.

Doric dialect, 69 ; poetry, 79, 81.
Dostoievski, 358.

INDEX.

539

•' Douay Bible," 475.

" Uouglaa," 495.

Doui^las, Gavin, 472.

Dowdeii, Professor, 294, 508.

Drachmaiin, 404.

Drama. See AmeHcan, Athens, Chinese,
Dtinish, Dutch, English, Ktniscan, Fin-
nish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew,
Hindu, Jluiigurian, Italian, Japanese,
Noruegian, Oscans, Pantomime, Polish,
Portuguesf, Roman, Russian, Servian,
Spanish, Swedish Drama. See Tragedy.

Drayton, Micliael, 4G5, 483.

Draytou, W. H., 5U;.

" Dream " (Richter's), 440.

Droysen, 44i.

Droz, 292, 293.

Drusius, John, 372.

Dryden, John, 132, 453, 485, 486.

Du Bois-Raymond, 438.

Dudevant, Aurore, 292.

"Duke Eniest," 411.

Dumas, Alexandre, 288, 291, 292.

Dumas, Alexandre, yiii, 291, 292.

Dunbar, William, 472.

" Dunciad," 488.

Duneker, 444.

Durand, Madame, 294.

Duro, 3;i4.

Dutch drama, 3G9, 376-378 ; education, 370 ;
fiction, 378, 380, 381 ; history, 372-375,
377-380 ; language, 308, 374, 408 ; Latin
writers, 370 ; literature, 368-381 ; influ-
ence of French on, 376 ; oratory, 379 ;
periodicals, 377 ; philosophy, 373 ; poetry,
3C9, 373-381 ; science, 372 ; theology,
370.

" Dutch Nations, The," 380.

" Duties " (Cicero's), 151.

Dwarfs, 407.

Dwight, Timothy, 517.

Eblis, 182.

" Ecclesiastes," 54.

" Ecclesiastical History," 446.

" Ecclesiastical History of England," 462.

" Ecclesiastical Polity," 451, 475.

Echegaray, 3;J4.

Eclogues, 109.

" Edda," 384, 387, 389-391, 397, 407, 413.

" Edda, Icelandic," 177.

Eddaic literature, 389.

Edgeworth, Maria, 502.

" Edinburgh Review," 506, 507.

Education. See American, Armenian, Bo-
hemian, Chinese, Dutch, Egj/ptian,
French, Hebrew, Hindu, Hungarian,
Italian, Japanese, Mnnrs, Persian, Po-
lish, I'ortuiiue.ie, Pythagorean, Russian,
Sanskirt, Turki.ih Fducation.

" Etlucation of Girls," 274.

Edwards, Jonathan, 514.

Effen, Justus van, 377.

Eginhardt, 4(19, 410.

"Egniont," 427, 433

Egyptian alphabet, 5, 60 ; biography, 65 ;
education, 05 ; fiction. 01, 64, 65 ; history,
61, (')2; inscriptions, 2; langiiage, 4,50,
60, 66 ; literature, (')0, 62, 65 ; monu-
ments, 61 ; people, 5, 107, 108, 115 ; peri-
odicals, 66 ; philosophy, 65 ; poetry, 65 ;
religion, 61, 63: satire, 65; science, 64 ;
waiting, 1, 60. See Alexandria.

" Egypt's Place in Universal History," 04.

" El Kamus," 186.

Elci, D', 234.

Elea, 86.

Eleatic philosophy, 85, 86.

" Elective Affinities," 439.

" Electra,'.' 268.

" Elegy in a Country Churchyard," 492,

" Elegy on an Unfortunate Lady," 488.

" Elements of Criticism," 494.

" Elements of Literature," 2»4.

" Elements of Pure Mathematics," 110.

Eleusis, 84.

Khjah, 55.

Eliot, George, 510.

Eliot, John, 513.

Klisha, 55.

Elizabeth, Queen, 450, 482.

Elliott (Corn-Law Rhymer), 502.

Elves, 407.

Kmelian dialect, 194.

Emerson, R. W., 524, 526, 528.

"Enule,"282.

"Emilie Galotti," 426.

Emi)edocles, 86.

" Encyclopaedia " (French), 281.

" Encyclopiedia Britannica," 505.

Encyclopit'dists, 243.

" Endymiou," 500.

English : Anglo-Saxon literature, 462 ; Cel-
tic literature, 460 ; criticism, 504, 506-
508; drama, 478-481, 485, 487,495; es-
says, 489, 505, 507, 508 ; fiction, 488, 490,
493, 502, 503, 510, 511 ; history, 484, 492.
504, 508 ; language, 178, 457 ; letters,
489 ; Latin literature, 461 , 463 ; litera-
ture, 448-511; Norman-French literature,
465; oratory, 493; people, 20; period-
icals, 456, 504, 506-508 ; philosophy, 488,
489, 494, 505 ; poetry, 455, 481-483, 486,
487, 491, 492, 495-502, 508-510; Saxon
literature, 467 ; science, 506-509 ; Scot-
tish literature, 471.

Ennius, 125, 1,30, 133-135, 140.

Ense, Rahel von, 441.

Ense, Varnhagen von, 441.

Eotviis, 348.

Kphraem Syrus, 38.

Epictetus, 112.

Epicurus, 100, 111 ; philosophy, 145, 151.

'• Epidicus." 132.

Epirota, 155.

" Epistles from Pontus," 148.

•' Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard," 488.

" Epistles of Horace," 146.

" Epistles to and from Women of the He-
roic Age," 148.

Epithalamia, 81.

" Epitome of Roman History," 172.

" Epochs of Nature," 283.

Erasnuis, Desiderius, 369, 370, 472.

Eratosthenes, 111.

Ercilla, Alimzo de, 326.

Erckmann-Chatrian, 292.

Erech, University of, 36.

Erigena, Joannes Scotus, 4C2.

Erik the Wanderer, 393.

Erinna, 81.

Er.ie language, 460.

Espinasse, Madame de V, 281.

Espronceda, JosiS de, 333.

" Essay on Criticism," 488.

" Essay ou Man," 488.

540

INDEX.

" Essay on Miracles," 494.

" Essay on the Manners of Nations," 279.

" Essay on the Understanding," 484.

" Essay on Translated Verse," 486.

Essayists (English), 489.

" Essays " (Bacon's), 451, 477.

" Essays " (Montaigne's), 259. .

" Essays in Criticism," 507.

Essedi of Tus, 44.

" Essence of Logic," 47.

Essenes, 56.

Este, Cardinal D', 209, 210.

Este, Leonora D', 210.

" Esther " (Racine's), 267.

" Ethica," 373.

Ethiopian language, 179.

Etruria, 121, 123.

Etruscan dances, 129 ; drama, 121 ; histri-

ones, 129; language, 5, 124; literature,

121-129 ; music, 129 ; people, 2, 124, 127 ;

poetry, 121, 125, 128 ; religion, 121, 126 ;

science, 121.
" Ettore Fieramosca," 235.
Etzel, 413, 414.
Eucleides, 105.
Euclid, 110, 116.
Eugubine Tables, 124.
Eupolis, 99.
Euripides, 68, 98, 100.
Europa, 2.

Europe, languages of, 20.
Eusebius, 35, 37, 119.
Eutropius, Flavius, 172.
Euzina, 308.
Evald, 395.

Evans, Mary Ann, 510.
Evelyn, John, 485.
Everard, John, 373.
Everett, Edward, 520.
" Evidences of Christianity," 494.
Ewald, 404.
" Examination of the Conscience of a

King," 274.
" Excursion, The," 456, 499.
" Exodus," 55.

" Experience, Philosophy of," 526.
"Exposition of the Catholic Doctrine,"

271.
" Exposition of the Christian Faith," 419.
Ezekiel, 53.
Ezra, 50, 56.
" Ezra, Book of," 38, 49, 55.

FaBIUS PlCTOB, 136.

" Fables" (Gellert's), 425.

" Fables of Florian," 285.

"Fabliaux," 182, 189, 202, 246, 250, 253,

4G9.
Fabulae Atellanae, 129.
" Faerie Queene," 470, 481, 482.
Faguet, 294.
Fahlcrantz, 402.
" Fair Penitent," 481, 487.
"Fair Star," 217.

" {"airy Tales " (Strapparola's), 217
Falconer, William, 491.
Farini, 241.

Farini, Carlo Luigi, 241.
Farquhar, George, 485.
Fasli, ^9.
'• Fasti, The," 148.
"Fatal Dowry," 481.
Fates, 387.

Fathers, the, 118, 173.
" Fathers and Sons," 357.
Faunus, 126.
Faust, 422.

" Faust " (Goethe's), 427, 428.
" Feast of the Dead," 307.
" Federalist, The," 615.
Feitama, 376.
Feith, R., 379.
Feizi, Sheik, 46.
F(51ix, P^re, 294.
" Feinmes Savantes, Les," 269.
F6neIon, F. de la Mothe, 266, 271, 274.
Fenris, 385, 387.
Ferdinand VII., 333.

Ferdinand and Isabella, Chronicle of, 305.
Ferdusi, 40, 43.

Ferischta, 47. ,

Ferrara, 221.
Ferrara, Marquis of, 204.
Ferrari, 241.
Ferreira, A., 339, 342.
Ferrex, 465.

" Ferrex and Porrex," 475.
Fescennine songs, 128, 129.
Feuerbach, 436.
Feuillet, Octave, 291-293.
Feydeau, Ernest, 293
Feyjoo, Benito, 331.
Fez, 186.

" Fiammetta," 202, 203.
Fichte, I. H., 436.
Fichte, J. G., 435, 437, 525.
Fiction. See Alexandria, American, Ara-
bian, Bohemian, Byzantium, Celtic, Chi-
nese, Danish, Dutch, Egyptian, English,
Finnish, French, German, Greek,
Hindu, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Jap-
anese, Latin, Norwegian, Persian, Pol-
ish, Roman, Russian, Serbian, Spanish,
Swedish, Turkish, Welsh Fiction.

Fielding, Henry, 454, 490, 503.

" Fiesco," 434.

" Fight with the Dragon," 429.

Figulus, Nigidius, 155.

Pilangieri, Gaetano, 227.

Filicaja, Vincenzo da, 224.

" Filocopo," 203.

Fingal, 4G1, 495.

Finn, 398.

Finnish alphabet, 345 ; drama, 346 ; fiction,
345 ; history, 346 ; langriage, 4, 345, 346 ;
literature, 345 ; periodicals, 340 ; poetry,
345 ; science, .34(!. See ArmeTiian, Hun-
garian, and Turkish Literature.

Fiorentino, 234.

Fire-worshipers, 41, 179.

Firenzuola, Agnolo, 214, 217.

Fischart, 420.

Fischer, 447.

" Fishermen, The," 395.

Fiske, John, 520.

" Five Treasures," 45.

Flameland, 386.

Flanders, 368.

Flaubert, Gustave, 292, 293.

Flechier, E., 271.

Flemish language, 368, 408.

Flemming, Paul, 423.

Fletcher, Giles, 482.

Fletcher, John, 4.52, 480.

Fleury, Abbe, 273.

Flora, 127.

INDEX.

541

Florence, 221, 227.

Fo, 10, 31.

Fo«azzaro, 241.

Knkke, 3T'J.

" Folk Safias," 393.

Fouteiielle, B. de, 2o4, 277, 354.

Ford, John, 452, 4.sl.

Forster, Gforge, 4;J7.

Fortiguerri, Niccolo, 234.

Fortuiie-tellers, 13.

" Fortuuio," 217.

" Forum, The," 520.

Foscolo, Ugo, 232, 233, 235, 238, 239.

Foster, John, .'')05.

FoiKiue, La Motte, 440.

" Four Great Marvels' Books," 14.

Fox, C. J., 4113.

Fox, Johu, 473.

Francis I., 244.

Franck, 420.

Franklin, Benjamin, 514, 515.

FranziMi, F. M., 4<»1.

Fraternity of tho Passion, 2&4.

FratrcH Arvales, 125.

Frederick the Great, 278.

"Free Will," 371.

Freeman, .'VM.

Freiligrath, Ferdinand, 432.

French biography, 273 ; criticism, 203, 204 ;
drama, 254, 2(12, 2lir, 2(i8, 28'.», 201, 204 ;
education, 2 13; empire, 28G ; fiction, 200,
274, 2;>-2, •.';)4 : history, 273, 288 ; inrtuence
on Spanish literature, 330 ; languaf;e, 178,
243, 255; letters, 274; literature, 112,

207, 242, 204 ; Arabian influence on, 245,
247 ; compared with Arabian, 184 ; mu-
sic, 208 ; oratory, 270, 272, 284 ; philoso-
phy, 204, 272, 203 ; poetry, 200, 280 ; re-
ligion, 275 ; satire, 209 ; women, 240, 2G1,

208, 281, 28i;, 287, 2^4.
Freneau, Philip, 515.
Freya, ;J85, 387.
Freytag, Gustave, 435, 442.
Frezz.*, 241.

" Friar Amis," 410.

Friar John, 258.

Fri.lay, .3.87.

" Friendship " (Cicero on), 151.

Friesland, 308.

Frijjga, 385, 408.

Frisian language, 3C8, 408, 458.

Frisic language. See Frisian language.

" Friso," 377.

'• Frithiof 8 Saga," 393, 402.

Froissart, Jean, 25C, 407.

Frontiiius, 170.

Fronto, Cornelius. 172.

Frothingham, O. B.,526.

Froude, James Anthony, 508.

Fuchs, Leonard, 421.

Fuller, Margaret. 526.

Fuller, Thomas, 470.

Furuees, H. H., 527.

Gaboriau, 292, 293.

Gabriel, 182.

Gaelic language, 458, 4C0.

Gains, 130.

Gal. 348.

" Galatea " (Cervantes'), 322.

" Galateo," 222.

Galba, 138.

GaldoB, 334.

Galen, Claudius, 115.

(ialician dialect, 208.
(Jiilileo, 194, 221, 239, 374.

Gallahad, Sir, 406.

Galland, Anthony, 189.

Galli, 243.

(Jalluppi, 230.

Gallus, iElius, 140.

Gallus, Martin, 304.

Gait, John, 5(J3.

Oania, Vasco da, 337, 340.

(iambara, Veronica, 213.

Games, l;i4.

Gargantua, 258.

"Gargautua," 420.

Gautier, Theophile, 291-293.

Gay Science, 240.

" Gazetteer of Hellas," 114.

Geijer, Eric Gustaf, 401.

Gellert, Christian F., 425.

Gellius, Aulus, 172.

" Gemara," 57.

" General Geography of the Chinese Em-
pire," 12.

" General History of the Indies " (Herre-
ra's), 329 ; (Las Casas'), 310.

" Genesis," ."jo.

" Geneva Bible," 475.

Genii, 182.

Genius, 127.

Genius of Christianity, 287.

Geulis, Madame de, 287.

Gentle Shepherd, 117.

Geoffrey of Monmouth, 461, 464-466.

(ieotfrin, M.idanie, 281.

" Geography, Manners, and Nations of
Germany," 102.

" Geography viewed in its Relations to
Nature and History," 445.

George I., 487.

George II., 451,489.

George III., 455.

"Georgics," 144.

Gerhard, Paul, 423.

Gerizim, Mount, 1.

German bards, 177 ; criticism, 442 ; de-
monology, 420; drama, 410, 4.32, 447;
fiction, 423, 4.39-442 ; history. 445 ; lan-
guage, 178, 208, 408; Latin literature,
422 ; literature, 405-447 ; mythology,
407, 444 ; people, 243 ; philosophy, 43"i-
437, 447 ; poetry, 177, 412, 413, 420,425-
432 ; satire, 420 ; Suabian age, 411 ; the-
ology, 417, 418, 445. See Chiirli-mnqne,
C/iiialn/, Goltinoen school, Lulher, Stris-
tersingfrs. Minnesingers, itonui!Uic,Sajc-
onic, and Sui.fs schnots.

" German language," 444.

" German theology," 417.

" Oennany " (Madame de StatJl's), 286.

"Gertrude of Wyoming," 400.

Gervase of Tilbury, 404, 400.

Oervinus, 444.

Gesuer, Conrad von, 421.

Ges-iner, Solomon, 425.

" Gest of King Honi," 466.

" Gesta Romauorum," 405.

Geysbeck, 380.

Ghent, ;5C.O.

Gherardini, 2.39.

Ghibellines, 100.

Ghouls, 182.

Giambullari, 219.

542

INDEX.

Gianni, I^po, 195.

GiauDone, Pietro, 236.

'•Giavidan Kird," 40.

Gibbon, Edward, 281, 455, 492,

Gilford, William, 50C.

'• Gil Bias," -111, 314, 325.

Gilder, R. W., 524.

Giuguene, P. L., 293.

Gioberti, Vincent, 238, 240.

GiocoBa, 241.

Gioja, Melchior, 239.

Giordani, Vital, 238.

Giraldi, Cinzio, 21G.

Giraldi, C. J., 213.

Giraldus Cambrensis, 461, 464.

" Gita-Govinda," 27.

" GiuUetta," 216.

GiuBti, Giuseppe, 234.

" Glance at Recent Affairs," 47.

Glatigny, 21»1.

Gleim, John W. L., 425.

Gloriana, 482.

Gnomes, 4f)7.

Gnostics, 41.

"Godiva," 441.

" Gods of the North," 397.

Godwin, Parke, 519.

Godwin, William, 502.

Goethe, J. W. von, 253, 360, 406, 427^29,

433, iM, 4.39, 442.
" Goethe's Correspondence with a Child,"

441.
Gogol, Nicholas, 356.
Golden Age, Armenian, 350 ; Bohemian,

362 ; Chinese, 13 ; Dutch, 374 ; French,

243, 265 ; Grecian, 08, 85 ; Hebrew, 50 ;

Hindu, 23 ; Hiingnrian, 347 ; Latin, 122 ;

Portuguese, 3;J7, 540.
" Golden As-s " (Firenzuola's), 217.
"Golden Terge," 472.
" Goldmaker's Village," 141.
Goldoni, Carlo, 194, 227, 230.
Goldsclimidt, 398.
Goldsmith, OUver, 455, 493, 495.
Golovin, 359.
Gomara, 315.
Gomanis, 372.
Gongora, Luis, 327.
Gongorism, 342.
Gontcharov, 357.
Gonzaga, Giulia, 213.
Gonzalez, 332.
Gonzalez, Fernan, 304.
Gonzalo, John, 300.
" Gorboduc," 475.
"Gospel-Book," 410.
Gosse, Edmund, .WS.
Gothic alphabet, 3 ; languages, 6, 368, 408,

415.
Gotliic school, 401.
Goths, 3, 405.
Gottiiigen school, 430.
Gottsched, John C, 424, 432.
" Gotz von Berlichingen," 427, 433.
Gower, John, 458, 465, 469.
Gozzi, Carlo, 2.'30.
Gozzi, G., 231, 238.
r.rabowski, 3.56.
Grabowski, 367.
Gracchi, the, 1.38.
Gr*co-Italic language», 5.
GraiiimaticuH, Saxo, 394.
Grammout, Count de, 274.

Granada, 58, 311.

" Grandissimes, The," 622.

" Grave, The " (.Blair's), 491.

Gravenweert, De s', 380.

Gravina, G. V., 229, 238.

Gray, Thomas, 455, 491.

Graydon, Alexander, 517.

" Gray's Ode," 390.

Grazzini, A. F., 217.

" Great Construction of Astronomy," 114.

" Great Japan, History of," 17.

" Great Learning," 9.

" Greater Prophets," 54.

Greek alphabet, 1-3, 60, 62, 349, 353, 409 ;
art, 88 ; Christianity, 118 ; conquests, 63,
65; drama, 68, 91, 93, 94, 122, 131, 133,
134; fathers, 118; fiction, 78; games,
134; history, 68, 87, 100, 103, 107, 114,
115 ; history compared with Roman, 152 ;
influence on Arabic science, 185 ; intlu-
ence in Italy, 203 ; influence in Rome,
129, 130, 133, 139-141, 148, 175; lan-
guage, 5, 57, 60, 69, 113, 115, 119, 124,
126; literature, 67, 68, 90, 113, 115, 116,
119, 121, 176; literature compared with
Arab, 184 ; music, 78 ; mysteries, 84 ;
mythology, 68, 69, 84, 127, 352 ; oratory,
68, 100, 115, 122 ; people, 20, 65, 110, 122 ;
periodicals, 6J ; philosophy, 41, 56, 68,
85, 105, 107, 111 ; poetry, 68, 72, 76-79,
81, 83, 85, 93, 101, 113, 117, 120, 122;
religion, 68, 69, 84, 127 ; sciences, 100,
107, 114, 115, 140 ; theatres, 97 ; women,
80, 120 ; writing, 88. See Alexandria,
Athens, and Bible.

" Greek and Roman Iconography," 227.

Green, John Richard, 508.

Greene, Robert, 479.

"Greenfield Hill," 517.

Greenwood, Grace, 520, 523, 526.

Gregorianus, 174.

Gregory Naziauzen, 119.

Gregory of Tours, 242.

Greville, Fulke, 483.

GriiviUe, Henri, 294.

Griffin, Gerald, 503.

Grigorovitch, 357.

Grillparzer, Franz, 434.

Grimm, 281, 360.

Grimm, Jacob, 443, 445.

Grimm, William, 444, 446.

" Grimiier's Song," 389.

"Griselda,"202.

Groningen, 370.

Gronovius, J. F., 372.

Groot, Hugh de. See Grolius.

Grossi, 234, 235.

Grote, George, 504.

Grotius, 371, 372, 374.

" Growth and Prospects of the United
Provinces," 378.

Griin, Anastasius, 432.

Grundtvig, 397, 398.

Gryphius, Andreas, 424.

Guadagnoli, 234.

"Guardian," 489.

Guarini, G., 117, 215.

Guarinos, 305.

Gudrun, 413.

Guebers, 41.

Ouelphs, 196.

Gucrrazzi, Francesco Domenico, 235.

" Gueux," 377.

INDEX.

>43

Ouicciardiiii, Francesco, 218.

Giiidiccioni, Giovaiiui, 212.

Guilds, 'M'J.

Giiiscard, Robert, 383.

Guizot, F. P. G., 288.

" Giilistan," 45.

" Gulliver's Travels," 488.

Gunpowder, I'.H.

Gi'inther, 413, 414.

Gurowski, ;j5C.

Gustaviislll., 399.

Gutenberg, Johann, 11.

Gutzkow, Karl, 432, 435.

Giitzlalf, Karl, 437.

" Guy of Warwick," 466.

Guyon, Madame, 271.

Guyon, Sir, 482.

" Guzman de Alfarache," 325.

Gyllembourg, Countess, 397.

Gyllenborg, Count, 399.

H. H., 536.

Haardrada, Harold, 392.

Habakkuk, 54.

Haber, Theresa, 441.

Habington, William, 483.

Hadji-Khalfa, 349.

Hadrian, 123, 171.

H:pokel, 438.

Haliz, 45.

H.agan, 413, 414.

Hagedorn, Friedrich, 425.

H.agen, F. H. von der, 445.

Haggai. 54.

Hahn-Hahn, Countess, 441.

Halek, 3G3.

Hales, Alexander de, 464.

H.all, Bishop, 4.52.

Hall, Joseph, 476.

Hall, Judge, 515.

Hill, Mrs., 503.

Hall, Robert, 505, 514.

Hallam, Henry, 470, 504.

Halleck, Fitz-Greene, 523.

Haller, Albert von, 426.

Hallman, 400.

H ilmaal, Van, 380.

Hauiann, J. G., 435.

Hamelaveld, Van, 379.

Hauierling, 432.

Hamerton, Philip Gilbert, 508.

Hamilton, Alexander, 515, 516.

Hamilton, Count, 274.

Hamilton, Sir William, 506.

" Hamlet," 4711.

Hammarskiild, Lars, 401.

Hanke, Hejiriette, 441.

Hannibal, 136.

Hardenborg, Friedrich von. See Novalit.

Hardy, Alexander, 260.

Hardy, Thomas, 511.

Hare, Augustus, .lOo.

Hare, Julius, ,505.

Haren, Onno Zwier ran, 377.

Haren, William van, 377.

Having, Wilhelm, 441.

H irlequin, 214.

" Harmonies," 200.

Haroun al Raschid, 1S5, 187.

Harpe, J. F. de la, 274, 284.

" Hxrper's Magazine," .'>29.

" Harper's Weekly," .529.

Harrington, James, 477.

Harris, Joel Chandler, 522.

Harte, Bret, 522.

Hartmauu, Van, 430.

Hassam, 192.

Ha.Mtrup, 398.

" Hasty Pudding," 517.

Hatifl, 46.

Uaupt, Moritz, 445.

Hauptmann, 447.

" Havamal, The," 389, 390.

" Havelok," 466.

Hawes, Stephen, 470.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 521, 522.

Hay, John, 520.

Hazlitt, William, 507.

Heam, Lafcadio, 19.

Heber, Bishop, 501.

Hebrew alphabet, 2, 50 : drama, 54; edu-
cation, 51 ; history, 55 ; language, 4, 38,
50, 57 ; literature, 49, 51 ; philosophy,
56; poetry, 5'J ; religion, 51, 111. See
Bible and Rabbinical Literature.

" Hebrew Poetry," 426.

Hector, 74.

Heeren, Arnold H. L., 445.

Hefar, 192.

Hegan, Alice Caldwell, 523.

Hegel, O. W. F., 236, 436, 437.

Hegesias, 103.

Hegira, 184.

Heiberg, 397.

Heimdall, 385, 387.

" Heimskringla," 392.

Heine, Heinrich, 432.

Heinsius, Daniel, 372, ,373, 375.

Heinsiug, Nicholas, 373.

"Heir in Old Age," 13.

Hela, 385, 386.

" Heldenbuch," 177, 410, 413, 420.

Helicon, 73.

H.'lioiwlis, 61, 62.

Helios, 87.

Helheim, 386.

Hellas. See Greece.

Heller, 442.

Helmers, J. F., 379.

Helmholtz, i?».

Helmont, F. M. ran, 372. .

Helps, Arthur, 505.

Helvetius, C. A., 281, 19fl.

Hemans, Mrs. F. D., 501.

Hemsterhuis, T., 372.

Henley, 510.

•' Henriade," 279.

Henricourt, 369.

Henry VIII., 473, 470.

Henry of Burgundy, 3.36.

Henry of Huntingdon. 464.

Henry the Minstrel, 471.

Henry of Ofterdingen. 412, 413.

" Henry von Oftenlingen," 440.

Henry, Patrick, 515, 516.

Henryson, Robert, 471.

Hephiestus, 70, 71.

" Heptjxmt^ron, L'," 258.

Hera, 70, 71.

Hera>-litii8. 86.

Herbert, George, 483.

Herbert, Lord, of Cherbury, 476.

Hercules, 127.

Herder, J. G. von. 406. 42G. 427, 442, 445

'• Hennann and Dorothea,'' 428.

Hermes, 70, 71.

544

INDEX.

" Hermit, The," 465.
Hermogenianus, 17-4.
" Hemani." 290.
" Hero aud Leander," 117.
Herodotus, 62, 68, 69, 72, 88, 103, 152.
Herrera, Antonio, 31G, 329.
Herrera, Fernando de, 326, 327.
Herrick, Robert, 483.
Bertha, 408.
Hertz, 398.
Herwegh, Georg, 432.
Herz, Henriette, 441.
Herzegovina, 359.
Hesiod, 69, 71, 75, 84, 85, 144.
'•Hesperua," 440.
" Hexameron," 394.
Heyse, 404.
Heywood, John, 475.
Heywood, Thomas, 481.
Hieratic characters, 60, 64.
Hieroglyphics, 35, 60, 62.
Hieronymic alphabet, 353.
Higginson, T. W., 526.
" High Song of Odin," 389.
Hilarius, 172.
*' Hildebrand Lied," 410.
" Hind and Panther," 487.
Hindi, 33.
Hindui, 21, 32.

Hindus, 5, 20, 46 ; drama, 28, 93 ; educa-
tion, 33; fiction, 13, 202 ; history, 29 ;
language, 20, 21, 32 ; literature, 21 ; phi-
losophy, 29, 31 ; poetry, 22; religion, 21,
23, 111 ; science, 29; social constitution,
21 ; women, 32-34. See Bramo-SomaJ
and Btiddhism.
Hindustani, 21, 33.
Hipparchus, 111.
Hippias, 91.
Hippodrome, 2.
Hispaniola, 315.
"Historical and Critical Dictionary,"

276.
" Historical Contemplations," 237.
" Historical Library," 114.
History. See Alexandria, American, Aru-
glo-Saxon, Arabian, Assyrian, Athens,
Babylonian, Bohemian, Byzantium, Cel-
tic, Chinese, Cymric, Danish, Dutch,
Egyptian, English, Etruscan, Finnish,
French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hin-
du, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Latin,
Norse, Persian, Phoenician, Polish, Por-
tuguese, Roman, Roumanian, Russian,
Sanskrit, Spanish, Turkish, Welsh His-
tory.
" History, Book of," 13.
" History of the Age of Louis XIV.,"

279.
" History of America " (Robertson's), 492.
" History of the American Revolution "

(Botta's), 2.39.
" History of Ancient Rome," 446.
" History of the Ancient World and its

Culture," 445.
" History of Bohemia," 363.
" History of Cashmere," 29.
" History of Charles XII.," 279.
" History of Charles tlie Bold," 518.
" History of ChriKtianity," 273.
" History of the Church," 440.
" History of the Civil Wars," 477.
•' History of Civilization," 604.

" History of the Conquest of Constanti-
nople," 251.

" History of Dr. Faustus," 422.

"History of England" (Hume's), 492;
(Macaulay's) , 504.

"History of English Poetry," 493.

"History of Europe" (Alison's), 504 ;
(Giambullari's), 219.

" History of European Civilization," 288.

" History of Ferdinand aud Isabella,"
519.

"History of Florence" (Adriani's), 219;
(Machiavelli's), 218; (Segni's), 219;
(Varchi's), 219.

"History of the Florentine Revolution,"
219.

" History of Florida," 329.

" History of the Fortunate Lovers," 258.

"History of Prance" (Godwin's), 519;
(Guizot's), 288 ; (Martin's), 289 ; (Meze-
ray's), 273.

" History of the French People," 289.

" History of the French Revolution " (Cari
lyle's), 504 : (Mignet's), 289.

" History of Friar Gerund," 331.

" History of the Gauls," 289.

" History of German Literature," 444.

" History of the Girondins," 289.

" History of Great Japan," 17.

" History of Greece " (Curtius'), 446.

" History of Greek Literature," 444.

" History of Henry IV.," 374.

"History of his own Times" (Burnet's),
484.

" History of Holland," 373.

" History of the House of Medici," 374.

" History of the Indies," 315.

" History of Italian Literature," 238, 240.

" History of the Italian Republics," 289.

"History of the Italians" (Cantii's),
238.

"History of Italy" (Botta's), 237 ; (Fari-
ni's), 241 ; (Guicciardini's), 218.

" History of the Jewish Wars," 113.

" History of John Bull," 489.

" History of the Kingdom of Naples " (Col-
letta's), 237.

" History of Materialism," 447.

" History of the Norman Conquest " (Free-
man's), 504 ; (Thierry's), 289.

" History of our own Times," 509.

" History of Papacy in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries," 446.

" History of Philip II.," 519.

" History of Philosophy," 447.

" History of the Poetical National Litera-
ture of the Germans," 444.

" History of Poland," 366.

" History of the Polish Insurrection," 366.

" History of Port Royal," 267.

" History of Portugal," 342.

" History of the Rebellion," 484.

" History of the Reformation " (Burnet's),
484.

" History of the Reformation in the Neth-
erlands," 375.

" History of the Reign of Louis XIV.,"
267.

" History of the Rise of the Dutch Repub-
lic," 519.

" History of the Russian Empire," 355.

" History of the Schism of England," 219.

"History of Scotland," 492.

INDEX.

545

" History of the Slavic Language and Lit-
erature," 'Ml,').

" History of Spain," 328.

" Hiiitory of SpiiniBh Literature," 518.

" History of tlie Two Imlies," 1184.

" History of the United Provinces," 377.

"History of the Variations," L'71.

" History of tlie War of Independence in
the Low Countries," 374.

" History of the World," 477.

" Histriones," li'.l.

Hittite picture-writing, 1.

" Hitopadesa," 'JS, 47.

Hobbes, Thomas, 4'.3, 47G, 477.

Hoelty, L. H. C.,430.

Hoevell, Van, 380.

Hoffmann, 441.

Hoffraanswaldau, 424.

Hofcg, James, fiOl.

Holbach, Baron d', 281.

Holberg, Ludwig, 395.

Holland, liCS, 370.

Holmes, Oliver WendeU, 524, 527, 528.

" Holy Dying," 47C.

" Holy Living," 47G.

Horn. See Honoi-er.

" Home-circle," 3'J2.

Home, John, A'Xi.

Homer, 68, 69, 71-73, 84, 110.

Homeric Hymns, 75.

Homerides, 75.

Honorius, 171.

Honover, 40, 41.

Hood, Thomas, 502.

Hoofman, Elizabeth, 376.

Hooft, P. 0,369, 374.

Hoogvliet, A., 376.

Hook, Theodore, 503.

Hooker, 451, 47.'">.

Hope, Thomas, 503.

"Hopes of Italy," 237.

Hopkins, 474.

Hopkins, Samuel, 517.

Hopkinson, Francis, 517.

Horace, 122, VM\ 135, 146, 157 ; life of, 164.

" Horaces, Les," 263.

Home, R. H., 502.

" Homy Siegfried," 413.

Hortensius, 2, 138.

Hosea, 64.

Hovedeu, Roger de, 464.

Houghton, Lord, 502.

" House of the Seven Gables, The," 521.

" Household Tales " (Grimms'), 444.

Houssaye, Arsfene, 293.

Howald, 434.

Howe, Charles, 484.

Howells, W. D., .520, 522, 527.

Howitt, Mary, 40;^, ,502, 505.

Howitt, William, 505.

" Hudibras," 485, 486.

Hugin, 385.

Hugo, Victor, 200-29'2.

" Human Learning," 483.

Humboldt, Alexander von. 437, 438.

Humbohit, William von, 442.

Hume, David, 2S1, 455, 489, 49'.', 494.

" Hundred Plays of the Yuen Dynasty," 13.

" Hundred Tales," 216.

Hungarian drama, 348 ; education, 1547 ; fic-
tion, 348; language. 4. 346, 'Ml, 360 ; lit-
erature, 346 ; poetry, 348. See Fiimiih
literature.

Hunt, Leigh, 501, 518.
Hushang, 40.
Hubs, John, 360, 361 .
Hutten, Ulric von, 420.
Huxley, 508.
Huydecoper, 377.
Huygens, Constantine, 375.
Huyghens, Christian, 372.
Hyacmthe, Pere, -'94.
Hyginus, Julius, 105.
Hylas, 72.
HymeniEOS, 73.
Hypatia, 116.
Hypereides, 103.

Iamblichus, 116.

Iambus, 78.

Iberian language, 297, 298.

Ibrahim Pacha, 1H3.

Ibsen, Henrik, 404.

IbycuB, 81, 82.

Iceland, 383, 387, 388 ; dialect, 387 ; Utera-

ture, 177, 388. See \orse.
" Ideas for the Philosophy of Humanity,"

426.
" Identity System," 436.
Iduna, 385.
"Idyls," 109; (Gessner's), 425; (Voss's),

4;w.

" Idyls of the King," 502.

ItHand, A. W., 435.

Ignatius, 118.

" Igor's Expedition against the Polovtzi,"

354.
" Iliad," 26, 73, 90, 488, 495.
" Imitation of Christ," 417.
" Immortality of the Soul " (Addison's),

489; (Fiorentino's), 234.
" Iniprovlsatore," 398.
" In Memoriam," 502, 509.
Inchbahi, Mrs., 493.
" Index ExpurgatoriuB," 312.
India. See Himlu.
Indian (American) language, 3.
" Indian Cottage," 285.
Indian, East, languages, 5, 21.
Indians. See American.
IndigPtes, 126, 127.
Indo-European alphabet, 37 ; languages, 3,

5, 6, 20, 39, 09, 349, 408 ; races, 4, 5, 20,

1-23, 352.
" Induction " (Sackville'e), 474.
" Inez de Castro," 339.
" Inferno, Commentary on," 203.
Inflected languages, 3, 4.
lngeniann,397.
" Innocents Abroad," ,520.
Inquisition, 310, 312, 333.
" Instauratio Magna," 476.
"Institutes of the Christian Religion,"

259.
" Institutes of Gains," 139.
" Institutes" (of Justinian), 175.
" Institutes of Oratory," 165.
"Instructions in the Art of Falling

Asleep," 439.
Interludes, 475.

" International Quarterly," 528.
" lMtro<lnction to a Devout Life," 259.
" Introdiu'tion to the Literature of Eu-
rope," 5(H.
Inventions. See Arnbitm Tnrentiont
" Invitation of Lesbia," 234.

546

INDEX.

lona, 86.

loiiiaus, 91.

Ionic alphabet, 2, 3 ; dialect, 69, 89 ; phi-
losophy, 85 ; spirit, 90.

" Iphigeuia," 427, 433.

Iranian languages, 5, 349.

Irish alphabet, 3 ; fiction, 460 ; language,
460 ; history, 460 ; legends, 400 ; litera-
ture, 460, 462 ; poetry, 460.

Irnerius, 175.

Irving, Washington, 520, 521, 526.

" Isabella Orsiui," 235.

Isaeus, 103.

Isaiah, 53.

IsenlanJ, 413.

Ishmael, 179.

Isla, J. F. de, 331.

" Isle of Palms," 500.

Ismail Pacha, 65.

Isocrates, 101, 102.

Isolated languages, 17.

Ispahan, 185.

Itali, 123.

Italian esthetics, 238 ; art, 206 ; criticism,
238; drama, 206, 213, 214, 225, 230, 231,
241 ; education, 220 ; fiction, 215, 234, 235,
241 ; history, 203, 217, 226, 235, 241 ; influ-
ence in Spain, 314 ; language, 124, 178,
194 ; influence of Latin on, 195, 213 ; let-
ters, 226 ; literature, 113, 116,121,193;
in Spain, 309 ; influence of France on,
228 ; music, 225, 228 ; oratory, 220 ; phi-
losophy, 220, 238, 239 ; poetry, 195, 206,
207, 212, 214, 224, 225, 233, 234, 240, 241 ;
politics, 220 ; satire, 215, 225, 234 ; sci-
ences, 219, 220, 239, 241.

" Italian Antiquities," 236.

" Italian Journeys," 520.

»' Italian Literature " (Ginguen^'s), 293.

Italic alphabet, 2, 3 ; languages, 5 ; philo-
sophy, 87.

Italy, 69, 123, 144; Greek literature in,
203.

Izrafel, 182.

Jack the Giant Killer, 393.

Jacob of Edessa, 38.

Jicobi, F. H., 435, 525.

James I., 57, 452.

James, G. P. R., .503.

James, Henry, 511.

Jameson, Mrs. Anna, 505.

Jami, 45, 4<), 348.

J.min, Jules, 293.

Janus, 126.

Japanese alphabet, 15 ; country, 31 ; drama,
17 ; education, 17 ; fiction, 18 ; history,
17 ; language, 15, 16 ; literature, 15, 19,
2.3 ; periodicals, 18 ; poetry, 18 ; religion,
16; science, 18; Sea, 4; theatres, 18;
women, 16, 18.

Japix, Gysbert, 368.

Jvroslav, 3.53, 354.

Jasmin, 291.

Jay, John, 515.

Jayadeva, 23, 27.

Jean Paul. See Bichter.

Jedykiah, 55.

Jefferson, Thomas, 515.

Jeffrey, Lord, 450, 506, 507.

Jehoram, 2.

Jeremiah, .53.

Jerome, Saint, 57, 139, 174-

Jerome of Prague, 360, 361.

Jerrold, Douglas, 503.

"Jerusalem," 482.

"Jerusalem Delivered," 26, 210, 211.

Jesuits, 'S.'A.

Jewett, Sarah Ome, 522.

" Jewish Archaeology," 113.

"Jewish Wars, History of the," 113.

Jews, 5, 58, 311; Alexandrian, 57, 110;

Spanish, 56, 58.
Jimmu, 17.
Jiugu, Empress, 18.
Jins, 182.

"Job, Book of," 54.
" Jocelyn," 290.
Jodelle, S., 260.
Joel, 54.
John II., of Spain, 309.

John of Salisbury, 464.

Johnson, Samuel, 158, 454, 459, 487, 490,

493.
Joinville, Sire de, 256.
Jokai, 348.
Jonah, 54.

Jones, Sir W., 29, 45, 51.
Jonson, Ben, 452, 480.
Jorgeuson, 404.
Jose, Antonio, 343.
Joseph, 63.
Joseph II., 228.

Josephus, Flavius, 56, 110, 113; wntinga,
49, 113.

" Joshua, Book of," 53.

Josika, Baron, 348.

Jotunheim, 386.

Jotuns, 384.

Jouffroy, T. 8., 293.

Jovellanos, Gaspar de, 332.

Judaism, 179.

Judea, 108.

" Judges," 55.

Judith, 53.

" Jugurthine War," 154.

Julia, wife of Antony, 149.

Julian, 115.

"Julian," 501.

"Julie," 282.

Junius, 494.

Juno, 71, 126, 143.

Jupiter, 71, 126, 143.

" Ju.st Medium," 9.

Justin Martyr, 118.

Justinian, 115, 139, 174, 175; code, 175.

Juvenal, 135, 146, 156-168, 171 ; life of, 164.

Juventius, C, 140.

" Kalevai.*.," 345.

Kalidasa, 23, 27, 28.

Kalmucks, 31 ; literature, 23.

Kames, Lord, 494.

Kampen, N. G. van, 380.

Kane, E. K., 520.

Kant, Immanuel, 406, 435, 524, 625.

Kantele, ;U5.

Kantemir, 354.

Kapila, 29.

Karadshitch, V. S., a''>9.

Karamzin, N. M., 355.

Karieff, 359.

Kastner, Abraham, 425.

Keats, John, 499, 500.

Keble, John, 501.

Kellgren, J. H., 399.

INDEX.

547

Keltai, 243.

Kemeuy, Baron, ."US.

Kempi8, TlioiiiaH li, 417.

Kepler, John, aOO, 'MZ, 423.

Kenuaii, 41.

Keruer, 4:51.

Ke»liub Chuuder Sen, 34.

Kexel, 400.

Khedive, G3, G5, CG.

Kheraskof, M., 355.

Khian-luiig, Emperor, 13.

Khondemir, 47.

" Khor and Kalinitch," .357.

" Khosru and Shire»n," 43, 45.

Khukotfski, ;4,jG.

Kielland, 404.

" King Arthur " (Bulwer's), 502-

" King Christian," 390.

" King of the Genu," 230.

" King Hart," 472.

Kings, 394.

" Kings, Book of," 55.

" King's Qnair, The," 471.

Kingsley, Charles, 5(»-_>, 503.

Kipling, Rudyard, 510.

Kleist, Ewald, 425.

Kleist, H. von, 4:J5.

Klinger, F. M. von, 430.

Klopstock, F. G., 425, 426.

Klyn, 380.

" Knickerbocker Gallery," 523.

" Knickerbocker's History of New York,"

.521.
Knight, Pa>'ne, 506.
Knights of the Round Table, 251, 412, 461,

40r> 4l^>0
Knou'es, Riohard, 477.
Knorring, Baroness, 403.
Kochanowski, John, 364.
Kohl, Dr. J. G., 437.
" Kojiki," 17.
Kollar, 356, 363.
Koltsotf, 35(5.
Konarski, Stephen, 365.
Konig, 442.

" Koran," 179, 180, 190.
Korhonen, 346.
Korner, C. T., 431.
KortUra, 444.
Kossuth, 347, 348.
Kotzebue, A. F. F. von, 434.
Kramerius, 362.
Krasicki, I., 3(».
" Kreutzer Sonata, The," 358.
Krishna, JO.
" Kubla Khan," 498.
Kung-f>i-t8^, 9.
Kiitliy, :«8.
Krylof, 1. A., 356.

La Brttterb, Jean db, 266, 273.

Laberius, 141.

'• Labors of Hercules," 309.

" Labyrinth, The," 309.

lAchmann, 445.

Lacordaire, J. B. H., 294.

L:iotantiu8, 174.

" Lndy of the Lake," 497.

Lielius, 140.

L.iet, De. 380.

Lafayette. Mme. de, 261. 266, 272, 274, 275.

La Fontaine, Jean de, 2.53, "266, "269.

Lagrange, Joseph Louis, 228.

Lamartine, A. M. L. de, 289, 290.

Lamb, Charlen, •'>05.

" Lauiberto Malati'Sta," 235.

Lamennais, H. F. K., Abbe de, 290, 293.

" Lament of Isis," 64.

"Lamentations," 53.

I^motte, A. H. de, '277.

Lamp.idio, C. OctaviuB, 140.

"Lancelot," 251.

Lanciani, 241.

" Land of CockajTie," 467.

Landor, Walter Savage, .501, 508, 509.

Laufranc, Archbishop, 464.

Lanfrey, 289.

Lang, Andrew, 508.

Lange, 447.

Langendik, 376.

Langland, Robert, 468.

Languages. See ^olic, Agglutinated, An-
glo-Saxon, Aralnan, Aramaic, Armenian,
Aryan, Asia, Attic, Bashmuric, Basque, .
Bohemian, lirilons, Burmese, Caslilian,
Catalan, Caucasian, Celtic, Chaldaic,
Chinese, Classification, Coptic, Cymric,
Danish, Deri, Doric, Dutch, Egi/ptian,
Emelian, English, Erse, Ethiopian,
Etruscan, Europe, Finnish, Flemish,
French, Frisian, Gaelic, Galician, Ger-
man, Gothic, Grceco-Italic, Greek, Ha-
waiian, Hebrew, Hindu, Hindmtnni,
Hungarian, Iberian, Iceland, Indian
American, Indian East, Indo-European,
Inflected, Ionic, Iranian, Irish, Isolated,
Italian, Italic, Japanese, Karen, /Mppish,
Latin, Lettic, Ligurian, Limousin, iMm-
bard, Maltese, Marches, Memphitic,
Metaphorical, Monosyllabic, Neapolitan,
Neo-Hellenic, Xeo-Latin, Nomadic, Nor-
man-French, Norse, Norwegian, Parsee,
Pehlvi, Pelasgic, Persian, Philosophical,
Phanician, Piedmontese, Polish, Politi-
cal, Portuguese, Prakrit, Provencal, Bab-
binical, Bomaic, Boman, Boman Pro-
vinces, Bomance, Bomance-Wallon , Bo-
manic, Boumanian, Bussian, tiahidic,
Sanskrit, Sazon, Scandinarian, Semitic,
Servian, Sicily, Slaric, Spanish, Sparta,
State, Suabian, Sivedish, Syriac, Tatiar,
Teutonic, . Theban, Turanian, Tnrk-ish,
Tuscan, Umbrians, Venetian, Wallachia,
Welsh, Zendic dialects and languages.

Langue de si, 244.

Langue de ya, "244.

Langue d'oc, 244, 24,''), 291.

Langue d'oui, 244, 250.

Lanier, Sidney, 524.

Lannoy, Baroness de, 378.

" Laodamia," 499.

Lao-ts.s, 9.

Lnppisli language, 4.

Lares, 126.

Larra, Jos.? de, XVi.

Las Casas, Bartolom^ de, 315, 316.

Lasca, 11, 217.

" Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis" 235.

"Last of the Mohicans, The," 521.

Latimer, Hugh. 473.

Latin fiction, 4ri."i ; history, 464 ; influence in
Denmark, 3!i4 ; in Franco, 24:> ; in Ger-
many, 41S, 422 ; in Hinipary, :>4<>, 347 ; in
Italy, 1'.'5; in the Netlierlands, 370; in
Poland, 3rh"> ; in Spain, 2'.'7 ; 1 mgnngo, .">,
57, 1'22-1'2U, 177, 178, 194, ;553, 418, 459,

548

INDEX.

400 ; literature, 370, 457, 461, 4C3 ; philo-
sophy, 4&4; poetry, 129-131. SeelJu/ch,
English, Germtin, Italian, and Roman.

Latiui, Brunetto, 1%.

liatium, 123 ; poetry, 128.

Laube, 432.

"Launcelot," 466.

Laura de Sade, 200.

Lavadan, 294.

Lavinium, 124.

■'Law, The " (Cicero on), 151.

Law of the Language, 347.

"Laws," Plato's, lOG.

" Lay of the Last Minstrel," 497.

Layamon, 467.

" Lazarillo de Tormes," 314, 325.

Le Maltre, 272.

Lear, 464, 465.

"Lear," 479.

Lecky, 508.

" Lectures on Rhetoric and BellesLettres,"
494.

" Lectures on Universal History," 445.

Ledyard, Jolin, 518.

Lee, Nathaniel, 485.

" Legal Antiquities," 444.

"Legend of Good Women," 469.

"Leges Regise," 125, 139.

Legouv^, G. M. J. B., 291.

Leibnitz, Baron, 239, 264.

Leichhardt, 437.

Leighton, Archbishop, 484.

Lelewel, 306.

Lengren, Anna Maria, 400, 401.

Lennep, Jan van, 380.

Leo X., 194, 200, 213, 218.

Leo the Great, 174.

Leon, Luis de, 326, 327.

'* Lgoiiotg " 430

Leopardi, Count, 194, 233, 234, 238.

Leopold, 39i), 4fJ0.

Lepsius, 437, 445.

Lerniontoff, M. T., 350.

"Lesbian Adventure, The," 117.

Lesbos, 79, 80.

Leslie, John, 505.

Lessing, G. E., 406, 420, 432.

Letters. See English, French, and Italian

Lflll'TS.

Letters, their origin, 1.

" Letters " (Luther's), 419.

" Letters" (Walpole's), 494.

"Letters of the British Spy," 518.

" Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu,"

489.
Lettic languages, 5.
Lever, Charles J., 503.
" Leviathan," 477.
" Leviticus," 55.
Lewald, Fanny, 442.
Leyden, 370.
Liaskovski, 3.59.
"Liberty, To." .350.
" Liberty of Unlicensed Printing," 477.
Libraries. See Ahiandria, British Mu-

sejim, and Orford Libraries.
Lichtenstein, 437.
Lidner, 400.
Lie, Jonas, 404.
Liebig, Baron von, 438.
" Life and Voyages of Columbus." 520.
" Life of Estevanillo Gonzalez," 325.
" Life of Frederic the Great," 504.

"Life of Patrick Henry," 518.

" Life of St. Louis," 256.

" Life of Washington " (Irving's), 520 ;
(Marshall's), 516.

"Light of Nature," 494.

" Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life,"
503.

" Lights of Canope," 47.

Ligurian dialect, 194.

Limousin dialect, 298.

Lincoln, Abraham, 520.

" Lines to a Waterfowl," 523.

Lingua prisca, 125.

Linnsus, 372, 403.

Linus, 72.

Lippi, Lawrence, 225.

Lipsius, Justus, 372.

" Literary Scourge," 238.

Literati, 140.

Literature. See Alexandria, American,
Anglo-Saxon, Arabian, Armenian, Ar-
yan, Asia, Athens, Bohemian, Buddhism,
Byzantium, Celtic, Chinese, Coptic, Court
of Literature, Cymric, Danish, Dutch,
Eddaic, Egyptian, English, Etruscan,
Finnish, French, German, Greek, He-
brew, Hindu, Hungarian, Iceland, Irish,
Italian, Japanese, Kalmucks, Latin,
Norman, Norman- French, Norse, Nor-
wegian, Parsee, Pehlvi, Persian, Phoe-
nician, Polish, Poi'tuguese, Provencal,
Pabhinical, Roman, Roumanian, Rus-
sian, Saga, Sanskrit, Saxon, Scaldic,
Scandinavian, Scotch, Servian, Slavic,
Spanish, Sicedish, Syriac, Turkish,
Welsh, Zendic Literature.

" Literature of all Nations," 443.

" Literature of Southern Europe," 293.

" Little Old Woman Cut Shorter," 393.

" Lives of Eminent Generals," 152.

" Lives of Gargantua and Pautagruel,"
258.

" Lives of the Most Celebrated Artists,"
219.

"Lives of the Poets" (Johnson's) 490,
492; (Suetonius'), 164.

" Lives of the Twelve Caesars," IQA.

" Living Temple," 484.

Livingston, William, 510.

Livy, 129, 1.52, 154 ; " Discourses on," 218.

Lobeira, Vasco de, 2.52, 306.

Lobo, Rodriguez, 342.

Locke, Jolin, 239, 204, 453, 484, 494, 524.

Lookliart, John, 503, .506.

Lodbrok, Ragnor, 392, 393.

Logographers, 88.

Lohenstein, Daniel Kaspar Ton., 424.

Loki, 385.

Lokman, 40.

Lollio, 220.

Lombard Cycle, 411.

Lombard dialect, 194.

Lombroso, 241.

Lomonosof, M. V., 354.

London Academy, 220.

London obelisk, 61.

" London Quarterly," 506.

Longfellow, H. W., 524.

Longiniis, 112.

" LongoV>ar(l8 of the First Crusade," 234.

Longueville, Duchess de, 261, 272.

Longua, 117.

Lounrot, Elias, 345.

INDEX.

549

Loosjes, A., 379.

Loou, :wO.

Lord of the isles, 471.

Loreiizi, 'J31.

Lorrig, Guillauine de, 252.

Loti, Pierre, 19, '.'iM. ■

Louis XI., 25G.

Louis XIV., '.'43, 2G5,

" Louise," 430.

Louvre, 2.

Lovelace, Richard, 483.

" Lover's Confession," 4C9.

" Love's Labor 's Lost," 479.

Lowell, J. R., 5J4, 527.

" Loyal Rowins, The," 18.

Liibke, 447.

Lucan, 160, 161 ; life of, IGl.

Lucena, 310.

Lucian, 112.

Lucidor, ;508.

Luciliua, i:J5, 146, 157.

Lucretius, 145, 152.

Lucullus, L., 152.

" Ludwig's Lied," 410.

" Luisa Strozzi," 235.

Luna, 127.

"Lusiad,"26, 3.39-.341.

"Lusiadas, Os," 340.

Luther, Martin, 56, 312, 371, 417-419, 421.

"Lutrin," 270.

Luzan, Ignazio de, 330.

Lybiau Desert, GO.

Lyceum, 107 ; school of the, 111.

Lycophron, 108, 109.

Lycurgus, 103.

Lydgate, John, 470.

" Lyre and Sword," 431.

Lysias, UK), 101.

Lytton, Edward, Lord, ."iOl.

Lytton, Robert, Lord, 300, 510.

Maartbns, Maartbm, 381.

" M;ibinogi," 4t)l.

Mably, Abb^ de, 285.

Macaronic style, 216.

Macaiilay, T. B., 125, 504, 507.

"Macbeth," 479.

Miiccabees, 50.

McClurg, Dr., 515.

McCulloch, J. R., 5a5.

Macdonald, George, 510.

Macedonia, 121.

" McFingal," 516.

Machiavelli, N., 194,212, 214, 216-218, 222,

278.
Manias (the Enamored), 337.
Mackenzie, Henry, 493.
Mackintosh, Sir James, 505, 506.
McLeoil, Fiona, .'JIO.
MacManus, Anna, 510.
Ml- Master, J. B., 520.
Macjiherson, James, 460, 495.
MafTobius, 172.
" Ma<lame Butterfly," 294.
" Madhava and Radha," 27.
Madison, .Tames, 515.
Madras, ,'J3.

Mipcenas, 143, 146. 147.
Maerlaiit, Jacob, 369.
Maffoi, Scipione, 227, 231, 236, 238, 239.
M-igi, religion of, 179.
" Magnalia Clirigti Americana," 511.
Magiiuseu, 398.

Magyars, 346.

" Maliabarit," 47.

" Mahabliarato," 23, 26, ai6.

Mahmud, Shah, 43.

" Maid of Orleans," 420, 434.

Maintenon, Madame de, 267, 275.

Maistre, De, '288.

Malachi, 54.

" Malade Imaginaire," 269.

Malebrauche, N., 266, 273.

Malherbe, Frangois de, 260.

" Malmantile, The," '.'■25.

Malory, Sir Thomas, 470.

Malpighi, Marcellus, '2*22.

Maltese language, 4.

Malthus, Rev. T. R., 505, 506.

Klainelukes, 63.

Maniiani, 240.

•• Man of Feeling," 493.

" Mauavadharmasastra," 24, 31.

Mandeville, Sir John, 466.

Manet ho, 62, 108, 110.

" Manfred," 498.

Manrique, George, 310.

Mantua, Alarquia of, '204.

Manu, '24; Code of, 31.

" Manual of Epictetus," 112.

" Manual of Pomponius," 139.

Manuel, Don .Juan, 301.

Manuel. N., 419.

Manzoni, Count Alessandro, 194, 232, 233,

•J-T).
Marathon, 92.
"Marble Faun, The," 521.
Marcellinus, Amniianus, 172.
Marches, dialects of the, 194.
Marchi, Francesco, 221.
" Marco Visconti," '235.
Marcus Aurelius, 112.
Marcnoo, 'J32.

" Marirherita Pusterla," 235.
Maria Theresa, 227.
Mariana, Juan de, .301, 328.
Marie of France, 465.
" Marie Stuart," 429, 434.
Marini, G., '223,224.
Marini, school of, 194.
Marlowe, Christopher, 4'22, 479.
" .Marniion," 4G5, 497.
Marmontel, J. F., 281, '284.
Marnix, P. van, 369.
Maronites, 38.
Marot, Clement, 258.
" Marpessa," 510.
Marre, De, 376.
" Marriage of Loti, The," 294.
Marryatt, Frederick, 503.
Mars, 71, 126.
Marsli, Mrs., 503.
Marsliall, John, 515.
Mar,sya.s, 73.

Martf Hi, Pietro Qiacomo, 231.
Martial. 159.
Martin, Henri, 289.
" Martin Luther." 431.
Martineau, Miss Harriet, 503.
" Martinus Scriblerus," 488.
Martins, 4.'?7.

" MartjTs " (Chfiteaubriand's), 287.
Marvell, Andrew, 4.S5, 4St;.
Masclieroni, Lorenzo, 2.'i4.
Massillon, J. B., 26G. 271, '276.
Maasiuger, Philip, 452, 481, 487.

650

INDEX.

Maatersingers. See Meistersingers.

Mather, Cotton, 513.

Maturin, Charles R., 501.

Maupassant, 'J.'M.

" Maxims " (Feuelon's), 274.

" Maxims " (Rocliefoucauld's), 272.

" Maxims of the Saints," '211.

Maypole, 3S0.

Mazarin, Cardinal, 2G8.

'• Measure for Measure," 479.

Mecca, 179, 180.

Mechitar, 351.

"Medea," 134.

Media, 39, 40.

Mediseval scripts, 3.

Medici, the, '218.

Medici, Cosmo de', 204, 218, 219.

Medici, Leopold de', 220.

Medici, Lorenzo de', 194, 205, 212.

" Meditations" (B^ranger's), 290.

" Meditations" (Hall's), 470.

Megaric school of philosophy, 105, 111.

'• Meghaduta," 27.

Mehemet Ali, G5.

Meistersingers, 3C9, 405, 415, 416,421, 423.

" Mejnoun," 43, 46.

Melanchthon, Philip, 419.

Melendez, J. A., 331.

"MeUte,"2G3.

" Memoirs " (de Retz's), 274.

" Memoirs of his own Tunes " (Graydon's),
517.

" Memoirs of the Reign of Anne of Aus-
tria," 272.

" Memorable Sayings and Deeds," 1G4.

Memphis, 60.

Memphitic dialect, CO.

Mena, Juan de, 309.

Menage, G., 202.

Menander, 99, 100, 132.

Mencius, 9, 10.

Mendelssohn, Moses, 435.

Mendoza, Diego de, 314.

Menendez y Pelayo, 334.

Meng-t86. See Menciut.

Menzel, C. A., 444.

Menzini, Benedict, 224, 226.

Mf phistoplieles, 428.

" Slerchant of Venice," 465.

Mercury, 71, 126.

" Mercy, To," 492.

Meredith, George, 510.

Meredith, Owen, 510.

Mtirim^e, Prosper, 292.

^ crken, Madame van, 377.

Merlin, 251.

" Merlin," 40G.

" .Vlerope," 2.31.

Mesopotamia, 38.

Mesrob, 350.

" Messenger Cloud," 29.

Messenian war, 77.

Messenius, 398.

" Messiah," 42.5, 426.

" Metamorphoses" (Ovid's), 148, 512.

" Motamorphoses of the Gods," 64.

" Metaraorjjlioses, or the Golden Ass," 173.

Metaphorical languages, 5.

Metastasio, 194, 229.

Meteren, E. van, 373.

" Metrical Tales," 500.

Metz, 58.

Meun, Jean de, 252.

Meurice, 294.

Mexico, picture-veriting, 1.

Mezeray, F. E. de, 273.

Micah, 54.

Michael, 182.

Michael Angelo, 206, 212, 213.

Michael of Kildare, 467.

Michelet, Jules, 289.

Mickiewicz, Adam, 363, 366, 367.

Middle Age, 449 ; philosophy, 151.

Middleton, Thomas, 481.

Midgard, 386.

Midgard Serpent, 385-387.

Miecislav, Duke of Poland, 3C3.

Mignet, 289.

Milan, Duke of, 204.

MiU, James, 505.

Mill, John Stuart, 506, 525.

Milman, Henry Hart, 501.

Milne-Edwards, 294.

Milnes, Monckton, 502.-

Milo, oration in defense of, 150.

Milton, John, 225, 372, 452, 453, 465, 477,

483, 486.
Mimes, 141.
Mimographers, 141.
Minerva, 71, 126.
Mines, 63.

Minnesingers, 405, 412, 415, 431.
Minor prophets, 54.
" Minstrel," 495.
Mir-Ali-Schir, 348.
Mir-Mohammed Taqui, 33.
Miracle plays, 474.
Miranda, Saa de, .328, &38, 342.
Mirandola, Pico della, 200.
Mirgholah, 47.
Mirkhond, 47.

" Mirror of the Heart," 374.
" Mirror for Magistrates," 474.
" Misanthrope, Le," 269.
"Miscellaneous Essays" (Sir William

Temple's), 485.
"Mishna," 57.
Mistland, 386.
Mistral, 291.

Mitchell, Donald G.. 527.
Mitford, Mary Russell, 501, 503.
Mito, Lord of, 17.
Moab, King of, 1.
Moabite inscriptions, 1 ; stone, 1.
Moasi, 44.

Moawyiah, Caliph, 185.
Mochnaclii, M., 366.
Modena, 225.

Mohammed, 180, 183, 187.
Mohammed Akbar, Sultan, 46.
Mohammedan Hindus, 21 .
Mohammedan religion, 46, 179, 180.
Mohan, 65.
Molbech, C, 398.
Moldavia, 307.

Moliere, J. B. P. de, 132, 266, 268, 354.
Molza, Francesco Maria, 212.
Mommsen, 444, 446.
Monasteries. See Armenian.
Mongolia, 31.
Mongols, 40.
Monmouth, Diike of, 487.
Monosyllabic languages, 312.
Monstrelet, E. de, 309.
Montaigne, Michael de, 259,
Montalenibert, Comte de, 293.

INDEX.

551

" Monte Cristo," 292.

Montecucculi, Couut, 222.

Moutemayor, George tie, 117,324,328, 338.

Moiiteuegro, X>'J.

Moiitewjuieu, Baron de, 227, 277.

lloiitgomery, Juiiit-H, 501.

Monti, Viuieuzo, I'JJ, 231, 233, 234, 238,

■Jj'J.
Moutiaiio, Augustiii de, 332.
lloiiuiueuts. See Assi/rian, Babylonian,

L'gyj/littn, and Pluxniciau MonuinenU.
Moore, 4'.I3.

Moore, Thomas, 407, 500, 501.
Muorish b.ilhul.H, 'Mi.
Moore, G7, 17"J, 311 ; schools of, 58. See

Spimisk.
"Moral and Political Philosophy," 4W.
" Moral System of Nasir," 47.
" Moral Tales " (Marmontel's), 284.
Morales, Ambrose de, 328.
Moralities, J.'rl, 424, 474.
Moratiii, L. V. de, ;«2
Moratin, N. F. de, 331, 332.
Moravia, ;i(i0.
More, Hannali, 404.
More, Henry, 453, 476.
More, Sir Thomas, 473.
Morgan, Augustus de, 506.
" Morgante Maggiore," 207.
Morlcy, John, 508.

" Morning and Evening Prayers," 394.
Morocco, 18G.
Morris, Gouvemeur, 515.
•' Mort Artus. The," 400.
" Morte Darthur," 470.
Moschus, 108, 109.
Mosenthal, 8. H., 435.
Moses, 49, 50, 53, 55, 65.
Mosheini, J. L. von, 446.
Motley, J. L., 519.
Mozarabians, 297, 336.
Mudarra, 304.
Miiir, 504.
Mulah, the, 45.
Muller (Danish), 398.
Miiller, John von, 445.
Miiller, K. O., 444, 44S.
Muller, Max, 346.
Mullner, A. G. A., 434.
Miiloch, Miss D. M., .504.
Mundt, Tlieodore, 432.
Munin, 3.'^5.
Muntinghe, 379.
Muratori, Ludovico Antonio, 228, 236, 238,

239.
Murger, Henri. 292, 293.
Murr.-\y, Lindley, 517.
MiisiP\i8, 73, 117.
" Musarinn," 426.
Muses, 73.
Museum. 108.
Music, Etruscan, 129 : French, 268 ; Ore«k,

78 ; Italian, 2'25, 228.
Muspelheiin, 38(>.
Musset, Alfred de, 291.
" My Prisons." 232.
" Mvriad Leaves, Collection of," 18.
Mvr'tis, S3.
Myoteries, 84, 250, 253, 254, 307, 316, 416,

424, 474.
Mv.sticism, Chinese, 14 ; Hindu, 30; Neo-

Pliitonic, 111,
Mystics, 417.

Mythology. See A rabian, Oerman , Greek,
Persian, Roman, and Scandinavian
Mythology.

NAvins, 129, 130, 133, 134.

Nahum, 54.

Nanna, 396.

Naples, 220.

Napoleon, 286, 289.

Nardi, James, 219.

Naruszewicz, A. S., 3C6.

Nascimento, Manuel do, 344.

" Nathan the Wise," 426.

" Nation, Tlie," 5'.'9.

" Natural and General History of the In-
dies," 315.

" Natural History " (Buffon's), 283 ; (PU-
ny's), 1(;9.

" Natural Theology," 494.

Nature, 86.

"Nature of Man," 119.

" Nature of Things, The," 146.

Naul^rt, Benedicte, 441.

Nc-inder, J. A. W., 446.

Neapolitan dialects, 194.

Nebuchadnezzar, 56.

Necker, Jacques, 285.

Necropoles, 01.

Nedhog, 387.

Nefi, 349.

Nehemiah, 56 ; writinga, 49.

Nekrassotf, 357.

Nemesis, 89.

Nemesius, 119.

Neo-Celtic school, 510.

Neo-Hellenic language, 69, 119.

Neo-Latiu languages, 195.

Neo-Platonists, 41, 111, 112, 172.

Nepos, Cornelius, 152.

Neptune, 71, 126.

Neri, the, 197.

Nero, 156, 160, 168.

Neshk letters, 179.

Nestorians, 38.

Netherlands, 368.

"New Atlantis," 477.

" New Doctrine," 369.

" New Testament," 57, 117 ; revised edi-
tion, 59. See Bible.

" New Way to pay Old Debts," 481.

New York obelisk, 61.

Newm.in, John, 513.

Newspapers. See Periodicals.

Newton, Isaac, 264, 453.

Newton, John, 494.

"Nibelungen-lied," 177, 346, 389, 410,413,
415, 420.

Nicholas V., 204.

Nicolai, C. F., 425.

Nicole, 273.

Nicolini, 232.

" Nirolo de Lapi," 235.

Niebulir, B. G., 137, 139, 236, 445, 501.

Niemoewicz, J, U., 363, 366.

Nietzsche, 447.

Nieuwland, P., 378.

Nifelheim, 386, 387.

Nitlunga, 391.

" Nihonghi," 17.

" Nile Notes," 520.

Nitti, 241.

Nixes, 407.

Nizami, 45, 46.

552

INDEX.

Noah, 4.

" Noali's Ark," 402.

Nomadic ianguaRes, 4.

Nominalists, 'J43, 4G8.

Noiiiz, Jan, ,378.

Noiicouforniists, 453.

Nonnus, 110, 117.

Nordeiiflycht, Ciiarlotte, 399.

Norman conquest, 4, 119; literature, 177;
people, 251.

Norman-French language, 244; literature,
457, 465.

Nomor, 387.

Norse alphabet, 380; history, 392; lan-
guage, 387, 388; literature, 388-394; po-
etry, 389; religion, 388; runes, 390;
sagas, 392.

Norsemen, 3.

" North American Review," 528.

North, Christopher. See Wilson, John.

Northmen, 383.

Norton, Mrs., 502.

Norton, Charles Eliot, 527.

Norton, Thomas, 475.

Norwegian drama, 404; fiction, 404; lan-
guage, 387, 388; literature, 404.

Nota, 230.

" Notes on Virginia," 515.

" Notices of Illustrious Grammarians and
Rhetoricians," 164.

" Nouvelle HtSloise," 282.

Novalis, 4:i0, 440.

Novelle, 216.

Novels. See Fiction.

" Novels" (of Justinian), 175.

" Novels and Tales " (Sacchetti's), 203.

" Novum Organum," 477.

" Numbers," 55.

Numenius, 50, 112.

Nunez de Arce, 334.

Obadiah, .54.

Obelislis, 61, 64.

" Oberon," 426.

" Observations on the Sublime and Beau-
tiful," 435.

" Observer," 2.38.

Occam, William, 467, 468.

"Ocean of Love," .33.

" Ocean Navigation and the New World,"
219.

" Oceana," 477.

Octavius, 149.

" Ode on Alexander's Fea.st," 487.

" Ode on Eton College," 492.

" Ode to the Departing Year," 498.

" Ode to Eveniner," 492.

" Ode to God," 35.x

" Odes, Book of," 1,3, 17.

" Odes of Horace," 140, 147.

Odin, 384-387, 389, .390, .392, 407.

" Odin's Raven Song," .390.

" Odyssey," 26, 73, 90, 488, 495.

" (Elipus Tyrannus," 98.

Oehlenschlager, A. G., 396, 397.

Oersted, A. 8., 398.

Oerste.l, H. C, 398.

" Old Age " (Cicero on), 151.

Olil Testament, revised edition, 59. See
liifjle.

Olympus, 70, 71, 84.

Oin, 22.

Omar, Caliph, 184.

Omar Khayydm, 44.

Omrayiades, 185, 187.

" Ou the Advancement of Learning," 476.

"On Angling," 485.

" On Consolation," 168.

" On the Consolations of Philosophy," 173.

" On Invention," 150.

"Ou the Mind," 282.

" On the Origin of Human Knowledge,"
281.

" On the Origin of Language," 426.

"On the Perseverance of Wise Men," 168.

" On Providence," 168.

" On the Reform of the Florentine Govern-
ment," 218.

" On the State," 477.

" On the Sublime and Beautiful," 494.

" On True Christianity," 420.

" One Hundred Persons," 18.

Oordt, Van, 381.

Opitz, Martin, 423, 424.

Ops, 126.

" Orations of Cato," 137.

"Orator, The," 138, 1.50.

" Orator to Marius Brutus, The," 150.

Oratory. See American, Athens, Bohe-
mian, Dutch, English, French, Greek,
Italian, Polish, and Roman Oratory.

"Orestes," 213.

Orgaszo, Madame, 367.

Oriani, Barnaba, 228.

Origen, 119.

" Origin of Species," 509.

" Original Cronykil," 471.

" Origins, The," 137.

" Orlando Furioso," 208, 482.

" Orlando Innamorato," 207.

Ormin, 467.

" Ormulum," 407.

Ormuzd, 41.

"Orphan, The," 485.

" Orphan of China," 13.

" Orphan of the House of Tacho," 13.

Orpheus, 73, 84.

" Orpheus," 206.

Orphic doctrines, 83; poems, 83.

" Orphic Sayings," 526.

Oscans, 123, 124; drama, 128,

Osiris, 63.

Osraanlis. See Turks.
Ossian, 460.
Otfried, 410.

" Othello," 479.

Otis, James, 515, 516.

Otway, Thomas, 485.

Ovid, 134, 145, 146, 148, 512.

Oviedo, Ganzolo de, 315.

Owen, John, 4.53.

" Owl and the Nightingale," 467.

Oxenstjprna, 399, 400.

Oxford library, 42.

Paalzow, AnonsTE von, 441.
Paap, .iSl.
Pacuvius, 133. 1.34.
Padua, 58, 221, 227.
P:eans, 72.
Pagano, Mario, 227.
Paee, Thomas Nelson, 522.
Painting, 144.
" Palace of Honor," 472.
Palacky, Franz, 363.
Palieologi, 116.

INDEX.

553

" Palamedes Unjustly Sacrificed," 375.

Palatine, Mount, 1-4.

Palestine, 38, 50.

Paley, William, 455, 4W.

Pali, 31.

Palladio, Andrea, 2*21.

Palm, Van der, 370.

Palmblad, W. F., 401.

" Pamela," 4'JO.

Pan, 1-27.

" Pandects," 175.

Pandu, '-'7.

Panslavism, 35G.

Pantagruel, 258.

Pantaloon, 214.

Pantomime, 141, 142.

Panurge, 258.

" Paolo and Francesca," 510.

Paper, l'.)!.

Papirlan Code, 139.

Papirius, Sextus, 139, 140.

Papyrus, 30, GO.

Paracelsus. P. A. T., 421.

" Paradise Lost," 225, 426, 452, 4S4.

" Paradise Regained," 483.

Parini, Giuseppe, 194, 228, 233, 234, 238.

Paris, Matthew, 4f4.

Paris Academy, 220.

" Parisina," 498.

Parker, Matthew, 475.

Parker, Theodore, 525.

Parkman, Francis, 520.

Parmenides, 8G.

" Parnasse Contemporain, Le," 291.

Parnassians, Les, 291.

Parnassus, 73.

Parnell, Thomas, 2,53, 4G5.

Parsee language, 39; literature, 40.

Parsees, 41, ;j.")0.

" Parsifal," 412.

Parthia, 39.

Pascal, Blaise, 264, 265, 272.

Pasaeroni, Gian Carlo, 234, 235.

"Passions, The," 492.

Pasteur, 294.

" Pastime of Pleasure," 470.

" Pastor FIdo," 117, 215.

Patanjali, :!0.

Pater, Walter, 508.

Paterculus, C. V., 1G2.

Patriarchal system, 15.

Patrizi, Francesco, 222.

Patroclus, 74.

Patru, Olivier, 206, 272.

" Paul and Virginia," 285.

Paulina (wife of Seneca), 1C8.

Pausani.is, 114.

Pavia, 221 ; museum of, 234.

Pearson, Bishop, 484.

Pehlvi, 39, 40 : alphabet, 39 ; language, 39;

literature, 40.
Pelasgians, 123, 124, 126.
Pelasgic languages, 5.
Pelayo, 305.
Pellico, Silvio, 2.32, 233.
Pellisson, 2Gf), 272.
Peloponnesus, 69.
Penates, 126.

" Pens^ea de la Religion," 265.
" Penseroso, D," 483.
Pentateuch. 49.
" Pentaur, Epic of." 65.
" Pepita Jimenez," 334.

Percy, Tliomas, 472, 493, 495.

Pergamos, 108.

Periander, 85.

Pericles, 80, 91, 100, 101, 104.

" Pericles, I'rince of Tyre," 465.

Periodicals. %ee: American, Armenian, Bo-
hemian, Dulcfi, Effyptian, Engtixh, Fin-
nish, Greek, Jajjaiie.te, Polish, liouiim-
nian, Sweilixh, and Turkish Periodicals.

Peripatetics, 107, 111, 150.

Peris, 182.

Perses, 76.

Persian alphabet, 179 ; conquests, 63 ; edu-
cation, 48 ; fiction, 18 ; history, 47 ; lan-
guage, 39, 48, 179, 349 ; Uterature,41, 67,
349 ; mythology, 180 ; people, 5, 20, 91 ;
philosophy, 47 ; poetry, 42, 43 ; religion,
40,111; science, 47. Bee Sujis.

" Persian Letters," 277.

Persius, 135, 146, 157, 158, 171 ; life of,
164.

Perticari, 238.

Pessimists, 436.

Peter of Blois, 464.

Peter the Great, 354.

"Peter Schlemihl," 441.

Petofi, 348.

Petrarch, 194, 195, 199, 212, 215.

Pfeiffer, Ida, 437.

Plui'drus, 156, 157.

Phaon, 80.

Pharaoh, 63.

" Phars-ilia," 161.

Philetas, 108.

" Philip van Artevelde," 602.

Philip of Macedon, 103, 106.

Philippics, 103, 149, 150.

Phillips, St«phen, 510.

Phillips, Wendell, 5'20.

Philo, 37, 49,56.

PhiIo-Jud*u8, 112.

Pliilosophical languages, 5.

Philosophy. See Alexandria, Amrricnn,
Arabian, Athens, Chinese, Cynic, Dialec-
tic, Dutch, Egyptian, Eleatic, English,
Epicurus, Essenes, Eiperirnce, French,
German, Gnostics, Greek, Hebrew. Hindu,
Jonic, Italian, Italic, Latin, Megiiric,
Middle Ages, Xeo-Platonisls, Pcripntrt-
ics, Persian , Pessimists, Platonic .School,
Polish, Pythagorean, Peatism, Peali.':ts,
Roman, Sanskrit, Socratir, Sophists,
Stoics, and Tran-u-endentat Philosophy.

" Philosophy of Experience," 525.

" Philosophy of History," 443.

" Pliilosophy of Identity," 4;S5.

" Philosophy of Language," 4;>4.

"Philosophy of Rhetoric," 4m.

" Pliilosophy of the Unconscious," 437.

Phoenician alphabet, 1, 2,5, 15,37; country,
5 ; history, 37 ; language, 4, 37, 50, 298 ;

f literature, 37 ; monuments, 37 ; people,

Phosphoric school, 401.

" Phosphorus, The," 401.

Phrynichus, 91, 95.

" Ilcciola," 293.

Pichler, Caroline, 441.

Picture-writing, S.

" Picturesque Views of the Cordilleras,"

437.
Piedmontese dialect, IW.
Pignotti, Lorenzo, 235.

554

INDEX.

Pike, Zebulon, 518.

" Pilgrim's ProgresB," 469, 484.
Pindar, 2, 77, 79, 81-84.
Pindemonte, Count, 'i}3. 234.

Pinkney, Lieutenant, 518.

Pinkney, William, 515.

"Pioneers, Tiie," 521.

" Pirates on the Coast of Kiangnan, Sto-
ries of," 14.

Pisa, 221, 227.

Pisistratids, 90, 91.

Pisistratus, 75, 95.

Pissemski, 357.

Pitt the elder, 493.

Pitt the younger, 493.

Pittacus, 85.

" Pity, To," 492.

Pio Clementine Museum, 227.

Pius II., 204.

Pius VI., 227.

'• Place of the World," 170.

Plato, 56, 68, 87, 100, 101, 104, 105, 107, 150,
173,201,205,222,437.

Platonic Academy, 99, 206.

Platonic school. 111.

Plautus, 120, 131, 207.

Playfair, Sir John, 505, 506.

" Pleasures of Hope," 496.

" Pleasures of the Imagination " (Addi-
son's), 489.

" Pleasures of Imagination " (Akenside's),
491.

Pleiades, Arabian, 183.

Pliny the elder, 169, 171.

Pliny the younger, 162, 165, 169, 171 ; let-
ters of, 165 ; on Christianity, 1G5-167.

Plotinus, 112, 116.

Ploug, 398.

" PluraUty of Worlds," 277.

Plutarch, 114.

Pluto. 120.

Poe, Edgar A., .521-.523, 527.

" Poems to Nanna," 396.

" Poetical Reason, The," 238.

Poetry. See Alerandria, American, Anglo-
Sdjron, Arahifin, Assyrian, Augustan,
Babylonian, Bohemian, Bolivia, Byzan-
tium, Cfl/ic, Chinese, Cynic Poets, Cym-
ric, Danish, Doric, Dutch, Egyptian,
English, Etruscan, Finnish, French,
German, Greek. Hebrerv, Hindu, Hun-
garian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Latin,
Latium, Norse, Orphic, Persian, Polish,
Portug'tese, Proven<;al, Roman, Rouma-
nian, Russian, Sanskrit, Scandinavian,
Scotch, Servian, Sicily. Spanish. Suahian,
Swedish, Turkish, Tuscan, and Welsh
Poetry.

" Poetry and Truth," 427.

Pole, Cardinal, 473.

Polenta, Guide di, 197.

Policinella, 128.

Polish drama, 306 ; education, 364, 365 ;
fiction, :«W, 367 ; history, 364-306 ; lan-
guage. :553, 363 ; literature, 36.3-:5C7 ; ora-
tory, 365; periodicals, 305; philosophy,
366 ; poetry, 364, 306, 367 ; science, 3G5.

Political languages, 4.

Politics. See American andltalian Politics,
Nihilitm and Panslavism.

Poliziano, Angelo, 206, 212.

Pi.Uio, Asinius, 134.
Pollok, Robert, 501.

Pollux, 127.
Poly bins, 113.
Polycarp, 118.

" Polyeucte," 263.

" Poly-Olbion," 405, 483.

Pompey, 149, 154, 155 ; paneg3rric on, 150.

Pomponius, 139.

PomponiuB Mela, 170.

Poot, 376.

Pope, Alexander, 454, 487, 488.

Poppig, 437.

" Popular Science Monthly," 528.

Porphyry, 112.

Porrex, 465.

Port Royal, Abbey of, 265.

Porta, Luigi da, 216.

Porter, Jane, 502.

Portuguese drama, 341 ; education, 343 ;
history, 342 ; language, 178, 298, 334 ;
literature, 335, 344 ; English influence on,
344; French influence on, 343,344; Ital-
ian influence on, 338 ; poetry, 336-339,
343.

Poseidon, 70, 71.

" Position of Egypt in the History of the
World," 438.

" Positive Philosophy," 293.

Potocki, Count I., 306.

Potocki, Count J., 366.

" Power Men," 434.

Prakrit, 20, 28, 31.

Prati, 240.

" Pravda Russkaya," 353.

" Pr^cieuses Ridicules," 268.

Pre-Raphaelite school, 509.

Prescott, W. H., 519.

Provost, 294.

" Primitive Legislation," 287.

" Prince, The," 222.

Printing, invention of, 11, 370,417, 449; in
England, 471 ; in Turkey, 349.

" Prisoner of Chillon," 498.

" Prithivi Raja, Adventures of," 32.

Procter, Bryan Waller, 501.

Proemia, 75.

" Progress of Dullness," 516.

" Prometheus," 97.

" Prometheus Unbound," 500.

Propertius, 147.

" Prophetic Almanac," 420.

" Prophets, Tlie," 49.

Proscenium, 97.

Proserpine, 71.

Protectorate, 452, 453, 484.

Proven<^l language, 178, 244, 245, 250, 298,
301); literature, 308, 336; poetry, 125, 201,
293.

Provence, 242-2.50, 291, 298.

Proverbs, 54, 329.

Provincia. See Provence.

" Provincial Letters," 265.

Prudentius. A. C, 172.

Prvor, Matthew, 486.

" Psalms of David," 49, 53.

" P.salter of Casliel," 460.

Ptolemies, 01, 03, 05.

Ptolemy of Alexandria, 114, 116.

Ptolemy Epiphanes, 02.

Ptolemy Euergetes, 108.

Ptolemy Philadelphus, 65, 108.

Ptolemy Soter, 107, 110.

PubliuB Syrus, 142.
Puffendorf, Baron von, 423.

INDEX.

665

Pujol, 334. I

Pulci, Luigi, 207. '

Pulgar, Hernando del, 305, .310.
Punic war, tirat, 12-2, 129, IM ; second, 136,

161.
"Punica," 101.
" Purauas," 24.
Puritans, 45ii, 513.
Pushkin, A. S., 356.
" Puss in Boots," 217.
Pypine, 309.
Pyramids, t'>4.
I^rrhon, 111.
Pythagoras, 84, R7.
Pythagorean philosophy, 84, 85, 87 ; schools,

56, 99, 105.

QuARLES, Francis, 483.
Quatrefages, 294.
•' Quest of the Saint Graal," 466.
Quevedo, Francisco de, 326, 327.
Quinault, Philippe, 206.
Quiucy, Josiah, 516.
Quinet, Edgar, 289.
Quintana, Manuel, 332.
Quiutilian, 82, 149, 152, 1G4, 171.
Quirinal, 124.
Quirinus, 127.

RABBnncAL literature, 49, 57 ; language, 5.

Rabbinitea, 58.

Rabbins, 57, 58.

Rabelais, Francis, 258.

Rabener, 425.

Racine, Jean, 160, 263, 266, 267.

Radcliffe, Mrs., 493.

Rafn, 398.

Ragnarok, 3S7.

Rahbek, K. L., 396.

Rahel, 441.

Rai Sanyo, 17.

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 477.

Ralli, the, 119.

*' Ralph Roister Doister," 475.

Rama, 26.

Ramadan, 180.

" Ramayana," 23, 26, 33.

"Rambler," 490.

Rambouillet, Madame de, 261.

R.tmeses, 2, 61, 64, t>5.

Ramler, Karl Wilhelm, 425.

Rammohun Roy, 34.

Ramsay, Allan, 117, 491.

Ramsay, David, 517.

Randolph, John, 520.

Rangab^, Alexander, 120.

Ranke, 44G.

Raoul. See Holla.

" Rape of the Bucket," 225.

" Rape of the Lock," 488.

" Rape of Proserpine," 171.

Rask, R. C, 368, 398.

" Rasselas," 490.

Ran, H., 442.

Raumtr, F. L. G. von, 446.

Raupach, E. B. S., 4:55.

R.ivana, 20.

R.-iynal, AbUS 281, 284, 285.

Reade, Charles, 504.

Realism, 358.

ReAlista, 243, 468.

" Recessional, The," 510.

" R^cit dune Soeur," 293.

" Red Cotton Night-cap Country," 509.

Red Cross Knight, 482.

Redi, Francesco, 2-22, 224, 227.

Redondillas, 303.

Reformation, 2.".7, 312, 449, 451, 457, 472.

" Regeneration of Italy," 240.

Reid, Thomas, 239, 4r>5, 494.

" Reign of Charles V.," 492.

" Reigning Dynasty, History of," 47.

Reimarus, 44(1.

Reinliard, F. V., 446.

Reinhold, C. L.,435.

Religion. See Alexandria, Anglo-Saxon,
ArahUm, Armenian, Bible, Bramo-Ho-
maj. Buddhism, Chinese, Christianilij,
Egyptian, Etruscan, French, Greek, Hr-
brew, Hindu, Japanese, Magi, Moham-
medan, Nonconformists, Norse, Persian,
Puritans, Reformation, Roman, Sabeisiii,
Shintoism, Slavic, Theology, and Zendio
Religions.

"Relitiues of Ancient English Poetry,"
472, 493, 495.

Rellstab, 442.

" Remorse," 498.

R^my, Saint, 242.

Renaissance, 243, 257.

Renan, 293.

"Reuard," 253.

Reunio, 10.

Renouard, A. A., 293.

" Republic, The " (Cicero's), 151 ; (Plato's),
106.

Restoration, 453, 4,57, 484.

" Resurrection," 358.

Retz, Cardinal de, 206, 274.

" Revenge," 487.

" Reveries of a Bachelor," 527.

" Review of Reviews," 529.

" Revolt of Islam," 500.

Revolution, English, 453, 457, 484.

Rey of Naglowic, :M>3, ^CA.

" Reynard the Fox," 369, 416.

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 494.

"Rhadamiste," 208.

Rhapsodists, 73.

Rhea, 127.

" Rhetoric " (Cavalcanti's), 220; (Hilton's),
473.

Ribe>TO, Bernardin, 337.

Ricardo, D., 505.

" Ricciarda," 232.

" Ricciardotto," 2*1.

Richard Cceur de Lion, 248.

Ricliardson, Samuel, 454, 490.

Richelieu, Cardinal, 244, 262.

Richter, Jean Paul, 427, 439.

" Ridicule of the Gods," 225.

Ridley, Nicholas, 473.

" Rig- Veda," 24.

" Rights of Nations," 240.

" Rig's Song," 389.

Rimini, Francesca da, 197, 198.

Rinaldo, 20'.».

Hinuccini, Octavius, 228.

Riplev. George, 525.

" Riseidc," 2;H.

" Rites, Book of," 13.

Ritter. Carl, 445.

" Ritusanham," 27.

" River Y," .37.5.

" Robl>er«, The," 42.'?, 4.33.

Robert, Christopher, 351.

556

INDEX.

Robert of Gloucester, 467.

Robert!, Count, liSo.

RobertBon, William, 455, 492.

" Robin and Makyue," 472.

" Robin Hood," 470.

" Robinson Crusoe," 423, 488.

Robinson, Mrs. See Talvi.

Rochefoucauld, Duke de, 266, 272.

Rod, 294.

Rod eric, Don, 306.

Roderic, King, 30<j.

"Roderic, the Last of the Goths," 306,
4'J7.

Rodrigo Diaz, 299. See Rodriguez.

Rodriguez (the Cid), 248. See Rodrigo
Diaz.

Rogers, Samuel, 501.

" Rokeby," 4'J7.

" Rolf Krage," 395.

Rollin, Charles, 273.

RoUo the Dane, 250.

Romagnosi, Giovanni Domenico, 239.

Romaic alphabet, 3 ; language, 69.

Roman alphabet, 3, 345, 353, 409 ; charac-
ter, 134 ; conquests, 63, 65 ; drama, 129,
i:iO, i:«, 141, 142, 159 ; fiction, 156 ;
games, 134 ; history, 128, 135, 152, 1G4,

171, 172; history compared with Greek,
152 ; jurisprudence, 139, 174, 175, 193,
195 ; language, 125 ; literature, 68, 116,
121-176 ; literature compared with Arab,
184 ; mythology, 126, 127, 1.33 ; oratory,
113, 135, 148, 164, 172 ; people, 20, 124,
220, 221, 227 ; philosophy, 148, 150, 167,

172, 173 ; poetry, 108, 127, 128, 142, 144,
146, 147, 160, 171; religion, 71, 126, 127,
134 ; satire, 128, 135, 157 ; sciences, 113,
155, 164, 167, 172. See Latin and Rome.

" Roman Archaeology," 113.

" Roman History," TjM,.

" Roman Nights," 235.

Roman Provinces, dialects of, 194.

Romance languages, 178, 243,251,298,299,

3:i5, 307.
" Romance of the Rose," 252, 469.
*' Romance of Setna," 64.
Romance-Wallon, 244, 250.
Romanic languages, 178, 195.
Romans- Provengaux, 244.
Romantic school, 430, 434.
Rome, Greek literature in, 113, 121, 129,

171.
" Romeo and Juliet," 216, 479.
Romulus, VJl .
Roncesvalles, 303, 305.
Ronsard, P. de, 260.
Rosa, Salvator, 224, 226.
" Rosamunda," 213.
RoRcellinus, 243.
Roscius, 141.
Roscommon, Lord, 486.
Rosetta Stone, 62.
Rosini, 235.
Rosmini, Serbati, 240.
Rossetti, Christina, .509.
RoKsetti, Dante Gabriel, 509.
Rossi, Gherardo de', 230.
Rossi, Giovanni ISattista de, 241.
Rostand, 294.
Roswitha, 410.
Roteana, 375.

Rotteck, C. W. R. von, 445.
Roumanian history, 3C7 ; language, 367 ;

literature, 367 ; periodicals, 367 ; poetry,
367 ; science, 367 ; theology, 367.

Roumi, 45.

Round Table, 251, 412, 461, 466, 466.

Roundelays, 303.

Rousseau, Jean Baptiste, 276.

Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 282.

Rovaui, 235.

Rowe, Nicholas, 481.

Royal Academy of London, 220.

Royer-CoUard, 287, 293.

Rucellia, Giovanni, 213, 215.

Ruckert, 432.

Rudel, Geoffrey, 248.

"Rudens," 132.

Rueda, Lope de, 317.

Ruge, 436.

Rugler, 447.

Ruhnkenius, 372.

Ruiz, Juan, 301.

Rumford, Count, 518.

"Rune Song," 389, 390.

Runeberg, J. L., 402.

Runes, 387, 389.

Runic alphabet, 3, 387, 409.

Rush, Dr., 517.

Raskin, John, 505, 508.

Russian drama, 354-356 ; education, 354,

355 ; fiction, 356 ; history, 356 ; language,
353 ; literature, 23, 354-359 ; poetry, 354,

356 ; science, 359.
"Ruth," 54.
Rutledge, 515, 516.
Rybinski, 364.

Saad-El-Din, 349.

Sabeism, 179.

Sabelians, 123.

Sabines, 123, 124.

Sacchetti, Franco, 203.

Sachs, Hans, 416, 420.

Sackville, Thomas, 465, 474, 475.

" SacramenUl Acts," 318, 320.

" Sacred History," 172.

Bade, Laura de, 200.

Sadi 4.5.

Saga' literature, 389, 392, 393.

Sagamen, 390, 391, 393.

Sagas, 177, 392, 461, 462.

Sage, A. R. le, 277, 314, 325.

Sahidic dialect, 60.

St. Aldegonde, Mamix de, 373.

" Saint Graal, The," 466.

St. Pierre, Bemardin de, 285.

Saint R6my, 242.

St. Simon, Duke de, 266, 274.

Sainte-Beuve, 293, 507.

Saintine, 293.

" Saint's Everlasting Rest," 476.

Saintsbury, Professor, 508.

" Sakuntala," 29.

Sakya, Saint, 30.

Sakyamuni, 30.

Salamanca, school of, 331.

Salamis, 91.

Saldana, Count de, 303.

Salerno, 193.

Bales, St. Francis de, 259.

Salin hymn, 125.

Sallust, 152-154.

SalmasiuB, Claudius, 372.

Salviati, Leonardo, 214, 219.

" Sama-Veda," 24.

INDEX.

557

Samarcand, 185.

buiuuritau writing, 1.

SaiuHon, 55.

'• Samuel, Book of," 55.

Sauiuud the Wise, aSU, 390.

Ban Graal, 412.

" Sau Graal," 251, 46C.

Saiiclio, 324.

isaiichuiiiathon, 37.

Sanctis, L)e, 241.

Band, George, 202.

S.md, George (assafsiu), 434.

Sandeaii, Jules, 292.

Sandoval, Fray Prudencio de, 329.

Sandys, George, 512.

Sang Real, 412, 400.

Sanliedrini, 108.

Sanuazzaro, Jacopo, 214.

Sanskrit education, 'Xi ; history, 20 ; lan-
guage, 20, 28, 30, 352 ; literature, 'lO-M,
47 ; philosophy, 20 ; poetry, 24 ; scieuce,
20.

Santillana, Marquis of, 309.

Santob, Rabbi, 30-2.

Santsos, Alexander, 120.

Santsos, Panagiotis, 120.

Sapplin, 72, .SO.

"Sappho " (Grillparzer's), 434.

Saracens, 03, 05, 115, 180, 184, 211.

Sarcey, 203.

Bardanapalus, 3G.

Sardou, Victorien, 291, 294.

Sargon, 30.

Sarpi, Paul, 226.

S.^.'^8anide8, 39, 40, 44.

Satire, 129. See Egyptian, Frfnrh, Ger-
man, Iliilian, Roman, Servian, Spanish,
and Turkish Satire.

" Satires of Horace," 146.

Satura, 120.

" Saturday Review," 508.

Satuni, 120.

Saturnian Verse, 125.

Sauday. 33.

"Saul," 231.

Saurin, James, 272.

Savonarola, Jerome, 220.

"Savoyard Vicar's Confession of Faith,"
283.

" Saxon Chronicle," 463, 467.

S.ixon ICnglish, 467.

Saxon Language, 408, 467 ; literature, 467.

Saxonic school, 424, 425.

SonpvoliP, the, 140.

Scaldic literature. 389.

ScaMs, 177, 388-.301,393.

Soaliger, J. C, 372.

Sciliger, J. J., 372.

Scaniozzi, Vinceuzio, 222.

Scandinavian language, .387 ; literature,
382-404 ; mythology, ;J84 ; people, 3 ; po-
etiT, 177. See Dnnish, Icelandic, .\orse,
yorweuian, and Sueilifh Langxwge, etc.

" Scarlet" Letter, The," 521.

Scarron, Madame, 275.

Scarron, Paul, 201.

Rrene, 07.

Schaffarik, P. J., 363.

Scheele, C. W., 403.

Sohelling, F. W. J., 4^"), 436, 52.").

Schiller, J. C. F., 406, 427-129, 433, 434,
442.

Scblagintweit, Adolf, 437.

Schlagintweit, Herman, 437.

Schlegel, 27.

Schlegel, Augustus von, 430, 431, 443.

Schlegel, Friedrich von, 430, 431,443.

Schlegel, Jolui Elias, 425.

Schleierniacher, F. B. E., 446.

Schlosaer, F. C, 445, 440.

Schopenhauer, Arthur, 436, 437.

Schoppe, Amalie, 441.

Schoppeuhauer, Johanna, 441.

Schubart, C. F. D., 430.

Schucking, 442.

Schwab, GuBtav, 431.

Science. See AUxandria, Arabian, As-
syrian, Babylonian, Chaldean, Chinese,
Danish, Dutch, Egyptian, English,
Etruscan, Finnish, Greek, Hindu, Hal'
iiin, Japanese, Persian, Polish, Roman,
Roumanian, Russian, Hanskril, and
Turkish Science.

" Science," 528.

" Scientific American," 528.

"Scienza Nuova," 139, 236.

Scipio Africanus Major, 130, 138.

Scipio Africanus Minor, 138.

Scipio, Lucius, 125.

Scolia, 81.

" Schoolmaster, The," 473.

Scotch literature, 460, 471 ; poetry, 471 ;
theology, 471. See English Literature.

Scott, Michael. 464, 471.

Scott, Sir Walter, 256, 456, 465, 471, 496-
498, MG.

Scotus, Johannes Duns, 464, 468.

Scribe, A. E., 201.

" Scribner's Magazine," 529.

Scripts. See Alphabets.

Scud^ry, G. de, 202.

ScudtJry, Mademoiselle de, 261, 262, 274.

" Seasons, The " (Barbieri's), 234 ; (Thom-
son's), 145, 491.

Secontismo, 2*23.

Segni, Bernardo, 219.

Segura, Juan Lorenzo, 301.

Selden, John, 452, 477.

Selecti, 126.

Semitic alphabet, 35, 37 ; languages, 3, 5, 6,
38, 50, 170 ; races, 4, 6.

Semones, 126, 1'27.

Seneca, 133, 100, 168.

Seneca, the elder, 164.

" Septuagint," 49, 56, 108, 110, 117. See
Bible.

"Sepulchres" (Foecolo's), 233; (Pinde-
monte's), 233.

Serao, Matilda, 241.

Sermons (Fenelon's), 274.

Servian alphabet, 358 ; drama, 360 ; fiction,
,'160 ; language, 35:?, 358, 355) ; literature,
:V)8, 300 ; poetry, 359, 360 ; satire, 300.

" Seven Brothers," 40.

Seven Lords of Lara, 301.

" Seven Parts. The," 300.

Seven Sages, 85, 88.

" Seven Stars of the Bear," 46.

St^vigne, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Mar-
quise de, 201, 200, 272, '275.

Shadwell, Thomas, 48,"..

Shaftesbury, First Earl of, 4.'!7.

Shnftesbvirv, Third Earl of, 488.

Shah Jehan, 42.

" Shah Namah," 43, U, 346.

558

INDEX.

Shakspeare, 132, 183, 216, 217, 238, 301,
451, 452, 405, 467, 478, 479.

Sheaha, 183.

Sheeraen, 395.

Shelley, Mrs. M. W., 503.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 499, 500.

Shem, 4.

Shenstone, William, 491.

Shepherd Kings, 63.

Sheridan, R. B., 493, 495.

Shinran, 16.

Shintoism, 16, 17.

" Ship of Fools," 416.

" Shipwreck," 491.

Shirley, James, 452, 481.

" Short Account of the Ruin of the Indies,"
315.

Sicily, 69, 121, 1'23, 241 ; dialecta, 194 ;
poetry, 201.

Sidney, Sir Philip, 451, 470, 477.

Sidonian inscriptions, 1, 2.

Siebold, P. F. von, 437.

Siefert, Louise, 291.

" Siege of Florence," 235.

Siegfried, 393, 413, 414.

Siena, 221, 227.

Sienkiewicz, 367.

" Siete Partidas, Las," 300.

"Sighs," 394.

Sigurd, 391, 393.

Sikeli, 123.

Silesian schools, 423, 424.

Silius Italicus, 161.

" Silkworm, The," 234.

Sill, E. R.,524.

Si loam. Pool of, 2.

Silver Age, 123, 160.

" Silviae," 161.

Simeon of Polotzk, 354.

Simonides, 77, 81-83, 90.

" Simplicity, To," 492.

" Sir Charles Grandison," 490.

" Sir Tliaddeus," 367.

Sirius, 40. •

Sirventes, 246, 247.

Sismondi, J. C. L. S. de, 288, 289, 293.

Bisters of War, 386.

Siva, 21.

" Six Years of Exile," 286.

Skabitchevski, 3.59.

Skelton, John, 474.

" Sketch-Book, The," 521.

Skulda, 386.

Slavic alphabet, 3, 354 ; languages, 5, 352,
sm, 3(32, 367 ; literatures, ,3.'')2-367 ; race,
3.02 ; religion, 352. See Bohemian, Pol-
ish, Roumanian, Russian, and Servian,

Sleipner, 390.

Slovaks, 3G0.

Smith, Adam, 455, 494.

Smith, Charlotte, 493.

Smith, F. Hopkinson, 522.

Smith, Sydney, 506.

Smits, 377.

Smollett, Tobias, 454, 490.

Smyrna, 73.

Sueedorf, 395.

" Social Contract," 282.

Socrates, 10, 100, 104, 195, 107.

Socratic schools. 111.

SoStla, Caroline, 363.

" Sofonisba," 213.

Sol, 127.

Solis, Antonio de, 329.

Solomon, 49, 60, 64, 66.

Solon, 75, 77, 81, 85, 90.

" Song of the Bell," 429.

" Song of the Prophetess," 389.

"Song of Solomon," 54.

•' Song of Voland," 391.

" Song of the Way-Tamer," 390.

" Sonnets on the Crimea," 367.

Sophists, 101.

Sophocles, 68, 97, 98.

" Sordello," 509.

Sordello of Mantua, 248.

" Sorrows of Werther," 427.

South, Robert, 484.

Southerne, Thomas, 485.

Southey, Robert, 306, 496.

Souza, 343.

Spallanzani, Lazarus, 228.

Spanheims, 372.

Spanish Arabians, 186, 295, 296, 299 ; autos,
319, 341 ; Cancioneros, 312 ; criticism,
334; dancing, 321 ; drama, 296, 303, 306-
308, 313, 316, 332 ; fiction, 302, 306, 314,
322, a'M ; history, 302, 305, 315, 328, 334 ;
inquisition, 310, 312, 330 ; Jews, 56, 58 ;
language, 4, 178, 297 ; literature, 295-334;
Arabic iuHuence, 298 ; French influence,
330 ; Italian influence, 309, 314 ; Moors,
295, 296, 299 ; people, 20 ; poetry, 29G,
302, 303, 306, 309, 313, 314, 325, 331 ; pro-
verbs, 329; satire, 327; theatres, 321, 332.
See Arabian and Provencal.

Sparta, 77, 78, 90 ; dialect of, 82.

"Spectator" (Addison's), 238,489.

" Spectator " (Van EEfen's), 377.

" Spectator," the London, 608.

Spegel, 398.

Spencer, Herbert, 508, 525.

Spenser, Edmund, 183, 450-452, 481.

Speroni, Sperone, 213, 220, 222.

Sphinx, 61.

Spiegel, Van de, 378.

Spieghel, Henry, 369, 373.

Spielhagen, 404.

" Spindle, The," 81.

Spindler, Charles, 442.

Spinoza, B., 373, 437.

"Spirit of Laws," 278.

Spolverini, 234.

" Sportsman's Sketches, A," 357.

Sprekers, 369.

" Spring and Autumn Annals," 8, 9.

" Spy, The," 521.

Stael, Madame de, 286.

Stagnelius, E. J., 402.

Stagyrite. See Arinsto.

" Stanzas written in Dejection near Na-
ples," 500.

Star-worship, 179.

State langiiages, 4.

Statins, 131, 132, 101.

" Statute of Wislica," 364.

" Statutes of the Reigning Dynasty," 12.

Stedman, E. C, .509, 624.

Steele, Richard, 489.

Stendhal, 293.

Stephen, Leslie, 508.

Sterne, Laurence, 454, 491.

Sternhold, Thomas, 474.

Stesichorus, 81, 82.

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 511.

Stewart, Dugald, 239, 505, 500.

INDEX.

^59

Stilicho, 171.
Stilliiigtieet, Bishop, 484.

Stjenihjelin, George, 308.

Stockton, F. R., 522.

Stoddard, Elizabeth, 522.

Stoddard, R. H., ,724.

Stoics, 111, 112. 151, 157, ICO, 167.

Stoke, Melis, aO'.l.

" Stolberj,;, Christian." 130.

"Stolberg, Leopold," 430.

Stoich, H. K. von, 442.

" Storm and Stress," 430.

Stowe, H. B., 522.

Strabo, 114.

Strapparola, 217.

Stratico, Count Simone, 227.

Strauss, 43U.

Stuart, 379.

Stuart, Ruth McEnery, 522.

Stub, 395.

Sturleson, Snorre, 389, 391, 392.

Styl, 378.

Suabiau d'alect;411 ; minstrels, 411 ; poetry,
411; school, 431.

" Subjection of Women," 509.

"Sublime, The," 112.

Suckling, Sir John, 483.

Sudermann, 447.

Sue, Eugtoe, 292.

Suetonius, 129, 1C4.

Sufis, 42, 45, m.

Suja, 42.

Sully, Duke of, 273.

Sulpicius, Severus, 172.

Sumarokof, 355.

"Summary View of the Rights of British
America," 513.

Suiuner, Charles, 520.

Sun Song, .390.

Sunnees, 183.

Surrey, Earl of, 474.

Swedenborg, Emanuel, 403.

Swedish drama, 398 ; fiction, 403 ; language,
387, 388 ; literature, 398-102 ; French in-
fluence on, 399 ; periodicals, 399 ; poetry,
398.

Swift, Dean, 487-489.

Swinburne, AlRemon Cliarles, 508, 509.

Swiss si'liool, 424.

Switzerland, 383.

Sylla, 129.

Sylvanus, 126.

Symmachus, J. A., 172, 195.

Symposia, 76.

SjTjesiuB, 119.

Syriac alphabet, 179 ; language, 38, 66 ; lit-
erature, 3.S.

SziKligeti, 348.

Szyraonowicz, Simon, 364.

Table Talk 419.

Tacitus, 152, 156, 158. 160, 162, 163, 171,

384, 407.
Taine, Hippol>-te, 289, 293.
" Tale of a Tub." 488.
" Tale of Two Brothers," 04.
"Tales" (Pichler's), 441.
"Tales of Youth," 461.
"Talmud," 57, 180.
"Talvi," 360,441.
Tamerlane, 305.
" Taming of the Shrew," 301.
Tao, 9.

Taoleti, 188.

Tarentum, 122.

Tarsia, 212.

TartogUa, Niccolo, 221.

Tartar language, 4, 348, 367.

" Tartulfe," 269.

Tasso, Toniuato, 117, 183, 194, 200, 209-

213, 21.''., 220, 222.
" Tasso " (poem), 427, 433.
Tassoiii, Alessaudro, 224, 225.
"Tatler," 489.
Tauler, Johann, 417.
Taylor, Bayard, 520.
Taylor, Henry, .502.
Taylor, Isaac, 505.
Taylor, Jeremy, 452, 476, 484.
Tcheklov, 358.

'• Teacliing of the Twelve Apostles," 59.
Teurn^r, 393, 40-2.
" Telemachiis," '274.
Telesio, Beruadin,222.
"Tempest," 479.
Temple, Sir William, 485.
Temples, Abou-Simbel, 2; Apollo, 2;

Egyptian, 61 ; of the Sun, 61.
Ten Kate, 377.

Tennyson, Alfred, 502, 508, 509.
Tensons, 246, 247.

Terence, 12G, 131, 132, 134 ; life of, 164.
Terminus, 126.
Terpander, 79, 81.
Tertullian, 173.
Tesias. See Stesichorus.
Testament. See Bible.
" Testament of the Faire Cresaide," 472.
" Testament of Love," 468.
Teutones, 405.
Teutonic language, 178.
Teutonicus, Notker, 410.
Tliackeray, W. M., 503.
" Thalaba the Destroyer," 497.
Thales, 85.
" Thanatopsis," 523.
Theatres. See Chinese, Greek, Japanesf,

and Spanish Theatres.
Thebaid, 161.
Theban dialect, 60.
Themistocles, 83, 91.
Theocritus. 108, 109.
Tlieodophilus, 410.
Theodoric the Oreat (Dietrich of Bern),

123, 393, 410, 413, 414.
Theodoric the monk, 394.
Tlieoiiosius, 115, 174.
Theogony, 76.
Theology. See Armenian, Bohemian,

Dutch, German. Roumanian, and Scotch

Theolnmi. See Religion.
Theon, 116.

"Theory of Moral Sentiment," 494.
" Theory of Population," 505.
" Theory of the Sublime and Beautiful,"

S06.
Thera, 2.
Thermopylae, 77.
Thespis, 95, 97.
Thibet. 31.

Thierry, Amad^e, 288, 289.
Thierry, Augustine, 288, 289.
Tliiers, L. A., 289.
Tbirlwall, Bishop, 501.
Tlioluck, F. A. G., 446.
Thomasius, Christian, 423.

660

INDEX.

Thomas, Edith M., 524.

Thompson, Beujainin, 517.

Thomson, James, 455, 4'Jl.

Thor, 385, 387.

Thoreau, H. D., 526, 528.

Thoresen, Magdalene, 404.

Thorild, Tliomas, 4UU, 401.

Thothmes III., Gl.

" Three Black Crows," 4C5.

Three Unities, 478.

Threuos, 72.

Thucydides, 68, 88, 100, 103, 152, 154.

Tliursday, 387.

Tiberius, 142, 156.

Tibullus, 147.

Tiburtine Inscription, 125.

Tieck, Ludwig, 430, 431, 440.

Tillotson, Archbishop, 484.

Timocreon, 77, 82.

" Timon of Athens," 479.

Tiraboschi, G., 238.

"Titan," 440.

Tocqueville, Alexis de, 293.

Togray, 44.

ToUens, H. C, 380.

Tolstoi', Count, 358.

Tommaseo, 239.

Tooke, Home, 494.

Torre, Alfonso de la, 310.

Torre, Bachiller da la, 326.

Torricelli, Evangelista, 221.

Torti, 233.

Toru Dutt, 34.

" Tour to the Hebrides," 490.

Tournaments, 191.

Toussaint, Anna, 380.

Tragedy, 94, 100. See Drama.

" Tragical History of Doctor Faustus," 479.

" Tragi-Comedy of Calisto and Meliboea,"

308.
Trajan, emperor, 116, 162 ; panegyric on,

165, 171.
Transcendental philosophy, 435, 524.
" Transformations, Book of," 13.
" Traveller, The," 495.
Travels. See American Travels.
" Travels in the Equinoctial Regions of

America," 437.
" Treatise on Sensation," 281.
Tree of Life, 386.
Trepassi. See Metastcuw.
Triad.s, 461.
Triamond, 482.
Tribonian, 175.
Tripoli, Countess of, 248.
TrisBino, G. G., 213.
"Tristam de Leonois," 251.
"Tristia, The," 148.
Tristram Shandy, '234.
" Troilus and Cressida" (Chaucer's), 469;

(Shakspeare's), 479.
•'Trois Mousquetaires," 292.
Trojan war, 74, 412.
Trollope, Anthony, 510.
Trollope, Mrs. Frances, .503.
Troubadours, 125, 179, 182, 242, 245, 308,

336 469
Trouvferes', 182, 207, 243, 250, 469.
Trueba, Antonio de, 334.
Trumbull, .John, 516.
Tschudi, 437.
Tshand, 32.
Tshian-teng-sbi, Poems of, 13.

Tucker, Abraham, 494.

Tuesday, 387.

Tulsi-Das, 33.

Turanian language, 4, 345, 346, 348.

Turgenieff, 357.

Turin, 221.

Turkish alphabet, 179, 349 ; conquests, 63,
65 ; education, 349 ; fiction, 349 ; his-
tory, 348, 349; language, 48, 179, 348,
349, 367 ; law, 349 ; literature, 348 ; in-
fluence of Arabic on, 349 ; influence of
Persian on, 349 ; periodicals, 349 ; poetry,
348, 349 ; satire, 349 ; science, 349. See
Finnish Literature.

" Turkish History," 477.

Turks, 116; in Armenia, 350.

Turuus, King, 143, 144.

" Turpin, Chronicle of," 252.

Tuscan dialect, 194 ; poetry, 195.

" Tusculan Disputatious," 151.

Twain, Mark, 520.

" Twelve Tables," 125, 139.

" Twenty-ninth of February," 434.

" Two Gentlemen of Verona," 479.

Tyndale, William, 473.

Tyndall, 508, 525.

Tyr, 387.

Tyrtseus, 77.

Udaxl, Nicbolas, 475.

Ueberweg, 446.

Uedmann, 446.

Ugolino, Count, 198.

Ugoni, Matthias, 238.

Uhland, Johan Ludwig, 431,

Ulphilas, 409, 463.

Ulrici, 436.

Ulysses, 74.

Umbrians, 123, 124 ; dialect, 194.

" Uncle Tom's Cabin," 522.

" Undine," 440.

United Provinces, 370.

United States. See American Literature.

" Universal History " (Bianchini'a), 236.

Universities, English, 464.

" Upapuranas," 24.

Urdu, 33.

Utgard, 386.

"Utopia," 473.

Utrecht, 370.

Vafthkudnie, 389.

" Vafthrudnir's Song," 389.

Vala, .300.

Valckenaer, L. G., 372.

Vald^B, 3*4.

Valens, Emperor, 172.

Valera, 334.

Valerius Flaccua, C, 161.

Valerius Maximus, 104.

Valhalla, 386.

Valkyriur, 386, 415.

Vallenhoven, 375.

Valmiki, 26, 47.

Valois, Marguerite de, 267.

Vanbrugh, Sir John, 485.

Van Dyke, Henry, 522.

Varehi, Benedetto, 219.

Varengar, 384.

Varga, 348.

Variugjar, 3S4.

INDEX.

561

VariuB, 133, 147.

Varro, KVJ, VAT.

Vasari, Giorgio, 219.

Vedanta, 30.

"Vedas," 21, '23, 31, 3-2.

Vega, Garciliisso de la, 314, 3-29.

Vega, Lope de, ^IG, 317, 320, 326, 337.

Velise, 4J5.

Veira Ai'l.

Velde, Van der, 442.

Venetian dialect, 194.

Venice, 227, 351.

" Venice Preserved," 485.

Venus, 71, 12(1, 3}«.

Verga, 241.

Vergne, Mile, de la, 2C1.

Verona, 227.

Verres, 139; orations against, 149.

Verri, Ales.*andro, 2:;.").

" Versunkene Glocke," 447.

Vesta, 12tJ.

Vestels, 126.

Vettori, Pietro, 220.

" Vicar of Wakefield," 493.

Vicente, Gil, 341.

Vicente, Paula, 341.

Vico, Giovanni Battista, 139, 227, 236.

Vienna, 4.

" View of Ireland," 451.

Vignola, 221.

Vigny, Alfred, Comte de, 288, 291.

Vikings, .383.

Villani, Giovanni, 203.

Villani, Matteo, 203.

Villani, Filippo, 203.

Villari, 241.

Ville-Hardouin, G. de, 251, 266.

ViUemain, A. F., 288.

Villena, Marquis of, 309.

Villon, 255.

Virchow, 438.

Virgil, 122, 130. 143, 14.5-147.

" Virgin Soil," 357.

Viaconti, E. Q.,227.

Vialniu, 21,22, 26.

" Vision of Piers Plowman," 468.

Visscher, .369, 373.

" Vita Nuova," 196.

Vitalis, 402.

Vitruvius PoUio, M., 155.

Vituli, 123.

Vladimir the Great, 351.

Vogel, E., 437.

Voiture, Vincent, 260, 262.

Voland, 391.

Volsunga Saga, 393.

Volta, Alesaandro, 228.

Voltaire, 18, 112, 235, 238, 243, 253, 263,

267. 273, 278.
Voltaire, the Persian, 47.
" Volu8pa,";W9.

Vondel, J. van den, 369, 374, 375.
Voss. See Vossius.
Voss, J. H.,4;».
Vossius, G. J., 372.
Vossius, Isaac, 372.
" Voyage of Anacharais," 285.
Vries, De, 380.
Vulcan, 71, 126, 391.
" Vulgate, The," 57, 174.
Vyasa, 24, 27, 47.

Wace, Robebt, 465.

Wagenaar, Jan, 377.

Wahabees, 183.

Wali, 33.

Wiilkvres, the, 408.

" Wafhice, Tlie," 471.

Wallachia, 367 ; language, 367.

Wallenberg, 400.

" Walleiistein," 429, 434.

Waller, Edmund, 453, 483, 486.

Wallin, Archbishop, 401.

Wallons, 243.

Walloon, 368.

Walpole, Horace, 493, 494.

Walre, Van, 380.

Walter of the Vogel Weide, 412.

Walton, Izaak, 485.

" War and Peace," 358.

" War of Citiline," 154.

" War of the Giants," 171.

" War of Gr.inada," 314.

Warburton, Bishop, 489.

Ward, Mrs. Humphry, 510.

Warner, Cliarles Dudley, 527, 528.

Warren, T., 516.

Warsaae. 398.

Wiirton, Thomas, 493.

Washington, George, 515.

Water, Te, 378.

Watson. Bishop, 494.

Watson, WiUiam, 509.

Watts, Isaac, 489.

Watts- Dunton, Theodore, 509.

" Waverley," 502.

Waverley Novels, 502.

Wayland, 391.

" Wealth of Nations," 494.

Webster, Daniel, 520.

Webster, John, 481.

Wednesday, 3.S7.

" Wee Willie Wlnkie," 510.

Weert, De, 369.

Weid, Prince Klaximilian von, 437.

Welhaven, 404.

Wellekens, J. B., 375.

Welsch, 243.

Welsh fiction, 461 ; history, 412; language,
460 ; literature, 461 ; poetry, 461 ; ro-
mances, 461.

Wergeland, H. A., 404.

Werner, F. L. Z., 434.

Wesley, John, 4.55.

" Westminster Review," 506.

Wette, De, 446.

Wharton, Edith, 522.

Whatelv, Archdeacon, 506.

" Where is the German Fatherland ?" 431.

Whewell, William, 506.

Whipple, E. P., .527.

White, Andrew D.,520.

White, Bishop, 517.

White, Kirke, 501.

White, R. G., 527.

White Women, the, 408.

Whitefield, George, 455.

Whitman, Walt, 523.

Whittier, John G., 524.

Wiokliffe. John. 361, 468, 467, 468.

" Wieland," 517

Wieland, C. M., 426.

Willierforre, William, 494.

Wildenbnich, Von, 447.

" Wilhelin Meister's Apprenticeship," 439.

" Wilhelm TeU," 434.

562

INDEX.

Wilkins, Mary E., 522.

"Will, The," 514.

William the Conqueror, 244.

William of Malmesbuiy, 404.

WUlis, N. P., 523.

Wilson, John (" Christopher North "), 499,

503, 505, 50T.
Wilson, Thomas, 473.
Wilson, Woodrow, 520.
Winckelmann, J. J. , 442.
Winifred, Paul, 410.
Winter, Van, 377.
" Winter's Tale," 479.
Winther, R. V. C. F., 397.
Wirt, William, 518.
Wiselius, S. I., 380.
Wisin, Von, 355.
Wolf, J. C. von, 239, 423.
Wolff, Elizabeth B., 378.
Wolfram of Eschenbach, 412, 413.
Wolsey, Cardinal, 473.
Women. See American, French, Greek,

Hindu, and Japanese Women.
Wooden, 387.
Wordsworth, William, 436, 456, 496, 498,

499, 50G.
" Works and Days," 75.
" Worthies of England," 476.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 474.
Wycherly, William, 485.
Wyntoun, Andrew, 471.

Xesophanes, 86.
Senophon, 68, 104, 15;i.

YAJtm-VEDA, 24.

Yale College, 513, 516.

" Years of Wild Oats," 440.

Yeats, W. B., 510.

Yggdrasil, 385, 386.

Ymer, 384.

Young, Edward, 455, 487, 491.

Young Germany, 432.

Yriarte, Tomas de, .331.

" Yussuf and Zuleika," 42-44, 46.

Yxart, 334.

" Zaire," 253, 279.
Zalesski, 3C7.
Zaluski, 365.
Zaneka, 241.
Zechariah, 54.

Zendic language, 39 ; literature, 39 ; reli-
gion, 40.
Zendavesta, 40.
Zeno, 8G, 111.

Zeno, Apcstolo, 229, 238, 239.
Zenobia, 112.
Zenodotus, 109.
Zephaniah, 54.
Zeus, 2, 70, 71, 85.
Zodiac, 35.
Zola, 294.
Zoroilla, 333.
Zoroaster, 40, 41, 56, 350.
Zschokke, J. H. D., 441.
Zurita, Geronimo, 328.
Zwingle, Ulrich, 419.

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