PERIOD THIRD.

FROM THE ACCESSION or HENRY VIII. TO THE PRESENT TIME (1509-1884).

1. AGE OF THE REFORMATION.--In the early part of the sixteenth century

human intellect began to be stirred by impulses altogether new, while

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 determined. It was not until 1568, when the reign of Elizabeth

was within thirty years of its close, that English literature assumed a

character separating it decisively from that of the ages which 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 his 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. Foreign men of letters visited

England; Erasmus, especially, gave 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, Ascham, and

Sir Thomas More, the author of the "Utopia," a romance in the scholastic

garb. It describes an imaginary commonwealth, the chief feature of which

is a community of property, on an imaginary island, from which the book

takes its name. The epithet "Utopian" is still used as descriptive of

chimerical schemes.

The most important works in the living tongue were those devoted to

theology, and first among them were the translations of the Scriptures

into English, none of which had been publicly attempted since that of

Wickliffe. In 1526, William Tyndale (afterwards strangled and burnt for

heresy, at Antwerp), translated 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 circulation of

the translation was made in secrecy and fear. The theological writers of

this period are chiefly controversial. Among them are Ridley, famous as a

preacher; Cranmer, remarkable for his patronage of theological learning,

and Latimer (d. 1555), whose sermons and letters are highly 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 valuable as

specimens of the language in its earliest maturity. None of them are

entitled to high rank as monuments of English literature. The style of Sir

Thomas More (1480-1535) had great excellence; but his works were only the

recreation of an accomplished man in a learned age. The writings of the

learned Ascham (1515-1565) have a value not to be measured by their

inconsiderable bulk. Their language is pure, idiomatic, vigorous English;

and they exhibit a great variety of knowledge, remarkable sagacity, and

sound common sense. His most celebrated work, the "Schoolmaster," proposes

improvements in education for which there is still both room and need.

Thomas Wilson, who wrote a treatise on the "Art of Logic" and "Rhetoric,"

may be considered the first critical writer in the living tongue.

The poetry of England during the reigns of Henry VIII. and his immediate

successors is like the prose, valuable for its relation to other things,

rather than for its own merit. Yet it occupies a higher place than the

prose; it exhibits a decided contrast to that of the times past, and in

many points bears a close resemblance to the poetry of the energetic age

that was soon to open.

The names of the poets of this age may be arrayed in three groups, headed

by Skelton, Surrey, and Sackville. The poems of Skelton (d. 1529) are

singularly though coarsely energetic. He was the tutor of Henry VIII., and

during 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 which he vents his acrid humors is

truly surprising. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516-1547), opened a new

era in English poetry, and by his foreign studies, and his refinement of

taste and feeling, was enabled to turn poetical literature 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 translation of the

Aeneid. He first introduced the sonnet, and the refined and sentimental

turn of thought borrowed from Petrarch and the other Italian masters. In

his Aeneid he introduced blank verse, a form of versification in which the

noblest English 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 his contemporary, Sir Thomas Wyatt, are

the most polished 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 Magistrates," a collection of poems

celebrating illustrious but unfortunate 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 originated in the

church, or were soon appropriated 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 _Miracles_, 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

allegorical 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, from the Creation to the Day of

Judgment; they were acted on festivals, and the performance 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

attention of the rude audience. Many of them had a character called

_Iniquity_, whose avowed function was that of buffoonery. The Mysteries

were not entirely overthrown by the Reformation, the Protestant Bishop

Bale having composed several, intended 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 epigrammatist). They deal largely in satire, and are not

devoid of spirit and humor. But they have little skill in character-

painting, and little interest in the story.

About the middle of the century (sixteenth) the drama extricated 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. 1556); it has the title of "Ralph Roister Doister," a personage

whose misadventures are represented with much comic force.

Ten years later the earliest tragedy, known by two names, "Gorboduc" and

"Ferrex and Porrex," was publicly played in the Lower Temple. It is

founded on the traditions of fabulous British history, and is believed to

have been written by Thomas Norton and Lord Buckhurst. The chief merit of

this earliest English tragedy lies in its stately language and solemnly

reflective tone of sentiment.

2. THE AGE OF SPENSER, SHAKSPEARE, BACON, AND MILTON (1558-1660).--The

prose of this illustrious period is vast in amount and various in range.

The study of the Oriental languages and other pursuits bearing on theology

were prosecuted with success, and many of the philosophical and polemical

writings were composed in Latin. A second series of translations of the

Scriptures were among the most important 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 adopted by the Church of England, long

continued in favor with the English Puritans and Scotch Presbyterians.

Cranmer's version was next revised (1568) under the superintendence of

Matthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury, eminent among the fathers of the

English 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, appeared in 1610. Our current translation, which

also appeared in 1610, during the reign of James I., occupied forty-seven

learned men, assisted by other eminent scholars, for a period of three

years.

Among theological writings, the "Ecclesiastical Polity" of Hooker (1553-

1600) is a striking effort of philosophical thinking, 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

richness a sober majesty which is equally admirable and rare. The sermons

of Bishop Andrews (1565-1626), though corrupt as models of style, made an

extraordinary 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 sometimes fantastic, like his

poetry, but they are never coarse, and they derive a touching interest

from his 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 eminent for Christian piety and

conscientious zeal. Besides his pulpit discourses, Bishop Hall has left a

series of "Contemplations" on passages of the Bible, and "Meditations,"

which are particularly 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 "Worthies of England,"

a book of lively and observant gossip. Cudworth and More, his

contemporaries, deviated in their philosophical writings from the

tendencies of Bacon and the sensualistlc doctrines of Hobbes, and regarded

existence rather from the spiritual point of view of Plato; in the

preceding generation, the skepticism of Lord Herbert of Cherbury taught a

different lesson from theirs.

In this period we encounter in the philosophical 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 colossal work, towards which the chief

writings of this illustrious author were contributions. The first 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 his scheme may be allowed to be, D'Alembert and

his coadjutors in the last century were able to do no more than to copy

and distort it. In his "Novum Organum" he undertakes to supply certain

deficiencies of the Aristotelian system of logic, and expounds his mode of

philosophizing; he was the first to unfold the inductive method, which he

did in so masterly a way, that he has earned, with posterity, the title of

the father of experimental science. His "Essays," from the excellence of

their style and the interesting nature of the subjects, are the most

generally read of all the author's productions. No English writer

surpasses Bacon in fervor and brilliancy of style, in force of expression,

or in richness and significance of imagery. His writings, though they

received during his lifetime the neglect for which he had proudly prepared

himself, gave a mighty impulse to scientific thought for at least a

century after his time. In his will, the following strikingly prophetic

passage is found: "My name and memory I leave to foreign nations, and to

mine own country, after some time is passed over."

The influence of Hobbes on philosophy in England has been greater than

that of Bacon. In politics, his theory is that of uncontrolled absolutism,

subjecting religion and morality to the will of the sovereign; in ethics

he resolves all our impulses regarding right and wrong into self-love. His

reasoning is close and consistent, and if his premises are granted, it is

hardly possible to avoid his conclusions. Other departments in the prose

literature of this period were amply filled and richly adorned.

Speculations upon the Theory of Society and Civil Polity 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 for national history the period was

exceedingly active. Camden and Selden stand at the head of the band of

antiquaries. Hobbes wrote in his old age "Behemoth, or a History of the

Civil Wars," and the "Turkish History" 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 spirited and pervaded by a tone of devout

sentiment.

The accomplished Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), 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

pastoral 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 extraordinary power in

prose writing; his defense of the "Liberty of 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 his contemporaries, and this

exotic infection pervades both his terms and his 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 subjects. Among other productions is

Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy," a storehouse of odd learning and

quaintly-original ideas; it is deficient, however, in style and power of

consecutive reasoning. 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 exaggeration. The

thoughtful melancholy, the singular mixture of skepticism and credulity,

and the brilliancy of imaginative illustration, give his essays a

peculiarity of character that renders them exceedingly fascinating. The

poet Cowley, in his 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

Restoration.

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 imitate

in the drama the series of events which it represents, the time of action

was allowed to extend to twenty-four hours, and the scene to change from

place to place in the same city. But by Shakspeare and his contemporaries

no fixed limits were acknowledged in regard either of time or place, the

action stretching through many years, and the scene changing to very wide

distances. The rule prescribing unity of action, that everything shall be

subordinate to the series of events which is taken as the guiding-thread,

is a much more sound one; and in most of Shakspeare'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

Shakspeare's works forms the leading 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 hardly any

whose works do not owe much of their excellence to the influence of his.

Thus considered, the stages through which the drama now passed may be said

to have been four, three of which occurred chiefly during the life of the

poet, the fourth after his death. The first of these periods witnessed the

early manhood of Shakspeare, and closes about 1593. Among his immediate

predecessors and coadjutors were Marlowe and Greene. The plays of Marlowe

(1562-1593) are stately tragedies, serious in purpose, energetic and often

extravagant in passion and in language, and richly and pompously

imaginative. His "Tragical History of Doctor Faustus" is one of the finest

poems in the language. The productions of Greene are loose, legendary

plays of a form exemplified in Cymbeline.

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

existence in England until he created it, and in these comedies it is

evident that everything is juvenile, unripe, and marvelously unlike the

grand pictures of life which he soon afterwards began to paint. 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 this most active part of his

literary life, he produced eight comedies, and re-wrote "Romeo and

Juliet." But the most elevated works of these six years were his

magnificent series of historical plays. The series after 1600 began with

the great tragedies, Othello, Hamlet (recomposed), Macbeth, 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," apparently of the same date. "Cymbeline" and the

"Winter's Tale" were probably composed after he had retired from the

turmoil of his profession to the repose of his early home. In the

"Tempest." doubtless his last work, he peopled 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 musical in arrangement, so

striking and picturesque in themselves, or contain so many thoughts. Every

page furnishes instances of that intensifying of expression, where some

happy word conveys a whole train of ideas condensed into a single luminous

point--words so new, so full of meaning, yet so unforced and natural, that

the rudest mind intuitively perceives their meaning, and yet which 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, Shakspeare has least

imitated or repeated himself. While he gives us, in many places, portraits

of the same passion, the delineations 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

complete collection of precepts adapted to every condition of life 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 seventeenth 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 alliances in

dramatic poetry were common in England at this period. But the looseness

of fancy which deformed the drama, and which degenerated at last into

deliberate licentiousness, is nowhere so glaring as in these finest and

most imaginative productions of their day, and which are poetically

superior to all 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 immortality for other reasons

than his comparative purity of morals. 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 audience to that of Jonson may have

been aimed at in the stately tragedies of Chapman, and the other class

would have relished the plays of Middleton and Webster.

Among the dramatists of the commonalty may be named Thomas Heywood, one of

the most moral play writers of his time, who has sometimes 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 period 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 retained 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 indicated in

all these works, in which 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 which he wastes a pathos 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 moral 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 imagination so vivid. His magnificent poem, the "Faerie

Queene," though it contains many thousand lines, is yet incomplete, no

more than half of the original design being executed. The diction is

studded purposely with forms of expression already become antiquated, and

many peculiarities are forced upon the author from the difficulties of the

complex measure which he was the first to adopt, and which 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 purity are the objects chiefly presented to our

imagination, in which the principal personages are knights achieving

perilous adventures, ladies rescued from frightful miseries, and good and

evil enchanters, whose spells affect the destiny of those human persons.

Spenser would probably not have written precisely as he did, if Ariosto

had not written before him; nor is it unlikely that he was also guided by

the later example of Tasso; but his design was in many features nobler and

more arduous than that of either. His deep seriousness 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 chivalrous Arthur of the British legends, but wrapt in a

cloud of symbols. Gloriana, the Faërie Queene, who was to be the object of

the prince's warmest love, was herself an emblem of Virtuous 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 adventures of the characters, connected by no tie, except 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 shadows 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 virtue of Temperance. The theme of the Third Book

is the Legend of Britomart, or of Chastity, in which we are introduced to

Belphoebe 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 creation, 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 writers of great excellence. The

vice of the age was a laboring after conceits 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 their

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 "Christ's Victory and Triumph," by Giles Fletcher (d. 1623): it is

animated in narrative, lively in fancy, and touching in feeling. Drayton

(d. 1631) was the author of the "Poly-Olbion," a topographical description

of England, and a signal instance of fine fancy and great command 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 pointed and energetic diction, in his poem on

"Human Learning." Among the religious poets are "Holy George Herbert" (d.

1632), who, by his life and writings, 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

illustrations.

The lyrical poems of the time were numerous, and were written 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 graceful fancy and delicate expression, are many

of them unsurpassed; 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,

Ayton, 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 reflective

and descriptive poem in heroic verse, and the diversified poems of the

last were remarkable advances in ease and correctness of diction and

versification.

The poetry of that imaginative period which began with Spenser closes yet

more nobly with Milton (1608-1674). He, standing in some respects apart

from his stern contemporaries of the Commonwealth 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 Christian epic, chanted at first when there were few

disposed to hear, became an enduring monument of genius, learning, and

art. His early poems alone would indicate his superiority to all the poets

of the period, except Shakspeare and Spenser. The most popular of them,

"L'Allegro" and "Il 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 "Paradise

Regained" abounds with passages in themselves beautiful, but the plan is

poorly conceived, and the didactic tendency prevails to weariness as the

work proceeds. The theme of the "Paradise Lost" is the noblest of any ever

chosen. The stately march 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 grandeur 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 AND THE REVOLUTION (1660-1702).--Among the

able churchmen who passed from the troubles of the Commonwealth and

Protectorate to the Restoration were Jeremy Taylor, Archbishop Leighton,

and others of eminence. South, Tillotson, and Barrow were more able

theologians, but their writings lack the charm of sentiment which

Leighton's warmth of heart diffuses over all his works. South (d. 1716)

was a man of remarkable oratorical endowments, sarcastic, 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 comprehensiveness, sagacity, and clearness. Other divines,

such as Stillingfleet, Pearson, Burnet, Bull, hold a more prominent place

in the history of the church than in that of letters. But all the writers

of this age are wanting in that impressiveness and force of undisciplined

eloquence which distinguished the first half of the seventeenth 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 distinguished 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 ground on

which Berkeley denied the existence 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 history 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 him.

In miscellaneous prose, John Evelyn wrote several useful and tasteful

works, and Izaak Walton (1593-1688), a London tradesman, wrote his

interesting Biographies and the quaint treatise "On Angling." Both in

diction and sentiment these works remind us of the preceding age; and

Walton, surviving Milton, closes the series of old English prose writers.

Samuel Butler (1612-1680), the unfortunate, ill-requited laureate of the

Royalists, who satirized the Puritans and Republicans in his celebrated

"Hudibras," left some exceedingly witty and vigorous prose writings; and

Andrew Marvell (1620-1678), the friend and protector of Milton, was most

successful in sarcastic irony, and in his attacks on the High Church

opinions and doings.

John Dryden (1631-1700) was the literary chief of the interval between

Cromwell and Queen Anne. His prose writings, 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 (1628-1698),

who may yet share with him the merit of having founded regular English

prose. His literary character rests chiefly on his "Miscellaneous Essays."

The symmetrical structure and artificial polish of contemporaneous French

literature, while it was not without some good influence on English 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 chief, and of his plays it can truly be said that the serious

ones contain many striking and poetical 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 Preserved" of Otway we have southing of the

revival of the ancient strength of feeling though alloyed by false

sentiment and poetic poverty.

Congreve showed great power of language in tragedy, and Southerne not a

little nature and pathos.

In comedy the fame of these writers was eclipsed by a knot of dramatists

who adopted prose, but whose works are the foulest that ever disgraced the

literature of a nation. They are excellent specimens of that which has

been called 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 wit of Congreve, in the character painting of Vanbrugh,

and the lively invention of Farquhar.

In other kinds of poetry we find similar changes of taste which affected

the art injuriously, although the increased attention paid to correctness

and refinement was a step in improvement. 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 lives of individuals. The dramatic and

narrative forms of poetry are undoubtedly those in which that imaginative

excitement of pleasing 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 significance, and

original narrative poetry was hardly known. Almost all the poems of the

day were didactic, and the prevalence of this style of poetry is a

palpable symptom of an unpoetical age. The verse-making of these forty

years, after setting aside a very few works, maintains a dead level. Among

the dwarfish rhymers of the day there lingered some of the august shapes

of a former age. Milton still walked his solitary course, and Waller wrote

his occasional odes and verses, but of names not already given there are

no more than two or three that require commemoration. One of the famous

poems of the day was an "Essay on Translated Verse," by Lord Roscommon;

and the smaller poems of Marvell 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 facility 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 essays couched in vigorous verse, with

here and there passages of great poetical beauty. His "Annus Mirabilis,"

celebrating with great animation the year 1666, is an effusion of

historical panegyric. The "Absalom and Achitophel" is a satire on the

unfortunate Duke of Monmouth and his adviser Shaftesbury. "The Hind and

Panther," full of poetical and satirical force, was an argument to justify

the author's recent change of religion. One of the most thoroughly

sustained poems is the "Ode on Alexander's Feast." His translation of the

Aeneid, as imperfect 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 measure never so well written in English as by Dryden.

4. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.--The influence of the eighteenth century on

prose style has been great and permanent, and the two dissimilar manners

of writing which were then formed, have contributed to all that is

distinctive in our modern form of expression. The earlier of these is

found in the language of Addison and Swift, the later in that of Johnson.

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 which Johnson was the characteristic

example abandons in part the native and familiar characteristics of the

Saxon for those expressions and forms common to the modern European

tongues. Large use was made of words derived from the Latin, which, in

addition to the effect of novelty, gave greater impressiveness and pomp to

the style.

In the First Generation, named from Queen Anne, but including also the

reign of George I. (d. 1727), the drama scarcely deserves more than a

parenthesis. Although the moral tone had improved, it was still not high,

when Gray's "Beggar's Opera" and Cibber's "Careless Husband" were the most

famous 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 impressive 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

pointedness of expression, and in this the great master was Pope.

In the poems of Pope (1688-1744), we find passages beautifully poetical,

exquisite thoughts, vigorous portraits of character, shrewd observation,

and reflective good sense, but we are wafted into no bright world of

imagination, rapt in no dream of strong passion, and seldom raised into

any high region of moral thought. 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," published before his twenty-first year. None of

his works unites more happily, regularity of plan, shrewdness of thought,

and beauty of verse. His most successful effort, the "Rape of the Lock,"

assumed its complete shape in his twenty-sixth year, and is the best of

all mock-heroic poems. The sharpest wit, the keenest dissection of the

follies of fashionable life, the finest grace of diction, and the softest

flow of melody, 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 felicities 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 philosophical Idealism exercised much

influence on the course of metaphysical inquiry.

Lord Shaftesbury's brilliant but indistinct treatises have also been the

germ of many discussions in ethics.

Bolingbroke wrote with great liveliness, but with equal shallowness 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 writings 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 Scriblerus" was the

joint production of Swift, Pope, and Arbuthnot.

It contains more good criticism than any of the serious writings of the

generation, and it abounds in the most biting strokes of wit. Arbuthnot is

supposed to have been the sole author of the whimsical, national satire

called the "History of John Bull," the best work of the class produced 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 distinguished.

"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 extraordinary

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 papers all party-spirit, and

designed to make them the vehicle of judicious 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, though not the most meritorious, was Bishop Warburton; Bishop

Butler (d. 1752), wrote his "Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to

the Constitution and Course of Nature," a work of extraordinary force of

thought; and there is much literary merit in the writings of the pious

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. The philosophical 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 principles which had been received before him, 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.

The miscellaneous literature of this, the age of Johnson, cannot stand

comparison 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, belongs to this period.

Compelled by poverty to leave his education uncompleted, he sought the

means of living in London, where, for a long time, unpatronized and

obscure, he labored with dogged perseverance, until at length 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

inadequate scope for activity. The language of Johnson is superior to his

matter; he has striking force of diction, and many of his sentences 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 unequal. His Dictionary occupied him for

eight years, but it is of little value now to the student of language,

being poor and incorrect in etymology and unsatisfactory though acute in

definition. 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 his 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

jealousies.

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 which they describe vice. The

tediousness and overwrought sentimentality of these works go far towards

disqualifying the reader from appreciating their extraordinary skill in

invention and in the portraiture of character.

Fielding (1707-1757) unites these qualities with greater knowledge of the

world, pungent wit, and idiomatic strength of style. His mastery in the

art of fictitious narrative has never been excelled; but his living

pictures of familiar life, as well as the whimsical caricatures of

Smollett and the humorous fantasies of Sterne, are disfigured by faults of

which the very smallest are coarseness of language and bareness of

licentious description, in which they outdid Richardson. Not only is their

standard of morality low, but they display indifference to the essential

distinctions of right and wrong, in regard 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 appeared, and changes occurred

which indicated more just and comprehensive views of the art than those

that had been prevalent in the last generation.

Young (1681-1765), in his "Night Thoughts," produced a work eloquent

rather than poetical, dissertative when true poetry would have been

imaginative, but suggesting much of imagery and feeling as well as

religious reflection.

Resembling it in some points, but with more force of imagination, 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 his

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 "Shipwreck."

But the most decisive instance of the growing insight into the true

functions of poetry is furnished 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 upon, which are the fountains of poetic feeling. The

faults of Thomson are triteness of thought when he becomes argumentative

and a prevalent pomposity and pedantry of diction; though his later work,

"The Castle of Indolence," is surprisingly free from these blemishes.

But the age was an unpoetical one, and two of the finest poetical minds of

the nation were so dwarfed and weakened by the ungenial 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 examples of poetical satire, Gray turned aside from the unrequited

labors of verse to idle in his study, and Collins lived and died almost

unknown. Gray (1716-1771) was as consummate a poetical artist as Pope. His

fancy was less lively, but his sympathies were warmer and more expanded,

though the polished aptness of language and symmetry of construction which

give so classical an aspect to his Odes bring with them a tinge of

classical coldness. The "Ode on Eton College" is more genuinely lyrical

than "The Bards," and the "Elegy In a Country Churchyard" is perhaps

faultless.

The Odes of Collins (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 gradation 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. All can understand the beauty and simplicity of

his odes "To Pity," "To Simplicity," "To Mercy;" and the finely woven

harmonies 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 had been as carefully studied as his manner, if his social and

religious theories had been as sound as his theory of literary art, his

history would still hold a place from which no rival could hope to degrade

it.

The style of Robertson and Gibbon is totally unlike that of Hume. They

want his 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

departments 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 his research so accurate that he

is still a valuable historical authority.

The learning of Gibbon (1737-1794), though not always exact, was

remarkably extensive, and sufficient to make him a trustworthy guide,

unless in those points where he was inclined to lead astray. There is a

patrician haughtiness in the stately march of his narrative and in the air

of careless superiority with 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 indirect insinuation, which is, indeed, his favorite mode of

communicating his own opinions, but he is most striking in those passages

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

part, superseded; and in various other departments men of letters actively

exerted themselves.

Johnson, seated at last in his easy-chair, talked for twenty years, the

oracle of the literary world, and Boswell, soon after his death, gave to

the world the clever record of these conversations, 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

writers of English 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 Vicar of Wakefield,"

and that good-natured satire on society, the "Citizen of the World."

Among the novelists, Mackenzie (1745-1831) wrote his "Man of Peeling," not

unworthy of the companionship of Goldsmith's masterpiece; and among later

novelists, Walpole, Moore, Cumberland, Mrs. Inchbald, and Charlotte Smith,

Miss Burney and Mrs. Radcliffe 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" (1765)

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)

"History of English Poetry," which has so much of antiquarian learning,

poetical taste, and spirited writing, that it is not only an indispensable

and valuable 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,

we 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 his 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 authorship of

which is still involved in mystery, appeared in a London daily journal

from 1769 to 1772. They were remarkable for the audacity of their attacks

upon the government, the court, and persons high in power, and from their

extraordinary ability and point they produced an indelible impression on

the public mind. The "Letters" of Walpole are poignantly satirical; those

of Cowper are models of easy writing, and lessons of rare dignity and

purity of sentiment.

In the history of philosophy, the middle of the eighteenth century was a

very important epoch; before the close of the century, almost all of those

works had appeared which have had the greatest influence on more recent

thinking. These works 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

"Philosophy of Rhetoric," Kames's "Elements of Criticism," Blair's

"Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres," and Horne Tooke's "Philosophy

of Language."

In the second department, Political Economy, Adam Smith's great 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 Nature," and Paley's "Moral and Political Philosophy."

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, allowing the existence of mind, denies that of matter;

and the Skeptical, headed by Hume, which denies that we can know anything

at all. Reid is a bold, dry, but very clear and logical writer, a sincere

lover of truth, and a candid and honorable disputant; 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 Christianity."

Among the devout teachers of religion was John Newton of Olney, the

spiritual guide of Cowper; and of the moral writers, Hannah More and

Wilberforce may be mentioned.

The only tragedy that has survived from these last forty years of the

eighteenth century is the "Douglas" of Home, whose melody and romantic

pathos lose much of their effect from its monotony of tone and feebleness

in the representation of character. Comedy was oftener successful. There

was little merit 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 epigrams, 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 age, Goldsmith has alone achieved immortality. "The

Traveller" and "The Deserted Village" cannot be forgotten while the

English tongue is remembered.

The foundations of a new school of poetry were already laid. Percy's

"Reliques" and Macpherson's "Fingal" attracted great attention, and many

minor poets followed.

The short career of the unhappy Chatterton (1752-1770) held out wonderful

promise of genius.

Darwin, in his "Botanic Garden," went back to the mazes of didactic verse.

Seattle's (1735-1803) "Minstrel" is the outpouring of a mind exquisitely

poetical in feeling; it is a kind of autobiography 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

unequaled popularity of Cowper's (1731-1800) poems is owing, in part, to

the rarity of good religious poetry, and also to their genuine force and

originality. He unhesitatingly made poetry use, always when it was

convenient, the familiar forms of common conversation, and he showed yet

greater boldness by seeking to interest his readers in the scenes of

everyday life. In spite of great faults, the effect of his works is such

as only a genuine poet could have produced. His translation of the Iliad

has the simplicity of the original, though wanting its warlike fervor, and

portions of the Odyssey are rendered with exceeding felicity of poetic

effect.

Our estimate of Cowper's poems is heightened by our love and pity for the

poet, writing not for fame but for consolation, and uttering from the

depths of a half-broken heart his reverent homage to the power of

religious truth. Our affection is not colder, and our compassion is more

profound, when we contemplate the agitated and erring life of Robert Burns

(1759-1796), the Scottish peasant, who has given to the literature of the

Anglo-Saxon race some of its most precious jewels, although all which this

extraordinary man achieved was inadequate to the power and the vast

variety of his endowments. It is on his songs that his fame rests most

firmly, and no lyrics in any tongue have a more wonderful union of

thrilling passion, melting 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 human

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 first 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

ruling spirit and tendencies may be classed in pairs as they have been

named; and all whose works call for exact scrutiny may be distributed into

four groups. In the first of them stand Thomas Campbell and Robert

Southey, dissimilar to each other, and differing as widely from their

contemporaries. Campbell (1777-1844) employed an unusually delicate taste

in elaborating his verses both in diction and melody. His "Pleasures of

Hope" was written between youth and manhood, and "Gertrude of Wyoming,"

the latest of his 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 youthful 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 reveries; 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 clay 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 depth of sympathy; his

emotion has the measured flow of the artificial canal, not the leaping

gush of the river in its self-worn channel. In two of the three best poems

he has founded the interest on supernatural agency of a kind which cannot

command even momentary belief and the splendid panoramas of "Thalaba the

Destroyer" pass away like the shadows 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

practicability of his poetic theory.

The second group 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 popularity 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 chivalry, and this example was applied by Byron to the construction of

narratives founded on a different kind of sentiment. Scott, wearying of

the narrow round that afforded him no scope for some of his best and

strongest powers, turned aside to lavish them on his prose romances, and

Byron, as his knowledge grew and his meditations became deeper, rose from

Turkish tales to the later cantos of "Childe Harold."

Scott (1771-1832), in his poetical narratives, appealed to national

sympathies through ennobling historic recollections. He painted the

externals of scenery and manners with unrivaled picturesqueness, 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 consistent unity than its successors, and is

more faithful to the ancient models. "Marmion" seeks to combine the

chivalrous romance with 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 (1788-1824) became more glaring as

he grew older. Starting with the carelessness of ill-trained youth in

regard to most serious truths, he provoked censure without scruple, and

was censured not without caprice; thus placed in a dangerous and false

position, he hardened himself 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 his

mind, he died before the amendment had found its way into his writings. He

endeavored to inculcate lessons that are positively bad; his delinquency

did not consist in choosing for representation scenes of violent passion

and guilty horror, it lay deeper than in his theatrical fondness for

identifying himself with his misanthropes, pirates, and seducers. He

sinned more grievously still, against morality as against possibility, by

mixing up, in one and the same character, the utmost extremes of vice and

virtue, generosity 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 fine sense of the beautiful, and his

combination of passion with beauty, standing unapproachable in his own

day, has hardly ever been surpassed.

His tales, except "Parisina" and the "Prisoner of Chillon," rise less

often than his other poems into that flow of poetic imagery, prompted by

the loveliness of nature, which he had attempted in the two first cantos

of "Childe Harold," and poured forth with added fullness of thought and

emotion in the last two. "Manfred," with all its shortcomings, shows

perhaps most adequately his poetic temperament; and his tragedies, though

not worthy of the 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 emulated 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 original 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 tenderness or melancholy,

often solemnized by an intense access of religious 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 than

fragments; his life ebbed away in the contemplation of undertakings still

to be achieved, the result of weakness of will rather than of indolence.

The romance of "Christabel," the most powerful 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 Departing Year" shows his force of thought and

moral earnestness; "Khubla Khan" represents in its gorgeous incoherence

his singular power of lighting up landscapes with thrilling fancies; and

"The Dark Ladye" is one of the most tender and romantic love-poems ever

written.

The most obvious feature of Wordsworth (1770-1850) is the intense and

unwearied delight which he takes in all the shapes and appearances of

rural and mountain scenery. He is carried away by an almost passionate

rapture when he broods over the grandeur and loveliness of the earth and

air; his verse lingers with fond reluctance to depart on the wild flowers,

the misty lake, the sound of the wailing blast, or the gleam of sunshine

breaking through the passes among the hills, and the thoughts and feelings

these objects suggest flow forth with an enthusiasm of expression which in

a man less pious and rational might be interpreted as a raising of the

inanimate world to a level with human dignity and intelligence. The tone

which prevails in his contemplation of mortal act and suffering is a

serene seriousness, on which there never breaks in anything rightly to be

called passion; yet it often rises to an intensely solemn awe, and is not

less often relieved by touches of a quiet pathos. Almost all his poems may

be called poems of sentiment and reflection, and his own ambition was that

of being worthy to be honored as a philosophical poet. His theory that the

poet's function is limited 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 diction,

and marred the beauty of many otherwise fine poems. A fascinating airiness

and delicacy of conception prevail in these poems, and the tender

sweetness of expression is often wonderfully touching. They were the

effusions of early manhood, and the imperfect embodiments of a strength

which found a freer outlet in prose. "Laodamia" and "Dion" are classical

gems without a flaw; many of the sonnets unite original thought and poetic

vividness with a perfection hardly to be surpassed; above all, "The

Excursion" rolls on its thousands of blank verse lines with the soul-felt

harmony of a divine hymn pealed forth from a cathedral organ. We forget

the insignificance characterizing the plan, which embraces nothing but a

three days' walk among the mountains, and we refuse to be aroused from our

trance of meditative pleasure by the occasional tediousness of

dissertation. "The Excursion" abounds in verses and phrases once heard

never to be forgotten, and it contains trains of poetical musing through

which the poet moves with a majestic fullness of reflection and

imagination not paralleled, by very far, in anything else of 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 "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,

representing with great depth of emotion a domestic tragedy from the

plague of London.

Shelley was the pure apostle of a noble but ideal philanthropy; yet it is

easy to separate his poetry from his philosophy, which, though hostile to

existing conditions of society, is so ethereal, so imbued with love for

everything 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 immature youth, and

died in the belief 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 faculties shows

how needful to the production of effective poetry is a substratum of solid

thought, of practical sense, and of manly and extensive sympathy.

If we would apprehend the fullness and firmness of the powers of Shelley

(1792-1822) without remaining ignorant of his weakness, we might study the

lyrical drama of "Prometheus Unbound," a marvelous galaxy of dazzling

images and wildly touching sentiments, or the "Alastor," a scene in which

the melancholy quiet of solitude is visited but by the despairing poet who

lies down to die. We find here, instead of sympathy with ordinary and

universal feelings, warmth for the abstract and unreal, or, when the

poet's own unrest prompts, as in the "Stanzas Written in Dejection near

Naples," a strain of lamentation which sounds like a passionate sigh.

Instead of clearness of thinking, we find an indistinctness which

sometimes amounts to the unintelligible. 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

faculties that are the foundation of genius than Keats (1798-1820), 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 interest

of story, no insight into human nature, no clear sequence of thought; they

are the rapturous voice of youthful fancy, luxuriating 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 everyday life, are

striking, natural, and sometimes very touching, but they are warmed by no

kindly thoughts and elevated by nothing of ideality.

Moore (1780-1851), one of the most popular of English poets, will long be

remembered for his songs, so melodious and so elegant in phrase. His fund

of imagery is inexhaustible, but oftener ingenious than poetical. His

Eastern romances in "Lalla Rookh," with all their occasional felicities,

are not powerful poetic narratives. He was nowhere so successful as in his

satirical effusions of comic rhyme, in which his fanciful ideas are

prompted by a wit so gayly sharp, and expressed with a neatness and

pointedness so unusual, that it is to be regretted that these pieces

should be condemned to speedy forgetfulness, as 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 additions 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 "Julian" of Miss Mitford.

Rogers and Bowles have given us much of pleasing and reflective sentiment,

accompanied with great refinement of taste.

To another and more modern school belong Procter (Barry Cornwall) and

Leigh Hunt; the former the purer in taste, the latter the more original

and inventive.

Some of the lyrical and meditative poems of Walter Savage Landor are very

beautiful; his longer poems sometimes delight but oftener puzzle us by

their obscurity of thought and want of constructive skill.

The poems of Mrs. Hemans breathe a singularly attractive tone of romantic

and melancholy sweetness, and many of the ballads 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. Pollok'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 passages of

genuine poetry. The pleasing verses of Bishop Heber and the more recent

effusions of Keble may also be named.

Of the Scotch poets, James Hogg (d. 1835) is distinguished for the beauty

and creative power of his fairy tales, and Allan Cunningham (d. 1842) for

the fervor, simplicity, and natural grace of his songs.

Edward Lytton Bulwer (Lord Lytton) deserves honorable mention for his high

sense of the functions of poetic art; for the skill with which his dramas

are constructed, and for the overflowing picturesqueness which fills his

"King Arthur." Elliott, the Corn-Law Rhymer, is vigorous in conception,

and Hood has a remarkable union of grotesque humor with depth of serious

feeling.

Henry Taylor (b. 1800) deserves notice for the fine meditativeness and

well-balanced judgment shown in his 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. Horne (d. 1884) is the author of some noble

poems; Aytoun (d. 1865), of many ballads of note; and in Kingsley (d.

1875) the poetic faculty finds its best expression in his 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 efficiency

of law in its widest sense and of the progress of the race. The elements

which form his ideal of human character are self-reverence, self-

knowledge, self-control, the recognition 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 Memoriam" is his most characteristic work, distinctly a poem of

this century, the great threnody of our language. The "Idylls of the King"

present in epic form the Christian ideal of chivalry.

In Browning (b. 1812) the greatness 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 attainable 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 expression, and he is at once the most original and

unequal of living poets.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (d. 1861) may be regarded as the representative

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 Howitt, and Eliza Cook.

FICTION.--Previous to the appearance of Scott's novels the department of

prose writing had undergone an elevating process in the hands of Godwin,

Miss Austen, Miss Porter, and Miss Edgeworth. "Waverley" appeared in 1814,

and the series which followed with surprising rapidity obtained universal

and unexampled popularity. The Waverley Novels are not merely love

stories, but pictures of human life animated by sentiments which are

cheerful and correct, and they exhibit history in a most effective light

without degrading facts or falsifying them beyond the lawful stretch of

poetical embellishment. 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 language except these.

The novels of Lockhart are strong in the representation of tragic passion.

Wilson, in his "Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life," shows the visionary

loveliness and pathos which appear in his poems, though they give no scope

to those powers of sarcasm and humor which found expression elsewhere.

Extremes in the tone of thought and feeling are shown in the despondent

imagination of Mrs. Shelley and the coarse and shrewd humor of Galt. 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 works he rises into a much higher

sphere of ethical 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 Mrs. Marsh

and Mrs. Hall are pleasing and tasteful; Mrs. Trollope's portraits of

character are rough and clever caricatures. In describing the lower

departments 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 political

and social theories. Miss Martineau's stories are full of the writer's

clearness and sagacity. Kingsley, the head of the Christian 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 Bronté (1816-1855) had consummate mastery of expression, and a

perception of the depth of human nature that is only revealed through

suffering experience. The works of her sister Emily show a powerful

imagination, regulated by no consideration of beauty of proportion, or of

artistic feeling.

Among those writers who aim at making the novel illustrate questions that

agitate society most powerfully are the founders of a new school of

novelists, Thackeray and Dickens (1812-1870). 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 horror sometimes too

intense, to melting pathos, and thence to a breadth of humor which

degenerates 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 ground 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

popularity.

HISTORY.--In history Niebuhr's masterly researches have communicated their

spirit to the "Roman History" of Arnold; the history of Greece has assumed

a new aspect in the hands of Thirlwall and Grote; and that of Grecian

literature has been In part excellently related by Muir (d. 1860). Modern

history has likewise 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 individual interest and teaching precious

truths with fascinating eloquence. 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 picturesque,

attractive, and original works. The History of the Norman Conquest of

England is the most important work of Freeman. Buckle (d. 1882) 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. 1859)

"Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and

Seventeenth Centuries" has taken its place as a classical standard. Among

the fragments of criticism, the most valuable are those of De Quincey (d.

1860). The essays of Macaulay (d. 1860) are among the most impressive of

all the periodical papers of our century.

In Carlyle, a generous sentiment alternates with despondent gloom and

passionate restlessness and inconsistency. But it is impossible to hear,

without a deep sense of original power, the oracular voices that issue

from the cell; enigmatical, like the ancient responses, and like them

illuminating doubtful vaticination with flashes of wild and half poetic

fantasy. His language and thoughts alike set aside hereditary rules, and

are compounded of elements, English and German, and elements predominant

over all, which no name would fit except that of the author.

Among numerous other writers may he mentioned the names of William and

Mary Howitt, Isaac Taylor, Arthur Helps, and the brothers Hare, and in

art-criticism the brilliant and paradoxical Ruskin (b. 1819) and the

accomplished Mrs. Jameson (d. 1860).

The writings of Christopher North (Professor Wilson) are characterized by

the quaintest humor and the most practical shrewdness combined with tender

and passionate emotion (d. 1854). Those of Charles Lamb (d. 1835) it is

impossible to describe intelligibly to those who have not read them. Some

of his scenes are in sentiment, imagery, and style the most anomalous

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 course of his long life

advocated all varieties of political principle. In political science we

have the accurate McCulloch; 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

combined so much power of thought with so much power of impressive

communication.

In philosophy, Dugald Stewart (1753-1828) is one of the most attractive

writers. Thomas Brown (1778-1820), his successor in the chair of

Edinburgh, exhibited a subtlety of thought hardly ever exceeded in the

history of philosophy; probably no writings on mental philosophy were ever

so popular.

Equally worthy of a place in the annals of their era are those

dissertations on the History of Philosophy contributed to the

Encyclopaedia Britannica by Playfair, Leslie, and Mackintosh, and a system

of Ethics by Bentham. Among the speculations in mental philosophy 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, represented by Alison'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 sciences of mind have been

enriched by important accessions; logic has been vigorously cultivated in

two departments; on the one hand by Mill and Whewell, 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 Aristotelian

system with clearness and sagacity, and De Morgan has attempted to supply

certain deficiencies in the old analysis. 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 speculation.

REVIEWS AND MAGAZINES.--A most curious and important fact in the literary

history of the age is the prominence acquired by the leading Reviews and

Magazines. Their high position was secured and their power founded beyond

the possibility of overturn by the earliest 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 earlier part of its

history there were not many distinguished men of letters in the empire 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 establishment of the "London

Quarterly," which advocated Tory principles, the Edinburgh being the organ

of the Whigs. Its editors were first Gifford and then Lockhart, and it

numbered among its contributors many of the most famous men of the time.

The "Westminster Review" was established in 1825 as the organ of Jeremy

Bentham and his disciples.

"Blackwood's Magazine," begun 1817, has contained articles of the highest

literary merit. It was the unflinching and idolatrous advocate of

Wordsworth, and some of its writers were the first translators of German

poetry and the most active introducers of German taste and laws in

poetical criticism.

The best efforts in literary criticism--the most brilliant department of

recent literature, have been with few exceptions essays in the

periodicals. Among the essayists the name of Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850)

stands highest. In his essays selected for republication we find hardly

any branch of general knowledge untouched, and while he treated none

without throwing on them some brilliant ray of light, he contributed to

many of them truths alike valuable and original. His criticisms on Poetry

are flowing and spirited, glittering with a gay wit and an ever-ready

fancy, and often blossoming into exquisite felicities of diction. While

Macaulay uses poets and their works as hints for constructing picturesque

dissertations on man and society, and while poetical reading prompts

Wilson to enthusiastic bursts of original poetry, Jeffrey, fervid in his

admiration of genius, but conscientiously stern in his respect for art,

tries poetry by its own laws, and his writings are invaluable to those who

desire to learn the principles of poetical criticism. A high place among

the critical essayists must also be assigned to William Hazlitt, who in

his lectures and elsewhere did manful service towards reviving the study

of ancient poetry, and who prompts to study and speculation all readers,

and not the least those who hesitate to accept his critical opinions.

PHYSICAL SCIENCE.--The spirit of philosophical inquiry and discovery is

increasing in England, and is everywhere accompanied by a growing tendency

to popularize all branches of science, and to bring them before the

general mind in an attractive form.

The physical sciences have made marvelous advances; many brilliant

discoveries have been made during the present and last generation, and

many scientific men have brought much power of mind to bear on questions

lying apart from their principal studies; among them are Sir David

Brewster, Sir John Herschel, Sir John Playfair, Sir Charles Lyell, Hugh

Miller, Buckland, and Professor Whewell.