English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History. 

Designed as a _Manual of Instruction_. 

By

Henry Coppée, LL. D. , President of the Lehigh University. 

 The Roman Epic abounds in moral and poetical defects; nevertheless it remains the most complete picture of the national mind at its highest elevation, the most precious document of national history, if the history of an age is revealed in its ideas, no less than in its events and incidents. --Rev. C. Merivale. 

 _History of the Romans under the Empire_, c. Xli. 

Second Edition. Philadelphia:Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger. 1873. 

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, atWashington. 

Stereotyped by J. Fagan & Son, Philadelphia. 

To The Right Reverend William Bacon Stevens, D. D. , LL. D. , Bishop OfPennsylvania. 

My Dear Bishop:

I desire to connect your name with whatever may be useful and valuable inthis work, to show my high appreciation of your fervent piety, variedlearning, and elegant literary accomplishments; and, also, far more thanthis, to record the personal acknowledgment that no man ever had a moreconstant, judicious, generous and affectionate brother, than you have beento me, for forty years of intimate and unbroken association. 

Most affectionately and faithfully yours, Henry Coppée. 

PREFACE

It is not the purpose of the author to add another to the many volumescontaining a chronological list of English authors, with brief commentsupon each. Such a statement of works, arranged according to periods, orreigns of English monarchs, is valuable only as an abridged dictionary ofnames and dates. Nor is there any logical pertinence in clusteringcontemporary names about a principal author, however illustrious he maybe. The object of this work is to present prominently the historicconnections and teachings of English literature; to place great authors inimmediate relations with great events in history; and thus to propose animportant principle to students in all their reading. Thus it is thatLiterature and History are reciprocal: they combine to make eras. 

Merely to establish this historic principle, it would have been sufficientto consider the greatest authors, such as Chaucer, Spenser, Shakspeare, Milton, Dryden, and Pope; but it occurred to me, while keeping thisprinciple before me, to give also a connected view of the course ofEnglish literature, which might, in an academic curriculum, show studentshow and what to read for themselves. Any attempt beyond this in socondensed a work must prove a failure, and so it may well happen that somereaders will fail to find a full notice, or even a mention, of somefavorite author. 

English literature can only be studied in the writings of the authors hereonly mentioned; but I hope that the work will be found to containsuggestions for making such extended reading profitable; and that teacherswill find it valuable as a syllabus for fuller courses of lectures. 

To those who would like to find information as to the best editions of theauthors mentioned, I can only say that I at first intended and began tonote editions: I soon saw that I could not do this with any degree ofuniformity, and therefore determined to refer all who desire thisbibliographic assistance, to _The Dictionary of Authors_, by my friend S. Austin Allibone, LL. D. , in which bibliography is a strong feature. I amnot called upon to eulogize that noble work, but I cannot help saying thatI have found it invaluable, and that whether mentioned or not, no writercan treat of English authors without constant recurrence to its accuratecolumns: it is a literary marvel of our age. 

It will be observed that the remoter periods of the literature are thosein which the historic teachings are the most distinctly visible; we seethem from a vantage ground, in their full scope, and in the interrelationsof their parts. Although in the more modern periods the number of writersis greatly increased, we are too near to discern the entire period, andare in danger of becoming partisans, by reason of our limited view. Especially is this true of the age in which we live. Contemporary historyis but party-chronicle: the true philosophic history can only be writtenwhen distance and elevation give due scope to our vision. 

The principle I have laid down is best illustrated by the great literarymasters. Those of less degree have been treated at less length, and manyof them will be found in the smaller print, to save space. Those who studythe book should study the small print as carefully as the other. 

After a somewhat elaborate exposition of English literature, I could notinduce myself to tack on an inadequate chapter on American literature;and, besides, I think that to treat the two subjects in one volume wouldbe as incongruous as to write a joint biography of Marlborough andWashington. American literature is too great and noble, and has had toomarvelous a development to be made an appendix to English literature. 

If time shall serve, I hope to prepare a separate volume, exhibiting thestages of our literature in the Colonial period, the Revolutionary epoch, the time of Constitutional establishment, and the present period. It willbe found to illustrate these historical divisions in a remarkable manner. 

H. C. 

The Lehigh University, _October_, 1872. 

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. 

THE HISTORICAL SCOPE OF THE SUBJECT. 

 Literature and Science--English Literature--General Principle--Celts and Cymry--Roman Conquest--Coming of the Saxons--Danish Invasions--The Norman Conquest--Changes in Language

CHAPTER II. 

LITERATURE A TEACHER OF HISTORY. CELTIC REMAINS. 

 The Uses of Literature--Italy, France, England--Purpose of the Work--Celtic Literary Remains--Druids and Druidism--Roman Writers--Psalter of Cashel--Welsh Triads and Mabinogion--Gildas and St. Colm

CHAPTER III. 

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE AND HISTORY. 

 The Lineage of the Anglo-Saxon--Earliest Saxon Poem--Metrical Arrangement--Periphrasis and Alliteration--Beowulf--Caedmon--Other Saxon Fragments--The Appearance of Bede

CHAPTER IV. 

THE VENERABLE BEDE AND THE SAXON CHRONICLE. 

 Biography--Ecclesiastical History--The Recorded Miracles--Bede's Latin--Other Writers--The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: its Value--Alfred the Great--Effect of the Danish Invasions

CHAPTER V. 

THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND ITS EARLIEST LITERATURE. 

 Norman Rule--Its Oppression--Its Benefits--William of Malmesbury--Geoffrey of Monmouth--Other Latin Chronicles--Anglo-Norman Poets--Richard Wace--Other Poets

CHAPTER VI. 

THE MORNING TWILIGHT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

 Semi-Saxon Literature--Layamon--The Ormulum--Robert of Gloucester--Langland. Piers Plowman--Piers Plowman's Creed--Sir Jean Froissart--Sir John Mandevil

CHAPTER VII. 

CHAUCER, AND THE EARLY REFORMATION. 

 A New Era: Chaucer--Italian Influence--Chaucer as a Founder--Earlier Poems--The Canterbury Tales--Characters--Satire--Presentations of Woman--The Plan Proposed

CHAPTER VIII. 

CHAUCER (CONTINUED). --REFORMS IN RELIGION AND SOCIETY. 

 Historical Facts--Reform in Religion--The Clergy, Regular and Secular--The Friar and the Sompnour--The Pardonere--The Poure Persone--John Wiclif--The Translation of the Bible--The Ashes of Wiclif

CHAPTER IX. 

CHAUCER (CONTINUED). --PROGRESS OF SOCIETY, AND OF LANGUAGE. 

 Social Life--Government--Chaucer's English--His Death--Historical Facts--John Gower--Chaucer and Gower--Gower's Language--Other Writers

CHAPTER X. 

THE BARREN PERIOD BETWEEN CHAUCER AND SPENSER. 

 Greek Literature--Invention of Printing. Caxton--Contemporary History--Skelton--Wyatt--Surrey--Sir Thomas Moore--Utopia, and other Works--Other Writers

CHAPTER XI. 

SPENSER AND THE ELIZABETHAN AGE. 

 The Great Change--Edward VI. And Mary--Sidney--The Arcadia--Defence of Poesy--Astrophel and Stella--Gabriel Harvey--Edmund Spenser: Shepherd's Calendar--His Great Work

CHAPTER XII. 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HISTORY IN THE FAERIE QUEENE. 

 The Faerie Queene--The Plan Proposed--Illustrations of the History--The Knight and the Lady--The Wood of Error and the Hermitage--The Crusades--Britomartis and Sir Artegal--Elizabeth--Mary Queen of Scots--Other Works--Spenser's Fate--Other Writers

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 

 Origin of the Drama--Miracle Plays--Moralities--First Comedy--Early Tragedies--Christopher Marlowe--Other Dramatists--Playwrights and Morals

CHAPTER XIV. 

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 

 The Power of Shakspeare--Meagre Early History--Doubts of his Identity--What is known--Marries and goes to London--"Venus" and "Lucrece"--Retirement and Death--Literary Habitudes--Variety of the Plays--Table of Dates and Sources

CHAPTER XV. 

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE (CONTINUED). 

 The Grounds of his Fame--Creation of Character--Imagination and Fancy--Power of Expression--His Faults--Influence of Elizabeth--Sonnets--Ireland and Collier--Concordance--Other Writers

CHAPTER XVI. 

BACON, AND THE RISE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 

 Birth and Early Life--Treatment of Essex--His Appointments--His Fall--Writes Philosophy--Magna Instauratio--His Defects--His Fame--His Essays

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 

 Early Versions--The Septuagint--The Vulgate--Wiclif; Tyndale--Coverdale; Cranmer--Geneva; Bishop's Bible--King James's Bible--Language of the Bible--Revision

CHAPTER XVIII. 

JOHN MILTON, AND THE ENGLISH COMMONWEALTH. 

 Historical Facts--Charles I. --Religious Extremes--Cromwell--Birth and Early Works--Views of Marriage--Other Prose Works--Effects of the Restoration--Estimate of his Prose

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE POETRY OF MILTON. 

 The Blind Poet--Paradise Lost--Milton and Dante--His Faults--Characteristics of the Age--Paradise Regained--His Scholarship--His Sonnets--His Death and Fame

CHAPTER XX. 

COWLEY, BUTLER, AND WALTON. 

 Cowley and Milton--Cowley's Life and Works--His Fame--Butler's Career--Hudibras--His Poverty and Death--Izaak Walton--The Angler; and Lives--Other Writers

CHAPTER XXI. 

DRYDEN, AND THE RESTORED STUARTS. 

 The Court of Charles II. --Dryden's Early Life--The Death of Cromwell--The Restoration--Dryden's Tribute--Annus Mirabilis--Absalom and Achitophel--The Death of Charles--Dryden's Conversion--Dryden's Fall--His Odes 207

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE OF THE GREAT REBELLION AND OF THE RESTORATION. 

 The English Divines--Hall--Chillingsworth--Taylor--Fuller--Sir T. Browne--Baxter--Fox--Bunyan--South--Other Writers 221

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE DRAMA OF THE RESTORATION. 

 The License of the Age--Dryden--Wycherley--Congreve--Vanbrugh-- Farquhar--Etherege--Tragedy--Otway--Rowe--Lee--Southern 233

CHAPTER XXIV. 

POPE, AND THE ARTIFICIAL SCHOOL. 

 Contemporary History--Birth and Early Life--Essay, on Criticism--Rape of the Lock--The Messiah--The Iliad--Value of the Translation--The Odyssey--Essay on Man--The Artificial School--Estimate of Pope--Other Writers 241

CHAPTER XXV. 

ADDISON, AND THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. 

 The Character of the Age--Queen Anne--Whigs and Tories--George I. --Addison: The Campaign--Sir Roger de Coverley--The Club--Addison's Hymns--Person and Literary Character 254

CHAPTER XXVI. 

STEELE AND SWIFT. 

 Sir Richard Steele--Periodicals--The Crisis--His Last Days--Jonathan Swift: Poems--The Tale of a Tub--Battle of the Books--Pamphlets--M. B. Drapier--Gulliver's Travels--Stella and Vanessa--His Character and Death 264

CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF MODERN FICTION. 

 The New Age--Daniel Defoe--Robinson Crusoe--Richardson--Pamela, and Other Novels--Fielding--Joseph Andrews--Tom Jones--Its Moral--Smollett--Roderick Random--Peregrine Pickle 280

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

STERNE, GOLDSMITH, AND MACKENZIE. 

 The Subjective School--Sterne: Sermons--Tristram Shandy--Sentimental Journey--Oliver Goldsmith--Poems: The Vicar--Histories, and Other Works--Mackenzie--The Man of Feeling 296

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE HISTORICAL TRIAD IN THE SCEPTICAL AGE. 

 The Sceptical Age--David Hume--History of England--Metaphysics--Essay on Miracles--Robertson--Histories--Gibbon--The Decline and Fall 309

CHAPTER XXX. 

SAMUEL JOHNSON AND HIS TIMES. 

 Early Life and Career--London--Rambler and Idler--The Dictionary--Other Works--Lives of the Poets--Person and Character--Style--Junius 324

CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE LITERARY FORGERS IN THE ANTIQUARIAN AGE. 

 The Eighteenth Century--James Macpherson--Ossian--Thomas Chatterton--His Poems--The Verdict--Suicide--The Cause 334

CHAPTER XXXII. 

POETRY OF THE TRANSITION SCHOOL. 

 The Transition Period--James Thomson--The Seasons--The Castle of Indolence--Mark Akenside--Pleasures of the Imagination--Thomas Gray--The Elegy. The Bard--William Cowper--The Task--Translation of Homer--Other Writers 347

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE LATER DRAMA. 

 The Progress of the Drama--Garrick--Foote--Cumberland--Sheridan--George Colman--George Colman, the Younger--Other Dramatists and Humorists--Other Writers on Various Subjects 360

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE NEW ROMANTIC POETRY: SCOTT. 

 Walter Scott--Translations and Minstrelsy--The Lay of the Last Minstrel--Other Poems--The Waverley Novels--Particular Mention--Pecuniary Troubles--His Manly Purpose--Powers Overtasked--Fruitless Journey--Return and Death--His Fame 371

CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE NEW ROMANTIC POETRY: BYRON AND MOORE. 

 Early Life of Byron--Childe Harold and Eastern Tales--Unhappy Marriage--Philhellenism and Death--Estimate of his Poetry--Thomas Moore--Anacreon--Later Fortunes--Lalla Rookh--His Diary--His Rank as Poet 384

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE NEW ROMANTIC POETRY (CONTINUED). 

 Robert Burns--His Poems--His Career--George Crabbe--Thomas Campbell--Samuel Rogers--P. B. Shelley--John Keats--Other Writers 397

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

WORDSWORTH, AND THE LAKE SCHOOL. 

 The New School--William Wordsworth--Poetical Canons--The Excursion and Sonnets--An Estimate--Robert Southey--His Writings--Historical Value--S. T. Coleridge--Early Life--His Helplessness--Hartley and H. N. Coleridge 414

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE REACTION IN POETRY. 

 Alfred Tennyson--Early Works--The Princess--Idyls of the King--Elizabeth B. Browning--Aurora Leigh--Her Faults--Robert Browning--Other Poets 428

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE LATER HISTORIANS. 

 New Materials--George Grote--History of Greece--Lord Macaulay--History of England--Its Faults--Thomas Carlyle--Life of Frederick II. --Other Historians 439

CHAPTER XL. 

THE LATER NOVELISTS AS SOCIAL REFORMERS. 

 Bulwer--Changes in Writers--Dickens's Novels--American Notes--His Varied Powers--Second Visit to America--Thackeray--Vanity Fair--Henry Esmond--The Newcomes--The Georges--Estimate of his Powers 450

CHAPTER XLI. 

THE LATER WRITERS. 

 Charles Lamb--Thomas Hood--Thomas de Quincey--Other Novelists--Writers on Science and Philosophy 466

CHAPTER XLII. 

ENGLISH JOURNALISM. 

 Roman News Letters--The Gazette--The Civil War--Later Divisions--The Reviews--The Monthlies--The Dailies--The London Times--Other Newspapers 475

Alphabetical Index of Authors

CHAPTER I. 

THE HISTORICAL SCOPE OF THE SUBJECT. 

 Literature and Science. English Literature. General Principle. Celts and Cymry. Roman Conquest. Coming of the Saxons. Danish Invasions. The Norman Conquest. Changes in Language. 

LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 

There are two words in the English language which are now used to expressthe two great divisions of mental production--_Science_ and _Literature_;and yet, from their etymology, they have so much in common, that it hasbeen necessary to attach to each a technical meaning, in order that we mayemploy them without confusion. 

_Science_, from the participle _sciens_, of _scio, scire_, to know, wouldseem to comprise all that can be known--what the Latins called the _omnescibile_, or all-knowable. 

_Literature_ is from _litera_, a letter, and probably at one remove from_lino, litum_, to anoint or besmear, because in the earlier times a tabletwas smeared with wax, and letters were traced upon it with a graver. Literature, in its first meaning, would, therefore, comprise all that canbe conveyed by the use of letters. 

But language is impatient of retaining two words which convey the samemeaning; and although science had at first to do with the fact of knowingand the conditions of knowledge in the abstract, while literature meantthe written record of such knowledge, a far more distinct sphere has beengiven to each in later times, and special functions assigned them. 

In general terms, Science now means any branch of knowledge in which mensearch for principles reaching back to the ultimate, or for facts whichestablish these principles, or are classified by them in a logical order. Thus we speak of the mathematical, physical, metaphysical, and moralsciences. 

Literature, which is of later development as at present used, comprisesthose subjects which have a relation to human life and human naturethrough the power of the imagination and the fancy. Technically, literature includes _history, poetry, oratory, the drama_, and _works offiction_, and critical productions upon any of these as themes. 

Such, at least, will be a sufficiently exact division for our purpose, although the student will find them overlapping each other's domainoccasionally, interchanging functions, and reciprocally serving for eachother's advantage. Thus it is no confusion of terms to speak of the poetryof science and of the science of poetry; and thus the great functions ofthe human mind, although scientifically distinct, co-operate in harmoniousand reciprocal relations in their diverse and manifold productions. 

ENGLISH LITERATURE. --English Literature may then be considered ascomprising the progressive productions of the English mind in the paths ofimagination and taste, and is to be studied in the works of the poets, historians, dramatists, essayists, and romancers--a long line of brilliantnames from the origin of the language to the present day. 

To the general reader all that is profitable in this study dates from theappearance of Chaucer, who has been justly styled the Father of EnglishPoetry; and Chaucer even requires a glossary, as a considerable portionof his vocabulary has become obsolete and much of it has been modified;but for the student of English literature, who wishes to understand itsphilosophy and its historic relations, it becomes necessary to ascend to amore remote period, in order to find the origin of the language in whichChaucer wrote, and the effect produced upon him by any antecedent literaryworks, in the root-languages from which the English has sprung. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLE. --It may be stated, as a general principle, that tounderstand a nation's literature, we must study the history of the peopleand of their language; the geography of the countries from which theycame, as well as that in which they live; the concurrent historic causeswhich have conspired to form and influence the literature. We shall find, as we advance in this study, that the life and literature of a people arereciprocally reflective. 

I. CELTS AND CYMRY. --Thus, in undertaking the study of English literature, we must begin with the history of the Celts and Cymry, the firstinhabitants of the British Islands of whom we have any record, who hadcome from Asia in the first great wave of western migration; a rude, aboriginal people, whose languages, at the beginning of the Christian era, were included in one family, the _Celtic_, comprising the _British_ or_Cambrian_, and the _Gadhelic_ classes. In process of time these weresubdivided thus:

 The British into _Welsh_, at present spoken in Wales. _Cornish_, extinct only within a century. _Armorican_, Bas Breton, spoken in French Brittany. The Gadhelic into _Gaelic_, still spoken in the Scottish Highlands. _Irish_, or _Erse_, spoken in Ireland. _Manx_, spoken in the Isle of Man. 

Such are the first people and dialects to be considered as the antecedentoccupants of the country in which English literature was to have itsbirth. 

II. ROMAN CONQUEST. --But these Celtic peoples were conquered by the Romansunder Cæsar and his successors, and kept in a state of servile thraldomfor four hundred and fifty years. There was but little amalgamationbetween them and their military masters. Britain was a most valuablenorthern outpost of the Roman Empire, and was occupied by large garrisons, which employed the people in hard labors, and used them for Romanaggrandizement, but despised them too much to attempt to elevate theircondition. Elsewhere the Romans depopulated, where they met with barbarianresistance; they made a solitude and called it peace--for which they gavea triumph and a cognomen to the conqueror; but in Britain, althoughharassed and endangered by the insurrections of the natives, they borewith them; they built fine cities like London and York, originallymilitary outposts, and transformed much of the country between the Channeland the Tweed from pathless forest into a civilized residence. 

III. COMING OF THE SAXONS. --Compelled by the increasing dangers andtroubles immediately around the city of Rome to abandon their distantdependencies, the Roman legions evacuated Britain, and left the people, who had become enervated, spiritless, and unaccustomed to the use of arms, a prey to their fierce neighbors, both from Scotland and from thecontinent. 

The Saxons had already made frequent incursions into Britain, while rivalRoman chieftains were contesting for pre-eminence, and, as early as thethird century, had become so troublesome that the Roman emperors wereobliged to appoint a general to defend the eastern coast, known as _comeslitoris Saxonici_, or count of the Saxon shore. [1]

These Saxons, who had already tested the goodliness of the land, came whenthe Romans departed, under the specious guise of protectors of the Britonsagainst the inroads of the Picts and Scots; but in reality to possessthemselves of the country. This was a true conquest of race--Teutonsoverrunning Celts. They came first in reconnoitring bands; then in largenumbers, not simply to garrison, as the Romans had done, but to occupypermanently. From the less attractive seats of Friesland and the basin ofthe Weser, they came to establish themselves in a charming country, already reclaimed from barbarism, to enslave or destroy the inhabitants, and to introduce their language, religion, and social institutions. Theycame as a confederated people of German race--Saxons, Angles, Jutes, andFrisians;[2] but, as far as the results of their conquest are concerned, there was entire unity among them. 

The Celts, for a brief period protected by them from their fierce northernneighbors, were soon enslaved and oppressed: those who resisted weredriven slowly to the Welsh mountains, or into Cornwall, or across theChannel into French Brittany. Great numbers were destroyed. They left fewtraces of their institutions and their language. Thus the Saxon wasestablished in its strength, and has since remained the strongest elementof English ethnography. 

IV. DANISH INVASIONS. --But Saxon Britain was also to suffer fromcontinental incursions. The Scandinavians--inhabitants of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark--impelled by the same spirit of piratical adventure which hadactuated the Saxons, began to leave their homes for foreign conquest. "Impatient of a bleak climate and narrow limits, they started from thebanquet, grasped their arms, sounded their horn, ascended their ships, andexplored every coast that promised either spoil or settlement. "[3] ToEngland they came as Danes; to France, as Northmen or Normans. They tookadvantage of the Saxon wars with the British, of Saxon national feuds, andof that enervation which luxurious living had induced in the Saxon kingsof the octarchy, and succeeded in occupying a large portion of the northand east of England; and they have exerted in language, in physical type, and in manners a far greater influence than has been usually conceded. Indeed, the Danish chapter in English history has not yet been fairlywritten. They were men of a singularly bold and adventurous spirit, as isevinced by their voyages to Iceland, Greenland, and thence to the Atlanticcoast of North America, as early as the tenth and eleventh centuries. Itis more directly to our purpose to observe their character as it isdisplayed in their conquest of the Frankish kingdom of Neustria, in theirfacile reception and ready assimilation of the Roman language and artswhich they found in Gaul, and in their forcible occupancy, under Williamthe Conqueror, of Saxon England, in 1066. 

V. THE NORMAN CONQUEST. --The vigor of the Normans had been trained, butnot weakened by their culture in Normandy. They maintained their supremacyin arms against the efforts of the kings of France. They had longcultivated intimate relations with England, and their dukes had longhankered for its possession. William, the natural son of DukeRobert--known to history and musical romance as Robert le Diable--was aman of strong mind, tenacious purpose, and powerful hand. He had obtained, by promise of Edward the Confessor, the reversion of the crown upon thedeath of that monarch; and when the issue came, he availed himself ofthat reversion and the Pope's sanction, and also of the disputedsuccession between Harold, the son of Godwin, and the true Saxon heir, Edgar Atheling, to make good his claim by force of arms. 

Under him the Normans were united, while divisions existed in the Saxonranks. Tostig, the brother of Harold, and Harald Hardrada, the King ofNorway, combined against Harold, and, just before the landing of DukeWilliam at Pevensey, on the coast of Sussex, Harold was obliged to marchrapidly northward to Stanford bridge, to defeat Tostig and the Norwegians, and then to return with a tired army of uncertain _morale_, to encounterthe invading Normans. Thus it appears that William conquered the land, which would have been invincible had the leaders and the people beenunited in its defence. 

As the Saxons, Danes, and Normans were of the same great Teutonic family, however modified by the different circumstances of movement and residence, there was no new ethnic element introduced; and, paradoxical as it mayseem, the fusion of these peoples was of great benefit, in the end, toEngland. Though the Saxons at first suffered from Norman oppression, thekingdom was brought into large inter-European relations, and a far betterliterary culture was introduced, more varied in subject, more developed inpoint of language, and more artistic. 

Thus much, in a brief historical summary, is necessary as an introductionto our subject. From all these contests and conquests there were wroughtin the language of the country important changes, which are to be studiedin the standard works of its literature. 

CHANGES IN LANGUAGE. --The changes and transformations of language may bethus briefly stated:--In the Celtic period, before the arrival of theRomans, the people spoke different dialects of the Celtic and Gadheliclanguages, all cognate and radically similar. 

These were not much affected by the occupancy of the Romans for about fourhundred and fifty years, although, doubtless, Latin words, expressive ofthings and notions of which the British had no previous knowledge, wereadopted by them, and many of the Celtic inhabitants who submitted to theseconquerors learned and used the Latin language. 

When the Romans departed, and the Saxons came in numbers, in the fifth andsixth centuries, the Saxon language, which is the foundation of English, became the current speech of the realm; adopting few Celtic words, butretaining a considerable number of the Celtic names of places, as it alsodid of Latin terminations in names. 

Before the coming of the Normans, their language, called the _Langued'oil_, or Norman French, had been very much favored by educatedEnglishmen; and when William conquered England, he tried to supplant theSaxon entirely. In this he was not successful; but the two languages wereinterfused and amalgamated, so that in the middle of the twelfth century, there had been thus created the _English language_, formed but stillformative. The Anglo-Saxon was the foundation, or basis; while the NormanFrench is observed to be the principal modifying element. 

Since the Norman conquest, numerous other elements have entered, most ofthem quietly, without the concomitant of political revolution or foreigninvasion. 

Thus the Latin, being used by the Church, and being the language ofliterary and scientific comity throughout the world, was constantly addingwords and modes of expression to the English. The introduction of Greekinto Western Europe, at the fall of Constantinople, supplied Greek words, and induced a habit of coining English words from the Greek. Theestablishment of the Hanoverian succession, after the fall of the Stuarts, brought in the practice and study of German, and somewhat of itsphraseology; and English conquests in the East have not failed tointroduce Indian words, and, what is far better, to open the way for afuller study of comparative philology and linguistics. 

In a later chapter we shall reconsider the periods referred to, in anexamination of the literary works which they contain, works produced byhistorical causes, and illustrative of historical events. 

CHAPTER II. 

LITERATURE A TEACHER OF HISTORY. CELTIC REMAINS. 

 The Uses of Literature. Italy, France, England. Purpose of the Work. Celtic Literary Remains. Druids and Druidism. Roman Writers. Psalter of Cashel. Welsh Triads and Mabinogion. Gildas and St. Colm. 

THE USES OF LITERATURE. 

Before examining these periods in order to find the literature produced inthem, it will be well to consider briefly what are the practical uses ofliterature, and to set forth, as a theme, that particular utility which itis the object of these pages to inculcate and apply. 

The uses of literature are manifold. Its study gives wholesome food to themind, making it strong and systematic. It cultivates and delights theimagination and the taste of men. It refines society by elevating thethoughts and aspirations above what is sensual and sordid, and by checkingthe grosser passions; it makes up, in part, that "multiplication ofagreeable consciousness" which Dr. Johnson calls happiness. Itsadaptations in religion, in statesmanship, in legislative and judicialinquiry, are productive of noble and beneficent results. History shows us, that while it has given to the individual man, in all ages, contemplativehabits, and high moral tone, it has thus also been a powerful instrumentin producing the brilliant civilization of mighty empires. 

A TEACHER OF HISTORY. --But apart from these its subjective benefits, ithas its highest and most practical utility as a TEACHER OF HISTORY. Ballads, more powerful than laws, shouted forth from a nation's heart, have been in part the achievers, and afterward the victorious hymns, ofits new-born freedom, and have been also used in after ages to reinspirethe people with the spirit of their ancestors. Immortal epics not onlypresent magnificent displays of heroism for imitation, but, like the Iliadand Odyssey, still teach the theogony, national policy, and social historyof a people, after the Bema has long been silent, the temples in ruin, andthe groves prostrate under the axe of repeated conquests. 

Satires have at once exhibited and scourged social faults and nationalfollies, and remained to after times as most essential materials forhistory. 

Indeed, it was a quaint but just assertion of Hare, in his "Guesses atTruth, " that in Greek history there is nothing truer than Herodotus exceptHomer. 

ITALY AND FRANCE. --Passing by the classic periods, which afford abundantillustration of the position, it would be easy to exhibit the clear anddirect historic teachings in purely literary works, by a reference to theliterature of Italy and France. The history of the age of the Guelphs andGhibellines is clearly revealed in the vision of Dante: the times of LouisXIV. Are amply illustrated by the pulpit of Massillon, Bourdaloue, andBridaine, and by the drama of Corneille, Racine, and Molière. 

ENGLISH LITERATURE THE BEST ILLUSTRATION. --But in seeking for anillustration of the position that literature is eminently a teacher andinterpreter of history, we are fortunate in finding none more strikingthan that presented by English literature itself. All the great events ofEnglish history find complete correspondent delineation in Englishliterature, so that, were the purely historical record lost, we shouldhave in the works of poetry, fiction, and the drama, correct portraituresof the character, habits, manners and customs, political sentiments, andmodes and forms of religious belief among the English people; in a word, the philosophy of English history. 

In the works of Chaucer, Spenser, Shakspeare, Dryden, and Addison, are tobe found the men and women, kings, nobles, and commons, descriptions ofEnglish nature, hints of the progress of science and advancement in art;the conduct of government, the force of prevailing fashions--in a word, the moving life of the time, and not its dry historic record. 

"Authors, " says the elder D'Israeli, "are the creators or creatures ofopinion: the great form the epoch; the many reflect the age. "Chameleon-like, most of them take the political, social, and religioushues of the period in which they live, while a few illustrate it perhapsquite as forcibly by violent opposition and invective. 

We shall see that in Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_ and in Gower's _VoxClamantis_ are portrayed the political ferments and theologicalcontroversies of the reigns of Edward III. And Richard II. Spenser decksthe history of his age in gilded mantle and flowing plumes, in his tributeto Gloriana, The Faery Queen, who is none other than Elizabeth herself. Literature partakes of the fierce polemic and religious enthusiasm whichmark the troublous times of the Civil War; it becomes tawdry, tinselled, and licentious at the Restoration, and develops into numerous classes andmore serious instruction, under the constitutional reigns of the house ofHanover, in which the kings were bad, but the nation prosperous becausethe rights of the people were guaranteed. 

Many of the finest works of English literature are _purely and directlyhistorical_; what has been said is intended to refer more particularly tothose that are not--the unconscious, undesigned teachers of history, suchas fiction, poetry, and the drama. 

PURPOSE OF THE WORK. --Such, then, is the purpose of this volume--toindicate the teachings of history in the principal productions of Englishliterature. Only the standard authors will be considered, and the studentwill not be overburdened with statistics, which it must be a part of histask to collect for himself. And now let us return to the early literatureembodied in those languages which have preceded the English on Britishsoil; or which, by their combination, have formed the English language. For, the English language may be properly compared to a stream, which, rising in a feeble source, receives in its seaward flow many tributaries, large and small, until it becomes a lordly river. The works of Englishliterature may be considered as the ships and boats which it bears uponits bosom: near its source the craft are small and frail; as it becomesmore navigable, statelier vessels are launched upon it, until, in itsmajestic and lakelike extensions, rich navies ride, freighted with wealthand power--the heavy ordnance of defence and attack, the products ofEastern looms, the precious metals and jewels from distant mines--the bestexponents of the strength and prosperity of the nation through which flowsthe river of speech, bearing the treasures of mind. 

CELTIC LITERARY REMAINS. THE DRUIDS. --Let us take up the consideration ofliterature in Britain in the order of the conquests mentioned in the firstchapter. 

We recur to Britain while inhabited by the Celts, both before and afterthe Roman occupation. The extent of influence exercised by the Latinlanguage upon the Celtic dialects cannot be determined; it seems to havebeen slight, and, on the other hand, it may be safely assumed that theCeltic did not contribute much to the world-absorbing Latin. 

The chief feature, and a very powerful one, of the Celtic polity, was_Druidism_. At its head was a priesthood, not in the present meaning ofthe word, but in the more extended acceptation which it received in themiddle ages, when it embraced the whole class of men of letters. Althoughwe have very few literary remains, the system, wisdom, and works of theDruids form one of the strong foundation-stones of English literature andof English national customs, and should be studied on that account. The_Druid_ proper was governor, judge, philosopher, expounder, andexecutioner. The _ovaidd_, or _ovates_, were the priests, chieflyconcerned in the study of theology and the practice of religion. The_bards_ were heroic poets of rare lyric power; they kept the nationaltraditions in trust, and claimed the second sight and the power ofprophecy. Much has been said of their human sacrifices in colossal imagesof wicker-work--the "_immani magnitudine simulacra_" of Cæsar--which werefilled with human victims, and which crackled and disappeared in toweringflame and columns of smoke, amid the loud chantings of the bards. The mostthat can be said in palliation of this custom is, that almost always sucha scene presented the judicial execution of criminals, invested with thesolemnities of religion. 

In their theology, _Esus_, the God Force--the Eternal Father--has for hisagents the personification of spiritual light, of immortality, of nature, and of heroism; _Camul_ was the war-god; _Tarann_ the thunder-god; _Heol_, the king of the sun, who inflames the soldier's heart, and gives vitalityto the corn and the grape. [4]

But Druidism, which left its monuments like Stonehenge, and its strongtraces in English life, now especially found in Wales and othermountainous parts of the kingdom, has not left any written record. 

ROMAN WRITERS. --Of the Roman occupancy we have Roman and Greek accounts, many of them by those who took part in the doings of the time. Among theprincipal writers are _Julius Cæsar_, _Tacitus_, _Diodorus Siculus_, _Strabo_, and _Suetonius_. 

PSALTER OF CASHEL. --Of the later Celtic efforts, almost all are in Latin:the oldest Irish work extant is called the _Psalter of Cashel_, which is acompilation of the songs of the early bards, and of metrical legends, madein the ninth century by _Cormac Mac Culinan_, who claimed to be King ofMunster and Bishop of Cashel. 

THE WELSH TRIADS. --The next of the important Celtic remains is called _TheWelsh Triads_, an early but progressive work of the Cymbric Celts. Some ofthe triads are of very early date, and others of a much later period. Thework is said to have been compiled in its present form by _Caradoc ofNantgarvan_ and _Jevan Brecha_, in the thirteenth century. It contains arecord of "remarkable men and things which have been in the island ofBritain, and of the events which befell the race of the Cymri from the ageof ages, " i. E. From the beginning. It has also numerous moral proverbs. Itis arranged in _triads_, or sets of three. 

As an example, we have one triad giving "The three of the race of theisland of Britain: _Hu Gadarn_, (who first brought the race into Britain;)_Prydain_, (who first established regal government, ) and _Dynwal Moelmud_, (who made a system of laws. )" Another triad presents "The three benevolenttribes of Britain: the _Cymri_, (who came with Hu Gadarn fromConstantinople;) the _Lolegrwys_, (who came from the Loire, ) and the_Britons_"

Then are mentioned the tribes that came with consent and under protection, viz. , the _Caledonians_, the _Gwyddelian race_, and the men of _Galedin_, who came from the continent "when their country was drowned;" the lastinhabited the Isle of Wight. Another mentions the three usurping tribes;the _Coranied_, the _Gwydel-Fichti_, (from Denmark, ) and the _Saxons_. Although the _compilation_ is so modern, most of the triads date from thesixth century. 

THE MABINOGION. --Next in order of importance of the Celtic remains must bementioned the Mabinogion, or _Tales for Youth_, a series of romantictales, illustrative of early British life, some of which have beentranslated from the Celtic into English. Among these the most elaborate isthe _Tale of Peredur_, a regular Romance of Arthur, entirely Welsh incostume and character. 

BRITISH BARDS. --A controversy has been fiercely carried on respecting theauthenticity of poems ascribed to _Aneurin_, _Taliesin_, _Llywarch Hen_, and _Merdhin_, or _Merlin_, four famous British bards of the fifth andsixth centuries, who give us the original stories respecting Arthur, representing him not as a "miraculous character, " as the later historiesdo, but as a courageous warrior worthy of respect but not of wonder. Theburden of the evidence, carefully collected and sifted by SharonTurner, [5] seems to be in favor of the authenticity of these poems. 

These works are fragmentary and legendary: they have given few elements tothe English language, but they show us the condition and culture of theBritish mind in that period, and the nature of the people upon whom theSaxons imposed their yoke. "The general spirit [of the early Britishpoetry] is much more Druidical than Christian, "[6] and in its mysteriousand legendary nature, while it has been not without value as a historicalrepresentation of that early period, it has offered rare material forromantic poetry from that day to the present time. It is on this accountespecially that these works should be studied. 

GILDAS. --Among the writers who must be considered as belonging to theCeltic race, although they wrote in Latin, the most prominent is _Gildas_. He was the son of Caw, (Alcluyd, a British king, ) who was also the fatherof the famous bard Aneurin. Many have supposed Gildas and Aneurin to bethe same person, so vague are the accounts of both. If not, they werebrothers. Gildas was a British bard, who, when converted to Christianity, became a Christian priest, and a missionary among his own people. He wasborn at Dumbarton in the middle of the sixth century, and was surnamed_the Wise_. His great work, the History of the Britons, is directlyhistorical: his account extends from the first invasion of Britain down tohis own time. 

A true Celt, he is a violent enemy of the Roman conquerors first, and thenof the Saxon invaders. He speaks of the latter as "the nefarious Saxons, of detestable name, hated alike by God and man; ... A band of devilsbreaking forth from the den of the barbarian lioness. "

The history of Gildas, although not of much statistical value, sounds aclear Celtic note against all invaders, and displays in many partscharacteristic outlines of the British people. 

ST. COLUMBANUS. --St. Colm, or Columbanus, who was born in 521, was thefounder and abbot of a monastery in Iona, one of the Hebrides, which isalso called Icolmkill--the Isle of Colm's Cell. The Socrates of thatretreat, he found his Plato in the person of a successor, St. Adamnan, whose "Vita Sancti Columbae" is an early work of curious historicalimportance. St. Adamnan became abbot in 679. 

A backward glance at the sparse and fragmentary annals of the Celticpeople, will satisfy us that they have but slight claims to an originalshare in English literature. Some were in the Celtic dialects, others inLatin. They have given themes, indeed, to later scholars, but have leftlittle trace in form and language. The common Celtic words retained inEnglish are exceedingly few, although their number has not been decided. They form, in some sense, a portion of the foundation on which thestructure of our literature has been erected, without being in any mannera part of the building itself. 

CHAPTER III. 

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE AND HISTORY. 

 The Lineage of the Anglo-Saxon. Earliest Saxon Poem. Metrical Arrangement. Periphrasis and Alliteration. Beowulf. Caedmon. Other Saxon Fragments. The Appearance of Bede. 

THE LINEAGE OF THE ANGLO-SAXON. 

The true origin of English literature is Saxon. Anglo-Saxon is the mothertongue of the English language, or, to state its genealogy moredistinctly, and to show its family relations at a glance, take thefollowing divisions and subdivisions of the

 TEUTONIC CLASS. | . --------------------+-------------------. | | | High German branch. Low German branch. Scandinavian branch. | Dead | Languages. . ----------+--------------+-------------+------------. | | | | | Gothic. Old Dutch. Anglo-Saxon. Old Frisian. Old Saxon. | English. 

Without attempting an analysis of English to find the exact proportion ofSaxon words, it must be observed that Saxon is the root-language ofEnglish; it might with propriety be called the oldest English; it has beenmanipulated, modified, and developed in its contact with otherlanguages--remaining, however, _radically_ the same--to become our presentspoken language. 

At this period of our inquiry, we have to do with the Saxon itself, premising, however, that it has many elements from the Dutch, and that itsScandinavian relations are found in many Danish words. The progress andmodifications of the language in that formative process which made it theEnglish, will be mentioned as we proceed in our inquiries. 

In speaking of the Anglo-Saxon literature, we include a consideration alsoof those works written in Latin which are products of the times, and beara part in the progress of the people and their literature. They areexponents of the Saxon mind, frequently of more value than the vernacularwritings. 

EARLIEST SAXON POEM. --The earliest literary monument in the Saxon languageis the poem called Beowulf, the author and antiquity of which are alikeunknown. It is at once a romantic legend and an instructive portraiture ofthe earliest Saxon period--"an Anglo-Saxon poetical romance, " says SharonTurner, "true in costume and manners, but with an invented story. " Beforeproceeding to a consideration of this poem, let us look for a moment atsome of the characteristics of Saxon poetry. As to its subject-matter, itis not much of a love-song, that sentiment not being one of its chiefinspirations. The Saxon imagination was inflamed chiefly by the religiousand the heroic in war. As to its handling, it abounded in metaphor andperiphrasis, suggestive images, and parables instead of direct narrative. 

METRICAL ARRANGEMENT. --As to metrical arrangement, Saxon poetry differedfrom our modern English as well as from the classical models, in thattheir poets followed no laws of metre, but arranged their vernacularverses without any distinct rules, but simply to please the ear. "To sucha selection and arrangement of words as produced this effect, they addedthe habit of frequently omitting the usual particles, and of conveyingtheir meaning in short and contracted phrases. The only artifices theyused were those of inversion and transition. "[7] It is difficult to giveexamples to those unacquainted with the language, but the followingextract may serve to indicate our meaning: it is taken from Beowulf:

 Crist waer a cennijd Cýninga wuldor On midne winter: Mære theoden! Ece almihtig! On thij eahteothan daeg Hael end gehaten Heofon ricet theard. 

 Christ was born King of glory In mid-winter: Illustrious King! Eternal, Almighty! On the eighth day Saviour was called, Of Heaven's kingdom ruler. 

PERIPHRASIS. --Their periphrasis, or finding figurative names for personsand things, is common to the Norse poetry. Thus Caedmon, in speaking ofthe ark, calls it the _sea-house, the palace of the ocean, the woodenfortress_, and by many other periphrastic names. 

ALLITERATION. --The Saxons were fond of alliteration, both in prose andverse. They used it without special rules, but simply to satisfy theirtaste for harmony in having many words beginning with the same letter; andthus sometimes making an arbitrary connection between the sentences orclauses in a discourse, e. G. :

 Firum foldan; Frea almihtig;

 The ground for men Almighty ruler. 

The nearest approach to a rule was that three words in close connectionshould begin with the same letter. The habit of ellipsis and transpositionis illustrated by the following sentence in Alfred's prose: "So doth themoon with his pale light, that the bright stars he obscures in theheavens;" which he thus renders in poetry:

 With pale light Bright stars Moon lesseneth. 

With this brief explanation, which is only intended to be suggestive tothe student, we return to Beowulf. 

THE PLOT OF BEOWULF. --The poem contains six thousand lines, in which aretold the wonderful adventures of the valiant viking Beowulf, who issupposed to have fallen in Jutland in the year 340. The Danish kingHrothgar, in whose great hall banquet, song, and dance are ever going on, is subjected to the stated visits of a giant, Grendel, a descendant ofCain, who destroys the Danish knights and people, and against whom noprotection can be found. 

Beowulf, the hero of the epic, appears. He is a great chieftain, the_heorth-geneat_ (hearth-companion, or vassal) of a king named Higelac. Heassembles his companions, goes over the road of the swans (the sea) toDenmark, or Norway, states his purpose to Hrothgar, and advances to meetGrendel. After an indecisive battle with the giant, and a fierce strugglewith the giant's mother, who attacks him in the guise of a sea-wolf, hekills her, and then destroys Grendel. Upon the death of Hrothgar hereceives his reward in being made King of the Danes. 

With this occurrence the original poem ends: it is the oldest epic poem inany modern language. At a later day, new cantos were added, which, following the fortunes of the hero, record at length that he was killed bya dragon. A digest and running commentary of the poem may be found inTurner's Anglo-Saxons; and no one can read it without discerning thehistory shining clearly out of the mists of fable. The primitive manners, modes of life, forms of expression, are all historically delineated. In itthe intimate relations between the _king_ and his people are portrayed. The Saxon _cyning_ is compounded of _cyn_, people, and _ing_, a son ordescendant; and this etymology gives the true conditions of their rule:they were popular leaders--_elected_ in the witenagemot on the death oftheir predecessors. [8] We observe, too, the spirit of adventure--a rudeknight-errantry--which characterized these northern sea-kings

 that with such profit and for deceitful glory labor on the wide sea explore its bays amid the contests of the ocean in the deep waters there they for riches till they sleep with their elders. 

We may also notice the childish wonder of a rude, primitive, but bravepeople, who magnified a neighboring monarch of great skill and strength, or perhaps a malarious fen, into a giant, and who were pleased with a poemwhich caters to that heroic mythus which no civilization can root out ofthe human breast, and which gives at once charm and popularity to everyepic. 

CAEDMON. --Next in order, we find the paraphrase of Scripture by _Caedmon_, a monk of Whitby, who died about the year 680. The period in which helived is especially marked by the spread of Christianity in Britain, andby a religious zeal mingled with the popular superstitions. The belief wasuniversal that holy men had the power to work miracles. The Bible in itsentire canon was known to few even among the ecclesiastics: treasure-houseas it was to the more studious clerics, it was almost a sealed book to thecommon people. It would naturally be expected, then, that among theearliest literary efforts would be found translations and paraphrases ofthe most interesting portions of the Scripture narrative. It was inaccordance with the spirit of the age that these productions should beattended with something of the marvellous, to give greater effect to thedoctrine, and be couched in poetic language, the especial delight ofpeople in the earlier ages of their history. Thus the writings of Caedmonare explained: he was a poor serving-brother in the monastery of Whitby, who was, or feigned to be, unable to improvise Scripture stories andlegends of the saints as his brethren did, and had recourse to a visionbefore he exhibited his fluency. 

In a dream, in a stall of oxen of which he was the appointed night-guard, an angelic stranger asked him to sing. "I cannot sing, " said Caedmon. "Sing the creation, " said the mysterious visitant. Feeling himself thusmiraculously aided, Caedmon paraphrased in his dream the Bible story ofthe creation, and not only remembered the verses when he awoke, but foundhimself possessed of the gift of song for all his days. 

Sharon Turner has observed that the paraphrase of Caedmon "exhibits muchof a Miltonic spirit; and if it were clear that Milton had been familiarwith Saxon, we should be induced to think that he owed something toCaedmon. " And the elder D'Israeli has collated and compared similarpassages in the two authors, in his "Amenities of Literature. "

Another remarkable Anglo-Saxon fragment is called _Judith_, and gives thestory of Judith and Holofernes, rendered from the Apocrypha, but withcircumstances, descriptions, and speeches invented by the unknown author. It should be observed, as of historical importance, that the manners andcharacters of that Anglo-Saxon period are applied to the time of Judith, and so we have really an Anglo-Saxon romance, marking the progress andimprovement in their poetic art. 

Among the other remains of this time are the death of _Byrhtnoth_, _TheFight of Finsborough_, and the _Chronicle of King Lear and his Daughters_, the last of which is the foundation of an old play, upon whichShakspeare's tragedy of Lear is based. 

It should here be noticed that Saxon literature was greatly influenced bythe conversion of the realm at the close of the sixth century from thepagan religion of Woden to Christianity. It displayed no longer the fiercegenius of the Scalds, inculcating revenge and promising the rewards ofWalhalla; in spirit it was changed by the doctrine of love, and in form itwas softened and in some degree--but only for a time--injured by theinfluence of the Latin, the language of the Church. At this time, also, there was a large adoption of Latin words into the Saxon, especially intheology and ecclesiastical matters. 

THE ADVENT OF BEDE. --The greatest literary character of the Anglo-Saxonperiod, and the one who is of most value in teaching us the history of thetimes, both directly and indirectly, is the man who has been honored byhis age as the _venerable Bede_ or _Beda_. He was born at Yarrow, in theyear 673; and died, after a retired but active, pious, and useful life, in735. He wrote an Ecclesiastical history of the English, and dedicated itto the most glorious King Ceowulph of Northumberland, one of the monarchsof the Saxon Heptarchy. It is in matter and spirit a Saxon work in a Latindress; and, although his work was written in Latin, he is placed among theAnglo-Saxon authors because it is as an Englishman that he appears to usin his subject, in the honest pride of race and country which heconstantly manifests, and in the historical information which he hasconveyed to us concerning the Saxons in England: of a part of the historywhich he relates he was an _eye-witness_; and besides, his work sooncalled forth several translations into Anglo-Saxon, among which that ofAlfred the Great is the most noted, and would be taken for an originalSaxon production. 

It is worthy of remark, that after the decline of the Saxon literature, Bede remained for centuries, both in the original Latin and in the Saxontranslations, a sealed and buried book; but in the later days, students ofEnglish literature and history began to look back with eager pleasure tothat formative period prior to the Norman conquest, when English polityand institutions were simple and few, and when their Saxon progenitorswere masters in the land. 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE VENERABLE BEDE AND THE SAXON CHRONICLE. 

 Biography. Ecclesiastical History. The Recorded Miracles. Bede's Latin. Other Writers. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: its Value. Alfred the Great. Effect of the Danish Invasions. 

BIOGRAPHY. 

Bede was a precocious youth, whose excellent parts commended him to BishopBenedict. He made rapid progress in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; was a deaconat the unusual age of nineteen, and a priest at thirty. It seems probablethat he always remained in his monastery, engaged in literary labor andoffices of devotion until his death, which happened while he was dictatingto his boy amanuensis, "Dear master, " said the boy, "there is yet onesentence not written. " He answered, "Write quickly. " Soon after, the boysaid, "The sentence is now written. " He replied. "It is well; you havesaid the truth. Receive my head into your hands, for it is a greatsatisfaction to me to sit facing my holy place where I was wont to pray, that I may also sitting, call upon my Father. " "And thus, on the pavementof his little cell, singing 'Glory be unto the Father, and unto the Son, and unto the Holy Ghost, ' when he had named the Holy Ghost he breathed hislast, and so departed to the heavenly kingdom. "

HIS ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. --His ecclesiastical history opens with adescription of Britain, including what was known of Scotland and Ireland. With a short preface concerning the Church in the earliest times, hedwells particularly upon the period, from the arrival of St. Augustine, in597, to the year 731, a space of one hundred and thirty-four years, duringnearly one-half of which the author lived. The principal written worksfrom which he drew were the natural history of Pliny, the Hormesta of theSpanish priest _Paulus Orosius_, and the history of Gildas. His account ofthe coming of the Anglo-Saxons, "being the traditions of the Kentishpeople concerning Hengist and Horsa, " has since proved to be fabulous, asthe Saxons are now known to have been for a long period, during the Romanoccupancy, making predatory incursions into Britain before the time oftheir reputed settlement. [9]

For the materials of the principal portions of his history, Bede wasindebted to correspondence with those parts of England which he did notvisit, and to the lives of saints and contemporary documents, whichrecorded the numerous miracles and wonders with which his pages arefilled. 

BEDE'S RECORDED MIRACLES. --The subject of these miracles has beenconsidered at some length by Dr. Arnold, [10] in a very liberal spirit; butfew readers will agree with him in concluding that with regard to somemiracles, "there is no strong _a priori_ improbability in theiroccurrence, but rather the contrary. " One of the most striking of thehistorical lessons contained in this work, is the credulity andsuperstition which mark the age; and we reason justly and conclusivelyfrom the denial of the most palpable and absurd, to the repudiation ofthe lesser demands on our credulity. It is sufficient for us that bothwere eagerly believed in his day, and thus complete a picture of the agewhich such a view would only serve to impair, if not destroy. The theologyof the age is set forth with wonderful clearness, in the numerousquestions propounded by Augustine to Gregory I. , the Bishop of Rome, andin the judicious answers of that prelate; in which may also be found thetrue relation which the Church of Rome bore to her English mission. 

We have also the statement of the establishment of the archbishoprics ofCanterbury and York, the bishopric of London, and others. 

The last chapter but one, the twenty-third, gives an important account "ofthe present state of the English nation, or of all Britain;" and thetwenty-fourth contains a chronological recapitulation, from the beginningof the year 731, and a list of the author's works. Bede produced, besideshis history, translations of many books in the Bible, several histories ofabbots and saints, books of hymns and epigrams, a treatise on orthography, and one on poetry. 

To point the student to Bede's works, and to indicate their historicteachings, is all that can be here accomplished. A careful study of hisLatin History, as the great literary monument of the Anglo-Saxon period, will disclose many important truths which lie beneath the surface, andthus escape the cursory reader. Wars and politics, of which theAnglo-Saxon chronicle is full, find comparatively little place in hispages. The Church was then peaceful, and not polemic; the monasteries weresanctuaries in which quiet, devotion, and order reigned. Another phase ofthe literature shows us how the Gentiles raged and the people wereimagining a vain thing; but Bede, from his undisturbed cell, scarcelyheard the howlings of the storm, as he wrote of that kingdom whichpromised peace and good-will. 

BEDE'S LATIN. --To the classical student, the language of Bede offers aninteresting study. The Latin had already been corrupted, and a nicediscrimination will show the causes of this corruption--the effects of theother living languages, the ignorance of the clergy, and the new subjectsand ideas to which it was applied. 

Bede was in the main more correct than his age, and his vocabulary has fewwords of barbarian origin. He arose like a luminary, and when the light ofhis learning disappeared, but one other star appeared to irradiate thegloom which followed his setting; and that was in the person and the reignof Alfred. 

OTHER WRITERS OF THIS AGE. --Among names which must pass with the meremention, the following are, after Bede, the most illustrious in this time. _Aldhelm_, Abbot of Malmesbury, who died in the year 709, is noted for hisscientific computations, and for his poetry: he is said to have translatedthe Psalms into Anglo-Saxon poetry. 

_Alcuin_, the pride of two countries, England and France, was born in theyear of Bede's death: renowned as an Englishman for his great learning, hewas invited by Charlemagne to his court, and aided that distinguishedsovereign in the scholastic and literary efforts which render his reign soillustrious. Alcuin died in 804. 

The works of Alcuin are chiefly theological treatises, but he wrote a lifeof Charlemagne, which has unfortunately been lost, and which would havebeen invaluable to history in the dearth of memorials of that emperor andhis age. 

_Alfric_, surnamed Grammaticus, (died 1006, ) was an Archbishop ofCanterbury, in the tenth century, who wrote eighty homilies, and was, inhis opposition to Romish doctrine, one of the earliest English reformers. 

_John Scotus Erigena_, who flourished at the beginning of the ninthcentury, in the brightest age of Irish learning, settled in France, and isknown as a subtle and learned scholastic philosopher. His principal workis a treatise "On the Division of Nature, " Both names, _Scotus_ and_Erigena_, indicate his Irish origin; the original _Scoti_ beinginhabitants of the North of Ireland. 

_Dunstan_, (925-988, ) commonly called Saint Dunstan, was a powerful anddictatorial Archbishop of Canterbury, who used the superstitions ofmonarch and people to enable him to exercise a marvellous supremacy in therealm. He wrote commentaries on the Benedictine rule. 

These writers had but a remote and indirect bearing upon the progress ofliterature in England, and are mentioned rather as contemporary, than asdistinct subjects of our study. 

THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE. --We now reach the valuable and purelyhistorical compilation known as the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, which is achronological arrangement of events in English history, from the birth ofChrist to the year 1154, in the reign of Henry the Second. It is the mostvaluable epitome of English history during that long period. 

It is written in Anglo-Saxon, and was begun soon after the time of Alfred, at least as a distinct work. In it we may trace the changes in thelanguage from year to year, and from century to century, as it passed fromunmixed Saxon until, as the last records are by contemporary hands, italmost melted into modern English, which would hardly trouble anEnglishman of the present day to read. 

The first part of the Chronicle is a table of events, many of themfabulous, which had been originally jotted down by Saxon monks, abbots, and bishops. To these partial records, King Alfred furnished additionalinformation, as did also, in all probability, Alfric and Dunstan. Thesewere collected into permanent form by Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, who brought the annals up to the year 891; from that date they werecontinued in the monasteries. Of the Saxon Chronicle there are no lessthan seven accredited ancient copies, of which the shortest extends to theyear 977, and the longest to 1154; the others extend to intermediatedates. 

ITS VALUE. --The value of the Chronicle as a statistic record of Englishhistory cannot be over-estimated; it moves before the student of Englishliterature like a diorama, picturing the events in succession, not withoutglimpses of their attendant philosophy. We learn much of the nation'sthoughts, troubles, mental, moral, and physical conditions, social laws, and manners. As illustrations we may refer to the romantic adventures ofKing Alfred; and to the conquest of Saxon England by William ofNormandy--"all as God granted them, " says the pious chronicler, "for thepeople's sins. " And he afterward adds, "Bishop Odo and William the Earlbuilt castles wide throughout the nation, and poor people distressed; andever after it greatly grew in evil: may the end be good when God will. "Although for the most part written in prose, the annals of several yearsare given in the alliterative Saxon verse. 

A good English translation of Bede's history, and one of the Chronicle, edited by Dr. Giles, have been issued together by Bohn in one volume ofhis Antiquarian library. To the student of English history and of Englishliterature, the careful perusal of both, in conjunction, is an imperativenecessity. 

ALFRED THE GREAT. --Among the best specimens of Saxon prose are thetranslations and paraphrases of King _Alfred_, justly called the Great andthe Truth-teller, the noblest monarch of the Saxon period. The kingdoms ofthe heptarchy, or octarchy, had been united under the dominion of Egbert, the King of Wessex, in the year 827, and thus formed the kingdom ofEngland. But this union of the kingdoms was in many respects nominalrather than really complete; as Alfred frequently subscribes himself _Kingof the West Saxons_. It was a confederation to gain strength against theirenemies. On the one hand, the inhabitants of North, South, and West Waleswere constantly rising against Wessex and Mercia; and on the other, untilthe accession of Alfred upon the death of his brother Ethelred, in 871, every year of the Chronicle is marked by fierce battles with the troopsand fleets of the Danes on the eastern and southern coasts. 

It redounds greatly to the fame of Alfred that he could find time andinclination in his troubled and busy reign, so harassed with wars by landand sea, for the establishment of wise laws, the building or rebuilding oflarge cities, the pursuit of letters, and the interest of education. Togive his subjects, grown-up nobles as well as children, the benefits ofhistorical examples, he translated the work of Orosius, a compendioushistory of the world, a work of great repute; and to enlighten theecclesiastics, he made versions of parts of Bede; of the Pastorale ofGregory the First; of the Soliloquies of St. Augustine, and of the work ofBoethius, _De Consolatione Philosophiæ_. Beside these principal works areother minor efforts. In all his writings, he says he "sometimes interpretsword for word, and sometimes meaning for meaning. " With Alfred went downthe last gleams of Saxon literature. Troubles were to accumulate steadilyand irresistibly upon the soil of England, and the sword took the place ofthe pen. 

THE DANES. --The Danes thronged into the realm in new incursions, until850, 000 of them were settled in the North and East of England. TheDanegelt or tribute, displaying at once the power of the invaders and thecowardice and effeminacy of the Saxon monarchs, rose to a large sum, andtwo millions[11] of Saxons were powerless to drive the invaders away. Inthe year 1016, after the weak and wicked reign of the besotted _Ethelred_, justly surnamed the _Unready_, who to his cowardice in paying tributeadded the cruelty of a wholesale massacre on St. Brice's Eve--since calledthe Danish St. Bartholomew--the heroic Edmund Ironsides could not stay thestorm, but was content to divide the kingdom with _Knud_ (Canute) theGreat. Literary efforts were at an end. For twenty-two years the Danishkings sat upon the throne of all England; and when the Saxon line wasrestored in the person of Edward the Confessor, a monarch not calculatedto restore order and impart strength, in addition to the internal sourcesof disaster, a new element of evil had sprung up in the power and cupidityof the Normans. 

Upon the death of Edward the Confessor, the claimants to the throne were_Harold_, the son of Godwin, and _William of Normandy_, both ignoring theclaims of the Saxon heir apparent, Edgar Atheling. Harold, as has beenalready said, fell a victim to the dissensions in his own ranks, as wellas to the courage and strength of William, and thus Saxon England fellunder Norman rule. 

THE LITERARY PHILOSOPHY. --The literary philosophy of this period does notlie far beneath the surface of the historic record. Saxon literature wasexpiring by limitation. During the twelfth century, the Saxon language wascompletely transformed into English. The intercourse of many previousyears had introduced a host of Norman French words; inflections had beenlost; new ideas, facts, and objects had sprung up, requiring new names. The dying Saxon literature was overshadowed by the strength and growth ofthe Norman, and it had no royal patron and protector since Alfred. Thesuperior art-culture and literary attainments of the South, had long beensilently making their impression in England; and it had been the custom tosend many of the English youth of noble families to France to be educated. 

Saxon chivalry[12] was rude and unattractive in comparison with thesplendid armor, the gay tournaments, and the witching minstrelsy whichsignalized French chivalry; and thus the peaceful elements of conquestwere as seductive as the force of arms was potent. A dynasty which hadruled for more than six hundred years was overthrown; a great chapter inEnglish history was closed. A new order was established, and a new chapterin England's annals was begun. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND ITS EARLIEST LITERATURE. 

 Norman Rule. Its Oppression. Its Benefits. William of Malmesbury. Geoffrey of Monmouth. Other Latin Chronicles. Anglo-Norman Poets. Richard Wace. Other Poets. 

NORMAN RULE. 

With the conquest of England, and as one of the strongest elements of itspermanency, the feudal system was brought into England; the territory wassurveyed and apportioned to be held by military tenure; to guard againstpopular insurrections, the curfew rigorously housed the Saxons at night; anew legislature, called a parliament, or talking-ground, took the place ofthe witenagemot, or assembly of the wise: it was a conquest not only inname but in truth; everything was changed by the conqueror's right, andthe Saxons were entirely subjected. 

ITS OPPRESSION. --In short, the Norman conquest, from the day of the battleof Hastings, brought the Saxon people under a galling yoke. The Norman waseverywhere an oppressor. Besides his right as a conqueror, he felt acontempt for the rudeness of the Saxon. He was far more able to govern andto teach. He founded rich abbeys; schools like those of Oxford andCambridge he expanded into universities like that of Paris. He filled alloffices of profit and trust, and created many which the Saxons had not. Inplace of the Saxon English, which, however vigorous, was greatly wantingin what may be called the vocabulary of progress, the Norman French, drawing constantly upon the Latin, enriched by the enactments ofCharlemagne and the tributes of Italy, even in its infancy a language ofsocial comity in Western Europe, was spoken at court, introduced into thecourts of law, taught in the schools, and threatened to submerge and drownout the vernacular. [13] All inducements to composition in English werewanting; delicious songs of Norman Trouvères chanted in the _Langued'oil_, and stirring tales of Troubadours in the _Langue d'oc_, carriedthe taste captive away from the Saxon, as a regal banquet lures from theplain fare of the cottage board, more wholesome but less attractive. 

ITS BENEFITS. --Had this progress continued, had this grasp of powerremained without hinderance or relaxation, the result would have been thedestruction or amalgamation of the vigorous English, so as to form aromance language similar to the French, and only different in the amountof Northern and local words. But the Norman power, without losing itstitle, was to find a limit to its encroachments. This limit was fixed, _first_, by the innate hardihood and firmness of the Saxon character, which, though cast down and oppressed, retained its elasticity; whichcherished its language in spite of Norman threats and sneers, and whichnever lost heart while waiting for better times; _secondly_, by theinsular position of Great Britain, fortified by the winds and waves, whichenabled her to assimilate and mould anew whatever came into her borders, to the discomfiture of further continental encroachments; constitutingher, in the words of Shakspeare, "... That pale, that white-faced shore, Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides, And coops from other lands her islanders;"

and, _thirdly_, to the Crusades, which, attracting the nobles toadventures in Palestine, lifted the heel of Norman oppression off theSaxon neck, and gave that opportunity, which alone was needed, to makeEngland in reality, if not in name--in thews, sinews, and mental strength, if not in regal state and aristocratic privilege--Saxon-England in all itsfuture history. Other elements are still found, but the Saxon greatlypredominates. 

The historian of that day might well bemoan the fate of the realm, as inthe Saxon Chronicle already quoted. To the philosopher of to-day, thisNorman conquest and its results were of incalculable value to England, bybringing her into relations with the continent, by enduing her with aweight and influence in the affairs of Europe which she could neverotherwise have attained, and by giving a new birth to a noble literaturewhich has had no superior in any period of the world's history. 

As our subject does not require, and our space will not warrant theconsideration of the rise and progress of French literature, before itsintroduction with the Normans into England, we shall begin with the firstfruits after its transplantation into British soil. But before doing so, it becomes necessary to mention certain Latin chronicles which furnishedfood for these Anglo-Norman poets and legendists. 

WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY. --_William of Malmesbury_, the first Latin historianof distinction, who is contemporary with the Norman conquest, wrote a workcalled the "Heroic Deeds of the English Kings, " (_Gesta Regum Anglorum_, )which extends from the arrival of the Saxons to the year 1120; another, "The New History, " (_Historia Novella_, ) brings the history down to 1142. Notwithstanding the credulity of the age, and his own earnest recital ofnumerous miracles, these works are in the main truthful, and of real valueto the historical student. In the contest between Matilda and Stephen forthe succession of the English crown, William of Malmesbury is a strongpartisan of the former, and his work thus stands side by side, for thosewho would have all the arguments, with the _Gesta Stephani_, by an unknowncontemporary, which is written in the interest of Stephen. 

GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. --More famous than the monk of Malmesbury, but by nomeans so truthful, stands _Geoffrey of Monmouth_, Archdeacon of Monmouthand Bishop of St. Asaph's, a writer to whom the rhyming chronicles andAnglo-Norman poets have owed so much. Walter, a Deacon of Oxford, it issaid, had procured from Brittany a Welsh chronicle containing a history ofthe Britons from the time of one Brutus, a great-grandson of Æneas, downto the seventh century of our era. From this, partly in translation andpartly in original creation, Geoffrey wrote his "History of the Britons. "Catering to the popular prejudice, he revived, and in part created, thedeeds of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table--fabulous heroes whohave figured in the best English poetry from that day to the present, their best presentation having been made in the Idyls of the King, (Arthur, ) by Tennyson. 

The popular philosophy of Geoffrey's work is found in the fact, that whilein Bede and in the Saxon Chronicle the Britons had not been portrayed insuch a manner as to flatter the national vanity, which seeks for remoteantecedents of greatness; under the guise of the Chronicle of Brittany, Geoffrey undertook to do this. Polydore Virgil distinctly condemns him forrelating "many fictitious things of King Arthur and the ancient Britons, invented by himself, and pretended to be translated by him into Latin, which he palms on the world with the sacred name of true history;" andthis view is substantiated by the fact that the earlier writers speak ofArthur as a prince and a warrior, of no colossal fame--"well known, butnot idolized.... That he was a courageous warrior is unquestionable; butthat he was the miraculous Mars of the British history, from whom kingsand nations shrunk in panic, is completely disproved by the temperateencomiums of his contemporary bards. "[14]

It is of great historical importance to observe the firm hold taken bythis fabulous character upon the English people, as evinced by the factthat he has been a popular hero of the English epic ever since. Spenseradopted him as the presiding genius of his "Fairy Queen, " and Miltonprojected a great epic on his times, before he decided to write theParadise Lost. 

OTHER PRINCIPAL LATIN CHRONICLERS OF THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. 

Ingulphus, Abbot of Croyland, 1075-1109: History of Croyland. Authenticitydisputed. 

William of Poictiers, 1070: Deeds of William the Conqueror, (GestaGullielmi Ducis Normannorum et Regis Anglorum. )

Ordericus Vitalis, born about 1075: general ecclesiastical history. 

William of Jumièges: History of the Dukes of Normandy. 

Florence of Worcester, died 1118: (Chronicon ex Chronicis, ) Chronicle fromthe Chronicles, from the Creation to 1118, (with two valuable additions to1141, and to 1295. )

Matthew of Westminster, end of thirteenth century (probably a fictitiousname): Flowers of the Histories, (Flores Historiarum. )

Eadmer, died about 1124: history of his own time, (Historia Novorum, sivesui seculi. )

Giraldus Cambrensis, born 1146, known as Girald Barry: numerous histories, including Topographia Hiberniæ, and the Norman conquest of Ireland; alsoseveral theological works. 

Henry of Huntingdon, first half of the twelfth century: History ofEngland. 

Alured of Rievaux, 1109-66: The Battle of the Standard. 

Roger de Hoveden, end of twelfth century: Annales, from the end of Bede'shistory to 1202. 

Matthew Paris, monk of St. Alban's, died 1259: Historia Major, from theNorman conquest to 1259, continued by William Rishanger to 1322. 

Ralph Higden, fourteenth century: Polychronicon, or Chronicle of ManyThings; translated in the fifteenth century, by John de Trevisa; printedby Caxton in 1482, and by Wynken de Worde in 1485. 

THE ANGLO-NORMAN POETS AND CHRONICLERS. --Norman literature had alreadymade itself a name before William conquered England. Short jingling talesin verse, in ballad style, were popular under the name of _fabliaux_, andfuller epics, tender, fanciful, and spirited, called Romans, or Romaunts, were sung to the lute, in courts and camps. Of these latter, Alexander theGreat, Charlemagne, and Roland were the principal heroes. 

Strange as it may seem, this _langue d'oil_, in which they were composed, made more rapid progress in its poetical literature, in the periodimmediately after the conquest, in England than at home: it flourished bythe transplantation. Its advent was with an act of heroism. Taillefer, thestandard-bearer of William at Seulac, marched in advance of the army, struck the first blow, and met his death while chanting the song ofRoland:

 Of Charlemagne and Roland, Of Oliver and his vassals, Who died at Roncesvalles. 

 De Karlemaine e de Reliant, Et d'Olivier et des vassals, Ki moururent en Renchevals. 

Each stanza ended with the war-shout _Aoi_! and was responded to by thecry of the Normans, _Diex aide, God to aid_. And this battle-song was thebold manifesto of Norman poetry invading England. It found an echowherever William triumphed on English soil, and played an important partin the formation of the English language and English literature. Newscenes and new victories created new inspiration in the poets; monarchslike Henry I. , called from his scholarship _Beauclerc_, practised andcherished the poetic art, and thus it happened that the Norman poets inEngland produced works of sweeter minstrelsy and greater historical valuethan the _fabliaux_, _Romans_, and _Chansons de gestes_ of their brethrenon the continent. The conquest itself became a grand theme for theirmuse. 

RICHARD WACE. --First among the Anglo-Norman poets stands Richard Wace, called Maistre Wace, reading clerk, (clerc lisant, ) born in the island ofJersey, about 1112, died in 1184. His works are especially to be noted forthe direct and indirect history they contain. His first work, whichappeared about 1138, is entitled _Le Brut d'Angleterre_--The EnglishBrutus--and is in part a paraphrase of the Latin history of Geoffrey ofMonmouth, who had presented Brutus of Troy as the first in the line ofBritish kings. Wace has preserved the fiction of Geoffrey, and has cateredto that characteristic of the English people which, not content withhomespun myths, sought for genealogies from the remote classic times. Wace's _Brut_ is chiefly in octo-syllabic verse, and extends to fifteenthousand lines. 

But Wace was a courtier, as well as a poet. Not content with pleasing thefancy of the English people with a fabulous royal lineage, he proceeded togratify the pride of their Norman masters by writing, in 1171, his "Romande Rou, et des Ducs de Normandie, " an epic poem on Rollo, the first Dukeof Normandy--Rollo, called the Marcher, because he was so mighty ofstature that no horse could bear his weight. This Rollo compromised withCharles the Simple of France by marrying his daughter, and accepting thattract of Neustria to which he gave the name of Normandy. He was theancestor, at six removes, of William the Conqueror, and his mighty deedswere a pleasant and popular subject for the poet of that day, when agreat-grandson of William, Henry II. , was upon the throne of England. TheRoman de Rou contains also the history of Rollo's successors: it is in twoparts; the first extending to the beginning of the reign of the thirdduke, Richard the Fearless, and the second, containing the story of theconquest, comes down to the time of Henry II. Himself. The second part hewrote rapidly, for fear that he would be forestalled by the king's poet_Benoit_. The first part was written in Alexandrines, but for the secondhe adopted the easier measure of the octo-syllabic verse, of which thispart contains seventeen thousand lines. In this poem are discerned thecraving of the popular mind, the power of the subject chosen, and thereflection of language and manners, which are displayed on every page. 

So popular, indeed, was the subject of the Brut, indigenous as it wasconsidered to British soil, that Wace's poem, already taken from Geoffreyof Monmouth, as Geoffrey had taken it, or pretended to take it from theolder chronicle, was soon again, as we shall see, to be versionized intoEnglish. 

OTHER NORMAN WRITERS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 

_Philip de Than_, about 1130, one of the Trouvères: _Li livre decréatures_ is a poetical study of chronology, and his _Bestiarie_ is asort of natural history of animals and minerals. 

_Benoit_: Chroniques des Ducs de Normandie, 1160, written in thirtythousand octo-syllabic verses, only worthy of a passing notice, because ofthe appointment of the poet by the king, (Henry II. , ) in order toforestall the second part of Wace's Roman de Rou. 

Geoffrey, died 1146: A miracle play of St. Catherine. 

Geoffrey Gaimar, about 1150: Estorie des Engles, (History of the English. )

Luc de la Barre, blinded for his bold satires by the king (Henry I. ). 

Mestre Thomas, latter part of twelfth century: Roman du Roi Horn. Probablythe original of the "Geste of Kyng Horn. "

Richard I. , (Cœur de Lion, ) died 1199, King of England: _Sirventes_ andsongs. His antiphonal song with the minstrel Blondel is said to have giveninformation of the place of his imprisonment, and procured his release;but this is probably only a romantic fiction. 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE MORNING TWILIGHT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

 Semi-Saxon Literature. Layamon. The Ormulum. Robert of Gloucester. Langland. Piers Plowman. Piers Plowman's Creed. Sir Jean Froissart. Sir John Mandevil. 

SEMI-SAXON LITERATURE. 

Moore, in his beautiful poem, "The Light of the Harem, " speaks of thatluminous pulsation which precedes the real, progressive morning:

 ... That earlier dawn Whose glimpses are again withdrawn, As if the morn had waked, and then Shut close her lids of light again. 

The simile is not inapt, as applied to the first efforts of the earlyEnglish, or Semi-Saxon literature, during the latter part of the twelfthand the whole of the thirteenth century. That deceptive dawn, or firstglimpse of the coming day, is to be found in the work of _Layamon_. Theold Saxon had revived, but had been modified and altered by contact withthe Latin chronicles and the Anglo-Norman poetry, so as to become adistinct language--that of the people; and in this language men of geniusand poetic taste were now to speak to the English nation. 

LAYAMON. --Layamon[15] was an English priest of Worcestershire, who made aversion of Wace's _Brut_, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, sopeculiar, however, in its language, as to puzzle the philologist to fixits exact date with even tolerable accuracy. But, notwithstanding theresemblance, according to Mr. Ellis, to the "simple and unmixed, thoughvery barbarous Saxon, " the character of the alphabet and the nature of therhythm place it at the close of the twelfth century, and present it asperhaps the best type of the Semi-Saxon. The poem consists partly of theSaxon alliterative lines, and partly of verses which seem to have thrownoff this trammel; so that a different decision as to its date would bereached according as we consider these diverse parts of its structure. Itis not improbable that, like English poets of a later time, Layamonaffected a certain archaism in language, as giving greater beauty andinterest to his style. The subject of the _Brut_ was presented to him asalready treated by three authors: first, the original Celtic poem, whichhas been lost; second, the Latin chronicle of Geoffrey; and, third, theFrench poem of Wace. Although Layamon's work is, in the main, atranslation of that of Wace, he has modified it, and added much of hisown. His poem contains more than thirty thousand lines. 

THE ORMULUM. --Next in value to the Brut of Layamon, is the Ormulum, aseries of metrical homilies, in part paraphrases of the gospels for theday, with verbal additions and annotations. This was the work of a monknamed _Orm_ or _Ormin_, who lived in the beginning of the thirteenthcentury, during the reign of King John and Henry III. , and it resemblesour present English much more nearly than the poem of Layamon. In hisdedication of the work to his brother Walter, Orm says--and we give hiswords as an illustration of the language in which he wrote:

 Ice hafe don swa summ thu bad Annd forthedd te thin wille Ice hafe wennd uintill Ennglissh Goddspelless hallghe lare Affterr thatt little witt tatt me Min Drihhten hafethth lenedd

 I have done so as thou bade, And performed thee thine will; I have turned into English Gospel's holy lore, After that little wit that me My lord hath lent. 

The poem is written in Alexandrine verses, which may be divided intooctosyllabic lines, alternating with those of six syllables, as in theextract given above. He is critical with regard to his orthography, as isevinced in the following instructions which he gives to his future readersand transcriber:

 And whase willen shall this booke Eft other sithe writen, Him bidde ice that he't write right Swa sum this booke him teacheth

 And whoso shall wish this book After other time to write, Him bid I that he it write right, So as this book him teacheth. 

The critics have observed that, whereas the language of Layamon shows thatit was written in the southwest of England, that of Orm manifests aneastern or northeastern origin. To the historical student, Orm disclosesthe religious condition and needs of the people, and the teachings of theChurch. His poem is also manifestly a landmark in the history of theEnglish language. 

ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER. --Among the rhyming chroniclers of this period, Robert, a monk of Gloucester Abbey, is noted for his reproduction of thehistory of Geoffrey of Monmouth, already presented by Wace in French, andby Layamon in Saxon-English. But he is chiefly valuable in that he carriesthe chronicle forward to the end of the reign of Henry III. Written inWest-country English, it not only contains a strong infusion of French, but distinctly states the prevailing influence of that language in his ownday:

 Vor bote a man couthe French, me tolth of him well lute Ac lowe men holdeth to Englyss, and to her kunde speche zute. 

 For unless a man know French, one talketh of him little; But _low_ men hold to English, and to their natural speech yet. 

The chronicle of Robert is written in Alexandrines, and, except for theFrench words incongruously interspersed, is almost as "barbarous" Saxon asthe Brut of Layamon. 

LANGLAND--PIERS PLOWMAN. --The greatest of the immediate heralds ofChaucer, whether we regard it as a work of literary art, or as an historicreflector of the age, is "The Vision of Piers Plowman, " by RobertLangland, which appeared between 1360 and 1370. It stands between theSemi-Saxon and the old English, in point of language, retaining thealliterative feature of the former; and, as a teacher of history, itdisplays very clearly the newly awakened spirit of religious inquiry, andthe desire for religious reform among the English people: it certainly wasamong the means which aided in establishing a freedom of religious thoughtin England, while as yet the continent was bound in the fetters of arigorous and oppressive authority. 

Peter, the ploughboy, intended as a representative of the common people, drops asleep on Malvern Hills, between Wales and England, and sees in hisdream an array of virtues and vices pass before him--such as Mercy, Truth, Religion, Covetousness, Avarice, etc. The allegory is not unlike that ofBunyan. By using these as the personages, in the manner of the earlydramas called the Moralities, he is enabled to attack and severely scourgethe evil lives and practices of the clergy, and the abuses which hadsprung up in the Church, and to foretell the punishment, which afterwardfell upon the monasteries in the time of Henry VIII. , one hundred andfifty years later:

 And then shall the Abbot of Abingdon, and all his issue forever, _Have a knock of a king, and incurable the wound_. 

His attack is not against the Church itself, but against the clergy. Itis to be remarked, in studying history through the medium of literature, that the works of a certain period, themselves the result of history, often illustrate the coming age, by being prophetic, or rather, asantecedents by suggesting consequents. Thus, this Vision of Piers Plowmanindicates the existence of a popular spirit which had been slowly butsteadily increasing--which sympathized with Henry II. And thepriest-trammelling "Constitutions of Clarendon, " even while it was readyto go on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas à Becket, the illustriousvictim of the quarrel between Henry and his clergy. And it points with nouncertain finger to a future of greater light and popular development, forthis bold spirit of reform was strongly allied to political rights. Theclergy claimed both spiritualities and temporalities from the Pope, and, being governed by ecclesiastical laws, were not like other Englishsubjects amenable to the civil code. The king's power was thus endangered;a proud and encroaching spirit was fostered, and the clergy becamedissolute in their lives. In the words of Piers Plowman:

 I found these freres, | For profit of hem selve; All the four orders, | Closed the gospel, Preaching the people | As hem good liked. 

And again:

 Ac now is Religion | And a loud buyer, A rider, a roamer about, | A pricker on a palfrey, A leader of love days | From manor to manor. 

PIERS PLOWMAN'S CREED. --The name of Piers Plowman and the conceit of hisVision became at once very popular. He stood as a representative of thepeasant class rising in importance and in assertion of religious rights. 

An unknown follower of Wiclif wrote a poem called "Piers Plowman's Creed, "which conveys religious truth in a formula of belief. The language and thealliterative feature are similar to those of the Vision; and theinvective is against the clergy, and especially against the monks andfriars. 

FROISSART. --Sire Jean Froissart was born about 1337. He is placed here forthe observance of chronological order: he was not an English writer, butmust receive special mention because his "Chronicles, " although written inFrench, treat of the English wars in France, and present splendid picturesof English chivalry and heroism. He lived, too, for some time in England, where he figured at court as the secretary of Philippa, queen of EdwardIII. Although not always to be relied on as an historian, his work isunique and charming, and is very truthful in its delineation of the menand manners of that age: it was written for courtly characters, and notfor the common people. The title of his work may be translated "Chroniclesof France, England, Scotland, Spain, Brittany, Gascony, Flanders, andsurrounding places. "

SIR JOHN MANDEVIL, (1300-1371. )--We also place in this general catalogue awork which has, ever since its appearance, been considered one of thecuriosities of English literature. It is a narrative of the travels ofMandevil in the East. He was born in 1300; became a doctor of medicine, and journeyed in those regions of the earth for thirty-four years. Aportion of the time he was in service with a Mohammedan army; at othertimes he lived in Egypt, and in China, and, returning to England an oldman, he brought such a budget of wonders--true and false--stories ofimmense birds like the roc, which figure in Arabian mythology and romance, and which could carry elephants through the air--of men with tails, whichwere probably orang-outangs or gorillas. 

Some of his tales, which were then entirely discredited, have beenascertained by modern travellers to be true. His work was written by himfirst in Latin, and then in French--Latin for the savans, and French forthe court--and afterward, such was the power and demand of the newEnglish tongue, that he presented his marvels to the world in an Englishversion. This was first printed by Wynken de Worde, in 1499. 

Other Writers of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, Who PrecededChaucer. 

Robert Manning, a canon of Bourne--called also Robert de Brunne:Translated a portion of Wace's _Brut_, and also a chronicle of Piers deLangtoft bringing the history down to the death of Edward I. (1307. ) He isalso supposed to be the author of a translation of the "Manuel des Pêchés, "(Handling of Sins, ) the original of which is ascribed to Bishop Grostêteof Lincoln. 

_The Ancren Riwle_, or _Anchoresses' Rule_, about 1200, by an unknownwriter, sets forth the duties of a monastic life for three ladies(anchoresses) and their household in Dorsetshire. 

Roger Bacon, (1214-1292, ) a friar of Ilchester: He extended the area ofknowledge by his scientific experiments, but wrote his Opus Magus, or_greater work_, in comparison with the Opus Minus, and numerous othertreatises in Latin. If he was not a writer in English, his name should bementioned as a great genius, whose scientific knowledge was far in advanceof his age, and who had prophetic glimpses of the future conquests ofscience. 

Robert Grostête, Bishop of Lincoln, died 1253, was probably the author ofthe _Manuel des Pêchés_, and also wrote a treatise on the sphere. 

Sir Michael Scott: He lived in the latter half of the thirteenth century;was a student of the "occult sciences, " and also skilled in theology andmedicine. He is referred to by Walter Scott as the "wondrous wizard, Michael Scott. "

Thomas of Ercildoun--called the Rhymer--supposed by Sir Walter Scott, buterroneously, as is now believed, to be the author of "Sir Tristram. "

_The King of Tars_ is the work of an unknown author of this period. 

In thus disposing of the authors before Chaucer, no attempt has been madeat a nice subdivision and classification of the character of the works, orthe nature of the periods, further than to trace the onward movement ofthe language, in its embryo state, in its birth, and in its rude buthealthy infancy. 

CHAPTER VII. 

CHAUCER, AND THE EARLY REFORMATION. 

 A New Era--Chaucer. Italian Influence. Chaucer as a Founder. Earlier Poems. The Canterbury Tales. Characters. Satire. Presentations of Woman. The Plan Proposed. 

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA. 

And now it is evident, from what has been said, that we stand upon the eveof a great movement in history and literature. Up to this time everythinghad been more or less tentative, experimental, and disconnected, alltending indeed, but with little unity of action, toward an establishedorder. It began to be acknowledged that though the clergy might write inLatin, and Frenchmen in French, the English should "show their fantasyesin such words as we learneden of our dame's tonge, " and it was equallyevident that that English must be cultivated and formed into a fittingvehicle for vigorous English thought. To do this, a master mind wasrequired, and such a master mind appeared in the person of Chaucer. It isparticularly fortunate for our historic theory that his works, constituting the origin of our homogeneous English literature, furnishforth its best and most striking demonstration. 

CHAUCER'S BIRTH. --Geoffrey Chaucer was born at London about the year 1328:as to the exact date, we waive all the discussion in which his biographershave engaged, and consider this fixed as the most probable time. Hisparentage is unknown, although Leland, the English antiquarian, declareshim to have come of a noble family, and Pitts says he was the son of aknight. He died in the year 1400, and thus was an active and observantcontemporary of events in the most remarkable century which had thus farrolled over Europe--the age of Edward III. And the Black Prince, of Crecyand Poitiers, of English bills and bows, stronger than French lances; theage of Wiclif, of reformation in religion, government, language, andsocial order. Whatever his family antecedents, he was a courtier, and asuccessful one; his wife was Philippa, a sister of Lady KatherineSwinford, first the mistress and then the wife of John of Gaunt, Duke ofLancaster. 

ITALIAN INFLUENCE. --From a literary point of view, the period of his birthwas remarkable for the strong influence of Italian letters, which firsthaving made its entrance into France, now, in natural course of progress, found its way into England. Dante had produced, ... In the darkness prest, From his own soul by worldly weights, ... 

the greatest poem then known to modern Europe, and the most imaginativeever written. Thus the Italian sky was blazing with splendor, while theWest was still in the morning twilight. The Divina Commedia was writtenhalf a century before the Canterbury Tales. 

Boccaccio was then writing his _Filostrato_, which was to be Chaucer'smodel in the Troilus and Creseide, and his _Decameron_, which suggestedthe plan of the Canterbury Tales. His _Teseide_ is also said to be theoriginal of the Knight's Tale. Petrarch, "the worthy clerke" from whomChaucer is said to have learned a story or two in Italy for his greatwork, was born in 1304, and was also a star of the first magnitude in thatItalian galaxy. 

Indeed, it is here worthy of a passing remark, that from that early timeto a later period, many of the great products of English poetry have beenwatered by silver rills of imaginative genius from a remote Italiansource. Chaucer's indebtedness has just been noticed. Spenser borrowed hisversification and not a little of his poetic handling in the Faery Queenfrom Ariosto. Milton owes to Dante some of his conceptions of heaven andhell in his Paradise Lost, while his Lycidas, Arcades, Allegro andPenseroso, may be called Italian poems done into English. 

In the time of Chaucer, this Italian influence marks the extendedrelations of English letters; and, serving to remove the trammels of theFrench, it gave to the now vigorous and growing English that opportunityof development for which it had so long waited. Out of the serfdom andobscurity to which it had been condemned by the Normans, it had sprungforth in reality, as in name, the English language. Books, few at thebest, long used in Latin or French, were now demanded by English mind, andbeing produced in answer to the demand. 

THE FOUNDER OF THE LITERATURE. --But there was still wanted a man who coulduse the elements and influences of the time--a great poet--a maker--acreator of literature. The language needed a forming, controlling, fixinghand. The English mind needed a leader and master, English imagination aguide, English literature a father. 

The person who answered to this call, and who was equal to all thesedemands, was Chaucer. But he was something more. He claimed only to be apoet, while he was to figure in after times as historian, philosopher, andartist. 

The scope of this work does not permit an examination of Chaucer'swritings in detail, but the position we have taken will be bestillustrated by his greatest work, the Canterbury Tales. Of the others, afew preliminary words only need be said. Like most writers in an earlyliterary period, Chaucer began with translations, which were extended intoparaphrases or versions, and thus his "'prentice hand" gained thepractice and skill with which to attempt original poems. 

MINOR POEMS. --His earliest attempt, doubtless, was the _Romaunt of theRose_, an allegorical poem in French, by William de Lorris, continued, after his death in 1260, by Jean de Meun, who figured as a poet in thecourt of Charles le Bel, of France. This poem, esteemed by the French asthe finest of their old romances, was rendered by Chaucer, withconsiderable alterations and improvements, into octosyllabic verse. TheRomaunt portrays the trials which a lover meets and the obstacles heovercomes in pursuit of his mistress, under the allegory of a rose in aninaccessible garden. It has been variously construed--by theologians asthe yearning of man for the celestial city; by chemists as the search forthe philosopher's stone; by jurists as that for equity, and by medical menas the attempt to produce a panacea for all human ailments. 

Next in order was his _Troilus and Creseide_, a mediæval tale, alreadyattempted by Boccaccio in his Filostrate, but borrowed by Chaucer, according to his own account, from _Lollius_, a mysterious name without anowner. The story is similar to that dramatized by Shakspeare in histragedy of the same title. This is in decasyllabic verse, arranged instanzas of seven lines each. 

The _House of Fame_, another of his principal poems, is a curiousdescription--probably his first original effort--of the Temple of Fame, animmense cage, sixty miles long, and its inhabitants the great writers ofclassic times, and is chiefly valuable as showing the estimation in whichthe classic writers were held in that day. This is also in octosyllabicverses, and is further remarkable for the opulence of its imagery and itsvariety of description. The poet is carried in the claws of a great eagleinto this house, and sees its distinguished occupants standing uponcolumns of different kinds of metal, according to their merits. The poemends with the third book, very abruptly, as Chaucer awakes from hisvision. 

"The Legend of Good Women" is a record of the loves and misfortunes ofcelebrated women, and is supposed to have been written to make amends forthe author's other unjust portraitures of female character. 

THE CANTERBURY TALES. --In order to give system to our historic inquiries, we shall now present an outline of the Canterbury Tales, in order that wemay show--

 I. The indications of a general desire in that period for a reformation in religion. 

 II. The social condition of the English people. 

 III. The important changes in government. 

 IV. The condition and progress of the English language. 

The Canterbury Tales were begun in 1386, when Chaucer was fifty-eightyears old, and in a period of comparative quiet, after the minority ofRichard II. Was over, and before his troubles had begun. They form abeautiful gallery of cabinet pictures of English society in all itsgrades, except the very highest and the lowest; and, in this respect, theysupplement in exact lineaments and the freshest coloring those compendiumsof English history which only present to us, on the one hand, the personsand deeds of kings and their nobles, and, on the other, the general lawswhich so long oppressed the lower orders of the people, and the action ofwhich is illustrated by disorders among them. But in Chaucer we find thetrue philosophy of English society, the principle of the guilds, orfraternities, to which his pilgrims belong--the character and avocation ofthe knight, squire, yeoman, franklin, bailiff, sompnour, reeve, etc. , names, many of them, now obsolete. Who can find these in our compendiums?they must be dug--and dry work it is--out of profounder histories, orfound, with greater pleasure, in poems like that of Chaucer. 

CHARACTERS. --Let us consider, then, a few of his principal characterswhich most truly represent the age and nation. 

The Tabard inn at Southwark, then a suburb of "London borough without thewalls, " was a great rendezvous for pilgrims who were journeying to theshrine of St. Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury--that Saxon archbishop whohad been murdered by the minions of Henry II. Southwark was on the highstreet, the old Roman highway from London to the southeast. A gathering ofpilgrims here is no uncommon occurrence; and thus numbers and variety makea combination of penitence and pleasure. The host of the Tabard--doubtlessa true portraiture of the landlord of that day--counts noses, that he maydistribute the pewter plates. A substantial supper smokes upon theold-fashioned Saxon-English board--so substantial that the pilgrims areevidently about to lay in a good stock, in anticipation of poor fare, thefatigue of travel, and perhaps a fast or two not set down in the calendar. As soon as they attack the viands, ale and strong wines, hippocras, pigment, and claret, are served in bright pewter and wood. There wereSaxon drinks for the commoner pilgrims; the claret was for the knight. Every one drinks at his will, and the miller, as we shall see, takes alittle more than his head can decently carry. 

First in the place of honor is the knight, accompanied by his son, theyoung squire, and his trusty yeoman. Then, in order of social rank, aprioress, a nun and three priests, a friar, a merchant, a poor scholar orclerk of Oxford, a sergeant of the law, a frankelein, a haberdasher, aweaver, a tapster, a dyer, a cook, a shipman, a doctor of physic, a wifeof Bath, a poor parson, a ploughman, a miller, a manciple or collegesteward, a reeve or bailiff, a sompnour or summoner to the ecclesiasticalcourts, a pardoner or seller of papal indulgences (one hundred and fiftyyears before Luther)--an essentially English company of many socialgrades, bound to the most popular shrine, that of a Saxon archbishop, himself the son of a London citizen, murdered two hundred years beforewith the connivance of an English king. No one can read this list withoutthinking that if Chaucer be true and accurate in his descriptions of thesepersons, and make them talk as they did talk, his delineations are ofinestimable value historically. He has been faithfully true. Like allgreat masters of the epic art, he doubtless drew them from the life; each, given in the outlines of the prologue, is a speaking portrait: even thehorses they ride are as true to nature as those in the pictures of RosaBonheur. 

And besides these historic delineations which mark the age and country, notwithstanding the loss of local and personal satire with which, to thereader of his day, the poem must have sparkled, and which time hasdestroyed for us, the features of our common humanity are so wellportrayed, that to the latest generations will be there displayed the"forth-showing instances" of the _Idola Tribus_ of Bacon, the besettingsins, frailties, and oddities of the human race. 

SATIRE. --His touches of satire and irony are as light as the hits of anaccomplished master of the small-sword; mere hits, but significant of deepthrusts, at the scandals, abuses, and oppressions of the age. LikeDickens, he employed his fiction in the way of reform, and helped toeffect it. 

Let us illustrate. While sitting at the table, Chaucer makes his sketchesfor the Prologue. A few of these will serve here as specimens of hispowers. Take the _Doctour of Physike_ who

 Knew the cause of every maladie, Were it of cold or hote or wet or drie;

who also knew

 ... The old Esculapius, And Dioscorides and eke Rufus, Old Hippocras, Rasis, and Avicen, and many other classic authorities in medicine. 

 Of his diete mesurable was he, And it was of no superfluite;

nor was it a gross slander to say of the many, His studie was but litel on the Bible. 

It was a suggestive satire which led him to hint that he was

 ... But esy of dispense; He kepte that he wan in pestilence; For gold in physike is a cordial; Therefore he loved gold in special. 

Chaucer deals tenderly with the lawyers; yet, granting his sergeant of thelaw discretion and wisdom, a knowledge of cases even "from the time ofKing Will, " and fees and perquisites quite proportional, he adds, Nowher so besy a man as he ther n' as, And yet he seemed besier than he was. 

HIS PRESENTATIONS OF WOMAN. --Woman seems to find hard judgment in thiswork. Madame Eglantine, the prioress, with her nasal chanting, herEnglish-French, "of Stratford-atte-Bow, " her legion of smalle houndes, andher affected manner, is not a flattering type of woman's character, andyet no doubt she is a faithful portrait of many a prioress of that day. 

And the wife of Bath is still more repulsive. She tells us, in theprologue to her story, that she has buried five husbands, and, buxomstill, is looking for the sixth. She is a jolly _compagnon de voyage_, hadbeen thrice to Jerusalem, and is now seeking assoil for some little sinsat Canterbury. And the host's wife, as he describes her, is not by anymeans a pleasant helpmeet for an honest man. The host is out of herhearing, or he would not be so ready to tell her character:

 I have a wif, tho' that she poore be; But of her tongue a blabbing shrew is she, And yet she hath a heap of vices mo. 

She is always getting into trouble with the neighbors; and when he willnot fight in her quarrel, she cries, ... False coward, wreak thy wif; By corpus domini, I will have thy knife, And thou shalt have my distaff and go spin. 

The best names she has for him are milksop, coward, and ape; and so wesay, with him, Come, let us pass away from this mattère. 

THE PLAN PROPOSED. --With these suggestions of the nature of the companyassembled "for to don their pilgrimage, " we come to the framework of thestory. While sitting at the table, the host proposes

 That each of you, to shorten with your way, In this viage shall tellen tales twey. 

Each pilgrim should tell two stories; one on the way to Canterbury, andone returning. As, including Chaucer and the host, there are thirty-one inthe company, this would make sixty-two stories. The one who told the beststory should have, on the return of the company to the Tabard inn, asupper at the expense of the rest. 

The host's idea was unanimously accepted; and in the morning, as they rideforth, they begin to put it into execution. Although lots are drawn forthe order in which the stories shall be told, it is easily arranged by thecourteous host, who recognizes the difference in station among thepilgrims, that the knight shall inaugurate the scheme, which he does bytelling that beautiful story of _Palamon and Arcite_, the plot of which istaken from _Le Teseide_ of Boccacio. It is received with cheers by thecompany, and with great delight by the host, who cries out, So mote I gon--this goth aright, Unbockled is the mail. 

The next in order is called for, but the miller, who has replenished hismidnight potations in the morning, and is now rolling upon his horse, swears that "he can a noble tale, " and, not heeding the rebuke of thehost, Thou art a fool, thy wit is overcome, he shouts out a vulgar story, in all respects in direct contrast to thatof the knight. As a literary device, this rude introduction of the millerbreaks the stiffness and monotony of a succession in the order of rank;and, as a feature of the history, it seems to tell us something ofdemocratic progress. The miller's story ridicules a carpenter, and thereeve, who is a carpenter, immediately repays him by telling a tale inwhich he puts a miller in a ludicrous position. 

With such a start, the pilgrims proceed to tell their tales; but not all. There is neither record of their reaching Canterbury, nor returning. Noris the completion of the number at all essential: for all practicalpurposes, we have all that can be asked; and had the work been completed, it would have added little to the historical stores which it nowindirectly, and perhaps unconsciously, offers. The number of the tales(including two in prose) is twenty-four, and great additional value isgiven to them by the short prologue introducing each of them. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

CHAUCER, (CONTINUED. )--REFORMS IN RELIGION AND SOCIETY. 

 Historical Facts. Reform in Religion. The Clergy, Regular and Secular. The Friar and the Sompnour. The Pardonere. The Poure Persone. John Wiclif. The Translation of the Bible. The Ashes of Wiclif. 

HISTORICAL FACTS. 

Leaving the pilgrims' cavalcade for a more philosophical consideration ofthe historical teachings of the subject, it may be clearly shown that thework of Chaucer informs us of a wholesome reform in religion, or, in thewords of George Ellis, [16] "he was not only respected as the father ofEnglish poetry, but revered as a champion of the Reformation. "

Let us recur briefly to the history. With William the Conqueror a greatchange had been introduced into England: under him and his immediatesuccessors--his son William Rufus, his nephew Henry I. , the usurperStephen, and Henry II. , --the efforts of the "English kings of Norman race"were directed to the establishment of their power on a strong foundation;but they began, little by little, to see that the only foundation was thatof the unconquerable English people; so that popular rights soon began tobe considered, and the accession of Henry II. , the first of thePlantagenets, was specially grateful to the English, because he was thefirst since the Conquest to represent the Saxon line, being the grandsonof Henry I. , and son of _Matilda_, niece of Edgar Atheling. In the meantime, as has been seen, the English language had been formed, the chiefelement of which was Saxon. This was a strong instrument of politicalrights, for community of language tended to an amalgamation of the Normanand Saxon peoples. With regard to the Church in England, the insulationfrom Rome had impaired the influence of the Papacy. The misdeeds andarrogance of the clergy had arrayed both people and monarch against theirclaims, as several of the satirical poems already mentioned have shown. Asa privileged class, who used their immunities to do evil and corrupt therealm, the clergy became odious to the _nobles_, whose power they sharedand sometimes impaired, and to the _people_, who could now read theirfaults and despise their comminations, and who were unwilling to payhard-earned wages to support them in idleness and vice. It was not thedoctrine, but the practice which they condemned. With the accession of thehouse of Plantagenet, the people were made to feel that the Normanmonarchy was a curse, without alloy. Richard I. Was a knight-errant and acrusader, who cared little for the realm; John was an adulterer, traitor, and coward, who roused the people's anger by first quarrelling with thePope, and then basely giving him the kingdom to receive it again as apapal fief. The nation, headed by the warlike barons, had forced the greatcharter of popular rights from John, and had caused it to be confirmed andsupplemented during the long reign of his son, the weak Henry III. 

Edward I. Was engaged in cruel wars, both in Wales and Scotland, whichwasted the people's money without any corresponding advantage. 

Edward II. Was deposed and murdered by his queen and her paramourMortimer; and, however great their crime, he was certainly unworthy andunable to control a fierce and turbulent people, already clamorous fortheir rights. These well-known facts are here stated to show theunsettled condition of things during the period when the English werebeing formed into a nation, the language established, and the earliestliterary efforts made. Materials for a better organization were at hand ingreat abundance; only proper master-builders were needed. We have seenthat everything now betokened the coming of a new era, in State, Church, and literature. 

The monarch who came to the throne in 1327, one year before the birth ofChaucer, was worthy to be the usher of this new era to England: a man ofmight, of judgment, and of forecast; the first truly _English_ monarch insympathy and purpose who had occupied the throne since the Conquest:liberal beyond all former precedent in religion, he sheltered Wiclif inhis bold invectives, and paved the way for the later encroachments uponthe papal supremacy. With the aid of his accomplished son, Edward theBlack Prince, he rendered England illustrious by his foreign wars, andremoved what remained of the animosity between Saxon and Norman. 

REFORM IN RELIGION. --We are so accustomed to refer the Reformation to thetime of Luther in Germany, as the grand religious turning-point in modernhistory, that we are apt to underrate, if not to forget, the religiousmovement in this most important era of English history. Chaucer and Wiclifwrote nearly half a century before John Huss was burned by Sigismond: itwas a century after that that Luther burned the Pope's decretals atWittenberg, and still later that Henry VIII. Threw off the papal dominionin England. But great crises in a nation's history never arrive withoutpremonition;--there are no moral earthquakes without premonitory throes, and sometimes these are more decisive and destructive than that whichgives electric publicity. Such distinct signs appeared in the age ofChaucer, and the later history of the Church in England cannot bedistinctly understood without a careful study of this period. 

It is well known that Chaucer was an adherent of John of Gaunt; that heand his great protector--perhaps with no very pious intents--favored thedoctrines of Wiclif; that in the politico-religious disturbances in 1382, incident to the minority of Richard II. , he was obliged to flee thecountry. But if we wish to find the most striking religious history of theage, we must seek it in the portraitures of religious characters andevents in his Canterbury Tales. In order to a proper intelligence ofthese, let us look for a moment at the ecclesiastical condition of Englandat that time. Connected with much in doctrine and ritual worthy to beretained, and, indeed, still retained in the articles and liturgy of theAnglican Church, there was much, the growth of ignorance and neglect, tobe reformed. The Church of England had never had a real affinity withRome. The gorgeous and sensual ceremonies which, in the indolent airs ofthe Mediterranean, were imposing and attractive, palled upon the taste ofthe more phlegmatic Englishmen. Institutions organized at Rome did notflourish in that higher latitude, and abuses were currently discussed evenbefore any plan was considered for reforming them. 

THE CLERGY. --The great monastic orders of St. Benedict, scatteredthroughout Europe, were, in the early and turbulent days, a most importantaid and protection to Christianity. But by degrees, and as they were nolonger needed, they had become corrupt, because they had become idle. TheCluniacs and Cistercians, branches of the Benedictines, are represented inChaucer's poem by the monk and prioress, as types of bodies which neededreform. 

The Grandmontines, a smaller branch, were widely known for their foppery:the young monks painted their cheeks, and washed and covered their beardsat night. The cloisters became luxurious, and sheltered, and, what isworse, sanctioned lewdness and debauchery. 

There was a great difference indeed between the _regular_ clergy, orthose belonging to orders and monasteries, and the _secular_ clergy orparish priests, who were far better; and there was a jealous feud betweenthem. There was a lamentable ignorance of the Scripture among the clergy, and gross darkness over the people. The paraphrases of Caedmon, thetranslations of Bede and Alfred, the rare manuscripts of the Latin Bible, were all that cast a faint ray upon this gloom. The people could not readLatin, even if they had books; and the Saxon versions were almost in aforeign language. Thus, distrusting their religious teachers, thoughtfulmen began to long for an English version of that Holy Book which containsall the words of eternal life. And thus, while the people were becomingmore clamorous for instruction, and while Wiclif was meditating the greatboon of a translated Bible, which, like a noonday sun, should irradiatethe dark places and disclose the loathsome groups and filthymanifestations of cell and cloister, Chaucer was administering thewholesome medicine of satire and contempt. He displays the typical monkgiven up to every luxury, the costly black dress with fine fur edgings, the love-knot which fastens his hood, and his preference for pricking andhunting the hare, over poring into a stupid book in a cloister. 

THE FRIAR AND THE SOMPNOUR. --His satire extends also to the friar, who hasnot even that semblance of virtue which is the tribute of the hypocrite toour holy faith. He is not even the demure rascal conceived by Thomson inhis Castle of Indolence:

 ... The first amid the fry, * * * * *

 A little round, fat, oily man of God, Who had a roguish twinkle in his eye, When a tight maiden chanced to trippen by, * * * * *

 Which when observed, he shrunk into his mew, And straight would recollect his piety anew. 

But Chaucer's friar is a wanton and merry scoundrel, taking everylicense, kissing the wives and talking love-talk to the girls in hiswanderings, as he begs for his Church and his order. His hood is stuffedwith trinkets to give them; he is worthily known as the best beggar of hishouse; his eyes alight with wine, he strikes his little harp, trolls outfunny songs and love-ditties. Anon, his frolic over, he preaches to thecollected crowd violent denunciations of the parish priest, within thevery limits of his parish. The very principles upon which these mendicantorders were established seem to be elements of evil. That they might bebetter than the monks, they had no cloisters and magnificent gardens, withlittle to do but enjoy them. Like our Lord, they were generally without aplace to lay their heads; they had neither purse nor scrip. But instead ofsanctifying, the itinerary was their great temptation and final ruin. Nothing can be conceived better calculated to harden the heart and todestroy the fierce sensibilities of our nature than to be a beggar and awanderer. So that in our retrospective glance, we may pity while wecondemn "the friar of orders gray. " With a delicate irony in Chaucer'spicture, is combined somewhat of a liking for this "worthy limitour. "[17]

In the same category of contempt for the existing ecclesiastical system, Chaucer places the sompnour, or summoner to the Church courts. Of hisfire-red face, scattered beard, and the bilious knobs on his cheeks, "children were sore afraid. " The friar, in his tale, represents him as inleague with the devil, who carries him away. He is a drinker of strongwines, a conniver at evil for bribes: for a good sum he would teach "afelon"

 ... Not to have none awe In swiche a case of the archdeacon's curse. 

To him the Church system was nothing unless he could make profit of it. 

THE PARDONERE. --Nor is his picture of the pardoner, or vender ofindulgences, more flattering. He sells--to the great contempt of thepoet--a piece of the Virgin's veil, a bit of the sail of St. Peter's boat, holy pigges' bones, and with these relics he made more money in eachparish in one day than the parson himself in two months. 

Thus taking advantage of his plot to ridicule these characters, and tomake them satirize each other--as in the rival stories of the sompnour andfriar--he turns with pleasure from these betrayers of religion, to show usthat there was a leaven of pure piety and devotion left. 

THE POOR PARSON. --With what eager interest does he portray the lovelycharacter of the _poor parson_, the true shepherd of his little flock, inthe midst of false friars and luxurious monks!--poor himself, but

 Riche was he of holy thought and work, * * * * *

 That Cristes gospel truely wolde preche, His parishers devoutly wolde teche. 

 * * * * *

 Wide was his parish and houses fer asonder, But he left nought for ne rain no thonder, In sickness and in mischief to visite The ferrest in his parish, moche and lite. Upon his fete, and in his hand a staf, This noble example to his shepe he yaf, That first he wrought and afterward he taught. 

Chaucer's description of the poor parson, which loses much by beingcurtailed, has proved to be a model for all poets who have drawn thelikeness of an earnest pastor from that day to ours, among whom areHerbert, Cowper, Goldsmith, and Wordsworth; but no imitation has equalledthis beautiful model. When urged by the host, Tell us a fable anon, for cocke's bones, he quotes St. Paul to Timothy as rebuking those who tell fables; and, disclaiming all power in poetry, preaches them such a stirring discourseupon penance, contrition, confession, and the seven deadly sins, withtheir remedies, as must have fallen like a thunderbolt upon this careless, motly crew; and has the additional value of giving us Chaucer's epitome ofsound doctrine in that bigoted and ignorant age: and, eminently sound andholy as it is, it rebukes the lewdness of the other stories, and, in pointof morality, neutralizes if it does not justify the lewd teachings of thework, or in other words, the immorality of the age. This is the parson'sown view: his story is the last which is told, and he tells us, in theprologue to his sermon:

 To knitte up all this feste, and make an ende; And Jesu for his grace wit me sende To showen you the way in this viage Of thilke parfit glorious pilgrimage, That hight Jerusalem celestial. 

In an addendum to this discourse, which brings the Canterbury Tales to anabrupt close, and which, if genuine, as the best critics think it, wasadded some time after, Chaucer takes shame to himself for his lewdstories, repudiates all his "translations and enditinges of worldlyvanitees, " and only finds pleasure in his translations of Boethius, hishomilies and legends of the saints; and, with words of penitence, he hopesthat he shall be saved "atte the laste day of dome. "

JOHN WICLIF. [18]--The subject of this early reformation so clearly setforth in the stories of Chaucer, cannot be fully illustrated without aspecial notice of Chaucer's great contemporary and co-worker, John Wiclif. 

What Chaucer hints, or places in the mouths of his characters, withapparently no very serious intent, Wiclif, himself a secular priest, proclaimed boldly and as of prime importance, first from his professor'schair at Oxford, and then from his forced retirement at Lutterworth, wherehe may well have been the model of Chaucer's poor parson. 

Wiclif was born in 1324, four years before Chaucer. The same abuses whichcalled forth the satires of Langland and Chaucer upon monk and friar, andwhich, if unchecked, promised universal corruption, aroused themartyr-zeal of Wiclif; and similar reproofs are to be found in his workentitled "Objections to Friars, " and in numerous treatises from his penagainst many of the doctrines and practices of the Church. 

Noted for his learning and boldness, he was sent by Edward III. One of anembassy to Bruges, to negotiate with the Pope's envoys concerningbenefices held in England by foreigners. There he met John of Gaunt, theDuke of Lancaster. This prince, whose immediate descendants were to playso prominent a part in later history, was the fourth son of Edward III. Bythe death of the Black Prince, in 1376, and of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, in 1368, he became the oldest remaining child of the king, and the fatherof the man who usurped the throne of England and reigned as Henry IV. Theinfluence of Lancaster was equal to his station, and he extended hisprotection to Wiclif. This, combined with the support of Lord Percy, theMarshal of England, saved the reformer from the stake when he was triedbefore the Bishop, of London on a charge of heresy, in 1377. He was againbrought before a synod of the clergy at Lambeth, in 1378, but such was thefavor of the populace in his behalf, and such, too, the weakness of thepapal party, on account of a schism which had resulted in the election oftwo popes, that, although his opinions were declared heretical, he was notproceeded against. 

After this, although almost sick to death, he rose from what his enemieshad hoped would be his death-bed, to "again declare the evil deeds of thefriars. " In 1381, he lectured openly at Oxford against the doctrine oftransubstantiation; and for this, after a presentment by the Church--and apartial recantation, or explaining away--even the liberal king thoughtproper to command that he should retire from the university. Thus, duringhis latter years, he lived in retirement at his little parish ofLutterworth, escaping the dangers of the troublous time, and dying--struckwith paralysis at his chancel--in 1384, sixteen years before Chaucer. 

TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. --The labors of Wiclif which produced the mostimportant results, were not his violent lectures as a reformer, but thetranslation of the Bible into English, the very language of the commonpeople, greatly to the wrath of the hierarchy and its political upholders. This, too, is his chief glory: as a reformer he went too fast and too far;he struck fiercely at the root of authority, imperilling what was good, inhis attack upon what was evil. In pulling up the tares he endangered thewheat, and from him, as a progenitor, came the Lollards, a fanatical, violent, and revolutionary sect. 

But his English Bible, the parent of the later versions, cannot be toohighly valued. For the first time, English readers could search the wholeScriptures, and judge for themselves of doctrine and authority: there theycould learn how far the traditions and commandments of men had encrustedand corrupted the pure word of truth. Thus the greatest impulsion wasgiven to a reformation in doctrine; and thus, too, the exclusiveness andarrogance of the clergy received the first of many sledge-hammer blowswhich were to result in their confusion and discomfiture. 

"If, " says Froude, [19] "the Black Prince had lived, or if Richard II. Hadinherited the temper of the Plantagenets, the ecclesiastical system wouldhave been spared the misfortune of a longer reprieve. "

THE ASHES OF WICLIF. --The vengeance which Wiclif escaped during his lifewas wreaked upon his bones. In 1428, the Council of Constance ordered thatif his bones could be distinguished from those of other, faithful people, they should "be taken out of the ground and thrown far off from Christianburial. " On this errand the Bishop of Lincoln came with his officials toLutterworth, and, finding them, burned them, and threw the ashes into thelittle stream called the Swift. Fuller, in his Church History, adds: "Thusthis brook has conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn intothe narrow seas, they into the main ocean; and thus the ashes of Wiclifare the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the worldover;" or, in the more carefully selected words of an English laureate ofmodern days, [20]

 ... This deed accurst, An emblem yields to friends and enemies, How the bold teacher's doctrine, _sanctified By truth_, shall spread, throughout the world dispersed. 

CHAPTER IX. 

CHAUCER (CONTINUED. )--PROGRESS OF SOCIETY, AND OF LANGUAGES. 

 Social Life. Government. Chaucer's English. His Death. Historical Facts. John Gower. Chaucer and Gower. Gower's Language. Other Writers. 

SOCIAL LIFE. 

A few words must suffice to suggest to the student what may be learned, asto the condition of society in England, from the Canterbury Tales. 

All the portraits are representatives of classes. But an inquiry into thesocial life of the period will be more systematic, if we look first at thenature and condition of chivalry, as it still existed, although on the eveof departure, in England. This is found in the portraits of certain ofChaucer's pilgrims--the knight, the squire, and the yeoman; and in thespecial prologues to the various tales. The _knight_, as therepresentative of European chivalry, comes to us in name at least from theGerman forests with the irrepressible Teutons. _Chivalry_ in its rudeform, however, was destined to pass through a refining and modifyingprocess, and to obtain its name in France. Its Norman characteristic isfound in the young _ecuyer_ or squire, of Chaucer, who aspires to equalhis father in station and renown; while the English type of theman-at-arms (_l'homme d'armes_) is found in their attendant yeoman, the_tiers état_ of English chivalry, whose bills and bows served Edward III. At Cressy and Poictiers, and, a little later, made Henry V. Of Englandking of France in prospect, at Agincourt. Chivalry, in its palmy days, was an institution of great merit and power; but its humanizing purposenow accomplished, it was beginning to decline. 

What a speaking picture has Chaucer drawn of the knight, brave as a lion, prudent in counsel, but gentle as a woman. His deeds of valor had beenachieved, not at Cressy and Calais, but--what both chieftain and poetesteemed far nobler warfare--in battle with the infidel, at Algeçiras, inPoland, in Prussia, and Russia. Thrice had he fought with sharp lances inthe lists, and thrice had he slain his foe; yet he was

 Of his port as meke as is a mayde; He never yet no vilainie ne sayde In all his life unto ne manere wight, He was a very parfit gentil knight. 

The entire paradox of chivalry is here presented by the poet. For, thoughChaucer's knight, just returned from the wars, is going to show hisdevotion to God and the saints by his pilgrimage to the hallowed shrine atCanterbury, when he is called upon for his story, his fancy flies to theold romantic mythology. Mars is his god of war, and Venus his mother ofloves, and, by an anachronism quite common in that day, Palamon and Arciteare mediæval knights trained in the school of chivalry, and aflame, inknightly style, with the light of love and ladies' eyes. Theseincongruities marked the age. 

Such was the flickering brightness of chivalry in Chaucer's time, eventhen growing dimmer and more fitful, and soon to "pale its ineffectualfire" in the light of a growing civilization. Its better principles, whichwere those of truth, virtue, and holiness, were to remain; but its forms, ceremonies, and magnificence were to disappear. 

It is significant of social progress, and of the levelling influence ofChristianity, that common people should do their pilgrimage with communityof interest as well as danger, and in easy, tale-telling conference withthose of higher station. The franklin, with white beard and red face, hasbeen lord of the sessions and knight of the shire. The merchant, withforked beard and Flaundrish beaver hat, discourses learnedly of taxes andship-money, and was doubtless drawn from an existing original, the type ofa class. Several of the personages belong to the guilds which were sofamous in London, and

 Were alle yclothed in o livere Of a solempne and grete fraternite. 

GOVERNMENT. --Closely connected with this social progress, was the progressin constitutional government, the fruit of the charters of John and HenryIII. After the assassination of Edward II. By his queen and her paramour, there opened upon England a new historic era, when the bold and energeticEdward III. Ascended the throne--an era reflected in the poem of Chaucer. The king, with Wiclif's aid, checked the encroachments of the Church. Heincreased the representation of the people in parliament, and--perhaps thegreatest reform of all--he divided that body into two houses, the peersand the commons, giving great consequence to the latter in the conduct ofthe government, and introducing that striking feature of Englishlegislation, that no ministry can withstand an opposition majority in thelower house; and another quite as important, that no tax should be imposedwithout its consent. The philosophy of these great facts is to be found inthe democratic spirit so manifest among the pilgrims; a spirit temperedwith loyalty, but ready, where their liberties were encroached upon, toact with legislative vigor, as well as individual boldness. 

Not so directly, but still forcibly, does Chaucer present the results ofEdward's wars in France, in the status of the knight, squire, and yeoman, and of the English sailor, and in the changes introduced into the languageand customs of the English thereby. 

CHAUCER'S ENGLISH. --But we are to observe, finally, that Chaucer is thetype of progress in the language, giving it himself the momentum whichcarried it forward with only technical modifications to the days ofSpenser and the Virgin Queen. The _House of Fame_ and other minor poemsare written in the octosyllabic verse of the Trouvères, but the_Canterbury Tales_ give us the first vigorous English handling of thedecasyllabic couplet, or iambic pentameter, which was to become sopolished an instrument afterward in the hands of Dryden and Pope. TheEnglish of all the poems is simple and vernacular. 

It is known that Dante had at first intended to compose the DivinaCommedia in Latin. "But when, " he said to the sympathizing Frate Ilario, "I recalled the condition of the present age, and knew that those generousmen for whom, in better days, these things were written, had abandoned(_ahi dolore_) the liberal arts into vulgar hands, I threw aside thedelicate lyre which armed my flank, and attuned another more befitting theears of moderns. " It seems strange that he should have thus regretted whatto us seems a noble and original opportunity of double creation--poem andlanguage. What Dante thus bewailed was his real warrant for immortality. Had he written his great work in Latin, it would have been consigned, withthe Italian latinity of the middle ages, to oblivion; while his Tuscanstill delights the ear of princes and lazzaroni. Professorships of theDivina Commedia are instituted in Italian universities, and men areconsidered accomplished when they know it by heart. 

What Dante had done, not without murmuring, Chaucer did more cheerfully inEngland. Claimed by both universities as a collegian, perhaps withouttruth, he certainly was an educated man, and must have been sorely temptedby Latin hexameters; but he knew his mission, and felt his power. With amaster hand he moulded the language. He is reproached for havingintroduced "a wagon-load of foreign words, " i. E. Norman words, which, although frowned upon by some critics, were greatly needed, were eagerlyadopted, and constituted him the "well of English undefiled, " as he wascalled by Spenser. It is no part of our plan to consider Chaucer'slanguage or diction, a special study which the reader can pursue forhimself. Occleve, in his work "_De Regimine Principium"_ calls him "thehonour of English tonge, " "floure of eloquence, " and "universal fadir inscience, " and, above all, "the firste findere of our faire language. " ToLydgate he was the "Floure of Poetes throughout all Bretaine. " Measured byour standard, he is not always musical, "and, " in the language of Dryden, "many of his verses are lame for want of half a foot, and sometimes awhole one;" but he must be measured by the standards of his age, by thejudgment of his contemporaries, and by a thorough intelligence of thelanguage as he found it and as he left it. Edward III. , a practicalreformer in many things, gave additional importance to English, byrestoring it in the courts of law, and administering justice to the peoplein their own tongue. When we read of the _English_ kings of this earlyperiod, it is curious to reflect that these monarchs, up to the time ofEdward I. , spoke French as their vernacular tongue, while English had onlybeen the mixed, corrupted language of the lower classes, which was nowbrought thus by king and poet into honorable consideration. 

HIS DEATH. --Chaucer died on the 25th of October, 1400, in his littletenement in the garden of St. Mary's Chapel, Westminster, and left hisworks and his fame to an evil and unappreciative age. His monument was noterected until one hundred and fifty-six years afterward, by NicholasBrigham. It stands in the "poets' corner" of Westminster Abbey, and hasbeen the nucleus of that gathering-place of the sacred dust which onceenclosed the great minds of England. The inscription, which justly styleshim "Anglorum vates ter maximus, " is not to be entirely depended upon asto the "annus Domini, " or "tempora vitae, " because of the turbulent anddestructive reigns that had intervened--evil times for literary effort, and yet making material for literature and history, and producing thatwonderful magician, the printing-press, and paper, by means of which theformer things might be disseminated, and Chaucer brought nearer to us thanto them. 

HISTORICAL FACTS. --The year before Chaucer died, Richard II. Was starvedin his dungeon. Henry, the son of John of Gaunt, represented theusurpation of Lancaster, and the realm was convulsed with the revolts ofrival aristocracy; and, although Prince Hal, or Henry V. , warred withentire success in France, and got the throne of that kingdom away fromCharles VI. , (the Insane, ) he died leaving to his infant son, Henry VI. , an inheritance which could not be secured. The rival claimant of York, Edward IV. , had a strong party in the kingdom: then came the wars of theRoses; the murders and treason of Richard III. ; the sordid valor of HenryVII. ; the conjugal affection of Henry VIII. ; the great religiousearthquake all over Europe, known as the Reformation; constituting alltogether an epoch too stirring and unsettled to permit literature toflourish; an epoch which gave birth to no great poet or mighty master, butwhich contained only the seeds of things which were to germinate andflourish in a kindlier age. 

In closing this notice of Chaucer, it should be remarked that no Englishpoet has been more successful in the varied delineation of character, orin fresh and charming pictures of Nature. Witty and humorous, sententiousand didactic, solemn and pathetic, he not only pleases the fancy, buttouches the heart. 

JOHN GOWER. --Before entering upon the barren period from Chaucer toSpenser, however, there is one contemporary of Chaucer whom we must notomit to mention; for his works, although of little literary value, arehistorical signs of the times: this is _John Gower_, styled variously SirJohn and Judge Gower, as he was very probably both a knight and a justice. He seems to owe most of his celebrity to his connection, however slight, with Chaucer; although there is no doubt of his having been held in goodrepute by the literary patrons and critics of his own age. His fame restsupon three works, or rather three parts of one scheme--_SpeculumMeditantis_, _Vox Clamantis_, and _Confessio Amantis_. The first of these, _the mirror of one who meditates_, was in French verse, and was, in themain, a treatise upon virtue and repentance, with inculcations to conjugalfidelity much disregarded at that time. This work has been lost. The _VoxClamantis_, or _voice of one crying in the wilderness_, is directlyhistorical, being a chronicle, in Latin elegiacs, of the popular revoltsof Wat Tyler in the time of Richard II. , and a sermon on fatalism, which, while it calls for a reformation in the clergy, takes ground againstWiclif, his doctrines, and adherents. In the later books he discusses themilitary and the lawyers; and thus he is the voice of one crying, like theBaptist in the wilderness, against existing abuses and for the advent of abetter order. The _Confessio Amantis_, now principally known because itcontains a eulogium of Chaucer, which in his later editions he left out, is in English verse, and was composed at the instance of Richard II. Thegeneral argument of this Lover's Confession is a dialogue between thelover and a priest of Venus, who, in the guise of a confessor, applies thebreviary of the Church to the confessions of love. [21] The poem isinterspersed with introductory or recapitulatory Latin verses. 

CHAUCER AND GOWER. --That there was for a time a mutual admiration betweenChaucer and Gower, is shown by their allusion to each other. In thepenultimate stanza of the Troilus and Creseide, Chaucer calls him "OMorall Gower, " an epithet repeated by Dunbar, Hawes, and other writers;while in the _Confessio Amantis_, Gower speaks of Chaucer as his discipleand poet, and alludes to his poems with great praise. That they were atany time alienated from each other has been asserted, but the bestcommentators agree in thinking without sufficient grounds. 

The historical teachings of Gower are easy to find. He states truthswithout parable. His moral satires are aimed at the Church corruptions ofthe day, and yet are conservative; and are taken, says Berthelet, in hisdedication of the Confessio to Henry VIII. , not only out of "poets, orators, historic writers, and philosophers, but out of the HolyScripture"--the same Scripture so eloquently expounded by Chaucer, andtranslated by Wiclif. Again, Gower, with an eye to the present rather thanto future fame, wrote in three languages--a tribute to the Church in hisLatin, to the court in his French, and to the progressive spirit of theage in his English. The latter alone is now read, and is the basis of hisfame. Besides three poems, he left, among his manuscripts, fifty Frenchsonnets, (cinquantes balades, ) which were afterward printed by hisdescendant, Lord Gower, Duke of Sutherland. 

GOWER'S LANGUAGE. --Like Chaucer, Gower was a reformer in language, and wasaccused by the "severer etymologists of having corrupted the purity of theEnglish by affecting to introduce so many foreign words and phrases;" buthe has the tribute of Sir Philip Sidney (no mean praise) that Chaucer andhimself were the leaders of a movement, which others have followed, "tobeautifie our mother tongue, " and thus the _Confessio Amantis_ ranks asone of the formers of our language, in a day when it required much moralcourage to break away from the trammels of Latin and French, and at thesame time to compel them to surrender their choicest treasures to theEnglish. 

Gower was born in 1325 or 1326, and outlived Chaucer. It has beengenerally believed that Chaucer was his poetical pupil. The only evidenceis found in the following vague expression of Gower in the ConfessioAmantis:

 And greet well Chaucer when ye meet As _my disciple_ and my poete. For in the flower of his youth, In sondry wise as he well couth, Of ditties and of songes glade The which he for my sake made. 

It may have been but a patronizing phrase, warranted by Gower's superiorrank and station; for to the modern critic the one is the uprising sun, and the other the pale star scarcely discerned in the sky. Gower died in1408, eight years after his more illustrious colleague. 

OTHER WRITERS OF THE PERIOD OF CHAUCER. 

John Barbour, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, a Scottish poet, born about 1320:wrote a poem concerning the deeds of King Robert I. In achieving theindependence of Scotland. It is called _Broite_ or _Brute_, and in it, inimitation of the English, he traces the Scottish royal lineage to Brutus. Although by no means equal to Chaucer, he is far superior to any otherEnglish poet of the time, and his language is more intelligible at thepresent day than that of Chaucer or Gower. Sir Walter Scott has borrowedfrom Barbour's poem in his "Lord of the Isles. "

Blind Harry--name unknown: wrote the adventures of Sir William Wallace, about 1460. 

James I. Of Scotland, assassinated at Perth, in 1437. He wrote "The KingsQuhair, " (Quire or Book, ) describing the progress of his attachment to thedaughter of the Earl of Somerset, while a prisoner in England, during thereign of Henry IV. 

Thomas Occleve, flourished about 1420. His principal work is in Latin; DeRegimine Principum, (concerning the government of princes. )

John Lydgate, flourished about 1430: wrote _Masks_ and _Mummeries_, andnine books of tragedies translated from Boccaccio. 

Robert Henryson, flourished about 1430: Robin and Makyne, a pastoral; anda continuation of Chaucer's Troilus and Creseide, entitled "The Testamentof Fair Creseide. "

William Dunbar, died about 1520: the greatest of Scottish poets, called"The Chaucer of Scotland. " He wrote "The Thistle and the Rose, " "TheDance, " and "The Golden Targe. "

CHAPTER X. 

THE BARREN PERIOD BETWEEN CHAUCER AND SPENSER. 

 Greek Literature. Invention of Printing. Caxton. Contemporary History. Skelton. Wyatt. Surrey. Sir Thomas More. Utopia, and other Works. Other Writers. 

THE STUDY OF GREEK LITERATURE. 

Having thus mentioned the writers whom we regard as belonging to theperiod of Chaucer, although some of them, like Henryson and Dunbar, flourished at the close of the fifteenth century, we reach those of thatliterary epoch which may be regarded as the transition state betweenChaucer and the age of Elizabeth: an epoch which, while it produced nogreat literary work, and is irradiated by no great name, was, however, atime of preparation for the splendid advent of Spenser and Shakspeare. 

Incident to the dangers which had so long beset the Eastern or ByzantineEmpire, which culminated in the fall of Constantinople--and to the gradualbut steady progress of Western Europe in arts and letters, which made it awelcome refuge for the imperilled learning of the East--Greek letters camelike a fertilizing flood across the Continent into England. The philosophyof Plato, the power of the Athenian drama, and the learning of theStagyrite, were a new impulse to literature. Before the close of thefifteenth century, Greek was taught at Oxford, and men marvelled as theyread that "musical and prolific language, that gives a soul to the objectsof sense, and a body to the abstractions of philosophy, " a knowledge ofwhich had been before entirely lost in the West. Thus was perfected whatis known as the revival of letters, when classical learning came to enrichand modify the national literatures, if it did temporarily retard thevernacular progress. The Humanists carried the day against theObscurantists; and, as scholarship had before consisted in a thoroughknowledge of Latin, it now also included a knowledge of Greek, whichpresented noble works of poetry, eloquence, and philosophy, and gave us anew idiom for the terminologies of science. 

INVENTION OF PRINTING. --Nor was this all. This great wealth of learningwould have still remained a dead letter to the multitude, and, in themain, a useless treasure even to scholars, had it not been for a simpleyet marvellous invention of the same period. In Germany, some obscuremechanics, at Harlem, at Mayence, and at Strasbourg, were at work upon amachine which, if perfected, should at once extend letters a hundred-fold, and by that process revolutionize literature. The writers before, few asthey were, had been almost as numerous as the readers; hereafter thereaders were to increase in a geometrical proportion, and each greatwriter should address millions. Movable types, first of wood and then ofmetal, were made, the latter as early as 1441. Schœffer, Guttenberg, andFaust brought them to such perfection that books were soon printed andissued in large numbers. But so slowly did the art travel, partly onaccount of want of communication, and partly because it was believed topartake of necromancy, and partly, too, from the phlegmatic character ofthe English people, that thirty years elapsed before it was brought intoEngland. The art of printing came in response to the demand of an age ofprogress: it was needed before; it was called for by the increasing numberof readers, and when it came it multiplied that number largely. 

WILLIAM CAXTON. --That it did at last come to England was due to WilliamCaxton, a native of Kent, and by vocation a mercer, who imported costlycontinental fabrics into England, and with them some of the new books nowbeing printed in Holland. That he was a man of some eminence is shown byhis having been engaged by Edward IV. On a mission to the Duke ofBurgundy, with power to negotiate a treaty of commerce; that he was aperson of skill and courtesy is evinced by his being retained in theservice of Margaret, Duchess of York, when she married Charles, Duke ofBurgundy. While in her train, he studied printing on the Continent, and issaid to have printed some books there. At length, when he was more thansixty years old, he returned to England; and, in 1474, he printed what issupposed to be the first book printed in England, "The Game and Playe ofthe Chesse. " Thus it was a century after Chaucer wrote the CanterburyTales that printing was introduced into England. Caxton died in 1491, buthis workmen continued to print, and among them Wynken de Worde standsconspicuous. Among the earlier works printed by Caxton were the CanterburyTales, the Book of Fame, and the Troilus and Creseide of Chaucer. 

CONTEMPORARY HISTORY. --It will be remembered that this was the stormyperiod of the Wars of the Roses. The long and troubled reign of Henry VI. Closed in sorrow in 1471. The titular crown of France had been easilytaken from him by Charles VII. And Joan of Arc; and although Richard ofYork, the great-grandson of Edward III. , had failed in his attempts uponthe English throne, yet _his_ son Edward, afterward the Fourth, wassuccessful. Then came the patricide of Clarence, the accession andcruelties of Richard III. , the battle of Bosworth, and, at length, theunion of the two houses in the persons of Henry VII. (Henry Tudor ofLancaster) and Elizabeth of York. Thus the strife of the succession wassettled, and the realm had rest to reorganize and start anew in itshistoric career. 

The weakening of the aristocracy by war and by execution gave to thecrown a power before unknown, and made it a fearful coigne of vantage forHenry VIII. , whose accession was in 1509. People and parliament were alikesubservient, and gave their consent to the unjust edicts and arbitrarycruelties of this terrible tyrant. 

In his reign the old English quarrel between Church and State--whichduring the civil war had lain dormant--again rose, and was brought to afinal issue. It is not unusual to hear that the English Reformation grewout of the ambition of a libidinous monarch. This is a coincidence ratherthan a cause. His lust and his marriages would have occurred had therebeen no question of Pope or Church; conversely, had there been a continentking upon the throne, the great political and religious events would havehappened in almost the same order and manner. That "knock of a king" and"incurable wound" prophesied by Piers Plowman were to come. Henry onlyseized the opportunity afforded by his ungodly passions as the bestpretext, where there were many, for setting the Pope at defiance; and thespirit of reformation so early displayed, and awhile dormant fromcircumstances, and now strengthened by the voice of Luther, burst forth inEngland. There was little demur to the suppression of the monasteries; thetomb of St. Thomas à Becket was desecrated amidst the insulting mummeriesof the multitude; and if Henry still burned Lutherans--because he couldnot forget that he had in earlier days denounced Luther--if he stillmaintained the six bloody articles[22]--his reforming spirit is shown inthe execution of Fisher and More, by the anathema which he drew uponhimself from the Pope, and by Henry's retaliation upon the friends andkinsmen of Cardinal Pole, the papal legate. 

Having thus briefly glanced at the history, we return to the literaryproducts, all of which reflect more or less of the historic age, and bytheir paucity and poverty indicate the existence of the causes sounfavorable to literary effort. This statement will be partiallyunderstood when we mention, as the principal names of this period, Skelton, Wyatt, Surrey, and Sir Thomas More, men whose works are scarcelyknown to the ordinary reader, and which are yet the best of the time. 

SKELTON. --John Skelton, poet, priest, and buffoon, was born about the year1460, and educated at what he calls "Alma parens, O Cantabrigensis. " Tutorto Prince Henry, afterward Henry VIII. , he could boast, "The honour ofEngland I lernyd to spelle. " That he was highly esteemed in his day wegather from the eulogium of Erasmus, then for a short time professor ofGreek at Oxford: "Unum Brittanicarum literarum lumen et decus. " By anothercontemporary he is called the "inventive Skelton. " As a priest he was notvery holy; for, in a day when the marriage of the clergy was worse thantheir incontinence, he contracted a secret marriage. He enjoyed for a timethe patronage of Wolsey, but afterward joined his enemies and attacked himviolently. He was _laureated_: this does not mean, as at present, that hewas poet laureate of England, but that he received a degree of which thatwas the title. 

His works are direct delineations of the age. Among these are "monodies"upon _Kynge Edwarde the forthe_, and the _Earle of Northumberlande_. Hecorrects for Caxton "The boke of the Eneydos composed by Vyrgyle. " Heenters heartily into numerous literary quarrels; is a reformer to theextent of exposing ecclesiastical abuses in his _Colin Clout_; andscourges the friars and bishops alike; and in this work, and his "Why comeye not to Courte?" he makes a special target of Wolsey, and the pomp andluxury of his household. He calls him "Mad Amelek, like to Mamelek"(Mameluke), and speaks

 Of his wretched original And his greasy genealogy. He came from the sank (blood) royal That was cast out of a butcher's stall. 

This was the sorest point upon which he could touch the great cardinal andprime minister of Henry VIII. 

Historically considered, one work of Skelton is especially valuable, forit places him among the first of English dramatists. The first effort ofthe modern drama was the _miracle play_; then came the _morality_; afterthat the _interlude_, which was soon merged into regular tragedy andcomedy. Skelton's "Magnyfycence, " which he calls "a goodly interlude and amerie, " is, in reality, a morality play as well as an interlude, and marksthe opening of the modern drama in England. 

The peculiar verse of Skelton, styled _skeltonical_, is a sort of Englishanacreontic. One example has been given; take, as another, the followinglampoon of Philip of Spain and the armada:

 A skeltonicall salutation Or condigne gratulation And just vexation Of the Spanish nation, That in bravado Spent many a crusado In setting forth an armado England to invado. 

 Who but Philippus, That seeketh to nip us, To rob us and strip us, And then for to whip us, Would ever have meant Or had intent Or hither sent Such strips of charge, etc. , etc. 

It varies from five to six syllables, with several consecutive rhymes. 

His "Merie Tales" are a series of short and generally broad stories, suited to the vulgar taste: no one can read them without being struck withthe truly historic character of the subjects and the handling, and withoutmoralizing upon the age which they describe. Skelton, a contemporary ofthe French Rabelais, seems to us a weak English portrait of that greatauthor; like him a priest, a buffoon, a satirist, and a lampooner, butunlike him in that he has given us no English _Gargantua_ and _Pantagruel_to illustrate his age. 

WYATT. --The next writer who claims our attention is Sir Thomas Wyatt, theson of Sir Henry Wyatt. He was born in 1503, and educated at Cambridge. Early a courtier, he was imperilled by his attachment to Anne Boleyn, conceded, if not quite Platonic, yet to have never led him to criminality. Several of his poems were inspired by her charms. The one best knownbegins--

 What word is that that changeth not, Though it be turned and made in twain? It is mine ANNA, God it wot, etc. 

That unfortunate queen--to possess whose charms Henry VIII. Had repudiatedCatherine of Arragon, and who was soon to be brought to the block aftertrial on the gravest charges--which we do not think substantiated--was, however, frivolous and imprudent, and liked such impassionedattentions--indeed, may be said to have suffered for them. 

Wyatt was styled by Camden "splendide doctus, " but his learning, howeverhonorable to him, was not of much benefit to the world; for his works arefew, and most of them amatory--"songs and sonnets"--full of love andlovers: as a makeweight, in _foro conscientiæ_, he paraphrased thepenitential Psalms. An excellent comment this on the age of Henry VIII. , when the monarch possessed with lust attempted the reformation of theChurch. That Wyatt looked with favor upon the Reformation is indicated byone of his remarks to the king: "Heavens! that a man cannot repent him ofhis sins without the Pope's leave!" Imprisoned several times during thereign of Henry, after that monarch's death he favored the accession ofLady Jane Grey, and, with other of her adherents, was executed for hightreason on the 11th of April, 1554. We have spoken of the spirit of theage. Its criticism was no better than its literature; for Wyatt, whom fewread but the literary historian, was then considered

 A hand that taught what might be said in rhyme, That reft Chaucer the glory of his wit. 

The glory of Chaucer's wit remains, while Wyatt is chiefly known becausehe was executed. 

SURREY. --A twin star, but with a brighter lustre, was Henry Howard, Earlof Surrey, a writer whose works are remarkable for purity of thought andrefinement of language. Surrey was a gay and wild youngfellow--distinguished in the tournament which celebrated Henry's marriagewith Anne of Cleves; now in prison for eating meat in Lent, and breakingwindows at night; again we find him the English marshal when Henry invadedFrance in 1544. He led a restless life, was imperious and hot-tempered tothe king, and at length quartered the king's arms with his own, thusassuming royal rights and imperilling the king's dignity. On this charge, which was, however, only a pretext, he was arrested and executed for hightreason in 1547, before he was thirty years old. 

Surrey is the greatest poetical name of Henry the Eighth's reign, not somuch for the substance of his poems as for their peculiar handling. He isclaimed as the introducer of blank verse--the iambic pentameter withoutrhyme, occasionally broken for musical effect by a change in the place ofthe cæsural pause. His translation of the Fourth Book of the Æneid, imitated perhaps from the Italian version of the Cardinal de Medici, issaid to be the first specimen of blank verse in English. How slow itsprogress was is proved by Johnson's remarks upon the versification ofMilton. [23] Thus in his blank verse Surrey was the forerunner of Milton, and in his rhymed pentameter couplet one of the heralds of Dryden andPope. 

SIR THOMAS MORE. --In a bird's-eye view of literature, the division intopoetry and prose is really a distinction without a difference. They arethe same body in different clothing, at labor and at festivity--in theworking suit and in the court costume. With this remark we usher upon theliterary scene Thomas More, in many respects one of the most remarkablemen of his age--scholar, jurist, statesman, gentleman, and Christian; and, withal, a martyr to his principles of justice and faith. In a better age, he would have retained the highest honors: it is not to his discredit thatin that reign he was brought to the block. 

He was born in 1480. A very precocious youth, a distinguished career waspredicted for him. He was greatly favored by Henry VIII. , who constantlyvisited him at Chelsea, hanging upon his neck, and professing an intensityof friendship which, it is said, More always distrusted. He was the friendand companion of Erasmus during the residence of that distinguished man inEngland. More was gifted as an orator, and rose to the distinction ofspeaker of the House of Commons; was presented with the great seal uponthe dismissal of Wolsey, and by his learning, his affability, and hiskindness, became the most popular, as he seemed to be the most prosperousman in England. But, the test of Henry's friendship and of More'sprinciples came when the king desired his concurrence in the divorce ofCatherine of Arragon. He resigned the great seal rather than sign themarriage articles of Anne Boleyn, and would not take the oath as to thelawfulness of that marriage. Henry's kindness turned to fury, and More wasa doomed man. A devout Romanist, he would not violate his conscience bysubmitting to the act of supremacy which made Henry the head of theChurch, and so he was tried for high treason, and executed on the 6th ofJuly, 1535. There are few scenes more pathetic than his last interviewwith his daughter Margaret, in the Tower, and no death more calmly andbeautifully grand than his. He kissed the executioner and forgave him. "Thou art, " said he, "to do me the greatest benefit that I can receive:pluck up thy spirit man, and be not afraid to do thine office. "

UTOPIA. --His great work, and that which best illustrates the history ofthe age, is his Utopia, (ου τοπος, not a place. ) Upon an island discoveredby a companion of Vespuccius, he established an imaginary commonwealth, inwhich everybody was good and everybody happy. Purely fanciful as is hisUtopia, and impossible of realization as he knew it to be while men arewhat they are, and not what they ought to be, it is manifestly a satire onthat age, for his republic shunned English errors, and practised socialvirtues which were not the rule in England. 

Although More wrote against Luther, and opposed Henry's Churchinnovations, we are struck with his Utopian claim for great freedom ofinquiry on all subjects, even religion; and the bold assertion that no manshould be punished for his religion, because "a man cannot make himselfbelieve anything he pleases, " as Henry's six bloody articles so fearfullyasserted he must. The Utopia was written in Latin, but soon translatedinto English. We use the adjective _utopian_ as meaning wildly fancifuland impossible: its true meaning is of high excellence, to be strivenfor--in a word, human perfection. 

OTHER WORKS. --More also wrote, in most excellent English prose, a historyof the princes, Edward V. And his brother Richard of York, who weremurdered in the Tower; and a history of their murderer and uncle, RichardIII. This Richard--and we need not doubt his accuracy of statement, for hewas born five years before Richard fell at Bosworth--is the short, deformed youth, with his left shoulder higher than the right; crafty, stony-hearted, and cruel, so strikingly presented by Shakspeare, who takesMore as his authority. "Not letting (sparing) to kiss whom he thought tokill ... Friend and foe was indifferent where his advantage grew; hespared no man's death whose life withstood his purpose. He slew, with hisown hands, King Henry VI. , being a prisoner in the Tower. "

With the honorable name of More we leave this unproductive period, inwhich there was no great growth of any kind, but which was theplanting-time, when seeds were sown that were soon to germinate and bloomand astonish the world. The times remind us of the dark saying in theBible, "Out of the eater came forth meat; out of the strong camesweetness. "

The art of printing had so increased the number of books, that publiclibraries began to be collected, and, what is better, to be used. Theuniversities enlarged their borders, new colleges were added to Cambridgeand Oxford; new foundations laid. The note of preparation betokened agreat advent; the scene was fully prepared, and the actors would not bewanting. 

Upon the death of Henry VIII. , in 1547, Edward VI. , his son by JaneSeymour, ascended the throne, and during his minority a protector wasappointed in the person of his mother's brother, the Earl of Hertford, afterward Duke of Somerset. Edward was a sickly youth of ten years old, but his reign is noted for the progress of reform in the Church, andespecially for the issue of the _Book of Common Prayer_, which must beconsidered of literary importance, as, although with decidedmodifications, and an interruption in its use during the brief reign ofMary, it has been the ritual of worship in the Anglican Church ever since. It superseded the Latin services--of which it was mainly a translationrearranged and modified--finally and completely, and containing, as itdoes, the whole body of doctrine, it was the first clear manifesto of thecreeds and usages of that Church, and a strong bond of union among itsmembers. 

OTHER WRITERS OF THE PERIOD. 

_Thomas Tusser_, 1527-1580: published, in 1557, "A Hundreth Good Points ofHusbandrie, " afterward enlarged and called, "Five Hundred Points of GoodHusbandrie, united to as many of Good Huswiferie;" especially valuable asa picture of rural life and labor in that age. 

Alexander Barklay, died 1552: translated into English poetry the _Ship ofFools_, by Sebastian Brandt, of Basle. 

Reginald Pecock, Bishop of St. Asaph and of Chichester: published, in1449, "The Repressor of Overmuch Blaming of the Clergy. " He attacked theLollards, but was suspected of heresy himself, and deprived of hisbishopric. 

John Fisher, 1459-1535: was made Bishop of Rochester in 1504; opposed theReformation, and refused to approve of Henry's divorce from Catherine ofArragon; was executed by the king. The Pope sent him a cardinal's hatwhile he was lying under sentence. Henry said he would not leave him ahead to put it on. Wrote principally sermons and theological treatises. 

Hugh Latimer, 1472-1555: was made Bishop of Worcester in 1535. An ardentsupporter of the Reformation, who, by a rude, homely eloquence, influencedmany people. He was burned at the stake at the age of eighty-three, incompany with Ridley, Bishop of London, by Queen Mary. His memorable wordsto his fellow-martyr are: "We shall this day light a candle in Englandwhich, I trust, shall never be put out. "

John Leland, or Laylonde, died 1552: an eminent antiquary, who, by orderof Henry VIII. , examined, _con amore_, the records of libraries, cathedrals, priories, abbeys, colleges, etc. , and has left a vast amountof curious antiquarian learning behind him. He became insane by reason ofthe pressure of his labors. 

George Cavendish, died 1557: wrote "The Negotiations of Woolsey, the GreatCardinal of England, " etc. , which was republished as the "Life and Deathof Thomas Woolsey. " From this, it is said, Shakspeare drew in writing his"Henry VIII. "

Roger Ascham, 1515-1568: specially famous as the successful instructor ofElizabeth and Lady Jane Grey, whom he was able to imbue with a taste forclassical learning. He wrote a treatise on the use of the bow, called_Toxophilus_, and _The Schoolmaster_, which contains many excellent andjudicious suggestions, worthy to be carried out in modern education. Itwas highly praised by Dr. Johnson. It was written for the use of thechildren of Sackville, Lord Buckhurst. 

CHAPTER XI. 

SPENSER AND THE ELIZABETHAN AGE. 

 The Great Change. Edward VI. And Mary. Sidney. The Arcadia. Defence of Poesy. Astrophel and Stella. Gabriel Harvey. Edmund Spenser--Shepherd's Calendar. His Great Work. 

THE GREAT CHANGE. 

With what joy does the traveller in the desert, after a day of scorchingglow and a night of breathless heat, descry the distant trees which markthe longed-for well-spring in the emerald oasis, which seems to beckonwith its branching palms to the converging caravans, to come and slaketheir fever-thirst, and escape from the threatening sirocco!

The pilgrim arrives at the caravansery: not the long, low stone house, unfurnished and bare, which former experience had led him to expect; but asplendid palace. He dismounts; maidens purer and more beautiful thanfabled houris, accompanied by slaves bearing rare dishes and goblets ofcrusted gold, offer him refreshments: perfumed baths, couches of down, soft and soothing music are about him in delicious combination. Surely heis dreaming; or if this be real, were not the burning sun and the sand ofthe desert, the panting camel and the dying horse of an hour ago but adream?

Such is not an overwrought illustration of English literature in the long, barren reach from Chaucer to Spenser, as compared with the freshness, beauty, and grandeur of the geniuses which adorned Elizabeth's court, andtended to make her reign as illustrious in history as the age of Pericles, of Augustus, or of Louis XIV. Chief among these were Spenser andShakspeare. As the latter has been truly characterized as not for an age, but for all time, the former may be more justly considered as the highestexponent and representative of that period. The Faerie Queene, consideredonly as a grand heroic poem, is unrivalled in its pictures of beautifulwomen, brave men, daring deeds, and Oriental splendor; but in itsallegorical character, it is far more instructive, since it enumerates andillustrates the cardinal virtues which should make up the moral characterof a gentleman: add to this, that it is teeming with history, and in itsmanifold completeness we have, if not an oasis in the desert, more trulythe rich verge of the fertile country which bounds that desert, and whichopens a more beautiful road to the literary traveller as he comes down thegreat highway: wearied and worn with the factions and barrenness of thefifteenth century, he fairly revels with delight in the fertility andvariety of the Elizabethan age. 

EDWARD AND MARY. --In pursuance of our plan, a few preliminary words willpresent the historic features of that age. In the year 1547, Henry VIII. , the royal Bluebeard, sank, full of crimes and beset with deathbed horrors, into a dishonorable grave. [24] A poor, weak youth, his son, Edward VI. , seemed sent by special providence on a short mission of six years, tofoster the reformed faith, and to give the land a brief rest after thedisorders and crimes of his father's reign. 

After Edward came Queen Mary, in 1553--the bloody Mary, who violentlyoverturned the Protestant system, and avenged her mother against herfather by restoring the Papal sway and making heresy the unpardonablesin. It may seem strange, in one breath to denounce Henry and to defendhis daughter Mary; but severe justice, untempered with sympathy, has beenmeted out to her. We acknowledge all her recorded actions, but let it beremembered that she was the child of a basely repudiated mother, Catherineof Arragon, who, as the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, was aCatholic of the Catholics. Mary had been declared illegitimate; she waslaboring under an incurable disease, affecting her mind as well as herbody; she was the wife of Philip II. Of Spain, a monster of iniquity, whose sole virtue--if we may so speak--was his devotion to his Church. Sheinherited her bigotry from her mother, and strengthened it by hermarriage; and she thought that in persecuting heretics she was doing Godservice, which would only be a perfect service when she should have burnedout the bay-tree growth of heresy and restored the ancient faith. 

Such were her character and condition as displayed to the English world;but we know, in addition, that she bore her sufferings with greatfortitude; that, an unloved wife, she was a pattern of conjugal affectionand fidelity; that she was a dupe in the hands of designing men and afierce propaganda; and we may infer that, under different circumstancesand with better guidance, the real elements of her character would havemade her a good monarch and presented a far more pleasing historicalportrait. 

Justice demands that we should say thus much, for even with thesequalifications, the picture of her reign is very dark and painful. After asad and bloody rule of five years--a reign of worse than Romanproscription, or later French terrors--she died without leaving a child. There was but one voice as to her successor. Delirious shouts of joy wereheard throughout the land: "God save Queen Elizabeth!" "No more burningsat Smithfield, nor beheadings on Tower green! No more of Spanish Philipand his pernicious bigots! Toleration, freedom, light!" The people ofEngland were ready for a golden age, and the golden age had come. 

ELIZABETH. --And who was Elizabeth? The daughter of the dishonored AnneBoleyn, who had been declared illegitimate, and set out of the succession;who had been kept in ward; often and long in peril of her life; destined, in all human foresight, to a life of sorrow, humiliation, and obscurity;her head had been long lying "'twixt axe and crown, " with more probabilityof the former than the latter. 

Wonderful was the change. With her began a reign the like of which theworld had never seen; a great and brilliant crisis in English history, inwhich the old order passed away and the new was inaugurated. It was like anew historic fulfilment of the prophecy of Virgil:

 Magnus ... Sæclorum nascitur ordo; Jam redit et _Virgo_, redeunt Saturnia regna. 

Her accession and its consequences were like the scenes in some fairytale. She was indeed a Faerie Queene, as she was designated in Spenser'smagnificent allegory. Around her clustered a new chivalry, whose gentledeeds were wrought not only with the sword, but with the pen. Stout heart, stalwart arm, and soaring imagination, all wore her colors and were amplyrewarded by her smiles; and whatever her personal faults--and they weremany--as a monarch, she was not unworthy of their allegiance. 

SIDNEY. --Before proceeding to a consideration of Spenser's great poem, itis necessary to mention two names intimately associated with him and withhis fame, and of special interest in the literary catalogue of QueenElizabeth's court, brilliant and numerous as that catalogue was. 

Among the most striking characters of this period was Sir Philip Sidney, whose brief history is full of romance and attraction; not so much forwhat he did as for what he personally was, and gave promise of being. Whenever we seek for an historical illustration of the _gentleman_, thefigure of Sidney rises in company with that of Bayard, and claimsdistinction. He was born at Pennshurst in Kent, on the 29th of November, 1554. He was the nephew of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the chieffavorite of the queen. Precocious in grace, dignity, and learning, Sidneywas educated both at Oxford and Cambridge, and in his earliest manhood hewas a _prud' homme_, handsome, elegant, learned, and chivalrous; astatesman, a diplomatist, a soldier, and a poet; "not only of excellentwit, but extremely beautiful of face. Delicately chiselled Anglo-Normanfeatures, smooth, fair cheek, a faint moustache, blue eyes, and a mass ofamber-colored hair, " distinguished him among the handsome men of a courtwhere handsome men were in great request. 

He spent some time at the court of Charles IX. Of France--which, however, he left suddenly, shocked and disgusted by the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve--and extended his travels into Germany. The queen heldhim in the highest esteem--although he was disliked by the Cecils, theconstant rivals of the Dudleys; and when he was elected to the crown ofPoland, the queen refused him permission to accept, because she would notlose "the brightest jewel of her crown--her Philip, " as she called him todistinguish him from her sister Mary's Philip, Philip II. Of Spain. A fewwords will finish his personal story. He went, by the queen's permission, with his uncle Leicester to the Low Countries, then struggling, withElizabeth's assistance, against Philip of Spain. There he was madegovernor of Flushing--the key to the navigation of the North Seas--withthe rank of general of horse. In a skirmish near Zutphen (South Fen) heserved as a volunteer; and, as he was going into action fully armed, seeing his old friend Sir William Pelham without cuishes upon his thighs, prompted by mistaken but chivalrous generosity, he took off his own, andhad his thigh broken by a musket-ball. This was on the 2d of October, 1586, N. S. He lingered for twenty days, and then died at Arnheim, mournedby all. The story of his passing the untasted water to the woundedsoldier, will never become trite: "This man's necessity is greater thanmine, " was an immortal speech which men like to quote. [25]

SIDNEY'S WORKS. --But it is as a literary character that we must considerSidney; and it is worthy of special notice that his works could not havebeen produced in any other age. The principal one is the _Arcadia_. Thename, which was adopted from Sannazzaro, would indicate a pastoral--andthis was eminently the age of English pastoral--but it is in reality notsuch. It presents indeed sylvan scenes, but they are in the life of aknight. It is written in prose, interspersed with short poems, and wasinspired by and dedicated to his literary sister Mary, the Countess ofPembroke. It was called indeed the _Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia_. Thereare many scenes of great beauty and vigor; there is much which representsthe manners, of the age, but few persons can now peruse it with pleasure, because of the peculiar affectations of style, and its overload ofornament. There grew naturally in the atmosphere of the court of a regnantqueen, an affected, flattering, and inflated language, known to us as_Euphuism_. Of this John Lilly has been called the father, but we reallyonly owe to him the name, which is taken from his two works, _Euphues, Anatomy of Wit_, and _Euphues and his England_. The speech of the Euphuistis hardly caricatured in Sir Walter Scott's delineation of Sir PiercieShafton in "The Monastery. " The gallant men of that day affected this formof address to fair ladies, and fair ladies liked to be greeted in suchlanguage. Sidney's works have a relish of this diction, and are imbuedwith the spirit which produced it. 

DEFENCE OF POESIE. --The second work to be mentioned is his "Defence ofPoesie. " Amid the gayety and splendor of that reign, there was a sombreelement. The Puritans took gloomy views of life: they accountedamusements, dress, and splendor as things of the world; and would evensweep away poetry as idle, and even wicked. Sir Philip came to its defencewith the spirit of a courtier and a poet, and the work in which he upholdsit is his best, far better in style and sense than his Arcadia. It is oneof the curiosities of literature, in itself, and in its representation ofsuch a social condition as could require a defence of poetry. His_Astrophel and Stella_ is a collection of amatory poems, disclosing hispassion for Lady Rich, the sister of the Earl of Essex. Although somethingmust be allowed to the license of the age, in language at least, yet stillthe _Astrophel and Stella_ cannot be commended for its morality. Thesentiments are far from Platonic, and have been severely censured by thebest critics. Among the young gallants of Euphuistic habitudes, Sidney wasknown as _Astrophel_; and Spenser wrote a poem mourning the death ofAstrophel: _Stella_, of course, was the star of his worship. 

GABRIEL HARVEY. --Among the friends of both Sidney and Spenser, was one whohad the pleasure of making them acquainted--Gabriel Harvey. He was born, it is believed, in 1545, and lived until 1630. Much may be gathered of theliterary character and tendencies of the age by a perusal of the "threeproper and wittie familiar letters" which passed between Spenser andhimself, and the "four letters and certain sonnets, " containing valuablenotices of contemporary poets. He also prefixed a poem entitled_Hobbinol_, to the Faery Queene. But Harvey most deserves our noticebecause he was the champion of the hexameter verse in English, and imbuedeven Spenser with an enthusiasm for it. 

Each language has its own poetic and rhythmic capacities. Actualexperiment and public taste have declared their verdict against hexameterverse in English. The genius of the Northern languages refuses this oldheroic measure, which the Latins borrowed from the Greeks, and all thescholarship and finish of Longfellow has not been able to establish it inEnglish. Harvey was a pedant so thoroughly tinctured with classicallearning, that he would trammel his own language by ancient rules, insteadof letting it grow into the assertion of its own rules. 

EDMUND SPENSER--THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR. --Having noticed these lesserlights of the age of Spenser, we return to a brief consideration of thatpoet, who, of all others, is the highest exponent and representative ofliterature in the age of Queen Elizabeth, and whose works are full ofcontemporary history. 

Spenser was born in the year of the accession of Queen Mary, 1553, atLondon, and of what he calls "a house of ancient fame. " He was educated atCambridge, where he early displayed poetic taste and power, and he went, after leaving college, to reside as a tutor in the North of England. Alove affair with "a skittish female, " who jilted him, was the cause of hiswriting the _Shepherd's Calendar_; which he soon after took with him inmanuscript to London, as the first fruits of a genius that promised farnobler things. 

Harvey introduced him to Sidney, and a tender friendship sprang up betweenthem: he spent much of his time with Sidney at Pennshurst, and dedicatedto him the _Shepherd's Calendar_. He calls it "an olde name for a neweworke. " The plan of it is as follows: There are twelve parts, corresponding to twelve months: these he calls _aeglogues_, orgoat-herde's songs, (not _eclogues_ or εκλογαι--well-chosen words. ) It isa rambling work in varied melody, interspersed and relieved by songs andlays. 

HIS ARCHAISMS. --In view of its historical character, there are severalpoints to be observed. It is of philological importance to notice that inthe preliminary epistle, he explains and defends his use of archaisms--forthe language of none of his poems is the current English of the day, butalways that of a former period--saying that he uses old English words"restored as to their rightful heritage;" and it is also evident that hemakes new ones, in accordance with just principles of philology. This factis pointed out, lest the cursory reader should look for the currentEnglish of the age of Elizabeth in Spenser's poems. 

How much, or rather how little he thought of the poets of the day, may begathered from his saying that he "scorns and spews the rakebelly rout ofragged rymers. " It further displays the boldness of his English, that heis obliged to add "a Glosse or Scholion, " for the use of the reader. 

Another historical point worthy of observation is his early adulation ofElizabeth, evincing at once his own courtiership and her popularity. In"February" (Story of the Oak and Briar) he speaks of "colours meete toclothe a mayden queene. " The whole of "April" is in her honor:

 Of fair Eliza be your silver song, That blessed wight, The floure of virgins, may she flourish long, In princely plight. 

In "September" "he discourseth at large upon the loose living of Popishprelates, " an historical trait of the new but cautious reformation of theMarian Church, under Elizabeth. Whether a courtier like Spenser couldexpect the world to believe in the motto with which he concludes theepilogue, "Merce non mercede, " is doubtful, but the words are significant;and it is not to his discredit that he strove for both. 

HIS GREATEST WORK. --We now approach _The Faerie Queene_, the greatest ofSpenser's works, the most remarkable poem of that age, and one of thegreatest landmarks in English literature and English history. It was notpublished in full until nearly all the great events of Elizabeth's reignhad transpired, and it is replete with the history of nearly half acentury in the most wonderful period of English history. To courtlyreaders of that day the history was only pleasantly illustrative--to thepresent age it is invaluable for itself: the poem illustrates the history. 

He received, through the friendship of Sidney, the patronage of his uncle, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester--a powerful nobleman, because, besideshis family name, and the removal of the late attainder, which had been initself a distinction, he was known to be the lover of the queen; forwhatever may be thought of her conduct, we know that in recommending himas a husband to the widowed Queen of Scots, she said she would havemarried him herself had she designed to marry at all; or, it may be said, she would have married him had she dared, for that act would have ruinedher. 

Spenser was a loyal and enthusiastic subject, a poet, and a scholar. Fromthese characteristics sprang the Faerie Queene. After submitting the firstbook to the criticism of his friend and his patron, he dedicated the workto "The most high, mighty, and magnificent empress, renowned for piety, virtue, and all gracious government, Elizabeth, by the grace of God Queenof England, France, and Ireland, and of Virginia. "[26]

CHAPTER XII. 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HISTORY IN THE FAERIE QUEENE. 

 The Faerie Queene. The Plan Proposed. Illustrations of the History. The Knight and the Lady. The Wood of Error and the Hermitage. The Crusades. Britomartis and Sir Artegal. Elizabeth. Mary Queen of Scots. Other Works. Spenser's Fate. Other Writers. 

THE FAERIE QUEENE. 

The Faerie Queene is an allegory, in many parts capable of more than oneinterpretation. Some of the characters stand for two, and several of themeven for three distinct historical personages. 

The general plan and scope of the poem may be found in the poet's letterto his friend, Sir Walter Raleigh. It is designed to enumerate andillustrate the moral virtues which should characterize a noble or gentleperson--to present "the image of a brave knight perfected in the twelveprivate morall vertues, as Aristotle hath devised. " It appears that theauthor designed twelve books, but he did not accomplish his purpose. Thepoem, which he left unfinished, contains but six books or legends, each ofwhich relates the adventures of a knight who is the patron andrepresentative of a special virtue. 

 _Book_ I. Gives the adventures of St. George, the Red-Cross Knight, by whom is intended the virtue of Holiness. 

 _Book_ II. , those of Sir Guyon, or Temperance. 

 _Book_ III. , Britomartis, a lady-knight, or Chastity. 

 _Book_ IV. , Cambel and Triamond, or Friendship. 

 _Book_ V. , Sir Artegal, or Justice. 

 _Book_ VI. , Sir Calydore, or Courtesy. 

The perfect hero of the entire poem is King Arthur, chosen "as most fitte, for the excellency of his person, being made famous by many men's formerworkes, and also furthest from the daunger of envy and suspition ofpresent time. "

It was manifestly thus, too, that the poet solved a difficult and delicateproblem: he pleased the queen by adopting this mythic hero, for who elsewas worthy of her august hand?

And in the person of the faerie queene herself Spenser informs us: "I mean_glory_ in my general intention, but in my particular, I conceive the mostexcellent and glorious person of our sovereign, the _Queene_. "

Did we depend upon the poem for an explanation of Spenser's design, weshould be left in the dark, for he intended to leave the origin andconnection of the adventures for the twelfth book, which was neverwritten; but he has given us his plan in the same preliminary letter toRaleigh. 

THE PLAN PROPOSED. --"The beginning of my history, " he says, "should be inthe twelfth booke, which is the last; where I devise that the FaerieQueene kept her Annual Feaste XII days; uppon which XII severall days theoccasions of the XII severall adventures hapned, which being undertaken byXII severall knights, are in these XII books handled and discoursed. "

First, a tall, clownish youth falls before the queen and desires a boon, which she might not refuse, viz. The achievement of any adventure whichmight present itself. Then appears a fair lady, habited in mourning, andriding on an ass, while behind her comes a dwarf, leading a caparisonedwar-horse, upon which was the complete armor of a knight. The lady fallsbefore the queen and complains that her father and mother, an ancient kingand queen, had, for many years, been shut up by a dragon in a brazencastle, and begs that one of the knights may be allowed to deliver them. 

The young clown entreats that he may take this adventure, andnotwithstanding the wonder and misgiving of all, the armor is found to fithim well, and when he had put it on, "he seemed the goodliest man in allthe company, and was well liked by the lady, and eftsoones taking on himknighthood, and mounting on that strounge courser, he went forth with heron that adventure; where beginneth the First Booke. "

In a similar manner, other petitions are urged, and other adventuresundertaken. 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HISTORY. --The history in this poem lies directly uponthe surface. Elizabeth was the Faery Queen herself--faery in her realperson, springing Cinderella-like from durance and danger to the mostpowerful throne in Europe. Hers was a reign of faery character, popularand august at home, after centuries of misrule and civil war; abroadEnglish influence and power were exerted in a magical manner. It is shewho holds a court such as no Englishman had ever seen; who had the powerto transform common men into valiant warriors, elegant courtiers, andgreat statesmen; to send forth her knights upon gloriousadventures--Sidney to die at Zutphen, Raleigh to North and South America, Frobisher--with a wave of her hand as he passes down the Thames--to trythe northwest passage to India; Effingham, Drake, and Hawkins to drive offto the tender mercy of northern storms the Invincible Armada, and then topoint out to the coming generations the distant fields of Englishenterprise. 

"Chivalry was dying; the abbey and the castle were soon together tocrumble into ruins; and all the forms, desires, beliefs, convictions ofthe old world were passing away, never to return;"[27] but this virginqueen was the founder of a new chivalry, whose deeds were not lessvaliant, and far more useful to civilization. 

It is not our purpose, for it would be impossible, to interpret all thehistory contained in this wonderful poem: a few of the more strikingpresentations will be indicated, and thus suggest to the student how hemay continue the investigation for himself. 

THE KNIGHT AND THE LADY. --In the First Book we are at once struck with thefine portraiture of the Red Crosse Knight, the Patron of Holinesse, whichwe find in the opening lines:

 A gentle knight was pricking on the plain, Ycladd in mighty arms and silver shield. 

As we read we discover, without effort, that he is the St. George ofEngland, or the impersonation of England herself, whose red-cross bannerdistinguishes her among the nations of the earth. It is a description ofChristian England with which the poet thus opens his work:

 And on his brest a bloodie cross he bore, The dear remembrance of his dying Lord, For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore, And dead, as living ever, Him adored. Upon his shield the like was also scored, For sovereign hope which in his help he had. 

Then follows his adventure--that of St. George and the Dragon. By slayingthis monster, he will give comfort and aid to a peerless lady, thedaughter of a glorious king; this fair lady, _Una_, who has come a longdistance, and to whom, as a champion, the Faery Queene has presented thered-cross knight. Thus is presented the historic truth that the reformedand suffering Church looked to Queen Elizabeth for succor and support, forthe Lady Una is one of several portraitures of the Church in this poem. 

As we proceed in the poem, the history becomes more apparent. The LadyUna, riding upon a lowly ass, shrouded by a veil, covered with a blackstole, "as one that inly mourned, " and leading "a milk-white lamb, " is theChurch. The ass is the symbol of her Master's lowliness, who made even histriumphant entry into Jerusalem upon "a colt the foal of an ass;" thelamb, the emblem of the innocence and of the helplessness of the "littleflock;" the black stole is meant to represent the Church's trials andsorrows in her former history as well as in that naughty age. The dragonis the old serpent, her constant and bitter foe, who, often discomfited, returns again and again to the attack in hope of her overthrow. 

THE WOOD OF ERROR. --The adventures of the knight and the lady take themfirst into the Wood of Error, a noble and alluring grove, within which, however, lurks a loathsome serpent. The knight rushes upon this femalemonster with great boldness, but

 ... Wrapping up her wreathed body round, She leaped upon his shield and her huge train All suddenly about his body wound, That hand and foot he strove to stir in vain. God help the man so wrapt in Error's endless chain. 

The Lady Una cries out:

 ... Now, now, sir knight, shew what ye bee, _Add faith unto thy force_, and be not faint. Strangle her, else she sure will strangle thee. 

He follows her advice, makes one desperate effort, Error is slain, and thepilgrimage resumed. 

Thus it is taught that the Church has waged successful battle with Errorin all its forms--paganism, Arianism, Socinianism, infidelity; and in allages of her history, whether crouching in the lofty groves of the Druids, or in the more insidious forms of later Christian heresy. 

THE HERMITAGE. --On leaving the Wood of Error, the knight and Lady Unaencounter a venerable hermit, and are led into his hermitage. This is_Archimago_, a vile magician thus disguised, and in his retreat foulspirits personate both knight and lady, and present these false doubles toeach. Each sees what seems to be the other's fall from virtue, and, horrified by the sight, the real persons leave the hermitage by separateways, and wander, in inextricable mazes lost, until fortune and faerybring them together again and disclose the truth. 

Here Spenser, who was a zealous Protestant, designs to present themonastic system, the disfavor into which the monasteries had fallen, andthe black arts secretly studied among better arts in the cloisters, especially in the period just succeeding the Norman conquest. 

THE CRUSADES. --As another specimen of the historic interpretation, we maytrace the adventures of England in the Crusades, as presented in theencounter of St. George with _Sansfoy_, (without faith, ) or the Infidel. 

From the hermitage of Archimago, The true St. George had wandered far away, Still flying from his thoughts and jealous fear, Will was his guide, and grief led him astray; At last him chanced to meet upon the way A faithless Saracen all armed to point, In whose great shield was writ with letters gay SANSFOY: full large of limb, and every joint He was, and cared not for God or man a point. 

Well might the poet speak of Mohammedanism as large of limb, for it hadstretched itself like a Colossus to India, and through Northern Africainto Spain, where it threatened Christendom, beyond the Pyrenees. It wasthen that the unity of the Church, the concurrence of Europe in one formof Christianity, made available the enthusiasm which succeeded in stemmingthe torrent of Islam, and setting bounds to its conquests. 

It is not our purpose to pursue the adventures of the Church, but toindicate the meaning of the allegory and the general interpretation; itwill give greater zest to the student to make the investigation forhimself, with the all-sufficient aids of modern criticism. 

Assailed in turn by error in doctrine, superstition, hypocrisy, enchantments, lawlessness, pride, and despair, the red-cross knightovercomes them all, and is led at last by the Lady Una into the House ofHoliness, a happy and glorious house. There, anew equipped with the shieldof Faith, the helmet of Salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, he goesforth to greater conquests; the dragon is slain, the Lady Una triumphant, the Church delivered, and Holiness to the Lord established as the law ofhis all-subduing kingdom on earth. 

BRITOMARTIS. --In the third book the further adventures of the red-crossknight are related, but a heroine divides our attention with him. _Britomartis_, or Chastity, finds him attacked by six lawless knights, whotry to compel him to give up his lady and serve another. Here Britomartisrepresents Elizabeth, and the historic fact is the conflict of EnglishProtestantism carried on upon land and sea, in the Netherlands, in France, and against the Invincible Armada of Philip. The new mistress offered himin the place of Una is the Papal Church, and the six knights are thenations fighting for the claims of Rome. 

The valiant deeds of Britomartis represent also the power of chastity, towhich Scott alludes when he says, She charmed at once and tamed the heart, Incomparable Britomarte. [28]

And here the poet pays his most acceptable tribute to the Virgin Queen. She is in love with Sir Artegal--abstract justice. She has encountered himin fierce battle, and he has conquered her. It was the fond boast ofElizabeth that she lived for her people, and for their sake refused tomarry. The following portraiture will be at once recognized:

 And round about her face her yellow hair Having, thro' stirring, loosed its wonted band, Like to a golden border did appear, Framed in goldsmith's forge with cunning hand; Yet goldsmith's cunning could not understand To frame such subtle wire, so shiny clear, For it did glisten like the glowing sand, The which Pactolus with his waters sheer, Throws forth upon the rivage, round about him near. 

This encomium upon Elizabeth's hair recalls the description of anothercourtier, that it was like the last rays of the declining sun. Ill-naturedpersons called it red. 

SIR ARTEGAL, OR JUSTICE. --As has been already said, Artegal, or Justice, makes conquest of Britomartis or Elizabeth. It is no earthly love thatfollows, but the declaration of the queen that in her continued maidenhoodjustice to her people shall be her only spouse. Such, whatever the honesthistorian may think, was the poet's conceit of what would best please hisroyal mistress. 

It has been already stated that by Gloriana, the Faerie Queene, the poetintended the person of Elizabeth in her regnant grandeur: Britomartisrepresents her chastity. Not content with these impersonations, Spenserintroduces a third: it is Belphœbe, the abstraction of virginity; acharacter for which, however, he designs a dual interpretation. Belphœbeis also another representation of the Church; in describing her he risesto great splendor of language:

 ... Her birth was of the morning dew, And her conception of the glorious prime. 

We recur, as we read, to the grandeur of the Psalmist's words, as hespeaks of the coming of her Lord: "In the day of thy power shall thepeople offer thee free-will offerings with a holy worship; the dew of thybirth is of the womb of the morning. "

ELIZABETH. --In the fifth book a great number of the statistics ofcontemporary history are found. A cruel sultan, urged on by an abandonedsultana, is Philip with the Spanish Church. Mercilla, a queen pursued bythe sultan and his wife, is another name for Elizabeth, for he tells usshe was

 ... A maiden queen of high renown; For her great bounty knowen over all. 

Artegal, assuming the armor of a pagan knight, represents justice in theperson of Solyman the Magnificent, making war against Philip of Spain. Inthe ninth canto of the sixth book, the court of Elizabeth is portrayed; inthe tenth and eleventh, the war in Flanders--so brilliantly described inMr. Motley's history. The Lady Belge is the United Netherlands; Gerioneo, the oppressor, is the Duke of Alva; the Inquisition appears as a horridbut nameless monster, and minor personages occur to complete the historicpictures. 

The adventure of Sir Artegal in succor of the Lady Irena, (Erin, )represents the proceedings of Elizabeth in Ireland, in enforcing theReformation, abrogating the establishments of her sister Mary, and thusinducing Tyrone's rebellion, with the consequent humiliation of Essex. 

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. --With one more interpretation we close. In the fifthbook, Spenser is the apologist of Elizabeth for her conduct to her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, and he has been very delicate in his distinctions. Itis not her high abstraction of justice, Sir Artegal, who does themurderous deed, but his man _Talus_, retributive justice, who, like alimehound, finds her hidden under a heap of gold, and drags her forth byher fair locks, in such rueful plight that even Artegal pities her:

 Yet for no pity would he change the course Of justice which in Talus hand did lie, Who rudely haled her forth without remorse, Still holding up her suppliant hands on high, And kneeling at his feet submissively; But he her suppliant hands, those _hands of gold_, And eke her feet, those feet of _silver try_, Which sought unrighteousness and justice sold, Chopped off and nailed on high that all might them behold. 

She was a royal lady, a regnant queen: her hands held a golden sceptre, and her feet pressed a silver footstool. She was thrown down the castlewall, and drowned "in the dirty mud. "

"But the stream washed away her guilty blood. " Did it wash awayElizabeth's bloody guilt? No. For this act she stands in history like LadyMacbeth, ever rubbing her hands, but "the damned spot" will not out at herbidding. Granted all that is charged against Mary, never was woman someanly, basely, cruelly treated as she. 

What has been said is only in partial illustration of the plan and mannerof Spenser's great poem: the student is invited and encouraged to make ananalysis of the other portions himself. To the careless reader the poem isharmonious, the pictures beautiful, and the imagery gorgeous; to thecareful student it is equally charming, and also discloses historicpictures of great value. 

It is so attractive that the critic lingers unconsciously upon it. Spenser's tributes to the character of woman are original, beautiful, andjust, and the fame of his great work, originally popular and designed fora contemporary purpose only, has steadily increased. Next to Milton, he isthe most learned of the British poets. Warton calls him the _seriousSpenser_. Thomson says he formed himself upon Spenser. He took the ottavarima, or eight-lined stanza of the Italian poets, and by adding anAlexandrine line, formed it into what has since been called the Spenserianstanza, which has been imitated by many great poets since, and by Byron, the greatest of them, in his Childe Harold. Of his language it has alreadybeen said that he designedly uses the archaic, or that of Chaucer; or, asPope has said, Spenser himself affects the obsolete. 

The plan of the poem, neglecting the unities of an epic, is like that of ageneral history, rambling and desultory, or like the transformations of afairy tale, as it is: his descriptions are gorgeous, his verse exceedinglymelodious, and his management of it very graceful. The GerusalemmeLiberata of Tasso appeared while he was writing the Faery Queene, and heimitated portions of that great epic in his own, but his imitations arefiner than the original. 

HIS OTHER WORKS. --His other works need not detain us: Hymns in honor ofLove and Beauty, Prothalamion, and Epithalamion, Mother Hubbard's Tale, Amoretti or Sonnets, The Tears of the Muses or Brittain's Ida, are littleread at the present day. His Astrophel is a tender "pastoral elegie" uponthe death of the most noble and valorous knight, Sir Philip Sidney; and isbetter known for its subject than for itself. This was a favorite theme ofthe friendly and sensitive poet; he has also written several elegies andæglogues in honor of Sidney. 

SPENSER'S FATE. --The fate of Spenser is a commentary upon courtiership, even in the reign of Elizabeth, the Faery Queene. Her requital of hisadoration was an annual pension of fifty pounds, and the ruined castle andunprofitable estate of Kilcolman in Ireland, among a half-savagepopulation, in a period of insurrections and massacres, with therequirement that he should reside upon his grant. An occasional visit fromRaleigh, then a captain in the army, a rambler along the banks of thepicturesque Mulla, and the composition and arrangement of the great poemwith the suggestions of his friend, were at once his labors and his onlyrecreations. He sighed after the court, and considered himself as hardlyused by the queen. 

At length an insurrection broke out, and his home was set on fire: he fledfrom his flaming castle, and in the confusion his infant child was leftbehind and burned to death. A few months after, he died in London, onJanuary 16, 1598-9, broken-hearted and poor, at an humble tavern, in KingStreet. Buried at the expense of the Earl of Essex, Ann Countess of Dorsetbore the expense of his monument in Westminster Abbey, in gratitude forhis noble championship of woman. Upon that are inscribed these words:_Anglorum poetarum nostri seculi facile princeps_--truer words, great asis the praise, than are usually found in monumental inscriptions. 

Whatever our estimate of Spenser, he must be regarded as the truestliterary exponent and representative of the age of Elizabeth, almost asmuch her biographer as Miss Strickland, and her historian as Hume: indeed, neither biographer nor historian could venture to draw the lineaments ofher character without having recourse to Spenser and his literarycontemporaries. 

OTHER WRITERS OF THE AGE OF SPENSER. 

_Richard Hooker_, 1553-1598: educated at Oxford, he became Master of theTemple in London, a post which he left with pleasure to take a countryparish. He wrote a famous work, entitled "A Treatise on the Laws ofEcclesiastical Polity, " which is remarkable for its profound learning, powerful logic, and eloquence of style. In it he defends the position ofthe Church of England, against Popery on the one hand and Calvinism on theother. 

_Robert Burton_, 1576-1639: author of "The Anatomy of Melancholie, " anamusing and instructive medley of quotations and classical anecdotes, showing a profound erudition. In this all the causes and effects ofmelancholy are set forth with varied illustrations. His _nom de plume_ wasDemocritus, Jr. , and he is an advocate of the laughing philosophy. 

_Thomas Hobbes_, 1588-1679: tutor to Charles II. , when Prince of Wales, and author of the _Leviathan_. This is a philosophical treatise, in whichhe advocates monarchical government, as based upon the fact that all menare selfish, and that human nature, being essentially corrupt, requires aniron control: he also wrote upon _Liberty and Necessity_, and on _HumanNature_. 

John Stow, 1525-1605: tailor and antiquary. Principally valuable for his"Annales, " "Summary of English Chronicles, " and "A Survey of London. " Thelatter is the foundation of later topographical descriptions of theEnglish metropolis. 

Raphael Hollinshed, or Holinshed, died about 1580: his _Chronicles ofEnglande, Scotlande, and Irelande_, were a treasure-house to Shakspeare, from which he drew materials for King Lear, Cymbeline, Macbeth, and otherplays. 

Richard Hakluyt, died 1616: being greatly interested in voyages andtravels, he wrote works upon the adventures of others. Among these are, "Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America, " and "Four Voyagesunto Florida, " which have been very useful in the compilation of earlyAmerican history. 

Samuel Purchas, 1577-1628: like Hakluyt, he was exceedingly industrious incollecting material, and wrote "Hakluyt's Posthumus, or Purchas, hisPilgrimes, " a history of the world "in Sea Voyages and Land Travels. "

Sir Walter Raleigh, 1552-1618: a man famous for his personal strength andcomeliness, vigor of mind, valor, adventures, and sufferings. A prominentactor in the stirring scenes of Elizabeth's reign, he was high in thefavor of the queen. Accused of high treason on the accession of James I. , and imprisoned under sentence of death, an unsuccessful expedition toSouth America in search of El Dorado, which caused complaints from theSpanish king, led to his execution under the pending sentence. He wrote, chiefly in prison, a History of the World, in which he was aided by hisliterary friends, and which is highly commended. It extends to the end ofthe second Macedonian war. Raleigh was also a poet, and wrote severalspecial treatises. 

William Camden, 1551-1623: author of Britannia, or a chorographicdescription of the most flourishing kingdoms of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the adjacent islands, from the earliest antiquity. This work, written in Latin, has been translated into English. He also wrote a sketchof the reign of Elizabeth. 

_George Buchanan_, 1506-1581: celebrated as a Latin writer, an historian, a poet, and an ecclesiastical polemic. He wrote a _History of Scotland_, aLatin version of the Psalms, and a satire called _Chamæleon_. He was aman of profound learning and indomitable courage; and when told, justbefore his death, that the king was incensed at his treatise _De JureRegni_, he answered that he was not concerned at that, for he was "goingto a place where there were few kings. "

Thomas Sackville, Earl Dorset, Lord Buckhurst, 1536-1608: author, orrather originator of "The Mirror for Magistrates, " showing by illustrious, unfortunate examples, the vanity and transitory character of humansuccess. Of Sackville and his portion of the Mirror for Magistrates, Craiksays they "must be considered as forming the connecting link between theCanterbury Tales and the Fairy Queen. "

_Samuel Daniel_, 1562-1619: an historian and a poet. His chief work is"The Historie of the Civile Warres between the Houses of York andLancaster, " "a production, " says Drake, "which reflects great credit onthe age in which it was written. " This work is in poetical form; and, besides it, he wrote many poems and plays, and numerous sonnets. 

Michael Drayton, 1563-1631: a versatile writer, most favorably knownthrough his _Polyolbion_, a poem in thirty books, containing a detaileddescription of the topography of England, in Alexandrine verses. His_Barons' Wars_ describe the civil commotions during the reign of EdwardII. 

Sir John Davies, 1570-1626: author of _Nosce Teipsum_ and _The Orchestra_. The former is commended by Hallam; and another critic calls it "the bestpoem, except Spenser's Faery Queen, in Queen Elizabeth's, or even, inJames VI. 's time. "

John Donne, 1573-1631: a famous preacher, Dean of St. Paul's: consideredat the head of the metaphysical school of poets: author of_Pseudo-Martyr_, _Polydoron_, and numerous sermons. He wrote seven_satires_, which are valuable, but his style is harsh, and his ideasfar-fetched. 

Joseph Hall, 1574-1656: an eminent divine, author of six books of_satires_, of which he called the first three _toothless_, and the others_biting_ satires. These are valuable as presenting truthful pictures ofthe manners and morals of the age and of the defects in contemporaryliterature. 

Sir Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, 1554-1628: he wrote the Life of Sidney, and requested to have placed upon his tomb, "The friend of Sir PhilipSidney. " He was also the author of numerous treatises: "Monarchy, " "HumaneLearning, " "Wars, " etc. , and of two tragedies. 

George Chapman, 1557-1634: author of a translation of Homer, in verses offourteen syllables. It retains much of the spirit of the original, and isstill considered one of the best among the numerous versions of theancient poet. He also wrote _Cæsar and Pompey, Byron's Tragedy_, and otherplays. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 

 Origin of the Drama. Miracle Plays. Moralities. First Comedy. Early Tragedies. Christopher Marlowe. Other Dramatists. Playwrights and Morals. 

ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 

To the Elizabethan period also belongs the glory of having produced andfostered the English drama, itself so marked a teacher of history, notonly in plays professedly historical, but also in the delineations ofnational character, the indications of national taste, and the satiricalscourgings of the follies of the day. A few observations are necessary asto its feeble beginnings. The old Greek drama indeed existed as a model, especially in the tragedies of Euripides and the comedies of Aristophanes;but until the fall of Constantinople, these were a dead letter to WesternEurope, and when the study of Greek was begun in England, they were onlyopen to men of the highest education and culture; whereas the dramadesigned for the people was to cater in its earlier forms to the rudetastes and love of the marvellous which are characteristic of anunlettered people. And, besides, the Roman drama of Plautus and of Terencewas not suited to the comprehension of the multitude, in its form and itspreservation of the unities. To gratify the taste for shows andexcitement, the people already had the high ritual of the Church, but theydemanded something more: the Church itself acceded to this demand, anddramatized Scripture at once for their amusement and instruction. Thus the_mysteria_ or _miracle play_ originated, and served a double purpose. 

"As in ancient Greece, generations before the rise of the great dramas ofAthens, itinerant companies wandered from village to village, carryingtheir stage furniture in their little carts, and acted in their booths andtents the grand stories of the mythology--so in England the mysteryplayers haunted the wakes and fairs, and in barns or taverns, taprooms, orin the farm-house kitchen, played at saints and angels, and transacted ontheir petty stage the drama of the Christian faith. "[29]

THE MYSTERY, OR MIRACLE PLAY. --The subjects of these dramas were takenfrom such Old Testament narratives as the creation, the lives of thepatriarchs, the deluge; or from the crucifixion, and from legends of thesaints: the plays were long, sometimes occupying portions of several daysconsecutively, during seasons of religious festival. They were enacted inmonasteries, cathedrals, churches, and church-yards. The _mise en scène_was on two stages or platforms, on the upper of which were represented thePersons of the Trinity, and on the lower the personages of earth; while ayawning cellar, with smoke arising from an unseen fire, represented theinfernal regions. This device is similar in character to the plan ofDante's poem--Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. 

The earliest of these mysteries was performed somewhere about the year1300, and they held sway until 1600, being, however, slowly supplanted bythe _moralities_, which we shall presently consider. Many of these_mysteries_ still remain in English, and notices of them may be found in_Collier's History of Dramatic Poetry_. 

A miracle play was performed to celebrate the birth of Philip II. OfSpain. They are still performed in Andalusia, and one written within a fewyears for such representation, was enacted at Seville, with great pomp ofscenic effect, in the Holy Week of 1870. Similar scenes are alsowitnessed by curious foreigners at the present day in the Ober-Ammergau ofBavaria. These enable the traveller of to-day to realize the formerhistory. 

To introduce a comic element, the devil was made to appear with horns, hoof, and tail, to figure with grotesque malignity throughout the play, and to be reconsigned at the close to his dark abode by the divine power. 

MORALITIES. --As the people became enlightened, and especially as religiousknowledge made progress, such childish shows were no longer able tosatisfy them. The drama undertook a higher task of instruction in the formof what was called a _morality_, or _moral play_. Instead of old storiesreproduced to please the childish fancy of the ignorant, genius inventedscenes and incidents taken indeed from common life, but the characterswere impersonal; they were the ideal virtues, _morality, hope, mercy, frugality_, and their correlative vices. The _mystery_ had endeavored topresent similitudes; the _moralities_ were of the nature of allegory, andevinced a decided progress in popular intelligence. 

These for a time divided the interest with the mysteries, but eventuallysuperseded them. The impersonality of the characters enabled the author tomake hits at political circumstances and existent follies with impunity, as the multitude received advice and reproof addressed to them abstractly, without feeling a personal sting, and the government would not condescendto notice such abstractions. The moralities were enacted in court-yards orpalaces, the characters generally being personated by students, ormerchants from the guilds. A great improvement was also made in the lengthof the play, which was usually only an hour in performance. The publictaste was so wedded to the devil of the mysteries, that he could not begiven up in the moral plays: he kept his place; but a rival buffoonappeared in the person of _the vice_, who tried conclusions with thearchfiend in serio-comic style until the close of the performance, whenSatan always carried the vice away in triumph, as he should do. 

The moralities retained their place as legitimate drama throughout thesixteenth century, and indeed after the modern drama appeared. It isrecorded that Queen Elizabeth, in 1601, then an old woman, witnessed oneof these plays, entitled "The Contention between Liberality andProdigality. " This was written by Lodge and Greene, two of the regulardramatists, after Ben Jonson had written "Every Man in his Humour, " andwhile Shakspeare was writing Hamlet. Thus the various progressive forms ofthe drama overlapped each other, the older retaining its place until theyounger gained strength to assert its rights and supersede its rival. 

THE INTERLUDE. --While the moralities were slowly dying out, another formof the drama had appeared as a connecting link between them and thelegitimate drama of Shakspeare. This was the _interlude_, a short play, inwhich the _dramatis personæ_ were no longer allegorical characters, butpersons in real life, usually, however, not all bearing names evenassumed, but presented as a friar, a curate, a tapster, etc. The chiefcharacteristic of the interlude was, however, its satire; it was a moreoutspoken reformer than the morality, scourged the evils of the age withgreater boldness, and plunged into religious controversy with the zeal ofopposing ecclesiastics. The first and principal writer of these interludeswas John Heywood, a Roman Catholic, who wrote during the reign of HenryVIII. , and, while a professed jester, was a great champion of his Church. 

As in all cases of progress, literary and scientific, the lines ofdemarcation cannot be very distinctly drawn, but as the morality hadsuperseded the mystery, and the interlude the morality, so now they wereall to give way before the regular drama. The people were becoming moreeducated; the greater spread of classical knowledge had caused thedramatists to study and assimilate the excellences of Latin and Greekmodels; the power of the drama to instruct and refine, as well as toamuse, was acknowledged, and thus its capability of improvement becamemanifest. The forms it then assumed were more permanent, and indeed haveremained almost unchanged down to our own day. 

What is called the _first_ comedy in the language cannot be expected toshow a very decided improvement over the last interludes or moralities, but it bears those distinctive marks which establish its right to thetitle. 

THE FIRST COMEDY. --This was _Ralph Roister Doister_, which appeared in themiddle of the sixteenth century: (a printed copy of 1551 was discovered in1818. ) Its author was Nicholas Udall, the master of Eton, a clergyman, butvery severe as a pedagogue; an ultra Protestant, who is also accused ofhaving stolen church plate, which may perhaps mean that he took away fromthe altar what he regarded as popish vessels and ornaments. He calls theplay "a comedy and interlude, " but claims that it is imitated from theRoman drama. It is regularly divided into acts and scenes, in the form ofour modern plays. The plot is simple: Ralph, a gay Lothario, courts as gaya widow, and the by-play includes a designing servant and an intriguinglady's-maid: these are the stock elements of a hundred comedies since. 

Contemporary with this was _Gammer Gurton's Needle_, supposed to bewritten, but not conclusively, by John Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells, about 1560. The story turns upon the loss of a steel needle--a rareinstrument in that day, as it was only introduced into England from Spainduring the age of Elizabeth. This play is a coarser piece than RalphRoister Doister; the buffoon raises the devil to aid him in finding thelost needle, which is at length found, by very palpable proof, to besticking in the seat of Goodman Hodge's breeches. 

THE FIRST TRAGEDY. --Hand in hand with these first comedies came theearliest tragedy, _Gorboduc_, by Sackville and Norton, known under anothername as _Ferrex and Porrex_; and it is curious to observe that this camein while the moralities still occupied the stage, and before theinterludes had disappeared, as it was played before the queen at WhiteHall, in 1562. It is also to be noted that it introduced a chorus likethat of the old Greek drama. Ferrex and Porrex are the sons of KingGorboduc: the former is killed by the latter, who in turn is slain by hisown mother. Of Gorboduc, Lamb says, "The style of this old play is stiffand cumbersome, like the dresses of the times. There may be flesh andblood underneath, but we cannot get at it. "

With the awakened interest of the people, the drama now made steadyprogress. In 1568 the tragedy of _Tancred and Gismunda_, based upon one ofthe stories of Boccaccio, was enacted before Elizabeth. 

A license for establishing a regular theatre was got out by Burbage in1574. Peele and Greene wrote plays in the new manner: Marlowe, thegreatest name in the English drama, except those of Shakspeare and BenJonson, gave to the world his _Tragical History of the Life and Death ofDoctor Faustus_, which many do not hesitate to compare favorably withGoethe's great drama, and his _Rich Jew of Malta_, which contains theportraiture of Barabas, second only to the Shylock of Shakspeare. OfMarlowe a more special mention will be made. 

PLAYWRIGHTS AND MORALS. --It was to the great advantage of the Englishregular drama, that the men who wrote were almost in every case highlyeducated in the classics, and thus able to avail themselves of the bestmodels. It is equally true that, owing to the religious condition of thetimes, when Puritanism launched forth its diatribes against allamusements, they were men in the opposition, and in most cases ofirregular lives. Men of the world, they took their characters from amongthe persons with whom they associated; and so we find in their playstraces of the history of the age, in the appropriation of classical forms, in the references to religious and political parties, and in theirdelineation of the morals, manners, and follies of the period: if thedrama of the present day owes to them its origin and nurture, it alsoretains as an inheritance many of the faults and deformities from which ina more refined period it is seeking to purge itself. It is worthy ofnotice, that as the drama owes everything to popular patronage, its moraltone reflects of necessity the moral character of the people who frequentit, and of the age which sustains it. 

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. --Among those who may be regarded as the immediateforerunners and ushers of Shakspeare, and who, although they prepared theway for his advent, have been obscured by his greater brilliance, the onemost deserving of special mention is Marlowe. 

Christopher Marlowe was born at Canterbury, about the year 1564. He was awild, irregular genius, of bad morals and loose life, but of fineimagination and excellent powers of expression. He wrote only tragedies. 

His _Tamburlaine the Great_ is based upon the history of that _TimourLeuk_, or _Timour the Lame_, the great Oriental conqueror of thefourteenth century:

 So large of limb, his joints so strongly knit, Such breadth of shoulders as might mainly bear Old Atlas' burthen. 

The descriptions are overdrawn, and the style inflated, but the subjectpartakes of the heroic, and was popular still, though nearly twocenturies had passed since the exploits of the historic hero. 

_The Rich Jew of Malta_ is of value, as presenting to us Barabas the Jewas he appeared to Christian suspicion and hatred in the fifteenth century. As he sits in his country-house with heaps of gold before him, andreceives the visits of merchants who inform him of the safe arrival of hisships, it is manifest that he gave Shakspeare the first ideal of hisShylock, upon which the greater dramatist greatly improved. 

_The Tragicall Life and Death of Doctor John Faustus_ certainly helpedGoethe in the conception and preparation of his modern drama, and containsmany passages of rare power. Charles Lamb says: "The growing horrors ofFaustus are awfully marked by the hours and half-hours which expire andbring him nearer and nearer to the enactment of his dire compact. It isindeed an agony and bloody sweat. "

_Edward II. _ presents in the assassination scene wonderful power andpathos, and is regarded by Hazlitt as his best play. 

Marlowe is the author of the pleasant madrigal, called by Izaak Walton"that smooth song":

 Come live with me and be my love. 

The playwright, who had led a wild life, came to his end in a tavernbrawl: he had endeavored to use his dagger upon one of the waiters, whoturned it upon him, and gave him a wound in the head of which he died, in1593. 

His talents were of a higher order than those of his contemporaries; hewas next to Shakspeare in power, and was called by Phillips "a secondShakspeare. "

OTHER DRAMATIC WRITERS BEFORE SHAKSPEARE. 

Thomas Lodge, 1556-1625: educated at Oxford. Wrote _The Wounds ofCivil-War_, and other tragedies. Rosalynd, a novel, from which Shakspearedrew in his _As You Like It_. He translated _Josephus_ and _Seneca_. 

Thomas Kyd, died about 1600: _The Spanish Tragedy, or, Hieronymo is MadAgain_. This contains a few highly wrought scenes, which have beenvariously attributed to Ben Jonson and to Webster. 

Robert Tailor: wrote _The Hog hath Lost his Pearl_, a comedy, published in1614. This partakes of the character of the _morality_. 

John Marston: wrote _Antonio and Mellida_, 1602; _Antonio's Revenge_, 1602; _Sophonisba, a Wonder of Women_, 1606; _The Insatiate Countess_, 1603, and many other plays. Marston ranks high among the immediatepredecessors of Shakspeare, for the number, variety, and vigorous handlingof his plays. 

George Peele, born about 1553: educated at Oxford. Many of his pieces arebroadly comic. The principal plays are: _The Arraignment of Paris_, _Edward I. _ and _David and Bethsabe_. The latter is overwrought and fullof sickish sentiment. 

Thomas Nash, 1558-1601: a satirist and polemic, who is best known for hiscontroversy with Gabriel Harvey. Most of his plays were written inconjunction with others. He was imprisoned for writing _The Isle of Dogs_, which was played, but not published. He is very licentious in hislanguage. 

John Lyly, born about 1553: wrote numerous smaller plays, but is chieflyknown as the author of _Euphues, Anatomy of Wit_, and _Euphues and hisEngland_. 

Robert Greene, died 1592: educated at Cambridge. Wrote _Alphonsus, King ofArragon_, _James IV. _, _George-a-Greene_, _Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_, and other plays. After leading a profligate life, he left behind him apamphlet entitled, "A Groat's-worth of Wit, bought with a Million ofRepentance:" this is full of contrition, and of advice to hisfellow-actors and fellow-sinners. It is mainly remarkable for its abuse ofShakspeare, "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers;" "Tygre'sheart wrapt in a player's hide;" "an absolute Johannes factotum, in hisown conceyt the onely _shakescene_ in the country. "

Most of these dramatists wrote in copartnership with others, and many ofthe plays which bear their names singly, have parts composed bycolleagues. Such was the custom of the age, and it is now very difficultto declare the distinct authorship of many of the plays. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 

 The Power of Shakspeare. Meagre Early History. Doubts of his Identity. What is known. Marries, and goes to London. "Venus" and "Lucrece. " Retirement and Death. Literary Habitudes. Variety of the Plays. Table of Dates and Sources. 

THE POWER OF SHAKSPEARE. 

We have now reached, in our search for the historic teachings in Englishliterature, and in our consideration of the English drama, the greatestname of all, the writer whose works illustrate our position most strongly, and yet who, eminent type as he is of British culture in the age ofElizabeth, was truly and pithily declared by his friend and contemporary, Ben Jonson, to be "not for an age, but for all time. " It is alsosingularly true that, even in such a work as this, Shakspeare reallyrequires only brief notice at our hands, because he is so universallyknown and read: his characters are among our familiar acquaintance; hissimple but thoughtful words are incorporated in our common conversation;he is our every-day companion. To eulogize him to the reading public is

 To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To lend a perfume to the violet ... 

The Bible and Shakspeare have been long conjoined as the two mostnecessary books in a family library; and Mrs. Cowden Clarke, the author ofthe Concordance to Shakspeare, has pointedly and truthfully said: "A poorlad, possessing no other book, might on this single one make himself agentleman and a scholar: a poor girl, studying no other volume, mightbecome a lady in heart and soul. "

MEAGRE EARLY HISTORY. --It is passing strange, considering the great valueof his writings, and his present fame, that of his personal history solittle is known. In the words of Steevens, one of his most successfulcommentators: "All that is known, with any degree of certainty, concerningShakspeare, is--that he was born at Stratford upon Avon--married and hadchildren there--went to London, where he commenced actor, and wrote poemsand plays--returned to Stratford, made his will, died, and was buried. "

This want of knowledge is in part due to his obscure youth, during whichno one could predict what he would afterward achieve, and therefore no onetook notes of his life: to his own apparent ignorance and carelessness ofhis own merits, and to the low repute in which plays, and especiallyplaywrights, were then held; although they were in reality making theirage illustrious in history. The pilgrim to Stratford sees the little lowhouse in which he is said to have been born, purchased by the nation, andnow restored into a smart cottage: within are a few meagre relics of thepoet's time; not far distant is the foundation--recently uncovered--of hismore ambitious residence in New Place, and a mulberry-tree, which probablygrew from a slip of that which he had planted with his own hand. Oppositeis the old Falcon Inn, where he made his daily potations. Very near rises, above elms and lime-trees, the spire of the beautiful church on the bankof the Avon, beneath the chancel of which his remains repose, with thoseof his wife and daughter, overlooked by his bust, of which no one knowsthe maker or the history, except that it dates from his own time. His bustis of life-size, and was originally painted to imitate nature--eyes ofhazel, hair and beard auburn, doublet scarlet, and sleeveless gown ofblack. Covered by a false taste with white paint to imitate marble, whileit destroyed identity and age: it has since been recolored fromtraditional knowledge, but it is too rude to give us the expression of hisface. 

The only other probable likeness is that from an old picture, an engravingof which, by Droeshout, is found in the first folio edition of his plays, published in 1623, seven years after his death: it was said by Ben Jonsonto be a good likeness. We are very fortunate in having these, unsatisfactory as they are, for it is simple truth that beyond theseplaces and things, there is little, if anything, to illustrate thepersonal history of Shakspeare. All that we can know of the man is foundin his works. 

DOUBTS OF HIS IDENTITY. --This ignorance concerning him has given rise tonumerous doubts as to his literary identity, and many efforts have beenmade to find other authors for his dramas. Among the most industrious inthis deposing scheme, have been Miss Delia Bacon and Mr. Nathaniel Holmes, who concur in attributing his best plays to Francis Bacon. That Bacon didnot acknowledge his own work, they say, is because he rated the dramaticart too far beneath his dignity to confess any complicity with it. Inshort, he and other great men of that day wrote immortal works which theywere ashamed of, and were willing to father upon the common actor andstage-manager, one William Shakspeare!

While it is not within the scope of this volume to enter into thecontroversy, it is a duty to state its existence, and to express thejudgment that these efforts have been entirely unsuccessful, but have notbeen without value in that they have added a little to the meagre historyby their researches, and have established the claims of Shakspeare on afirmer foundation than before. 

WHAT IS KNOWN. --William Shakspeare (spelt _Shackspeare_ in the body of hiswill, but signed _Shakspeare_) was the third of eight children, and theeldest son of John Shakspeare and Mary Arden: he was born at the beautifulrural town of Stratford, on the little river Avon, on the 23d of April, 1564. His father, who was of yeoman rank, was probably a dealer in wooland leather. Aubrey, a gossiping chronicler of the next generation, sayshe was a butcher, and some biographers assert that he was a glover. He mayhave exercised all these crafts together, but it is more to our purpose toknow that in his best estate he was a property holder and chief burgess ofthe town. Shakspeare's mother seems to have been of an older family. Neither of them could write. Shakspeare received his education at the freegrammar-school, still a well-endowed institution in the town, where helearned the "small Latin and less Greek" accorded to him by Ben Jonson ata later day. 

There are guesses, rather than traditions, that he was, after the age offifteen, a student in a law-office, that he was for a time at one of theuniversities, and also that he was a teacher in the grammar-school. Theseare weak inventions to account for the varied learning displayed in hisdramas. His love of Nature and his power to delineate her charms werecertainly fostered by the beautiful rural surroundings of Stratford;beyond this it is idle to seek to penetrate the obscure processes of hisyouth. 

MARRIES, AND GOES TO LONDON. --Finding himself one of a numerous and poorfamily, to the support of which his father's business was inadequate, hedetermined, to shift for himself, and to push his fortunes in the best wayhe could. 

Whether he regarded matrimony as one element of success we do not know, but the preliminary bond of marriage between himself and Anne Hathaway, was signed on the 28th of November, 1582, when he was eighteen years old. The woman was seven years older than himself; and it is a sad commentaryon the morality of both, that his first child, Susanna, was baptized onthe 25th of May, 1583. 

Strolling bands of players, in passing through England, were in the habitof stopping at Stratford, and setting upon wheels their rude stage withweather-stained curtains; and these, it should be observed, were the bestdramatic companies of the time, such as the queen's company, and those inthe service of noblemen like Leicester, Warwick, and others. If he did notsee he must have heard of the great pageant in 1575, when Leicesterentertained Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth, which is so charminglydescribed by Sir Walter Scott. Young Shakspeare became stage-struck, andprobably joined one of these companies, with other idle young men of theneighborhood. 

Various legends, without sufficient foundation of truth, are related ofhim at this time, which indicate that he was of a frolicsome andmischievous turn: among these is a statement that he was arraigned fordeer-poaching in the park of Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote. A satiricalreference to Sir Thomas in one of his plays, [30] leads us to think thatthere is some truth in the story, although certain of his biographers havedenied it. 

In February, 1584-5, he became the father of twins, Hamnet and Judith, andin 1586, leaving his wife and children at Stratford, he went up with atheatrical company to London, where for three years he led a hard andobscure life. He was at first a menial at the theatre; some say he heldgentlemen's horses at the door, others that he was call-boy, prompter, scene-shifter, minor actor. At length he began to find his true vocationin altering and adapting plays for the stage. This earlier practice, inevery capacity, was of great value to him when he began to write plays ofhis own. As an actor he never rose above mediocrity. It is said that heplayed such parts as the Ghost in Hamlet, and Adam in As You Like It; butoff the stage he became known for a ready wit and convivial humor. 

His ready hand for any work caused him to prosper steadily, and so in1589 we find his name the twelfth on the list of sixteen shareholders inthe Blackfriars Theatre, one of the first play-houses built in London. That he was steadily growing in public favor, as well as in privatefortune, might be inferred from Spenser's mention of him in the "Tears ofthe Muses, " published in 1591, if we were sure he was the person referredto. If he was, this is the first great commendation he had received:

 The man whom nature's self had made, To mock herself and truth to imitate, With kindly counter under mimic shade, Our pleasant Willie. 

There is, however, a doubt whether the reference is to him, as he hadwritten very little as early as 1591. 

VENUS AND ADONIS. --In 1593 appeared his _Venus and Adonis_, which he nowhad the social position and interest to dedicate to the Earl ofSouthampton. It is a harmonious and beautiful poem, but the display oflibidinous passion in the goddess, however in keeping with her characterand with the broad taste of the age, is disgusting to the refined reader, even while he acknowledges the great power of the poet. In the same yearwas built the Globe Theatre, a hexagonal wooden structure, unroofed overthe pit, but thatched over the stage and the galleries. In this, too, Shakspeare was a shareholder. 

THE RAPE OF LUCRECE. --The _Rape of Lucrece_ was published in 1594, and wasdedicated to the same nobleman, who, after the custom of the period, became Shakspeare's patron, and showed the value of his patronage by thegift to the poet of a thousand pounds. 

Thus in making poetical versions of classical stories, which formed theimaginative pabulum of the age, and in readapting older plays, the poetwas gaining that skill and power which were to produce his later immortaldramas. 

These, as we shall see, he began to write as early as 1589, and continuedto produce until 1612. 

RETIREMENT AND DEATH. --A few words will complete his personal history: Hisfortune steadily increased; in 1602 he was the principal owner of theGlobe; then, actuated by his home feeling, which had been kept alive byannual visits to Stratford, he determined, as soon as he could, to give upthe stage, and to take up his residence there. He had purchased, in 1597, the New Place at Stratford, but he did not fully carry out his plan until1612, when he finally retired with ample means and in the enjoyment of anhonorable reputation. There he exercised a generous hospitality, and led aquiet rural life. He planted a mulberry-tree, which became a pilgrim'sshrine to numerous travellers; but a ruthless successor in the ownershipof New Place, the Reverend Francis Gastrell, annoyed by the concourse ofvisitors, was Vandal enough to cut it down. Such was the anger of thepeople that he was obliged to leave the place, which he did after razingthe mansion to the ground. His name is held in great detestation atStratford now, as every traveller is told his story. 

Shakspeare's death occurred on his fifty-second birthday, April 23d, 1616. He had been ill of a fever, from which he was slowly recovering, and hisend is said to have been the result of an over-conviviality inentertaining Drayton and Ben Jonson, who had paid him a visit atStratford. 

His son Hamnet had died in 1596, at the age of twelve. In 1607, hisdaughter Susannah had married Dr. Hall; and in 1614 died Judith, who hadmarried Thomas Quiney. Shakspeare's wife survived him, and died in 1623. 

LITERARY HABITUDES. --Such, in brief, is the personal history ofShakspeare: of his literary habitudes we know nothing. The exact dates ofthe appearance of his plays are, in most cases, doubtful. Many of thesehad been printed singly during his life, but the first complete editionwas published in folio, in 1623. It contains _thirty-six_ plays, and isthe basis of the later editions, which contain thirty-_seven_. Manyquestions arise which cannot be fully answered: Did he write all the playscontained in the volume? Are the First Part of Henry VI. , TitusAndronicus, [31] and Pericles his work? Did he not write others not foundamong these? Had he, as was not uncommon then and later, collaboration inthose which bear his name? Was he a Beaumont to some Fletcher, or aSackville to some Norton? Upon these questions generations of Shakspeareanscholars have expended a great amount of learned inquiry ever since hisday, and not without results: it is known that many of his dramas arefounded upon old plays, as to plots; and that he availed himself of thelabor of others in casting his plays. 

But the real value of his plays, the insight into human nature, theprofound philosophy, "the myriad-soul" which they display, areShakspeare's only. By applying just rules of evidence, we conclude that hedid write thirty-five of the plays attributed to him, and that he did notwrite, or was not the chief writer of others. It is certainly very strongtestimony on these points, that seven years after his death, and _threeyears before that of Bacon_, a large folio should have been published byhis professional friends Heminge and Condell, prefaced with ardenteulogies, claiming thirty-six plays as his, and that it did not meet withthe instant and indignant cry that his claims were false. The players ofthat day were an envious and carping set, and the controversy would havebeen fierce from the very first, had there been just grounds for it. 

VARIETY OF PLAYS. --No attempt will be made to analyze any of the plays ofShakspeare: that is left for the private study and enjoyment of thestudent, by the use of the very numerous aids furnished by commentatorsand critics. It will be found often that in their great ardor, thedramatist has been treated like the Grecian poet:

 [Shakspeare's] critics bring to view Things which [Shakspeare] never knew. 

Many of the plays are based upon well-known legends and fictional tales, some of them already adopted in old plays: thus the story of King Lear andhis daughters is found in Holinshed's Chronicle, and had been for yearsrepresented; from this Shakspeare has borrowed the story, but has usedonly a single passage. The play is intended to represent the ancientCeltic times in Britain, eight hundred years before Christ; and such isits power and pathos, that we care little for its glaring anachronisms andcurious errors. In Holinshed are also found the stories of Cymbeline andMacbeth, the former supposed to have occurred during the Roman occupancyof Britain, and the latter during the Saxon period. 

With these before us, let us observe that names, chronology, geography, costumes, and customs are as nothing in his eyes. His aim is humanphilosophy: he places his living creations before us, dressing them, as itwere, in any garments most conveniently at hand. These lose theirgrotesqueness as his characters speak and act. Paternal love and weakness, met by filial ingratitude; these are the lessons and the fearful picturesof Lear: sad as they are, the world needed them, and they have saved manya later Lear from expulsion and storm and death, and shamed many a Goneriland Regan, while they have strengthened the hearts of many a Cordeliasince. Chastity and constancy shine like twin stars from the forest ofCymbeline. And what have we in Macbeth? Mad ambition parleying with thedevil, in the guise of a woman lost to all virtue save a desire toaggrandize her husband and herself. These have a pretence of history; butHamlet, with hardly that pretence, stands alone supreme in variedexcellence. Ambition, murder, resistless fate, filial love, the love ofwoman, revenge, the power of conscience, paternal solicitude, infinitejest: what a volume is this!

TABLE OF DATES AND SOURCES. --The following table, which presents the playsin chronological order, [32] the times when they were written, as nearly ascan be known, and the sources whence they were derived, will be of moreservice to the student than any discursive remarks upon the several plays. 

Plays. Dates. Sources. 

 1. Henry VI. , first part 1589 Denied to Shakspeare; attributed to Marlowe or Kyd. 2. Pericles 1590 From the "Gesta Romanorum. " 3. Henry VI. , second part 1591 " an older play. 4. Henry VI. , third part 1591 " " " " 5. Two Gentlemen of Verona 1591 " an old tale. 6. Comedy of Errors 1592 " a comedy of Plautus. 7. Love's Labor Lost 1592 " an Italian play. 8. Richard II. 1593 " Holinshed and other chronicles. 9. Richard III. 1593 From an old play and Sir Thomas More's History. 10. Midsummer Night's Dream 1594 Suggested by Palamon and Arcite, The Knight's Tale, of Chaucer. 11. Taming of the Shrew 1596 From an older play. 12. Romeo and Juliet 1596 " " old tale. Boccaccio. 13. Merchant of Venice 1597 " Gesta Romanorum, with suggestions from Marlowe's Jew of Malta. 14. Henry IV. , part 1 1597 From an old play. 15. Henry IV. , part 2 1598 " " " "16. King John 1598 " " " "17. All's Well that Ends Well 1598 " Boccaccio. 18. Henry V. 1599 From an older play. 19. As You Like It 1600 Suggested in part by Lodge's novel, Rosalynd. 20. Much Ado About Nothing 1600 Source unknown. 21. Hamlet 1601 From the Latin History of Scandinavia, by Saxo, called Grammaticus. 22. Merry Wives of Windsor 1601 Said to have been suggested by Elizabeth. 23. Twelfth Night 1601 From an old tale. 24. Troilus and Cressida 1602 Of classical origin, through Chaucer. 25. Henry VIII. 1603 From the chronicles of the day. 26. Measure for Measure 1603 " an old tale. 27. Othello 1604 " " " "28. King Lear 1605 " Holinshed. 29. Macbeth 1606 " "30. Julius Cæsar 1607 " Plutarch's Parallel Lives. 31. Antony and Cleopatra 1608 " " " "32. Cymbeline 1609 " Holinshed. 33. Coriolanus 1610 " Plutarch. 34. Timon of Athens 1610 " " and other sources. 35. Winter's Tale 1611 " a novel by Greene. 36. Tempest 1612 " Italian Tale. 37. Titus Andronicus 1593 Denied to Shakspeare; probably by Marlowe or Kyd. 

CHAPTER XV. 

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, (CONTINUED. )

 The Grounds of his Fame. Creation of Character. Imagination and Fancy. Power of Expression. His Faults. Influence of Elizabeth. Sonnets. Ireland and Collier. Concordance. Other Writers. 

THE GROUNDS OF HIS FAME. 

From what has been said, it is manifest that as to his plots andhistorical reproductions, Shakspeare has little merit but taste inselection; and indeed in most cases, had he invented the stories, hismerit would not have been great: what then is the true secret of his powerand of his fame? This question is not difficult to answer. 

First, these are due to his wonderful insight into human nature, and thephilosophy of human life: he dissects the human mind in all itsconditions, and by this vivisection he displays its workings as it livesand throbs; he divines the secret impulses of all ages andcharacters--childhood, boyhood, manhood, girlhood, and womanhood; men ofpeace, and men of war; clowns, nobles, and kings. His large heart wassympathetic with all, and even most so with the lowly and suffering; heshows us to ourselves, and enables us to use that knowledge for ourprofit. All the virtues are held up to our imitation and praise, and allthe vices are scourged and rendered odious in our sight. To readShakspeare aright is of the nature of honest self-examination, that mostdifficult and most necessary of duties. 

CREATION OF CHARACTER. --Second: He stands supreme in the creation ofcharacter, which may be considered the distinguishing mark of the highestliterary genius. The men and women whom he has made are not stage-puppetsmoved by hidden strings; they are real. We know them as intimately as thefriends and acquaintances who visit us, or the people whom we accost inour daily walks. 

And again, in this varied delineation of character, Shakspeare less thanany other author either obtrudes or repeats himself. Unlike Byron, he isnowhere his own hero: unlike most modern novelists, he fashions men who, while they have the generic human resemblance, differ from each other likethose of flesh and blood around us: he has presented a hundred phases oflove, passion, ambition, jealousy, revenge, treachery, and cruelty, andeach distinct from the others of its kind; but lest any character shoulddegenerate into an allegorical representation of a single virtue or vice, he has provided it with the other lineaments necessary to produce in it arare human identity. 

The stock company of most writers is limited, and does arduous duty ineach new play or romance; so that we detect in the comic actor, who is nowconvulsing the pit with laughter, the same person who a little while agodied heroically to slow music in the tragedy. Each character in Shakspeareplays but one part, and plays it skilfully and well. And who has portrayedthe character of woman like Shakspeare?--the grand sorrow of therepudiated Catharine, the incorruptible chastity of Isabella, thecleverness of Portia, the loves of Jessica and of Juliet, the innocentcuriosity of Miranda, the broken heart and crazed brain of the fairOphelia. 

In this connection also should be noticed his powers of grouping andcomposition; which, in the words of one of his biographers, "present to uspictures from the realms of spirits and from fairyland, which in deepreflection and in useful maxims, yield nothing to the pages of thephilosophers, and which glow with all the poetic beauty that anexhaustless fancy could shower upon them. "

IMAGINATION AND FANCY. --And this brings us to notice, in the third place, his rare gifts of imagination and of fancy; those instruments of therepresentative faculty by which objects of sense and of mind are held upto view in new, varied, and vivid lights. Many of his tragedies abound inimaginative pictures, while there are not in the realm of Fancy's fairyfrostwork more exquisite representations than those found in the _Tempest_and the _Midsummer Night's Dream_. 

POWER OF EXPRESSION. --Fourth, Shakspeare is remarkable for the power andfelicity of his expression. He adapts his language to the persons who useit, and thus we pass from the pompous grandiloquence of king and herald tothe common English and coarse conceits of clown and nurse andgrave-digger; from the bombastic speech of Glendower and the rhapsodies ofHotspur to the slang and jests of Falstaff. 

But something more is meant by felicity of expression than this. Itapplies to the apt words which present pithy bits of household philosophy, and to the beautiful words which convey the higher sentiments and flightsof fancy; to the simple words couching grand thoughts with such exquisiteaptness that they seem made for each other, so that no other words woulddo as well, and to the dainty songs, like those of birds, which fill hisforests and gardens with melody. Thus it is that orators and essayistsgive dignity and point to their own periods by quoting Shakspeare. 

Such are a few of Shakspeare's high merits, which constitute him thegreatest poet who has ever used the English tongue--poet, moralist, andphilosopher in one. 

HIS FAULTS. --If it be necessary to point out his faults, it should beobserved that most of them are those of the age and of his profession. Toboth may be charged the vulgarity and lewdness of some of hisrepresentations; which, however, err in this respect far less than thewritings of his contemporaries. 

Again: in the short time allowed for the presentation of a play, before arestless audience, as soon as the plot was fairly shadowed, the hearerswere anxious for the _dénouement_. And so Shakspeare, careless of futurefame, frequently displays a singular disparity between the parts. He hasso much of detail in the first two acts, that in order to preserve thesymmetry, five or six more would be necessary. Thus conclusions arehurried, when, as works of art, they should be the most elaborated. 

He has sometimes been accused of obscurity in expression, which renderssome of his passages difficult to be understood by commentators; but this, in most cases, is the fault of his editors. The cases are exceptional andunimportant. His anachronisms and historical inaccuracies have alreadybeen referred to. His greatest admirers will allow that his wit and humorare very often forced and frequently out of place; but here, too, heshould be leniently judged. These sallies of wit were meant rather to"tickle the ears of the groundlings" than as just subjects for criticismby later scholars. We know that old jokes, bad puns, and innuendoes areneeded on the stage at the present day. Shakspeare used them for the sameephemeral purpose then; and had he sent down corrected versions toposterity, they would have been purged of these. 

INFLUENCE OF ELIZABETH. --Enough has been said to show in what mannerShakspeare represents his age, and indeed many former periods of Englishhistory. There are numerous passages which display the influence ofElizabeth. It was at her request that he wrote the _Merry Wives ofWindsor_, in which Falstaff is depicted as a lover: the play of HenryVIII. , criticizing the queen's father, was not produced until after herdeath. His pure women, like those of Spenser, are drawn after a queenlymodel. It is known that Elizabeth was very susceptible to admiration, butdid not wish to be considered so; and Shakspeare paid the most delicateand courtly tribute to her vanity, in those exquisite lines from the_Midsummer Night's Dream_, showing how powerless Cupid was to touch herheart:

 A certain aim he took At a fair vestal, throned by the west; And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow, As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts: But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon; And _the imperial votaress passed on_, In maiden meditation, fancy free. 

SHAKSPEARE'S SONNETS. --Before his time, the sonnet had been but littleused in England, the principal writers being Surrey, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sidney, Daniel, and Drayton. Shakspeare left one hundred and fifty-four, which exhibit rare poetical power, and which are most of them addressed toa person unknown, perhaps an ideal personage, whose initials are W. H. Although chiefly addressed to a man, they are of an amatory nature, anddwell strongly upon human frailty, infidelity, and treachery, from whichhe seems to have suffered: the mystery of these poems has never beenpenetrated. They were printed in 1609. "Our language, " says one of hiseditors, "can boast no sonnets altogether worthy of being placed by theside of Shakspeare's, except the few which Milton poured forth--so severeand so majestic. "

It need hardly be said that Shakspeare has been translated into all modernlanguages, in whole or in part. In French, by Victor Hugo and Guizot, Leonde Wailly and Alfred de Vigny; in German, by Wieland, A. W. Schlegel, andBürger; in Italian, by Leoni and Carcano, and in Portuguese by La Silva. Goethe's Apprenticeship of Wilhelm Meister is a long and profound critiqueof Hamlet; and to the Germans he is quite as familiar and intelligible asto the English. 

IRELAND: COLLIER. --The most celebrated forgery of Shakspeare was that bySamuel Ireland, the son of a Shakspearean scholar, who was an engraver anddealer in curiosities. He wrote two plays, called _Vortigern_ and _Henrythe Second_, which he said he had discovered; and he forged a deed withShakspeare's autograph. By these he imposed upon his father and manyothers, but eventually confessed the forgery. 

One word should be said concerning the Collier controversy. John PayneCollier was a lawyer, born in 1789, and is known as the author of anexcellent history of _English Dramatic Poetry to the Time of Shakspeare_and _Annals of the Stage to the Restoration_. In the year 1849, he cameinto possession of a copy of the folio edition of Shakspeare, published in1632, _full of emendations_, by an early owner of the volume. In 1852 hepublished these, and at once great enthusiasm was excited, for and againstthe emendations: many thought them of great value, while others even wentso far as to accuse Mr. Collier of having made some of them himself. Thechief value of the work was that it led to new investigations, and hasthus thrown additional light upon the works of Shakspeare. 

CONCORDANCE. --The student is referred to a very complete concordance ofShakspeare, by Mrs. Mary Cowden Clarke, the labor of many years, by whichevery line of Shakspeare may be found, and which is thus of incalculableutility to the Shakspearean scholar. 

OTHER DRAMATIC WRITERS OF THE AGE OF SHAKSPEARE. 

Ben Jonson, 1573-1637: this great dramatist, who deserves a larger space, was born in London; his father became a Puritan preacher, but after hisdeath, his mother's second husband put the boy at brick-making. His spiritrevolted at this, and he ran away, and served as a soldier in the LowCountries. On his return he killed Gabriel Spencer, a fellow-actor, in aduel, and was for some time imprisoned. His first play was a comedyentitled _Every Man in his Humour_, acted in 1598. This was succeeded, the next year, by _Every Man out of his Humour_. He wrote a great numberof both tragedies and comedies, among which the principal are _Cynthia'sRevels_, _Sejanus_, _Volpone_, _Catiline's Conspiracy_, and _TheAlchemist_. In 1616, he received a pension from the crown of one hundredmarks, which was increased by Charles I. , in 1630, to one hundred pounds. He was the friend of Shakspeare, and had many wit-encounters with him. Inthese, Fuller compares Jonson to a great Spanish galleon, "built farhigher in learning, solid and slow in performance, " and Shakspeare to an"English man-of-war, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turnwith all tides, tack about and take advantage of all winds, by thequickness of his wit and invention. "

Massinger, 1548-1640: born at Salisbury. Is said to have writtenthirty-eight plays, of which only eighteen remain. The chief of these isthe _Virgin Martyr_, in which he was assisted by Dekker. The best of theothers are _The City Madam_ and _A New Way to Pay Old Debts_, _The FatalDowry_, _The Unnatural Combat_, and _The Duke of Milan_. _A New Way to PayOld Debts_ keeps its place upon the modern stage. 

John Ford, born 1586: author of _The Lover's Melancholy_, _Love'sSacrifice_, _Perkin Warbeck_, and _The Broken Heart_. He was a patheticdelineator of love, especially of unhappy love. Some of his plots areunnatural, and abhorrent to a refined taste. 

Webster (dates unknown): this author is remarkable for his handling ofgloomy and terrible subjects. His best plays are _The Devil's Law Case_, _Appius and Virginia_, _The Duchess of Malfy_, and _The White Devil_. Hazlitt says "his _White Devil_ and _Duchess of Malfy_ come the nearest toShakspeare of anything we have upon record. "

Francis Beaumont, 1586-1615, and John Fletcher, 1576-1625: joint authorsof plays, numbering fifty-two. A prolific union, in which it is difficultto determine the exact authorship of each. Among the best plays are _TheMaid's Tragedy_, _Philaster_, and _Cupid's Revenge_. Many of the plots arelicentious, but in monologues they frequently rise to eloquence, and indescriptions are picturesque and graphic. 

Shirley, 1594-1666: delineates fashionable life with success. His bestplays are _The Maid's Revenge_, _The Politician_, and _The Lady ofPleasure_. The last suggested to Van Brugh his character of Lady Townly, in _The Provoked Husband_. Lamb says Shirley "was the last of a greatrace, all of whom spoke the same language, and had a set of moral feelingsand notions in common. A new language and quite a new turn of tragic andcomic interest came in at the Restoration. "

Thomas Dekker, died about 1638: wrote, besides numerous tracts, twenty-eight plays. The principal are _Old Fortunatus_, _The HonestWhore_, and _Satiro-Mastix, or, The Humorous Poet Untrussed_. In the last, he satirized Ben Jonson, with whom he had quarrelled, and who hadridiculed him in _The Poetaster_. In the Honest Whore are found thosebeautiful lines so often quoted:

 ... The best of men That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer; A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit; The first true gentleman that ever breathed. 

Extracts from the plays mentioned may be found in Charles Lamb's"Specimens of English Dramatic Poets who lived about the time ofShakspeare. "

CHAPTER XVI. 

BACON, AND THE RISE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 

 Birth and Early Life. Treatment of Essex. His Appointments. His Fall. Writes Philosophy. Magna Instauratio. His Defects. His Fame. His Essays. 

BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF BACON. 

Contemporary with Shakspeare, and almost equal to him in English fame atleast, is Francis Bacon, the founder of the system of experimentalphilosophy in the Elizabethan age. The investigations of the one in thephilosophy of human life, were emulated by those of the other in the realmof general nature, in order to find laws to govern further progress, andto evolve order and harmony out of chaos. 

Bacon was born in London, on the 22d of January, 1560-61, to an enviablesocial lot. His father, Sir Nicholas Bacon, was for twenty years lordkeeper of the great seal, and was eulogized by George Buchanan as "DiuBritannici regni secundum columen. " His mother was Anne Cook, a person ofremarkable acquirements in language and theology. Francis Bacon was adelicate, attractive, and precocious child, noticed by the great, andkindly called by the queen "her little lord keeper. " Ben Jonson refers tothis when he writes, at a later day:

 England's high chancellor, the destined heir In his soft cradle to his father's chair. 

Thus, in his early childhood, he became accustomed to the forms andgrandeur of political power, and the modes by which it was to be strivenfor. 

In his thirteenth year he was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, then, as now, the more mathematical and scientific of the two universities. But, like Gibbon at Oxford, he thought little of his alma mater, under whosecare he remained only three years. It is said that at an early age hedisliked the Logic of Aristotle, and began to excogitate his system ofInduction: not content with the formal recorded knowledge, he viewed theuniverse as a great storehouse of facts to be educed, investigated, andphilosophically classified. 

After leaving the university, he went in the suite of Sir Amyas Paulet, the English ambassador, to France; and recorded the observations madeduring his travels in a treatise _On the State of Europe_, which isthoughtful beyond his years. The sudden death of his father, in February, 1579-80, recalled him to England, and his desire to study led him to applyto the government for a sinecure, which would permit him to do so withoutconcern as to his support. It is not strange--considering his youth andthe entire ignorance of the government as to his abilities--that this wasrefused. He then applied himself to the study of the law; and whatever hisreal ability, the jealousy of the Cecils no doubt prompted the opinion ofthe queen, that he was not very profound in the branch he had chosen, anopinion which was fully shared by the blunt and outspoken Lord Coke, whowas his rival in love, law, and preferment. Prompted no doubt by thecoldness of Burleigh, he joined the opposition headed by the Earl ofEssex, and he found in that nobleman a powerful friend and generouspatron, who used his utmost endeavors to have Bacon appointedattorney-general, but without success. To compensate Bacon for hisfailure, Essex presented him with a beautiful villa at Twickenham on theThames, which was worth £2, 000. 

TREATMENT OF ESSEX. --Essex was of a bold, eccentric, and violent temper. It is not to the credit of Bacon that when Essex, through his rashness andeccentricities, found himself arraigned for treason, Bacon deserted him, and did not simply stand aloof, but was the chief agent in hisprosecution. Nor is this all: after making a vehement and effective speechagainst him, as counsel for the prosecution--a speech which led to hisconviction and execution--Bacon wrote an uncalled-for and malignant paper, entitled "A Declaration of the Treasons of Robert, Earl of Essex. "

A high-minded man would have aided his friend; a cautious man would haveremained neutral; but Bacon was extravagant, fond of show, eager formoney, and in debt: he sought only to push his own fortunes, withoutregard to justice or gratitude, and he saw that he had everything to gainfrom his servility to the queen, and nothing from standing by his friend. Even those who thought Essex justly punished, regarded Bacon with aversionand contempt, and impartial history has not reversed their opinion. 

HIS APPOINTMENTS. --He strove for place, and he obtained it. In 1590 he wasappointed counsel extraordinary to the queen: such was his first rewardfor this conduct, and such his first lesson in the school where thriftfollowed fawning. In 1593 he was brought into parliament for Middlesex, and there he charmed all hearers by his eloquence, which has received thespecial eulogy of Ben Jonson. In his parliamentary career is found asecond instance of his truckling to power: in a speech touching the rightsof the crown, he offended the queen and her ministers; and as soon as hefound they resented it, he made a servile and unqualified apology. 

At this time he began to write his _Essays_, which will be referred tohereafter, and published two treatises, one on _The Common Law_, and oneon _The Alienation Office_. 

In 1603 he was, by his own seeking, among the crowd of gentlemen knightedby James I. On his accession; and in 1604 he added fortune to his newdignity by marrying Alice Barnham, "a handsome maiden, " the daughter of aLondon alderman. He had before addressed the dowager Lady Hatton, who hadrefused him and bestowed her hand upon his rival, Coke. 

In 1613 he attained to the long-desired dignity of attorney-general, apost which he filled with power and energy, but which he disgraced by thetorture of Peacham, an old clergyman, who was charged with having writtentreason in a sermon which he never preached nor published. As nothingcould be extorted from him by the rack, Bacon informed the king thatPeacham "had a dumb devil. " It should be some palliation of this deed, however, that the government was quick and sharp in ferretting outtreason, and that torture was still authorized. 

In 1616 he was sworn of the privy council, and in the next year inheritedhis father's honors, being made lord keeper of the seal, principallythrough the favor of the favorite Buckingham. His course was still upward:in 1618 he was made lord high chancellor, and Baron Verulam, and the nextyear he was created Viscount St. Albans. Such rapid and high promotionmarked his great powers, but it belonged to the period of despotism. Jameshad been ruling without a parliament. At length the necessities of thegovernment caused the king to summon a parliament, and the struggle beganwhich was to have a fatal issue twenty-five years later. Parliament met, began to assert popular rights, and to examine into the conduct ofministers and high officials; and among those who could ill bear suchscrutiny, Bacon was prominent. 

HIS FALL. --The charges against him were varied and numerous, and easy ofproof. He had received bribes; he had given false judgments for money; hehad perverted justice to secure the smiles of Buckingham, the favorite;and when a commission was appointed to examine these charges he wasconvicted. With abject humility, he acknowledged his guilt, and imploredthe pity of his judges. The annals of biography present no sorrier picturethan this. "Upon advised consideration of the charges, " he wrote, "descending into my own conscience, and calling my memory to account sofar as I am able, I do plainly and ingenuously confess that I am guilty ofcorruption, and do renounce all defence. O my lords, spare a broken reed!"

It is useless for his defenders, among whom the chief are Mr. BasilMontagu and Mr. Hepworth Dixon, to inform us that judges in that day wereill paid, and that it was the custom to receive gifts. If Bacon had adefence to make and did not make it, he was a coward or a sycophant: ifwhat he said is true, he was a dishonest man, an unjust judge. He wassentenced to pay a fine of £40, 000, and to be imprisoned in the Tower atthe king's pleasure; the fine was remitted, and the imprisonment lastedbut two days, a result, no doubt foreseen, of his wretched confession. This was the end of his public career. In retirement, with a pension of£1, 200, making, with his other means, an annual income of £2, 500, this"meanest of mankind" set himself busily to work to prove to the world thathe could also be the "wisest and brightest;"[33] a duality of fameapproached by others, but never equalled. He was, in fact, two men in one:a dishonest, truckling politician, and a large-minded and truth-seekingphilosopher. 

BEGINS HIS PHILOSOPHY. --Retired in disgrace from his places at court, therest of his life was spent in developing his _Instauratio Magna_, thatrevolution in the very principles and institutes of science--thatphilosophy which, in the words of Macaulay, "began in observations, andended in arts. " A few words will suffice to close his personal history. While riding in his coach, he was struck with the idea that snow wouldarrest animal putrefaction. He alighted, bought a fowl, and stuffed itwith snow, with his own hands. He caught cold, stopped at the Earl ofArundel's mansion, and slept in damp sheets; fever intervened, and onEaster Day, 1626, he died, leaving his great work unfinished, but in suchcondition that the plan has been sketched for the use of the philosopherswho came after him. 

He is said to have made the first sketch of the _Instauratio_ when he wastwenty-six years old, but it was much modified in later years. He fondlycalled it also _Temporis Partus Maximus_, the greatest birth of Time. After that he wrote his _Advancement of Learning in 1605_, which was toappear in his developed scheme, under the title _De AugmentisScientiarum_, written in 1623. His work advanced with and was modified byhis investigations. 

In 1620 he wrote the _Novum Organum_, which, when it first appeared, called forth from James I. The profane _bon mot_ that it was like thepeace of God, "because it passeth all understanding. " Thus he waspreparing the component parts, and fitting them into his system, which hasat length become quite intelligible. A clear notion of what he proposed tohimself and what he accomplished, may be found in the subjoined meagresketch, only designed to indicate the outline of that system, which itwill require long and patient study to master thoroughly. 

THE GREAT RESTORATION, (MAGNA INSTAURATIO. )--He divided it into six parts, bearing a logical relation to each other, and arranged in the proper orderof study. 

I. Survey and extension of the sciences, (_De Augmentis Scientiarum_. )"Gives the substance or general description of the knowledge which mankind_at present possesses_. " That is, let it be observed, not according to thereceived system and divisions, but according to his own. It is a newpresentation of the existent state of knowledge, comprehending "not onlythe things already invented and known, but also those omitted and wanted, "for he says the intellectual globe, as well as the terrestrial, has itsbroils and deceits. 

In the branch "_De Partitione Scientiarum_, " he divides all human learninginto _History_, which uses the memory; _Poetry_, which employs theimagination; and _Philosophy_, which requires the reason: divisions toovague and too few, and so overlapping each other as to be of littlepresent use. Later classifications into numerous divisions have beennecessary to the progress of scientific research. 

II. Precepts for the interpretation of nature, (_Novum Organum_. ) Thissets forth "the doctrine of a more perfect use of the reason, and the truehelps of the intellectual faculties, so as to raise and enlarge the powersof the mind. " "A kind of logic, by us called, " he says, "the art ofinterpreting nature: differing from the common logic ... In three things, the end, the order of demonstrating, and the grounds of inquiry. "

Here he discusses induction; opposes the syllogism; shows the value andthe faults of the senses--as they fail us, or deceive us--and presents inhis _idola_ the various modes and forms of deception. These _idola_, whichhe calls the deepest fallacies of the human mind, are divided into fourclasses: Idola Tribus, Idola Specus, Idola Fori, Idola Theatri. The firstare the errors belonging to the whole human race, or _tribe_; thesecond--_of the den_--are the peculiarities of individuals; the third--_ofthe market-place_--are social and conventional errors; and thefourth--_those of the theatre_--include Partisanship, Fashion, andAuthority. 

III. Phenomena of the Universe, or Natural and Experimental History, onwhich to found Philosophy, (_Sylva Sylvarum_. ) "Our natural history isnot designed, " he says, "so much to please by vanity, or benefit bygainful experiments, as to afford light to the discovery of causes, andhold out the breasts of philosophy. " This includes his patient search forfacts--nature _free_, as in the history of plants, minerals, animals, etc. --nature _put to the torture_, as in the productions of art and humanindustry. 

IV. Ladder of the Understanding, (_Scala Intellectûs_. ) "Not illustrationsof rules and precepts, but perfect models, which will exemplify the secondpart of this work, and represent to the eye the whole progress of themind, and the continued structure and order of invention, in the mostchosen subjects, after the same manner as globes and machines facilitatethe more abstruse and subtle demonstrations in mathematics. "

V. Precursors or anticipations of the second philosophy, (_Prodromi siveanticipationes philosophiæ secundæ_. ) "These will consist of such thingsas we have invented, experienced, or added by the same common use of theunderstanding that others employ"--a sort of scaffolding, only of use tillthe rest are finished--a set of suggestive helps to the attainment of thissecond philosophy, which is the goal and completion of his system. 

VI. Second Philosophy, or Active Science, (_Philosophia Secunda_. ) "Tothis all the rest are subservient--_to lay down that philosophy_ whichshall flow from the just, pure, and strict inquiry hitherto proposed. " "Toperfect this is beyond both our abilities and our hopes; yet we shall laythe foundations of it, and recommend the superstructure to posterity. "

An examination of this scheme will show a logical procession from theexisting knowledge, and from existing defects, by right rules of reason, and the avoidance of deceptions, with a just scale of perfected models, tothe _second philosophy_, or science in useful practical action, diffusinglight and comfort throughout the world. 

In a philosophic instead of a literary work, these heads would requiregreat expansion in order adequately to illustrate the scheme in its sixparts. This, however, would be entirely out of our province, which is topresent a brief outline of the works of a man who occupies a prominentplace in the intellectual realm of England, as a profound philosopher, andas a writer of English prose; only as one might introduce a great man in acrowd: those who wish to know the extent and character of his greatnessmust study his works. 

They were most of them written in Latin, but they have been ablytranslated and annotated, and are within the ready reach and comprehensionof students. The best edition in English, is that by Spedding, Ellis, andHeath, which has been republished in America. 

BACON'S DEFECTS. --Further than this tabular outline, neither our space northe scope of our work will warrant us in going; but it is important toconsider briefly the elements of Bacon's remarkable fame. His system andhis knowledge are superseded entirely. Those who have studied physics andchemistry at the present day, know a thousand-fold more than Bacon could;for such knowledge did not exist in his day. But he was one of those--andthe chief one--who, in that age of what is called the childhood ofexperimental philosophy, helped to clear away the mists of error, andprepare for the present sunshine of truth. "I have been laboring, " sayssome writer, (quoted by Bishop Whately, Pref. To Essay XIV. , ) "to rendermyself useless. " Such was Bacon's task, and such the task of the greatestinventors, discoverers, and benefactors of the human race. 

Nor did Bacon rank high even as a natural philosopher or physicist in hisown age: he seems to have refused credence to the discoveries ofCopernicus and Galileo, which had stirred the scientific world into greatactivity before his day; and his investigations in botany and vegetablephysiology are crude and full of errors. 

His mind, eminently philosophic, searched for facts only to establishprinciples and discover laws; and he was often impatient or obstinate inthis search, feeling that it trammelled him in his haste to reachconclusions. 

In the consideration of the reason, he unduly despised the _Organon_ ofAristotle, which, after much indignity and misapprehension, still remainsto elucidate the universal principle of reasoning, and published his neworganon--_Novum Organum_--as a sort of substitute for it: Inductionunjustly opposed to the Syllogism. In what, then, consists that wonderfulexcellence, that master-power which has made his name illustrious?

HIS FAME. --I. He labored earnestly to introduce, in the place of fancifuland conjectural systems--careful, patient investigation: the principle ofthe procurement of well-known facts, in order that, by severe induction, philosophy might attain to general laws, and to a classification of thesciences. The fault of the ages before him had been hasty, careless, oftenneglected observation, inaccurate analysis, the want of patient successiveexperiment. His great motto was experiment, and again and againexperiment; and the excellent maxims which he laid down for the properconduct of experimental philosophy have outlived his own facts and systemand peculiar beliefs. Thus he has fitly been compared to Moses. He ledmen, marshalled in strong array, to the vantage ground from which heshowed them the land of promise, and the way to enter it; while hehimself, after all his labors, was not permitted to enjoy it. Such mendeserve the highest fame; and thus the most practical philosophers ofto-day revere the memory of him who showed them from the mountain-top, albeit in dim vision, the land which they now occupy. 

II. Again, Bacon is the most notable example among natural philosophers ofa man who worked for science and truth alone, with a singleness of purposeand entire unconcern as to immediate and selfish rewards. Bacon thephilosopher was in the strongest contrast to Bacon the politician. Heleft, he said, his labors to posterity; his name and memory to foreignnations, and "to (his) own country, after some time is past over. " His owntime could neither appreciate nor reward them. Here is an element ofgreatness worthy of all imitation: he who works for popular applause, mayhave his reward, but it is fleeting and unsatisfying; he who works fortruth alone, has a grand inner consequence while he works, and his namewill be honored, if for nothing else, for this loyalty to truth. Afterwhat has been said of his servility and dishonesty, it is pleasing tocontemplate this unsullied side of his escutcheon, and to give a bettersignificance to the motto on his monument--_Sic sedebat_. 

HIS ESSAYS. --Bacon's _Essays_, or _Counsels Civil and Moral_, are asintelligible to the common mind as his philosophy is dry and difficult. They are short, pithy, sententious, telling us plain truths in simplelanguage: he had been writing them through several years. He dedicatedthem, under the title of _Essays_, to Henry, Prince of Wales, the eldestson of King James I. , a prince of rare gifts, and worthy such adedication, who unfortunately died in 1612. They show him to be thegreatest master of English prose in his day, and to have had a deepinsight into human nature. 

Bacon is said to have been the first person who applied the word _essay_in English to such writings: it meant, as the French word shows, a littletrial-sketch, a suggestion, a few loose thoughts--a brief of something tobe filled in by the reader. Now it means something far more--a longcomposition, dissertation, disquisition. The subjects of the essays, whichnumber sixty-eight, are such as are of universal interest--fame, studies, atheism, beauty, ambition, death, empire, sedition, honor, adversity, andsuchlike. 

The Essays have been ably edited and annotated by Archbishop Whately, andhis work has been republished in America. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 

 Early Versions. The Septuagint. The Vulgate. Wiclif; Tyndale. Coverdale; Cranmer. Geneva; Bishop's Bible. King James's Bible. Language of the Bible. Revision. 

EARLY VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

When we consider the very extended circulation of the English Bible in theversion made by direction of James I. , we are warranted in saying that nowork in the language, viewed simply as a literary production, has had amore powerful historic influence over the world of English-speakingpeople. 

Properly to understand its value as a version of the inspired writings, itis necessary to go back to the original history, and discover through whatprecedent forms they have come into English. 

All the canonical books of the Old Testament were written in Hebrew. Theapocryphal books were produced either in a corrupted dialect, or in Greek. 

THE SEPTUAGINT. --Limiting our inquiry to the canonical books, andrejecting all fanciful traditions, it is known that about 286 or 285 B. C. , Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of Egypt, probably at the instance of hislibrarian, Demetrius Phalereus, caused seventy-two Jews, equally learnedin Hebrew and in Greek, to be brought to Alexandria, to prepare a Greekversion of the Hebrew Scriptures. This was for the use of the AlexandrianJews. The version was called the Septuagint, or translation of theseventy. The various portions of the translation are of unequal merit, the rendering of the Pentateuch being the best; but the completed work wasof great value, not only to the Jews dispersed in the countries whereGreek had been adopted as the national language, but it opened the way forthe coming of Christianity: the study of its prophecies prepared the mindsof men for the great Advent, and the version was used by the earlierChristians as the historic ground of their faith. 

The books of the New Testament were written in Greek, with the probableexception of St. Matthew's Gospel, which, if written in Hebrew, orAramæan, was immediately translated into Greek. 

Contemporary with the origin of Christianity, and the vast extension ofthe Roman Empire, the Latin had become the all-absorbing tongue; and, asmight be expected, numerous versions of the whole and of parts of theScriptures were made in that language, and one of these complete versions, which grew in favor, almost superseding all others, was called the _VetusItala_. 

THE VULGATE. --St. Jerome, a doctor of the Latin Church in the latter partof the fourth century, undertook, with the sanction of Damasus, the Bishopof Rome, a new Latin version upon the basis of the _Vetus Itala_, bringingit nearer to the Septuagint in the Old Testament, and to the originalGreek of the New. 

This version of Jerome, corrected from time to time, was approved byGregory I. , (the Great, ) and, since the seventh century, has been used bythe Western Church, under the name of the _Vulgate_, (from _vulgatus_--forgeneral or common use. ) The Council of Trent, in the sixteenth century, declared it alone to be authentic. 

Throughout Western Europe this was used, and made the basis of furthertranslations into the national languages. It was from the Vulgate thatAldhelm made his Anglo-Saxon version of the Psalter in 706; Bede, hisentire Saxon Bible in the same period; Alfred, his portion of the Psalms;and other writers, fragmentary translations. 

As soon as the newly formed English language was strong enough, partialversions were attempted in it: one by an unknown hand, as early as 1290;and one by John de Trevisa, about one hundred years later. 

WICLIF: TYNDALE. --Wiclif's Bible was translated from the Latin Vulgate, and issued about 1378. If it be asked why he did not go to the originalsources, and thus avoid the errors of successive renderings, the answer isplain: he was not sufficiently acquainted with Hebrew and Greek totranslate from them. Wiclif's translation was eagerly sought, and wasmultiplied by the hands of skilful scribes. Its popularity was very great, as is attested by the fact that when, in the House of Lords, in the year1390, a bill was offered to suppress it, the measure signally failed. Thefirst copy of Wiclif's Bible was not printed until the year 1731. 

About a century after Wiclif, the Greek language and the study of Greekliterature came into England, and were of great effect in making theforthcoming translations more accurate. 

First among these new translators was William Tyndale, who was born aboutthe year 1477. He was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, and left Englandfor fear of persecution. He translated the Scriptures from the Greek, andprinted the volume at Antwerp--the first printed translation of theScriptures in English--in the year 1526. This work was largely circulatedin England. It was very good for a first translation, and the language isvery nearly that of King James's Bible. It met the fury of the Church, allthe copies which could be found being burned by Tonstall, Bishop ofLondon, at St. Paul's Cross. When Sir Thomas More asked how Tyndalesubsisted abroad, he was pithily answered that Tyndale was supported bythe Bishop of London, who sent over money to buy up his books. To thefame of being a translator of the Scriptures, Tyndale adds that ofmartyrdom. He was seized, at the instance of Henry VIII. , in Antwerp, andcondemned to death by the Emperor of Germany. He was strangled in the year1536, at Villefort, near Brussels, praying, just before his death, thatthe Lord would open the King of England's eyes. 

The Old Testament portion of Tyndale's Bible is principally from theSeptuagint, and has many corruptions and errors, which have been correctedby more modern translators. 

MILES COVERDALE: CRANMER'S BIBLE. --In 1535, Miles Coverdale, a co-laborerof Tyndale, published "Biblia; The Bible, that is, the Holy Scriptures ofthe Olde and New Testament, faithfully and truly translated out of theDouche and Latyn into Englishe: Zurich. " In the next year, 1536, Coverdaleissued another edition, which was dedicated to Henry VIII. , who ordered acopy to be placed in every parish church in England. This translation isin part that of Tyndale, and is based upon it. Another edition of thisappeared in 1537, and was called Matthew's Bible, probably a pseudonym ofCoverdale. Of this, from the beginning to the end of Chronicles isTyndale's version. The rest of the Old Testament is Coverdale'stranslation. The entire New Testament is Tyndale's. This was published byroyal license. Strange mutation! The same king who had caused Tyndale tobe strangled for publishing the English Scriptures at Antwerp, was nowspreading Tyndale's work throughout the parishes of England. Coverdalepublished many editions, among which the most noted was Cranmer's Bible, issued in 1539, so called because Cranmer wrote a preface to it. Coverdaleled an eventful life, being sometimes in exile and prisoner, and at othersin high favor. He was Bishop of Exeter, from which see he was ejected byMary, in 1553. He died in 1568, at the age of eighty-one. 

THE GENEVAN: BISHOPS' BIBLE. --In the year 1557 he had aided those who weredriven away by Mary, in publishing a version of the Bible at Geneva. Itwas much read in England, and is known as the Genevan Bible. The GreatBible was an edition of Coverdale issued in 1562. The Bishops' Bible wasso called because, at the instance of Archbishop Parker, it was translatedby a royal commission, of whom eight were bishops. And in 1571, a canonwas passed at Canterbury, requiring a large copy of this work to be inevery parish church, and in the possession of every bishop and dignitaryamong the clergy. Thus far every new edition and issue had been animprovement on what had gone before, and all tended to the production of astill more perfect and permanent translation. It should be mentioned thatLuther, in Germany, after ten years of labor, from 1522 to 1532, hadproduced, unaided, his wonderful German version. This had helped the causeof translations everywhere. 

KING JAMES'S BIBLE. --At length, in 1603, just after the accession of JamesI. , a conference was held at Hampton Court, which, among other tasks, undertook to consider what objections could be made to the Bishops' Bible. The result was that the king ordered a new version which should supersedeall others. The number of eminent and learned divines appointed to makethe translation was fifty-four; seven of these were prevented bydisability of one kind or another. The remaining forty-seven were dividedinto six classes, and the labor was thus apportioned: ten, who sat atWestminster, translated from Genesis through Kings; eight, at Cambridge, undertook the other historical books and the Hagiographa, including thePsalms, Proverbs, Job, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Ruth, Esther, and a fewother books; seven at Oxford, the four greater Prophets, the Lamentationsof Jeremiah, and the twelve minor Prophets; eight, also at Oxford, thefour Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Revelation of St. John;seven more at Westminster, the Epistles of St. Paul, and the remainingcanonical books; and five more at Cambridge, the Apocryphal books. Thefollowing was the mode of translation: Each individual in one of theclasses translated himself every book confided to that class; each classthen met and compared these translations, and thus completed their task. The work thus done was sent by each class to all the other classes; afterthis, all the classes met together, and while one read the otherscriticized. The translation was commenced in the year 1607, and wasfinished in three years. The first public issue was in 1611, when the bookwas dedicated to King James, and has since been known as King James'sBible. It was adopted not only in the English Church, but by all theEnglish people, so that the other versions have fallen into entire disuse, with the exception of the Psalms, which, according to the translation ofCranmer's Bible, were placed in the Book of Common Prayer, where they havesince remained, constituting the Psalter. It should be observed that thePsalter, which is taken principally from the Vulgate, is not so near theoriginal as the Psalms in King James's version: the language is, however, more musical and better suited to chanting in the church service. 

THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. --There have been numerous criticisms, favorableand adverse, to the language of King James's Bible. It is said to havebeen written in older English than that of its day, and Selden remarksthat "it is rather translated into English words than into Englishphrase. " The Hebraisms are kept, and the phraseology of that language isretained. This leads to the opinion of Bishop Horsley, that the adherenceto the Hebrew idiom is supposed to have at once enriched and adorned ourlanguage. Bishop Middleton says "the style is simple, it is harmonious, itis energetic, and, which is of no small importance, use has made itfamiliar, and time has rendered it sacred. " That it has lasted twohundred and fifty years without a rival, is the strongest testimony infavor of its accuracy and the beauty of its diction. Philologicallyconsidered, it has been of inestimable value as a strong rallying-pointfor the language, keeping it from wild progress in any and everydirection. Many of our best words, which would otherwise have been lost, have been kept in current use because they are in the Bible. The peculiarlanguage of the Bible expresses our most serious sentiments and ourdeepest emotions. It is associated with our holiest thoughts, and givesphraseology to our prayers. It is the language of heavenly things, but notonly so: it is interwreathed in our daily discourse, kept fresh by ourconstant Christian services, and thus we are bound by ties of the samespeech to the devout men of King James's day. 

REVISION. --There are some inaccuracies and flaws in the translation whichhave been discerned by the superior excellence of modern learning. In thequestion now mooted of a revision of the English Bible, the correction ofthese should be the chief object. A version in the language of the presentday, in the course of time would be as archaic as the existing version isnow; and the private attempts which have been made, have shown us thegreat danger of conflicting sectarian views. 

In any event, it is to be hoped that those who authorize a new translationwill emulate the good sense and judgment of King James, by placing it inthe hands of the highest learning, most liberal scholarship, and mostdevoted piety. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

JOHN MILTON, AND THE ENGLISH COMMONWEALTH. 

 Historical Facts. Charles I. Religious Extremes. Cromwell. Birth and Early Works. Views of Marriage. Other Prose Works. Effects of the Restoration. Estimate of his Prose. 

HISTORICAL FACTS. 

It is Charles Lamb who says "Milton almost requires a solemn service to beplayed before you enter upon him. " Of Milton, the poet of _Paradise Lost_, this is true; but for Milton the statesman the politician, and polemic, this is neither necessary nor appropriate. John Milton and theCommonwealth! Until the present age, Milton has been regarded almostsolely as a poet, and as the greatest imaginative poet England hasproduced; but the translation and publication of his prose works haveidentified him with the political history of England, and the discovery in1823, of his _Treatise on Christian Doctrine_, has established him as oneof the greatest religious polemics in an age when every theological sectwas closely allied to a political party, and thus rendered the strife ofcontending factions more bitter and relentless. Thus it is that the nameof John Milton, as an author, is fitly coupled with the commonwealth, as apolitical condition. 

It remains for us to show that in all his works he was the strongestliterary type of history in the age in which he lived. Great as he wouldhave been in any age, his greatness is mainly English and historical. Inhis literary works may be traced every cardinal event in the history ofthat period: he aided in the establishment of the Commonwealth, and ofthat Commonwealth he was one of the principal characters. His pen was assharp and effective as the sabres of Cromwell's Ironsides. 

A few words of preliminary history must introduce him to our reader. Uponthe death of Queen Elizabeth, in 1603, James I. Ascended the throne withthe highest notions of kingly prerogative and of a church establishment;but the progress of the English people in education and intelligence, theadvance in arts and letters which had been made, were vastly injurious tothe autocratic and aristocratic system which James had received from hispredecessor. His foolish arrogance and contempt for popular rightsincensed the people thus enlightened as to their own position andimportance. They soon began to feel that he was not only unjust, butungrateful: he had come from a rustic throne in Scotland, where he hadreceived £5, 000 per annum, with occasional presents of fruits, grain, andpoultry, to the greatest throne in Europe; and, besides, the Stuartfamily, according to Thackeray, "as regards mere lineage, were no betterthan a dozen English and Scottish houses that could be named. "

They resisted his illegal taxes and forced loans; they clamored againstthe unconstitutional Court of High Commission; they despised his arrogantfavorites; and what they might have patiently borne from a gallant, energetic, and handsome monarch, they found it hard to bear from apedantic, timid, uncouth, and rickety man, who gave them neither glory norcomfort. His eldest son, Prince Henry, the universal favorite of thenation, had died in 1612, before he was eighteen. 

CHARLES I. --When, after a series of struggles with the parliament, whichhe had reluctantly convened, James died in 1625, Charles I. Came to aninheritance of error and misfortune. Imbued with the principles of hisfather, he, too, insisted upon "governing the people of England in theseventeenth century as they had been governed in the sixteenth, " while inreality they had made a century of progress. The cloud increased inblackness and portent; he dissolved the parliament, and ruled without one;he imposed and collected illegal and doubtful taxes; he made forced loans, as his father had done; he was artful, capricious, winding and doubling inhis policy; he made promises without intending to perform them; and foundhimself, finally, at direct issue with his parliament and his people. First at war with the political principles of the court, the nation soonfound itself in antagonism with the religion and morals of the court. Before the final rupture, the two parties were well defined, as Cavaliersand Roundheads: each party went to extremes, through the spite and fury ofmutual opposition. The Cavaliers affected a recklessness and dissolutenessgreater than they really felt to be right, in order to differ most widelyfrom those purists who, urged by analogous motives, decried all amusementsas evil. Each party repelled the other to the extreme of opposition. 

RELIGIOUS EXTREMES. --Loyalty was opposed by radicalism, and the invectivesof both were bitter in the extreme. The system and ceremonial of agorgeous worship restored by Laud, and accused by its opposers offormalism and idolatry, were attacked by a spirit of excess, which, toreligionize daily life, took the words of Scripture, and especially thoseof the Old Testament, as the language of common intercourse, which issuedthem from a gloomy countenance, with a nasal twang, and often with a falseinterpretation. 

As opposed to the genuflections of Laud and the pomp of his ritual, theland swarmed with unauthorized preachers; then came out from among thePresbyterians the Independents; the fifth-monarchy men, shouting for KingJesus; the Seekers, the Antinomians, who, like Trusty Tomkins, were electby the fore-knowledge of God, who were not under the law but under grace, and who might therefore gratify every lust, and give the rein to everypassion, because they were sealed to a certain salvation. Even in the armysprang up the Levellers, who wished to abolish monarchy and aristocracy, and to level all ranks to one. To each religious party, there was apolitical character, ranging from High Church and the divine right ofkings, to absolute levellers in Church and State. This disintegratingprocess threatened not only civil war, with well-defined parties, butentire anarchy in the realm of England. It was long resisted by theconservative men of all opinions. At length the issue came: the king was aprisoner, without a shadow of power. 

The parliament was still firm, and would have treated with the king by aconsiderable majority; but Colonel Pride surrounded it with two regiments, excluded more than two hundred of the Presbyterians and moderate men; andthe parliament, thus _purged_, appointed the High Court of Justice to trythe king for treason. 

Charles I. Fell before the storm. His was a losing cause from the day heerected his standard at Nottingham, in 1642, to that on which, after hisnoble bearing on the scaffold, the masked executioner held up his head andcried out, "This is the head of a traitor. "

With a fearful consistency the Commons voted soon after to abolishmonarchy and the upper house, and on their new seal inscribed, "On thefirst year of freedom by God's blessing restored, 1648. " The dispassionatehistorian of the present day must condemn both parties; and yet, out ofthis fierce travail of the nation, English constitutional liberty wasborn. 

CROMWELL. --The power which the parliament, under the dictation of thearmy, had so furiously wielded, passed into the hands of Cromwell, amighty man, warrior, statesman, and fanatic, who mastered the crew, seizedthe helm, and guided the ship of State as she drove furiously before thewind. He became lord protector, a king in everything but the name. Weneed not enter into an analysis of these parties: the history is betterknown than any other part of the English annals, and almost every readerbecomes a partisan. Cromwell, the greatest man of his age, was still acreature of the age, and was led by the violence of circumstances to domany things questionable and even wicked, but with little premeditation:like Rienzi and Napoleon, his sudden elevation fostered an ambition whichrobbed him of the stern purpose and pure motives of his earlier career. 

The establishment of the commonwealth seemed at first to assure thepeople's liberty; but it was only in seeming, and as the sequel shows, they liked the rule of the lord protector less than that of theunfortunate king; for, ten years after the beheading of Charles I. , theyrestored the monarchy in the person of his son, Charles. 

Such, very briefly and in mere outline, was the political situation. Andnow to return to Milton: It is claimed that of all the elements of thesetroublous times, he was the literary type, and this may be demonstrated--

 I. By observing his personal characteristics and political appointments;

 II. By the study of his prose works; and

 III. By analyzing his poems. 

BIRTH AND EARLY WORKS. --John Milton was born on the 9th of December, 1608, in London. His grandfather, John Mylton, was a Papist, who disinheritedhis son, the poet's father, for becoming a Church-of-England man. Hismother was a gentlewoman. Milton was born just in time to grow up with thecivil troubles. When the outburst came in 1642, he was thirty-four yearsold, a solemn, cold, studious, thoughtful, and dogmatic Puritan. In 1624he entered Christ College, Cambridge, where, from his delicate andbeautiful face and shy airs, he was called the "Lady of the College. " Itis said that he left the university on account of peculiar views intheology and politics; but eight years after, in 1632, he took his degreeas master of arts. Meanwhile, in December, 1629, he had celebrated histwenty-first birthday, when the Star of Bethlehem was coming into theascendant, with that pealing, organ-like hymn, "On the Eve of Christ'sNativity"--the worthiest poetic tribute ever laid by man, along with thegold, frankincense, and myrrh of the Eastern sages, at the feet of theInfant God:

 See how from far upon the Eastern road, The star-led wizards haste with odours sweet; O run, prevent them with thy humble ode, And lay it lowly at his blessed feet; Have thou the honour first thy Lord to greet, And join thy voice unto the angel choir, From out his secret altar touched with hallowed fire. 

Some years of travel on the Continent matured his mind, and gave fullscope to his poetic genius. At Paris he became acquainted with Grotius, the illustrious writer upon public law; and in Rome, Genoa, Florence, andother Italian cities, he became intimate with the leading minds of theage. He returned to England on account of the political troubles. 

MILTON'S VIEWS OF MARRIAGE. --In the consideration of Milton's personality, we do not find in him much to arouse our heart-sympathy. His opinionsconcerning marriage and divorce, as set forth in several of his prosewritings, would, if generally adopted, destroy the sacred character ofdivinely appointed wedlock. His views may be found in his essay on _TheDoctrine and Discipline of Divorce;_ in his _Tetrachordon, or the fourchief places in Scripture, which treat of Marriage, or Nullities inMarriage_; in his _Colasterion_, and in his translation of Martin Bucer's_Judgment Concerning Divorce_, addressed to the Parliament of England. Where women were concerned he was a hard man and a stern master. 

In 1643 he married Mary Powell, the daughter of a Cavalier; and, takingher from the gay life of her father's house, he brought her into a gloomand seclusion almost insupportable. He loved his books better than he didhis wife. He fed and sheltered her, indeed, but he gave her no tendersympathy. Then was enacted in his household the drama of the rebellion inminiature; and no doubt his domestic troubles had led to his extendeddiscussion of the question of divorce. He speaks, too, almost entirely inthe interest of husbands. With him woman is not complementary to man, buthis inferior, to be cherished if obedient, to minister to her husband'swelfare, but to have her resolute spirit broken after the manner ofPetruchio, the shrew-tamer. In all this, however, Milton was eminently atype of the times. It was the canon law of the established Church ofEngland at which he aimed, and he endeavored to lead the parliament tolegislation upon the most sacred ties and relations of human life. Happily, English morals were too strong, even in that turbulent period, toyield to this unholy attempt. It was a day when authority was questioned, a day for "extending the area of freedom, " but he went too far even foremancipated England; and the mysterious power of the marriage tie hasalways been reverenced as one of the main bulwarks of that righteousnesswhich exalteth a nation. 

His apology for Smectymnuus is one of his pamphlets against Episcopacy, and receives its title from the initial letters of the names of fivePuritan ministers, who also engaged in controversy: they were StephenMarshall, Edward Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcome, William Spenston. The Church of England never had a more intelligent and relentless enemythan John Milton. 

OTHER PROSE WORKS. --Milton's prose works are almost all of them of anhistorical character. Appointed Latin Secretary to the Council, he wroteforeign dispatches and treatises upon the persons and events of the day. In 1644 he published his _Areopagitica_, a noble paper in favor of_Unlicensed Printing_, and boldly directed against the Presbyterian party, then in power, which had continued and even increased the restraints uponthe press. No stouter appeal for the freedom of the press was ever heard, even in America. But in the main, his prose pen was employed against thecrown and the Church, while they still existed; against the king's memory, after the unfortunate monarch had fallen, and in favor of the parliamentand all its acts. Milton was no trimmer; he gave forth no uncertain sound;he was partisan to the extreme, and left himself no loop-hole of retreatin the change that was to come. 

A famous book appeared in 1649, not long after Charles's execution, proclaimed to have been written by King Charles while in prison, andentitled _Eikon Basilike_, or _The Kingly Image_, being the portraiture ofhis majesty in his solitude and suffering. It was supposed that it mightinfluence the people in favor of royalty, and so Milton was employed toanswer it in a bitter invective, an unnecessary and heartless attack uponthe dead king, entitled _Eikonoklastes_, or _The Image-breaker_. The Eikonwas probably in part written by the king, and in part by Bishop Gauden, who indeed claimed its authorship after the Restoration. 

Salmasius having defended Charles in a work of dignified and moderatetone, Milton answered in his first _Defensio pro Populo Anglicano_; inwhich he traverses the whole ground of popular rights and kinglyprerogative, in a masterly and eloquent manner. This was followed by asecond _Defensio_. For the two he received £1, 000, and by his own accountaccelerated the disease of the eyes which ended in complete blindness. 

No pen in England worked more powerfully than his in behalf of theparliament and the protectorate, or to stay the flood tide of loyalty, which bore upon its sweeping heart the restoration of the second Charles. He wrote the last foreign despatches of Richard Cromwell, the weaksuccessor of the powerful Oliver; but nothing could now avail to check thereturn of monarchy. The people were tired of turmoil and sick of blood;they wanted rest, at any cost. The powerful hand of Cromwell was removed, and astute Monk used his army to secure his reward. The army, concurringwith the popular sentiment, restored the Stuarts. The conduct of theEnglish people in bringing Charles back stamped Cromwell as a usurper, andthey have steadily ignored in their list of governors--calledmonarchs--the man through whose efforts much of their liberty had beenachieved; but history asserts itself, and the benefits of the "GreatRebellion" are gratefully acknowledged by the people, whether theprotectorate appears in the court list or not. 

THE EFFECT OF THE RESTORATION. --Charles II. Came back to such anoverwhelming reception, that he said, in his witty way, it must have beenhis own fault to stay away so long from a people who were so glad to seehim when he did come. This restoration forced Milton into concealment: hispublic day was over, and yet his remaining history is particularlyinteresting. Inheriting weak eyes from his mother, he had overtasked theirpowers, especially in writing the _Defensiones_, and had become entirelyblind. Although his person was included in the general amnesty, hispolemical works were burned by the hangman; and the pen that had sopowerfully battled for a party, now returned to the service of its firstlove, poetry. His loss of power and place was the world's gain. In hisforced seclusion, he produced the greatest of English poems--religious, romantic, and heroic. 

ESTIMATE OF HIS PROSE. --Before considering his poems, we may briefly statesome estimate of his prose works. They comprise much that is excellent, are full of learning, and contain passages of rarest rhetoric. He saidhimself, that in prose he had only "the use of his left hand;" but it wasthe left hand of a Milton. To the English scholar they are chiefly ofhistorical value: many of them are written in Latin, and lose much oftheir terseness in a translation which retains classical peculiarities ofform and phrase. 

His _History of England from the Earliest Times_ is not profound, norphilosophical; he followed standard chronicle authorities, but made few, if any, original investigations, and gives us little philosophy. Histractate on _Education_ contains peculiar views of a curriculum of study, but is charmingly written. He also wrote a treatise on _Logic_. Littleknown to the great world outside of his poems, there is one prose work, discovered only in 1823, which has been less read, but which contains thearticles of his Christian belief. It is a tractate on Christian doctrine:no one now doubts its genuineness; and it proves him to have been aUnitarian, or High Arian, by his own confession. This was somewhatstartling to the great orthodox world, who had taken many of theirconceptions of supernatural things from Milton's _Paradise Lost_; and yeta careful study of that poem will disclose similar tendencies in thepoet's mind. He was a Puritan whose theology was progressive until itissued in complete isolation: he left the Presbyterian ranks for theIndependents, and then, startled by the rise and number of sects, heretired within himself and stood almost alone, too proud to be instructed, and dissatisfied with the doctrines and excesses of his earliercolleagues. 

In 1653 he lost his wife, Mary Powell, who left him three daughters. Hesupplied her place in 1656, by marrying Catherine Woodstock, to whom hewas greatly attached, and who also died fifteen months after. Eight yearsafterward he married his third wife, Elizabeth Minshull, who survived him. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE POETRY OF MILTON. 

 The Blind Poet. Paradise Lost. Milton and Dante. His Faults. Characteristics of the Age. Paradise Regained. His Scholarship. His Sonnets. His Death and Fame. 

THE BLIND POET. 

Milton's blindness, his loneliness, and his loss of power, threw him uponhimself. His imagination, concentrated by these disasters and troubles, was to see higher things in a clear, celestial light: there was nothing todistract his attention, and he began that achievement which he had longbefore contemplated--a great religious epic, in which the heroes should becelestial beings and our sinless first parents, and the scenes Heaven, Hell, and the Paradise of a yet untainted Earth. His first idea was towrite an epic on King Arthur and his knights: it is well for the worldthat he changed his intention, and took as a grander subject the loss ofParadise, full as it is of individual interest to mankind. 

In a consideration of his poetry, we must now first recur to those pieceswhich he had written at an earlier day. Before settling in London, he had, as we have seen, travelled fifteen months on the Continent, and had beenparticularly interested by his residence in Italy, where he visited theblind Galileo. The poems which most clearly show the still powerfulinfluence of Italy in all European literature, and upon him especially, are the _Arcades, Comus, L'Allegro, Il Penseroso_, and _Lycidas_, eachbeautiful and finished, and although Italian in their taste, yet full oftrue philosophy couched in charming verse. 

The _Arcades_, (Arcadians, ) composed in 1684, is a pastoral masque, enacted before the Countess Dowager of Derby at Harefield, by some noblepersons of her family. The _Allegro_ is the song of Mirth, the nymph whobrings with her

 Jest and youthful jollity, Quips and cranks, and wanton wiles, Nods and becks and wreathèd smiles, * * * * *

 Sport that wrinkled Care derides, And Laughter holding both his sides. 

The poem is like the nymph whom he addresses, Buxom, blithe, and debonaire. 

The _Penseroso_ is a tribute to tender melancholy, and is designed as apendant to the _Allegro_:

 Pensive nun devout and pure, Sober, steadfast, and demure, All in a robe of darkest grain, Flowing with majestic train. 

We fall in love with each goddess in turn, and find comfort for ourvarying moods from "grave to gay. "

Burke said he was certain Milton composed the _Penseroso_ in the aisle ofa cloister, or in an ivy-grown abbey. 

_Comus_ is a noble poem, philosophic and tender, but neither pastoral nordramatic, except in form; it presents the power of chastity in disarming_Circe, Comus_, and all the libidinous sirens. _L'Allegro_ and _IlPenseroso_ were written at Horton, about 1633. 

_Lycidas_, written in 1637, is a tender monody on the loss of a friendnamed King, in the Irish Channel, in that year, and is a classicalpastoral, tricked off in Italian garb. What it loses in adherence toclassic models and Italian taste, is more than made up by exquisite linesand felicitous phrases. In it he calls fame "that last infirmity of noblemind. " Perhaps he has nowhere written finer lines than these:

 So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed. And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore _Flames in the forehead of the morning sky_. 

Besides these, Milton wrote Latin poems with great vigor, if not withremarkable grace; and several Italian sonnets and poems, which have beenmuch admired even by Italian critics. The sonnet, if not of Italianorigin, had been naturalized there when its birth was forgotten; and thispractice in the Italian gave him that power to produce them in Englishwhich he afterward used with such effect. 

PARADISE LOST. --Having thus summarily disposed of his minor poems, each ofwhich would have immortalized any other man, we come to that upon whichhis highest fame rests; which is familiarly known by men who have neverread the others, and who are ignorant of his prose works; which is used asa parsing exercise in many schools, and which, as we have before hinted, has furnished Protestant pulpits with pictorial theology from that day tothis. It occupied him several years in the composition; from 1658, whenCromwell died, through the years of retirement and obscurity until 1667. It came forth in an evil day, for the merry monarch was on the throne, andan irreligious court gave tone to public opinion. 

The hardiest critic must approach the _Paradise Lost_ with wonder andreverence. What an imagination, and what a compass of imagination! Nowwith the lost peers in Hell, his glowing fancy projects an empire almostas grand and glorious as that of God himself. Now with undazzled, presumptuous gaze he stands face to face with the Almighty, and recordsthe words falling from His lips; words which he has dared to place in themouth of the Most High--words at the utterance of which

 ... Ambrosial fragrance filled All heaven, and in the blessed spirits elect Sense of new joy ineffable diffused. 

Little wonder that in his further flight he does not shrink from colloquywith the Eternal Son--in his theology not the equal of His Father--or thathe does not fear to describe the fearful battle between Christ with hisangelic hosts against the kingdom of darkness:

 ... At his right hand victory Sat eagle-winged: beside him hung his bow And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored. 

 * * * * *

 ... Them unexpected joy surprised, When the great ensign of Messiah blazed, Aloft by angels borne his sign in heaven. 

How heart-rending his story of the fall, and of the bitter sorrow of ourfirst parents, whose fatal act

 Brought death into the world and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat. 

How marvellous is the combat at Hell-gate, between Satan and Death; howterrible the power at which "Hell itself grew darker"! How we strive toshade our mind's eye as we enter again with him into the courts of Heaven. How refreshingly beautiful the perennial bloom of Eden:

 Picta velut primo Vere coruscat humus. 

What a wonderful story of the teeming creation related to our firstparents by the lips of Raphael:

 When from the Earth appeared The tawny lion, pawing to get free His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds, And rampant shakes his brinded mane. 

And withal, how compact the poem, how perfect the drama. It is Paradise, perfect in beauty and holiness; attacked with devilish art; in danger;betrayed; lost!

 Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked and ate; Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat, Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe That all was lost!

Unit-like, complete, brilliant, sublime, awful, the poem dazzlescriticism, and belittles the critic. It is the grandest poem ever written. It almost sets up a competition with Scripture. Milton's Adam and Eve walkbefore us instead of the Adam and Eve of Genesis. Milton's Satan usurpsthe place of that grotesque, malignant spirit of the Bible, which, insteadof claiming our admiration, excites only our horror, as he goes about likea roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He it is who can declare

 The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be?

MILTON AND DANTE. --It has been usual for the literary critic to compareMilton and Dante; and it is certain that in the conception, at least, ofhis great themes, Milton took Dante for his guide. Without an odiouscomparison, and conceding the great value, principally historical, of the_Divina Commedia_, it must be said that the palm remains with the Englishpoet. Take, for a single illustration, the fall of the arch-fiend. Dante'sLucifer falls with such force that he makes a conical hole in the earth toits centre, and forces out a hill on the other side--a physicalprediction, as the antipodes had not yet been established. The cavity isthe seat of Hell; and the mountain, that of Purgatory. So mathematical ishis fancy, that in vignette illustrations we have right-lined drawings ofthese surfaces and their different circles. Science had indeed progressedin Milton's time, but his imagination scorns its aid; everything is withhim grandly ideal, as well as rhetorically harmonious:

 ... Him the Almighty power, Hurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal power, Who durst defy th' Omnipotent in arms. 

And when a lesser spirit falls, what a sad Æolian melody describes thedownward flight:

 ... How he fell From Heaven they fabled thrown by angry Jove, Sheer o'er the crystal battlements: from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve A summer's day; and with the setting sun, Dropt from the zenith like a falling star. 

The heavenly colloquies to which we have alluded between the Father andthe Son, involve questions of theology, and present peculiar views--suchas the subordination of the Son, and the relative unimportance of thethird Person of the Blessed Trinity. They establish Milton's Arianismalmost as completely as his Treatise on Christian Doctrine. 

HIS FAULTS. --Grand, far above all human efforts, his poems fail in theserepresentations. God is a spirit; he is here presented as a body, and thatby an uninspired pen. The poet has not been able to carry us up to thoseinfinite heights, and so his attempt only ends in a humanitarianphilosophy: he has been obliged to lower the whole heavenly hierarchy tobring it within the scope of our objective comprehension. He blinds ourpoor eyes by the dazzling effulgence of that light which is

 ... Of the Eternal co-eternal beam. 

And it must be asserted that in this attempt Milton has done injury to thecause of religion, however much he has vindicated the power of the humanintellect and the compass of the human imagination. He has made sensuousthat which was entirely spiritual, and has attempted with finite powers torealize the Infinite. 

The fault is not so great when he delineates created intelligences, ranging from the highest seraph to him who was only "less than archangelruined. " We gaze, unreproved by conscience, at the rapid rise ofPandemonium; we watch with eager interest the hellish crew as they "openinto the hill a spacious wound, and dig out ribs of gold. " We admire thefabric which springs

 ... Like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet. 

Nothing can be grander or more articulately realized than that archedroof, from which, Pendent by subtle magic, many a row Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed With naphtha and asphaltus, yields the light As from a sky. 

It is an illustrative criticism that while the painter's art has seizedthese scenes, not one has dared to attempt his heavenly descriptions withthe pencil. Art is less bold or more reverent than poetry, and rebukes thepoet. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AGE. --And here it is particularly to our purpose toobserve, that in this very boldness of entrance into the holy ofholies--in this attempted grasp with finite hands of infinite things, Milton was but a sublimated type of his age, and of the Commonwealth, whenman, struggling for political freedom, went, as in the later age of theFrench Illuminati, too far in the regions of spirit and of faith. AsDante, with a powerful satire, filled his poem with the personages of theday, assigning his enemies to the _girone_ of the Inferno, so Milton ventshis gentler spleen by placing cowls and hood and habits in the limbo ofvanity and paradise of fools:

 ... All these upwhirled aloft Fly o'er the backside of the world far off, Into a limbo large and broad, since called The paradise of fools. 

It was a setting forth of that spirit which, when the Cavaliers were manyof them formalists, and the Puritans many of them fanatics, led to therise of many sects, and caused rude soldiers to bellow their own riotousfancies from the pulpit. In the suddenness of change, when the earthlythrone had been destroyed, men misconceived what was due to the heavenly;the fancy which had been before curbed by an awe for authority, and wastoo ignorant to move without it, now revelled unrebuked among themysteries which are not revealed to angelic vision, and thus "fools rushedin where angels fear to tread. "

The book could not fail to bring him immense fame, but personally hereceived very little for it in money--less than £20. 

PARADISE REGAINED. --It was Thomas Ellwood, Milton's Quaker friend, who, after reading the _Paradise Lost_, suggested the _Paradise Regained_. Thispoem will bear no comparison with its great companion. It may, withoutirreverence, be called "The gospel according to John Milton. " Beauties itdoes contain; but the very foundation of it is false. Milton makes manregain Paradise by the success of Christ in withstanding the Devil'stemptations in the wilderness; a new presentation of his Arian theology, which is quite transcendental; whereas, in our opinion, the gate ofParadise was opened only "by His precious death and burial; His gloriousresurrection and ascension; and by the coming of the Holy Ghost. " But ifit is immeasurably inferior in its conception and treatment, it is quiteequal to the _Paradise Lost_ in its execution. 

A few words as to Milton's vocabulary and style must close our notice ofthis greatest of English poets. With regard to the first, the Latinelement, which is so manifest in his prose works, largely predominates inhis poems, but accords better with the poetic license. In a list ofauthors which Mr. Marsh has prepared, down to Milton's time, whichincludes an analysis of the sixth book of the _Paradise Lost_, he is foundto employ only eighty per cent. Of Anglo-Saxon words--less than any up tothat day. But his words are chosen with a delicacy of taste and ear whichastonishes and delights; his works are full of an adaptive harmony, thesuiting of sound to sense. His rhythm is perfect. We have not space forextended illustrations, but the reader will notice this in the lady's songin Comus--the address to

 Sweet Echo, sweeter nymph that liv'st unseen Within thy airy shell, By slow Meander's margent green!

 * * * * *

 Sweet queen of parley, daughter of the sphere, So may'st thou be translated to the skies, And give resounding grace to all heaven's harmonies. 

And again, the description of Chastity, in the same poem, is inimitable inthe language:

 So dear to Heaven is saintly Chastity, That when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried angels lackey her. 

HIS SCHOLARSHIP. --It is unnecessary to state the well-known fact, attestedby all his works, of his elegant and versatile scholarship. He was themost learned man in England in his day. If, like J. C. Scaliger, he didnot commit Homer to memory in twenty-one days, and the whole of the Greekpoets in three months, he had all classical learning literally at hisfingers' ends, and his works are absolutely glistening with drops whichshow that every one has been dipped in that Castalian fountain which, itwas fabled, changed the earthly flowers of the mind into immortal jewels. 

Nor need we refer to what every one concedes, that a vein of pure butaustere morals runs through all his works; but Puritan as he was, hismyriad fancy led him into places which Puritanism abjured: the cloisters, with their dim religious light, in _Il Penseroso_--and anon with mirth hecries:

 Come and trip it as you go, On the light fantastic toe. 

SONNETS. --His sonnets have been variously estimated: they are not aspolished as his other poems, but are crystal-like and sententious, abruptbursts of opinion and feeling in fourteen lines. Their masculine power itwas which caused Wordsworth, himself a prince of sonneteers, to say:

 In his hand, The thing became a trumpet, whence he blew Soul-animating strains.... 

That to his dead wife, whom he saw in a vision; that to Cyriac Skinner onhis blindness, and that to the persecuted Waldenses, are the most knownand appreciated. That to Skinner is a noble assertion of heart and hope:

 Cyriac, this three-years-day these eyes, though clear To outward view, of blemish and of spot, Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot: Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year, Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask? The conscience friend to have lost them over-plied In liberty's defence, my noble task, Of which all Europe talks from side to side, This thought might lead me through the world's vain mask Content, though blind, had I no better guide. 

Milton died in 1674, of gout, which had long afflicted him; and he lefthis name and works to posterity. Posterity has done large but mistakenjustice to his fame. Men have not discriminated between his real meritsand his faults: all parties have conceded the former, and conspired toconceal the latter. A just statement of both will still establish hisgreat fame on the immutable foundations of truth--a fame, the honestpursuit of which caused him, throughout his long life, To scorn delights, and live laborious days. 

No writer has ever been the subject of more uncritical, ignorant, andsenseless panegyric: like Bacon, he is lauded by men who never read hisworks, and are entirely ignorant of the true foundation of his fame. Nay, more; partisanship becomes very warlike, and we are reminded in thiscontroversy of the Italian gentleman, who fought three duels inmaintaining that Ariosto was a better poet than Tasso: in the third he wasmortally wounded, and he confessed before dying that he had never read aline of either. A similar logomachy has marked the course of Milton'schampions; words like sharp swords have been wielded by ignorance, andhave injured the poet's true fame. 

He now stands before the world, not only as the greatest English poet, except Shakspeare, but also as the most remarkable example andillustration of the theory we have adopted, that literature is a veryvivid and permanent interpreter of contemporary history. To those who askfor a philosophic summary of the age of Charles I. And Cromwell, theanswer may be justly given: "Study the works of John Milton, and you willfind it. "

CHAPTER XX. 

COWLEY, BUTLER, AND WALTON. 

 Cowley and Milton. Cowley's Life and Works. His Fame. Butler's Career. Hudibras. His Poverty and Death. Izaak Walton. The Angler; and Lives. Other Writers. 

COWLEY AND MILTON. 

In contrast with Milton, in his own age, both in political tenets and inthe character of his poetry, stood Cowley, the poetical champion of theparty of king and cavaliers during the civil war. Historically he belongsto two periods--antecedent and consequent--that of the rebellion itself, and that of the Restoration: the latter was a reaction from the former, inwhich the masses changed their opinions, in which the Puritan leaders weresilenced, and in which the constant and consistent Cavaliers had their dayof triumph. Both parties, however, modified their views somewhat after thewhirlwind of excitement had swept by, and both deprecated the extremeviolence of their former actions. This is cleverly set forth in a charmingpaper of Lord Macaulay, entitled _Cowley and Milton_. It purports to bethe report of a pleasant colloquy between the two in the spring of 1665, "set down by a gentleman of the Middle Temple. " Their principles arecourteously expressed, in a retrospective view of the great rebellion. 

COWLEY'S LIFE AND WORKS. --Abraham Cowley, the posthumous son of a grocer, was born in London, in the year 1618. He is said to have been soprecocious that he read Spenser with pleasure when he was twelve yearsold; and he published a volume of poems, entitled "Poetical Blossoms, "before he was fifteen. After a preliminary education at Westminsterschool, he was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1636, and whilethere he published, in 1638, two comedies, one in English, entitled_Love's Riddle_, and one in Latin, _Naufragium Joculare, or, The MerryShipwreck_. 

When the troubles which culminated in the civil war began to convulseEngland, Cowley, who was a strong adherent of the king, was compelled toleave Cambridge; and we find him, when the war had fairly opened, atOxford, where he was well received by the Royal party, in 1643. Hevindicated the justice of this reception by publishing in that year asatire called _Puritan and Papist_. Upon the retirement of the queen toParis, he was one of her suite, and as secretary to Viscount St. Albans heconducted the correspondence in cipher between the queen and herunfortunate husband. 

He remained abroad during the civil war and the protectorate, returningwith Charles II. In 1660. "The Blessed Restoration" he celebrated in anode with that title, and would seem to have thus established a claim tothe king's gratitude and bounty. But he was mistaken. Perhaps this led himto write a comedy, entitled _The Cutter of Coleman Street_, in which heseverely censured the license and debaucheries of the court: this made thearch-debauchee, the king himself, cold toward the poet, who at once issued_A Complaint_; but neither satire nor complaint helped him to the desiredpreferment. He quitted London a disappointed man, and retired to thecountry, where he died on the 28th of July, 1667. 

His poems bear the impress of the age in a remarkable degree. His_Mistress, or, Love Verses_, and his other Anacreontics or paraphrases ofAnacreon's odes, were eminently to the taste of the luxurious and immoralcourt of Charles II. His _Davideis_ is an heroic poem on the troubles ofKing David. 

His _Poem on the Late Civil War_, which was not published until 1679, twelve years after his death, is written in the interests of the monarchy. 

His varied learning gave a wide range to his pen. In 1661 appeared his_Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy_, which wasfollowed in the next year by _Two Books of Plants_, which he increased tosix books afterward--devoting two to herbs, two to flowers, and two totrees. If he does not appear in them to be profound in botanicalresearches, it was justly said by Dr. Johnson that in his mind "botanyturned into poetry. "

His prose pen was as ready, versatile, and charming as his poetic pencil. He produced discourses or essays on commonplace topics of generalinterest, such as _myself; the shortness of life; the uncertainty ofriches; the danger of procrastination_, etc. These are well written, ineasy-flowing language, evincing his poetic nature, and many of them aremore truly poetic than his metrical pieces. 

HIS FAME. --Cowley had all his good things in his lifetime; he was the mostpopular poet in England, and is the best illustration of the literarytaste of his age. His poetry is like water rippling in the sunlight, brilliant but dazzling and painful: it bewilders with far-fetched andwitty conceits: varied but full of art, there is little of nature or realpassion to be found even in his amatory verses. He suited the taste of acourt which preferred an epigram to a proverb, and a repartee to anapothegm; and, as a consequence, with the growth of a better culture and abetter taste, he has steadily declined in favor, so that at the presentday he is scarcely read at all. Two authoritative opinions mark thehistory of this decline: Milton, in his own day, placed him with Spenserand Shakspeare as one of the three greatest English poets; while Pope, notmuch more than half a century later, asks:

 Who now reads Cowley? If he pleases yet, His moral pleases, not his pointed wit. 

Still later, Dr. Johnson gives him the credit of having been the first tomaster the Pindaric ode in English; while Cowper expresses, in his Task, regret that his "splendid wit" should have been

 Entangled in the cobwebs of the schools. 

But if he is neglected in the present day as a household poet, he standsprominently forth to the literary student as an historic personage of nomean rank, a type and representative of his age, country, and socialconditions. 

SAMUEL BUTLER. 

BUTLER'S CAREER. --The author of Hudibras, a satirical poem which may asjustly be called a comic history of England as any of those written inprose in more modern times, was born in Worcestershire, on the 8th ofFebruary, 1612. The son of poor parents, he received his education at agrammar school. Some, who have desired to magnify his learning, have saidthat he was for a time a student at Cambridge; but the chronicler Aubrey, who knew him well, denies this. He was learned, but this was due to theardor with which he pursued his studies, when he was clerk to Mr. Jeffreys, an eminent justice of the peace, and as an inmate of the mansionof the Countess of Kent, in whose fine library he was associated with theaccomplished Selden. 

We next find him domiciled with Sir Samuel Luke, a Presbyterian and aparliamentary soldier, in whose household he saw and noted thosecharacteristics of the Puritans which he afterward ridiculed so severelyin his great poem, a poem which he was quietly engaged in writing duringthe protectorate of Cromwell, in hope of the coming of a day when it couldbe issued to the world. 

This hope was fulfilled by the Restoration. In the new order he wasappointed secretary to the Earl of Carbery, and steward of Ludlow Castle;and he also increased his frugal fortunes by marrying a widow, Mrs. Herbert, whose means, however, were soon lost by bad investments. 

HUDIBRAS. --The only work of merit which Butler produced was _Hudibras_. This was published in three parts: the first appeared in 1663, the secondin 1664, and the third not until 1678. Even then it was left unfinished;but as the interest in the third part seems to flag, it is probable thatthe author did not intend to complete it. His death, two years later, however, settled the question. 

The general idea of the poem is taken from Don Quixote. As in thatimmortal work, there are two heroes. Sir Hudibras, corresponding to theDon, is a Presbyterian justice of the peace, whose features are said tohave been copied from those of the poet's former employer, Sir SamuelLuke. For this, Butler has been accused of ingratitude, but the nature oftheir connection does not seem to have been such as to warrant the charge. Ralph the squire, the humble Sancho of the poem, is a cross-graineddogmatic Independent. 

These two the poet sends forth, as a knight-errant with a squire, tocorrect existing abuses of all kinds--political, religious, andscientific. The plot is rambling and disconnected, but the authorcontrives to go over the whole ground of English history in his inimitableburlesque. Unlike Cervantes, who makes his reader always sympathize withhis foolish heroes, Butler brings his knight and squire into supremecontempt; he lashes the two hundred religious sects of the day, andattacks with matchless ridicule all the Puritan positions. The poem isdirectly historical in its statement of events, tenets, and factions, andin its protracted religious discussions: it is indirectly historical inthat it shows how this ridicule of the Puritans, only four years after thedeath of Cromwell, delighted the merry monarch and his vicious court, andwas greatly acceptable to the large majority of the English people. Thisfact marks the suddenness of the historic change from the influence ofPuritanism to that of the restored Stuarts. 

Hudibras is written in octosyllabic verse, frequently not rising abovedoggerel: it is full of verbal "quips and cranks and wanton wiles:" inparts it is eminently epigrammatic, and many of its happiest couplets seemto have been dashed off without effort. Walpole calls Butler "the Hogarthof poetry;" and we know that Hogarth illustrated Hudibras. The comparisonis not inapt, but the pictorial element in Hudibras is not its best claimto our praise. This is found in its string of proverbs and maximselucidating human nature, and set forth in such terse language that we areinclined to use them thus in preference to any other form of expression. 

Hudibras is the very prince of _burlesques_; it stands alone of its kind, and still retains its popularity. Although there is much that belongs tothe age, and much that is of only local interest, it is still read to findapt quotations, of which not a few have become hackneyed by constant use. With these, pages might be filled; all readers will recognize thefollowing:

He speaks of the knight thus:

 On either side he would dispute, Confute, change hands, and still confute:

 * * * * *

 For rhetoric, he could not ope His mouth but out there flew a trope. 

Again: he refers, in speaking of religious characters, to

 Such as do build their faith upon The holy text of pike and gun, And prove their doctrine orthodox, By apostolic blows and knocks; Compound for sins they are inclined to By damning those they have no mind to. 

Few persons of the present generation have patience to read Hudibrasthrough. Allibone says "it is a work to be studied once and gleanedoccasionally. " Most are content to glean frequently, and not to study atall. 

HIS POVERTY AND DEATH. --Butler lived in great poverty, being neglected bya monarch and a court for whose amusement he had done so much. Theylaughed at the jester, and let him starve. Indeed, he seems to have hadfew friends; and this is accounted for quaintly by Aubrey, who says:"Satirical wits disoblige whom they converse with, and consequently maketo themselves many enemies, and few friends; and this was his manner andcase. "

The best known of his works, after Hudibras, is the _Elephant in theMoon_, a satire on the Royal Society. 

It is significant of the popularity of Hudibras, that numerous imitationsof it have been written from his day to ours. 

Butler died on the 25th of September, 1680. Sixty years after, the hand ofprivate friendship erected a monument to him in Westminster Abbey. Thefriend was John Barber, Lord Mayor of London, whose object is thus stated:"That he who was destitute of all things when alive, might not want amonument when he was dead. " Upon the occasion of erecting this, SamuelWesley wrote:

 While Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive, No generous patron would a dinner give; See him, when starved to death and turned to dust, Presented with a monumental bust. The poet's fate is here in emblem shown, He asked for bread, and he received a stone. 

To his own age he was the prince of jesters; to English literature he hasgiven its best illustration of the burlesque in rhetoric. To the reader ofthe present day he presents rare historical pictures of his day, of fargreater value than his wit or his burlesque. 

IZAAK WALTON. 

If men are to be measured by their permanent popularity, Walton deservesan enthusiastic mention in literary annals, not for the greatness of hisachievements, but for his having touched a chord in the human heart whichstill vibrates without hint of cessation wherever English is spoken. 

Izaak Walton was born at Stafford, on the 9th of August, 1593. In hisearlier life he was a linen-draper, but he had made enough for his frugalwants by his shop to enable him to retire from business in 1643, and thenhe quietly assumed a position as _pontifex piscatorum_. His fishing-rodwas a sceptre which he swayed unrivalled for forty years. He gatheredabout him in his house and on the borders of fishing streams an admiringand congenial circle, principally of the clergy, who felt it a privilegeto honor the retired linen-draper. There must have been a peculiar charm, a personal magnetism about him, which has also imbued his works. His firstwife was Rachel Floud, a descendant of the ill-fated Cranmer; and hissecond was Anne Ken, the half-sister of the saintly Bishop Ken. Whatevermay have been his deficiencies of early education, he was so constant andvaried a reader that he made amends for these. 

THE COMPLETE ANGLER. --His first and most popular work was _The CompleteAngler, or, The Contemplative Man's Recreation_. It has been the delightof all sorts of people since, and has gone through more than fortyrespectable editions in England, besides many in America. Many of theseeditions are splendidly illustrated and sumptuous. The dialogues arepleasant and natural, and his enthusiasm for the art of angling is quitecontagious. 

HIS LIVES. --Nor is Walton less esteemed by a smaller but more appreciativecircle for his beautiful and finished biographies or _Lives_ of Dr. Donne, Wotton, Richard Hooker, George Herbert, and Bishop RobertSanderson. 

Here Walton has bestowed and received fame: the simple but exquisiteportraitures of these holy and worthy men have made them familiar toposterity; and they, in turn, by the virtues which Walton's pen has mademanifest, have given distinction to the hand which portrayed them. Walton's good life was lengthened out to fourscore and ten. He died at theresidence of his son-in-law, the Reverend William Hawkins, prebendary ofWinchester Cathedral, in 1683. Bishop Jebb has judiciously said of his_Lives_: "They not only do ample justice to individual piety and learning, but throw a mild and cheerful light upon the manners of an interestingage, as well as upon the venerable features of our mother Church. " Less, however, than any of his contemporaries can Walton be appreciated by asketch of the man: his works must be read, and their spirit imbibed, inorder to know his worth. 

OTHER WRITERS OF THE AGE. 

George Wither, born in Hampshire, June 11, 1588, died May 2, 1667: he wasa voluminous and versatile writer. His chief work is _The Shepherd'sHunting_, which, with beautiful descriptions of rural life, abounds inthose strained efforts at wit and curious conceits, which were acceptableto the age, but which have lost their charm in a more sensible andphilosophic age. Wither was a Parliament man, and was imprisoned andill-treated after the Restoration. He, and most of those who follow, wereclassed by Dr. Johnson as _metaphysical poets_. 

Francis Quarles, 1592-1644: he was a Royalist, but belongs to the literaryschool of Withers. He is best known by his collection of moral andreligious poems, called _Divine Emblems_, which were accompanied withquaint engraved illustrations. These allegories are full of unnaturalconceits, and are many of them borrowed from an older source. He wasimmensely popular as a poet in his own day, and there was truth in thestatement of Horace Walpole, that "Milton was forced to wait till theworld had done admiring Quarles. "

George Herbert, 1593-1632: a man of birth and station, Herbert entered theChurch, and as the incumbent of the living at Bemerton, he illustrated inhis own piety and devotion "the beauty of holiness. " Conscientious andself-denying in his parish work, he found time to give forth those devoutbreathings which in harmony of expression, fervor of piety, and simplicityof thought, have been a goodly heritage to the Church ever since, whilethey still retain some of those "poetical surprises" which mark theliterary taste of the age. His principal work is _The Temple, or, SacredPoems and Private Ejaculations_. The short lyrics which form the stones ofthis temple are upon the rites and ceremonies of the Church and othersacred subjects: many of them are still in great favor, and will alwaysbe. In his portraiture of the _Good Parson_, he paints himself. Hemagnifies the office, and he fulfilled all the requirements he has laiddown. 

Robert Herrick, 1591-1674: like Herbert, Herrick was a clergyman, but, unlike Herbert, he was not a holy man. He wrote Anacreontic poems, full ofwine and love, and appears to us like a reveller masking in a surplice. Being a cavalier in sentiment, he was ejected from his vicarage in 1648, and went to London, where he assumed the lay habit. In 1647 he published_Hesperides_, a collection of small poems of great lyric beauty, Anacreontic, pastoral, and amatory, but containing much that is coarse andindelicate. In 1648 he in part atoned for these by publishing his _NobleNumbers_, a collection of pious pieces, in the beginning of which he asksGod's forgiveness for his "unbaptized rhymes, " "writ in my wild, unhallowed times. " The best comment upon his works may be found in thewords of a reviewer: "Herrick trifled in this way solely in compliment tothe age; whenever he wrote to please himself, he wrote from the heart tothe heart. " His _Litanie_ is a noble and beautiful penitential petition. 

Sir John Suckling, 1609-1641: a writer of love songs. That by which he ismost favorably known is his exquisite _Ballad upon a Wedding_. He was aman of versatile talents; an officer in the army of Gustavus Adolphus, anda captain of horse in the army of Charles I. He wrote several plays, ofwhich the best are _Aglaura_ and _The Discontented Colonel_. Whileevidently tinctured by the spirit of the age, he exceeded hiscontemporaries in the purity of his style and manliness of his expression. His wit is not so forced as theirs. 

Edmund Waller, 1605-1687: he was a cousin of John Hampden. By great careand adroitness he seems to have trimmed between the two parties in thecivil war, but was suspected by both. His poetry was like himself, artificial and designed to please, but has little depth of sentiment. Likeother poets, he praised Cromwell in 1654 in _A Panegyric_, and welcomedCharles II. In 1660, upon _His Majesty's Happy Return_. His greatestbenefaction to English poetry was in refining its language and harmonizingits versification. He has all the conceits and strained wit of themetaphysical school. 

Sir William Davenant, 1605-1668: he was the son of a vintner, butsometimes claimed to be the natural son of Shakspeare, who was intimatewith his father and mother. An ardent Loyalist, he was imprisoned at thebeginning of the civil war, but escaped to France. He is best known by hisheroic poem _Gondibert_, founded upon the reign of King Aribert ofLombardy, in the seventh century. The French taste which he brought backfrom his exile, is shown in his own dramas, and in his efforts to restorethe theatre at the Restoration. His best plays are the _Cruel Brother_ and_The Law against Lovers_. He was knighted by Charles I. , and succeeded BenJonson as poet laureate. On his monument in Westminster Abbey are thesewords: "O rare Sir William Davenant. "

Charles Cotton, 1630-1687: he was a wit and a poet, and is best known asthe friend of Izaak Walton. He made an addition to _Walton's CompleteAngler_, which is found in all the later editions. The companion of Waltonin his fishing excursions on the river Dove, Cotton addressed many of hispoems to his "Adopted Father. " He made travesties upon Virgil and Lucian, which are characterized by great licentiousness; and wrote a gossiping andhumorous _Voyage to Ireland_. 

Henry Vaughan, 1614-1695: he was called the _Silurist_, from his residencein Wales, the country of the Silures. He is favorably known by the _SilexScintillans, or, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations_. With a rigidreligious tone, he has all the attempt at rhetorical effect which mark themetaphysical school, but his language is harsher and more rugged. He hasmore heart than most of his colleagues, and extracts of great tersenessand beauty are still made from his poems. He reproves the corruptions ofthe age, and while acknowledging an indebtedness, he gives us a clue tohis inspiration: "The first, that with any effectual success attempted adiversion of this foul and overflowing stream, was that blessed man, Mr. George Herbert, whose holy life and verse gained many pious converts, ofwhom I am the least. "

The Earl of Clarendon, 1608-1674: Edward Hyde, afterward the Earl ofClarendon, played a conspicuous part in the history of England during hislife, and also wrote a history of that period, which, although in theinterests of the king's party, is an invaluable key to a knowledge ofEnglish life during the rebellion and just after the Restoration. Amember of parliament in 1640, he rose rapidly in favor with the king, andwas knighted in 1643. He left England in charge of the Prince of Wales in1646, and at once began his History of the Great Rebellion, which was tooccupy him for many years before its completion. After the death ofCharles I. , he was the companion of his son's exile, and often withoutmeans for himself and his royal master, he was chancellor of theexchequer. At the Restoration in 1660, Sir Edward Hyde was created Earl ofClarendon, and entered upon the real duties of his office. He retained hisplace for seven years, but became disagreeable to Charles as a troublesomemonitor, and at the same time incurred the hatred of the people. In 1667he was accused of high treason, and made his escape to France. Neglectedby his master, ignored by the French monarch, he wandered about in France, from time to time petitioning his king to permit him to return and die inEngland, but without success. Seven years of exile, which he reminded theking "was a time prescribed and limited by God himself for the expiationof some of his greatest judgments, " passed by, and the ex-chancellor diedat Rouen. He had begun his history in exile as the faithful servant of adethroned prince; he ended it in exile, as the cast-off servant of anungrateful monarch. As a writer of contemporary history, Clarendon hasgiven us the form and color of the time. The book is in title and handlinga Royalist history. Its faults are manifest: first those of partisanship;and secondly, those which spring from his absence, so that much of thework was written without an observant knowledge. His delineation ofcharacter is wonderful: the men of the times are more pictoriallydisplayed than in the portraits of Van Dyk. The style is somewhat toopompous, being more that of the orator than of the historian, andcontaining long and parenthetic periods. Sir Walter Scott says: "Hischaracters may match those of the ancient historians, and one thinks hewould know the very men if he were to meet them in society. " Macaulayconcedes to him a strong sense of moral and religious obligation, asincere reverence for the laws of his country, and a conscientious regardfor the honor and interests of the crown; but adds that "his temper wassour, arrogant, and impatient of opposition. " No one can rightlyunderstand the great rebellion without reading Clarendon's history of it. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

DRYDEN, AND THE RESTORED STUARTS. 

 The Court of Charles II. Dryden's Early Life. The Death of Cromwell. The Restoration. Dryden's Tribute. Annus Mirabilis. Absalom and Achitophel. The Death of Charles. Dryden's Conversion. Dryden's Fall. His Odes. 

THE COURT OF CHARLES II. 

The antithetic literature which takes its coloring from the greatrebellion, was now to give place to new forms not immediately connectedwith it, but incident to the Restoration. Puritanism was now to beoppressed, and the country was to be governed, under a show ofconstitutional right, more arbitrarily than ever before. The moralrebound, too, was tremendous; the debaucheries of the cavaliers of CharlesI. Were as nothing in comparison with the lewdness and filth of the courtof Charles II. To say that he brought in French fashions and customs, isto do injustice to the French: there never was a viler court in Europethan his own. It is but in accordance with our historical theory that theliterature should partake of and represent the new condition of things;and the most remarkable illustrations of this are to be found in the worksof Dryden. 

It may indeed with truth be said that we have now reached the mostabsolute of the literary types of English history. There was no greatevent, political or social, which is not mirrored in his poems; nosentiment or caprice of the age which does not there find expression; nokingly whim which he did not prostitute his great powers to gratify; nochange of creed, political or religious, of which he was not therecorder--few indeed, where royal favor was concerned, to which he was notthe convert. To review the life of Dryden himself, is therefore to enterinto the chronicle and philosophy of the times in which he lived. Withthis view, we shall dwell at some length upon his character and works. 

EARLY LIFE. --Dryden was born on the 10th of August, 1631, and died on the1st of May, 1700. He lived, therefore, during the reign of Charles I. , theinterregnum of Parliament, the protectorate of Cromwell, the restorationand reign of Charles II. , and the reign of James II. ; he saw and sufferedfrom the accession of William and Mary--a wonderful and varied volume inEnglish history. And of all these Dryden was, more than any other man, theliterary type. He was of a good family, and was educated at Westminsterand Cambridge, where he gave early proofs of his literary talents. 

His father, a zealous Presbyterian, had reared his children in his owntenets; we are not therefore astonished to find that his earliest poeticalefforts are in accordance with the political conditions of the day. Hesettled in London, under the protection of his kinsman, Sir GilbertPickering, who was afterward one of the king's judges in 1649, and one ofthe council of eight who controlled the kingdom after Charles lost hishead. As secretary to Sir Gilbert, young Dryden learned to scan thepolitical horizon, and to aspire to preferment. 

CROMWELL'S DEATH, AND DRYDEN'S MONODY. --But those who had depended uponCromwell, forgot that he was not England, and that his breath was in hisnostrils. The time of his departure was at hand. He had been offered thecrown (April 9, 1656, ) by a subservient parliament, and wanted it; but hisfriends and family opposed his taking it; and the officers of the army, influenced by Pride, sent such a petition against it, that he felt obligedto refuse it. After months of mental anxiety and nervous torture--fearingassassination, keeping arms under his pillow, never sleeping above threenights together in the same chamber, disappointed that even after all hisachievements, and with all his cunning efforts, he had been unable to puton the crown, and to be numbered among the English sovereigns--Cromwelldied in 1658, leaving his title as Lord Protector to his son Richard, aweak and indolent man, who, after seven months' rule, fled the kingdom atthe Restoration, to return after a generation had passed away, a very oldman, to die in his native land. The people of Hertfordshire knew RichardCromwell as the excellent and benevolent Mr. Clarke. 

Very soon after the death of Oliver Cromwell, Dryden, not yet foreseeingthe Restoration, presented his tribute to the Commonwealth, in the shapeof "Heroic Stanzas on the Death of Oliver Cromwell; written after hisfuneral. " A few stanzas will show his political principles, and are instrange contrast with what was soon to follow:

 How shall I then begin, or where conclude, To draw a fame so truly circular? For, in a round, what order can be showed, Where all the parts so equal perfect are?

 He made us freemen of the continent, Whom nature did like captives treat before; To nobler preys the English lion sent, And taught him first in Belgian walks to roar. 

 His ashes in a peaceful urn shall rest; His name a great example stands, to show How strangely high endeavors may be blest, Where piety and valor jointly go. 

THE RESTORATION. --Cromwell died in September: early in the next year thesestanzas were written. One year later was the witness of a great event, which stirred England to its very depths, because it gave vent tosentiments for some time past cherished but concealed. The Long Parliamentwas dissolved on the 10th of March, 1660. The new parliament meets April25th; it is almost entirely of Royalist opinions; it receives Sir JohnGranville, the king's messenger, with loud acclamations; the old lordscome forth once more in velvet, ermine, and lawn. It is proclaimed thatGeneral Monk, the representative of the army, soon to be Duke ofAlbemarle, has gone from St. Albans to Dover, To welcome home again discarded faith. 

The strong are as tow, and the maker as a spark. From the house of everycitizen, lately vocal with the praises of the Protector, issues a subjectready to welcome his king with the most enthusiastic loyalty. 

Royal proclamations follow each other in rapid succession: at length theeventful day has come--the 29th of May, 1660. All the bells of London areringing their merriest chimes; the streets are thronged with citizens inholiday attire; the guilds of work and trade are out in their uniforms;the army, late the organ of Cromwell, is drawn up on Black Heath, and iscracking its myriad throat with cheers. In the words of Master RogerWildrake, "There were bonfires flaming, music playing, rumps roasting, healths drinking; London in a blaze of light from the Strand toRotherhithe. " At length the sound of herald trumpets is heard; the king iscoming; a cry bursts forth which the London echoes have almost forgotten:"God save the king! The king enjoys his own again!"

It seems to the dispassionate reader almost incredible that the Englishpeople, who shed his father's blood, who rallied round the Parliament, andwere fulsome in their praises of the Protector, should thus suddenlychange; but, allowing for "the madness of the people, " we look forstrength and consistency to the men of learning and letters. We feel surethat he who sang his eulogy of Cromwell dead, can have now no lyric burstfor the returning Stuart. We are disappointed. 

DRYDEN'S TRIBUTE. --The first poetic garland thrown at the feet of therestored king was Dryden's _Astræa Redux_, a poem on _The happyrestoration of his sacred majesty Charles II. _ To give it classic force, he quotes from the Pollio as a text. 

 Jam redit et virgo, redeunt saturnia regna;

thus hailing the saturnian times of James I. And Charles I. A few lines ofthe poem complete the curious contrast:

 While our cross stars deny us Charles his bed, Whom our first flames and virgin love did wed, For his long absence church and state did groan; Madness the pulpit, faction seized the throne. 

 * * * * *

 How great were then our Charles his woes, who thus Was forced to suffer for himself and us. 

 * * * * *

 Oh happy prince whom Heaven hath taught the way, By paying vows to have more vows to pay: Oh happy age! oh, times like those alone By Fate reserved for great Augustus' throne, When the joint growth of arts and arms foreshow The world a monarch, and that monarch you!

The contrast assumes a clearer significance, if we remember that the realtime which elapsed between the publications of these two poems was lessthan two years. 

This is greatly to Dryden's shame, as it is to Waller's, who did the samething; but it must be clearly pointed out that in this the poets werereally a type of all England, for whose suffrages they wrote thus. Fromthis time the career of Dryden was intimately associated with that of therestored king. He wrote an ode for the coronation in 1661, and a poeticaltribute to Clarendon, the Lord High Chancellor, the king's better self. 

To Dryden, as a writer of plays, we shall recur in a later chapter, whenthe other dramatists of the age will be considered. 

A concurrence of unusual events in 1665, brought forth the next year the"Annus Mirabilis, " or _Wonderful Year_, in which these events are recordedwith the minuteness of a chronicle. This is indeed its chief value; for, praised as it was at the time, it does not so well bear the analysis ofmodern criticism. 

ANNUS MIRABILIS. --It describes the great naval battle with the Dutch; thefire of London; and the ravages of the plague. The detail with which theseare described, and the frequent felicity of expression, are the chiefcharm of the poem. In the refreshingly simple diary of Pepy's, we findthis jotting under date of 3d February, 1666-7: "_Annus Mirabilis_. I amvery well pleased this night with reading a poem I brought home with melast night from Westminster Hall, of Dryden's, upon the present war: avery good poem. "

Dryden's subserviency, aided by the power of his pen, gained its reward. In 1668, on the death of Sir William Davenant, he was appointed Laureate, and historiographer to the king, with an annual salary of £200. He soonbecame the most famous literary man in England. Milton, the Puritan, wasproducing his wonderful visions in darkened retirement, while at court, orin the seat of honor on the stage, or in his sacred chair at Will'sCoffee-house in Covent Garden (near the fire-place in winter, and carriedinto the balcony in summer), "Glorious John" was the observed of allobservers. Of Will's Coffee-house, Congreve says, in _Love for Love_, "Oh, confound that Will's Coffee-house; it has ruined more young men than theRoyal Oak Lottery:" this speaks at once of the fashion and social licenseof the time. 

Charles II. Was happy to have so fluent a pen, to lampoon or satirize hisenemies, or to make indecent comedies for his amusement; while Dryden'saim seems to have been scarcely higher than preferment at court andhonored contemporary notoriety for his genius. But if the great majoritylauded and flattered him, he was not without his share in those quarrelsof authors, which were carried on at that day not only with goose-quills, but with swords and bludgeons. It is recorded that he was once waylaid bythe hired ruffians of the Earl of Rochester, and beaten almost to death:these broils generally had a political as well as a social significance. In his quarrels with the literary men, he used the shafts of satire. Hiscontest with Thomas Shadwell has been preserved in his satire calledMcFlecknoe. Flecknoe was an Irish priest who wrote dull plays; and in thispoem Dryden proposes Shadwell as his successor on the throne of dulness. It was the model or suggester of Pope's _Dunciad_; but the model is by nomeans equal to the copy. 

ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL. --Nothing which he had yet written is so true anindex to the political history as his "Absalom and Achitophel, " which hepublished in 1681. The history may be given in few words. Charles II. Hada natural son by an obscure woman named Lucy Walters. This boy had beencreated Duke of Monmouth. He was put forward by the designing Earl ofShaftesbury as the head of a faction, and as a rival to the Duke of York. To ruin the Duke was their first object; and this they attempted byinflaming the people against his religion, which was Roman Catholic. Ifthey could thus have him and his heirs put out of the succession to thethrone, Monmouth might be named heir apparent; and Shaftesbury hoped to bethe power behind the throne. 

Monmouth was weak, handsome, and vain, and was in truth a puppet in wickedhands; he was engaged in the Rye-house plot, and schemed not only againsthis uncle, but against the person of his father himself. To satirize andexpose these plots and plotters, Dryden (at the instance of the king, itis said, ) wrote _Absalom and Achitophel_, in which are introduced, underScripture names, many of the principal political characters of the day, from the king down to Titus Oates. The number of the names is 61. Charlesis, of course, David, and Monmouth, the wayward son, is Absalom. Shaftesbury is Achitophel, and Dr. Oates figures as Corah. The Ethnic plotis the popish plot, and Gath is that land of exile where Charles so longresided. Strong in his praise of David, the poet is discreet and delicatein his handling of Absalom; his instinct is as acute as that of Falstaff:"Beware! instinct, the lion will not touch a true prince, " or touch him sogently that the lion at least will not suffer. Thus, Monmouth isrepresented as

 Half loath, and half consenting to the ill, For royal blood within him struggled still; He thus replied: "And what pretence have I To take up arms for public liberty? My father governs with unquestioned right, The faith's defender and mankind's delight; Good, gracious, just, observant of the laws, And heaven by wonders has espoused his cause. "

But he may, and does, roundly rate Achitophel, who tempts with satanicseductions, and proves to the youth, from the Bible, his right to thesuccession, peaceably or forcibly obtained. Among those who conspired withMonmouth were honest hearts seeking for the welfare of the realm. Chief ofthese were Lord Russel and Sidney, of whom the latter was in favor of acommonwealth; and the former, only sought the exclusion of the RomanCatholic Duke of York, and the redress of grievances, but not theassassination or deposition of the king. Both fell on the scaffold; butthey have both been considered martyrs in the cause of civil liberty. 

And here we must pause to say that in the literary structure, language, and rhythm of the poem, Dryden had made a great step toward that masteryof the rhymed pentameter couplet, which is one of his greatest claims todistinction. 

DEATH OF CHARLES. --At length, in 1685, Charles II. , after a sudden andshort illness, was gathered to his fathers. His life had been such thatEngland could not mourn: he had prostituted female honor, and almostdestroyed political virtue; sold English territory and influence to Francefor beautiful strumpets; and at the last had been received, on hisdeath-bed, into, the Roman Catholic Church, while nominally the supremehead of the Anglican communion. England cannot mourn, but Dryden tortureslanguage into crocodile tears in his _Threnodia Augustalis, sacred to thehappy memory of King Charles II_. A few lines will exhibit at once thefalse statements and the absolute want of a spark of sorrow--dead, inanimate words, words, words!

 Thus long my grief has kept me drunk: Sure there 's a lethargy in mighty woe; Tears stand congealed, and cannot flow. ........ Tears for a stroke foreseen, afford relief; But unprovided for a sudden blow, Like Niobe, we marble grow, And petrify with grief!

DRYDEN'S CONVERSION. --The Duke of York succeeded as James II. : he was anopen and bigoted Roman Catholic, who at once blazoned forth the death-bedconversion of his brother; and who from the first only limited his hopesto the complete restoration of the realm to popery. Dryden's course was atonce taken; but his instinct was at fault, as but three short years wereto show. He gave in his adhesion to the new king's creed; he who had beenPuritan with the commonwealth, and churchman with the Restoration, becameRoman Catholic with the accession of a popish king. He had written the_Religio Laici_ to defend the tenets of the Church of England against theattacks of papists and dissenters; and he now, to leave the world in nodoubt as to his reasons and his honesty, published a poem entitled the_Hind and Panther_, which might in his earlier phraseology have beenjustly styled "The Christian experience of pious John Dryden. " It seems ashameless act, but it is one exponent of the loyalty of that day. Thereare some critics who believe him to have been sincere, and who insist thatsuch a man "is not to be sullied by suspicion that rests on what after allmight prove a fortuitous coincidence. " But such frequent changes with thegovernment--with a reward for each change--tax too far even that charitywhich "thinketh no evil. " Dryden's pen was eagerly welcomed by the RomanCatholics. He began to write at once in their interest, and thus tofurther his own. Dr. Johnson says: "That conversion will always besuspected which apparently concerns with interest. He that never finds hiserror till it hinders his progress toward wealth or honor, will not bethought to love truth only for herself. "

In this long poem of 2, 000 lines, we have the arguments which conductedthe poet to this change. The different beasts represent the differentchurches and sects. The Church of Rome is thus represented:

 A milk-white hind, immortal and unchanged, Fed on the lawns, and in the forest ranged; Without unspotted, innocent within, She feared no danger, for she knew no sin. 

The other beasts were united to destroy her; but she could "venture todrink with them at the common watering-place under the protection of herfriend the kingly lion. "

The Panther is the Church of England:

 The Panther, sure the noblest, next the hind, And fairest creature of the spotted kind; Oh, could her inborn stains be washed away, She were too good to be a beast of prey!

Then he Introduces. --

 The _Bloody Bear_, an _Independent_ beast; the _Quaking Hare_, for the _Quakers_; the _Bristled Baptist Boar_. 

In this fable, quite in the style of Æsop, we find the Dame, _i. E. _, theHind, entering into the subtle points of theology, and trying to prove herposition. The poem, as might be supposed; was well received, and perhapsconverted a few to the monarch's faith; for who were able yet to foreseethat the monarch would so abuse his power, as to be driven away from histhrone amid the execrations of his subjects. 

The harmony of Dryden and the power of James could control progressiveEngland no longer. Like one man, the nation rose and uttered a mighty cryto William of Orange. James, trembling, flies hither and thither, and atlength, fearing the fate of his father, he deserts his throne; the commonscall this desertion abdication, and they give the throne to his nephewWilliam and his daughter Mary. Such was the end of the restored Stuarts;and we can have no regret that it is: whatever sympathy we may have hadwith the sufferings of Charles I. , --and the English nation shared it, asis proved by the restoration of his son, --we can have none with hissuccessors: they threw away their chances; they dissipated the mostenthusiastic loyalty; they squandered opportunities; and had no enemies, even the bitterest, who were more fatal than themselves. And now it wasmanifest that Dryden's day was over. Nor does he shrink from his fate. Heneither sings a Godspeeding ode to the runaway king, nor a salutatory tothe new comers. 

DRYDEN'S FALL. --Stripped of his laureate-wreath and all his emoluments, hedoes not sit down to fold his hands and repine. Sixty years of age, hegirds up his loins to work manfully for his living. He translates from theclassics; he renders Chaucer into modern English: in 1690 he produced aplay entitled Don Sebastian, which has been considered his dramaticmaster-piece, and, as if to inform the world that age had not dimmed thefire of his genius, he takes as his caption, --

 ... Nec tarda senectus Debilitat vires animi, mutat que vigorem. 

This latter part of his life claims a true sympathy, because he is everyinch a man. 

It must not be forgotten that Dryden presented Chaucer to England anew, after centuries of neglect, almost oblivion; for which the world owes hima debt of gratitude. This he did by modernizing several of the CanterburyTales, and thus leading English scholars to seek the beauties andinstructions of the original. The versions themselves are by no means wellexecuted, it must be said. He has lost the musical words and fresh dictionof the original, as a single comparison between the two will clearly show. Perhaps there is no finer description of morning than is contained inthese lines of Chaucer:

 The besy lark, the messager of day, Saleweth in hir song the morwe gray; And firy Phebus riseth up so bright That all the orient laugheth of the sight. 

How expressive the words: the _busy_ lark; the sun rising like a strongman; _all the orient_ laughing. The following version by Dryden, loses atonce the freshness of idea and the felicity of phrase:

 The morning lark, the messenger of day, Saluted in her song the morning gray; And soon the sun arose with beams so bright That all the horizon laughed to see the joyous sight. 

The student will find this only one of many illustrations of the mannerin which Dryden has belittled Chaucer in his versions. 

ODES. --Dryden has been regarded as the first who used the heroic coupletwith entire mastery. In his hands it is bold and sometimes rugged, butalways powerful and handled with great ease: he fashioned it for Pope topolish. Of this, his larger poems are full of proof. But there is anotherverse, of irregular rhythm, in which he was even more successful, --lyricpoetry as found in the irregular ode, varying from the short line to the"Alexandrine dragging its slow length along;" the staccato of a harpending in a lengthened flow of melody. 

 Thus long ago, Ere heaving billows learned to blow, While organs yet were mute; Timotheus to his breathing flute And sounding lyre Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire. 

When he became a Roman Catholic, St. Cecilia, "inventress of the vocalframe, " became his chief devotion; and the _Song on St. Cecilia's Day_ and_An Ode to St. Cecilia_, are the principal illustrations of this newpower. 

Gray, who was remarkable for his own lyric power, told Dr. Beattie that ifthere were any excellence in his own numbers, he had learned it whollyfrom Dryden. 

The _Ode on St. Cecilia's Day_, also entitled "_Alexander's Feast_, " inwhich he portrays the power of music in inspiring that famous monarch tolove, pity, and war, has to the scholar the perfect excellence of the bestGreek lyric. It ends with a tribute to St. Cecilia. 

 At last divine Cecilia came, Inventress of the vocal frame: Now let Timotheus yield the prize, Or both divide the crown. He raised a mortal to the skies; She drew an angel down, Dryden's prose, principally in the form of prefaces and dedications, hasbeen admired by all critics; and one of the greatest has said, that if hehad turned his attention entirely in that direction, he would have been_facile princeps_ among the prose writers of his day. He has, in generalterms, the merit of being the greatest refiner of the English language, and of having given system and strength to English poetry above any writerup to his day; but more than all, his works are a transcript of Englishhistory--political, religious, and social--as valuable as those of anyprofessed historian. Dryden married Lady Elizabeth Howard, the daughter ofan earl, who, it is said, was not a congenial companion, and whoafterwards became insane. He died from a gangrene in the foot. He declaredthat he died in the profession of the Roman Catholic faith; which raises anew doubt as to his sincerity in the change. Near the monument of oldfather Chaucer, in Westminster, is one erected, by the Duke of Buckingham, to Dryden. It merely bears name and date, as his life and works weresupposed to need no eulogy. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE OF THE GREAT REBELLION AND OF THE RESTORATION. 

 The English Divines. Hall. Chillingworth. Taylor. Fuller. Sir T. Browne. Baxter. Fox. Bunyan. South. Other Writers. 

THE ENGLISH DIVINES. 

Having come down, in the course of English Literature, to the reign ofWilliam and Mary, we must look back for a brief space to consider thereligious polemics which grew out of the national troubles andvicissitudes. We shall endeavor to classify the principal authors underthis head from the days of Milton to the time when the Protestantsuccession was established on the English throne. 

The Established Church had its learned doctors before the civil war, manyof whom contributed to the literature; but when the contest between kingand parliament became imminent, and during the progress of the quarrel, these became controversialists, --most of them on the side of theunfortunate but misguided monarch, --and suffered with his decliningfortunes. 

To go over the whole range of theological literature in this extendedperiod, would be to study the history of the times from a theologicalpoint of view. Our space will only permit a brief notice of the principalwriters. 

HALL. --First among these was Joseph Hall, who was born in 1574. He waseducated at Cambridge, and was appointed to the See of Exeter in 1624, and transferred to that of Norwich in 1641, the year before Charles I. Ascended the throne. The scope of his writings was quite extensive. As atheological writer, he is known by his numerous sermons, his _Episcopacyby Divine Right Asserted_, his _Christian Meditations_, andvarious commentaries and _Contemplations_ upon the Scriptures. He was also a poet and a satirist, and excelled in this field. His_Satires--Virgidemiarium_--were published at the early age oftwenty-three; but they are highly praised by the critics, who rank himalso, for eloquence and learning, with Jeremy Taylor. He suffered for hisattachment to the king's cause, was driven from his see, and spent thelast portion of his life in retirement and poverty. He died in 1656. 

CHILLINGWORTH. --The next in chronological order is William Chillingworth, who was born in 1602, and is principally known as the champion ofProtestantism against Rome and Roman innovations. While a student atOxford, he had been won over to the Roman Catholic Church by John Perse, afamous Jesuit; and he went at once to pursue his studies in the Jesuitcollege at Douay. He was so notable for his acuteness and industry, thatevery effort was made to bring him back. Archbishop Laud, his god-father, was able to convince him of his errors, and in two months he returned toEngland. A short time after this he left the Roman Catholics, and becametenfold more a Protestant than before. He entered into controversies withhis former friends the Jesuits, and in answer to one of their treatisesentitled, _Mercy and Truth, or Charity maintained by the Roman Catholics_, he wrote his most famous work, _The Religion of Protestants a Safe Way toSalvation_. Chillingworth was a warm adherent of Charles I. ; and wascaptured by the parliamentary forces in 1643. He died the next year. Hisdouble change of faith gave him the full range of the controversial field;and, in addition to this knowledge, the clearness of his language and theperspicuity of his logic gave great effect to his writings. Tillotsoncalls him "the glory of this age and nation. "

TAYLOR. --One of the greatest names in the annals of the English Church andof English literature is that of Jeremy Taylor. He was the son of abarber, and was born at Cambridge in 1613. A remarkably clever youth, hewas educated at Cambridge, and soon owed his preferment to his talents, eloquence, and learning. An adherent of the king, he was appointedchaplain in the royal army, and was several times imprisoned. When theking's cause went down, and during the protectorate of Cromwell, heretired to Wales, where he kept a school, and was also chaplain to theEarl of Carberry. The vicissitudes of fortune compelled him to leave for awhile this retreat, and he became a teacher in Ireland. The restoration ofCharles II. Gave him rest and preferment: he was made Bishop of Down andConnor. Taylor is now principally known for his learned, quaint, andeloquent discourses, which are still read. A man of liberal feelings andopinions, he wrote on "The liberty of prophesying, showing theunreasonableness of prescribing to other men's faith, and the iniquity ofpersecuting different opinions:" the title itself being a very liberaldiscourse. He upholds the Ritual in _An Apology for fixed and set Forms ofWorship_. In this he considers the divine precepts to be contained withinnarrow limits, and that beyond this everything is a matter of dispute, sothat we cannot unconditionally condemn the opinions of others. 

His _Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy Life_, his _Rule and Exercises ofHoly Living and of Holy Dying_, and his _Golden Grove_, are devotionalworks, well known to modern Christians of all denominations. He has beenpraised alike by Roman Catholic divines and many Protestant Christians notof the Anglican Church. There is in all his writings a splendor ofimagery, combined with harmony of style, and wonderful variety, readiness, and accuracy of scholarship. His quotations from the wholerange of classic authors would furnish the Greek and Latin armory of anymodern writer. What Shakspeare is in the Drama, Spenser in the Allegory, and Milton in the religious Epic, Taylor may claim to be in the field ofpurely religious literature. He died at Lisburn, in 1667. 

FULLER. --More quaint and eccentric than the writers just mentioned, but arare representative of his age, stands Thomas Fuller. He was born in 1608;at the early age of twelve, he entered Cambridge, and, after completinghis education, took orders. In 1631, he was appointed prebendary ofSalisbury. Thence he removed to London in 1641, when the civil war wasabout to open. When the king left London, in 1642, Fuller preached asermon in his favor, to the great indignation of the opposite party. Soonafter, he was appointed to a chaplaincy in the royal army, and not onlypreached to the soldiers, but urged them forward in battle. In 1646 hereturned to London, where he was permitted to preach, under_surveillance_, however. He seems to have succeeded in keeping out oftrouble until the Restoration, when he was restored to his prebend. He didnot enjoy it long, as he died in the next year, 1661. His writings arevery numerous, and some of them are still read. Among these are _GoodThoughts in Bad Times, Good Thoughts in Worse Times_, and _MixtContemplations in Better Times_. The _bad_ and _worse_ times mark theprogress of the civil war: the _better_ times he finds in the Restoration. 

One of his most valuable works is _The Church History of Britain, from thebirth of Christ to 1648_, in 11 books. Criticized as it has been for itspuns and quibbles and its occasional caricatures, it contains raredescriptions and very vivid stories of the important ecclesiastical erasin England. 

Another book containing important information is his _History of theWorthies of England_, a posthumous work, published by his son the yearafter his death. It contains accounts of eminent Englishmen in differentcountries; and while there are many errors which he would perhaps havecorrected, it is full of odd and interesting information not to be foundcollated in any other book. 

Representing and chronicling the age as he does, he has perhaps moreindividuality than any writer of his time, and this gives a specialinterest to his works. 

SIR THOMAS BROWNE. --Classed among theological writers, but not aclergyman, Sir Thomas Browne is noted for the peculiarity of his subjects, and his diction. He was born in 1605, and was educated at Oxford. Hestudied medicine, and became a practising physician. He travelled on thecontinent, and returning to England in 1633, he began to write his mostimportant work, _Religio Medici_, at once a transcript of his own life anda manifesto of what the religion of a physician should be. It was kept inmanuscript for some time, but was published without his knowledge in 1642. He then revised the work, and published several editions himself. Nodescription of the treatise can give the reader a just idea of it; itrequires perusal. The criticism of Dr. Johnson is terse and just: it isremarkable, he says, for "the novelty of paradoxes, the dignity ofsentiment, the quick succession of images, the multitude of abstruseallusions, the subtilty of disquisition, and the strength of language. " Asthe portraiture of an inner life, it is admirable; and the accusation ofheterodoxy brought against him on account of a few careless passages isunjust. 

Among his other works are _Essays on Vulgar Errors_ (_PseudoxiaEpidemica_), and _Hydriotaphica_ or _Urne burial_; the latter suggested bythe exhumation of some sepulchral remains in Norfolk, which led him totreat with great learning of the funeral rites of all nations. To this heafterwards added _The Garden of Cyrus, or The Quincunxial Lozenge_, inwhich, in the language of Coleridge, he finds quincunxes "in heaven above, in the earth below, in the mind of man, in tones, optic nerves, in theroots of trees, in leaves, in everything. " He died in 1682. 

Numerous sects, all finding doctrine and forms in the Bible, were theissue of the religious and political controversies of the day. Withoutentering into a consideration or even an enumeration of these, we nowmention a few of the principal names among them. 

RICHARD BAXTER. --Among the most devout, independent, and popular of thereligious writers of the day, Richard Baxter occupies a high rank. He wasborn in 1615, and was ordained a clergyman in 1638. In the civil troubleshe desired to remain neutral, and he opposed Cromwell when he was madeProtector. In 1662 he left the Church, and was soon the subject ofpersecution: he was always the champion of toleration. In prison, poor, hunted about from place to place, he was a martyr in spirit. During hisgreat earthly troubles he was solaced by a vision, which he embodied inhis popular work, _The Saints' Everlasting Rest_; and he wrote with greatfervor _A Call to the Unconverted_. He was a very voluminous writer; thebrutal Judge Jeffries, before whom he appeared for trial, called him "anold knave, who had written books enough to load a cart. " He wrote aparaphrase of the New Testament, and numerous discourses. Dr. Johnsonadvised Boswell, when speaking of Baxter's works: "Read any of them; theyare all good. " He continued preaching until the close of his life, anddied peacefully in 1691. 

GEORGE FOX. --The founder of the Society of Friends was born in 1624, in anhumble condition of life, and at an early age was apprenticed to ashoemaker and grazier. Uneducated and unknown, he considered himself asthe subject of special religious providence, and at length assupernaturally called of God. Suddenly abandoning his servile occupation, he came out in 1647, at the age of twenty-three, as the founder of a newsect; an itinerant preacher, he rebuked the multitudes which he assembledby his fervent words. Much of his success was due to his earnestness andself-abnegation. He preached in all parts of England, and visited theAmerican colonies. The name Quaker is said to have been applied to thissect in 1650, when Fox, arraigned before Judge Bennet, told him to"tremble at the word of the Lord. " The establishment of this sect by sucha man is one of the strongest illustrations of the eager religious inquiryof the age. 

The works of Fox are a very valuable _Journal of his Life and Travels_;_Letters and Testimonies_; _Gospel Truth Demonstrated_, --all of which formthe best statement of the origin and tenets of his sect. Fox was a solemn, reverent, absorbed man; a great reader and fluent expounder of theScriptures, but fanatical and superstitious; a believer in witchcraft, andin his power to detect witches. The sect which he founded, and which hasplayed so respectable a part in later history, is far more important thanthe founder himself. He died in London in 1690. 

WILLIAM PENN. --The fame of Fox in America has been eclipsed by that of hischief convert William Penn. In an historical or biographical work, thelife of Penn would demand extended mention; but his name is introducedhere only as one of the theological writers of the day. He was born in1644, and while a student at Oxford was converted to the Friends' doctrineby the preaching of Thomas Loe, a colleague of George Fox. The son ofAdmiral Sir William Penn, he was the ward of James II. , and afterwardsLord Proprietary and founder of Pennsylvania. Persecuted for his tenets, he was frequently imprisoned for his preaching and writings. In 1668 hewrote _Truth Exalted_ and _The Sandy Foundation_, and when imprisoned forthese, he wrote in jail his most famous work, _No Cross, no Crown_. 

After the expulsion of James II. , Penn was repeatedly tried and acquittedfor alleged attempts to aid the king in recovering his throne. Themalignity of Lord Macaulay has reproduced the charges, but reversed, mostunjustly, the acquittals. His record occupies a large space in Americanhistory, and he is reverenced for having established a great colony on thebasis of brotherly love. Poor and infirm, he died in 1718. 

ROBERT BARCLAY, who was born in 1648, is only mentioned in this connectionon account of his Latin apology for the Quakers, written in 1676, andtranslated since into English. 

JOHN BUNYAN. --Among the curious religious outcroppings of the civil war, none is more striking and singular than John Bunyan. He produced a work ofa decidedly polemical character, setting forth his peculiar doctrines, and--a remarkable feature in the course of English literature--a story sointeresting and vivid that it has met with universal perusal andadmiration. It is at the same time an allegory which has not its equal inthe language. Rhetoricians must always mention the Pilgrim's Progress asthe most splendid example of the allegory. 

Bunyan was born in Elston, Bedfordshire, in 1628. The son of a tinker, hischildhood and early manhood were idle and vicious. A sudden and sharprebuke from a woman not much better than himself, for his blasphemy, sethim to thinking, and he soon became a changed man. In 1653 he joined theBaptists, and soon, without preparation, began to preach. For this he wasthrown into jail, where he remained for more than twelve years. It wasduring this period that, with no other books than the Bible and Fox's Bookof Martyrs, he excogitated his allegory. In 1672 he was released throughthe influence of Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln. He immediately began topreach, and continued to do so until 1688, when he died from a feverbrought on by exposure. 

In his first work, _Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners_, he gives ushis own experience, --fearful dreams of early childhood, his sins andwarnings in the parliamentary army, with divers temptations, falls, andstruggles. 

Of his great work, _The Pilgrim's Progress_, it is hardly necessary tospeak at length. The story of the Pilgrim, Christian, is known to allEnglish readers, large and little; how he left the City of Destruction, and journeyed towards the Celestial City; of his thrilling adventures; ofthe men and things that retarded his progress, and of those who helped himforward. No one has ever discoursed with such vivid description andtouching pathos of the Land of Beulah, the Delectable Mountains, theChristian's inward rapture at the glimpse of the Celestial City, and hisfaith-sustaining descent into the Valley of the Shadow of Death! As a workof art, it is inimitable; as a book of religious instruction, it is moreto be admired for sentiment than for logic; its influence upon children israther that of a high-wrought romance than of godly precept. It is acurious reproduction, with a slight difference in cast, of the moralityplay of an earlier time. Mercy, Piety, Christian, Hopeful, Greatheart, Faithful, are representatives of Christian graces; and, as in themorality, the Prince of Darkness figures as Apollyon. 

Bunyan also wrote _The Holy War_, an allegory, which describes the contestbetween Immanuel and Diabolus for the conquest of the city of Mansoul. This does not by any means share the popularity of _The Pilgrim'sProgress_. The language of all his works is common and idiomatic, butprecise and strong: it is the vigorous English of an unpretending man, without the graces of the schools, but expressing his meaning withremarkable clearness. Like Milton's Paradise Lost, Bunyan's allegory hasbeen improperly placed by many persons on a par with the Bible as a bodyof Christian doctrine, and for instruction in righteousness. 

ROBERT SOUTH. --This eccentric clergyman was born in 1633. While king'sscholar at Dr. Busby's school in London, he led the devotions on the dayof King Charles' execution, and prayed for his majesty by name. At first aPuritan, he became a churchman, and took orders. He was learned andeloquent; but his sermons, which were greatly admired at the time, containmany oddities, forced conceits, and singular anti-climaxes, which gainedfor him the appellation of the witty churchman. 

He is accused of having been too subservient to Charles II. ; and he alsois considered as displaying not a little vindictiveness in his attacks onhis former colleagues the Puritans. He is only known to this age by hissermons, which are still published and read. 

OTHER THEOLOGICAL WRITERS. 

_Isaac Barrow_, 1630-1677: a man of varied learning, a traveller in theEast, and an oriental scholar. He was appointed Professor of Greek atCambridge, and also lectured on Mathematics. He was a profound thinker anda weighty writer, principally known by his courses of sermons on theDecalogue, the Creed, and the Sacraments. 

_Edward Stillingfleet_, 1635-1699: a clergyman of the Church of England, he was appointed Bishop of Worcester. Many of his sermons have beenpublished. Among his treatises is one entitled, _Irenicum, a Weapon-Salvefor the Churches Wounds, or the Divine Right of Particular Forms of ChurchGovernment Discussed and Examined_. "The argument, " says Bishop Burnet, "was managed with so much learning and skill that none of either side everundertook to answer it. " He also wrote _Origines Sacræ, or a RationalAccount of the Christian Faith_, and various treatises in favor ofProtestantism and against the Church of Rome. 

_William Sherlock_, 1678-1761: he was Dean of St. Paul's, and a writer ofnumerous doctrinal discourses, among which are those on _The Trinity_, andon _Death and the Future Judgment_. His son, Thomas Sherlock, D. D. , born1678, was also a distinguished theological writer. 

_Gilbert Burnet_, 1643-1715: he was very much of a politician, and playeda prominent part in the Revolution. He was made Bishop of Salisbury in1689. He is principally known by his _History of the Reformation_, writtenin the Protestant interest, and by his greater work, the _History of myOwn Times_. Not without a decided bias, this latter work is speciallyvaluable as the narration of an eye-witness. The history has beenvariously criticized for prejudice and inaccuracy; but it fills what wouldotherwise have been a great vacuum in English historical literature. 

_John Locke_, 1632-1704. In a history of philosophy, the name of thisdistinguished philosopher would occupy a prominent place, and his workswould require extended notice. But it is not amiss to introduce himbriefly in this connection, because his works all have an ethicalsignificance. He was educated as a physician, and occupied severalofficial positions, in which he suffered from the vicissitudes ofpolitical fortune, being once obliged to retreat from persecution toHolland. His _Letters on Toleration_ is a noble effort to secure thefreedom of conscience: his _Treatises on Civil Government_ were speciallydesigned to refute Sir John Filmer's _Patriarcha_, and to overthrow theprinciple of the _Jus Divinum_. His greatest work is an _Essay on theHuman Understanding_. This marks an era in English thought, and has donemuch to invite attention to the subject of intellectual philosophy. Hederives our ideas from the two sources, _sensation_ and _reflection_; andalthough many of his views have been superseded by the investigations oflater philosophers, it is due to him in some degree that their inquirieshave been possible. 

DIARISTS AND ANTIQUARIANS. 

_John Evelyn_, 1620-1705. Among the unintentional historians of England, none are of more value than those who have left detailed and gossipingdiaries of the times in which they lived: among these Evelyn occupies aprominent place. He was a gentleman of education and position, who, afterthe study of law, travelled extensively, and resided several years inFrance. He had varied accomplishments. His _Sylva_ is a discourse onforest trees and on the propagation of timber in his majesty's dominions. To this he afterwards added _Pomona_, or a treatise on fruit trees. He wasalso the author of an essay on _A Parallel of the Ancient Architecturewith the Modern_. But the work by which he is now best known is his_Diary_ from 1641 to 1705; it is a necessary companion to the study ofthe history of that period; and has been largely consulted by modernwriters in making up the historic record of the time. 

_Samuel Pepys_, 1637-1703. This famous diarist was the son of a Londontailor. He received a collegiate education, and became a connoisseur inliterature and art. Of a prying disposition, he saw all that he could ofthe varied political, literary, and social life of England; and hasrecorded what he saw in a diary so quaint, simple, and amusing, that ithas retained its popularity to the present day, and has greatly aided thehistorian both in facts and philosophy. He held an official position assecretary in the admiralty, the duties of which he discharged with greatsystem and skill. In addition to this _Diary_, we have also his_Correspondence_, published after his death, which is historically ofgreat importance. In both diary and correspondence he has the charm ofgreat _naïveté_, --as of a curious and gossiping observer, who neverdreamed that his writings would be made public. Men and women of socialstation are painted in pre-Raphaelite style, and figure before us withgreat truth and vividness. 

_Elias Ashmole_, 1617-1693. This antiquarian and virtuoso is principallyknown as the founder of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. He studied law, chemistry, and natural philosophy. Besides an edition of the manuscriptworks of certain English chemists, he wrote _Bennevennu_, --the descriptionof a Roman road mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus, --and a _Historyof the Order of the Garter_. His _Diary_ was published nearly a centuryafter his death, but is by no means equal in value to those of Evelyn andPepys. 

_John Aubrey_, 1627-1697: a man of curious mind, Aubrey investigated thesupernatural topics of the day, and presented them to the world in his_Miscellanies_. Among these subjects it is interesting to notice "blowsinvisible, " and "knockings, " which have been resuscitated in the presentday. He was a "perambulator, " and, in the words of one of his critics, "picked up information on the highway, and scattered it everywhere asauthentic. " His most valuable contribution to history is found in his_Letters Written by Eminent Persons in the 17th and 18th Centuries, withLives of Eminent Men_. The searcher for authentic material must carefullyscrutinize Aubrey's _facts_; but, with much that is doubtful, valuableinformation may be obtained from his pages. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE DRAMA OF THE RESTORATION. 

 The License of the Age. Dryden. Wycherley. Congreve. Vanbrugh. Farquhar. Etherege. Tragedy. Otway. Rowe. Lee. Southern. 

THE LICENSE OF THE AGE. 

There is no portion of the literature of this period which so fullyrepresents and explains the social history of the age as the drama. Withthe restoration of Charles it returned to England, after a time in whichthe chief faults had been too great rigor in morals. The theatres had beenclosed, all amusements checked, and even poetry and the fine arts placedunder a ban. In the reign of Charles I. , Prynne had written his _HistrioMastix_, or Scourge of the Stage, in which he not only denounced all stageplays, but music and dancing; and also declaimed against hunting, festivaldays, the celebration of Christmas, and Maypoles. For this he was indictedin the Star Chamber for libel, and was sentenced to stand in the pillory, to lose his ears, to pay the king a fine of £5000, and to be imprisonedfor life. For his attack there was much excuse in the license of theformer period; but when puritanism, in its turn, was brought under thethree spears, the drama was to come back tenfold more injurious and moreimmoral than before. 

From the stern and gloomy morals of the Commonwealth we now turn to thedebaucheries of the court, --from cropped heads and dark cloaks to plumesand velvet, gold lace and embroidery, --to the varied fashions of everykind for which Paris has always been renowned, and which Charles broughtback with him from his exile;--from prudish morals to indiscriminatedebauchery; from the exercisings of brewers' clerks, the expounding oftailors, the catechizing of watermen, to the stage, which was now loudlypetitioned to supply amusement and novelty. Macaulay justly says: "Therestraints of that gloomy time were such as would have been impatientlyborne, if imposed by men who were universally believed to be saints; theserestraints became altogether insupportable when they were known to be keptup for the profit of hypocrites! It is quite certain that if the royalfamily had never returned, there would have been a great relaxation ofmanners. " It is equally certain, let us add, that morals would not havebeen correspondingly relaxed. The revulsion was terrible. In no period ofEnglish history was society ever so grossly immoral; and the drama, whichwe now come to consider, displays this immorality and license with aperfect delineation. 

The English people had always been fond of the drama in all its forms, andwere ready to receive it even contaminated as it was by the licentiousspirit of the time. An illiterate and ignorant people cannot think forthemselves; they act upon the precepts and example of those above them inknowledge and social station: thus it is that a dissolute monarch and asubservient aristocracy corrupt the masses. 

DRYDEN'S PLAYS. --Although Dryden's reputation is based on his other poems, and although his dramas have conduced scarcely at all to his fame, he didplay a principal part in this department of literary work. Dryden madehaste to answer the call, and his venal muse wrote to please the town. Thenames of many of his plays and personages are foreign; but their vitalityis purely English. Of his first play, _The Duke of Guise_, which wasunsuccessful, he tells us: "I undertook this as the fairest way which theAct of Indemnity had left us, as setting forth the rise of the greatrebellion, and of exposing the villanies of it upon the stage, toprecaution posterity against the like errors;"--a rebellion themaster-spirit of which he had eulogized upon his bier!

His second play, _The Wild Gallant_, may be judged by the fact that it wonfor him the favor of Charles II. And of his mistress, the Duchess ofCleveland. Pepys saw it "well acted;" but says, "It hath little good init. " It is not our purpose to give a list of Dryden's plays; besides theiroccasional lewdness, they are very far inferior to his poems, and are nowrarely read except by the historical student. They paid him in readymoney, and he cannot ask payment from posterity in fame. 

On the 13th of January, 1667-8, (we are told by Pepys, ) the ladies and theDuke of Monmouth acted _The Indian Emperour_ at court. 

The same chronicler says: _The Maiden Queene_ was "mightily commended forthe regularity of it, and the strain and wit;" but of the _Ladys à laMode_ he says it was "so mean a thing" that, when it was announced for thenext night, the pit "fell a laughing, because the house was not a quarterfull. "

But Dryden, as a playwright, does not enjoy the infamous honor of a highrank among his fellow-dramatists. The proper representations of the dramain that age were, in Comedy, Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar;and, in Tragedy, Otway, Rowe, and Lee. 

WYCHERLEY. --Of the comedists of this period, where all were evil, WilliamWycherley was the worst. In his four plays, _Love in a Wood_, _TheGentleman Dancing-Master_, _The Country Wife_, and _The Plain Dealer_, heoutrages all decency, ridicules honesty and virtue, and makes vice alwaystriumphant. As a young man, profligate with pen and in his life, he was awicked old man; for, when sixty-four years of age, he published amiscellany of verses of which Macaulay says: "The style and versificationare beneath criticism: the morals are those of Rochester. " And yet it issad to be obliged to say that his characters pleased the age, because suchmen and women really lived then, and acted just as he describes them. Hedepicted vice to applaud and not to punish it. Wycherley was born in 1640, and died in 1715. 

CONGREVE. --William Congreve, who is of the same school of morals, is farsuperior as a writer; indeed, were one name to be selected in illustrationof our subject, it would be his. He was born in 1666, and, after beingeducated at Trinity College, Dublin, was a student at the Middle Temple. His first play, _The Old Bachelor_, produced in his twenty-first year, wasa great success, and won for him the patronage of Lord Halifax. His next, _The Double Dealer_, caused Dryden to proclaim him the equal ofShakspeare! Perhaps his most famous comedy is _Love for Love_, which isbesides an excellent index to the morality of the age. The author wasquoted and caressed; Pope dedicated to him his Translation of the Iliad;and Voltaire considered him the most successful English writer of comedy. His merit consists in some degree of originality, and in the liveliness ofhis colloquies. His wit is brilliant and flashing, but, in the words ofThackeray, the world to him "seems to have had no moral at all. "

How much he owed to the French school, and especially to Molière, may bejudged from the fact that a whole scene in _Love for Love_ is borrowedfrom the _Don Juan_ of Molière. It is that in which Trapland comes tocollect his debt from Valentine Legend. Readers of Molière will recall thescene between Don Juan, Sganarelle and M. Dimanche, which is here, withchange of names, taken almost word for word. His men are gallants neitherfrom love or passion, but from the custom of the age, of which it is said, "it would break Mr. Tattle's heart to think anybody else should bebeforehand with him;" and Mr. Tattle was the type of a thousand finegentlemen in the best English society of that day. 

His only tragedy, _The Mourning Bride_, although far below those ofShakspeare, is the best of that age; and Dr. Johnson says he would go toit to find the most poetical paragraph in the range of English poetry. Congreve died in 1729, leaving his gains to the Duchess of Marlborough, who cherished his memory in a very original fashion. She had a statue ofhim in ivory, which went by clockwork, and was daily seated at her table;and another wax-doll imitation, whose feet she caused to be blistered andanointed by physicians, as the poet's gouty extremities had been. 

Congreve was not ashamed to vindicate the drama, licentious as it was. Inthe year 1698, Jeremy Collier, a distinguished nonjuring clergyman, published _A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the EnglishStage_; a very vigorous and severe criticism, containing a great deal ofwholesome but bitter truth. Congreve came to the defence of the stage, andhis example was followed by his brother dramatists. But Collier was toostrong for his enemies, and the defences were very weak. There yet existedin England that leaven of purity which has steadily since been making itsinfluence felt. 

VANBRUGH. --Sir John Vanbrugh (born in 1666, died in 1726) was an architectas well as a dramatist, but not great in either rôle. His principal dramasare _The Provoked Wife_, _The City Wives' Confederacy_, and _The Journeyto London_ (finished by Colley Cibber). His personages are vicious andlewd, but quite real; and his wit is constant and flowing. _The ProvokedWife_ is so licentious a play that it is supposed Vanbrugh afterwardsconceived and began his _Provoked Husband_ to make some amends for it. This latter play, however, he did not complete: it was finished after hisdeath by Cibber, who says in the Prologue:

 This play took birth from principles of truth, To make amends for errors past of youth. 

 * * * * *

 Though vice is natural, 't was never meant The stage should show it but for punishment. Warm with such thoughts, his muse once more took flame, Resolved to bring licentious life to shame. 

If Vanbrugh was not born in France, it is certain that he spent many yearsthere, and there acquired the taste and handling of the comic drama, whichthen had its halcyon days under Molière. His dialogue is very spirited, and his humor is greater than that of Congreve, who, however, excelled himin wit. 

The principal architectural efforts of Vanbrugh were the design for CastleHoward, and the palace of Blenheim, built for Marlborough by the Englishnation, both of which are greater titles to enduring reputation than anyof his plays. 

FARQUHAR. --George Farquhar was born in Londonderry, in 1678, and began hisstudies at Trinity College, Dublin, but was soon stage-struck, and becamean actor. Not long after, he was commissioned in the army, and began towrite plays in the style and moral tone of the age. Among his ninecomedies, those which present that tone best are his _Love in a Bottle_, _The Constant Couple_, _The Recruiting Officer_, and _The Beaux'Stratagem_. All his productions were hastily written, but met with greatsuccess from their gayety and clever plots, especially the last twomentioned, which are not, besides, so immoral as the others, and which areyet acted upon the British stage. 

ETHEREGE. --Sir George Etherege, a coxcomb and a diplomatist, was born in1636, and died in 1694. His plays are, equally with the others mentioned, marked by the licentiousness of the age, which is rendered more insidiousby their elegance. Among them are _The Comical Revenge, or Love in aTub_, and _The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter_. 

TRAGEDY. 

The domain of tragedy, although perhaps not so attractive to the Englishpeople as comedy, was still sufficiently so to invite the attention of theliterati. The excitement which is produced by exaggerated scenes ofdistress and death has always had a charm for the multitude; and althoughthe principal tragedies of this period are based upon heroic stories, manyof them of classic origin, the genius of the writer displayed itself inapplying these to his own times, and in introducing that "touch of nature"which "makes the whole world kin. " Human sympathy is based upon acommunity of suffering, and the sorrows of one age are similar to those ofanother. Besides, tragedy served, in the period of which we are speaking, to give variety and contrast to what would otherwise have been the gaymonotony of the comic muse. 

OTWAY. --The first writer to be mentioned in this field, is Thomas Otway(born in 1651, died in 1685). He led an irregular and wretched life, anddied, it is said, from being choked by a roll of bread which, after greatwant, he was eating too ravenously. 

His style is extravagant, his pathos too exacting, and his delineation ofthe passions sensational and overwrought. He produced in his earliercareer _Alcibiades_ and _Don Carlos_, and, later, _The Orphan_, and _TheSoldier's Fortune_. But the piece by which his fame was secured is _VenicePreserved_, which, based upon history, is fictional in its details. Theoriginal story is found in the Abbé de St. Real's _Histoire de laConjuration du Marquis de Bedamar_, or the account of a Spanish conspiracyin which the marquis, who was ambassador, took part. It is still put uponthe stage, with the omission, however, of the licentious comic portionsfound in the original play. 

NICHOLAS ROWE, who was born in 1673, a man of fortune and a governmentofficial, produced seven tragedies, of which _The Fair Penitent_, _LadyJane Grey_, and _Jane Shore_ are the best. His description of the lover, in the first, has become a current phrase: "That haughty, gallant, gayLothario, "--the prototype of false lovers since. The plots are too broad, but the moral of these tragedies is in most cases good. 

In _Jane Shore_, he has followed the history of the royal mistress, andhas given a moral lesson of great efficacy. 

NATHANIEL LEE, 1657-1692: was a man of dissolute life, for some timeinsane, and met his death in a drunken brawl. Of his ten tragedies, thebest are _The Rival Queens_, and _Theodosius, or The Force of Love_. Therival queens of Alexander the Great--Roxana and Statira--figure in thefirst, which is still presented upon the stage. It has been called, withjust critical point, "A great and glorious flight of a bold but frenziedimagination, having as much absurdity as sublimity, and as muchextravagance as passion; the poet, the genius, the scholar are everywherevisible. "

THOMAS SOUTHERN, 1659-1746: wrote _Isabella, or The Fatal Marriage_, and_Oronooko_. In the latter, although yielding to the corrupt taste of thetime in his comic parts, he causes his captive Indian prince to teach thatperiod a lesson by his pure and noble love for Imoinda. Oronooko is aprince taken by the English at Surinam and carried captive to England. 

These writers are the best representatives of those who in tragedy andcomedy form the staple of that age. Their models were copied in succeedingyears; but, with the expulsion of the Stuarts, morals were somewhatmended; and while light, gay, and witty productions for the stage werestill in demand, the extreme licentiousness was repudiated by the public;and the plays of Cibber, Cumberland, Colman, and Sheridan, reflectingthese better tastes, are free from much of the pollution to which we havereferred. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

POPE, AND THE ARTIFICIAL SCHOOL. 

 Contemporary History. Birth and Early Life. Essay on Criticism. Rape of the Lock. The Messiah. The Iliad. Value of the Translation. The Odyssey. Essay on Man. The Artificial School. Estimate of Pope. Other Writers. 

Alexander Pope is at once one of the greatest names in English literatureand one of the most remarkable illustrations of the fact that theliterature is the interpreter of English history. He was also a man ofsingular individuality, and may, in some respects, be considered a _lususnaturæ_ among the literary men of his day. 

CONTEMPORARY HISTORY. --He was born in London on the 21st of May, 1688, theyear which witnessed the second and final expulsion of the Stuarts, indirect line, and the accession of a younger branch in the persons of Maryand her husband, William of Orange. Pope comes upon the literary scenewith the new order of political affairs. A dynasty had been overthrown, and the power of the parliament had been established; new charters ofright had secured the people from kingly oppression; but there was still astrong element of opposition and sedition in the Jacobite party, which hadby no means abandoned the hope of restoring the former rule. They werekept in check, indeed, during the reign of William and Mary, but theybecame bolder upon the accession of Queen Anne. They hoped to find theirefforts facilitated by the fact that she was childless; and they evenasserted that upon her death-bed she had favored the succession of thepretender, whom they called James III. 

In 1715, the year after the accession of George I. , the electoral princeof Hanover, --whose grandmother was the daughter of James I. , --they brokeout into open rebellion. The pretender landed in Scotland, and made anabortive attempt to recover the throne. The nation was kept in a state ofexcitement and turmoil until the disaster of Culloden, and the finaldefeat of Charles Edward, the young pretender, in 1745, one year after thedeath of Pope. 

These historical facts had a direct influence upon English society: thecountry was divided into factions; and political conflicts sharpened thewits and gave vigor to the conduct of men in all ranks. Pope was aninterpreter of his age, in politics, in general culture, and in socialmanners and morals. Thus he was a politician among the statesmenBolingbroke, Buckingham, Oxford, Sunderland, Halifax, Harley, andMarlborough. His _Essay on Criticism_ presents to us the artificial tasteand technical rules which were established as a standard in literature. His _Essay on Man_, his _Moral Epistles_, and his _Universal Prayer_ arean index to the semi-Christian, semi-Grecian ethics of an age too selfishto be orthodox, and too progressive to be intolerant. His _Rape of theLock_ is a striking picture of social life, sketched by the hand of agentle satire. His translations of Homer, and their great success, aresignificant of a more extended taste for scholarship; not attended, however, with many incentives to originality of production. The nobleswere still the patrons of literature, and they fancied old things whichwere grand, in new and gaudy English dresses. The age was also marked byrapid and uniform progress in the English language. The sonorous, butcumbrous English of Milton had been greatly improved by Dryden; and wehave seen, also, that the terse and somewhat crude diction of Dryden'searlier works had been polished and rendered more harmonious in his laterpoems. 

This harmony of language seemed to Pope and to his patrons the chief aimof the poet, and to make it still more tuneful and melodious was thepurpose of his life. 

BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. --Pope was the son of a respectable linen-draper, whohad achieved a competency and retired to enjoy it. The mother of the poetmust have been a good one, to have retained the ardent and eulogisticaffection of her son to the close of her life, as she did. This attachmentis a marked feature in his biography, and at last finds vent in herepitaph, in which he calls her "_mater optima, mulierum amantissima_. "

Pope was a sickly, dwarfed, precocious child. His early studies in Latinand Greek were conducted by priests of the Roman Catholic Church, to whichhis parents belonged; but he soon took his education into his own hands. Alone and unaided he pursued his classical studies, and made good progressin French and German. 

Of his early rhyming powers he says:

 "I lisped in numbers, for the numbers came. "

At the age of twelve, he was taken to Will's Coffee-house, to see thegreat Dryden, upon whom, as a model, he had already determined to fashionhimself. 

His first efforts were translations. He made English versions of the firstbook of the _Thebais_ of Statius; several of the stories of Chaucer, andone of Ovid's Epistles, all of which were produced before he was fifteen. 

ESSAY ON CRITICISM. --He was not quite twenty-one when he wrote his _Essayon Criticism_, in which he lays down the canons of just criticism, and thecauses which prevent it. In illustration, he attacks the multitude ofcritics of that day, and is particularly harsh in his handling of a fewamong them. He gained a name by this excellent poem, but he made manyenemies, and among them one John Dennis, whom he had satirized under thename of Appius. Dennis was his life-long foe. 

Perhaps there is no better proof of the lasting and deserved popularity ofthis Essay, than the numerous quotations from it, not only in works onrhetoric and literary criticism, but in our ordinary intercourse with men. Couplets and lines have become household words wherever the Englishlanguage is spoken. How often do we hear the sciolist condemned in thesewords:

 A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or touch not the Pierian spring?

Irreverence and rash speculation are satirized thus:

 Nay, fly to altars; there they'll talk you dead, For fools rush in where angels fear to tread. 

We may waive a special notice of his _Pastorals_, which, like those ofDryden, are but clever imitations of Theocritus and anachronisms of theAlexandrian period. Of their merits, we may judge from his own words. "Ifthey have any merit, it is to be attributed to some good old authors, whose works as I had leisure to study, so I hope I have not wanted care toimitate. "

RAPE OF THE LOCK. --The poem which displays most originality of inventionis the _Rape of the Lock_. It is, perhaps, the best and most charmingspecimen of the mock-heroic to be found in English; and it is speciallydeserving of attention, because it depicts the social life of the periodin one of its principal phases. Miss Arabella Fermor, one of the reigningbeauties of London society, while on a pleasure party on the Thames, had alock of her hair surreptitiously cut off by Lord Petre. Although it wasdesigned as a joke, the belle was very angry; and Pope, who was a friendof both persons, wrote this poem to assuage her wrath and to reconcilethem. It has all the system and construction of an epic. The poetdescribes, with becoming delicacy, the toilet of the lady, at which she isattended by obsequious sylphs. 

The party embark upon the river, and the fair lady is described in thesplendor of her charms:

 This nymph, to the destruction of mankind, Nourished two locks, which graceful hung behind In equal curls, and well conspired to deck, With shining ringlets, the smooth, ivory neck. 

 * * * * *

 Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare. And beauty draws us by a single hair. 

Surrounding sylphs protect the beauty; and one to whom the lock has beengiven in charge, flutters unfortunately too near, and is clipped in two bythe scissors that cut the lock. It is a rather extravagant conclusion, even in a mock-heroic poem, that when the strife was greatest to restorethe lock, it flew upward:

 A sudden star, it shot through liquid air, And drew behind a radiant trail of hair, and thus, and always, it

 Adds new glory to the shining sphere. 

With these simple and meagre materials, Pope has constructed an harmoniouspoem in which the sylphs, gnomes, and other sprites of the Rosicrucianphilosophy find appropriate place and service. It failed in its principalpurpose of reconciliation, but it has given us the best mock-heroic poemin the language. As might have been expected, it called forth bittercriticisms from Dennis; and there were not wanting those who saw in it apolitical significance. Pope's pleasantry was aroused at this, and hepublished _A Key to the Lock_, in which he further mystifies these sagereaders: Belinda becomes Great Britain; the Baron is the Earl of Oxford;and Thalestris is the Duchess of Marlborough. 

THE MESSIAH. --In 1712 there appeared in one of the numbers of _TheSpectator_, his _Messiah, a Sacred Eclogue_, written with the purpose ofharmonizing the prophecy of Isaiah and the singular oracles of the Pollio, or Fourth Eclogue of Virgil. Elevated in thought and grand in diction, theMessiah has kept its hold upon public favor ever since, and portions of itare used as hymns in general worship. Among these will be recognized thatof which the opening lines are:

 Rise, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rise; Exalt thy towering head and lift thine eyes. 

In 1713 he published a poem on _Windsor Forest_, and an _Ode on St. Cecilia's Day_, in imitation of Dryden. He also furnished the beautifulprologue to Addison's Cato. 

TRANSLATION OF THE ILIAD. --He now proposed to himself a task which was togive him more reputation and far greater emolument than anything he hadyet accomplished--a translation of the Iliad of Homer. This was a greatdesideratum, and men of all parties conspired to encourage and reward him. Chapman's Homer, excellent as it was, was not in a popular measure, andwas known only to scholars. 

In the execution of this project, Pope labored for six years--writing byday and dreaming of his work at night; translating thirty or forty linesbefore rising in the morning, and jotting down portions even while on ajourney. Pope's polished pentameters, when read, are very unlike thefull-voiced hexameters of Homer; but the errors in the translation arecomparatively few and unimportant, and his own poetry is in his best vein. The poem was published by subscription, and was a great pecuniary success. This was in part due to the blunt importunity of Dean Swift, who said:"The author shall not begin to print until I have a thousand guineas forhim. " Parnell, one of the most accomplished Greek scholars of the day, wrote a life of Homer, to be prefixed to the work; and many of thecritical notes were written by Broome, who had translated the Iliad intoEnglish prose. Pope was not without poetical rivals. Tickell produced atranslation of the first book of the Iliad, which was certainly revised, and many thought partly written, by Addison. A coolness already existingbetween Pope and Addison was increased by this circumstance, which soonled to an open rupture between them. The public, however, favored Pope'sversion, while a few of the _dilettanti_ joined Addison in preferringTickell's. 

The pecuniary results of Pope's labors were particularly gratifying. Thework was published in six quarto volumes, and had more than six hundredsubscribers, at six guineas a copy: the amount realized by Pope on thefirst and subsequent issues was upwards of five thousand pounds--anunprecedented payment of bookseller to author in that day. 

VALUE OF THE TRANSLATION. --This work, in spite of the criticism of exactscholars, has retained its popularity to the present time. Chapman's Homerhas been already referred to. Since the days of Pope numerous authors havetried their hands upon Homer, translating the whole or a part. Among theseis a very fine poem by Cowper, in blank verse, which is praised by thecritics, but little read. Lord Derby's translation is distinguished forits prosaic accuracy. The recent version of our venerable poet, Wm. C. Bryant, is acknowledged to be at once scholarly, accurate, and harmonious, and will be of permanent value and reputation. But the exquisite tinklingof Pope's lines, the pleasant refrain they leave in the memory, like thechiming of silver bells, will cause them to last, with undiminished favor, unaffected by more correct rivals, as long as the language itself. "A verypretty poem, Mr. Pope, " said the great Bentley; "but pray do not call itHomer. " Despite this criticism of the Greek scholar, the world has takenit for Homer, and knows Homer almost solely through this charming medium. 

The Iliad was issued in successive years, the last two volumes appearingin 1720. Of course it was savagely attacked by Dennis; but Pope had wonmore than he had hoped for, and might laugh at his enemies. 

With the means he had inherited, increased by the sale of his poem, Popeleased a villa on the Thames, at Twickenham, which he fitted up as aresidence for life. He laid out the grounds, built a grotto, and made hisvilla a famous spot. 

Here he was smitten by the masculine charms of the gifted Lady MaryWortley Montagu, who figures in many of his verses, and particularly inthe closing lines of the _Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard_. It was a singularalliance, destined to a speedy rupture. On her return from Turkey, in1718, where her husband had been the English ambassador, she took a homenear Pope's villa, and, at his request, sat for her portrait. When, later, they became estranged, she laughed at the poet, and his coldness turnedinto hatred. 

THE ODYSSEY. --The success of his version of the Iliad led to histranslation of the Odyssey; but this he did with the collaboration ofFenton and Broome, the former writing four and the latter six books. Thevolumes appeared successively in 1725-6, and there was an appendixcontaining the _Batrachomiomachia_, or Battle of the Frogs and Mice, translated by Parnell. For this work Pope received the lion's share ofprofits, his co-laborers being paid only £800. 

Among his miscellaneous works must be mentioned portions of _MartinusScriblerus_. One of these, _Peri Bathous_, or _Art of Sinking in Poetry_, was the germ of The Dunciad. 

Like Dryden, he was attacked by the _soi-disant_ poets of the day, andretorted in similar style and taste. In imitation of Dryden's_MacFlecknoe_, he wrote _The Dunciad_, or epic of the Dunces, in the firstedition of which Theobald was promoted to the vacant throne. It roused agreat storm. Authors besieged the publisher to hinder him from publishingit, while booksellers and agents were doing all in their power to procureit. In a later edition a new book was added, deposing Theobald andelevating Colley Cibber to the throne of Dulness. This was ill-advised, asthe ridicule, which was justly applied to Theobald, is not applicable toCibber. 

ESSAY ON MAN. --The intercourse of the poet with the gifted but scepticalLord Bolingbroke is apparent in his _Essay on Man_, in which, with muchthat is orthodox and excellent, the principles and influence of hislordship are readily discerned. The first part appeared in 1732, and thesecond some years later. The opinion is no longer held that Bolingbrokewrote any part of the poem; he has only infected it. It is one of Pope'sbest poems in versification and diction, and abounds with pithy proverbialsayings, which the English world has been using ever since as currentmoney in conversational barter. Among many that might be selected, thefollowing are well known:

 All are but parts of one stupendous whole Whose body nature is, and God the soul. 

 Know thou thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man. 

 A wit's a feather, and a chief's a rod; An honest man's the noblest work of God. 

Among the historical teachings of Pope's works and career, and also amongthe curiosities of literature, must be noticed the publication of Pope'sletters, by Curll the bookseller, without the poet's permission. They wereprincipally letters to Henry Cromwell, Wycherley, Congreve, Steele, Addison, and Swift. There were not wanting those who believed that it wasa trick of the poet himself to increase his notoriety; but such anopinion is hardly warranted. These letters form a valuable chapter in thesocial and literary history of the period. 

POPE'S DEATH AND CHARACTER. --On the 30th of May, 1744, Pope passed away, after a long illness, during which he said he was "dying of a hundred goodsymptoms. " Indeed, so frail and weak had he always been, that it was awonder he lived so long. His weakness of body seems to have acted upon hisstrong mind, which must account for much that is satirical and spleneticin his writings. Very short, thin, and ill-shaped, his person wanted thecompactness necessary to stand alone, until it was encased in stays. Heneeded a high chair at table, such as children use; but he was an epicure, and a fastidious one; and despite his infirmities, his bright, intellectual eye and his courtly manners caused him to be noted quite asmuch as his defects. 

THE ARTIFICIAL SCHOOL. --Pope has been set forth as the head of the_Artificial School_. This is, perhaps, rather a convenient than an exactdesignation. He had little of original genius, but was an apt imitator andreproducer--what in painting would be an excellent copyist. His greatestpraise, however, is that he reduced to system what had gone before him;his poems present in themselves an art of poetry, with technical canonsand illustrations, which were long after servilely obeyed, and theinfluence of which is still felt to-day. 

And this artificial school was in the main due to the artificial characterof the age. Nature seemed to have lost her charms; pastorals were littlemore than private theatricals, enacted with straw hats and shepherd'scrook in drawing-rooms or on close-clipped lawns. Culture was confined tocourt and town, and poets found little inducement to consult the heart orto woo nature, but wrote what would please the town or court. This tastegave character to the technical standards, to which Pope, more than anyother writer, gave system and coherence. Most of the literati were men ofthe town; many were fine gentlemen with a political bias; and thus it isthat the school of poets of which Pope is the unchallenged head, has beenknown as the Artificial School. 

In the passage of time, and with the increase of literature, the realmerits of Pope were for some time neglected, or misrepresented. The worldis beginning to discern and recognize these again. Learned, industrious, self-reliant, controversial, and, above all, harmonious, instead of givingvent to the highest fancies in simple language, he has treated thecommon-place--that which is of universal interest--in melodious andsplendid diction. But, above all, he stands as the representative of hisage: a wit among the comic dramatists who were going out and the essayistswho were coming in; a man of the world with Lady Mary and the gay partieson the Thames; a polemic, who dealt keen thrusts and who liked to see themrankle, and who yet writhed in agony when the _riposte_ came; a RomanCatholic in faith and a latitudinarian in speech;--such was Pope as a typeof that world in which he lived. 

A poet of the first rank he was not; he invented nothing; but heestablished the canons of poetry, attuned to exquisite harmony the rhymedcouplet which Dryden had made so powerful an instrument, improved thelanguage, discerned and reconnected the discordant parts of literature;and thus it is that he towers above all the poets of his age, and has senthis influence through those that followed, even to the present day. 

OTHER WRITERS OF THE PERIOD. 

_Matthew Prior_, 1664-1721: in his early youth he was a waiter in hisuncle's tap-room, but, surmounting all difficulties, he rose to be adistinguished poet and diplomatist. He was an envoy to France, where hewas noted for his wit and ready repartee. His love songs are somewhatimmoral, but exquisitely melodious. His chief poems are: _Alma_, aphilosophic piece in the vein of Hudibras; _Solomon_, a Scripture poem;and, the best of all, _The City and Country Mouse_, a parody on Dryden's_Hind and Panther_, which he wrote in conjunction with Mr. Montague. Hewas imprisoned by the Whigs in 1715, and lost all his fortune. He wasdistinguished by having Dr. Johnson as his biographer, in the _Lives ofthe Poets_. 

_John Arbuthnot_, 1667-1735: born in Scotland. He was learned, witty, andamiable. Eminent in medicine, he was physician to the court of Queen Anne. He is chiefly known in literature as the companion of Pope and Swift, andas the writer with them of papers in the Martinus Scriblerus Club, whichwas founded in 1714, and of which Pope, Gay, Swift, Arbuthnot, Harvey, Atterbury, and others, were the principal members. Arbuthnot wrote a_History of John Bull_, which was designed to render the war then carriedon by Marlborough unpopular, and certainly conduced to that end. 

_John Gay_, 1688-1732: he was of humble origin, but rose by his talents, and figured at court. He wrote several dramas in a mock-tragic vein. Amongthese are _What D'ye Call It?_ and _Three Hours after Marriage_; but thatwhich gave him permanent reputation is his _Beggar's Opera_, of which thehero is a highwayman, and the characters are prostitutes and Newgategentry. It is interspersed with gay and lyrical songs, and was renderedparticularly effective by the fine acting of Miss Elizabeth Fenton, in thepart of _Polly_. The _Shepherd's Week_, a pastoral, contains more realdelineations of rural life than any other poem of the period. Anothercurious piece is entitled, _Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets ofLondon_. 

_Thomas Parnell_, 1679-1718: he was the author of numerous poems, amongwhich the only one which has retained popular favor is _The Hermit_, atouching poem founded upon an older story. He wrote the life of Homerprefixed to Pope's translation; but it was very much altered by Pope. 

_Thomas Tickell_, 1686-1740: particularly known as the friend of Addison. He wrote a translation of the First Book of Homer's Iliad, which wascorrected by Addison, and contributed several papers to _The Spectator_. But he is best known by his _Elegy_ upon Addison, which Dr. Johnson callsa very "elegant funeral poem. "

_Isaac Watts_, 1674-1765: this great writer of hymns was born atSouthampton, and became one of the most eminent of the dissentingministers of England. He is principally known by his metrical versions ofthe Psalms, and by a great number of original hymns, which have beengenerally used by all denominations of Christians since. He also producedmany hymns for children, which have become familiar as household words. Hehad a lyrical ear, and an easy, flowing diction, but is sometimes carelessin his versification and incorrect in his theology. During the greaterpart of his life the honored guest of Sir Thomas Abney, he devoted himselfto literature. Besides many sermons, he produced a treatise on _The FirstPrinciples of Geology and Astronomy_; a work on _Logic, or the Right Useof the Reason in the Inquiry after Truth_; and _A Supplement on theImprovement of the Mind_. These latter have been superseded as text-booksby later and more correct inquiry. 

_Edward Young_, 1681-1765: in his younger days he sought preferment atcourt, but being disappointed in his aspirations, he took orders in theChurch, and led a retired life. He published a satire entitled, _The Loveof Fame, the Universal Passion_, which was quite successful. But his chiefwork, which for a long time was classed with the highest poetic efforts, is the _Night Thoughts_, a series of meditations, during nine nights, onLife, Death, and Immortality. The style is somewhat pompous, the imagerystriking, but frequently unnatural; the occasional descriptions majesticand vivid; and the effect of the whole is grand, gloomy, and peculiar. Itis full of apothegms, which have been much quoted; and some of his linesand phrases are very familiar to all. 

He wrote papers on many topics, and among his tragedies the best known isthat entitled _The Revenge_. Very popular in his own day, Young has beensteadily declining in public favor, partly on account of the superiorclaims of modern writers, and partly because of the morbid and gloomyviews he has taken of human nature. His solemn admonitions throng upon thereader like phantoms, and cause him to desire more cheerful company. Asketch of the life of Young may be found in Dr. Johnson's _Lives of thePoets_. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

ADDISON, AND THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. 

 The Character of the Age. Queen Anne. Whigs and Tories. George I. Addison--The Campaign. Sir Roger de Coverley. The Club. Addison's Hymns. Person and Literary Character. 

THE CHARACTER OF THE AGE. 

To cater further to the Artificial Age, the literary cravings of which farexceeded those of any former period, there sprang up a school ofEssayists, most of whom were also poets, dramatists, and politicians. Among these Addison, Steele, and Swift stand pre-eminent. Each of them wasa man of distinct and interesting personality. Two of them--Addison andSwift--presented such a remarkable contrast, that it has been usual forwriters on this period of English Literature to bring them together asfoils to each other. This has led to injustice towards Swift; they shouldbe placed in juxtaposition because they are of the same period, andbecause of their joint efforts in the literary development of the age. Theperiod is distinctly marked. We speak as currently of the wits and theessayists of Queen Anne's reign as we do of the authors of the Elizabethanage. 

A glance at contemporary history will give us an intelligent clue to ourliterary inquiries, and cause us to observe the historical character ofthe literature. 

To a casual observer, the reign of Queen Anne seems particularlyuntroubled and prosperous. English history calls it the time of "GoodQueen Anne;" and it is referred to with great unction by the _laudatortemporis acti_, in unjust comparison with the period which has sinceintervened, as well as with that which preceded it. 

QUEEN ANNE. --The queen was a Protestant, as opposed to the Romanists andJacobites; a faithful wife, and a tender mother in her memory of severalchildren who died young. She was merciful, pure, and gracious to hersubjects. Her reign was tolerant. There was plenty at home; rebellion andcivil war were at least latent. Abroad, England was greatly distinguishedby the victories of Marlborough and Eugene. But to one who looks throughthis veil of prosperity, a curious history is unfolded. The fires offaction were scarcely smouldering. It was the transition period betweenthe expiring dynasty of the direct line of Stuarts and the coming of theHanoverian house. Women took part in politics; sermons like that ofSacheverell against the dissenters and the government were thundered fromthe pulpit. Volcanic fires were at work; the low rumblings of anearthquake were heard from time to time, and gave constant cause ofconcern to the queen and her statesmen. Men of rank conspired against eachother; the moral license of former reigns seems to have been forgotten inpolitical intrigue. When James II. Had been driven out in 1688, theEnglish conscience compromised on the score of the divine right of kings, by taking his daughter Mary and her husband as joint monarchs. To do this, they affected to call the king's son by his second wife, born in thatyear, a pretender. It was said that he was the child of another woman, andhad been brought to the queen's bedside in a warming-pan, that James mightbe able to present, thus fraudulently, a Roman Catholic heir to thethrone. In this they did the king injustice, and greater injustice to thequeen, Maria de Modena, a pleasing and innocent woman, who had, by hervirtues and personal popularity alone, kept the king on his throne, inspite of his pernicious measures. 

When the dynasty was overthrown, the parliament had presented to Williamand Mary _A Bill of Rights_, in which the people's grievances were setforth, and their rights enumerated and insisted upon; and this wasaccepted by the monarchs as a condition of their tenure. 

Mary died in 1695, and when William followed her, in 1702, Anne, thesecond daughter of James, ascended the throne. Had she refused thesuccession, there would have been a furious war between the Jacobites andthe Hanoverians. In 1714, Anne died childless, but her reign had bridgedthe chasm between the experiment of William and Mary and the house ofHanover. In default of direct heirs to Queen Anne, the succession was inthis Hanoverian house; represented in the person of the Electress Sophia, the granddaughter of James I. , through his daughter, Elizabeth of Bohemia. But this lineage of blood had lost all English affinities and sympathies. 

Meanwhile, the child born to James II. , in 1688, had grown to be a man, and stood ready, on the death of Queen Anne, to re-affirm his claim to thethrone. It was said that, although, on account of the plottings of theJacobites, a price had been put upon his head, the queen herself wishedhim to succeed, and had expressed scruples about her own right to reign. She greatly disliked the family of Hanover, and while she was on herdeath-bed, the pretender had been brought to England, in the hope that shewould declare him her successor. The elements of discord assertedthemselves still more strongly. Whigs and Tories in politics, Romanistsand Protestants in creed, Jacobite and Hanoverian in loyalty, opposed eachother, harassing the feeble queen, and keeping the realm in continualferment. 

WHIGS AND TORIES. --The Whigs were those who declared that kingly power wassolely for the good of the subject; that the reformed creed was thereligion of the realm; that James had forfeited the throne, and that hisson was a pretender; and that the power justly passed to the house ofHanover. The Tories asserted that monarchs ruled by _divine right_; andthat if, when religion was at stake, the king might be deposed, this couldnot affect the succession. 

Anne escaped her troubles by dying, in 1714. Sophia, the Electress ofHanover, who had only wished to live, she said, long enough to haveengraved upon her tombstone: "Here lies Sophia, Queen of England, " died, in spite of this desire, only a few weeks before the queen; and the newheir to the throne was her son, George Louis of Brunswick-Luneburg, electoral prince of Hanover. 

He came cautiously and selfishly to the throne of England; he felt hisway, and left a line of retreat open; he brought not a spice of honestEnglish sentiment, but he introduced the filth of the electoral court. Asgross in his conduct as Charles II. , he had indeed a prosperous reign, because it was based upon a just and tolerant Constitution; because theEnglish were in reality not governed by a king, but by well-enacted laws. 

The effect of all this political turmoil upon the leading men in Englandhad been manifest; both parties had been expectant, and many of thestatesmen had been upon the fence, ready to get down on one side or theother, according to circumstances. Marlborough left the Tories and joinedthe Whigs; Swift, who had been a Whig, joined the Tories. The queen'sfirst ministry had consisted of Whigs and the more moderate Tories; but asshe fell away from the Marlboroughs, she threw herself into the hands ofthe Tories, who had determined, and now achieved, the downfall ofMarlborough. 

Such was the reign of good Queen Anne. With this brief sketch as apreliminary, we return to the literature, which, like her coin, bore herimage and carried it into succeeding reigns. In literature, the age ofQueen Anne extends far beyond her lifetime. 

ADDISON. --The principal name of this period is that of Joseph Addison. Hewas the son of the rector of Milston, in Wiltshire, and was born in 1672. Old enough in 1688 to appreciate the revolution, as early as he couldwield his pen, he used it in the cause of the new monarchs. At the age offifteen he was sent from the Charter-House to Oxford; and there he wrotesome Latin verses, for which he was rewarded by a university scholarship. After pursuing his studies at Oxford, he began his literary career. In histwenty-second year he wrote a poetical address to Dryden; but he chieflysought preferment through political poetry. In 1695 he wrote a poem to theking, which was well received; and in 1699 he received a pension of £300. In 1701 he went upon the Continent, and travelled principally in Franceand Italy. On his return, he published his travels, and a _PoeticalEpistle from Italy_, which are interesting as delineating continentalscenes and manners in that day. Of the travels, Dr. Johnson said, "theymight have been written at home;" but he praised the poetical epistle asthe finest of Addison's poetical works. 

Upon the accession of Queen Anne, he continued to pay his court in verse. When the great battle of Blenheim was fought, in 1704, he at oncepublished an artificial poem called _The Campaign_, which has received thefitting name of the _Rhymed Despatch_. Eulogistic of Marlborough anddescriptive of his army manœuvres, its chief value is to be found inits historical character, and not in any poetic merit. It was a politicalpaper, and he was rewarded for it by the appointment of Commissioner ofAppeals, in which post he succeeded the philosopher Locke. 

The spirit of this poem is found in the following lines:

 Fiction may deck the truth with spurious rays, And round the hero cast a borrowed blaze; Marlboro's exploits appear divinely bright, And proudly shine in their own native light. 

If we look for a contrast to this poem, indicating with it the twopolitical sides of the question, it may be found in Swift's tract on _TheConduct of the Allies_, which asserts that the war had been maintained togratify the ambition and greed of Marlborough, and also for the benefit ofthe Allies. Addison was appointed, as a reward for his poem, Under-Secretary of State. 

To this extent Addison was the historian by purpose. A moderate partisan, he eulogized King William, Marlborough, Lord Somers, Lord Halifax, andothers, and thus commended himself to the crown; and in several elegantarticles in _The Spectator_, he sought to mitigate the fierce party spiritof the time. 

SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY. --But it is the unconscious historian with whom weare most charmed, and by whom we are best instructed. It is in thischaracter that Addison presents himself in his numerous contributions to_The Spectator_, _The Tatler_, and _The Guardian_. Amid much that is nowconsidered pedantic and artificial, and which, in those faults, marks theage, are to be found as striking and truthful delineations of English lifeand society in that day as Chaucer has given us of an earlier period. 

Those who no longer read _The Spectator_ as a model of style and learning, must continue to prize it for these rare historic teachings. The men andwomen walk before us as in some antique representation in a socialfestival, when grandmothers' brocades are taken out, when curious fashionsare displayed, when Honoria and Flavia, Fidelia and Gloriana dress andspeak and ogle and flirt just as Addison saw and photographed them. Wehave their subjects of interest, their forms of gossip, the existingabuses of the day, their taste in letters, their opinions upon the worksof literature, in all their freshness. 

The fullest and most systematic of these social delineations is found inthe sketch of _The Club_ and _Sir Roger de Coverley_. The creation ofcharacter is excellent. Each member, individual and distinct, is also thetype of a class. 

THE CLUB. --There is Will Honeycomb, the old beau, "a gentleman who, according to his years, should be in the decline of his life, but havingever been careful of his person, and always had an easy fortune, time hasmade but very little impression, either by wrinkles on his forehead ortraces on his brain. " He knew from what French woman this manner ofcurling the hair came, who invented hoops, and whose vanity to show herfoot brought in short dresses. He is a woman-killer, sceptical aboutmarriage; and at length he gives the fair sex ample satisfaction for hiscruelty and egotism by marrying, unknown to his friends, a farmer'sdaughter, whose face and virtues are her only fortune. 

Captain Sentry, the nephew of Sir Roger, is, it may be supposed, theessayist's ideal of what an English officer should be--a courageoussoldier and a modest gentleman. 

Sir Andrew Freeport is the retired merchant, drawn to the life. He ismoderate in politics, as expediency in that age would suggest. Thoroughlysatisfied of the naval supremacy of England, he calls the sea, "theBritish Common. " He is the founder of his own fortune, and is satisfied totransmit to posterity an unsullied name, a goodly store of wealth, and thetitle he has so honorably won. 

In _The Templar_, we have a satire upon a certain class of lawyers. It isindicative of that classical age, that he understands Aristotle andLonginus better than Littleton and Coke, and is happy in anything butlaw--a briefless barrister, but a gentleman of consideration. 

But the most charming, the most living portrait is that of Sir Roger deCoverley, an English country gentleman, as he ought to be, and as not afew really were. What a generous humanity for all wells forth from hissimple and loving heart! He has such a mirthful cast in his behavior thathe is rather loved than esteemed. Repulsed by a fair widow, several yearsbefore, he keeps his sentiment alive by wearing a coat and doublet of thesame cut that was in fashion at the time, which, he tells us, has been outand in twelve times since he first wore it. All the young women profess tolove him, and all the young men are glad of his company. 

Last of all is the clergyman, whose piety is all reverence, and who talksand acts "as one who is hastening to the object of all his wishes, andconceives hope from his decays and infirmities. "

It is said that Addison, warned by the fate of Cervantes, --whose noblehero, Don Quixote, was killed by another pen, --determined to conduct SirRoger to the tomb himself; and the knight makes a fitting end. Hecongratulates his nephew, Captain Sentry, upon his succession to theinheritance; he is thoughtful of old friends and old servants. In a word, so excellent was his life, and so touching the story of his death, that wefeel like mourners at a real grave. Indeed he did live, and stilllives, --one type of the English country gentleman one hundred and fiftyyears ago. Other types there were, not so pleasant to contemplate; butAddison's Sir Roger de Coverley and Fielding's Squire Allworthy vindicatetheir class in that age. 

ADDISON'S HYMNS. --Addison appears to us also as the writer of beautifulhymns, and has paraphrased some of the Psalms. In this, like Watts, hecatered to a decided religious craving of that day. In a Protestant realm, and by reason of religious controversy, the fine old hymns of the Latinchurch, which are now renewing their youth in an English dress, had falleninto disrepute: hymnody had, to some extent, superseded the plain chant. Hymns were in demand. Poets like Addison and Watts provided for this newwant; and from the beauty of his few contributions, our great regret isthat Addison wrote so few. Every one he did write is a gem in manycollections. Among them we have that admirable paraphrase of the_Twenty-third Psalm_:

 The Lord my pasture shall prepare, And feed me with a shepherd's care;

and the hymn

 When all Thy mercies, O my God, My rising soul surveys. 

None, however, is so beautiful, stately, and polished as the Divine Ode, so pleasant to all people, little and large, --

 The spacious firmament on high. 

HIS PERSON AND CHARACTER. --In closing this brief sketch of Addison, a fewwords are necessary as to his personality, and an estimate of his powers. In 1716 he married the Countess-Dowager of Warwick, and parted withindependence to live with a coronet. His married life was not happy. Thelady was cold and exacting; and, it must be confessed, the poet loved abottle at the club-room or tavern better than the luxuries of HollandHouse; and not infrequently this conviviality led him to excess. He diedin 1719, in his forty-eighth year, and made a truly pious end. He wished, he said, to atone for any injuries he had done to others, and sent for hissceptical and dissolute step-son, Lord Warwick, to show him how aChristian could die. A monument has been erected to his memory in thePoets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, and the closing words of theinscription upon it calls him "the honor and delight of the Englishnation. "

As a man, he was grave and retiring: he had a high opinion of his ownpowers; in company he was extremely diffident; in the main, he was moral, just, and consistent. His intemperance was in part the custom of the ageand in part a physical failing, and it must have been excessive to bedistinguished in that age. In the Latin-English of Dr. Johnson, "It is notunlikely that Addison was first seduced to excess by the manumission whichhe obtained from the servile timidity of his sober hours. " This failingmust be regarded as a blot on his fame. 

He was the most accomplished writer of his own age, and in elegance ofstyle superior to all who had gone before him. 

In the words of his epitaph, his prose papers "encouraged the good andreformed the improvident, tamed the wicked, and in some degree made themin love with virtue. " His poetry is chiefly of historical value, in thatit represents so distinctly the Artificial School; but it is now verylittle read. His drama entitled _Cato_ was modelled upon the French dramaof the classical school, with its singular preservation of the unities. But his contributions to _The Spectator_ and other periodicals arehistorically of great value. Here he abandons the artificial school;nothing in his delineations of character is simply statuesque orpictorial. He has done for us what the historians have left undone. Theypresent processions of automata moving to the sound of trumpet and drum, ushered by Black Rod or Garter King-at-arms; but in Addison we find thatPromethean heat which relumes their life; the galvanic motion becomes aliving stride; the puppet eyes emit fire; the automata are men. Thus itis, that, although _The Spectator_, once read as a model of taste andstyle, has become antiquated and has been superseded, it must still beresorted to for its life-like portraiture of men and women, manners andcustoms, and will be found truer and more valuable for these than historyitself. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

STEELE AND SWIFT. 

 Sir Richard Steele. Periodicals. The Crisis. His Last Days. Jonathan Swift--Poems. The Tale of a Tub. Battle of the Books. Pamphlets. M. B. Drapier. Gulliver's Travels. Stella and Vanessa. His Character and Death. 

Contemporary with Addison, and forming with him a literary fraternity, Steele and Swift were besides men of distinct prominence, and clearlyrepresent the age in which they lived. 

SIR RICHARD STEELE. --If Addison were chosen as the principal literaryfigure of the period, a sketch of his life would be incomplete without alarge mention of his lifelong friend and collaborator, Steele. If to Baconbelongs the honor of being the first writer and the namer of the English_essay_, Steele may claim that of being the first periodical essayist. 

He was born in Dublin, in 1671, of English parents; his father being atthe time secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He received hisearly education at the Charter-House school, in London, an institutionwhich has numbered among its pupils many who have gained distinguishednames in literature. Here he met and formed a permanent friendship withAddison. He was afterwards entered as a student at Merton College, Oxford;but he led there a wild and reckless life, and leaving without a degree, he enlisted as a private in the Horse Guards. Through the influence of hisfriends, he was made a cornet, and afterwards a captain, in theFusileers; but this only gave him opportunity for continued dissipation. His principles were better than his conduct; and, haunted by conscience, he made an effort to reform himself by writing a devotional work called_The Christian Hero_; but there was such a contrast between his preceptsand his life, that he was laughed at by the town. Between 1701 and 1704 heproduced his three comedies. _The Funeral, or Grief à la Mode_; _TheTender Husband_, and _The Lying Lover_. The first two were successful uponthe stage, but the last was a complete failure. Disgusted for the timewith the drama, he was led to find his true place as the writer of thoselight, brilliant, periodical essays which form a prominent literaryfeature of the reign of Queen Anne. These _Essays_ were comments, suggestions, strictures, and satires upon the age. They were of immediateand local interest then, and have now a value which the writers did notforesee: they are unconscious history. 

PERIODICALS. --The first of these periodicals was _The Tatler_, a pennysheet, issued tri-weekly, on post-days. The first number appeared on the12th of April, 1709, and asserted the very laudable purpose "to expose thedeceits, sins, and vanities of the former age, and to make virtue, simplicity, and plain-dealing the law of social life. " "For this purpose, "in the words of Dr. Johnson, [34] "nothing is so proper as the frequentpublication of short papers, which we read not as study, but amusement. Ifthe subject be slight, the treatise is short. The busy may find time, andthe idle may find patience. " One _nom de plume_ of Steele was _IsaacBickerstaff_, which he borrowed from Swift, who had issued party-pamphletsunder that name. 

_The Tatler_ was a success. The fluent pen of Addison gave it valuableassistance; and in January, 1711, it was merged into, rather thansuperseded by, _The Spectator_, which was issued six days in the week. 

In this new periodical, Steele wrote the paper containing the originalsketch of Sir Roger de Coverley and The Club; but, as has been alreadysaid, Addison adopted, elaborated, and finished this in several laterpapers. Steele had been by far the larger contributor to _The Tatler_. Ofall the articles in _The Spectator_, Steele wrote two hundred and forty, and Addison two hundred and seventy-four; the rest were by various hands. In March, 1713, when _The Spectator_ was commencing its seventh volume, _The Guardian_ made its appearance. For the first volume of _TheGuardian_, Addison wrote but one paper; but for the second he wrote morethan Steele. Of the one hundred and seventy-six numbers of thatperiodical, eighty-two of the papers were by Steele and fifty-three byAddison. If the writings of Addison were more scholarly and elegant, thoseof Steele were more vivacious and brilliant; and together they haveproduced a series of essays which have not been surpassed in later times, and which are vividly delineative of their own. 

THE CRISIS. --The career of Steele was varied and erratic. He held severalpublic offices, was a justice of the peace, and a member of parliament. Hewrote numerous political tracts, which are not without historical value. For one pamphlet of a political character, entitled _The Crisis_, he wasexpelled from parliament for libel; but upon the death of Queen Anne, heagain found himself in favor. He was knighted in 1715, and receivedseveral lucrative appointments. 

He was an eloquent orator, and as a writer rapid and brilliant, but notprofound. Even thus, however, he catered to an age at once artificial andsuperficial. Very observant of what he saw, he rushed to his closet andjotted down his views in electrical words, which made themselvesimmediately and distinctly felt. 

HIS LAST DAYS. --Near the close of his life he produced a very successfulcomedy, entitled _The Conscious Lover_, which would have been of pecuniaryvalue to him, were it not that he was already overwhelmed with debt. Hisend was a sad one; but he reaped what his extravagance and recklessnesshad sown. Shattered in health and ruined in fortune, he retreated from thegreat world into homely retirement in Wales, where he lived, poor andhidden, in a humble cottage at Llangunnor. His end was heralded by anattack of paralysis, and he died in 1729. 

After his death, his letters were published; and in the private historywhich they unfold, he appears, notwithstanding all his follies, in thelight of a tender husband and of an amiable and unselfish man. He hadprinciple, but he lacked resolution; and the wild, vacillating characterof his life is mirrored in his writings, where _The Christian Hero_ standsin singular contrast to the comic personages of his dramas. He was agenial critic. His exuberant wit and humor reproved without wounding; hewas not severe enough to be a public censor, nor pedantic enough to be thepedagogue of an age which often needed the lash rather than the gentlereproof, and upon which a merciful clemency lost its end if not itspraises. He deserves credit for an attempt, however feeble, to rewardvirtue upon the stage, after the wholesale rewards which vice had reapedin the age of Charles II. 

Steele has been overshadowed, in his connection with Addison, by the moredignified and consistent career, the greater social respectability, andthe more elegant and scholarly style of his friend; and yet in much thatthey jointly accomplished, the merit of Steele is really as great, andconduces much to the reputation of Addison. The one husbanded andcherished his fame; the other flung it away or lavished it upon hiscolleagues. As contributors to history, they claim an equal share of ourgratitude and praise. 

JONATHAN SWIFT. --The grandfather of Swift was vicar of Goodrich, inHerefordshire. His father and mother were both English, but he was born inDublin, in the year 1667. A posthumous child, he came into the world sevenmonths after his father's death. From his earliest youth, he deplored thecircumstances among which his lot had been cast. He was dependent upon hisuncle, Godwin Swift, himself a poor man; but was not grateful for hisassistance, always saying that his uncle had given him the education of adog. At the University of Dublin, where he was entered, he did not bear agood character: he was frequently absent from his duties and negligent ofhis studies; and although he read history and poetry, he was consideredstupid as well as idle. He was more than once admonished and suspended, but at length received his degree, _Speciali gratia_; which special act ofgrace implied that he had not fairly earned it. Piqued by this, he set towork in real earnest, and is said to have studied eight hours a day foreight years. Thus, from an idle and unsuccessful collegian, he became aman of considerable learning and a powerful writer. 

He was a distant connection of Sir William Temple, through Lady Temple;and he went, by his mother's advice, to live with that distinguished manat his seat, Shene, in Moor Park, as private secretary. 

In this position Swift seems to have led an uncomfortable life, rankingsomewhere between the family and the upper servants. Sir William Templewas disposed to be kind, but found it difficult to converse with him onaccount of his moroseness and other peculiarities. At Shene he met KingWilliam III. , who talked with him, and offered him a captaincy in thearmy. This Swift declined, knowing his unfitness for the post, anddoubtless feeling the promptings of a higher ambition. It was also atShene that he met a young girl, whose history was thenceforth to bemingled with his in sadness and sorrow, during their lives. This wasEsther Johnson, the daughter of Temple's housekeeper, and surmised, at alater day, to be the natural daughter of Temple himself. When the youngsecretary first met her, she was fourteen years of age, very clever andbeautiful; and they fell in love with each other. 

We cannot dwell at length upon the events of his life. His versatile penwas prolific of poetry, sentimental and satirical; of political allegoriesof great potency, of fiction erected of impossible materials, and yet socreating and peopling a world of fancy as to illude the reader intotemporary belief in its truth. 

POEMS. --His poems are rather sententious than harmonious. His power, however, was great; he managed verse as an engine, and had an entiremastery over rhyme, which masters so many would-be poets. His _Odes_ areclassically constructed, but massive and cumbrous. His satirical poems areeminently historical, ranging over and attacking almost every topic, political, religious, and social. Among the most characteristic of hismiscellaneous verses are _Epigrams and Epistles, Clever Tom Pinch Going tobe Hanged, Advice to Grub Street Writers, Helter-Skelter, The PuppetShow_, and similar odd pieces, frequently scurrilous, bitter, and lewd inexpression. The writer of English history consults these as he does thepenny ballads, lampoons, and caricatures of the day, --to discern the_animus_ of parties and the methods of hostile factions. 

But it is in his inimitable prose writings that Swift is of most value tothe historical student. Against all comers he stood the Goliath ofpamphleteers in the reign of Queen Anne, and there arose no David whocould slay him. 

THE TALE OF A TUB. --While an unappreciated student at the university, hehad sketched a satirical piece, which he finished and published in 1704, under the title of _The Tale of a Tub_. As a tub is thrown overboard atsea to divert a whale, so this is supposed to be a sop cast out to the_Leviathan_ of Hobbes, to prevent it from injuring the vessel of state. The story is a satire aimed against the Roman Catholics on the one hand, and the Presbyterians on the other, in order that he may exalt the Churchof England as, in his judgment, free from the errors of both, and a justand happy medium between the two extremes. His own opinion of its meritsis well known: in one of his later years, when his hand had lost itscunning, he is said to have exclaimed, as he picked it up, "What a geniusI had when I wrote that book!" The characters of the story are _Peter_(representing St. Peter, or the Roman Catholic Church), _Martin_ (Luther, or the Church of England), and _Jack_ (John Calvin, or the Presbyterians). By their father's will each had been left a suit of clothes, made in thefashion of his day. To this Peter added laces and fringes; Martin took offsome of the ornaments of doubtful taste; but Jack ripped and tore off thetrimmings of his dress to such an extent that he was in clanger ofexposing his nakedness. It is said that the invective was so strong andthe satire so bitter, that they presented a bar to that preferment whichSwift might otherwise have obtained. He appears at this time to have caredlittle for public opinion, except that it should fear his trenchant witand do homage to his genius. 

THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS. --In the same year, 1704, he also published _TheBattle of the Books_, the idea of which was taken from a French work ofCourtraye, entitled "_Histoire de la guerre nouvellement déclarée entreles Anciens et les Modernes_. " Swift's work was written in furtherance ofthe views of his patron, Temple, who had some time before engaged in thecontroversy as to the relative merits of ancient and modern learning, andwho, in the words of Macaulay, "was so absurd as to set up his ownauthority against that of Bentley on questions of Greek history andphilology. "

_The Battle of the Books_ is of present value, as it affords informationupon the opinions then held on a question which, in various forms, hasbeen agitating the literary world ever since. In it Swift compares Dryden, Wotten, and Bentley with the old authors in St. James's Library, where thebattle of the books is said to have taken place. 

Upon the death of Sir William Temple, in 1699, Swift had gone to London. He was ambitious of power and money, and when he found little chance ofpreferment among the Whigs, he became a Tory. It must be said, inexplanation of this change, that, although he had called himself a Whig, he had disliked many of their opinions, and had never heartily espousedtheir cause. Like others already referred to, he watched the politicalhorizon, and was ready for a change when circumstances should warrant it. This change and its causes are set forth in his _Bickerstaff's Ridicule ofAstrology_ and _Sacramental Test_. 

The Whigs tried hard to retain him; the Tories were rejoiced to receivehim, and modes of preferment for him were openly canvassed. One of thesewas to make him Bishop of Virginia, with metropolitan powers in America;but it failed. He was also recommended for the See of Hereford; butpersons near the queen advised her "to be sure that the man she was goingto make a bishop was a Christian. " Thus far he had only been made rectorof Agher and vicar of Laracor and Rathbeggin. 

VARIOUS PAMPHLETS. --His _Argument Against the Abolition of Christianity_, Dr. Johnson calls "a very happy and judicious irony. " In 1710 he wrote apaper, at the request of the Irish primate, petitioning the queen to remitthe first-fruits and twentieth parts to the Irish clergy. In 1712, tendays before the meeting of parliament, he published his _Conduct of theAllies_, which, exposing the greed of Marlborough, persuaded the nation tomake peace. A supplement to this is found in _Reflections on the BarrierTreaty_, in which he shows how little English interests had been consultedin that negotiation. 

His pamphlet on _The Public Spirit of the Whigs_, in answer to Steele's_Crisis_, was so terrible a bomb-shell thrown into the camp of his formerfriends, and so insulting to the Scotch, that £300 were offered by thequeen, at the instance of the Scotch lords, for the discovery of theauthor; but without success. 

At last his versatile and powerful pen obtained some measure of reward: in1713 he was made Dean of St. Patrick's, in Dublin, with a stipend of £700per annum. This was his greatest and last preferment. 

On the accession of George I. , in the following year, he paid his court, but was received with something more than coldness. He withdrew to hisdeanery in Dublin, and, in the words of Johnson, "commenced Irishman forlife, and was to contrive how he might be best accommodated in a countrywhere he considered himself as in a state of exile. " After somemisunderstanding between himself and his Irish fellow-citizens, heespoused their cause so warmly that he became the most popular man inIreland. In 1721 he could write to Pope, "I neither know the names nor thenumber of the family which now reigneth, further than the prayer-bookinformeth me. " His letters, signed _M. B. Drapier_, on Irish manufactures, and especially those in opposition to Wood's monopoly of copper coinage, in 1724, wrought upon the people, producing such a spirit of resistancethat the project of a debased coinage failed; and so influential did Swiftbecome, that he was able to say to the Archbishop of Dublin, "Had I raisedmy finger, the mob would have torn you to pieces. " This popularity wasincreased by the fact that a reward of £300 was offered by Lord Carteretand the privy council for the discovery of the authorship of the fourthletter; but although it was commonly known that Swift was the author, proof could not be obtained. Carteret, the Lord Lieutenant, afterwardssaid, "When people ask me how I governed Ireland, I said that I pleasedDoctor Swift. "

Thus far Swift's literary labors are manifest history: we come now toconsider that great work, _Gulliver's Travels_, --the most successful ofits kind ever written, --in which, with all the charm of fiction in plot, incident, and description, he pictures the great men and the politicalparties of the day. 

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. --Lemuel Gulliver, a surgeon's mate, finds himselfshipwrecked on the shore of the country of Lilliput, the people of whichare only six inches in height. His adventures are so vividly describedthat our charmed fancy places us among them as we read, and we, for atime, abandon ourselves to a belief in their reality. It was, however, begun as a political satire; in the insignificance of the court ofpigmies, he attacks the feebleness and folly of the new reign. _Flimnap_, the prime minister of Lilliput, is a caricature of Walpole; the _BigIndians_ and _Little Indians_ represent the Protestants and RomanCatholics; the _High Heels_ and _Low Heels_ stand for the Whigs andTories; and the heir-apparent, who wears one heel high and the other low, is the Prince of Wales, afterwards George II. , who favored both parties inorder to gain both to his purpose. 

In his second voyage, that to Brobdignag, his satirical imagination took awider range--European politics as they appear to a superior intelligence, illustrated by a man of _sixty_ feet in comparison with one of _six_. AsGulliver had looked with curious contempt upon the united efforts of theLilliputians, he now found himself in great jeopardy and fear when in thehands of a giant of Brobdignag. As the pigmy metropolis, five hundredyards square, was to London, so were London and other European capitals tothe giants' city, two thousand miles in circumference. And what are thearmies of Europe, when compared with that magnificent cavalrymanœuvring on a parade-ground twenty miles square, each mountedtrooper ninety feet high, and all, as they draw their swords at command, representing ten thousand flashes of lightning?

The third part contains the voyage of Gulliver--no less improbable thanthe former ones--to _Laputa_, the flying island of projectors andvisionaries. This is a varied satire upon the Royal Society, theeccentricities of the savans, empirics of all kinds, mathematical magic, and the like. In this, political schemes to restore the pretender areaimed at. The Mississippi Scheme and the South Sea bubble are denounced. Here, too, in his journey to Luggnagg, he introduces the sad and revoltingpicture of the Struldbrugs, those human beings who live on, losing alltheir power and becoming hideously old. 

In his last voyage--to the land of the _Houyhnhnms_--his misanthropy ispainfully manifest. This is the country where horses are masters, and mena servile and degraded race; and he has painted the men so brutish andfilthy that the satire loses its point. The power of satire lies incontrast; we must compare the evil in men with the good: when the wholerace is included in one sweeping condemnation, and an inferior beingexalted, in opposition to all possibility, the standard is absurd, and thesatirist loses his pains. 

The horses are the _Houyhnhnms_, (the name is an attempt to imitate aneigh, ) a noble race, who are amazed and disgusted at the Yahoos, --thedegraded men, --upon whom Swift, in his sweeping misanthropy, has exhaustedhis bitterness and his filth. 

STELLA AND VANESSA. --While Swift's mysterious associations with Stella andVanessa have but little to do with the course of English Literature, theylargely affect his personality, and no sketch of him would be completewithout introducing them to the reader. We cannot conjure up the tall, burly form, the heavy-browed, scowling, contemptuous face, the sharp blueeye, and the bushy black hair of the dean, without seeing on one side andthe other the two pale, meek-eyed, devoted women, who watch his everylook, shrink from his sudden bursts of wrath, receive for theirinfatuation a few fair words without sentiment, and earnestly crave alittle love as a return for their whole hearts. It is a wonderful, touching, baffling story. 

Stella he had known and taught in her young maidenhood at Sir WilliamTemple's. As has been said, she was called the daughter of his steward andhousekeeper, but conjectures are rife that she was Sir William's ownchild. When Swift removed to Ireland, she came, at Swift's request, with amatron friend, Mrs. Dingley, to live near him. Why he did not at oncemarry her, and why, at last, he married her secretly, in 1716, arequestions over which curious readers have puzzled themselves in vain, andupon which, in default of evidence, some perhaps uncharitable conclusionshave been reached. The story of their association may be found in the_Journal to Stella_. 

With Miss Hester Vanhomrigh (Vanessa) he became acquainted in London, in1712: he was also her instructor; and when with her he seems to haveforgotten his allegiance to Stella. Cadenus, as he calls himself, was tootender and fond: Vanessa became infatuated; and when she heard of Swift'sprivate marriage with Stella, she died of chagrin or of a broken heart. She had cancelled the will which she had made in Swift's favor, and leftit in charge to her executors to publish their correspondence. Both sidesof the history of this connection are fully displayed in the poem of_Cadenus and Vanessa_, and in the _Correspondence of Swift and Vanessa_. 

CHARACTER AND DEATH. --Pride overbearing and uncontrollable, misanthropy, excessive dogmatism, a singular pleasure in giving others pain, were amonghis personal faults or misfortunes. He abused his companions and servants;he never forgave his sister for marrying a tradesman; he could attractwith winning words and repel with furious invective; and he was alwaysanxiously desiring the day of his death, and cursing that of his birth. His common farewell was "Good-bye; I hope we may never meet again. " Thereis a painful levity in his verses _On the Death of Doctor Swift_, in whichhe gives an epitome of his life:

 From Dublin soon to London spread, 'Tis told at court the dean is dead! And Lady Suffolk, in the spleen, Runs laughing up to tell the queen: The queen, so gracious, mild, and good, Cries, "Is he gone? it's time he should. "

At last the end came. While a young man, he had suffered from a painfulattack of vertigo, brought on by a surfeit of fruit; "eating, " he says, ina letter to Mrs. Howard, "an hundred golden pippins at a time. " This hadoccasioned a deafness; and both giddiness and deafness had recurred atintervals, and at last manifestly affected his mind. Once, when walkingwith some friends, he had pointed to an elm-tree, blasted by lightning, and had said, "I shall be like that tree: I shall die first at the top. "And thus at last the doom fell. Struck on the brain, he lingered for nineyears in that valley of spectral horrors, of whose only gates idiocy andmadness are the hideous wardens. From this bondage he was released bydeath on the 19th of October, 1745. 

Many have called it a fearful retribution for his sins, and especially forhis treatment of Stella and Vanessa. A far more reasonable and charitableverdict is that the evil in his conduct through life had its origin incongenital disorder; and in his days of apparent sanity, the character ofhis eccentric actions is to be palliated, if not entirely excused, on theplea of insanity. Additional force is given to this judgment by the factthat, when he died, it was found that he had left his money to found ahospital for the insane, illustrating the line, --

 A fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind. 

In that day of great classical scholars, Swift will hardly rank among themost profound; but he possessed a creative power, a ready and versatilefancy, a clear and pleasing but plain style. He has been unjustly accusedby Lady Montagu of having stolen plot and humor from Cervantes andRabelais: he drew from the same source as they; and those suggestionswhich came to him from them owe all their merit to his application ofthem. As a critic, he was heartless and rude; but as a polemic and adelineator of his age, he stands prominently forth as an historian, whoseworks alone would make us familiar with the period. 

OTHER WRITERS OF THE AGE. 

_Sir William Temple_, 1628-1698: he was a statesman and a politicalwriter; rather a man of mark in his own day than of special interest tothe present time. After having been engaged in several importantdiplomatic affairs, he retired to his seat of Moor Park, and employedhimself in study and with his pen. His _Essays and Observations onGovernment_ are valuable as a clue to the history. In his controversy withBentley on the _Epistles of Phalaris_, and the relative merits of ancientand modern authors, he was overmatched in scholarship. In a literary pointof view, Temple deserves praise for the ease and beauty of his style. Dr. Johnson says he "was the first writer who gave cadence to English prose. ""What can be more pleasant, " says Charles Lamb, "than the way in which theretired statesman peeps out in his essays, penned in his delightfulretreat at Shene?" He is perhaps better known in literary history as theearly patron of Swift, than for his own works. 

_Sir Isaac Newton_, 1642-1727: the chief glory of Newton is not connectedwith literary effort: he ranks among the most profound and originalphilosophers, and was one of the purest and most unselfish of men. Theson of a farmer, he was born at Woolsthorpe, in Lincolnshire, after hisfather's death, --a feeble, sickly child. The year of his birth was that inwhich Galileo died. At the age of fifteen he was employed on his mother'sfarm, but had already displayed such an ardor for learning that he wassent first to school and then to Cambridge, where he was soon conspicuousfor his talents and his genius. In due time he was made a professor. Hisdiscoveries in astronomy, mechanics, and optics are of world-wide renown. The law of gravitation was established by him, and set forth in his paper_De Motu Corporum_. His treatise on _Fluxions_ prepared the way for thatwonderful mathematical, labor-saving instrument--the differentialcalculus. In 1687 he published his _Philosophiæ Naturalis PrincipiaMathematica_, in which all his mathematical theories are propounded. In1696 he was made Warden of the Mint, and in 1699 Master of the Mint. Longa member of the Royal Society, he was its president for the lasttwenty-four years of his life. In 1688 he was elected member of parliamentfor the university of Cambridge. Of purely literary works he left two, entitled respectively, _Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and theApocalypse of St. John_, and a _Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended_;both of which are of little present value except as the curious remains ofso great a man. 

_Viscount Bolingbroke_ (Henry St. John), 1678-1751: as an erraticstatesman, a notorious free-thinker, a dissipated lord, a clever politicalwriter, and an eloquent speaker, Lord Bolingbroke was a centre ofattraction in his day, and demands observation in literary history. Duringthe reign of Queen Anne he was a plotter in favor of the pretender, andwhen she died, he fled the realm to avoid impeachment for treason. InFrance he joined the pretender as Secretary of State, but was dismissedfor intrigue; and on being pardoned by the English king, he returned toEngland. His writings are brilliant but specious. His influence was feltin the literary society he drew around him, --Swift, Pope, andothers, --and, as has been already said, his opinions are to be found inthat _Essay on Man_ which Pope dedicated to him. In his meteoric politicalcareer he represents and typifies one phase of the time in which he lived. 

_George Berkeley_, 1684-1753: he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and soon engaged in metaphysical controversy. In 1724 he was made Dean ofDerry, and in 1734, Bishop of Cloyne. A man of great philanthropy, he setforth a scheme for the founding of the _Bermudas College_, to trainmissionaries for the colonies and to labor among the North AmericanIndians. As a metaphysician, he was an _absolute idealist_. This is noplace to discuss his theory. In the words of Dr. Reid, "He maintains ... That there is no such thing as matter in the universe; that the sun andmoon, earth and sea, our own bodies and those of our friends, are nothingbut ideas in the minds of those who think of them, and that they have noexistence when they are not objects of thought; that all that is in theuniverse may be reduced to two categories, to wit, _minds_ and _ideas inthe mind_. " The reader is referred, for a full discussion of thisquestion, to Sir William Hamilton's _Metaphysics_. Berkeley's chiefwritings are: _New Theory of Vision, Treatise Concerning the Principles ofHuman Knowledge_, and _Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous_. His nameand memory are especially dear to the American people; for, although hisscheme of the training-college failed, he lived for two years and a halfin Newport, where his house still stands, and where one of his children isburied. He presented to Yale College his library and his estate in RhodeIsland, and he wrote that beautiful poem with its kindly prophecy:

 Westward the course of empire takes its way: The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day; Time's noblest offspring is the last. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF MODERN FICTION. 

 The New Age. Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. Richardson. Pamela, and Other Novels. Fielding. Joseph Andrews. Tom Jones. Its Moral. Smollett. Roderick Random. Peregrine Pickle. 

THE NEW AGE. 

We have now reached a new topic in the course of EnglishLiterature--contemporaneous, indeed, with the subjects just named, butmarked by new and distinct development. It was a period when numerous anddistinctive forms appeared; when genius began to segregate into schoolsand divisions; when the progress of letters and the demands of popularcuriosity gave rise to works which would have been impossible, becauseuncalled for, in any former period. English enterprise was extendingcommerce and scattering useful arts in all quarters of the globe, and thusgiving new and rich materials to English letters. Clive was making himselfa lord in India; Braddock was losing his army and his life in America. This spirit of English enterprise in foreign lands was evoking literaryactivity at home: there was no exploit of English valor, no extension ofEnglish dominion and influence, which did not find its literaryreproduction. Thus, while it was an age of historical research, it wasalso that of actual delineations of curious novelties at home and abroad. 

Poetry was in a transition state; it was taking its leave of the unhealthysatire and the technical wit of Queen Anne's reign, and attempting, onthe one hand, the impostures of Macpherson and Chatterton, --to which weshall hereafter refer, --and, on the other, the restoration of the pastoralfrom the theatrical to the real, in Thomson's song of the Rolling Year, and Cowper's pleasant Task, so full of life and nature. Swallow-like, English poetry had hung about the eaves or skimmed the surface of town andcourt; but now, like the lark, it soared into freer air--

 Cœtusque vulgares et udam Spernit humum fugiente penna. 

In short, it was a day of general awakening. The intestine troublesexcited by the Jacobites were brought to an end by the disaster ofCulloden, in 1745. The German campaigns culminating at Minden, in 1759, opened a door to the study of German literature, and of the Teutonicdialects as elements of the English language. 

It is, therefore, not astonishing that in this period Literature shouldbegin to arrange itself into its present great divisions. As in an earlierage the drama had been born to cater to a popular taste, so in this, tosatisfy the public demand, arose English _prose fiction_ in its peculiarand enduring form. There had been grand and desultory works precedingthis, such as _Robinson Crusoe, The Pilgrim's Progress_, and Swift'sinimitable story of _Gulliver_; but the modern novel, unlike these, owesits origin to a general desire for delineations of private life andmanners. "Show us ourselves!" was the cry. 

A novel may be defined as a fictitious story of modern life describing themanagement and mastery of the human passions, and especially the universalpassion of love. Its power consists in the creation of ideal characters, which leave a real impress upon the reader's mind; it must be a prose_epic_ in that there is always a hero, or, at least, a heroine, generallyboth, and a _drama_ in its presentation of scenes and supplementarypersonages. Thackeray calls his _Vanity Fair_ a novel without a hero: itis impossible to conceive a novel without a heroine. There must also be a_dénouement_, or consummation; in short, it must have, in the words ofAristotle, a beginning, middle, and ending, in logical connection andconsecutive interest. 

DANIEL DEFOE. --Before, however, proceeding to consider the modern novel, we must make mention of one author, distinctly of his own age as apolitical pamphleteer, but who, in his chief and inimitable work, standsalone, without antecedent or consequent. _Robinson Crusoe_ has had a hostof imitators, but no rival. 

Daniel Foe, or, as he afterwards called himself, De Foe, was born inLondon, in the year 1661. He was the son of a butcher, but such was hisearly aptitude, for learning, that he was educated to become a dissentingminister. His own views, however, were different: he became instead apolitical author, and wrote with great force against the government ofJames II. And the Established Church, and in favor of the dissenters. Whenthe Duke of Monmouth landed to make his fatal campaign, Defoe joined hisstandard; but does not seem to have suffered with the greater number ofthe duke's adherents. 

He was a warm supporter of William III. ; and his famous poem, _TheTrue-Born Englishman_, was written in answer to an attack upon the kingand the Dutch, called _The Foreigners_. Of his own poem he says, in thepreface, "When I see the town full of lampoons and invectives against theDutch, only because they are foreigners, and the king reproached andinsulted by insolent pedants and ballad-making poets for employingforeigners and being a foreigner himself, I confess myself moved by it toremind our nation of their own original, thereby to let them see what abanter they put upon themselves, since--speaking of Englishmen _aborigine_--we are really all foreigners ourselves:"

 The Pict and painted Briton, treach'rous Scot, By hunger, theft, and rapine hither brought; Norwegian pirates, buccaneering Danes, Whose red-haired offspring everywhere remains; Who, joined with Norman-French, compound the breed From whence your true-born Englishmen proceed. 

In 1702, just after the death of King William, Defoe published hisseverely ironical pamphlet, _The Shortest Way with the Dissenters_. Assuming the character of a High Churchman, he says: "'Tis vain to triflein the matter. The light, foolish handling of them by fines is their gloryand advantage. If the gallows instead of the compter, and the galleysinstead of the fines, were the reward of going to a conventicle, therewould not be so many sufferers. " His irony was at first misunderstood: theHigh Churchmen hailed him as a champion, and the Dissenters hated him asan enemy. But when his true meaning became apparent, a reward of £50 wasoffered by the government for his discovery. His so-called "scandalous andseditious pamphlet" was burnt by the common hangman: he was tried, andsentenced to pay two hundred marks, to stand three times in the pillory, and to be imprisoned during the queen's pleasure. He bore his sentencebravely, and during his two years' residence in prison he published aperiodical called _The Review_. In 1709 he wrote a _History of the Union_between England and Scotland. 

ROBINSON CRUSOE. --But none of these things, nor all combined, would havegiven to Defoe that immortality which is his as the author of _RobinsonCrusoe_. Of the groundwork of the story not much need be said. 

Alexander Selkirk, the sailing-master of an English privateer, was setashore, in 1704, at his own request, on the uninhabited island JuanFernandez, which lies several hundred miles from the coast of Chili, inthe Pacific Ocean. He was supplied with clothing and arms, and remainedthere alone for four years and four months. It is supposed that hisadventures suggested the work. It is also likely that Defoe had read thejournal of Peter Serrano, who, in the sixteenth century, had been_marooned_ in like manner on a desolate island lying off the mouth of theOroonoque (Orinoco). The latter locality was adopted by Defoe. But it isnot the fact or the adventures which give power to _Robinson Crusoe_. Itis the manner of treating what might occur to any fancy, even the dullest. The charm consists in the simplicity and the verisimilitude of thenarrative, the rare adaptation of the common man to his circumstances, hisprojects and failures, the birth of religion in his soul, his conflictinghopes and fears, his occasional despair. We see in him a brother, and asuffering one. We live his life on the island; we share his terrible fearat the discovery of the footprint, his courage in destroying the cannibalsavages and rescuing the victim. Where is there in fiction another manFriday? From the beginning of his misfortunes until he is again sailingfor England, after nearly thirty years of captivity, he holds usspellbound by the reality, the simplicity, and the pathos of hisnarrative; but, far beyond the temporary illusion of the modern novel, everything remains real: the shipwrecked mariner spins his yarns in sailorfashion, and we believe and feel every word he says. The book, althoughwonderfully good throughout, is unequal: the prime interest only lastsuntil he is rescued, and ends with his embarkation for England. Theremainder of his travels becomes, as a narrative, comparatively tiresomeand tame; and we feel, besides, that, after his unrivalled experience, heshould have remained in England, "the observed of all observers. " Yet itmust be said that we are indebted to his later journey in Spain andFrance, his adventures in the Eastern Seas, his caravan ride overland fromChina to Europe, for much which illustrates the manners and customs ofnavigation and travel in that day. 

_Robinson Crusoe_ stands alone among English books, a perennial fountainof instruction and pleasure. It aids in educating each new generation:children read it for its incident; men to renew their youth; literaryscholars to discover what it teaches of its time and of its author'sgenius. Its influence continues unabated; it incites boys to maritimeadventure, and shows them how to use in emergency whatever they find athand. It does more: it tends to reclaim the erring by its simple homilies;it illustrates the ruder navigation of its day; shows us the habits andmorals of the merchant marine, and the need and means of reforming whatwas so very bad. 

Defoe's style is clear, simple, and natural. He wrote several other works, of which few are now read. Among these are the _Account of the Plague, TheLife and Piracies of Captain Singleton_, and _The Fortunes and Misfortunesof Moll Flanders_. He died on the 24th of April, 1731. 

RICHARDSON. --Samuel Richardson, who, notwithstanding the peculiar meritsof Defoe, must be called the _Father of Modern Prose Fiction_, was born inDerbyshire, in 1689. The personal events of his life are few anduninteresting. A carpenter's son, he had but little schooling, and owedeverything to his own exertions. Apprenticed to a printer in London, atthe age of fifteen, he labored assiduously at his trade, and it rewardedhim with fortune: he became, in turn, printer of the Journals of the Houseof Commons, Master of the Stationers' Company, and Printer to the King. While young, he had been the confidant of three young women, and hadwritten or corrected their love-letters for them. He seems to have hadgreat fluency in letter-writing; and being solicited by a publisher towrite a series of familiar letters on the principal concerns of life, which might be used as models, --a sort of "Easy Letter-Writer, "--he beganthe task, but, changing his plan, he wrote a story in a series of letters. The first volume was published in 1741, and was no less a work than_Pamela_. The author was then fifty years old; and he presents in thiswork a matured judgment concerning the people and customs of the day, --theprinter's notions of the social condition of England, --shrewd, clever, anddefective. 

Wearied as the world had been by what Sir Walter Scott calls the "hugefolios of inanity" which had preceded him, the work was hailed withdelight. There was a little affectation; but the sentiment was moral andnatural. Ladies carried _Pamela_ about in their rides and walks. Pope, near his end, said it was a better moral teacher than sermons: Sherlockrecommended it from the pulpit. 

PAMELA, AND OTHER NOVELS. --_Pamela_ is represented as a poor servant-maid, but beautiful and chaste, whose honor resists the attack of her dissolutemaster, and whose modesty and virtue overcome his evil nature. Subdued andreclaimed by her chastity and her charms, he reforms, and marries her. Some pictures which are rather warmly colored and indelicate in our daywere quite in keeping with the taste of that time, and gave greater effectto the moral lesson assigned to be taught. 

In his next work, _Clarissa Harlowe_, which appeared in 1749, he has drawnthe picture of a perfect woman preserving her purity amid seductivegayeties, and suffering sorrows to which those of the Virgin Martyr arelight. We have, too, an excellent portraiture of a bold and wicked, butclever and gifted man--Lovelace. 

His third and last novel, _Sir Charles Grandison_, appeared in 1753. Thehero, _Sir Charles_, is the model of a Christian gentleman; but is, perhaps, too faultless for popular appreciation. 

In his delineations of humbler natures, --country girls like_Pamela_, --Richardson is happiest: in his descriptions of high life he hasfailed from ignorance. He was not acquainted with the best society, andall his grandees are stilted, artificial, and affected; but even in thisfault he is of value, for he shows us how men of his class at that timeregarded the society of those above them. 

These works, which, notwithstanding their length, were devoured eagerly assoon as they appeared, are little read at present, and exist rather ashistorical interpreters of an age that is past, than as present lightliterature: they have been driven from our shelves by Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, and a host of charming novelists since his day. 

Richardson lived the admired of a circle of ladies, --to whose sex he hadpaid so noble a tribute, --the hero of tea-drinkings at his house onParson's Green; his books gave him fame, but his shop--in the back officeof which he wrote his novels, when not pressed by business--gave him moneyand its comforts. He died at the age of seventy-two, on the 4th of July, 1761. 

He was an unconscious actor in a great movement which had begun in France. The brilliant theories of Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, andDalembert--containing much truth and many heresies--were felt in England, and had given a new impetus to English intellect; indeed, it is notstrange, when we come to consider, that while Richardson's works werepraised in English pulpits, Voltaire and the French atheists declared thatthey saw in them an advance towards human perfectibility andself-redemption, of which, if true, Richardson himself was unconscious. From the amours of men and women of fashion, aided by intriguingmaid-servants and lying valets, Richardson turned away to do honor tountitled merit, to exalt the humble, and to defy gilded vice. Whateverwere the charms of rank, he has elevated our humanity; thus far, and thusfar only, has he sympathized with the Frenchmen who attacked thecorruptions of the age, but who assaulted also its faith and itsreverence. 

HENRY FIELDING. --The path of prose fiction, so handsomely opened byRichardson, was immediately entered and pursued by a genius of higherorder, and as unlike him as it was possible to be. Richardson still clungto romantic sentiment, Fielding eschewed it; Richardson was a teacher ofmorality, Fielding shielded immorality; Richardson described artificialmanners in a society which he did not frequent, Fielding, in the words ofColeridge, "was like an open lawn on a breezy day in May;" Richardson wasa plebeian, a carpenter's son, a successful printer; Fielding was agentleman, the son of General Fielding, and grandson of the Earl ofDenbigh; Richardson steadily rose, by his honest exertions, to independentfortune, Fielding passed from the high estate of his ancestors intopoverty and loose company; the one has given us mistaken views of highlife, the other has been enabled, by his sad experience, to give ustruthful pictures of every grade of English society in his day from thelord, the squire, and the fop to the thief-taker, the prostitute, and thethief. 

Henry Fielding was born on the 22d of April, 1707, at Sharpham Park, Somersetshire. While yet a young man, he had read _Pamela_; and toridicule what he considered its prudery and over-righteousness, he hastilycommenced his novel of _Joseph Andrews_. This Joseph is represented as thebrother of Pamela, --a simple country lad, who comes to town and finds aplace as Lady Booby's footman. As Pamela had resisted her master'sseductions, he is called upon to oppose the vile attempts of his mistressupon his virtue. 

In that novel, as well as in its successors, _Tom Jones_ and _Amelia_, Fielding has given us rare pictures of English life, and satires uponEnglish institutions, which present the social history of England acentury ago: in this view our sympathies are not lost upon purely idealcreations. 

In him, too, the French _illuminati_ claimed a co-laborer; and theirinfluence is more distinctly seen than in Richardson's works: greatsocial problems are discussed almost in the manner of a Greek chorus;mechanical forms of religion are denounced. The French philosophersattacked errors so intertwined with truth, that the violent stabs at theformer have cut the latter almost to death; Richardson attacked the errorswithout injuring the truth: he is the champion of purity. If _JosephAndrews_ was to rival _Pamela_ in chastity, _Tom Jones_ was to becontrasted with both in the same particular. 

TOM JONES. --Fielding has received the highest commendations from literarymen. Byron calls him the "prose Homer of human nature;" and Gibbon, innoticing that the Lords of Denbigh were descended, like Charles V. , fromRudolph of Hapsburg, says: "The successors of Charles V. May despise theirbrethren of England, but the romance of _Tom Jones_--that exquisitepicture of human manners--will outlive the Palace of the Escurial and theImperial Eagle of Austria. " We cannot go so far; we quote the praise butdoubt the prophecy. The work is historically valuable, but technicallyimperfect and unequal. The plot is rambling, without method: most of thescenes lie in the country or in obscure English towns; the meetings are astheatrical as stage encounters; the episodes are awkwardly introduced, anddisfigure the unity; the classical introductions and invocations areabsurd. His heroes are men of generous impulses but dissolute lives, andhis women are either vile, or the puppets of circumstance. 

ITS TRUE VALUE. --What can redeem his works from such a category ofcondemnation? Their rare portraiture of character and their real glimpsesof nature: they form an album of photographs of life as it was--odd, grotesque, but true. They have no mysterious Gothic castles like that ofOtranto, nor enchanted forests like that of Mrs. Radcliffe. They presenthomely English life and people, --_Partridge_, barber, schoolmaster, andcoward; _Mrs. Honor_, the type of maid-servants, devoted to her mistress, and yet artful; _Squire Western_, the foul and drunken country gentleman;_Squire Allworthy_, a noble specimen of human nature; _Parson Adams_, whois regarded by the critics as the best portrait among all his characters. 

And even if we can neither commend nor recommend heroes like _Tom Jones_, such young men really existed, and the likeness is speakingly drawn: webear with his faults because of his reality. Perhaps our verdict may bebest given in the words of Thackeray. "I am angry, " he says, "with Jones. Too much of the plum-cake and the rewards of life fall to that boisterous, swaggering young scapegrace. Sophia actually surrenders without a propersense of decorum; the fond, foolish, palpitating little creature. 'Indeed, Mr. Jones, ' she says, 'it rests with you to name the day. ' ... And yetmany a young fellow, no better than Mr. Thomas Jones, has carried by a_coup-de-main_ the heart of many a kind girl who was a great deal too goodfor him. "

When _Joseph Andrews_ appeared, and Richardson found that so profane aperson as Fielding had dared to burlesque his _Pamela_, he was angry; andhis little tea-drinking coterie was warm in his defence; but Fielding'sparty was then, and has remained, the stronger. 

In his novel of _Amelia_, we have a general autobiography of Fielding. Amelia, his wife, is lovely, chaste, and constant. Captain Booth--Fieldinghimself--is errant, guilty, generous, and repentant. We have besides in itmany varieties of English life, --lords, clergymen, officers; Vauxhall andthe masquerade; the sponging-house and its inmates, debtors andcriminals, --all as Fielding saw and knew them. 

The condition of the clergy is more clearly set forth in Fielding's novelsthan in the pages of Echard, Oldham, Wood, Macaulay, or ChurchillBabington. So changed was their estate since the Reformation, that fewhigh-born youths, except the weak or lame, took holy orders. Manyclergymen worked during the week. One, says South, was a cobbler onweekdays, and preached on Sundays. Wilmot says: "We are struck by thephenomenon of a learned man sitting down to prove, with the help of logic, that a priest or a chaplain in a family is not a servant, "--JeremyCollier: _Essays on Pride and the Office of a Chaplain_. 

Fielding drew them and their condition from the life. Parson Adams is themost excellent of men. His cassock is ten years old; over it he dons acoarse white overcoat, and travels on foot to London to sell nine volumesof sermons, wherewithal to buy food for his family. He engages theinnkeeper in serious talk; he does desperate battle to defend a youngwoman who has fallen into the hands of ruffians on the highway; and whenhe is arrested, his manuscript Eschylus is mistaken for a book of ciphersunfolding a dreadful plot against the government. This is a hit againstthe ignorance and want of education among the people; for it is some timebefore some one in the company thinks he saw such characters many yearsago when he was young, and that it may be Greek. The incident of ParsonTrulliber mistaking his fellow-priest for a pork-merchant, on account ofhis coarse garments, is excellent, but will not bear abbreviation. Adamsis splattered by the huge, overfed swine, and ejaculates, "_Nil habeo cumporcis_; I am a clergyman, sir, and am not come to buy hogs!" Thecondition of a curate and the theology of the publican are set forth inthe conversation between Parson Adams and the innkeeper. 

The works of Fielding may be justly accused of describing immoral scenesand using lewd language; but even in this they are delineative of themanners and conversation of an age in which such men lived, such scenesoccurred, such language was used. I liken the great realm of English prosefiction to some famous museum of art. The instructor of the young maycarefully select what pictures to show them; but the student of Englishliterature moves through the rooms and galleries, gazing, judging, approving, condemning, comparing. Genius may have soiled its canvas withwhat is prurient and vile; lascivious groups may stand side by side withpictures of saints and madonnas. To leave the figure, it is wise counselto read on principle, and, armed with principle, to accept and imitate thegood, and to reject the evil. Conscience gives the rule, and for everybane will give the antidote. 

Of this school and period, Fielding is the greatest figure. One word as tohis career. Passing through all social conditions, --first a countrygentleman, living on or rather squandering his first wife's little fortunein following the hounds and entertaining the county; then a playwright, vegetating very seedily on the proceeds of his comedies; justice of thepeace, and encountering, in his vocation, such characters as _JonathanWild_; drunken, licentious, unfaithful to his wife, but always--strangeparadox of poor human nature--generous as the day; mourning with bittertears the loss of his first wife, and then marrying her faithfulmaid-servant, that they may mourn for her together, --he seems to have beena rare mechanism without a _governor_. "Poor Harry Fielding!" And yet tothis irregular, sinful character, we owe the inimitable portraitures ofEnglish life as it was, in _Joseph Andrews_, _Tom Jones_, and _Amelia_. 

Fielding's habits, acting upon a naturally weak constitution, wore himout. He left England, and wandered to the English factory at Lisbon, wherehe died, in 1754, in the forty-eighth year of his age. 

TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT. --Smollett, the third in order and in rank of thenovelists of his age, was born at Cardross, Dumbartonshire, in 1721, of agood family; but he had small means. After some schooling at Dumbarton anda university career at Glasgow, he was, from necessity, apprenticed to asurgeon. But as his grandfather, Sir James Smollett, on whom he depended, died, he left his master, at the age of eighteen, and, taking in hispocket a manuscript play he had thus early written, --_The Regicides_, --hemade his way to London, the El Dorado of all youths with literaryaspirations. The play was not accepted; but, through the knowledgeobtained in the surgery, he received an appointment as surgeon's mate, andwent out with Admiral Vernon's fated expedition to Carthagena in thatcapacity, and thus acquired a knowledge of the sea and of sailors which hewas to use with great effect in his later writings. For a time he remainedin the West Indies, where he fell in love with Miss Anne Lascelles, whomhe afterwards married. In 1746 he returned to London, and, after anunsuccessful attempt to practise medicine, he threw himself with greatvigor into the field of literature. He was a man of strange andantagonistic features, just and generous in theory, quarrelsome andoverbearing in practice. From the year 1746 his pen seems to have beenalways busy. He first tried his hand on some satires, which gained for himnumerous enemies; and in 1748 he produced his first novel, _RoderickRandom_, which, in spite of its indecency, the world at once acknowledgedto be a work of genius: the verisimilitude was perfect; every onerecognized in the hero the type of many a young North countryman going outto seek his fortune. The variety is great, the scenes are more varied andreal than those in Richardson and Fielding, the characters are numerousand vividly painted, and the keen sense of ridicule pervading the bookmakes it a broad jest from beginning to end. Historically, hisdelineations are valuable; for he describes a period in the annals of theBritish marine which has happily passed away, --a hard life in littlestifling holds or forecastles, with hard fare, --a base life, for thesailor, oppressed on shipboard, was the prey of vile women and land-sharkswhen on shore. What pictures of prostitution and indecency! what obscenityof language! what drunken infernal orgies! We may shun the book as wewould shun the company, and yet the one is the exact portraiture of theother. 

Roderick Random was followed, in 1751, by _Peregrine Pickle_, a book insimilar taste, but the characters in which are even more striking. Theforms of Commodore Trunnion, Lieutenant Hatchway, Pipes the boatswain, andAp Morgan the choleric Welsh surgeon, are as familiar to us now as at thefirst. 

Smollett had now retired to Chelsea, where his facile pen was still hardat work. In 1753 appeared his _Ferdinand Count Fathom_, the portraiture ofa complete villain, corresponding in character with Fielding's _JonathanWild_, but with a better moral. 

About this time he translated _Don Quixote_; and although his version isstill published, it is by no means true to the idiom of the language, norto the higher purpose of Cervantes. 

Passing by his _Complete History of Authentic and Entertaining Voyages_, we come to his _History of England from the Descent of Julius Cæsar to theTreaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748_. It is not a profound work; but it isso currently written, that, in lieu of better, the latter portion wastaken to supplement Hume; as a work of less merit than either, that ofBissett was added in the later editions to supplement Smollett and Hume. For this history he is said to have received £2000. 

In 1762 he issued _The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves_, who, with hisattendant, _Captain Crowe_, goes forth, in the style of Don Quixote andSancho, to _do_ the world. Smollett's forte was in the broadly humorous, and this is all that redeems this work from utter absurdity. 

HUMPHREY CLINKER. --His last work of any importance, and perhaps his best, is _The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker_, described in a series of lettersdescriptive of this amusing imaginative journey. Mrs. Winifred, Tabitha, and, best of all, Lismahago, are rare characters, and in all respects, except its vulgarity, it was the prototype of Hood's exquisite _Up theRhine_. 

From the year 1756, Smollett edited, at intervals, various periodicals, and wrote what he thought very good poetry, now forgotten, --an _Ode toIndependence_, after the Greek manner of strophe and antistrophe, notwanting in a noble spirit; and _The Tears of Scotland_, written on theoccasion of the Duke of Cumberland's barbarities, in 1746, after thebattle of Culloden:

 Mourn, hapless Caledonia, mourn Thy banished peace, thy laurels torn! Thy sons, for valor long renowned, Lie slaughtered on thy native ground. 

Smollett died abroad on the 21st of October, 1771. His health entirelybroken, he had gone to Italy, and taken a cottage near Leghorn: a slightresuscitation was the consequence, and he had something in prospect tolive for: he was the heir-at-law to the estate of Bonhill, worth £1000 perannum; but the remorseless archer would not wait for his fortune. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

STERNE, GOLDSMITH, AND MACKENZIE. 

 The Subjective School. Sterne--Sermons. Tristram Shandy. Sentimental Journey. Oliver Goldsmith. Poems--The Vicar. Histories, and Other Works. Mackenzie. The Man of Feeling. 

THE SUBJECTIVE SCHOOL. 

In the same age, and inspired by similar influences, there sprang up awidely-different school of novelists, which has been variously named asthe Sentimental and the Subjective School. Richardson and Fieldingdepicted what they saw around them objectively, rather than theimpressions made upon their individual sensitiveness. Both Sterne andGoldsmith were eminently subjective. They stand as a transparent mediumbetween their works and the reader. The medium through which we see_Tristram Shandy_ is a double lens, --one part of which is the distortedmind of the author, and the other the nondescript philosophy which hepilfered from Rabelais and Burton. The glass through which the _Vicar ofWakefield_ is shown us is the good-nature and loving heart of Goldsmith, which brighten and gladden every creation of his pen. Thus it is that twomen, otherwise essentially unlike, appear together as representatives of aschool which was at once sentimental and subjective. 

STERNE. --Lawrence Sterne was the son of an officer in the British army, and was born, in 1713, at Clonmel, in Ireland, where his father wasstationed. 

His father died not long afterwards, at Gibraltar, from the effect of awound which he had received in a duel; and it is indicative of the _codeof honor_ in that day, that the duel was about a goose at the mess-table!What little Lawrence learned in his brief military experience was put togood use afterwards in his army reminiscences and portraitures in_Tristram Shandy_. No doubt My Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim are sketchesfrom his early recollections. Aided by his mother's relations, he studiedat Cambridge, and afterwards, without an inward call, but in accordancewith the custom of the day, he entered into holy orders, and was presentedto a living, of which he stood very much in need. 

HIS SERMONS. --With no spirit for parochial work, it must be said that hepublished very forcible and devout sermons, and set before his people andthe English world a pious standard of life, by which, however, he did notchoose to measure his own: he preached, but did not practise. In a letterto Mr. Foley, he says: "I have made a good campaign in the field of theliterati: ... Two volumes of sermons which I shall print very soon willbring me a considerable sum.... 'Tis but a crown for sixteen sermons--dogcheap; but I am in quest of honor, not money. "

These discourses abound in excellent instruction and in pithy expressions;but it is painful to see how often his pointed rebukes are undesignedlyaimed at his own conduct. In one of them he says: "When such a man tellsyou that a thing goes against his conscience, always believe he meansexactly the same thing as when he tells you it goes against his stomach--apresent want of appetite being generally the true cause of both. " In hisdiscourse on _The Forgiveness of Injuries_, we have the following strikingsentiment: "The brave only know how to forgive: it is the most refined andgenerous pitch of virtue human nature can arrive at. Cowards have donegood and kind actions; cowards have even fought, nay, sometimes evenconquered; but a coward never forgave. " All readers of _Tristram Shandy_will recall his sermon on the text, "For we trust we have a goodconscience, " so affecting to Corporal Trim and so overwhelming to Dr. Slop. 

But if his sermons are so pious and good, we look in vain into hisentertaining _Letters_ for a corresponding piety in his life. They arewitty, jolly, occasionally licentious. They touch and adorn every topicexcept religion; and so it may be feared that all his religion waswritten, printed, bound, and sold by subscription, in those famoussermons, sixteen for a crown--"dog cheap!"

TRISTRAM SHANDY. --In 1759 appeared the first part of _Tristram Shandy_--astrange, desultory work, in which many of the curious bits of philosophyare taken from Montaigne, Burton, Rabelais, and others; but which has, besides, great originality in the handling and in the portraiture ofcharacters. Much of what Sterne borrowed from these writers passed for hisown in that day, when there were comparatively few readers of the authorsmentioned. As to the charge of plagiarism, we may say that Sterne's herois like the _Gargantua_ of Rabelais in many particulars; but he is a maninstead of a monster; while the chapter on _Hobby-Horses_ is areproduction, in a new form of crystallization, of _Gargantua's woodenhorses_. 

So, too, the entire theological cast of _Tristram Shandy_ is that of thesixteenth century;--questions before the Sorbonne, the use ofexcommunication, and the like. Dr. Slop, the Roman Catholic surgeon of thefamily, is but a weak mouthpiece of his Church in the polemics of thestory; for Sterne was a violent opponent of the Church of Rome in story aswell as in sermon; and Obadiah, the stupid man-servant, is the lay figurewho receives the curses which Dr. Slop reads, --"cursed in house andstable, garden and field and highway, in path or in wood, in the water orin the church. " Whether the doctor was in earnest or not, Obadiah paidhim fully by upsetting him and his pony with the coach-horse. 

But in spite of the resemblance to Rabelais and a former age, it must beallowed that _Tristram Shandy_ contains many of the richest pictures andfairest characters of the age in which it was written. Rural England istruthfully presented, and the political cast of the day is shown in hisreferences to the war in Flanders. Among the sterling original portraitsare those of Mr. Shandy, the country gentleman, controversial andconsequential; Mrs. Shandy, the nonentity, --the Amelia Osborne and Mrs. Nickleby of her day; Yorick, the lukewarm, time-serving priest--Sternehimself: and these are only supplementary characters. 

The sieges of towns in the Low Countries, then going on, are pleasantlyconnected with that most exquisite of characters, _my Uncle Toby_, who hasa fortification in his garden, --sentry-box, cannon, and all, --and whofollows the great movement on this petty scale from day to day, as thebulletins come in from the seat of war. 

The _Widow Wadman_, with her artless wiles, and the "something in hereye, " makes my Uncle Toby--who protests he can see nothing in thewhite--look, not without peril, "with might and main into the pupil. " Ah, that sentry-box and the widow's tactics might have conquered many a morewary man than my Uncle Toby! and yet my Uncle Toby escaped. 

Now, all these are real English characters, sketched from life by the handof genius, and they become our friends and acquaintances forever. It seemsas though Sterne, after a long and close study of Rabelais and Burton, hadfancied that, with their aid, he might write a money-making book; but hisown genius, rising superior to the plagiarism, took the project out of hisvenal hands; and from the antique learning and the incongruities which hehad heaped together, bright and beautiful forms sprang forth like geniifrom the mine, to subsidize the tears and laughter of all future time. What an exquisite creation is my Uncle Toby!--a soldier in the van ofbattle, a man of honor and high tone in every-day life, a kind brother, agood master to Corporal Trim, simple as a child, benevolent as an angel. "Go, poor devil, " quoth he to the fly which buzzed about his nose alldinner-time, "get thee gone; why should I hurt thee? This world is surelywide enough to hold both thee and me!"

And as for Corporal Trim, he is a host in himself. There is in the Englishliterary portrait-gallery no other Uncle Toby, there is no other CorporalTrim. Hazlitt has not exaggerated in saying that the _Story of Le Fevre_is perhaps the finest in the English language. My Uncle Toby's conduct tothe dying officer is the perfection of loving-kindness and charity. 

THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY. --Sterne's _Sentimental Journey_, althoughcharmingly written, --and this is said in spite of the preference of such acritic as Horace Walpole, --will not compare with _Tristram Shandy_: it isleft unfinished, and is constantly suggestive of licentiousness. 

Sterne's English is excellent and idiomatic, and has commended his worksto the ordinary reader, who shrinks from the hyperlatinism of the timerepresented so strongly by Dr. Johnson and his followers. His wit, ifsometimes artificial, is always acute; his sentiment is entirelyartificial; "he is always protruding his sensibility, trying to play uponyou as upon an instrument; more concerned that you should acknowledge hispower than have any depth of feeling. " Thackeray, whose opinion is justquoted, calls him "a great jester, not a great humorist. " He had lived acareless, self-indulgent life, and was no honor to his profession. Hisdeath was like a retribution. In a mean lodging, with no friends but hisbookseller, he died suddenly from hemorrhage. His funeral was hasty, andonly attended by two persons; his burial was in an obscure graveyard; andhis body was taken up by corpse-snatchers for the dissecting-room of theprofessor of anatomy at Cambridge, --alas, poor Yorick!

OLIVER GOLDSMITH. --We have placed Goldsmith in immediate connection withSterne as, like him, of the Subjective School, in his story of the _Vicarof Wakefield_ and his numerous biographical and prose sketches; but hebelongs to more than one literary school of his period. He was a poet, anessayist, a dramatist, and an historian; a writer who, in the words of hisepitaph, --written by Dr. Johnson, and with no extravaganteulogium, --touched all subjects, and touched none that he did notadorn, --_nullum quod tetigit non ornavit_. His life was a strangemelodrama, so varied with laughter and tears, so checkered with fame andmisfortune, so resounding with songs pathetic and comic, that, were he anunknown hero, his adventures would be read with pleasure by all persons ofsensibility. There is no better illustration of the _subjective_ inliterature. It is the man who is presented to us in his works, and who canno more be disjoined from them than the light from the vase, the beautiesof which it discloses. As an essayist, he was of the school of Addison andSteele; but he has more ease of style and more humor than his teachers. Asa dramatist, he had many and superior competitors in his own vein; and yethis plays still occupy the stage. As an historian, he was fluent butsuperficial; and yet the charm of his style and the easy flow of hisnarrative, have given his books currency as manuals of instruction. Andalthough as a writer of fiction, or of truth gracefully veiled in thegarments of fiction, he stands unrivalled in his beautiful and touchingstory of the incorruptible _Vicar_, yet this is his only complete story, and presents but one side of his literary character. Considering him firstas a poet, we shall find that he is one of the Transition School, but thathe has a beautiful originality: his poems appeal not to the initiatedalone, but to human nature in all its conditions and guises; they areelevated and harmonious enough for the most fastidious taste, and simpleand artless enough to please the rustic and the child. To say that he isthe most popular writer in the whole course of English Literature thusfar, is hardly to overstate his claims; and the principal reason is that, with a blundering and improvident nature, a want of dignity, a lack ofcoherence, he had a great heart, alive to human suffering; he was generousto a fault, true to the right, and ever seeking, if constantly failing, todirect and improve his own life, and these good characteristics areeverywhere manifest in his works. A brief recital of the principal eventsin his career will throw light upon his works, and will do the bestjustice to his peculiar character. 

Oliver Goldsmith was born at the little village of Pallas, in Ireland, where his father was a poor curate, on the 10th of November, 1728. Therewere nine children, of whom he was the fifth. His father afterwards movedto Lissoy, which the poet described, in his _Deserted Village_, as

 Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain, Where health and plenty cheered the laboring swain. 

As his father was entirely unable to educate so numerous a family, Goldsmith owed his education partly to his uncle, the Rev. ThomasContarini, and in part to his brother, the Rev. Henry Goldsmith, whom hecherished with the sincerest affection. An attack of the small-pox whilehe was a boy marked his face, and he was to most persons anunprepossessing child. He was ill-treated at school by larger boys, andafterwards at Trinity College, Dublin, which he entered as a sizar, by histutor. He was idle, careless, and improvident: he left college withoutpermission, but was taken back by his brother, and was finally graduatedwith a bachelor's degree, in 1749. His later professional studies werespasmodic and desultory: he tried law and medicine, and more than oncegained a scanty support by teaching. Seized with a rambling spirit, hewent to the Continent, and visited Holland, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy; sometimes gaining a scanty livelihood by teaching English, andsometimes wandering without money, depending upon his flute to win asupper and bed from the rustics who lived on the highway. He obtained, itis said, the degree of Doctor of Medicine at Padua; and on his return toEngland, he went before a board of examiners to obtain the position ofsurgeon's mate in the army or navy. He was at this time so poor that hewas obliged to borrow a suit of clothes to make a proper appearance beforethe examiners. He failed in his examination, and then, in despair, hepawned the borrowed clothes, to the great anger of the publisher who hadlent them. This failure in his medical examination, unfortunate as it thenseemed, secured him to literature. From that time his pen was constantlybusy for the reviews and magazines. His first work was _An Inquiry intothe Present State of Polite Learning in Europe_, which, at least, preparedthe way for his future efforts. This appeared in 1759, and ischaracterized by general knowledge and polish of style. 

HIS POEMS. --In 1764 he published _The Traveller_, a moralizing poem uponthe condition of the people under the European governments. It was at onceand entirely successful; philosophical, elegant, and harmonious, it ispitched in a key suited to the capacity of the world at large; and as, inthe general comparison of nations, he found abundant reason for laudingEngland, it was esteemed patriotic, and was on that account popular. Manyof its lines have been constantly quoted since. 

In 1770 appeared his _Deserted Village_, which was even more popular than_The Traveller_; nor has this popularity flagged from that time down tothe present day. It is full of exquisite pictures of rural life andmanners. It is what it claims to be, --not an attempt at high art or epic, but a gallery of cabinet pictures of rare finish and detail, painted bythe poet's heart and appealing to the sensibility of every reader. Theworld knows it by heart, --the portraiture of the village schoolmaster andhis school; the beautiful picture of the country parson:

 A man he was to all the country dear, And passing rich with forty pounds a year. 

This latter is a worthy companion-piece to Chaucer's "poor persoune, " andis, besides, a filial tribute to Goldsmith's father. So real are thecharacters and scenes, that the poem has been a popular subject for theartist. If in _The Traveller_ he has been philosophical and didactic, inthe _Deserted Village_ he is only descriptive and tender. In no work isthere a finer spirit of true charity, the love of man for God'ssake, --like God himself, "no respecter of persons. "

While in form and versification he is like Pope and the Artificial School, he has the sensibility to nature of Thomson, and the simplicity of feelingand thought of Wordsworth; and thus he stands between the two great poeticperiods, partaking of the better nature of both. 

THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. --Between the appearance of these two poems, in1766, came forth that nonpareil of charming stories, _The Vicar ofWakefield_. It is so well known that we need not enter into an analysis ofit. It is the story of a good vicar, of like passions with ourselves; notwanting in vanity and impetuosity, but shining in his Christian virtuelike a star in the midst of accumulating misfortunes, --a man of immaculatehonor and undying faith, preaching to his fellow-prisoners in the jail, surveying death without fear, and at last, like Job, restored tohappiness, and yet maintaining his humility. It does not seem to have beenconstructed according to artificial rules, but rather to have been toldextemporaneously, without effort and without ambition; and while this veryfact has been the cause of some artistic faults and some improbabilities, it has also given it a peculiar charm, by contrast with such purelyartificial constructions as the _Rasselas_ of Johnson. 

So doubtful was the publisher, who had bought the manuscript for £60, thathe held it back for two years, until the name of the author had becomeknown through _The Traveller_, and was thus a guarantee for its success. The _Vicar of Wakefield_ has also an additional value in its delineationof manners, persons, and conditions in that day, and in its stricturesupon the English penal law, in such terms and with such suggestions asseem a prophecy of the changes which have since taken place. 

HISTORIES, AND OTHER WORKS. --Of Goldsmith's various histories it may besaid that they are of value for the clear, if superficial, presentation offacts, and for their charm of style. 

The best is, without doubt, _The History of England_; but the _Historiesof Greece and Rome_, re-edited, are still used as text-books in manyschools. The _Vicar_ has been translated into most of the modernlanguages, and imitated by many writers since. 

As an essayist, Goldsmith has been a great enricher of English history. His Chinese letters--for the idea of which he was indebted to the _LettresPersanes_ of Montesquieu--describe England in his day with the same_vraisemblance_ which we have noticed in _The Spectator_. These wereafterwards collected and published in a volume entitled _The Citizen ofthe World_. And besides the pleasure of biography, and the humor of thepresentment, his _Life of Beau Nash_ introduces us to Bath and itsfrequenters with historical power. The life at the Spring is one and avery valuable phase of English society. 

As a dramatist, he was more than equalled by Sheridan; but his two plays, _The Good-Natured Man_ and _She Stoops to Conquer_, are still favoritesupon the stage. 

The irregularities of Goldsmith's private life seem to have been ratherdefects in his character than intentional wrong-doings. Generous to afault, squandering without thought what was due to his creditors, losingat play, he lived in continual pecuniary embarrassment, and died unhappy, with a debt of £1000, the existence of which led Johnson to ejaculate, "Was ever poet so trusted before?" He lived a bachelor; and the conclusionseems forced upon us that had he married a woman who could have controlledhim, he, would have been a happier and more respectable man, but perhapshave done less for literature than he did. 

While Goldsmith was a type and presenter of his age, and while he took nohigh flights in the intellectual realms, he so handled what the agepresented that he must be allowed the claim of originality, both in hispoems and in the _Vicar_; and he has had, even to the present day, hostsof imitators. Poems on college gala-days were for a long time faintreflections of his _Traveller_, and simple, causal stories of quiet lifeare the teeming progeny of the _Vicar_, in spite of the Whistoniancontroversy, and the epitaph of his living wife. 

A few of his ballads and songs display great lyric power, but the most ofhis poetry is not lyric; it is rather a blending of the pastoral and epicwith rare success. His minor poems are few, but favorites. Among these isthe beautiful ballad entitled _Edwin and Angelina_, or _The Hermit_, whichfirst appeared in _The Vicar of Wakefield_, but which has since beenprinted separately among his poems. Of its kind and class it has nosuperior. _Retaliation_ is a humorous epitaph upon his friends andco-literati, hitting off their characteristics with truth and point; and_The Haunch of Venison_--upon which he did not dine--is an amusingincident which might have happened to any Londoner like himself, but whichno one could have related so well as he. 

He died in 1774, at the age of forty-five; but his fame--his betterlife--is more vigorous than ever. Washington Irving, whose writings aresimilar in style to those of Goldsmith, has extended and perpetuated hisreputation in America by writing his Biography; a charming work, manytouches of which seem almost autobiographical, as displaying theresemblance between the writer and his subject. 

MACKENZIE. --From Sterne and Goldsmith we pass to Mackenzie, who, if not aconscious imitator of the former, is, at least, unconsciously formed uponthe model of Sterne, without his genius, but also without his coarseness:in the management of his narrative, he is a medium between Sterne andWalter Scott; indeed, from his long life, he saw the period of both theseauthors, and his writings partake of the characteristics of both. 

Henry Mackenzie was born at Edinburgh, in August, 1745, and lived until1831, to the ripe age of eighty-six. He was educated at the University ofEdinburgh, and afterwards studied law. He wrote some strong politicalpamphlets in favor of the Pitt government, for which he was rewarded withthe office of comptroller of the taxes, which he held to the day of hisdeath. 

THE MAN OF FEELING. --In 1771 the world was equally astonished anddelighted by the appearance of his first novel, _The Man of Feeling_. Inthis there are manifest tokens of his debt to Sterne's _SentimentalJourney_, in the journey of Harley, in the story of the beggar and hisdog, and in somewhat of the same forced sensibility in the account ofHarley's death. 

In 1773 appeared his _Man of the World_ which was in some sort a sequel tothe _Man of Feeling_, but which wearies by the monotony of the plot. 

In 1777 he published _Julia de Roubigné_, which, in the opinion of many, shares the palm with his first novel: the plot is more varied than that ofthe second, and the language is exceedingly harmonious--elegiac prose. Thestory is plaintive and painful: virtue is extolled, but made to suffer, ina domestic tragedy, which all readers would be glad to see endingdifferently. 

At different times Mackenzie edited _The Mirror_ and _The Lounger_, and hehas been called the restorer of the Essay. His story of the venerable _LaRoche_, contributed to _The Mirror_, is perhaps the best specimen of hispowers as a sentimentalist: it portrays the influence of Christianity, asexhibited in the very face of infidelity, to support the soul in thesorest of trials--the death of an only and peerless daughter. 

His contributions to the above-named periodicals were very numerous andpopular. 

The name of his first novel was applied to himself as a man. He was knownas the _man of feeling_ to the whole community. This was a misnomer: hewas kind and affable; his evening parties were delightful; but he hadnothing of the pathetic or sentimental about him. On the contrary, he washumorous, practical, and worldly-wise; very fond of field sports andathletic exercises. His sentiment--which has been variously criticized, bysome as the perfection of moral pathos, and by others as lackadaisical andcanting--may be said to have sprung rather from his observations of lifeand manners than to have welled spontaneously from any source within hisown heart. 

Sterne and Goldsmith will be read as long as the English language lasts, and their representative characters will be quoted as models and standardseverywhere: Mackenzie is fast falling into an oblivion from which he willonly be resuscitated by the historian of English Literature. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE HISTORICAL TRIAD IN THE SCEPTICAL AGE. 

 The Sceptical Age. David Hume. History of England. Metaphysics. Essay on Miracles. Robertson. Histories. Gibbon. The Decline and Fall. 

THE SCEPTICAL AGE. 

History presents itself to the student in two forms: The first is_chronicle_, or a simple relation of facts and statistics; and the second, _philosophical history_, in which we use these facts and statistics in theconsideration of cause and effect, and endeavor to extract a moral fromthe actions and events recorded. From pregnant causes the philosophichistorian traces, at long distances, the important results; or, conversely, from the present condition of things--the good and evil aroundhim--he runs back, sometimes remotely, to the causes from which they havesprung. Chronicle is very pleasing to read, and the reader may be, to someextent, his own philosopher; but the importance of history as a study isfound in its philosophy. 

As far down as the eighteenth century, almost everything in historypartakes of the nature of chronicle. In that century, in obedience to thelaw of human progress, there sprang up in England and on the Continent themen who first made chronicle material for philosophy, and used philosophyto teach by example what to imitate and what to shun. 

What were the circumstances which led, in the eighteenth century, to thesimultaneous appearance of Hume, Gibbon, and Robertson, as the originatorsof a new school of history? Some of them have been already mentioned intreating of the antiquarian age. We have endeavored to show how theEnglish literati--novelists, essayists, and poets--have been in partunconscious historians. It will also appear that the professed historiansthemselves have been, in a great measure, the creatures of Englishhistory. The _fifteenth_ century was the period when the revival ofletters took place, and a great spur was given to mental activity; but theworld, like a child, was again learning rudiments, and finding out what itwas, and what it possessed at that present time: it received the newclassical culture presented to it at the fall of the lower empire, and wascontent to learn the existing, without endeavoring to create the new, oreven to recompose the scattered fragments of the past. The _eighteenth_century saw a new revival: the world had become a man; great progress wasreported in arts, in inventions, and in discoveries; science began tolabor at the arduous but important task of classification; new theories ofgovernment and laws were propounded; the past was consulted that itsexperience might be applied; the partisan chronicles needed to be unitedand compared that truth might be elicited; the philosophic historian wasrequired, and the people were ready to learn, and to criticize, what heproduced. 

I have ventured to call this the Sceptical Age. It had othercharacteristics: this was one. We use the word sceptical in itsetymological sense: it was an age of inquiry, of doubt to be resolved. Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, D'Alembert, and Diderot had founded a newschool of universal inquiry, and from their bold investigations andstartling theories sprang the society of the _illuminati_, and the race ofthinkers. They went too far: they stabbed the truth as it lay in the graspof error. From thinkers they became free-thinkers: from philosophers theybecame infidels, and some of them atheists. This was the age whichproduced "the triumvirate of British historians who, " in the words ofMontgomery, "exemplified in their very dissimilar styles the triplecontrast of simplicity, elegance, and splendor. "

Imbued with this spirit of the time, Hume undertook to write a _History ofEngland_, which, with all its errors and faults, still ranks among thebest efforts of English historians. Like the French philosophers, Hume wasan infidel, and his scepticism appears in his writings; but, unlikethem--for they were stanch reformers in government as well as infidels infaith--he who was an infidel was also an aristocrat in sentiment, and aconsistent Tory his life long. In his history, with all the artifices of aphilosopher, he takes the Jacobite side in the civil war. 

HUME. --David Hume was born in Edinburgh on the 26th of April (O. S. ), 1711. His life was without many vicissitudes of interest, but his efforts toachieve an enduring reputation on the most solid grounds, mark him as anotable example of patient industry, study, and economy. He led astudious, systematic, and consistent life. 

Although of good family, --being a descendant of the Earl of Home, --he wasin poor circumstances, and after some study of the law, and someunsuccessful literary ventures, he was obliged to seek employment as ameans of livelihood. Thus he became tutor or keeper to the young Marquisof Annandale, who was insane. Abandoning this position in disgust, he wasappointed secretary to General St. Clair in various embassies, --to Paris, Vienna, and Turin; everywhere hoarding his pay, until he becameindependent, "though, " he says, "most of my friends were inclined to smilewhen I said so; in short, I was master of a thousand pounds. "

His earliest work was a _Treatise on Human Nature_, published in 1738, which met with no success. Nothing discouraged thereat, in 1741 he issueda volume of _Essays Moral and Political_, the success of which emboldenedhim to publish, in 1748, his _Inquiry Concerning the Human Understanding_. These and other works were preparing his pen for its greater task, thematerial for which he was soon to find. 

In 1752 he was appointed librarian to the Faculty of Advocates, not forthe emolument, but with the real purpose of having entire control of thebooks and material in the library; and then he determined to write the_History of England_. 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND. --He began with the accession of the Stuarts, in 1603, the period when the popular element, so long kept tranquil by the powerand sex of Queen Elizabeth, was ready first to break out into openassertion. Hume's self-deception must have been rudely discovered to him;for he tells us, in an autobiography fortunately preserved, that heexpected so dispassionately to steer clear of all existent parties, or, rather, to be so just to all, that he should gain universal approbation. "Miserable, " he adds, "was my disappointment. I was assailed by one cry ofreproach, disapprobation, and even detestation. English, Scotch, Irish, Whig and Tory, churchman and sectary, free-thinker and religionist, patriot and courtier, united, in their rage, against the man who hadpresumed to shed a generous tear for the fate of Charles I. And the Earlof Strafford. " How far, too, this was ignorant invective, may be judgedfrom the fact that in twelve months only forty-five copies of his workwere sold. 

However, he patiently continued his labor. The first volume, containingthe reigns of James I. And Charles I, had been issued in 1754; his second, published in 1756, and containing the later history of the Commonwealth, of Charles II. , and James II. , and concluding with the revolution of 1688, was received with more favor, and "helped to buoy up its unfortunatebrother. " Then he worked backward: in 1759 he produced the reigns of thehouse of Tudor; and in 1761, the earlier history, completing his work, from the earliest times to 1688. The tide had now turned in his favor; thesales were large, and his pecuniary rewards greater than any historian hadyet received. 

The Tory character of his work is very decided: he not only sheds agenerous tear for the fate of Charles I. , but conceals or glosses thevillanies of Stuarts far worse than Charles. The liberties of Englandconsist, in his eyes, of wise concessions made by the sovereign, ratherthan as the inalienable birthright of the English man. 

He has also been charged with want of industry and honesty in the use ofhis materials--taking things at second-hand, without consulting originalauthorities which were within his reach, and thus falling into manymistakes, while placing in his marginal notes the names of the originalauthors. This charge is particularly just with reference to theAnglo-Saxon period, since so picturesquely described by Sharon Turner. 

The first in order of the philosophical historians, he is rather acollector of facts than a skilful diviner with them. His style is sonorousand fluent, but not idiomatic. Dr. Johnson said, "His style is notEnglish; the structure of his sentences is French, "--an opinion concurredin by the eminent critic, Lord Jeffrey. 

But whatever the criticism, the _History_ of Hume is a great work. He didwhat was never done before. For a long time his work stood alone; and evennow it has the charm of a clear, connected narrative, which is stilllargely consulted by many who are forewarned of its errors and faults. Andhowever unidiomatic his style, it is very graceful and flowing, and lendsa peculiar charm to his narrative. 

METAPHYSICS. --Of Hume as a philosopher, we need not here say much. He wasacute, intelligent, and subtle; he was, in metaphysical language, "asceptical nihilist. " And here a distinction must be made between hisreligious tenets and his philosophical views, --a distinction so happilystated by Sir William Hamilton, that we present it in his words: "Thoughdecidedly opposed to one and all of Hume's theological conclusions, I haveno hesitation in asserting of his philosophical scepticism, that this wasnot only beneficial in its results, but, in the circumstances of theperiod, even a necessary step in the progress of Philosophy towardsTruth. " And again he says, "To Hume we owe the philosophy of Kant, andtherefore also, in general, the later philosophy of Germany. " "To Hume, inlike manner, we owe the philosophy of Reid, and, consequently, what is nowdistinctively known in Europe as the Philosophy of the Scottish School. "Great praise this from one of the greatest Christian philosophers of thiscentury, and it shows Hume to have been more original as a philosopherthan as an historian. 

He is also greatly commended by Lord Brougham as a political economist. "His _Political Discourses_, " says his lordship, "combine almost everyexcellence which can belong to such a performance.... Their great merit istheir originality, and the new system of politics and political economywhich they unfold. "

MIRACLES. --The work in which is most fairly set forth his religiousscepticism is his _Essay on Miracles_. In it he adopts the position ofLocke, who had declared "that men should not believe any proposition thatis contrary to reason, on the authority either of inspiration or ofmiracle; for the reality of the inspiration or of the miracle can only beestablished by reason. " Before Hume, assaults on the miracles recorded inScripture were numerous and varied. Spinoza and the Pantheistic School hadstarted the question, "Are miracles possible?" and had taken the negative. Hume's question is, "Are miracles credible?" And as they are contrary tohuman experience, his answer is essentially that it must be always moreprobable that a miracle is false than that it is true; since it is notcontrary to experience that witnesses are false or deceived. With him itis, therefore, a question of the preponderance of evidence, which hedeclares to be always against the miracle. This is not the place todiscuss these topics. Archbishop Whately has practically illustrated thefallacy of Hume's reasoning, in a little book called _Historic Doubts, relative to Napoleon Bonaparte_, in which, with Hume's logic, he hasproved, that the great emperor never lived; and Whately's successor in thearchbishopric of Dublin, Dr. Trench, has given us some thoughtful words onthe subject: "So long as we abide in the region of nature, miraculous andimprobable, miraculous and incredible may be allowed to remain convertibleterms; but once lift up the whole discussion into a higher region, onceacknowledge aught higher than nature--_a kingdom of God_, and men theintended denizens of it--and the whole argument loses its strength and theforce of its conclusions. "

Hume's death occurred on the 25th of August, 1776. His scepticism, orphilosophy as he called it, remained with him to the end. He even divertedhimself with the prospect of the excuses he would make to Charon as hereached the fatal river, and is among the few doubters who have calmlyapproached the grave without that concern which the Christian's hope aloneis generally able to dispel. 

WILLIAM ROBERTSON. --the second of the great historians of the eighteenthcentury, although very different from the others in his personal life andin his creed, --was, like them, a representative and creature of the age. They form, indeed, a trio in literary character as well as in period; andwe have letters from each to the others on the appearance of their works, showing that they form also what in the present day is called a "MutualAdmiration Society. " They were above common envy: they recognized eachother's excellence, and forbore to speak of each other's faults. As aphilosopher, Hume was the greatest of the three; as an historian, the palmmust be awarded to Gibbon. But Robertson surprises us most from the factthat a quiet Scotch pastor, who never travelled, should have attempted, and so gracefully treated, subjects of such general interest as those hehandled. 

William Robertson was the son of a Scottish minister, and was born atBorthwick, in Scotland, on September 19th, in the year 1721. He was aprecocious child, and, after attending school at Dalkeith, he entered theUniversity of Edinburgh at the age of twelve. At the age of twenty he waslicensed to preach. He published, in 1755, a sermon on _The Situation ofthe World at the Time of Christ's Appearance_, which attracted attention;but he astonished the world by issuing, in 1759, his _History of ScotlandDuring the Reigns of Queen Mary, and of James VI. Until his Accession tothe Crown of England_. This is undoubtedly his best work, but not of suchgeneral interest as his others. His materials were scanty, and he did notconsult such as were in his reach with much assiduity. The invaluablerecords of the archives of Simancas were not then opened to the world, buthe lived among the scenes of his narrative, and had the advantage ofknowing all the traditions and of hearing all the vehement opinions _pro_and _con_ upon the subjects of which he treated. The character of QueenMary is drawn with a just but sympathetic hand, and his verdict is not soutterly denunciatory as that of Mr. Froude. Such was the popularity ofthis work, that in 1764 its author was appointed to the honorable officeof Historiographer to His Majesty for Scotland. In 1769 he published his_History of Charles V. _ Here was a new surprise. Whatever its faults, asafterwards discerned by the critics, it opened a new and brilliant page tothe uninitiated reader, and increased his reputation very greatly. Thehistory is preceded by a _View of the Progress of Society in Europe fromthe Subversion of the Roman Empire to the Beginning of the SixteenthCentury_. The best praise that can be given to this _View_ is, thatstudents have since used it as the most excellent summary of that kindexisting. Of the history itself it may be said that, while it is greatlywanting in historic material in the interest of the narrative and thesplendor of the pageantry of the imperial court, it marked a new era inhistorical delineations. 

HISTORY OF AMERICA. --In 1777 appeared the first eight books of his_History of America_, to which, in 1778, he appended additions andcorrections. The concluding books, the ninth and tenth, did not appearuntil 1796, when, three years after his death, they were issued by hisson. As a connected narrative of so great an event in the world's historyas the discovery of America, it stood quite alone. If, since that time, far better and fuller histories have appeared, we should not withhold ourmeed of praise from this excellent forerunner of them all. One greatdefect of this and the preceding work was his want of knowledge of theGerman and Spanish historians, and of the original papers then locked upin the archives of Simancas; later access to which has given such greatvalue to the researches of Irving and Prescott and Sterling. Besides, Robertson lacked the life-giving power which is the property of truegenius. His characters are automata gorgeously arrayed, but withoutbreath; his style is fluent and sometimes sparkling, but in all respectshe has been superseded, and his works remain only as curiousrepresentatives of the age to the literary student. One other work remainsto be mentioned, and that is his _Historical Disquisition Concerning theKnowledge which the Ancients had of India, and the Progress of Trade withthat Country Prior to the Discovery of the Passage to it by the Cape ofGood Hope_. This is chiefly of value as it indicates the interest felt inEngland at the rise of the English Empire in India; but for real facts ithas no value at all. 

GIBBON. --Last in order of time, though far superior as an historian toHume and Robertson, stands Edward Gibbon, the greatest historian Englandhas produced, whether we regard the dignity of his style--antithetic andsonorous; the range of his subject--the history of a thousand years; theastonishing fidelity of his research in every department which containshistoric materials; or the symmetry and completeness of his colossal work. 

Like Hume, he has left us a sketch of his own life and labors, simple anddispassionate, from which it appears that he was born in London on the27th of April, 1737; and, being of a good family, he had every advantageof education. Passing a short time at the University of Oxford, he standsin a small minority of those who can find no good in their _Alma Mater_. "To the University of Oxford, " he says, "I acknowledge no obligation, andshe will as cheerfully renounce me for a son as I am willing to disclaimher for a mother. I spent fourteen months at Magdalen College. They provedto be fourteen of the most idle and unprofitable months of my whole life. "This singular experience may be contrasted with that of hundreds, but maybe most fittingly illustrated by stating that of Dr. Lowth, a venerablecontemporary of the historian. He speaks enthusiastically of the placewhere the student is able "to breathe the same atmosphere that had beenbreathed by Hooker and Chillingworth and Locke; to revel in its grand andwell-ordered libraries; to form part of that academic society whereemulation without envy, ambition without jealousy, contention withoutanimosity, incited industry and awakened genius. "

Gibbon, while still in his boyhood, had read with avidity ancient andmodern history, and had written a juvenile paper on _The Age ofSesostris_, which was, at least, suggested by Voltaire's _Siècle de LouisXIV_. 

Early interested, too, in the history of Christianity, his studies led himto become a Roman Catholic; but his belief was by no means stable. Sent byhis father to Lausanne, in Switzerland, to be under the religious trainingof a Protestant minister, he changed his opinions, and became again aProtestant. His convictions, however, were once more shaken, and, at thelast, he became a man of no creed, a sceptic of the school of Voltaire, acreature of the age of illumination. Many passages of his history displaya sneering unbelief, which moves some persons more powerfully than thesubtlest argument. This modern Platonist, beginning with sensation, evolves his philosophy from within, --from the finite mind; whereas humanhistory can only be explained in the light of revelation, which gives tohumanity faith, but which educes all science from the infinite--the mindof God. 

The history written by Gibbon, called _The Decline and Fall of the RomanEmpire_, begins with that empire in its best days, under Hadrian, andextends to the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, under Mohammed II. , in 1453. 

And this marvellous scope he has treated with a wonderful equality ofresearch and power;--the world-absorbing empire, the origin and movementsof the northern tribes and the Scythian marauders, the fall of the WesternEmpire, the history of the civil law, the establishment of the Gothicmonarchies, the rise and spread of Mohammedanism, the obscurity of themiddle age deepening into gloom, the crusades, the dawning of letters, andthe inauguration of the modern era after the fall of Constantinople, --thedetailed history of a thousand years. It is difficult to conceive that anyone should suggest such a task to himself; it is astonishing to thinkthat, with a dignified, self-reliant tenacity of purpose, it should havebeen completely achieved. It was an historic period, in which, in thewords of Corneille, "_Un grand destin commence un grand destin s'achève_. "In many respects Gibbon's work stands alone; the general student mustrefer to Gibbon, because there is no other work to which he can refer. Itwas translated by Guizot into French, the first volume by Wenck intoGerman (he died before completing it); and it was edited by Dean Milman inEngland. 

The style of Gibbon is elegant and powerful; at first it is singularlypleasing, but as one reads it becomes too sonorous, and fatigues, as thecrashing notes of a grand march tire the ear. His periods are antithetic;each contains a surprise and a witty point. His first two volumes haveless of this stately magnificence, but in his later ones, in seeking tovindicate popular applause, he aims to shine, and perpetually labors foreffect. Although not such a philosopher as Hume, his work is quite asphilosophical as Hume's history, and he has been more faithful in the useof his materials. Guizot, while pointing out his errors, says he wasstruck, after "a second and attentive perusal, " with "the immensity of hisresearches, the variety of his knowledge, and, above all, with that trulyphilosophical discrimination which judges the past as it would judge thepresent. "

The danger to the unwary reader is from the sceptical bias of the author, which, while he states every important fact, leads him, by its manner ofpresentation, to warp it, or put it in a false light. Thus, for example, he has praise for paganism, and easy absolution for its sins; Mohammedwalks the stage with a stately stride; Alaric overruns Europe to a grandquickstep; but Christianity awakens no enthusiasm, and receives noeulogium, although he describes its early struggles, its martyrdoms, itstriumphs under Constantine, its gentle radiance during the dark ages, andits powerful awakening. Because he cannot believe, he cannot even be just. 

In his special chapter on the rise and spread of Christianity, he gives avaluable summary of its history, and of the claims of the papacy, withperhaps a leaning towards the Latin Church. Gibbon finished his work atLausanne on the 27th of June, 1787. 

Its conception had come to his mind as he sat one evening amid the ruinsof the Capitol at Rome, and heard the barefooted friars singing vespers inthe Temple of Jupiter. He had then thought of writing the decline and fallof the city of Rome, but soon expanded his view to the empire. This was in1764. Nearly thirteen years afterwards, he wrote the last line of the lastpage in his garden-house at Lausanne, and reflected joyfully upon hisrecovered freedom and his permanent fame. His second thought, however, will fitly close this notice with a moral from his own lips: "My pride wassoon humbled, and a sober melancholy was spread over my mind by the ideathat I had taken an everlasting leave of an old and agreeable companion, and that whatever might be the future fate of my history, the life of thehistorian must be short and precarious. "

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS TO HISTORY. 

_James Boswell_, 1740-1795: he was the son of a Scottish judge called LordAuchinleck, from his estate. He studied law, and travelled, publishing, onhis return, _Journal of a Tour in Corsica_. He appears to us asimple-hearted and amiable man, inquisitive, and exact in details. Hebecame acquainted with Dr. Johnson in 1763, and conceived an immenseadmiration for him. In numerous visits to London, and in their tour to theHebrides together, he noted Johnson's speech and actions, and, in 1791, published his life, which has already been characterized as the greatestbiography ever written. Its value is manifold; not only is it a faithfulportrait of the great writer, but, in the detailed record of his life, wehave the wit, dogmatism, and learning of his hero, as expressing andillustrating the history of the age, quite as fully as the published worksof Johnson. In return for this most valuable contribution to history andliterature, the critics, one and all, have taxed their ingenuity to findstrong words of ridicule and contempt for Boswell, and have done him greatinjustice. Because he bowed before the genius of Johnson, he was not atoady, nor a fool; at the worst, he was a fanatic, and a not always wisechampion. Johnson was his king, and his loyalty was unqualified. 

_Horace Walpole_, the Right Honorable, and afterwards Earl of Orford, 1717-1797: he was a wit, a satirist, and a most accomplished writer, who, notwithstanding, affected to despise literary fame. His paternity wasdoubted; but he enjoyed wealth and honors, and, by the possession of threesinecures, he lived a life of elegant leisure. He transformed a smallhouse on the bank of the Thames, at Twickenham, into a miniature castle, called _Strawberry Hill_, which he filled with curiosities. He held a veryversatile pen, and wrote much on many subjects. Among his desultory worksare: _Anecdotes of Painting in England_, and _Ædes Walpoliana_, adescription of the pictures at Houghton Hall, the seat of Sir RobertWalpole. He also ranks among the novelists, as the author of _The Castleof Otranto_, in which he deviates from the path of preceding writers offiction--a sort of individual reaction from their portraitures of existingsociety to the marvellous and sensational. This work has been variouslycriticized; by some it has been considered a great flight of theimagination, but by most it is regarded as unnatural and full of"pasteboard machinery. " He had immediate followers in this vein, amongwhom are Mrs. Aphra Behn, in her _Old English Baron_; and Ann Radcliffe, in _The Romance of the Forest_, and _The Mysteries of Udolpho_. Walpolealso wrote a work entitled _Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign ofRichard III_. But his great value as a writer is to be found in his_Memoirs_ and varied _Correspondence_, in which he presents photographs ofthe society in which he lives. Scott calls him "the best letter-writer inthe language. " Among the series of his letters, those of the greatesthistorical importance are those addressed to Sir Horace Mann, between 1760and 1785. Of this series, Macaulay, who is his severest critic, says: "Itforms a connected whole--a regular journal of what appeared to Walpole themost important transactions of the last twenty years of George II. 'sreign. It contains much new information concerning the history of thattime, the portion of English history of which common readers know theleast. "

_John Lord Hervey_, 1696-1743: he is known for his attempts in poetry, andfor a large correspondence, since published; but his chief title to rankamong the contributors to history is found in his _Memoirs of the Court ofGeorge II. And Queen Caroline_, which were not published until 1848. Theygive an unrivalled view of the court and of the royal household; and thevariety of the topics, combined with the excellence of description, renderthem admirable as aids to understanding the history. 

_Sir William Blackstone_, 1723-1780: a distinguished lawyer, he was anunwearied student of the history of the English statute law, and was onthat account made Professor of Law in the University of Oxford. Some timea member of Parliament, he was afterwards appointed a judge. He edited_Magna Charta_ and _The Forest Charter_ of King John and Henry III. Buthis great work, one that has made his name famous, is _The Commentaries onthe Laws of England_. Notwithstanding much envious criticism, it hasmaintained its place as a standard work. It has been again and againedited, and perhaps never better than by the Hon. George Sharswood, one ofthe Judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. 

_Adam Smith_, 1723-1790: this distinguished writer on political economy, the intelligent precursor of a system based upon the modern usage ofnations, was educated at Glasgow and Oxford, and became in turn Professorof Logic and of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow. His lecturecourses in Moral Science contain the germs of his two principal works: 1. _The Theory of Moral Sentiments_, and 2. _An Enquiry into the Nature andCauses of the Wealth of Nations_. The theory of the first has beensuperseded by the sounder views of later writers; but the second hasconferred upon him enduring honor. In it he establishes as a principlethat _labor_ is the source of national wealth, and displays the value ofdivision of labor. This work--written in clear, simple language, withcopious illustrations--has had a wonderful influence upon the legislationand the commercial system of all civilized states since its issue, and hasgreatly conduced to the happiness of the human race. He wrote it inretirement, during a period of ten years. He astonished and instructed hisperiod by presenting it with a new and necessary science. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

SAMUEL JOHNSON AND HIS TIMES. 

 Early Life and Career. London. Rambler and Idler. The Dictionary. Other Works. Lives of the Poets. Person and Character. Style. Junius. 

EARLY LIFE AND CAREER. 

Doctor Samuel Johnson was poet, dramatist, essayist, lexicographer, dogmatist, and critic, and, in this array of professional characters, played so distinguished a part in his day that he was long regarded as aprodigy in English literature. His influence has waned since hispersonality has grown dim, and his learning been superseded orovershadowed; but he still remains, and must always remain, the mostprominent literary figure of his age; and this is in no small measure dueto his good fortune in having such a champion and biographer as JamesBoswell. Johnson's Life by Boswell is without a rival among biographies:in the words of Macaulay: "Homer is not more decidedly the first of heroicpoets; Shakspeare is not more decidedly the first of dramatists;Demosthenes is not more decidedly the first of orators, than Boswell isthe first of biographers;" and Burke has said that Johnson appears fargreater in Boswell's book than in his own. We thus know everything aboutJohnson, as we do not know about any other literary man, and thisknowledge, due to his biographer, is at least one of the elements ofJohnson's immense reputation. 

He was born at Lichfield on the 18th of September, 1709. His father was abookseller; and after having had a certain amount of knowledge "wellbeaten into him" by Mr. Hunter, young Johnson was for two years anassistant in his father's shop. But such was his aptitude for learning, that he was sent in 1728 to Pembroke College, Oxford. His youth was not ahappy one: he was afflicted with scrofula, "which disfigured a countenancenaturally well formed, and hurt his visual nerves so much that he did notsee at all with one of his eyes. " He had a morbid melancholy, --fits ofdejection which made his life miserable. He was poor; and when, in 1731, his father died insolvent, he was obliged to leave the university withouta degree. After fruitless attempts to establish a school, he married, in1736, Mrs. Porter, a widow, who had £800. Rude and unprepossessing toothers, she was sincerely loved by her husband, and deeply lamented whenshe died. In 1737 Johnson went to London in company with young Garrick, who had been one of his few pupils, and who was soon to fill the Englishworld with his theatrical fame. 

LONDON. --Johnson soon began to write for Cave's _Gentleman's Magazine_, and in 1738 he astonished Pope and the artificial poets by producing, intheir best vein, his imitation of the third Satire of Juvenal, which hecalled _London_. This was his usher into the realm of literature. But hedid not become prominent until he had reached his fiftieth year; hecontinued to struggle with gloom and poverty, too proud to seek patronagein an age when popular remuneration had not taken its place. In 1740 hewas a reporter of the debates in parliament for Cave; and it is said thatmany of the indifferent speakers were astonished to read the next day thefine things which the reporter had placed in their mouths, which they hadnever uttered. 

In 1749 he published his _Vanity of Human Wishes_, an imitation of thetenth Satire of Juvenal, which was as heartily welcomed as _London_ hadbeen. It is Juvenal applied to English and European history. It containsmany lines familiar to us all; among them are the following:

 Let observation with extended view Survey mankind from China to Peru. 

In speaking of Charles XII. , he says:

 His fall was destined to a barren strand, A petty fortress and a dubious hand; He left a name at which the world grew pale, To point a moral or adorn a tale. 

 From Marlborough's eyes the streams of dotage flow, And Swift expires a driveller and a show. 

In the same year he published his tragedy of _Irene_, which, notwithstanding the friendly efforts of Garrick, who was now manager ofDrury Lane Theatre, was not successful. As a poet, Johnson was theperfection of the artificial school; and this very technical perfectionwas one of the causes of the reaction which was already beginning to sweepit away. 

RAMBLER AND IDLER. --In 1750 he commenced _The Rambler_, a periodical like_The Spectator_, of which he wrote nearly all the articles, and whichlived for two years. Solemn, didactic, and sonorous, it lacked the varietyand genial humor which had characterized Addison and Steele. In 1758 hestarted _The Idler_, in the same vein, which also ran its respectablecourse for two years. In 1759 his mother died, and, in order to defray theexpenses of her funeral, he wrote his story of _Rasselas_ in the eveningsof one week, for two editions of which he received £125. Full of moralaphorisms and instruction, this "Abyssinian tale" is entirely English inphilosophy and fancy, and has not even the slight illusion of otherEastern tales in French and English, which were written about the sametime, and which are very similar in form and matter. Of _Rasselas_, Hazlitt says: "It is the most melancholy and debilitating moralspeculation that was ever put forth. "

THE DICTIONARY. --As early as 1747 he had begun to write his EnglishDictionary, which, after eight years of incessant and unassisted labor, appeared in 1755. It was a noble thought, and produced a noble work--awork which filled an original vacancy. In France, a National Academy hadundertaken a similar work; but this English giant had accomplished hislabors alone. The amount of reading necessary to fix and illustrate hisdefinitions was enormous, and the book is especially valuable from the aptand varied quotations from English authors. He established the language, as he found it, on a firm basis in signification and orthography. He laidthe foundation upon which future lexicographers were to build; but he wasignorant of the Teutonic languages, from which so much of the structureand words of the English are taken, and thus is signally wanting in thescientific treatment of his subject. This is not to his discredit, for thescience of language has had its origin in a later and modern time. 

Perhaps nothing displays more fully the proud, sturdy, and self-reliantcharacter of the man, than the eight years of incessant and unassistedlabor upon this work. 

His letter to Lord Chesterfield, declining his tardy patronage, afterexperiencing his earlier neglect, is a model of severe and yet respectfulrebuke, and is to be regarded as one of the most significant events in hishistory. In it he says: "The notice you have been pleased to take of mylabors, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till Iam indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impartit; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynicalasperity not to confess obligation when no benefit has been received, orto be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to apatron which Providence has enabled me to do for myself. " Living as he didin an age when the patronage of the great was wearing out, and publicappreciation beginning to reward an author's toils, this manly letter gaveanother stab to the former, and hastened the progress of the latter. 

OTHER WORKS. --The fame of Johnson was now fully established, and hislabors were rewarded, in 1762, by the receipt of a pension of £300 fromthe government, which made him quite independent. It was then, in the veryheyday of his reputation, that, in 1763, he became acquainted with JamesBoswell, to whom he at once became a Grand Lama; who took down the wordsas they dropped from his lips, and embalmed his fame. 

In 1764 he issued his edition of Shakspeare, in eight octavo volumes, ofwhich the best that can be said is, that it is not valuable as acommentary. A commentator must have something in common with his author;there was nothing congenial between Shakspeare and Johnson. 

It was in 1773, that, urged by Boswell, he made his famous _Journey to theHebrides_, or Western Islands of Scotland, of which he gave delightfuldescriptions in a series of letters to his friend Mrs. Thrale, which heafterwards wrote out in more pompous style for publication. The lettersare current, witty, and simple; the published work is stilted andgrandiloquent. 

It is well known that he had no sympathy with the American colonies intheir struggle against British oppression. When, in 1775, the Congresspublished their _Resolutions_ and _Address_, he answered them in aprejudiced and illogical paper entitled _Taxation no Tyranny_. Notwithstanding its want of argument, it had the weight of his name and ofa large party; but history has construed it by the _animus_ of the writer, who had not long before declared of the colonists that they were "a raceof convicts, and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short ofhanging. "

As early as 1744 he had published a Life of the gifted but unhappySavage, whom in his days of penury he had known, and with whom he hadsympathized; but in 1781 appeared his _Lives of the English Poets, withCritical Observations on their Works_, and _Lives of Sundry EminentPersons_. 

LIVES OF THE POETS. --These comprise fifty-two poets, most of them littleknown at the present day, and thirteen _eminent persons_. Of historicalvalue, as showing us the estimate of an age in which Johnson was an usherto the temple of Fame, they are now of little other value; those of hisown school and coterie he could understand and eulogize. To Milton heaccorded carefully measured praise, but could not do him full justice, from entire want of sympathy; the majesty of blank verse pentameters hecould not appreciate, and from Milton's puritanism he recoiled withdisgust. 

Johnson died on the 13th of December, 1784, and was buried in WestminsterAbbey; a flat stone with an inscription was placed over his grave: it wasalso designed to erect his monument there, but St. Paul's Cathedral wasafterwards chosen as the place. There, a colossal figure represents thedistinguished author, and a Latin epitaph, written by Dr. Parr, recordshis virtues and his achievements in literature. 

PERSON AND CHARACTER. --A few words must suffice to give a summary of hischaracter, and will exhibit some singular contrarieties. He had varied butnot very profound learning; was earnest, self-satisfied, overbearing inargument, or, as Sir Walter Scott styles it, _despotic_. As distinguishedfor his powers of conversation as for his writings, he always talked _excathedra_, and was exceedingly impatient of opposition. Brutal in his wordattacks, he concealed by tone and manner a generous heart. Grandiloquentin ordinary matters, he "made little fishes talk like whales. "

Always swayed by religious influences, he was intolerant of the sectsaround him; habitually pious, he was not without superstition; he was notan unbeliever in ghostly apparitions, and had a great fear of death; healso had the touching mania--touching every post as he walked along thestreet, thereby to avoid some unknown evil. 

Although of rural origin, he became a thorough London cockney, and hishatred of Scotchmen and dissenters is at once pitiful and ludicrous. Hismanners and gestures were uncouth and disagreeable. He devoured ratherthan eat his food, and was a remarkable tea-drinker; on one occasion, perhaps for bravado, taking twenty-five cups at a sitting. 

Massive in figure, seamed with scrofulous scars and marks, seeing with butone eye, he had convulsive motions and twitches, and his slovenly dressadded to the uncouthness and oddity of his appearance. In all respects hewas an original, and even his defects and peculiarities seemed to conduceto make him famous. 

Considered the first among the critics of his own day, later judgmentshave reversed his decisions; many of those whom he praised have sunk intoobscurity, and those whom he failed to appreciate have been elevated tothe highest pedestals in the literary House of Fame. 

STYLE. --His style is full-sounding and antithetic, his periods arecarefully balanced, his manner eminently respectable and good; but hiswords, very many of them of Latin derivation, constitute what the latercritics have named _Johnsonese_, which is certainly capable of translationinto plainer Saxon English, with good results. Thus, in speaking ofAddison's style, he says: "It is pure without scrupulosity, and exactwithout apparent elaboration; ... He seeks no ambitious ornaments, andtries no hazardous innovations; his page is always luminous, but neverblazes in unexpected splendor. " Very numerous examples might be given ofsentences most of the words in which might be replaced by simplerexpressions with great advantage to the sound and to the sense. 

As a critic, his word was law: his opinion was clearly and often severelyexpressed on literary men and literary subjects, and no great writer ofhis own or a past age escaped either his praise or his censure. Authorswrote with the fear of his criticism before their eyes; and his pompousdiction was long imitated by men who, without this influence, would havewritten far better English. But, on the other hand, his honesty, hisscholarship, his piety, and his championship of what was good and true, asdepicted in his writings, made him a blessing to his time, and an honoredand notable character in the noble line of English authors. 

JUNIUS. --Among the most significant and instructive writings to thestudent of English history, in the earlier part of the reign of GeorgeIII. , is a series of letters written by a person, or by several persons incombination, whose _nom de plume_ was Junius. These letters specified theerrors and abuses of the government, were exceedingly bold in denunciationand bitter in invective. The letters of Junius were forty-four in number, and were addressed to Mr. Woodfall, the proprietor of _The PublicAdvertiser_, a London newspaper, in which they were published. Fifteenothers in the same vein were signed Philo-Junius; and there are besidessixty-two notes addressed by Junius to his publisher. 

The principal letters signed Junius were addressed to ministers directly, and the first, on the _State of the Nation_, was a manifesto of thegrounds of his writing and his purpose. It was evident that a bold censorhad sprung forth; one acquainted with the secret movements of thegovernment, and with the foibles and faults of the principal statesmen:they writhed under his lash. Some of the more gifted attempted to answerhim, and, as in the case of Sir William Draper, met with signaldiscomfiture. Vigorous efforts were made to discover the offender, butwithout success; and as to his first patriotic intentions he soon addedpersonal spite, the writer found that his life would not be safe if hissecret were discovered. The rage of parties has long since died away, andthe writer or writers have long been in their graves, but the curioussecret still remains, and has puzzled the brains of students to thepresent day. Allibone gives a list of forty-two persons to whom theletters were in whole or in part ascribed, among whom are Colonel Barré, Burke, Lord Chatham, General Charles Lee, Horne Tooke, Wilkes, HoraceWalpole, Lord Lyttleton, Lord George Sackville, and Sir Philip Francis. Pamphlets and books have been written by hundreds upon this question ofauthorship, and it is not yet by any means definitely settled. Theconcurrence of the most intelligent investigators is in favor of SirPhilip Francis, because of the handwriting being like his, but slightlydisguised; because he and Junius were alike intimate with the governmentworkings in the state department and in the war department, and took notesof speeches in the House of Lords; because the letters came to an end justbefore Francis was sent to India; and because, indecisive as these claimsare, they are stronger than those of any other suspected author. Macaulayadds to these: "One of the strongest reasons for believing that Franciswas Junius is the _moral_ resemblance between the two men. "

It is interesting to notice that the ministry engaged Dr. Johnson toanswer the _forty-second_ letter, in which the king is especiallyarraigned. Johnson's answer, published in 1771, is entitled _Thoughts onthe Late Transactions respecting Falkland's Islands_. Of Junius he says:"He cries havoc without reserve, and endeavors to let slip the dogs offoreign and civil war, ignorant whither they are going, and careless whatmaybe their prey. " "It is not hard to be sarcastic in a mask; while hewalks like Jack the giant-killer, in a coat of darkness, he may do muchmischief with little strength. " "Junius is an unusual phenomenon, on whichsome have gazed with wonder and some with terror; but wonder and terrorare transitory passions. He will soon be more closely viewed, or moreattentively examined, and what folly has taken for a comet, that from itsflaming hair shook pestilence and war, inquiry will find to be only ameteor formed by the vapors of putrefying democracy, and kindled intoflame by the effervescence of interest struggling with conviction, which, after having plunged its followers into a bog, will leave us inquiring whywe regarded it. "

Whatever the moral effect of the writings of Junius, as exhibited bysilent influence in the lapse of years, the schemes he proposed and theparty he championed alike failed of success. His farewell letter toWoodfall bears date the 19th of January, 1773. In that letter he declaredthat "he must be an idiot to write again; that he had meant well by thecause and the public; that both were given up; that there were not ten menwho would act steadily together on any question. "[35] But one thing issure: he has enriched the literature with public letters of rare sagacity, extreme elegance of rhetoric and great logical force, and has presented aproblem always curious and interesting for future students, --not yetsolved, in spite of Mr. Chabot's recent book, [36] and every day becomingmore difficult of solution, --_Who was Junius_?

CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE LITERARY FORGERS IN THE ANTIQUARIAN AGE. 

 The Eighteenth Century. James Macpherson. Ossian. Thomas Chatterton. His Poems. The Verdict. Suicide. The Cause. 

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

The middle of the eighteenth century is marked as a period in which, whileother forms of literature flourished, there arose a taste for historicresearch. Not content with the _actual_ in poetry and essay and pamphlet, there was a looking back to gather up a record of what England had doneand had been in the past, and to connect, in logical relation, her formerwith her latter glory. It was, as we have seen, the era of her greathistorians, Hume, Gibbon, and Robertson, who, upon the chronicles, and theabundant but scattered material, endeavored to construct philosophichistory; it was the day of her greatest moralists, Adam Smith, Tucker, andPaley, and of research in metaphysics and political economy. In thisperiod Bishop Percy collected the ancient English ballads, and alsohistoric poems from the Chinese and the Runic; in it Warton wrote hishistory of poetry. Dr. Johnson, self-reliant and laborious, was producinghis dictionary, and giving limits and coherence to the language. Mind wason the alert, not only subsidizing the present, but looking curiously intothe past. I have ventured to call it the antiquarian age. In 1751, theAntiquarian Society of London was firmly established; men began to collectarmor and relics: in this period grew up such an antiquary as Mr. Oldbuck, who curiously sought out every relic of the Roman times, --armor, fosses, and _prætoria_, --and found, with much that was real, many a fraud ordelusion. It was an age which, in the words of old Walter Charleton, "despised the present as an innovation, and slighted the future, like themadman who fell in love with Cleopatra. "

There was manifestly a great temptation to adventurous men--withsufficient learning, and with no high notion of honor--to creep into thedistant past; to enact, in mask and domino, its literary parts, andendeavor to deceive an age already enthusiastic for antiquity. 

Thus, in the third century, if we may believe the Scotch and Irishtraditions, there existed in Scotland a great chieftain named Fion naGael--modernized into Fingal--who fought with Cuthullin and the Irishwarriors, and whose exploits were, as late as the time of which we havebeen speaking, the theme of rude ballads among the highlands and islandsof Scotland. To find and translate these ballads was charming andlegitimate work for the antiquarian; to counterfeit them, and call them bythe name of a bard of that period, was the great temptation to theliterary forger. Of such a bard, too, there was a tradition. As brave aswere the deeds of Fingal, their fame was not so great as that of his sonOssian, who struck a lofty harp as he recounted his father's glory. Couldthe real poems be found, they would verify the lines:

 From the barred visor of antiquity Reflected shines the eternal light of Truth As from a mirror. 

And if they could not be found, they might be counterfeited. This wasundertaken by Doctor James Macpherson. Catering to the spirit of the age, he reproduced the songs of Ossian and the lofty deeds of Fingal. 

Again, we have referred, in an early part of this work, to the almostbarren expanse in the highway of English literature from the death ofChaucer to the middle of the sixteenth century; this barrenness was due, as we saw, to the turbulence of those years--civil war, misgovernment, atime of bloody action rather than peaceful authorship. Here, too, was agreat temptation for some gifted but oblique mind to supply a partialliterature for that bare period; a literature which, entirely fabricated, should yet bear all the characteristics of the history, language, customs, manners, and religion of that time. 

This attempt was made by Thomas Chatterton, an obscure, ill-educated lad, without means or friends, but who had a master-mind, and would haveaccomplished some great feat in letters, had he not died, while still veryyoung, by his own hand. 

Let us examine these frauds in succession: we shall find them of doublehistoric value, as literary efforts in one age designed to represent theliterature of a former age. 

JAMES MACPHERSON. --James Macpherson was born at Ruthven, a village inInverness-shire, in 1738. Being intended for the ministry, he received agood preliminary education, and became early interested in the ancientGaelic ballads and poetic fragments still floating about the Highlands ofScotland. By the aid of Mr. John Home, the author of _Douglas_, and hisfriends Blair and Ferguson, he published, in 1760, a small volume of sixtypages entitled, _Fragments of Ancient Poetry translated from the Gaelic orErse Language_. They were heroic and harmonious, and were very wellreceived: he had catered to the very spirit of the age. At first, thereseemed to be no doubt as to their genuineness. It was known to traditionthat this northern Fingal had fought with Severus and Caracalla, on thebanks of the Carun, and that blind Ossian had poured forth a flood of songafter the fight, and made the deeds immortal. And now these songs anddeeds were echoing in English ears, --the thrumming of the harp which toldof "the stream of those olden years, where they have so long hid, in theirmist, their many-colored sides. " (_Cathloda_, Duan III. )

So enthusiastically were these poems received, that a subscription wasraised to enable Macpherson to travel in the Highlands, and collect moreof this lingering and beautiful poetry. 

Gray the poet, writing to William Mason, in 1760, says: "These poems arein everybody's mouth in the Highlands; have been handed down from fatherto son. We have therefore set on foot a subscription of a guinea or twoapiece, in order to enable Mr. Macpherson to recover this poem (Fingal), and other fragments of antiquity. "

FINGAL. --On his return, in 1762, he published _Fingal_, and, in the samevolume, some smaller poems. This Fingal, which he calls "an ancient epicpoem" in six duans or books, recounts the deliverance of Erin from theKing of Lochlin. The next year, 1763, he published _Temora_. Among theearlier poems, in all which Fingal is the hero, are passages of greatbeauty and touching pathos. Such, too, are found in _Carricthura andCarthon, the War of Inis-thona_, and the _Songs of Selma_. After readingthese, we are pleasantly haunted with dim but beautiful pictures of thatNorthern coast where "the blue waters rolled in light, " "when morning roseIn the east;" and again with ghostly moonlit scenes, when "night came downon the sea, and Rotha's Bay received the ship. " "The wan, cold moon rosein the east; sleep descended upon the youths; their blue helmets glitterto the beam; the fading fire decays; but sleep did not rest on the king;he rode in the midst of his arms, and slowly ascended the hill to beholdthe flame of Sarno's tower. The flame was dim and distant; the moon hidher red face in the east. A blast came from the mountain; on its wings wasthe spirit of Loda. " In _Carthon_ occurs that beautiful address to theSun, which we are fortunate in knowing, from other sources thanMacpherson, is a tolerably correct translation of a real original. If wehad that alone, it would be a revelation of the power of Ossian, and ofthe aptitudes of a people who could enjoy it. It is not within our scopeto quote from the veritable Ossian, or to expose the bombast and fustian, tumid diction and swelling sound of Macpherson, of which the poems containso much. 

As soon as a stir was made touching the authenticity of the poems, anumber of champions sprang up on both sides: among those who favoredMacpherson, was Dr. Hugh Blair, who wrote the critical dissertationusually prefixed to the editions of Ossian, and who compares him favorablyto Homer. First among the incredulous, as might be expected, was Dr. Samuel Johnson, who, in his _Journey to the Hebrides_, lashes Macphersonfor his imposture, and his insolence in refusing to show the original. Johnson was threatened by Macpherson with a beating, and he answered: "Ihope I shall never be deterred from detecting what I think a cheat by themenaces of a ruffian ... I thought your book an imposture; I think it animposture still ... Your rage I defy ... You may print this if you will. "

Proofs of the imposture were little by little discovered by the critics. There were some real fragments in his first volume; but even these he hadaltered, and made symmetrical, so as to disguise their original character. Ossian would not have known them. As for Fingal, in its six duans, withcaptional arguments, it was made up from a few fragments, and no such poemever existed. It was Macpherson's from beginning to end. 

The final establishment of the forgery was not simply by recourse toscholars versed in the Celtic tongues, but the Highland Society appointeda committee in 1767, whose duty it was to send to the Highland pastors acircular, inquiring whether they had heard in the original the poems ofOssian, said to be translated by Macpherson; if so, where and by whom theyhad been written out or repeated: whether similar fragments still existed, and whether there were persons living who could repeat them; whether, totheir knowledge, Macpherson had obtained such poems in the Highlands; andfor any information concerning the personality of Fingal and Ossian. 

CRITICISM. --The result was as follows: Certain Ossianic poems did exist, and some manuscripts of ancient ballads and bardic songs. A few of thesehad formed the foundation of Macpherson's so-called translations of theearlier pieces; but he had altered and added to them, and joined them withhis own fancies in an arbitrary manner. 

_Fingal_ and _Temora_ were also made out of a few fragments; but in theirepic and connected form not only did not exist, but lack the bardiccharacter and construction entirely. 

Now that the critics had the direction of the chase made known, theydiscovered that Macpherson had taken his imagery from the Bible, of whichOssian was ignorant; from classic authors, of whom he had never heard; andfrom modern sources down to his own day. 

Then Macpherson's Ossian--which had been read with avidity and translatedinto many languages, while it was considered an antique gem only reset inEnglish--fell into disrepute, and was unduly despised when known to be aforgery. 

It is difficult to conceive why he did not produce the work as his own, with a true story of its foundation: it is not so difficult to understandwhy, when he was detected, he persisted in the falsehood. For what itreally is, it must be partially praised; and it will remain not only as aliterary curiosity, but as a work of unequal but real merit. It wasgreatly admired by Napoleon and Madame de Staël, and, in endeavoring toconsign it to oblivion, the critics are greatly in the wrong. 

Macpherson resented any allusion to the forgery, and any leading questionconcerning it. He refused, at first, to produce the originals; and when hedid say where they might be found, the world had decided so stronglyagainst him, that there was no curiosity to examine them. He at lastmaintained a sullen silence; and, dying suddenly, in 1796, left no paperswhich throw light upon the controversy. The subject is, however, stillagitated. Later writers have endeavored to reverse the decision of hisage, without, however, any decided success. For much informationconcerning the Highland poetry, the reader is referred to _A Summer inSkye_, by Alexander Smith. 

OTHER WORKS. --His other principal work was a _Translation of the Iliad ofHomer_ in the Ossianic style, which was received with execration andcontempt. He also wrote _A History of Great Britain from the Restorationto the Accession of the House of Hanover_, which Fox--who was, however, prejudiced--declared to be full of impudent falsehoods. 

Of his career little more need be said: he was too shrewd a man to needsympathy; he took care of himself. He was successful in his pecuniaryschemes; as agent of the Nabob of Arcot, he had a seat in parliament forten years, and was quite unconcerned what the world thought of hisliterary performances. He had achieved notoriety, and enjoyed it. 

But, unfortunately, his forgery did fatal injury by its example; itinspired Chatterton, the precocious boy, to make another attempt on publiccredulity. It opened a seductive path for one who, inspired by theadventure and warned by the causes of exposure, might make a betterforgery, escape detection, and gain great praise in the antiquarian world. 

THOMAS CHATTERTON. --With this name, we accost the most wonderful story ofits kind in any literature; so strange, indeed, that we never take it upwithout trying to discover some new meaning in it. We hope, against hope, that the forgery is not proved. 

Chatterton was born in Bristol, on the Avon, in 1752, of poor parents, butearly gave signs of remarkable genius, combined with a prurient ambition. A friend who wished to present him with an earthen-ware cup, asked himwhat device he would have upon it. "Paint me, " he answered, "an angel withwings and a trumpet, to trumpet my name over the world. " He learned hisalphabet from an old music-book; at eight years of age he was sent to acharity-school, and he spent his little pocket-money at a circulatinglibrary, the books of which he literally devoured. 

At the early age of eleven he wrote a piece of poetry, and published it inthe _Bristol Journal_ of January 8, 1763; it was entitled _On the lastEpiphany, or Christ coming to Judgment_, and the next year, probably, a_Hymn to Christmas-day_, of which the following lines will give an idea:

 How shall we celebrate his name, Who groaned beneath a life of shame, In all afflictions tried? The soul is raptured to conceive A truth which being must believe; The God eternal died. 

 My soul, exert thy powers, adore; Upon Devotion's plumage soar To celebrate the day. The God from whom creation sprung Shall animate my grateful tongue, From Him I'll catch the lay. 

Some member of the Chatterton family had, for one hundred and fifty years, held the post of sexton in the church of St. Mary Redcliffe at Bristol;and at the time of which we write his uncle was sexton. In themuniment-room of the church were several coffers, containing old papersand parchments in black letter, some of which were supposed to be ofvalue. The chests were examined by order of the vestry; the valuablepapers were removed, and of the rest, as perquisites of the sexton, somefell into the hands of Chatterton's father. The boy, who had been, uponleaving school, articled to an attorney, and had thus become familiar withthe old English text, caught sight of these, and seemed then to have firstformed the plan of turning them to account, as _The Rowlie papers_. 

OLD MANUSCRIPTS. --If he could be believed, he found a variety of materialin this old collection. To a credulous and weak acquaintance, Mr. Burgum, he went, beaming with joy, to present the pedigree and illuminated arms ofthe de Bergham family--tracing the honest mechanic's descent to a noblehouse which crossed the Channel with William the Conqueror. The delightedBurgum gave him a crown, and Chatterton, pocketing the money, lampoonedhis credulity thus:

 Gods! what would Burgum give to get a name, And snatch his blundering dialect from shame? What would he give to hand his memory down To time's remotest boundary? a crown! Would you ask more, his swelling face looks blue-- Futurity he rates at two pound two!

In September, 1768, the inauguration or opening of the new bridge acrossthe Avon took place; and, taking advantage of the temporary interest itexcited, Chatterton, then sixteen, produced in the _Bristol Journal_ afull description of the opening of the old bridge two hundred yearsbefore, which he said he found among the old papers: "A description of theFryers first passing over the old bridge, taken from an ancientmanuscript, " with details of the procession, and the Latin sermon preachedon the occasion by Ralph de Blundeville; ending with the dinner, thesports, and the illumination on Kynwulph Hill. 

This paper, which attracted general interest, was traced to Chatterton, and when he was asked to show the original, it was soon manifest thatthere was none, but that the whole was a creation of his fancy. Thequestion arises, --How did the statements made by Chatterton compare withthe known facts of local history?

There was in the olden time in Bristol a great merchant named WilliamCanynge, who was remembered for his philanthropy; he had altered andimproved the church of St. Mary, and had built the muniment-room: thereputed poems, some of which were said to have been written by himself, and others by the monk Rowlie, Chatterton declared he had found in thecoffers. Thomas Rowlie, "the gode preeste, " appears as a holy and learnedman, poet, artist, and architect. Canynge and Rowlie were strong friends, and the latter was supposed to have addressed many of the poems to theformer, who was his good patron. 

The principal of the Rowlie poems is the _Bristowe_ (Bristol) _Tragedy_, or _Death of Sir Charles Bawdin_. This Bawdin, or Baldwin, a realcharacter, had been attainted by Edward IV. Of high treason, and broughtto the block. The poem is in the finest style of the old English ballad, and is wonderfully dramatic. King Edward sends to inform Bawdin of hisfate:

 Then with a jug of nappy ale His knights did on him waite; "Go tell the traitor that to daie He leaves this mortal state. "

Sir Charles receives the tidings with bold defiance. Good Master Canyngegoes to the king to ask the prisoner's life as a boon. 

 "My noble liege, " good Canynge saide, "Leave justice to our God; And lay the iron rule aside, Be thine the olyve rodde. "

The king is inexorable, and Sir Charles dies amid tears and loud weepingaround the scaffold. 

Among the other Rowlie poems are the _Tragical Interlude of Ella_, "plaiedbefore Master Canynge, and also before Johan Howard, Duke of Norfolk;"_Godwin_, a short drama; a long poem on _The Battle of Hastings_, and _TheRomaunt of the Knight_, modernized from the original of John de Bergham. 

THE VERDICT. --These poems at once became famous, and the critics began toinvestigate the question of their authenticity. From this investigationChatterton did not shrink. He sent some of them with letters to HoraceWalpole, and, as Walpole did not immediately answer, he wrote to him quiteimpertinently. Then they were submitted to Mason and Gray. The opinion ofthose who examined them was almost unanimous that they were forgeries: hecould produce no originals; the language is in many cases not that of theperiod, and the spelling and idioms are evidently factitious. A few therewere who seemed to have committed themselves, at first, to theirauthenticity; but Walpole, the Wartons, Dr. Johnson, Gibbon the historian, Sheridan, and most other literary men, were clear as to their forgery. Theforged manuscripts which he had the hardihood afterwards to present, weretotally unlike those of Edward the Fourth's time; he was entirely at faultin his heraldry; words were used out of their meaning; and, in his poem on_The Battle of Hastings_, he had introduced the modern discoveriesconcerning Stone Henge. He uses the possessive case _yttes_, which did notcome into use until long after the Rowlie period. Add to these thatChatterton's reputation for veracity was bad. 

The truth was, that he had found some curious scraps, which had set hisfancy to work, and the example of Macpherson had led to the cheat he waspractising upon the public. To some friends he confessed the deception, denying it again, violently, soon after; and he had been seen smokingparchment to make it look old. The lad was crazy. 

HIS SUICIDE. --Keeping up appearances, he went to London, and tried to getwork. At one time he was in high spirits, sending presents to his motherand sisters, and promising them better days; at another, he was in want, in the lowest depression, no hope in the world. He only asks for work; heis entirely unconcerned for whom he writes or what party he eulogizes; hewants money and a name, and when these seem unattainable, he takes refugefrom "the whips and scorns of time, " the burning fever of pride, thegnawings of hunger, in suicide. He goes to his little garretroom, --refusing, as he goes, a dinner from his landlady, although he isgaunt with famine, --mixes a large dose of arsenic in water, and--"jumpsthe life to come. " He was just seventeen years and nine months old! Whenhis room was forced open, it was found that he had torn up most of hispapers, and had left nothing to throw light upon his deception. 

The verdict of literary criticism is that of the medical art--he wasinsane; and to what extent this mania acted as a monomania, that is, howfar he was himself deceived, the world can never know. One thing, atleast; it redeems all his faults. Precocious beyond any other knowninstance of precocity; intensely haughty; bold in falsehood; working bestwhen the moon was at the full, he stands in English literature as the mostsingular of its curiosities. His will is an awful jest; his declaration ofhis religious opinions a tissue of contradictions and absurdities: hebequeathes to a clergyman his humility; to Mr. Burgum his prosody andgrammar, with half his modesty--the other half to any young lady thatneeds it; his abstinence--a fearful legacy--to the aldermen of Bristol attheir annual feast! to a friend, a mourning ring--"provided he pays for ithimself"--with the motto, "Alas, poor Chatterton!" Fittest ending to hisbiography--"Alas, poor Chatterton!"

And yet it is evident that the crazy Bristol boy and the astute Scotchmanwere alike the creatures of the age and the peculiar circumstances inwhich they lived. No other age of English history could have producedthem. In an earlier period, they would have found no curiosity in thepeople to warrant their attempts; and in a later time, the increase inantiquarian studies would have made these efforts too easy of detection. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

POETRY OF THE TRANSITION SCHOOL. 

 The Transition Period. James Thomson. The Seasons. The Castle of Indolence. Mark Akenside. Pleasures of the Imagination. Thomas Gray. The Elegy. The Bard. William Cowper. The Task. Translation of Homer. Other Writers. 

THE TRANSITION PERIOD. 

The poetical standards of Dryden and Pope, as poetic examples andarbiters, exercised tyrannical sway to the middle of the eighteenthcentury, and continued to be felt, with relaxing influence, however, to amuch later period. Poetry became impatient of too close a captivity totechnical rules in rhythm and in subjects, and began once again to seekits inspiration from the worlds of nature and of feeling. While seekingthis change, it passed through what has been properly called the period oftransition, --a period the writers of which are distinctly marked asbelonging neither to the artificial classicism of Pope, nor to the simplenaturalism of Wordsworth and the Lake school; partaking, indeed, in somedegree of the former, and preparing the way for the latter. 

The excited condition of public feeling during the earlier period, incident to the accession of the house of Hanover and the last strugglesof the Jacobites, had given a political character to every author, and apolitical significance to almost every literary work. At the close of thisabnormal condition of things, the poets of the transition school begantheir labors; untrammelled by the court and the town, they invoked themuse in green fields and by babbling brooks; from materialisticphilosophy in verse they appealed through the senses to the hearts of men;and appreciation and popularity rewarded and encouraged them. 

JAMES THOMSON. --The first distinguished writer of this school was Thomson, the son of a Scottish minister. He was born on the 11th of September, 1700, at Ednam in Roxburghshire. While a boy at school in Jedburgh, hedisplayed poetical talent: at the University of Edinburgh he completed hisscholastic course, and studied divinity; which, however, he did not pursueas a profession. Being left, by his father's death, without means, heresolved to go to the great metropolis to try his fortunes. He arrived inLondon in sorry plight, without money, and with ragged shoes; but throughthe assistance of some persons of station, he procured occupation as tutorto a lord's son, and thus earned a livelihood until the publication of hisfirst poem in 1726. That poem was _Winter_, the first of the series called_The Seasons_: it was received with unusual favor. The first edition wasspeedily exhausted, and with the publication of the second, his positionas a poet was assured. In 1727 he produced the second poem of the series, _Summer_, and, with it, a proposal for issuing the _Four Seasons_, with a_Hymn_ on their succession. In 1728 his _Spring_ appeared, and in the nextyear an unsuccessful tragedy called _Sophonisba_, which owed its immediatefailure to the laughter occasioned by the line, O Sophonisba, Sophonisba O!

This was parodied by some wag in these words:

 O Jemmie Thomson, Jemmie Thomson O!

and the ridicule was so potent that the play was ruined. 

The last of the seasons, _Autumn_, and the _Hymn_, were first printed in acomplete edition of _The Seasons_, in 1730. It was at once conceded thathe had gratified the cravings of the day, In producing a real andbeautiful English pastoral. The reputation which he thus gained caused himto be selected as the mentor and companion of the son of Sir CharlesTalbot in a tour through France and Italy in 1730 and 1731. 

In 1734 he published the first part of a poem called _Liberty_, theconclusion of which appeared in 1736. It is designed to trace the progressof Liberty through Italy, Greece, and Rome, down to her excellentestablishment in Great Britain, and was dedicated to Frederick, Prince ofWales. 

His tragedies _Agamemnon_ and _Edward and Eleanora_ are in the thenprevailing taste. They were issued in 1738-39. The latter is of politicalsignificance, in that Edward was like Frederick the Prince of Wales--heirapparent to the crown; and some of the passages are designed to strengthenthe prince in the favor of the people. 

The personal life of Thomson is not of much interest. From his firstresidence in London, he supported, with his slender means, a brother, whodied young of consumption, and aided two maiden sisters, who kept a smallmilliner-shop in Edinburgh. This is greatly to his praise, as he was atone time so poor that he was arrested for debt and committed to prison. Ashis reputation increased, his fortunes were ameliorated. In 1745 his play_Tancred and Sigismunda_ was performed. It was founded upon a storyuniversally popular, --the same which appears in the episode of _The FatalMarriage_ in Gil Bias, and in one of the stories of Boccaccio. He enjoyedfor a short time a pension from the Prince of Wales, of which, however, hewas deprived without apparent cause; but he received the office ofSurveyor-General of the Leeward Islands, the duties of which he couldperform by deputy; after that he lived a lazy life at his cottage nearRichmond, which, if otherwise reprehensible, at least gave him the powerto write his most beautiful poem, _The Castle of Indolence_. It appearedin 1748, and was universally admired; it has a rhetorical harmony similarand quite equal to that of the _Lotos Eaters_ of Tennyson. The poet, whohad become quite plethoric, was heated by a walk from London, and, from acheck of perspiration, was thrown into a high fever, a relapse of whichcaused his death on the 27th of August, 1748. His friend Lord Lyttletonwrote the prologue to his play of _Coriolanus_, which was acted after thepoet's death, in which he says:

 "--His chaste Muse employed her heaven-taught lyre None but the noblest missions to inspire, Not one immoral, one corrupted thought, _One line which, dying, he could wish to blot_. "

The praise accorded him in this much-quoted line is justly his due: it isgreater praise that he was opening a new pathway in English Literature, and supplying better food than the preceding age had given. His _Seasons_supplied a want of the age: it was a series of beautiful pastorals. Thedescriptions of nature will always be read and quoted with pleasure; thelittle episodes, if they affect the unity, relieve the monotony of thesubject, and, like figures introduced by the painter into his landscape, take away the sense of loneliness, and give us a standard at once ofjudgment, of measurement, and of sympathetic enjoyment; they display, too, at once the workings of his own mind in his production, and the mannersand sentiments of the age in which he wrote. It was fitting that he whohad portrayed for us such beautiful gardens of English nature, shouldpeople them instead of leaving them solitary. 

THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE. --This is an allegory, written after the manner ofSpenser, and in the Spenserian stanza. He also employs archaic words, asSpenser did, to give it greater resemblance to Spenser's poem. Theallegorical characters are well described, and the sumptuous adornings andlazy luxuries of the castle are set forth _con amore_. The spell thatenchants the castle is broken by the stalwart knight _Industry_; but theglamour of the poem remains, and makes the reader in love with_Indolence_. 

MARK AKENSIDE. --Thomson had restored or reproduced the pastoral fromNature's self; Akenside followed in his steps. Thomson had invested blankverse with a new power and beauty; Akenside produced it quite asexcellent. But Thomson was the original, and Akenside the copy. The one isnatural, the other artificial. 

Akenside was the son of a butcher, and was born at New Castle, in 1721. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, he studied medicine, andreceived, at different periods, lucrative and honorable professionalappointments. His great work, and the only one to which we need refer, ishis _Pleasures of the Imagination_. Whether his view of the imagination isalways correct or not, his sentiments are always elevated; his languagehigh sounding but frequently redundant, and his versification correct andpleasing. His descriptions of nature are cold but correct; his standard ofhumanity is high but mortal. Grand and sonorous, he constructs his periodswith the manner of a declaimer; his ascriptions and apostrophes are likethose of a high-priest. The title of his poem, if nothing more, suggested_The Pleasures-of Hope_ to Campbell, and _The Pleasures of Memory_ toRogers. As a man, Akenside was overbearing and dictatorial; as a hospitalsurgeon, harsh in his treatment of poor patients. His hymn to the Naiadshas been considered the most thoroughly and correctly classical ofanything in English. He died on the 23rd of June, 1770. 

THOMAS GRAY. --Among those who form a link between the school of Pope andthat of the modern poets, Gray occupies a distinguished place, both fromthe excellence of his writings, and from the fact that, while heunconsciously conduced to the modern, he instinctively resisted itsprogress. He was in taste and intention an extreme classicist. Thomas Graywas born in London on the 26th December, 1716. His father was a moneyscrivener, and, to his family at least, a bad man; his mother, forced tosupport herself, kept a linen-draper shop; and to her the poet owed hisentire education. He was entered at Eton College, and afterwards atCambridge, and found in early life such friendships as were of greatimportance to him later in his career. Among his college friends wereHorace Walpole, West, the son of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, andWilliam Mason, who afterwards wrote the poet's life. After completing hiscollege course, he travelled on the continent with Walpole; but, onaccount of incompatibility of temper, they quarrelled and parted, and Grayreturned home. Although Walpole took the blame upon himself, it wouldappear that Gray was a somewhat captious person, whose serious tastesinterfered with the gayer pleasures of his friend. On his return, Graywent to Cambridge, where he led the life of a retired student, devotinghimself to the ancient authors, to poetry, botany, architecture, andheraldry. He was fastidious as to his own productions, which were veryfew, and which he kept by him, pruning, altering, and polishing, for along time before he would let them see the light. His lines entitled _ADistant Prospect of Eton College_ appeared in 1742, and were received withgreat applause. 

It was at this time that he also began his _Elegy in a CountryChurchyard_; which, however, did not appear until seven or eight yearslater, and which has made him immortal. The grandeur of its language, theelevation of its sentiments, and the sympathy of its pathos, commend it toall classes and all hearts; and of its kind of composition it stands alonein English literature. 

The ode on the progress of poetry appeared in 1755. Like the _Elegy_, hispoem of _The Bard_ was for several years on the literary easel, and he wasaccidentally led to finish it by hearing a blind harper performing on aWelsh harp. 

On the death of Cibber, Gray was offered the laureate's crown, which hedeclined, to avoid its conspicuousness and the envy of his brother poets. In 1762, he applied for the professorship of modern history at Cambridge, but failed to obtain the position. He was more fortunate in 1768, when itagain became vacant; but he held it as a sinecure, doing none of itsduties. He died in 1770, on the 3d of July, of gout in the stomach. Hishabits were those of a recluse; and whether we agree or not, with AdamSmith, in saying that nothing is wanting to render him perhaps the firstpoet in the English language, but to have written a little more, it isastonishing that so great and permanent a reputation should have beenfounded on so very little as he wrote. Gray has been properly called thefinest lyric poet in the language; and his lyric power strikes us asintuitive and original; yet he himself, adhering strongly to theartificial school, declared, if there was any excellence in his ownnumbers, he had learned it wholly from Dryden. His archæological tastesare further shown by his enthusiastic study of heraldry, and by hissurrounding himself with old armor and other curious relics of the past. Mr. Mitford, in a curious dissection of the _Elegy_, has found numerouserrors of rhetoric, and even of grammar. 

His _Bard_ is founded on a tradition that Edward I. , when he conqueredWales, ordered all the bards to be put to death, that they might not, bytheir songs, excite the Welsh people to revolt. The last one who figuresin his story, sings a lament for his brethren, prophesies the downfall ofthe usurper, and then throws himself over the cliff:

 "Be thine despair and sceptered care, To triumph and to die are mine!" He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height, Deep in the roaring tide, he plunged to endless night. 

WILLIAM COWPER. --Next in the catalogue of the transition school occurs thename of one who, like Gray, was a recluse, but with a better reason and asadder one. He was a gentle hypochondriac, and, at intervals, a maniac, who literally turned to poetry, like Saul to the harper, for relief fromhis sufferings. William Cowper, the eldest son of the Rector ofBerkhampsted in Hertfordshire, was born on the 15th of November, 1731. Hewas a delicate and sensitive child, and was seriously affected by the lossof his mother when he was six years old. At school, he was cruelly treatedby an older boy, which led to his decided views against public schools, expressed in his poem called _Tirocinium_. His morbid sensitivenessincreased upon him as he grew older, and interfered with his legal studiesand advancement. His depression of spirits took a religious turn; and weare glad to think that religion itself brought the balm which gave himtwelve years of unclouded mind, devoted to friendship and to poetry. Hewas offered, by powerful friends, eligible positions connected with theHouse of Lords, in 1762; but as the one of these which he accepted wasthreatened with a public examination, he abandoned it in horror; not, however, before the fearful suspense had unsettled his brain, so that hewas obliged to be placed, for a short time, in an asylum for the insane. When he left this asylum, he went to Huntingdon, where he becameacquainted with the Rev. William Unwin, who, with his wife and son, seemto have been congenial companions to his desolate heart. On the death ofMr. Unwin, in 1767, he removed with the widow to Olney, and there formedan intimate acquaintance with another clergyman, the Rev. William Newton. Here, and in this society, the remainder of the poet's life was passed inwriting letters, which have been considered the best ever written inEngland; in making hymns, in conjunction with Mr. Newton, which have eversince been universal favorites; and in varied poetic attempts, which givehim high rank in the literature of the day. The first of his larger pieceswas a poem entitled, _The Progress of Error_, which appeared in 1783, whenthe author had reached the advanced age of 52. Then followed _Truth_ and_Expostulation_, which, according to the poet himself, did much towardsdiverting his melancholy thoughts. These poems would not have fixed hisfame; but Lady Austen, an accomplished woman with whom he becameacquainted in 1781, deserves our gratitude for having proposed to him thesubjects of those poems which have really made him famous, namely, _TheTask, John Gilpin_, and the translation of _Homer_. Before, however, undertaking these, he wrote poems on _Hope_, _Charity_, _Conversation_ and_Retirement_. The story of _John Gilpin_--a real one as told him by LadyAusten--made such an impression upon him, that he dashed off the ballad ata sitting. 

THE TASK. --The origin of _The Task_ is well known. In 1783, Lady Austensuggested to him to write a poem in blank verse: he said he would, if shewould suggest the subject. Her answer was, "Write on _this sofa_. " Thepoem thus begun was speedily expanded into those beautiful delineations ofvaried nature, domestic life, and religious sentiment which rivalled thebest efforts of Thomson. The title that connects them is _The Task. Tirocinium_ or _the Review of Schools_, appeared soon after, and excitedconsiderable attention in a country where public education has been therule of the higher social life. Cowper began the translation of Homer in1785, from a feeling of the necessity of employment for his mind. Histranslations of both Iliad and Odyssey, which occupied him for five years, and which did not entirely keep off his old enemy, were published in 1791. They are correct in scholarship and idiom, but lack the nature and thefire of the old Grecian bard. 

The rest of his life was busy, but sad--a constant effort to drive awaymadness by incessant labor. The loss of his friend, Mrs. Unwin, in 1796, affected him deeply, and the clouds settled thicker and thicker upon hissoul. In the year before his death, he published that painfully touchingpoem, _The Castaway_, which gives an epitome of his own sufferings in thesimilitude of a wretch clinging to a spar in a stormy night upon theAtlantic. 

His minor and fugitive poems are very numerous; and as they weregenerally inspired by persons and scenes around him, they are trulyliterary types of the age in which he lived. In his _Task_, he resemblesThomson and Akenside; in his didactic poems, he reminds us of the essaysof Pope; in his hymns he catered successfully to the returning piety ofthe age; in his translations of Homer and of Ovid, he presented theancients to moderns in a new and acceptable dress; and in his Letters hesets up an epistolary model, which may be profitably studied by all whodesire to express themselves with energy, simplicity, and delicate taste. 

OTHER WRITERS OF THE TRANSITION SCHOOL. 

_James Beattie_, 1735-1803: he was the son of a farmer, and was educatedat Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he was afterwards professor ofnatural philosophy. For four years he taught a village school. His firstpoem, _Retirement_, was not much esteemed; but in 1771 appeared the firstpart of _The Minstrel_, a poem at once descriptive, didactic, andromantic. This was enthusiastically received, and gained for him the favorof the king, a pension of £200 per annum, and a degree from Oxford. Thesecond part was published in 1774. _The Minstrel_ is written in theSpenserian stanza, and abounds in beautiful descriptions of nature, marking a very decided progress from the artificial to the natural school. The character of Edwin, the young minstrel, ardent in search for thebeautiful and the true, is admirably portrayed; as is also that of thehermit who instructs the youth. The opening lines are very familiar:

 Ah, who can tell how hard it is to climb The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar;

and the description of the morning landscape has no superior in thelanguage:

 But who the melodies of morn can tell? The wild brook babbling down the mountain side; The lowing herd; the sheepfold's simple bell; The pipe of early shepherd dim descried In the lone valley. 

Beattie wrote numerous prose dissertations and essays, one of which was inanswer to the infidel views of Hume--_Essay on the Nature andImmutability of Truth, in Opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism_. Beattiewas of an excitable and sensitive nature, and his polemical papers arevalued rather for the beauty of their language, than for acuteness oflogic. 

_William Falconer_, 1730-1769: first a sailor in the merchant service, heafterwards entered the navy. He is chiefly known by his poem _TheShipwreck_, and for its astonishing connection with his own fortunes andfate. He was wrecked off Cape Colonna, on the coast of Greece, before hewas eighteen; and this misfortune is the subject of his poem. Again, in1760, he was cast away in the Channel. In 1769, the Aurora frigate, ofwhich he was the purser, foundered in Mozambique Channels, and he, withall others on board, went down with her. The excellence of his nauticaldirections and the vigor of his descriptions establish the claims of hispoem; but it has the additional interest attaching to his curiousexperience--it is his autobiography and his enduring monument. The pictureof the storm is very fine; but in the handling of his verse there is moreof the artificial than of the romantic school. 

_William Shenstone_, 1714-1763: his principal work is _TheSchoolmistress_, a poem in the stanza of Spenser, which is pleasing fromits simple and sympathizing description of the village school, kept by adame; with the tricks and punishment of the children, and many littletraits of rural life and character. It is pitched in so low a key that itcommends itself to the world at large. Shenstone is equally known for hismania in landscape gardening, upon which he spent all his means. Hisplace, _The Leasowes_ in Shropshire, has gained the greater notorietythrough the descriptions of Dodsley and Goldsmith. The natural simplicityof _The Schoolmistress_ allies it strongly to the romantic school, whichwas now about to appear. 

_William Collins_, 1720-1756: this unfortunate poet, who died at the earlyage of thirty-six, deserves particular mention for the delicacy of hisfancy and the beauty of his diction. His _Ode on the Passions_ isuniversally esteemed for its sudden and effective changes from thebewilderment of Fear, the violence of Anger, and the wildness of Despairto the rapt visions of Hope, the gentle dejection of Pity, and thesprightliness of Mirth and Cheerfulness. His _Ode on the Death of Thomson_is an exquisite bit of pathos, as is also the _Dirge on Cymbeline_. Everybody knows and admires the short ode beginning

 How sleep the brave who sink to rest By all their country's wishes blest!

His _Oriental Eclogues_ please by the simplicity of the colloquies, thechoice figures of speech, and the fine descriptions of nature. But of allhis poems, the most finished and charming is the _Ode to Evening_. Itcontains thirteen four-lined stanzas of varied metre, and in blank verseso full of harmony that rhyme would spoil it. It presents a series ofsoft, dissolving views, and stands alone in English poetry, with claimssufficient to immortalize the poet, had he written nothing else. Thelatter part of his life was clouded by mental disorders, not unsuggestedto the reader by the pathos of many of his poems. Like Gray, he wrotelittle, but every line is of great merit. 

_Henry Kirke White_, 1785-1806: the son of a butcher, this gifted youthdisplayed, in his brief life, such devotion to study, and such powers ofmind, that his friends could not but predict a brilliant future for him, had he lived. Nothing that he produced is of the highest order of poeticmerit, but everything was full of promise. Of a weak constitution, hecould not bear the rigorous study which he prescribed to himself, andwhich hastened his death. With the kind assistance of Mr. Capel Lofft andthe poet Southey, he was enabled to leave the trade to which he had beenapprenticed and go to Cambridge. His poems have most of them a stronglydevotional cast. Among them are _Gondoline_, _Clifton Grove_, and the_Christiad_, in the last of which, like the swan, he chants his owndeath-song. His memory has been kept green by Southey's edition of his_Remains_, and by the beautiful allusion of Byron to his genius and hisfate in _The English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_. His sacred piece called_The Star of Bethlehem_ has been a special favorite:

 When marshalled on the nightly plain The glittering host bestud the sky, One star alone of all the train Can fix the sinner's wandering eye. 

_Bishop Percy_, 1728-1811: Dr. Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore, deservesparticular notice in a sketch of English Literature not so much for hisown works, --although he was a poet, --as for his collection of ballads, made with great research and care, and published in 1765. By bringingbefore the world these remains of English songs and idyls, which layscattered through the ages from the birth of the language, he showedEngland the true wealth of her romantic history, and influenced thewriters of the day to abandon the artificial and reproduce the natural, the simple, and the romantic. He gave the impulse which produced theminstrelsy of Scott and the simple stories of Wordsworth. Many of theseballads are descriptive of the border wars between England and Scotland;among the greatest favorites are _Chevy Chase, The Battle of Otterburne, The Death of Douglas_, and the story of _Sir Patrick Spens_. 

_Anne Letitia Barbauld_, 1743-1825: the hymns and poems of Mrs. Barbauldare marked by an adherence to the artificial school in form and manner;but something of feminine tenderness redeems them from the charge of beingpurely mechanical. Her _Hymns in Prose for Children_ have been of value inan educational point of view; and the tales comprised in _Evenings atHome_ are entertaining and instructive. Her _Ode to Spring_, which is animitation of Collins's _Ode to Evening_, in the same measure andcomprising the same number of stanzas, is her best poetic effort, andcompares with Collins's piece as an excellent copy compares with thepicture of a great master. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE LATER DRAMA. 

 The Progress of the Drama. Garrick. Foote. Cumberland. Sheridan. George Colman. George Colman, the Younger. Other Dramatists and Humorists. Other Writers on Various Subjects. 

THE PROGRESS OF THE DRAMA. 

The latter half of the eighteenth century, so marked, as we have seen, formanifold literary activity, is, in one phase of its history, distinctlyrepresented by the drama. It was a very peculiar epoch in English annals. The accession of George III. , in 1760, gave promise, from the character ofthe king and of his consort, of an exemplary reign. George III. Was thefirst monarch of the house of Hanover who may be justly called an Englishking in interest and taste. He and his queen were virtuous and honest; andtheir influence was at once felt by a people in whom virtue and honestyare inherent, and whose consciences and tastes had been violated by theevil examples of the former reigns. 

In 1762 George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales, was born; and as soonas he approached manhood, he displayed the worst features of his ancestralhouse: he was extravagant and debauched; he threw himself into a violentopposition to his father: with this view he was at first a Whig, butafterwards became a Tory. He had also peculiar opportunities for exertingauthority during the temporary fits of insanity which attacked the king in1764, in 1788, and in 1804. At last, in 1810, the king was so disabledfrom attending to his duties that the prince became regent, and assumedthe reins of government, not to resign them again during his life. 

In speaking of the drama of this period, we should hardly, therefore, bewrong in calling it the Drama of the Regency. It held, however, byhistoric links, following the order of historic events, to the earlierdrama. Shakspeare and his contemporaries had established the dramatic arton a firm basis. The frown of puritanism, in the polemic period, hadchecked its progress: with the restoration of Charles II, it had returnedto rival the French stage in wicked plots and prurient scenes. With thebetter morals of the Revolution, and the popular progress which was madeat the accession of the house of Hanover, the drama was modified: theolder plays were revived in their original freshness; a new and bettertaste was to be catered to; and what of immorality remained was chieflydue to the influence of the Prince of Wales. Actors, so long despised, rose to importance as great artists. Garrick and Foote, and, later, Kemble, Kean, and Mrs. Siddons, were social personages in England. Peersmarried actresses, and enduring reputation was won by those who coulddisplay the passions and the affections to the life, giving flesh andblood and mind and heart to the inimitable creations of Shakspeare. 

It must be allowed that this power of presentment marks the age morepowerfully than any claims of dramatic authorship. The new play-writersdid not approach Shakspeare; but they represented their age, andrepudiated the vices, in part at least, of their immediate predecessors. In them, too, is to be observed the change from the artificial to theromantic and natural, The scenes and persons in their plays are taken fromthe life around them, and appealed to the very models from which they weredrawn. 

DAVID GARRICK. --First among these purifiers of the drama is David Garrick, who was born in Lichfield, in 1716. He was a pupil of Dr. Johnson, andcame up with that distinguished man to London, in 1735. The son of acaptain in the Royal army, but thrown upon his own exertions, he firsttried to gain a livelihood as a wine merchant; but his fondness for thestage led him to become an actor, and in taking this step he found histrue position. A man of respectable parts and scholarship, he wrote manyagreeable pieces for the stage; which, however, owed their success more tohis accurate knowledge of the _mise en scene_, and to his ownrepresentation of the principal characters, than to their intrinsicmerits. His mimetic powers were great: he acted splendidly in all casts, excelling, perhaps, in tragedy; and he, more than any actor before orsince, has made the world thoroughly acquainted with Shakspeare. Dramaticauthors courted him; for his appearance in any new piece was almost anassurance of its success. 

Besides many graceful prologues, epigrams, and songs, he wrote, oraltered, forty plays. Among these the following have the greatest merit:_The Lying Valet_, a farce founded on an old English comedy; _TheClandestine Marriage_, in which he was aided by the elder Colman; (thecharacter of _Lord Ogleby_ he wrote for himself to personate;) _Miss inher Teens_, a very clever and amusing farce. He was charmingly natural inhis acting; but he was accused of being theatrical when off the stage. Inthe words of Goldsmith:

 On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting; 'Twas only that when he was off, he was acting. 

Garrick married a dancer, who made him an excellent wife. By his ownexertions he won a highly respectable social position, and an easy fortuneof £140, 000, upon which he retired from the stage. He died in London in1779. 

In 1831-2 his _Private Correspondence with the Most Celebrated Persons ofhis Time_ was published, and opened a rich field to the social historian. Among his correspondents were Dr. Johnson, Boswell, Goldsmith, Gibber, Sheridan, Burke, Wilkes, Junius, and Dr. Franklin. Thus Garrick cateredlargely to the history of his period, as an actor and dramatic author, illustrating the stage; as a reviver of Shakspeare, and as a correspondentof history. 

SAMUEL FOOTE. --Among the many English actors who have been distinguishedfor great powers of versatility in voice, feature, and manner, there isnone superior to Foote. Bold and self-reliant, he was a comedian inevery-day life; and his ready wit and humor subdued Dr. Johnson, who haddetermined to dislike him. He was born in 1722, at Truro, and educated atOxford: he studied law, but his peculiar aptitudes soon led him to thestage, where he became famous as a comic actor. Among his original piecesare _The Patron_, _The Devil on Two Stilts_, _The Diversions of theMorning_, _Lindamira_, and _The Slanderer_. But his best play, which is apopular burlesque on parliamentary elections, is _The Mayor of Garrat_. Hedied in 1777, at Dover, while on his way to France for the benefit of hishealth. His plays present the comic phase of English history in his day. 

RICHARD CUMBERLAND. --This accomplished man, who, in the words of WalterScott, has given us "many powerful sketches of the age which has passedaway, " was born in 1732, and lived to the ripe age of seventy-nine, dyingin 1811. After receiving his education at Cambridge, he became secretaryto Lord Halifax. His versatile pen produced, besides dramatic pieces, novels and theological treatises, illustrating the principal topics of thetime. In his plays there is less of immorality than in those of hiscontemporaries. _The West Indian_, which was first put upon the stage in1771, and which is still occasionally presented, is chiefly noticeable inthat an Irishman and a West Indian are the principal characters, and thathe has not brought them into ridicule, as was common at the time, but hasexalted them by their merits. The best of his other plays are _The Jew, The Wheel of Fortune_, and _The Fashionable Lover_. Goldsmith, in his poem_Retaliation_, says of Cumberland, referring to his greater morality andhis human sympathy, Here Cumberland lies, having acted his parts, The Terence of England, the mender of hearts; A flattering painter, who made it his care To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are. 

RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. --No man represents the Regency so completely asSheridan. He was a statesman, a legislator, an orator, and a dramatist;and in social life a wit, a gamester, a spendthrift, and a debauchee. Hismanifold nature seemed to be always in violent ebullition. He was born inSeptember, 1751, and was the son of Thomas Sheridan, the actor andlexicographer, His mother, Frances Sheridan, was also a writer of playsand novels. Educated at Harrow, he was there considered a dunce; and whenhe grew to manhood, he plunged into dissipation, and soon made a stir inthe London world by making a runaway match with Miss Linley, a singer, whowas noted as one of the handsomest women of the day. A duel with one ofher former admirers was the result. 

As a dramatist, he began by presenting _A Trip to Scarborough_, which wasaltered from Vanbrugh's _Relapse_; but his fame was at once assured by hisproduction, in 1775, of _The Duenna_ and _The Rivals_. The former iscalled an opera, but is really a comedy containing many songs: the plot isvaried and entertaining; but it is far inferior to _The Rivals_, which isbased upon his own adventures, and is brimming with wit and humor. Mrs. Malaprop, Bob Acres, Sir Lucius O'Trigger, and the Absolutes, father andson, have been prime favorites upon the stage ever since. 

In 1777 he produced _The School for Scandal_, a caustic satire on Londonsociety, which has no superior in genteel comedy. It has been said thatthe characters of Charles and Joseph Surface were suggested by the TomJones and Blifil of Fielding; but, if this be true, the handling is sooriginal and natural, that they are in no sense a plagiarism. Without therippling brilliancy of _The Rivals, The School for Scandal_ is bettersustained in scene and colloquy; and in spite of some indelicacy, which isdue to the age, the moral lesson is far more valuable. The satire isstrong and instructive, and marks the great advance in social decorum overthe former age. 

In 1779 appeared _The Critic_, a literary satire, in which the chiefcharacter is that of Sir Fretful Plagiary. 

Sheridan sat in parliament as member for Stafford. His first effort inoratory was a failure; but by study he became one of the most effectivepopular orators of his day. His speeches lose by reading: he abounded ingaudy figures, and is not without bombast; but his wonderful flow of wordsand his impassioned action dazzled his audience and kept it spellbound. His oratory, whatever its faults, gained also the unstinted praise of hiscolleagues and rivals in the art. Of his great speech in the trial ofWarren Hastings, in 1788, Fox declared that "all he had ever heard, all hehad ever read, when compared with it, dwindled into nothing, and vanishedlike vapor before the sun. " Burke called it "the most astonishing effortof eloquence, argument, and wit united, of which there was any record ortradition;" and Pitt said "that it surpassed all the eloquence of ancientor modern times. "

Sheridan was for some time the friend and comrade of the Prince Regent, inwild courses which were to the taste of both; but this friendship wasdissolved, and the famous dramatist and orator sank gradually in thesocial scale, until he had sounded the depths of human misery. He wasdeeply in debt; he obtained money under mean and false pretences; he wasdrunken and debauched; and even death did not bring rest. He died in July, 1816. His corpse was arrested for debt, and could not be buried until thedebt was paid. In his varied brilliancy and in his fatal debauchery, hischaracter stands forth as the completest type of the period of theRegency. Many memoirs have been written, among which those of his friendMoore, and his granddaughter the Hon. Mrs. Norton, although they undulypalliate his faults, are the best. 

GEORGE COLMAN. --Among the respectable dramatists of this period whoexerted an influence in leading the public taste away from the witty andartificial schools of the Restoration, the two Colmans deserve mention. George Colman, the elder, was born in Florence in 1733, but began hiseducation at Westminster School, from which he was removed to Oxford. After receiving his degree he studied law; but soon abandoned graver studyto court the comic muse. His first piece, _Polly Honeycomb_, was producedin 1760; but his reputation was established by _The Jealous Wife_, suggested by a scene in Fielding's _Tom Jones_. Besides many humorousmiscellanies, most of which appeared in _The St. James' Chronicle_, --amagazine of which he was the proprietor, --he translated Terence, andproduced more than thirty dramatic pieces, some of which are stillpresented upon the stage. The best of these is _The Clandestine Marriage_, which was the joint production of Garrick and himself. Of this play, Davies says "that no dramatic piece, since the days of Beaumont andFletcher, had been written by two authors, in which wit, fancy, and humorwere so happily blended. " In 1768 he became one of the proprietors of theCovent Garden Theatre: in 1789 his mind became affected, and he remained amental invalid until his death in 1794. 

GEORGE COLMAN. THE YOUNGER. --This writer was the son of George Colman, andwas born in 1762. Like his father, he was educated at Westminster andOxford; but he was removed from the university before receiving hisdegree, and was graduated at King's College, Aberdeen. He inherited anenthusiasm for the drama and considerable skill as a dramatic author. In1787 he produced _Inkle and Yarico_, founded upon the pathetic story ofAddison, in _The Spectator_. In 1796 appeared _The Iron Chest_; this wasfollowed, in 1797, . By _The Heir at Law_ and _John Bull_. To him the worldis indebted for a large number of stock pieces which still appear at ourtheatres. In 1802 he published a volume entitled _Broad Grins_, which wasan expansion of a previous volume of comic scraps. This is full of frolicand humor: among the verses in the style of Peter Pindar are thewell-known sketches _The Newcastle Apothecary_, (who gave the directionwith his medicine, "When taken, to be well shaken, ") and _Lodgings forSingle Gentlemen_. 

The author's fault is his tendency to farce, which robs his comedies ofdignity. He assumed the cognomen _the younger_ because, he said, he didnot wish his father's memory to suffer for his faults. He died in 1836. 

OTHER HUMORISTS AND DRAMATISTS OF THE PERIOD. 

_John Wolcot_, 1738-1819: his pseudonym was _Peter Pindar_. He was asatirist as well as a humorist, and was bold in lampooning the prominentmen of his time, not even sparing the king. The world of literature knowshim best by his humorous poetical sketches, _The Apple-Dumplings and theKing, The Razor-Seller, The Pilgrims and the Peas_, and many others. 

_Hannah More_, 1745-1833: this lady had a flowing, agreeable style, butproduced no great work. She wrote for her age and pleased it; butposterity disregards what she has written. Her principal plays are:_Percy_, presented in 1777, and a tragedy entitled _The Fatal Falsehood_. She was a poet and a novelist also; but in neither part did she rise abovemediocrity. In 1782 appeared her volume of _Sacred Dramas_. Her best novelis entitled _Cælebs in Search of a Wife, comprehending Observations onDomestic Habits and Manners, Religion and Morals_. Her greatest merit isthat she always inculcated pure morals and religion, and thus aided inimproving the society of her age. Something of her fame is also due to therare appearance, up to this time, of women in the fields of literature; sothat her merits are indulgently exaggerated. 

_Joanna Baillie_, 1762-1851: this lady, the daughter of a Presbyteriandivine, wrote graceful verses, but is principally known by her numerousplays. Among these, which include thirteen _Plays on the Passions_, andthirteen _Miscellaneous Plays_, those best known are _De Montfort_ and_Basil_--both tragedies, which have received high praise from Sir WalterScott. Her _Ballads_ and _Metrical Legends_ are all spirited andexcellent; and her _Hymns_ breathe the very spirit of devotion. Verypopular during her life, and still highly estimated by literary critics, her works have given place to newer and more favorite authors, and havealready lost interest with the great world of readers. 

OTHER WRITERS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 

_Thomas Warton_, 1728-1790: he was Professor of Poetry and of AncientHistory at Oxford, and, for the last five years of his life, poet-laureate. The student of English Literature is greatly indebted tohim for his _History of English Poetry_, which he brings down to the earlypart of the seventeenth century. No one before him had attempted such atask; and, although his work is rather a rare mass of valuable materialsthan a well articulated history, it is of great value for its collectedfacts, and for its suggestions as to where the scholar may pursue hisstudies farther. 

_Joseph Warton_, 1722-1800: a brother of Thomas Warton; he publishedtranslations and essays and poems. Among the translations was that of the_Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil_, which is valued for its exactness andperspicuity. 

_Frances Burney_, (Madame D'Arblay, ) 1752-1840: the daughter of Dr. Burney, a musical composer. While yet a young girl, she astonished herselfand the world by her novel of _Evelina_, which at once took rank among thestandard fictions of the day. It is in the style of Richardson, but moretruthful in the delineation of existing manners, and in the expression ofsentiment. She afterwards published _Cecilia_ and several other tales, which, although excellent, were not as good as the first. She led analmost menial life, as one of the ladies in waiting upon Queen Charlotte;but the genuine fame achieved by her writings in some degree relieved thesense of thraldom, from which she happily escaped with a pension. Thenovels of Madame D'Arblay are the intermediate step between the novels ofRichardson, Fielding, and Smollett, and the Waverly novels of WalterScott. They are entirely free from any taint of immorality; and they wereamong the first feminine efforts that were received with enthusiasm: thusit is that, without being of the first order of merit, they mark adistinct era in English letters. 

_Edmund Burke_, 1730-1797: he was born in Dublin, and educated at TrinityCollege. He studied law, but soon found his proper sphere in public life. He had brilliant literary gifts; but his fame is more that of a statesmanand an orator, than an author. Prominent in parliament, he took nobleground in favor of American liberty in our contest with the mothercountry, and uttered speeches which have remained as models of forensiceloquence. His greatest oratorical efforts were his famous speeches as oneof the committee of impeachment in the case of Warren Hastings, Governor-General of India. Whatever may be thought of Hastings and hisadministration, the famous trial has given to English oratory some of itsnoblest specimens; and the people of England learned more of their empirein India from the learned, brilliant, and exhaustive speeches of Burke, than they could have learned in any other way. The greatest of his writtenworks is: _Reflections on the Revolution in France_, written to warnEngland to avoid the causes of such colossal evil. In 1756 he hadpublished his _Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime andBeautiful_. This has been variously criticized; and, although written withvigor of thought and brilliancy of style, has now taken its place amongthe speculations of theory, and not as establishing permanent canons ofæsthetical science. His work entitled _The Vindication of Natural Society, by a late noble writer_, is a successful attempt to overthrow the infidelsystem of Lord Bolingbroke, by applying it to civil society, and thusshowing that it proved too much--"that if the abuses of or evils sometimesconnected with religion invalidate its authority, then every institution, however beneficial, must be abandoned. " Burke's style is peculiar, and, inanother writer, would be considered pompous and pedantic; but it soexpresses the grandeur and dignity of the man, that it escapes thiscriticism. His learning, his private worth, his high aims andincorruptible faith in public station, the dignity of his statesmanship, and the power of his oratory, constitute Mr. Burke as one of the noblestcharacters of any English period; and, although his literary reputation isnot equal to his political fame, his accomplishments in the field ofletters are worthy of admiration and honorable mention. 

_Hugh Blair_, 1718-1800: a Presbyterian divine in Edinburgh, Dr. Blairdeserves special mention for his lectures on _Rhetoric andBelles-Lettres_, which for a long time constituted the principal text-bookon those subjects in our schools and colleges. A better understanding ofthe true scope of rhetoric as a science has caused this work to besuperseded by later text-books. Blair's lectures treat principally ofstyle and literary criticism, and are excellent for their analysis of someof the best authors, and for happy illustrations from their works. Blairwrote many eloquent sermons, which were published, and was one of thestrong champions of Macpherson, in the controversy concerning the poems ofOssian. He occupied a high place as a literary critic during his life. 

_William Paley_, 1743-1805: a clergyman of the Established Church, he roseto the dignity of Archdeacon and Chancellor of Carlisle. At firstthoughtless and idle, he was roused from his unprofitable life by theearnest warnings of a companion, and became a severe student and avigorous writer on moral and religious subjects. Among his numerouswritings, those principally valuable are: _Horæ Paulinæ_, and _A View ofthe Evidences of Christianity_--the former setting forth the life andcharacter of St. Paul, and the latter being a clear exposition of thetruth of Christianity, which has long served as a manual of academicinstruction. His treatise on _Natural Theology_ is, in the words of SirJames Mackintosh, "the wonderful work of a man who, after sixty, hadstudied anatomy in order to write it. " Later investigations of sciencehave discarded some of his _facts_; but the handling of the subject andthe array of arguments are the work of a skilful and powerful hand. Hewrote, besides, a work on _Moral and Political Philosophy_, and numeroussermons. His theory of morals is, that whatever is expedient is right; andthus he bases our sense of duty upon the ground of the production of thegreatest amount of happiness. This low view has been successfully refutedby later writers on moral science. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE NEW ROMANTIC POETRY: SCOTT. 

 Walter Scott. Translations and Minstrelsy. The Lay of the Last Minstrel. Other Poems. The Waverly Novels. Particular Mention. Pecuniary Troubles. His Manly Purpose. Powers Overtasked. Fruitless Journey. Return and Death. His Fame. 

The transition school, as we have seen, in returning to nature, hadredeemed the pastoral, and had cultivated sentiment at the expense of theepic. As a slight reaction, and yet a progress, and as influenced by thetales of modern fiction, and also as subsidizing the antiquarian lore andtaste of the age, there arose a school of poetry which is best representedby its _Tales in verse_;--some treating subjects of the olden time, somelaying their scenes in distant countries, and some describing homeincidents of the simplest kind. They were all minor epics: such were thepoetic stories of Scott, the _Lalla Rookh_ of Moore, _The Bride_ and _TheGiaour_ of Byron, and _The Village_ and _The Borough_ of Crabbe; all ofwhich mark the taste and the demand of the period. 

WALTER SCOTT. --First in order of the new romantic poets was Scott, alikerenowned for his _Lays_ and for his wonderful prose fictions; at once themost equable and the most prolific of English authors. 

Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh, on the 15th of August, 1771. Hisfather was a writer to the signet; his mother was Anne Rutherford, thedaughter of a medical professor in the University of Edinburgh. Hisfather's family belonged to the clan Buccleugh. Lame from his earlychildhood, and thus debarred the more active pleasures of children, hisimagination was unusually vigorous; and he took special pleasure in themany stories, current at the time, of predatory warfare, border forays, bogles, warlocks, and second sight. He spent some of his early days in thecountry, and thus became robust and healthy; although his lamenessremained throughout life. He was educated in Edinburgh, at the High Schooland the university; and, although not noted for excellence as a scholar, he exhibited precocity in verse, and delighted his companions by hisreadiness in reproducing old stories or improving new ones. After leavingthe university he studied law, and ranged himself in politics as aConservative or Tory. 

Although never an accurate classical scholar, he had a superficialknowledge of several languages, and was an industrious collector of oldballads and relics of the antiquities of his country. He was, however, better than a scholar;--he had genius, enthusiasm, and industry: he couldcreate character, adapt incident, and, in picturesque description, he waswithout a rival. 

During the rumors of the invasion of Scotland by the French, which he hastreated with such comical humor in _The Antiquary_, his lameness did notprevent his taking part with the volunteers, as quartermaster--a postgiven him to spare him the fatigue and rough service of the ranks. TheFrench did not come; and Scott returned to his studies with a budget ofincident for future use. 

TRANSLATIONS AND MINSTRELSY. --The study of the German language was thenalmost a new thing, even among educated people in England; and Scott madehis first public essay in the form of translations from the German. Amongthese were versions of the _Erl König_ of Goethe, and the _Lenore_ and_The Wild Huntsman_ of Bürger, which appeared in 1796. In 1797 he renderedinto English _Otho of Wittelsbach_ by Steinburg, and in 1799 Goethe'stragedy, _Götz von Berlichingen_. These were the trial efforts of his"'prentice hand, " which predicted a coming master. 

On the 24th of December, 1797, he married Miss Carpenter, or Charpentier, a lady of French parentage, and retired to a cottage at Lasswade, where hebegan his studies, and cherished his literary aspirations in earnest andfor life. 

In 1799 he was so fortunate as to receive the appointment of Sheriff ofSelkirkshire, with a salary of £300 per annum. His duties were notonerous: he had ample time to scour the country, ostensibly in search ofgame, and really in seeking for the songs and traditions of Scotland, border ballads, and tales, and in storing his fancy with those picturesqueviews which he was afterwards to describe so well in verse and prose. In1802 he was thus enabled to present to the world his first considerablework, _The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, containing many new balladswhich he had collected, with very valuable local and historical notes. This was followed, in 1804, by the metrical romance _of Sir Tristrem_, theoriginal of which was by Thomas of Ercildoune, of the thirteenth century, known as _Thomas the Rhymer_: it was he who dreamed on Huntley bank thathe met the Queen of Elfland, And, till seven years were gone and past, True Thomas on earth was never seen. 

The reputation acquired by these productions led the world to expectsomething distinctly original and brilliant from his pen; a hope which wasat once realized. 

THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL. --In 1805 appeared his first great poem, _TheLay of the Last Minstrel_, which immediately established his fame: it wasa charming presentation of the olden time to the new. It originated in arequest of the Countess of Dalkeith that he would write a ballad on thelegend of Gilpin Horner. The picture of the last minstrel, "infirm andold, " fired by remembrance as he begins to tell an old-time story ofScottish valor, is vividly drawn. The bard is supposed to be the last ofhis fraternity, and to have lived down to 1690. The tale, mixed of truthand fable, is exceedingly interesting. The octo-syllabic measure, with anoccasional line of three feet, to break the monotony, is purelyminstrelic, and reproduces the effect of the _troubadours and trouvères_. The wizard agency of Gilpin Horner's brood, and the miracle at the tomb ofMichael Scott, are by no means out of keeping with the minstrel and theage of which he sings. The dramatic effects are good, and the descriptionsvery vivid. The poem was received with great enthusiasm, and rapidlypassed through several editions. One element of its success is modestlyand justly stated by the author in his introduction to a later edition:"The attempt to return to a more simple and natural style of poetry waslikely to be welcomed at a time when the public had become tired of heroichexameters, with all the buckram and binding that belong to them in moderndays. "

With an annual income of £1000, and an honorable ambition, Scott workedhis new literary mine with great vigor. He saw not only fame but wealthwithin his reach. He entered into a silent partnership with the publisher, James Ballantyne, which was for a long time lucrative, by reason of theunprecedented sums he received for his works. In 1806 he was appointed tothe reversion--on the death of the incumbent--of the clerkship of theCourt of Sessions, a place worth £1300 per annum. 

OTHER POEMS. --In 1808, before _The Lay_ had lost its freshness, _Marmion_appeared: it was kindred in subject and form, and was received with equalfavor. _The Lady of the Lake_, the most popular of these poems, waspublished in 1810; and with it his poetical talent culminated. The laterpoems were not equal to any of those mentioned, although they were notwithout many beauties and individual excellences. 

_The Vision of Don Roderick_, which appeared in 1811, is founded upon thelegend of a visit made by one of the Gothic kings of Spain to an enchantedcavern near Toledo. _Rokeby_ was published in 1812; _The Bridal ofTriermain_ in 1813; _The Lord of the Isles_, founded upon incidents in thelife of Bruce, in 1815; and _Harold the Dauntless_ in 1817. With thedecline of his poetic power, manifest to himself, he retired from thefield of poetry, but only to appear upon another and a grander field withastonishing brilliancy: it was the domain of the historical romance. Such, however, was the popular estimate of his poetry, that in 1813 the PrinceRegent offered him the position of poet-laureate, which was gratefully andwisely declined. 

Just at this time the new poets came forth, in his own style, and actuatedby his example and success. He recognized in Byron, Moore, Crabbe, andothers, genius and talent; and, with his generous spirit, exaggeratedtheir merits by depreciating his own, which he compared to cairngormsbeside the real jewels of his competitors. The mystics, following the leadof the Lake poets, were ready to increase the depreciation. It soon becamefashionable to speak of _The Lay_, and _Marmion_, and _The Lady of theLake_ as spirited little stories, not equal to Byron's, and not to bementioned beside the occult philosophy of _Thalaba_ and gentle egotism of_The Prelude_. That day is passed: even the critical world returns to itsfirst fancies. In the words of Carlyle, a great balance-striker ofliterary fame, speaking in 1838: "It were late in the day to writecriticisms on those metrical romances; at the same time, the greatpopularity they had seems natural enough. In the first place, there wasthe indisputable impress of worth, of genuine human force in them ... Pictures were actually painted and presented; human emotions conceived andsympathized with. Considering that wretched Dellacruscan and othervamping up of wornout tattlers was the staple article then, it may begranted that Scott's excellence was superior and supreme. " Withoutpreferring any claim to epic grandeur, or to a rank among the few greatpoets of the first class, Scott is entitled to the highest eminence inminstrelic power. He is the great modern troubadour. His descriptions ofnature are simple and exquisite. There is nothing in this respect morebeautiful than the opening of _The Lady of the Lake_. His battle-pieceslive and resound again: what can be finer than Flodden field in _Marmion_, and The Battle of Beal and Duine in _The Lady of the Lake_?

His love scenes are at once chaste, impassioned, and tender; and his harpsongs and battle lyrics are unrivalled in harmony. And, besides thesemerits, he gives us everywhere glimpses of history, which, before his day, were covered by the clouds of ignorance, and which his breath was to sweepaway. 

Such are his claims as the first of the new romantic poets. We might hereleave him, to consider his prose works in another connection; but it seemsjuster to his fame to continue and complete a sketch of his life, becauseall its parts are of connected interest. The poems were a grand proem tothe novels. 

While he was achieving fame by his poetry, and reaping golden rewards aswell as golden opinions, he was also ambitious to establish a family nameand estate. To this end, he bought a hundred acres of land on the banks ofthe Tweed, near Melrose Abbey, and added to these from time to time by thepurchase of adjoining properties. Here he built a great mansion, whichbecame famous as Abbotsford: he called it one of his air-castles reducedto solid stone and mortar. Here he played the part of a feudal proprietor, and did the honors for Scotland to distinguished men from all quarters:his hospitality was generous and unbounded. 

THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. --As early as 1805, while producing his beautifulpoems, he had tried his hand upon a story in prose, based upon thestirring events in 1745, resulting in the fatal battle of Culloden, whichgave a death-blow to the cause of the Stuarts, and to their attempts toregain the crown. Dissatisfied with the effort, and considering it at thattime less promising than poetry, he had thrown the manuscript aside in adesk with some old fishing-tackle. There it remained undisturbed for eightyears. With the decline of his poetic powers, he returned to the formernotion of writing historical fiction; and so, exhuming his manuscript, hemodified and finished it, and presented it anonymously to the world in1814. He had at first proposed the title of _Waverley, or 'Tis Fifty YearsSince_, which was afterwards altered to '_Tis Sixty Years Since_. This, the first of his splendid series of fictions, which has given a name tothe whole series, is by no means the best; but it was good and novelenough to strike a chord in the popular heart at once. Its delineations ofpersonal characters already known to history were masterly; its historicalpictures were in a new and striking style of art. There were men yetliving to whom he could appeal--men who had _been out_ in the '45, who hadseen Charles Edward and many of the originals of the author's heroes andheroines. In his researches and wanderings, he had imbibed the very spiritof Scottish life and history; and the Waverley novels are among the moststriking literary types and expounders of history. 

PARTICULAR MENTION. --In 1815, before half the reading world had delightedthemselves with _Waverley_, his rapid pen had produced _Guy Mannering_, astory of English and Scottish life, superior to Waverley in its originaldescriptions and more general interest. He is said to have written it insix weeks at Christmas time. The scope of this volume will not permit acritical examination of the Waverley novels. The world knows them almostby heart. In _The Antiquary_, which appeared in 1816, we have a raredelineation of local manners, the creation of distinct characters, and ahumorous description of the sudden arming of volunteers in fear ofinvasion by the French. _The Antiquary_ was a free portrait or sketch ofMr. George Constable, filled in perhaps unconsciously from the author'sown life; for he, no less than his friend, delighted in collecting relics, and in studying out the lines, prætoria, and general castrametation of theRoman armies. Andrew Gemmels was the original of that Edie Ochiltree whowas bold enough to dispute the antiquary's more learned assertions. 

In the same year, 1816, was published the first series of _The Tales of myLandlord_, containing _The Black Dwarf_ and _Old Mortality_, both valuableas contributions to Scottish history. The former is not of much literarymerit; and the author was so little pleased with it, that he brought it toa hasty conclusion; the latter is an extremely animated sketch of thesufferings of the Covenanters at the hands of Grahame of Claverhouse, witha fairer picture of that redoubted commander than the Covenanters havedrawn. _Rob Roy_, the best existing presentation of Highland life andmanners, appeared in 1817. Thus Scott's prolific pen, like nature, produced annuals. In 1818 appeared _The Heart of Mid-Lothian_, thattouching story of Jeanie and Effie Deans, which awakens the warmestsympathy of every reader, and teaches to successive generations a morallesson of great significance and power. 

In 1819 he wrote _The Bride of Lammermoor_, the story of a domestictragedy, which warns the world that outraged nature will sometimes assertherself in fury; a story so popular that it has been since arranged as anItalian opera. With that came _The Legend of Montrose_, another historicsketch of great power, and especially famous for the character of MajorDugald Dalgetty, soldier of fortune and pedant of Marischal College, Aberdeen. The year 1819 also beheld the appearance of _Ivanhoe_, whichmany consider the best of the series. It describes rural England duringthe regency of John, the romantic return of Richard Lion-heart, theglowing embers of Norman and Saxon strife, and the story of the Templars. His portraiture of the Jewess Rebecca is one of the finest in the WaverleyGallery. 

The next year, 1820, brought forth _The Monastery_, the least popular ofthe novels thus far produced; and, as Scott tells us, on the principle ofsending a second arrow to find one that was lost, he wrote _The Abbot_, asequel, to which we are indebted for a masterly portrait of Mary Stuart inher prison of Lochleven. The _Abbot_, to some extent, redeemed andsustained its weaker brother. In this same year Scott was created abaronet, in recognition of his great services to English Literature andhistory. The next five years added worthy companion-novels to themarvellous series. _Kenilworth_ is founded upon the visit of QueenElizabeth to her favorite Leicester, in that picturesque palace inWarwickshire, and contains that beautiful and touching picture of AmyRobsart. _The Pirate_ is a story the scene of which is laid in Shetland, and the material for which he gathered in a pleasure tour among thoseislands. In _The Fortunes of Nigel_, London life during the reign of JamesI. Is described; and it contains life-like portraits of that monarch, ofhis unfortunate son, Prince Charles, and of Buckingham. _Peveril of thePeak_ is a story of the time of Charles II. , which is not of equal meritwith the other novels. _Quentin Durward_, one of the very best, describesthe strife between Louis XI. Of France and Charles the Bold of Burgundy, and gives full-length historic portraits of these princes. The scene of_St. Ronan's Well_ is among the English lakes in Cumberland, and the storydescribes the manners of the day at a retired watering-place. _RedGauntlet_ is a curious narrative connected with one of the latest attemptsof Charles Edward--abortive at the outset--to effect a rising inScotland. In 1825 appeared his _Tales of the Crusaders_, comprising _TheBetrothed_ and _The Talisman_, of which the latter is the more popular, asit describes with romantic power the deeds of Richard and his comrades inthe second crusade. 

A glance at this almost tabular statement will show the scope andversatility of his mind, the historic range of his studies, the fertilityof his fancy, and the rapidity of his pen. He had attained the height offame and happiness; his success had partaken of the miraculous; butmisfortune came to mar it all, for a time. 

PECUNIARY TROUBLES. --In the financial crash of 1825-6, he was largelyinvolved. As a silent partner in the publishing house of the Ballantynes, and as connected with them in the affairs of Constable & Co. , he foundhimself, by the failure of these houses, legally liable to the amount of£117, 000. To relieve himself, he might have taken the benefit of the_bankrupt law_; or, such was his popularity, that his friends desired toraise a subscription to cover the amount of his indebtedness; but he wasnow to show by his conduct that, if the author was great, the man wasgreater. He refused all assistance, and even rejected general sympathy. Hedetermined to relieve himself, to pay his debts, or die in the effort. Heleft Abbotsford, and took frugal lodgings in Edinburgh; curtailed all hisexpenses, and went to work--which was over-work--not for fame, but forguineas; and he gained both. 

His first novel after this, and the one which was to test thepracticability of his plan, was _Woodstock_, a tale of the troublous timesof the Civil War, in the last chapter of which he draws the picture of therestored Charles coming in peaceful procession to his throne. This hewrote in three months; and for it he received upwards of £8000. With thisand the proceeds of his succeeding works, he was enabled to pay over tohis creditors the large sum of £70, 000; a feat unparalleled in the historyof literature. But the anxiety and the labor were too much even for hispowerful constitution: he died in his heroic attempt. 

HIS MANLY PURPOSE. --More for money than for reputation, he compiledhastily, and from partial and incomplete material, a _Life of NapoleonBonaparte_, which appeared in 1827. The style is charming and the workeminently readable; but it contains many faults, is by no meansunprejudiced, and, as far as pure truth is concerned, is, in parts, almostas much of a romance as any of the Waverley novels; but, for the first twoeditions, he received the enormous sum of £18, 000. The work wasaccomplished in the space of one year. Among the other _task-work_ bookswere the two series of _The Chronicles of the Canongate_ (1827 and 1828), the latter of which contains the beautiful story of _St. Valentine's Day_, or _The Fair Maid of Perth_. It is written in his finest vein, especiallyin those chapters which describe the famous Battle of the Clans. In 1829appeared _Anne of Geierstein_, another story presenting the figure ofCharles of Burgundy, and his defeat and death in the battle with the Swissat Nancy. 

POWERS OVERTASKED. --And now new misfortunes were to come upon him. In 1826he had lost his wife: his sorrows weighed upon him, and his superhumanexertions were too much for his strength. In 1829 he was seized with anervous attack, accompanied by hemorrhages of a peculiar kind. InFebruary, 1830, a slight paralysis occurred, from which he speedilyrecovered; this was soon succeeded by another; and it was manifest thathis mind was giving way. His last novel, _Count Robert of Paris_, wasbegun in 1830, as one of a fourth series of _The Tales of My Landlord_: itbears manifest marks of his failing powers, but is of value for thehistoric stores which it draws from the Byzantine historians, andespecially from the unique work of Anna Comnena: "I almost wish, " he said, "I had named it Anna Comnena. " A slight attack of apoplexy in November, 1830, was followed by a severer one in the spring of 1831. Even then hetried to write, and was able to produce _Castle Dangerous_. With that thepowerful pen ended its marvellous work. The manly spirit still chafed thathis debts were not paid, and could not be, by the labor of his hands. 

FRUITLESS JOURNEY. --In order to divert his mind, and, as a last chance forhealth, a trip to the Mediterranean was projected. The Barham frigate wasplaced by the government at his disposal; and he wandered with a party offriends to Malta, Naples, Pompeii, Paestum, and Rome. But feeling the endapproaching, he exclaimed, "Let us to Abbotsford:" for the final hour hecraved the _grata quies patriæ_; to which an admiring world has added theremainder of the verse--_sed et omnis terra sepulchrum_. It was not amoment too soon: he travelled northward to the Rhine, down that river byboat, and reached London "totally exhausted;" thence, as soon as he couldbe moved, he was taken to Abbotsford. 

RETURN AND DEATH. --There he lingered from July to September, and diedpeacefully on the 21st of the latter month, surrounded by his family andlulled to repose by the rippling of the Tweed. Among the noted dead of1832, including Goethe, Cuvier, Crabbe, and Mackintosh, he was the mostdistinguished; and all Scotland and all the civilized world mourned hisloss. 

HIS FAME. --At Edinburgh a colossal monument has been erected to hismemory, within which sits his marble figure. Numerous other memorialcolumns are found in other cities, but all Scotland is his true monument, every province and town of which he has touched with his magic pen. Indeed, Scotland may be said to owe to him a new existence. In the wordsof Lord Meadowbank, --who presided at the Theatrical Fund dinner in 1827, and who there made the first public announcement of the authorship of theWaverley novels, --Scott was "the mighty magician who rolled back thecurrent of time, and conjured up before our living senses the men andmanners of days which have long since passed away ... It is he who hasconferred a new reputation on our national character, and bestowed onScotland an imperishable name. "

Besides his poetry and novels, he wrote very much of a miscellaneouscharacter for the reviews, and edited the works of the poets with valuableintroductions and congenial biographies. Most of his fictions arehistorical in plot and personages; and those which deal with Scottishsubjects are enriched by those types of character, those descriptions ofmanners--national and local--and those peculiarities of language, whichgive them additional and more useful historical value. It has been justlysaid that, by his masterly handling of historical subjects, he has taughtthe later historians how to write, how to give vivid and pictorial effectsto what was before a detail of chronology or a dry schedule of philosophy. His critical powers may be doubted: he was too kind and genial for acritic; and in reading contemporary authors seems to have endued theirinferior works with something of his own fancy. 

The _Life of Scott_, by his son-in-law, J. G. Lockhart, is one of the mostcomplete and interesting biographies in the language. In it the studentwill find a list of all his works, with the dates of their production; andwill wonder that an author who was so rapid and so prolific could write somuch that was of the highest excellence. If not the greatest genius of hisage, he was its greatest literary benefactor; and it is for this reasonthat we have given so much space to the record of his life and works. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE NEW ROMANTIC POETRY: BYRON AND MOORE. 

 Early Life of Byron. Childe Harold and Eastern Tales. Unhappy Marriage. Philhellenism and Death. Estimate of his Poetry. Thomas Moore. Anacreon. Later Fortunes. Lalla Rookh. His Diary. His Rank as Poet. 

In immediate succession after Scott comes the name of Byron. They wereboth great lights of their age; but the former may be compared to a planetrevolving in regulated and beneficent beauty through an unclouded sky;while the latter is more like a comet whose lurid light came flashing uponthe sight in wild and threatening career. 

Like Scott, Byron was a prolific poet; and he owes to Scott the generalsuggestion and much of the success of his tales in verse. His powers ofdescription were original and great: he adopted the new romantic tone, while in his more studied works he was an imitator and a champion of aformer age, and a contemner of his own. 

EARLY LIFE OF BYRON. --The Honorable George Gordon Byron, afterwards LordByron, was born in London on the 22d of January, 1788. While he was yet aninfant, his father--Captain Byron--a dissipated man, deserted his mother;and she went with her child to live upon a slender pittance at Aberdeen. She was a woman of peculiar disposition, and was unfortunate in thetraining of her son. She alternately petted and quarrelled with him, andtaught him to emulate her irregularities of temper. On account of anaccident at his birth, he had a malformation in one of his feet, which, producing a slight limp in his gait through life, rendered his sensitivenature quite unhappy, the signs of which are to be discerned in his drama, _The Deformed Transformed_. From the age of five years he went to schoolat Aberdeen, and very early began to exhibit traits of generosity, manliness, and an imperious nature: he also displayed great quickness inthose studies which pleased his fancy. 

In 1798, when he was eleven years old, his grand-uncle, William, the fifthLord Byron, died, and was succeeded in the title and estates by the youngGordon Byron, who was at once removed with his mother to Newstead Abbey. In 1801 he was sent to Harrow, where he was well esteemed by his comrades, but was not considered forward in his studies. 

He seems to have been of a susceptible nature, for, while still a boy, hefell in love several times. His third experience in this way wasundoubtedly the strongest of his whole life. The lady was Miss MaryChaworth, who did not return his affection. His last interview with her hehas powerfully described in his poem called _The Dream_. From Harrow hewent to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he lived an idle andself-indulgent life, reading discursively, but not studying the prescribedcourse. As early as November, 1806, before he was nineteen, he publishedhis first volume, _Poems on Various Occasions_, for private distribution, which was soon after enlarged and altered, and presented to the public as_Hours of Idleness, a Series of Poems Original and Translated, by GeorgeGordon, Lord Byron, A Minor_. These productions, although by no meansequal to his later poems, are not without merit, and did not deserve theexceedingly severe criticism they met with from the _Edinburgh Review_. The critics soon found that they had bearded a young lion: in his rage, hesprang out upon the whole literary craft in a satire, imitated fromJuvenal, called _The English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_, in which heridicules and denounces the very best poets of the day furiously but mostuncritically. That his conduct was absurd and unjust, he himself allowedafterwards; and he attempted to call in and destroy all the copies of thiswork. 

CHILDE HAROLD AND EASTERN TALES. --In March, 1809, he took his seat in theHouse of Lords, where he did not accomplish much. He took up his residenceat Newstead Abbey, his ancestral seat, most of which was in a ruinouscondition; and after a somewhat disorderly life there, he set out on hiscontinental tour, spending some time at Lisbon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Malta, and in Greece. On his return, after two years' absence, he brought asummary of his travels in poetical form, --the first part of _ChildeHarold_; and also a more elaborated poem entitled _Hints from Horace_. Upon the former he set little value; but he thought the latter a noblework. The world at once reversed his decision. The satire in the Latinvein is scarcely read; while to the first cantos of _Childe Harold_ it wasdue that, in his own words, "he woke up one morning and found himselffamous. " As fruits of the eastern portion of his travels, we have theromantic tale, _The Giaour_, published in 1811, and _The Bride of Abydos_, which appeared in 1813. The popularity of these oriental stories wasmainly due to their having been conceived on the spots they describe. In1814 he issued _The Corsair_, perhaps the best of these sensationalstories; and with singular versatility, in the same year, inspired by thebeauty of the Jewish history, he produced _The Hebrew Melodies_, some ofwhich are fervent, touching, and melodious. Late in the same year _Lara_was published, in the same volume with Mr. Rogers's _Jacqueline_, which itthrew completely into the shade. Thus closed one distinct period of hislife and of his authorship. A change came over the spirit of his dream. 

UNHAPPY MARRIAGE. --In 1815, urged by his friends, and thinking it due tohis position, he married Miss Milbanke; but the union was withoutaffection on either side, and both were unhappy. One child, a daughter, was born to them; and a year had hardly passed when they were separated, by mutual consent and for reasons never truly divulged; and which, inspite of modern investigations, must remain mysterious. He was licentious, extravagant, of a violent temper: his wife was of severe morals, cold, andunsympathetic. We need not advance farther into the horrors recentlysuggested to the world. The blame has rested on Byron; and, at the time, the popular feeling was so strong, that it may be said to have driven himfrom England. It awoke in him a dark misanthropy which returned Englishscorn with an unnatural hatred. He sojourned at various places on thecontinent. At Geneva he wrote a third canto of _Childe Harold_, and thetouching story of Bonnivard, entitled _The Prisoner of Chillon_, and othershort poems. 

In 1817 he was at Venice, where he formed a connection with the CountessGuiccioli, to the disgrace of both. In Venice he wrote a fourth canto of_Childe Harold_, the story of _Mazeppa_, the first two cantos of _DonJuan_, and two dramas, _Marino Faliero_ and _The Two Foscari_. 

For two years he lived at Ravenna, where he wrote some of his otherdramas, and several cantos of _Don Juan_. In 1821 he removed to Pisa;thence, after a short stay, to Genoa, still writing dramas and working at_Don Juan_. 

PHILHELLENISM: HIS DEATH. --The end of his misanthropy and his debaucherieswas near; but his story was to have a ray of sunset glory--his death wasto be connected with a noble effort and an exhibition of philanthropicspirit which seem in some degree to palliate his faults. Unlike somewriters who find in his conduct only a selfish whim, we think that itcasts a beautiful radiance upon the early evening of a stormy life. TheGreeks were struggling for independence from Turkish tyranny: Byron threwhimself heart and soul into the movement, received a commission from theGreek government, recruited a band of Suliotes, and set forth gallantly todo or die in the cause of Grecian freedom: he died, but not in battle. Hecaught a fever of a virulent type, from his exposure, and after very fewdays expired, on the 19th of April, 1824, amid the mourning of the nation. Of this event, Macaulay--no mean or uncertain critic--could say, in hisepigrammatical style: "Two men have died within our recollection, who, ata time of life at which few people have completed their education, hadraised themselves, each in his own department, to the height of glory. Oneof them died at Longwood; the other at Missolonghi. "

ESTIMATE OF HIS POETRY. --In giving a brief estimate of his character andof his works, we may begin by saying that he represents, in clearlineaments, the nobleman, the traveller, the poet, and the debauchee, ofthe beginning of the nineteenth century. In all his works he unconsciouslydepicts himself. He is in turn Childe Harold, Lara, the Corsair, and DonJuan. He affected to despise the world's opinion so completely that he hasmade himself appear worse than he really was--more profane, moreintemperate, more licentious. It is equally true that this tendency, addedto the fact that he was a handsome peer, had much to do with the immediatepopularity of his poems. There was also a paradoxical vanity, which doesnot seem easily reconcilable with his misanthropy, that thus led him toreproduce himself in a new dress in his dramas and tales. He paradedhimself as if, after all, he did value the world's opinion. 

That he was one of the new romantic poets, with, however, a considerabletincture of the transition school, may be readily discerned in his works:his earlier poems are full of the conceits of the artificial age. His_English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ reminds one of the _MacFlecknoe_ ofDryden and _The Dunciad_ of Pope, without being as good as either. Whenhe began that original and splendid portrait of himself, and transcriptof his travels, _Childe Harold_, he imitated Spenser in form and inarchaism. But he was possessed by the muse: the man wrote as the spiritwithin dictated, as the Pythian priestess is fabled to have uttered heroracles. _Childe Harold_ is a stream of intuitive, irrepressible poetry;not art, but overflowing nature: the sentiments good and bad came wellingforth from his heart. His descriptive powers are great but peculiar. Travellers find in _Childe Harold_ lightning glimpses of European scenery, art, and nature, needing no illustrations, almost defying them. Nationalconditions, manners, customs, and costumes, are photographed in hisverses:--the rapid rush to Waterloo; a bull-fight in Spain; the women ofCadiz or Saragossa; the Lion of St. Mark; the eloquent statue of the DyingGladiator; "Fair Greece, sad relic of departed worth;" the address to theocean; touches of love and hate; pictures of sorrow, of torture, of death. Everywhere thought and glance are powerfully concentrated, and we find thepoem to be journal, history, epic, and autobiography. His felicity ofexpression is so great, that, as we come upon the happy conceptionsexquisitely rendered, we are inclined to say of each, as he has said ofthe Egeria of Muna:

 ... Whatsoe'er thy birth, Thou wert a beautiful thought and softly bodied forth. 

Of his dramas which are founded upon history, we cannot say so much; theyare dramatic only in form: some of them are spectacular, like_Sardanapalus_, which is still presented upon the stage on account of itsscenic effects. In _Manfred_ we have a rare insight into his nature, and_Cain_ is the vehicle for his peculiar, dark sentiments on the subject ofreligion. 

_Don Juan_ is illustrative not only of the poet, but of the age; there wasa generation of such men and women. But quite apart from its moral, orrather immoral, character, the poem is one of the finest in ourliterature: it is full of wonderful descriptions, and exhibits a splendidmastery of language, rhythm, and rhyme: a glorious epic with an inglorioushero, and that hero Byron himself. 

As a man he was an enigma to the world, and doubtless to himself: he wasbad, but he was bold. If he was vindictive, he was generous; if he wasmisanthropic and sceptical, it was partly because he despised shams: inall his actions, we see that implicit working out of his own nature, whichnot only conceals nothing, but even exaggerates his own faults. Hisantecedents were bad;--his father was a villain; his grand-uncle amurderer; his mother a woman of violent temper; and himself, with all thislegacy, a man of powerful passions. If evil is in any degree to bepalliated because it is hereditary, those who most condemn it in theabstract, may still look with compassionate leniency upon the career ofLord Byron. 

THOMAS MOORE. --Emphatically the creature of his age, Moore wrotesentimental songs in melodious language to the old airs of Ireland, andused them as an instrument to excite the Irish people in the struggle theywere engaged in against English misgovernment. But his songs were trueneither to tradition nor to nature; they placed before the ardent Celticfancy an Irish glory and grandeur entirely different from the reality. Norhad he in any degree caught the bardic spirit. His lyre was attuned toreach the ear rather than the heart; his scenes are in enchanted lands;his _dramatis personæ_ tread theatrical boards; his thunder is amelo-dramatic roll; his lightning is pyrotechny; his tears are eitherhypocritical or maudlin; and his laughter is the perfection of genteelcomedy. 

Thomas Moore was born in Dublin, on the 28th of May, 1779: he was adiminutive but precocious child, and was paraded by his father and mother, who were people in humble life, as a reciter of verse; and as an earlyrhymer also. His first poem was printed in a Dublin magazine, when he wasfourteen years old. In 1794 he entered Trinity College, Dublin; and, although never considered a good scholar, he was graduated in 1798, whenhe was nineteen years old. 

ANACREON. --The first work which brought him into notice, and whichmanifests at once the precocity of his powers and the peculiarity of histaste, was his translation of the _Odes of Anacreon_. He had begun thiswork while at college, but it was finished and published in London, whither he had gone after leaving college, to enter the Middle Temple, inorder to study law. With equal acuteness and adaptation to character, hededicated the poems to the Prince of Wales, an anacreontic hero. As mightbe expected, with such a patron, the volume was a success. In 1801 hepublished another series of erotic poems, under the title _The PoeticalWorks of the late Thomas Little_. This gained for him, in Byron's line, the name of "the young Catullus of his day"; and, at the instance of LordMoira, he was appointed poet-laureate, a post he filled only long enoughto write one birthday ode. What seemed a better fortune came in the shapeof an appointment as Registrar of the Admiralty Court of Bermuda. He wentto the island; remained but a short time; and turned over the uncongenialduties of the post to a deputy, who subsequently became a defaulter, andinvolved Moore to a large amount. Returning from Bermuda, he travelled inthe United States and Canada; not without some poetical record of hismovements. In 1806 he published his _Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems_, which called down the righteous wrath of the Edinburgh Review: Jeffreydenounced the book as "a public nuisance, " and "a corrupter of publicmorals. " For this harsh judgment, Moore challenged him; but the duel wasstopped by the police. This hostile meeting was turned to ridicule byByron in the lines:

 When Little's leadless pistols met his eye, And Bow-street myrmidons stood laughing by. 

LATER FORTUNES. --Moore was now the favorite--the poet and the dependent ofthe nobility; and his versatile pen was principally employed to amuse andto please. He soon began that series of _Irish Melodies_ which hecontinued to augment with new pieces for nearly thirty years. 

Always of a theatrical turn, he acted well in private drama, in which thegentlemen were amateurs, and the female parts were personated byprofessional actresses. Thus playing in a cast with Miss Dyke, thedaughter of an Irish actor, Moore fell in love with her, and married heron the 25th of March, 1811. 

With a foolish lack of judgment, he lost his hopes of preferment, bywriting satires against the regent; but as a means of livelihood, heengaged to write songs for Powers, at a salary of £500 per annum, forseven years. 

LALLA ROOKH. --The most acceptable offering to fame, and the mostsuccessful pecuniary venture, was his _Lalla Rookh_. The East was becomingknown to the English; and the fancy of the poet could convert the glimpsesof oriental things into charming pictures. Long possessed with the purposeto write an Eastern story in verse, Moore set to work with laudableindustry to read books of travels and history, in order to form a strongand sensible basis for his poetical superstructure. The work is acollection of beautiful poems, in a delicate setting of beautiful prose. The princess Lalla Rookh journeys, with great pomp, to become the bride ofthe youthful king of Bokkara, and finds among her attendants a handsomeyoung poet, who beguiles the journey by singing to her these tales inverse. The dangers of the process became manifest--the king of Bokkara isforgotten, and the heart of the unfortunate princess is won by the beautyand the minstrelsy of the youthful poet. What is her relief and her joy tofind on her arrival the unknown poet seated upon the throne as the king, who had won her heart as an humble bard!

This beautiful and popular work was published in 1817; and for it Moorereceived from his publishers, the Longmans, £3000. 

In the same year Moore took a small cottage at Sloperton on the estate ofthe Marquis of Lansdowne, which, with some interruptions of travel, and ashort residence in Paris, continued to be his residence during his life. Improvident in money matters, he was greatly troubled by his affairs inBermuda;--the amount for which he became responsible by the defalcation ofhis deputy was £6000; which, however, by legal cleverness, was compromisedfor a thousand guineas. 

HIS DIARY. --It is very fortunate, for a proper understanding of Moore'slife, that we have from this time a diary which is invaluable to thebiographer. In 1820 he went to Paris, where he wasted his time and moneyin fashionable dissipation, and produced nothing of enduring value. Herehe sketched an Egyptian story, versified in _Alciphron_, but enlarged inthe prose romance called _The Epicurean_. 

On a short tour he visited Venice, where he received, as a gift from LordByron, his autobiographical memoirs, which contained so much that wascompromising to others, that they were never published--at least in thatform. They were withdrawn from the Murrays, in whose hands he had placedthem, upon the death of Byron in 1824, and destroyed. A short visit toIreland led to his writing the _Memoirs of Captain Rock_, a work whichattained an unprecedented popularity in Ireland. 

In 1825 he published his _Life of Sheridan_, which is rather a friendlypanegyric than a truthful biography. 

During three years--from 1827 to 1830--he was engaged upon the _Life ofByron_, which concealed more truth than it divulged. But in all theseyears, his chief dependence for daily bread was upon his songs and glees, squibs for newspapers and magazines, and review articles. 

In 1831 he made another successful hit in his _Life of Lord EdwardFitzgerald_, a rebel of '98, which was followed in 1833 by _The Travels ofan Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion_. 

In 1835, through the agency of Lord John Russel, the improvident poetreceived a pension of £300. It came in a time of need; for he was gettingold, and his mind moved more sluggishly. His infirmities made him moredomestic; but his greater trials were still before him. His sons werefrivolous spendthrifts; one for whom he had secured a commission in thearmy behaved ill, and drew upon his impoverished father again and againfor money: both died young. This cumulation of troubles broke him down; hehad a cerebral attack in December, 1849, and lived helpless and brokenuntil the 26th of February, 1852, when he expired without suffering. 

HIS POETRY. --In most cases, the concurrence of what an author has writtenwill present to us the mental and moral features of the man. It isparticularly true in the case of Moore. He appears to us in Proteanshapes, indeed, but not without an affinity between them. Small instature, of jovial appearance; devoted to the gayest society; not veryearnest in politics; a Roman Catholic in name, with but little practicalreligion, he pandered at first to a frivolous public taste, and was evenmore corrupt than the public morals. 

Not so apparently as Pope an artificial poet, he had few touches ofnature. Of lyric sentiment he has but little; but we must differ fromthose who deny to him rare lyrical expression, and happy musicaladaptations. His songs one can hardly _read_; we feel that they must besung. He has been accused, too violently, by Maginn of plagiarism: this, of course, means of phrases and ideas. In our estimate of Moore, it countsbut little; his rare rhythm and exquisite cadences are not plagiarized;they are his own, and his chief merit. 

He abounds in imagery of oriental gorgeousness; and if, in personality, he may be compared to his own Peri, or one of "the beautiful blue damselflies" of that poem, he has given to his unfriendly critics a judgment ofhis own style, in a criticism made by Fadladeen of the young poet's storyto Lalla Rookh;--"it resembles one of those Maldivian boats--a slight, gilded thing, sent adrift without rudder or ballast, and with nothing butvapid sweets and faded flowers on board. " "The effect of the whole, " saysone of his biographers, speaking of Lalla Rookh, "is much the same as thatof a magnificent ballet, on which all the resources of the theatre havebeen lavished, and no expense spared in golden clouds, ethereal light, gauze-clad sylphs, and splendid tableaux. "

Moore has been felicitously called "the poet of all circles, " a phrasewhich shows that he reflected the general features of his age. At no timecould the license of _Anacreon_, or the poems of Little, have been so wellreceived as when "the first gentleman in Europe" set the example ofsystematic impurity. At no time could _Irish Melodies_ have had such a_furore_ of adoption and applause, as when _Repeal_ was the cry, and theIrish were firing their minds by remembering "the glories of Brian theBrave;" that Brian Boroimhe who died in the eleventh century, afterdefeating the Danes in twenty-five battles. 

Moore's _Biographies_, with all their faults, are important socialhistories. _Lalla Rookh_ has a double historical significance: it is areflection--like _Anastasius_ and _Vathek_, like _Thalaba_ and _The Curseof Kehama_, like _The Giaour_ and _The Bride of Abydos_--of Englishconquest, travel, and adventure in the East. It is so true to nature inoriental descriptions and allusions, that one traveller declared that toread it was like riding on a camel; but it is far more important toobserve that the relative conditions of England and the Irish RomanCatholics are symbolized in the Moslem rule over the Ghebers, asdelineated in _The Fire Worshippers_. In his preface to that poem, Moorehimself says: "The cause of tolerance was again my inspiring theme; andthe spirit that had spoken in the melodies of Ireland soon found itself athome in the East. "

In an historic view of English Literature, the works of Moore, touchingalmost every subject, must always be of great value to the student of hisperiod: there he will always have his prominent place. But he is alreadylosing his niche in public favor as a poet proper; better taste, purermorals, truer heart-songs, and more practical views will steadily supplanthim, until, with no power to influence the present, he shall stand only asa charming relic of the past. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE NEW ROMANTIC POETRY (CONTINUED). 

 Robert Burns. His Poems. His Career. George Crabbe. Thomas Campbell. Samuel Rogers. P. B. Shelley. John Keats. Other Writers. 

ROBERT BURNS. 

If Moore was, in the opinion of his age, an Irish prodigy, Burns is, forall time, a Scottish marvel. The one was polished and musical, butartificial and insidiously immoral; the other homely and simple, butpowerful and effective to men of all classes in society. The one was thepoet of the aristocracy; the other the genius whose sympathies were withthe poor. One was most at home in the palaces of the great; and the other, in the rude Ayrshire cottage, or in the little sitting-room of thelandlord in company with Souter John and Tam O'Shanter. As to most of hispoems, Burns was really of no distinct school, but seems to stand alone, the creature of circumstance rather than of the age, in an unnatural andfalse position, compared by himself to the daisy he uprooted with hisploughshare:

 Even thou who mourn'st the daisy's fate, That fate is thine--no distant date; Stern Ruin's ploughshare drives elate, Full on thy bloom, Till crushed beneath the furrow's weight Shall be thy doom!

His life was uneventful. He was the son of a very poor man who wasgardener to a gentleman at Ayr. He was born in Alloway on the 25th ofJanuary, 1759. His early education was scanty; but he read with aviditythe few books on which he could lay his hands, among which he particularlymentions, in his short autobiography, _The Spectator_, the poems of Pope, and the writings of Sterne and Thomson. But the work which he was to doneeded not even that training: he drew his simple subjects fromsurrounding nature, and his ideas came from his heart rather than hishead. Like Moore, he found the old tunes or airs of the country, and setthem to new words--words full of sentiment and sense. 

HIS POEMS. --Most of his poems are quite short, and of the kind calledfugitive, except that they will not fly away. _The Cotter's SaturdayNight_ is for men of all creeds, a pastoral full of divine philosophy. His_Address to the Deil_ is a tender thought even for the Prince of Darkness, whom, says Carlyle, his kind nature could not hate with right orthodoxy. His poems on _The Louse, The Field-Mouse's Nest_, and _The MountainDaisy_, are homely meditations and moral lessons, and contain counsels forall hearts. In _The Twa Dogs_ he contrasts, in fable, the relativehappiness of rich and poor. In the beautiful song

 Ye banks and braes of bonnie Doun, he expresses that hearty sympathy with nature which is one of the mostattractive features of his character. His _Bruce's Address_ stirs theblood, and makes one start up into an attitude of martial advance. But hismost famous poem--drama, comedy, epic, and pastoral--is _Tam o' Shanter_:it is a universal favorite; and few travellers leave Scotland withoutstanding at the window of "Alloway's auld haunted kirk, " walking over theroad upon which Meg galloped, pausing over "the keystane of the brigg"where she lost her tail; and then returning, full of the spirit of thepoem, to sit in Tam's chair, and drink ale out of the same silver-boundwooden bicker, in the very room of the inn where Tam and the poet used toget "unco fou, " while praising "inspiring bold John Barley-corn. " Indeed, in the words of the poor Scotch carpenter, met by Washington Irving atKirk Alloway, "it seems as if the country had grown more beautiful sinceBurns had written his bonnie little songs about it. "

HIS CAREER. --The poet's career was sad. Gifted but poor, and doomed tohard work, he was given a place in the excise. He went to Edinburgh, andfor a while was a great social lion; but he acquired a horrid thirst fordrink, which shortened his life. He died in Dumfries, at the early age ofthirty-seven. His allusions to his excesses are frequent, and many of themtouching. In his praise of _Scotch Drink_ he sings _con amore_. In aletter to Mr. Ainslie, he epitomizes his failing: "Can you, amid thehorrors of penitence, regret, headache, nausea, and all the rest of thehounds of hell that beset a poor wretch who has been guilty of the sin ofdrunkenness, --can you speak peace to a troubled soul. "

Burns was a great letter-writer, and thought he excelled in that art; but, valuable as his letters are, in presenting certain phases of his literaryand personal character, they display none of the power of his poetry, andwould not alone have raised him to eminence. They are in vigorous andsomewhat pedantic English; while most of his poems are in that LowlandScottish language or dialect which attracts by its homeliness and pleasesby its _couleur locale_. It should be stated, in conclusion, that Burns isoriginal in thought and presentation; and to this gift must be added alarge share of humor, and an intense patriotism. Poverty was his grimhorror. He declared that it killed his father, and was pursuing him to thegrave. He rose above the drudgery of a farmer's toil, and he found noother work which would sustain him; and yet this needy poet stands to-dayamong the most distinguished Scotchmen who have contributed to EnglishLiterature. 

GEORGE CRABBE. --Also of the transition school; in form and dictionadhering to the classicism of Pope, but, with Thomson, restoring thepastoral to nature, the poet of the humble poor;--in the words of Byron, "Pope in worsted stockings, " Crabbe was the delight of his time; and SirWalter Scott, returning to die at Abbotsford, paid him the followingtribute: he asked that they would read him something amusing, "Read me abit of Crabbe. " As it was read, he exclaimed, "Capital--excellent--verygood; Crabbe has lost nothing. "

George Crabbe was born on December 24th, 1754, at Aldborough, Suffolk. Hisfather was a poor man; and Crabbe, with little early education, wasapprenticed to a surgeon, and afterwards practised; but his aspirationswere such that he went to London, with three pounds in his pocket, for aliterary venture. He would have been in great straits, had it not been forthe disinterested generosity of Burke, to whom, although an utterstranger, he applied for assistance. Burke aided him by introducing him todistinguished literary men; and his fortune was made. In 1781 he published_The Library_, which was well received. Crabbe then took orders, and wasfor a little time curate at Aldborough, his native place, while otherpreferment awaited him. In 1783 he appeared under still more favorableauspices, by publishing _The Village_, which had a decided success. Twolivings were then given him; and he, much to his credit, married his earlylove, a young girl of Suffolk. In _The Village_ he describes homely sceneswith great power, in pentameter verse. The poor are the heroes of hishumble epic; and he knew them well, as having been of them. In 1807appeared _The Parish Register_, in 1810 _The Borough_, and in 1812 his_Tales in Verse_, --the precursor, in the former style, however, ofWordsworth's lyrical stories. All these were excellent and very popular, because they were real, and from his own experience. _The Tales of theHall_, referring chiefly to the higher classes of society, are moreartificial, and not so good. His pen was most at home in describingsmugglers, gipsies, and humble villagers, and in delineating poverty andwretchedness; and thus opening to the rich and titled, doors through whichthey might exercise their philanthropy and munificence. In this way Crabbewas a reformer, and did great good; although his scenes are sometimesrevolting, and his pathos too exacting. As a painter of nature, he is trueand felicitous; especially in marine and coast views, where he is apre-Raphaelite in his minuteness. Byron called him "Nature's sternestpainter, but the best. " He does not seem to write for effect, and he iswithout pretension; so that the critics were quite at fault; for what theymainly attack is not the poet's work so much as the consideration whetherhis works come up to his manifesto. Crabbe died in 1832, on the 3d ofFebruary, being one of the famous dead of that fatal year. 

Crabbe's poems mark his age. At an earlier time, when literature was forthe fashionable few, his subjects would have been beneath interest; butthe times had changed; education had been more diffused, and readers weremultiplied. Goldsmith's _Deserted Village_ had struck a new chord, uponwhich Crabbe continued to play. Of his treatment of these subjects it mustbe said, that while he holds a powerful pen, and portrays truth vividly, he had an eye only for the sadder conditions of life, and gives painrather than excites sympathy in the reader. Our meaning will be bestillustrated by a comparison of _The Village_ of Crabbe with _The DesertedVillage_ of Goldsmith, and the pleasure with which we pass from thesqualid scenes of the former to the gentler sorrows and sympathies of thelatter. 

THOMAS CAMPBELL. --More identified with his age than any other poet, andyet forming a link between the old and the new, was Campbell. Classicaland correct in versification, and smothering nature with sonorous prosody, he still had the poetic fire, and an excellent power of poetic criticism. He was the son of a merchant, and was born at Glasgow on the 27th of July, 1777. He thus grew up with the French revolution, and with the greatprogress of the English nation in the wars incident to it. He wascarefully educated, and was six years at the University of Glasgow, wherehe received prizes for composition. He went later to Germany, after beinggraduated, to study Greek literature with Heyne. After some preliminaryessays in verse, he published the _Pleasures of Hope_ in 1799, before hewas twenty-two years old. It was one of the greatest successes of the age, and has always since been popular. His subject was one of universalinterest; his verse was high-sounding; and his illustrations modern--suchas the fall of Poland--_Finis Poloniæ_; and although there is someturgidity, and some want of unity, making the work a series of poemsrather than a connected one, it was most remarkable for a youth of hisage. It was perhaps unfortunate for his future fame; for it led the worldto expect other and better things, which were not forthcoming. Travellingon the continent in the next year, 1800, he witnessed the battle ofHohenlinden from the monastery of St. Jacob, and wrote that splendid, ringing battle-piece, which has been so often recited and parodied. Fromthat time he wrote nothing in poetry worthy of note, except songs andbattle odes, with one exception. Among his battle-pieces which have neverbeen equalled are _Ye Mariners of England_, _The Battle of the Baltic_, and _Lochiel's Warning_. His _Exile of Erin_ has been greatly admired, andwas suspected at the time of being treasonable; the author, however, beingentirely innocent of such an intention, as he clearly showed. 

Besides reviews and other miscellanies, Campbell wrote _The Annals ofGreat Britain, from the Accession of George III. To the Peace of Amiens_, which is a graceful but not valuable work. In 1805 he received a pensionof £200 per annum. 

In 1809 he published his _Gertrude of Wyoming_--the exception referredto--a touching story, written with exquisite grace, but not true to thenature of the country or the Indian character. Like _Rasselas_, it is aconventional English tale with foreign names and localities; but as anEnglish poem it has great merit; and it turned public attention to thebeautiful Valley of Wyoming, and the noble river which flows through it. 

As a critic, Campbell had great acquirements and gifts. These weredisplayed in his elaborate _Specimens of the British Poets_, published in1819, and in his _Lectures on Poetry_ before the Surrey Institution in1820. In 1827 he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow; butafterwards his literary efforts were by no means worthy of his reputation. Few have read his _Pilgrim of Glencoe_; and all who have, are pained byits manifestation of his failing powers. In fact, his was an unfinishedfame--a brilliant beginning, but no continuance. Sir Walter Scott hastouched it with a needle, when he says, "Campbell is in a manner a bugbearto himself; the brightness of his early success is a detriment to all hisafter efforts. He is afraid of the shadow which his own fame casts beforehim. " Byron placed him in the second category of the greatest livingEnglish poets; but Byron was no critic. 

He also published a _Life of Petrarch_, and a _Life of Frederick theGreat_; and, in 1830, he edited the _New Monthly Magazine_. He died atBoulogne, June 15th, 1844, after a long period of decay in mental power. 

SAMUEL ROGERS. --Rogers was a companion or consort to Campbell, althoughthe two men were very different personally. As Campbell had borrowed fromAkenside and written _The Pleasures of Hope_, Rogers enriched ourliterature with _The Pleasures of Memory_, a poem of exquisiteversification, more finished and unified than its pendent picture;containing neither passion nor declamation, but polish, taste, andtenderness. 

Rogers was born in a suburb of London, in 1762. His father was a banker;and, although well educated, the poet was designed to succeed him, as hedid, being until his death a partner in the same banking-house. Earlyenamored of poetry by reading Beattie's _Minstrel_, Rogers devoted all hisspare time to its cultivation, and with great and merited success. 

In 1786 he produced his _Ode to Superstition_, after the manner of Gray, and in 1792 his _Pleasures of Memory_, which was enthusiasticallyreceived, and which is polished to the extreme. In 1812 appeared afragment, _The Voyage of Columbus_, and in 1814 _Jacqueline_, in the samevolume with Byron's _Lara_. _Human Life_ was published in 1819. It is apoem in the old style, (most of his poems are in the rhymed pentametercouplet;) but in 1822 appeared his poem of _Italy_, in blank verse, whichhas the charm of originality in presentation, freshness of personalexperience, picturesqueness in description, novelty in incident and story, scholarship, and taste in art criticism. In short, it is not only the bestof his poems, but it has great merit besides that of the poetry. The storyof Ginevra is a masterpiece of cabinet art, and is universallyappreciated. With these works Rogers contented himself. Rich anddistinguished, his house became a place of resort to men of distinctionand taste in art: it was filled with articles of _vertu_; and Rogers thepoet lived long as Rogers the _virtuoso_. His breakfast parties wereparticularly noted. His long, prosperous, and happy life was ended on the18th December, 1855, at the age of ninety-two. 

The position of Rogers may be best illustrated in the words of Sir J. Mackintosh, in which he says: "He appeared at the commencement of thisliterary revolution, without paying court to the revolutionary tastes, orseeking distinction by resistance to them. " His works are not destined tolive freshly in the course of literature, but to the historical studentthey mark in a very pleasing manner the characteristics of his age. 

PERCY B. SHELLEY. --Revolutions never go backward; and one of the greatestcharacters in this forward movement was a gifted, irregular, splendid, unbalanced mind, who, while taking part in it, unconsciously, as one ofmany, stands out also in a very singular individuality. 

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born on the 4th of August, 1792, at Fieldplace, in Sussex, England. He was the eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley, and ofan ancient family, traced back, it is said, to Sir Philip Sidney. Whenthirteen years old he was sent to Eton, where he began to display hisrevolutionary tendencies by his resistance to the fagging system; andwhere he also gave some earnest in writing of his future powers. At theage of sixteen he entered University College, Oxford, and appeared as aradical in most social, political, and religious questions. On account ofa paper entitled _The Necessity of Atheism_, he was expelled from theuniversity and went to London. In 1811 he made a runaway match with MissHarriet Westbrook, the daughter of the keeper of a coffee-house, whichbrought down on him the wrath of his father. After the birth of twochildren, a separation followed; and he eloped with Miss Godwin in 1814. His wife committed suicide in 1816; and then the law took away from himthe control of his children, on the ground that he was an atheist. 

After some time of residence in England, he returned to Italy, where soonafter he met with a tragical end. Going in an open boat from Leghorn toSpezzia, he was lost in a storm on the Mediterranean: his body was washedon shore near the town of Via Reggio, where his remains were burned inthe presence of Lord Byron, Leigh Hunt, and others. The ashes wereafterwards buried in the Protestant cemetery at Rome in July, 1822. 

Shelley's principles were irrational and dangerous. He was atranscendentalist of the extreme order, and a believer in theperfectability of human nature. His works are full of his principles. Theearliest was _Queen Mab_, in which his profanity and atheism are clearlyset forth. It was first privately printed, and afterwards published in1821. This was followed by _Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude_, in 1816. In this he gives his own experience in the tragical career of the hero. His longest and most pretentious poem was _The Revolt of Islam_, publishedin 1819. It is in the Spenserian stanza. Also, in the same year, hepublished _The Cenci_, a tragedy, a dark and gloomy story on what shouldbe a forbidden subject, but very powerfully written. In 1820 he alsopublished _The Prometheus Unbound_, which is full of his irreligiousviews. His remaining works were smaller poems, among which may be noted_Adonais_, and the odes _To the Skylark_ and _The Cloud_. 

In considering his character, we must first observe the power of hisimagination; it was so strong and all-absorbing, that it shut out the realand the true. He was a man of extreme sensibility; and that sensibility, hurt by common contact with things and persons around him, made him morbidin morality and metaphysics. He was a polemic of the fiercest type; andwhile he had an honest desire for reform of the evils that he saw abouthim, it is manifest that he attacked existing institutions for the verylove of controversy. Bold, retired, and proud, without a spice of vanity, if he has received harsh judgment from one half the critical world, whohad at least the claim that they were supporting pure morals and truereligion, his character has been unduly exalted by the other half, whohave mistaken reckless dogmatism for true nobility of soul. The mostcharitable judgment is that of Moir, who says: "It is needless to disguisethe fact--and it accounts for all--his mind was diseased; he never knew, even from boyhood, what it was to breathe the atmosphere of healthylife--to have the _mens sana in corpore sano_. "

But of his poetical powers we must speak in a different manner. What hehas left, gives token that, had he lived, he would have been one of thegreatest modern poets. Thoroughly imbued with the Greek poetry, hisverse-power was wonderful, his language stately and learned withoutpedantry, his inspiration was that of nature in her grandest moods, hisfancy always exalted; and he presents the air of one who produces what iswithin him from an intense love of his art, without regard to the opinionof the world around him, --which, indeed, he seems to have despised morethoroughly than any other poet has ever done. Byron affected to despiseit; Shelley really did. 

We cannot help thinking that, had he lived after passing through the fierytrial of youthful passions and disordered imagination, he might haveastonished the world with the grand spectacle of a convert to the good andtrue, and an apostle in the cause of both. Of him an honest thinker hassaid, --and there is much truth in the apparent paradox, --"No man who wasnot a fanatic, had ever more natural piety than he; and his supposedatheism is a mere metaphysical crotchet in which he was kept by theaffected scorn and malignity of dunces. "[37]

JOHN KEATS. --Another singular illustration of eccentricity and abnormalpower in verse is found in the brief career of John Keats, the son of thekeeper of a livery-stable in London, who was born on the 29th October, 1795. 

Keats was a sensitive and pugnacious youth; and in 1810, after a verymoderate education, he was apprenticed to a surgeon; but the love ofpoetry soon interfered with the surgery, and he began to read, not withoutthe spirit of emulation, the works of the great poets--Chaucer, Spenser, Shakspeare, and Milton. After the issue of a small volume which attractedlittle or no attention, he published his _Endymion_ in 1818, which, withsome similarity in temperament, he inscribed to the memory of ThomasChatterton. It is founded upon the Greek mythology, and is written in avaried measure. Its opening line has been a familiar quotation since:

 A thing of beauty is a joy forever. 

It was assailed by all the critics; but particularly, although notunfairly, by Jeffrey, in the _Edinburgh Review_. An article in_Blackwood_, breathing the spirit of British caste, had the bad taste totell the young apothecary to go back to his galley-pots. The excessivesensibility of Keats received a great shock from this treatment; but wecannot help thinking that too much stress has been laid upon this insaying that he was killed by it. This was more romantic than true. He wasby inheritance consumptive, and had lost a brother by that disease. Add tothis that his peculiar passions and longings took the form of fiercehypochondria. 

With a decided originality, he was so impressible that there are in hiswritings traces of the authors whom he was reading, if he did not mean tomake them models of style. 

In 1820 he published a volume containing _Lamia_, _Isabella_, and _The Eveof St. Agnes_, and _Hyperion_, a fragment, which was received with fargreater favor by the reviewers. Keats was self-reliant, and seems to havehad something of that magnificent egotism which is not infrequentlydisplayed by great minds. 

The judicious verdict at last pronounced upon him may be thus epitomized:he was a poet with fine fancy, original ideas, felicity of expression, butfull of faults due to his individuality and his youth; and his life wasnot spared to correct these. In 1820 a hemorrhage of brilliant arterialblood heralded the end. He himself said, "Bring me a candle; let me seethis blood;" and when it was brought, added, "I cannot be deceived in thatcolor; that drop is my death-warrant: I must die. " By advice he went toItaly, where he grew rapidly worse, and died on the 23d of February, 1821, having left this for his epitaph: "Here lies one whose name was writ inwater. " Thus dying at the age of twenty-four, he must be judged less forwhat he was, than as an earnest of what he would have been. _The Eve ofSt. Agnes_ is one of the most exquisite poems in any language, and is asessentially allied to the simplicity and nature of the modern school ofpoetry as his _Endymion_ is to the older school. Keats took part in what acertain writer has called "the reaction against the barrel-organ style, which had been reigning by a kind of sleepy, divine right for half acentury. "

OTHER WRITERS OF THE PERIOD. 

In consonance with the Romantic school of Poetry, and as contributors tothe prose fiction of the period of Scott, Byron, and Moore, a number ofgifted women have made good their claim to the favor of the reading world, and have left to us productions of no mean value. First among these wemention Mrs. FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS, 1794-1835: early married to CaptainHemans, of the army, she was not happy in the conjugal state, and livedmost of her after-life in retirement, separated from her husband. Herstyle is harmonious, and her lyrical power excellent; she makes melody ofcommon-places; and the low key in which her poetry is pitched made her afavorite with the multitude. There is special fervor in her religiouspoems. Most of her writings are fugitive and occasional pieces. Among thelonger poems are _The Forest Sanctuary_, _Dartmoor_, (a lyric poem, ) and_The Restoration of the works of Art to Italy_. _The Siege of Valencia_and _The Vespers of Palermo_ are plays on historical subjects. There is asameness in her poetry which tires; but few persons can be found who donot value highly such a descriptive poem as _Bernardo del Carpio_, conceived in the very spirit of the Spanish Ballads, and such a sad andtender moralizing as that found in _The Hour of Death_:

 Leaves have their time to fall, And flowers to wither, at the north-wind's breath, And stars to set--but all, Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death!

Such poems as these will live when the greater part of what she haswritten has been forgotten, because its ministry has been accomplished. 

_Mrs. Caroline Elizabeth Norton_, (born in 1808, still living:) she is thedaughter of Thomas Sheridan, and the grand-daughter of the famous R. B. Sheridan. She married the Hon. Mr. Norton, and, like Mrs. Hemans, wasunhappy in her union. As a poet, she has masculine gifts combined withfeminine grace and tenderness. Her principal poems are _The Sorrows ofRosalie_, _The Undying One_, (founded on the legend of _The WanderingJew_, ) and _The Dream_. Besides these her facile pen has produced amultitude of shorter pieces, which have been at once popular. Her claimsto enduring fame are not great, and she must be content with a presentpopularity. 

_Letitia Elizabeth Landon_, 1802-1839: more gifted, and yet not as welltrained as either of the preceding, Miss Landon (L. E. L. ) has given ventto impassioned sentiment in poetry and prose. Besides many smaller pieces, she wrote _The Improvisatrice_, _The Troubadour_, _The Golden Violet_, andseveral prose romances, among which the best are _Romance and Reality_, and _Ethel Churchill_. She wrote too rapidly to finish with elegance; andher earlier pieces are disfigured by this want of finish, and by a lack ofcool judgment; but her later writings are better matured and more correct. She married Captain Maclean, the governor of Cape Coast Castle, in Africa, and died there suddenly, from an overdose of strong medicine which she wasaccustomed to take for a nervous affection. 

_Maria Edgeworth_, 1767-1849: she was English born, but resided most ofher life in Ireland. Without remarkable genius, she may be said to haveexercised a greater influence over her period than any other woman wholived in it. There is an aptitude and a practical utility in her storieswhich are felt in all circles. Her works for children are delightful andformative. Every one has read and re-read with pleasure the interestingand instructive stories contained in _The Parents' Assistant_. And whatthese are to the children, her novels are to those of larger growth. Theyare eighteen in number, and are illustrative of the society, fashion, andmorals of the day; and always inculcate a good moral. Among them we mayparticularize _Forester_, _The Absentee_, and _The Modern Griselda_. Allcritics, even those who deny her great genius, agree in their estimate ofthe moral value of her stories, every one of which is at once aportraiture of her age and an instructive lesson to it. The femininedelicacy with which she offers counsel and administers reproof gives agreat charm to, and will insure the permanent popularity of, herproductions. 

_Jane Austen_, 1775-1817: as a novelist she occupied a high place in herday, but her stories are gradually sinking into an historic repose, fromwhich the coming generations will not care to disturb them. _Pride andPrejudice_ and _Sense and Sensibility_ are perhaps the best of herproductions, and are valuable as displaying the society and the naturearound her with delicacy and tact. 

_Mary Ferrier_, 1782-1855: like Miss Austen, she wrote novels of existingsociety, of which _The Marriage_ and _The Inheritance_ are the best known. They were great favorites with Sir Walter Scott, who esteemed MissFerrier's genius highly: they are little read at the present time. 

_Robert Pollok_, 1799-1827: a Scottish minister, who is chiefly known byhis long poem, cast in a Miltonic mould, entitled _The Course of Time_. Itis singularly significant of religious fervor, delicate health, youthfulimmaturity, and poetic yearnings. It abounds in startling effects, whichplease at first from their novelty, but will not bear a calm, criticalanalysis. On its first appearance, _The Course of Time_ was immenselypopular; but it has steadily lost favor, and its highest flights are"unearthly flutterings" when compared with the powerful soarings ofMilton's imagination and the gentle harmonies of Cowper's religious muse. Pollok died early of consumption: his youth and his disease account forthe faults and defects of his poem. 

_Leigh Hunt_, 1784-1859: a novelist, a poet, an editor, a critic, acompanion of literary men, Hunt occupies a distinct position among theauthors of his day. Wielding a sensible and graceful rather than apowerful pen, he has touched almost every subject in the range of ourliterature, and has been the champion and biographer of numerous literaryfriends. He was the companion of Byron, Shelley, Keats, Lamb, Coleridge, and many other authors. He edited at various times several radicalpapers--_The Examiner_, _The Reflector_, _The Indicator_, and _TheLiberal_; for a satire upon the regent, published in the first, he wasimprisoned for two years. Among his poems _The Story of Rimini_ is thebest. His _Legend of Florence_ is a beautiful drama. There are few piecescontaining so small a number of lines, and yet enshrining a full story, which have been as popular as his _Abou Ben Adhem_. Always cheerful, refined and delicate in style, appreciative of others, Hunt's place inEnglish literature is enviable, if not very exalted; like the atmosphere, his writings circulate healthfully and quietly around efforts of greaterpoets than himself. 

_James Hogg_, 1770-1835: a self-taught rustic, with little earlyschooling, except what the shepherd-boy could draw from nature, he wrotefrom his own head and heart without the canons and the graces of theSchools. With something of the homely nature of Burns, and the Scottishromance of Walter Scott, he produced numerous poems which are stamped withtrue genius. He catered to Scottish feeling, and began his fame by thestirring lines beginning;

 My name is Donald McDonald, I live in the Highlands so grand. 

His best known poetical works are _The Queen's Wake_, containing seventeenstories in verse, of which the most striking is that of _Bonny Kilmeny_. He was always called "The Ettrick Shepherd. " Wilson says of _The Queen'sWake_ that "it is a garland of fresh flowers bound with a band of rushesfrom the moor;" a very fitting and just view of the work of one who was atonce poet and rustic. 

_Allan Cunningham_, 1785-1842; like Hogg, in that as a writer he felt theinfluence of both Burns and Scott, Cunningham was the son of a gardener, and a self-made man. In early life he was apprenticed to a mason. He wrotemuch fugitive poetry, among which the most popular pieces are, _A WetSheet and a Flowing Sea_, _Gentle Hugh Herries_, and _It's Hame and it'sHame_. Among his stories are _Traditional Tales of the Peasantry_, _LordRoldan_, and _The Maid of Elwar_. His position for a time, as clerk andoverseer of Chantrey's establishment, gave him the idea of writing _TheLives of Eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects_. He was avoluminous author; his poetry is of a high lyrical order, and true tonature; but his prose will not retain its place in public favor: it is atonce diffuse and obscure. 

_Thomas Hope_, 1770-1831: an Amsterdam merchant, who afterwards resided inLondon, and who illustrated the progress of knowledge concerning the Eastby his work entitled, _Anastasius, or Memoirs of a Modern Greek_. Published anonymously, it excited a great interest, and was ascribed bythe public to Lord Byron. The intrigues and adventures of the hero arenumerous and varied, and the book has great literary merit; but it ischiefly of historical value in that it describes persons and scenes inGreece and Turkey, countries in which Hope travelled at a time when fewEnglishmen visited them. 

_William Beckford_, 1760-1844: he was the son of an alderman, who becameLord Mayor of London. After a careful education, he found himself thepossessor of a colossal fortune. He travelled extensively, and wrotesketches of his travels. His only work of importance is that called_Vathek_, in which he describes the gifts, the career, and the fate of theCaliph of that name, who was the grandson of the celebrated Haroun alRaschid. His palaces are described in a style of Oriental gorgeousness;his temptations, his lapses from virtue, his downward progress, arepresented with dramatic power; and there is nothing in our literature morehorribly real and terror-striking than the _Hall of Eblis_, --that hellwhere every heart was on fire, where "the Caliph Vathek, who, for the sakeof empty pomp and forbidden power, had sullied himself with a thousandcrimes, became a prey to grief without end and remorse withoutmitigation. " Many of Beckford's other writings are blamed for theirvoluptuous character; the last scene in _Vathek_ is, on the other hand, amost powerful and influential sermon. Beckford was eccentric and unsocial:he lived for some time in Portugal, but returned to England, and built aluxurious palace at Bath. 

_William Roscoe_, 1753-1831: a merchant and banker of Liverpool. He ischiefly known by his _Life of Lorenzo de Medici_, and _The Life andPontificate of Leo X. _, both of which contained new and valuableinformation. They are written in a pleasing style, and with a liberal andcharitable spirit as to religious opinions. Since they appeared, historyhas developed new material and established more exacting canons, and thestudies of later writers have already superseded these pleasing works. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

WORDSWORTH, AND THE LAKE SCHOOL. 

 The New School. William Wordsworth. Poetical Canons. The Excursion and Sonnets. An Estimate. Robert Southey. His Writings. Historical Value. S. T. Coleridge. Early Life. His Helplessness. Hartley and H. N. Coleridge. 

THE NEW SCHOOL. 

In the beginning of the year 1820 George III. Died, after a very long--butin part nominal--reign of fifty-nine years, during a large portion ofwhich he was the victim of insanity, while his son, afterwards George IV. , administered the regency of the kingdom. 

George III. Did little, either by example or by generosity, to fosterliterary culture: his son, while nominally encouraging authors, did muchto injure the tone of letters in his day. But literature was now becomingindependent and self-sustaining: it needed to look no longer wistfully fora monarch's smile: it cared comparatively little for the court: it issuedits periods and numbers directly to the English people: it wrote for themand of them; and when, in 1830, the last of the Georges died, after anill-spent life, in which his personal pleasures had concerned him far morethan the welfare of his people, former prescriptions and prejudicesrapidly passed away; and the new epoch in general improvement and literaryculture, which had already begun its course, received a marvellousimpulsion. 

The great movement, in part unconscious, from the artificial rhetoric ofthe former age towards the simplicity of nature, was now to receive itsstrongest propulsion: it was to be preached like a crusade; to be reducedto a system, and set forth for the acceptance of the poetical world: itwas to meet with criticism, and even opprobrium, because it had thearrogance to declare that old things had entirely passed away, and thatall things must conform themselves to the new doctrine. The high-priest ofthis new poetical creed was Wordsworth: he proposed and expounded it; hewrote according to its tenets; he defended his illustrations against thecritics by elaborate prefaces and essays. He boldly faced the clamor of aworld in arms; and what there was real and valuable in his works hassurvived the fierce battle, and gathered around him an army of proselytes, champions, and imitators. 

WORDSWORTH. --William Wordsworth was the son of the law-agent to the Earlof Lonsdale; he was born at Cockermouth, Cumberland, in 1770. It was agifted family. His brother, Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, was Master ofTrinity College. Another, the captain of an East Indiaman, was lost at seain his own ship. He had also a clever sister, who was the poet's friendand companion as long as she lived. 

Wordsworth and his companions have been called the Lake Poets, becausethey resided among the English lakes. Perhaps too much has been claimedfor the Lake country, as giving inspiration to the poets who lived there:it is beautiful, but not so surpassingly so as to create poets as itschildren. The name is at once arbitrary and convenient. 

Wordsworth was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, which he enteredin 1787; but whenever he could escape from academic restraints, heindulged his taste for pedestrian excursions: during these his ardent mindbecame intimate and intensely sympathetic with nature, as may be seen inhis _Evening Walk_, in the sketch of the skater, and in the largeproportion of description in all his poems. 

It is truer of him than perhaps of any other author, that the life of theman is the best history of the poet. All that is eventful and interestingin his life may be found translated in his poetry. Milton had said thatthe poet's life should be a grand poem. Wordsworth echoed the thought:

 If thou indeed derive thy light from Heaven, Then to the measure of that Heaven-born light, Shine, Poet! in thy place, and be content. 

He was not distinguished at college; the record of his days there may befound in _The Prelude_, which he calls _The Growth of a Poet's Mind_. Hewas graduated in 1791, with the degree of B. A. , and went over to France, where he, among others, was carried away with enthusiasm for the FrenchRevolution, and became a thorough Radical. That he afterwards changed hispolitical views, should not be advanced in his disfavor; for many ardentand virtuous minds were hoping to see the fulfilment of recent predictionsin greater freedom to man. Wordsworth erred in a great company, and fromnoble sympathies. He returned to England in 1792, with his illusionsthoroughly dissipated. The workings of his mind are presented in _ThePrelude_. 

In the same year he published _Descriptive Sketches_, and _An EveningWalk_, which attracted little attention. A legacy of £900 left him by hisfriend Calvert, in 1795, enabled the frugal poet to devote his life topoetry, and particularly to what he deemed the emancipation of poetry fromthe fetters of the mythic and from the smothering ornaments of rhetoric. 

In Nov. , 1797, he went to London, taking with him a play called _TheBorderers_: it was rejected by the manager. In the autumn of 1798, hepublished his _Lyrical Ballads_, which contained, besides his own verses, a poem by an anonymous friend. The poem was _The Ancient Mariner_; thefriend, Coleridge. In the joint operation, Wordsworth took the part basedon nature; Coleridge illustrated the supernatural. The _Ballads_ werereceived with undisguised contempt; nor, by reason of its company, did_The Ancient Mariner_ have a much better hearing. Wordsworth preserved hisequanimity, and an implicit faith in himself. 

After a visit to Germany, he settled in 1799 at Grasmere, in the Lakecountry, and the next year republished the _Lyrical Ballads_ with a newvolume, both of which passed to another edition in 1802. With thisedition, Wordsworth ran up his revolutionary flag and nailed it to themast. 

POETICAL CANONS. --It would be impossible as well as unnecessary to attemptan analysis of even the principal poems of so voluminous a writer; but itis important to state in substance the poetical canons he laid down. Theymay be found in the prefaces to the various editions of his _Ballads_, andmay be thus epitomized:

I. He purposely chose his incidents and situations from common life, because in it our elementary feelings coexist in a state of simplicity. 

II. He adopts the _language_ of common life, because men hourlycommunicate with the best objects from which the best part of language isoriginally derived; and because, being less under the influence of socialvanity, they convey their feelings and notions in simple and unelaboratedexpressions. 

III. He asserts that the language of poetry is in no way different, exceptin respect to metre, from that of good prose. Poetry can boast of nocelestial _ichor_ that distinguishes her vital juices from those of prose:the same human blood circulates through the veins of them both. In worksof imagination and sentiment, in proportion as ideas and feelings arevaluable, whether the composition be in prose or verse, they require andexact one and the same language. 

Such are the principal changes proposed by Wordsworth; and we find Herder, the German poet and metaphysician, agreeing with him in his estimate ofpoetic language. Having thus propounded his tenets, he wrote his earlierpoems as illustrations of his views, affecting a simplicity in subject anddiction that was sometimes simply ludicrous. It was an affectedsimplicity: he was simple with a purpose; he wrote his poems to suit hiscanons, and in that way his simplicity became artifice. 

Jeffrey and other critics rose furiously against the poems whichinculcated such doctrines. "This will never do" were the opening words ofan article in the _Edinburgh Review_. One of the _Rejected Addresses_, called _The Baby's Début, by W. W. _, (spoken in the character of NancyLake, eight years old, who is drawn upon the stage in a go-cart, ) parodiesthe ballads thus:

 What a large floor! 'tis like a town; The carpet, when they lay it down, Won't hide it, I'll be bound: And there's a row of lamps, my eye! How they do blaze: I wonder why They keep them on the ground?

And this, Jeffrey declares, is a flattering imitation of Wordsworth'sstyle. 

The day for depreciating Wordsworth has gone by; but calmer critics muststill object to his poetical views in their entireness. In binding allpoetry to his _dicta_, he ignores that _mythus_ in every human mind, thatlonging after the heroic, which will not be satisfied with the simple andcommonplace. One realm in which Poetry rules with an enchanted sceptre isthe land of reverie and day-dream, --a land of fancy, in which geniusbuilds for itself castles at once radiant and, for the time, real; inwhich the beggar is a king, the poor man a Crœsus, the timid man a hero:this is the fairy-land of the imagination. Among Wordsworth's poems are anumber called _Poems of the Imagination_. He wrote learnedly about theimagination and fancy; but the truth is, that of all the greatpoets, --and, in spite of his faults, he is a great poet, --there is none soentirely devoid of imagination. What has been said of the heroic may beapplied to wit, so important an element in many kinds of poetry; heignores it because he was without it totally. If only humble life andcommonplace incidents and unfigured rhetoric and bald language are theproper materials for the poetry, what shall be said of all literature, ancient and modern, until Wordsworth's day?

THE EXCURSION AND SONNETS. --With his growing fame and riper powers, he haddeviated from his own principles, especially of language; and his peacefulepic, _The Excursion_, is full of difficult theology, exalted philosophy, and glowing rhetoric. His only attempt to adhere to his system presentsthe incongruity of putting these subjects into the lips of men, some ofwhom, the Scotch pedler for example, are not supposed to be equal to theirdiscussion. In his language, too, he became far more polished andmelodious. The young writer of the _Lyrical Ballads_ would have beenshocked to know that the more famous Wordsworth could write

 A golden lustre slept upon the hills;

or speak of

 A pupil in the many-chambered school, Where superstition weaves her airy dreams. 

_The Excursion_, although long, is unfinished, and is only a portion ofwhat was meant to be his great poem--_The Recluse_. It contains poetry ofthe highest order, apart from its mannerism and its improbable narrative;but the author is to all intents a different man from that of the_Ballads_: as different as the conservative Wordsworth of later years wasfrom the radical youth who praised the French Revolution of 1791. As awhole, _The Excursion_ is accurate, philosophic, and very dull, so thatfew readers have the patience to complete its perusal, while many enjoyits beautiful passages. 

To return to the events of his life. In 1802 he married; and, afterseveral changes of residence, he finally purchased a place calledRydal-mount in 1813, where he spent the remainder of his long, learned, and pure life. Long-standing dues from the Earl of Lonsdale to his fatherwere paid; and he received the appointment of collector at Whitehaven andstamp distributor for Cumberland. Thus he had an ample income, which wasincreased in 1842 by a pension of £300 per annum. In 1843 he was madepoet-laureate. He died in 1850, a famous poet, his reputation being duemuch more to his own clever individuality than to the poetic principles heasserted. 

His ecclesiastical sonnets compare favorably with any that have beenwritten in English. Landor, no friend of the poet, says: "Wordsworth haswritten more fine sonnets than are to be met with in the languagebesides. "

AN ESTIMATE. --The great amount of verse Wordsworth has written is due tohis estimate of the proper uses of poetry. Where other men would havewritten letters, journals, or prose sketches, his ready metrical pen wrotein verse: an excursion to England or Scotland, _Yarrow Visited andRevisited_, journeys in Germany and Italy, are all in verse. He exhibitsin them all great humanity and benevolence, and is emphatically andwithout cant the poet of religion and morality. Coleridge--a poet and anattached friend, perhaps a partisan--claims for him, in his _BiographiaLiteraria_, "purity of language, freshness, strength, _curiosa felicitas_of diction, truth to nature in his imagery, imagination in the highestdegree, but faulty fancy. " We have already ventured to deny him thepossession of imagination: the rest of his friend's eulogium is notundeserved. He had and has many ardent admirers, but none more ardent thanhimself. He constantly praised his own verses, and declared that theywould ultimately conquer all prejudices and become universally popular--anopinion that the literary world does not seem disposed to adopt. 

ROBERT SOUTHEY. --Next to Wordsworth, and, with certain characteristicdifferences, of the same school, but far beneath him in poetical power, isRobert Southey, who was born at Bristol, August 12, 1774. He was the sonof a linen-draper in that town. He entered Balliol College, Oxford, in1792, but left without taking his degree. In 1794 he published a radicalpoem on the subject of _Wat Tyler_, the sentiments of which he wasafterwards very willing to repudiate. With the enthusiastic instinct of apoet, he joined with Wordsworth and Coleridge in a scheme called_Pantisocrasy_; that is, they were to go together to the banks of theSusquehanna, in a new country of which they knew nothing except bydescription; and there they were to realize a dream of nature in thegolden age--a Platonic republic, where everything was to be in common, andfrom which vice and selfishness were to be forever excluded. But theseyoung neo-platonists had no money, and so the scheme was given up. 

In 1795 he married Miss Fricker, a milliner of Bristol, and made a voyageto Lisbon, where his uncle was chaplain to the British Factory. He led anunsettled life until 1804, when he established himself at Keswick in theLake country, where he spent his life. He was a literary man and nothingelse, and perhaps one of the most industrious writers that ever held aliterary pen. Much of the time, indeed, he wrote for magazines andreviews, upon whatever subject was suggested to him, to win his dailybread. 

HIS WRITINGS. --After the publication of _Wat Tyler_ he wrote an epic poemcalled _Joan of Arc_, in 1796, which was crude and severely criticized. After some other unimportant essays, he inaugurated his purpose ofillustrating the various oriental mythologies, by the publication of_Thalaba the Destroyer_, which was received with great disfavor at thetime, and which first coupled his name with that of Wordsworth as of theschool of Lake poets. It is in irregular metre, which at first has thecharm of variety, but which afterwards loses its effect, on account of itsbroken, disjointed versification. In 1805 appeared _Madoc_--a poem basedupon the subject of early Welsh discoveries in America. It is a long poemin two parts: the one descriptive of _Madoc in Wales_ and the other of_Madoc in Aztlan_. Besides many miscellaneous works in prose, we noticethe issue, in 1810, of _The Curse of Kehama_--the second of the greatmythological poems referred to. 

Among his prose works must be mentioned _The Chronicle of the Cid_, _TheHistory of Brazil_, _The Life of Nelson_, and _The History of thePeninsular War_. A little work called _The Doctor_ has been greatly likedin America. 

Southey wrote innumerable reviews and magazine articles; and, indeed, tried his pen at every sort of literary work. His diction--in prose, atleast--is almost perfect, and his poetical style not unpleasing. Hisindustry, his learning, and his care in production must be acknowledged;but his poems are very little read, and, in spite of his own prophecies, are doomed to the shelf rather than retained upon the table. LikeWordsworth, he was one of the most egotistical of men; he had no greateradmirer than Robert Southey; and had his exertions not been equal to hisself-laudation, he would have been intolerable. 

The most singular instance of perverted taste and unmerited eulogy is tobe found in his _Vision of Judgment_, which, as poet-laureate, he producedto the memory of George the Third. The severest criticism upon it is LordByron's _Vision of Judgment_--reckless, but clever and trenchant. Theconsistency and industry of Southey's life caused him to be appointedpoet-laureate upon the death of Pye; and in 1835, having declined abaronetcy, he received an annual pension of £300. Having lost his firstwife in 1837, he married Miss Bowles, the poetess, in 1839; but soon afterhis mind began to fail, and he had reached a state of imbecility whichended in death on the 21st of March, 1843. In 1837, at the age ofsixty-three, he collected and edited his complete poetical works, withcopious and valuable historical notes. 

HISTORICAL VALUE. --It is easy to see in what manner Southey, as a literaryman, has reflected the spirit of the age. Politically, he exhibitspartisanship from Radical to Tory, which may be clearly discerned bycomparing his _Wat Tyler_ with his _Vision of Judgment_ and his _Odes_. Asto literary and poetic canons, his varied metre, and his stories in thestyle of Wordsworth, show that he had abandoned all former schools. In hishistories and biographies he is professedly historical; and in his epicshe shows that greater range of learned investigation which is socharacteristic of that age. The _Curse of Kehama_ and _Thalaba_ would havebeen impossible in a former age. He himself objected to be ranked with theLakers; but Wordsworth, Southey, and Coleridge have too much in common, notwithstanding much individual difference, not to be classed together asinnovators and asserters, whether we call them Lakers or something else. 

It was on the occasion of his publishing _Thalaba_, that his name wasfirst coupled with that of Wordsworth. His own words are, "I happened tobe residing at Keswick when Mr. Wordsworth and I began to be acquainted. Mr. Coleridge also had resided there; and this was reason enough forclassing us together as a school of poets. " There is not much externalresemblance, it is true, between _Thalaba_ and the _Excursion_; but thesame poetical motives will cause both to remain unread by themultitude--unnatural comparisons, recondite theology, and a great lack ofcommon humanity. That there was a mutual admiration is found in Southey'sdeclaration that Wordsworth's sonnets contain the profoundest poeticalwisdom, and that the _Preface_ is the quintessence of the philosophy ofpoetry. 

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. --More individual, more eccentric, lesscommonplace, in short, a far greater genius than either of his fellows, Coleridge accomplished less, had less system, was more visionary andfragmentary than they: he had an amorphous mind of vast proportions. Theman, in his life and conversation, was great; the author has left littleof value which will last when the memory of his person has disappeared. Hewas born on the 21st of October, 1772, at Ottery St. Mary. His father wasa clergyman and vicar of the parish. He received his education at Christ'sHospital in London, where, among others, he had Charles Lamb as a comrade, and formed with him a friendship which lasted as long as they both lived. 

EARLY LIFE. --There he was an erratic student, but always a great reader;and while he was yet a lad, at the age of fourteen, he might have beencalled a learned man. 

He had little self-respect, and from stress of poverty he intended toapprentice himself to a shoemaker; but friends who admired his learninginterfered to prevent this, and he was sent with a scholarship to JesusCollege, Cambridge, in 1791. Like Wordsworth and Southey, he was anintense Radical at first; and on this account left college without hisdegree in 1793. He then enlisted as a private in the 15th Light Dragoons;but, although he was a favorite with his comrades, whose letters he wrote, he made a very poor soldier. Having written a Latin sentence under hissaddle on the stable wall, his superior education was recognized; and hewas discharged from the service after only four months' duty. Eager foradventure, he joined Southey and Lloyd in their scheme of pantisocracy, to which we have already referred; and when that failed for want of money, he married the sister-in-law of Southey--Miss Fricker, of Bristol. He wasat this time a Unitarian as well as a Radical, and officiated frequentlyas a Unitarian minister. His sermons were extremely eloquent. He hadalready published some juvenile poems, and a drama on the fall ofRobespierre, and had endeavored to establish a periodical called _TheWatchman_. He was always erratic, and dependent upon the patronage of hisfriends; in short, he always presented the sad spectacle of a man whocould not take care of himself. 

HIS WRITINGS. --After a residence at Stowey, in Somersetshire, where hewrote some of his finest poems, among which were the first part of_Christabel_, _The Ancient Mariner_, and _Remorse_, a tragedy, he wasenabled, through the kindness of friends, to go, in 1798, to Germany, where he spent fourteen months in the study of literature and metaphysics. In the year 1800 he returned to the Lake country, where he for some timeresided with Southey at Keswick; Wordsworth being then at Grasmere. Thenwas established as a fixed fact in English literature the Lake school ofpoetry. These three poets acted and reacted upon each other. From havingbeen great Radicals they became Royalists, and Coleridge's Unitarianbelief was changed into orthodox churchmanship. His translation ofSchiller's _Wallenstein_ should rather be called an expansion of thatdrama, and is full of his own poetic fancies. After writing for some timefor the _Morning Post_, he went to Malta as the Secretary to the Governorin 1804, at a salary of £800 per annum. But his restless spirit soon drovehim back to Grasmere, and to desultory efforts to make a livelihood. 

In 1816 he published the two parts of _Christabel_, an unfinished poem, which, for the wildness of the conceit, exquisite imagery, and charmingpoetic diction, stands quite alone in English literature. In a periodicalcalled _The Friend_, which he issued, are found many of his originalideas; but it was discontinued after twenty-seven numbers. His _BiographiaLiteraria_, published in 1817, contains valuable sketches of literary men, living and dead, written with rare critical power. 

In his _Aids to Reflection_, published in 1825, are found his metaphysicaltenets; his _Table-Talk_ is also of great literary value; but his lectureson Shakspeare show him to have been the most remarkable critic of thegreat dramatist whom the world has produced. 

It has already been mentioned that when the first volume of Wordsworth's_Lyrical Ballads_ was published, _The Ancient Mariner_ was included in it, as a poem by an anonymous friend. It had been the intention of Coleridgeto publish another poem in the second volume; but it was consideredincongruous, and excluded. That poem was the exquisite ballad entitled_Love_, or _Genevieve_. 

HIS HELPLESSNESS. --With no home of his own, he lived by visiting hisfriends; left his wife and children to the support of others, and seemedincapable of any other than this shifting and shiftless existence. Thisnatural imbecility was greatly increased during a long period by hisconstant use of opium, which kept him, a greater portion of his life, in aworld of dreams. He was fortunate in having a sincere and appreciativefriend in Mr. Gilman, surgeon, near London, to whose house he went in1816; and where, with the exception of occasional visits elsewhere, heresided until his death in 1834. If the Gilmans needed compensation fortheir kindness, they found it in the celebrity of their visitor; evenstrangers made pilgrimages to the house at Highgate to hear the rhapsodiesof "the old man eloquent. " Coleridge once asked Charles Lamb if he hadever heard him preach, referring to the early days when he was a Unitarianpreacher. "I never heard you do anything else, " was the answer hereceived. He was the prince of talkers, and talked more coherently andconnectedly than he wrote: drawing with ease from the vast stores of hislearning, he delighted men of every degree. While of the Lake school ofpoetry, and while in some sort the creature of his age and hissurroundings, his eccentricities gave him a rare independence andindividuality. A giant in conception, he was a dwarf in execution; andsomething of the interest which attaches to a _lusus naturæ_ is the chiefclaim to future reputation which belongs to S. T. C. 

HARTLEY COLERIDGE, his son, (1796-1849, ) inherited much of his father'stalents; but was an eccentric, deformed, and, for a time, an intemperatebeing. His principal writings were monographs on various subjects, andarticles for Blackwood. HENRY NELSON COLERIDGE, (1800-1843, ) a nephew andson-in-law of the poet, was also a gifted man, and a profound classicalscholar. His introduction to the study of the great classic poets, containing his analysis of Homer's epics, is a work of great merit. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE REACTION IN POETRY. 

 Alfred Tennyson. Early Works. The Princess. Idyls of the King. Elizabeth B. Browning. Aurora Leigh. Her Faults. Robert Browning. Other Poets. 

TENNYSON AND THE BROWNINGS. 

ALFRED TENNYSON. --It is the certain fate of all extravagant movements, social or literary, to invite criticism and opposition, and to be followedby reaction. The school of Wordsworth was the violent protest against whatremained of the artificial in poetry; but it had gone, as we have seen, tothe other extreme. The affected simplicity, and the bald diction which itinculcated, while they raised up an army of feeble imitators, alsoproduced in the ranks of poetry a vindication of what was good in the old;new theories, and a very different estimate of poetical subjects andexpression. The first poet who may be looked upon as leading thereactionary party is Alfred Tennyson. He endeavored out of all the schoolsto synthesize a new one. In many of his descriptive pieces he followedWordsworth: in his idyls, he adheres to the romantic school; in histreatment and diction, he stands alone. 

EARLY EFFORTS. --He was the son of a clergyman of Lincolnshire, and wasborn at Somersby, in 1810. After a few early and almost unknown efforts inverse, the first volume bearing his name was issued in 1830, while he wasyet an under-graduate at Cambridge: it had the simple title--_Poems, chiefly Lyrical_. In their judgment of this new poet, the critics werealmost as much at fault as they had been when the first efforts ofWordsworth appeared; but for very different reasons. Wordsworth was simpleand intensely realistic. Tennyson was mystic and ideal: his diction wasunusual; his little sketches conveyed an almost hidden moral; he seemed toinform the reader that, in order to understand his poetry, it must bestudied; the meaning does not sparkle upon the surface; the languageripples, the sense flows in an undercurrent. His first essays exhibit amania for finding strange words, or coining new ones, which should givemelody, to his verse. Whether this was a process of development or not, hehas in his later works gotten rid of much of this apparent mannerism, while he has retained, and even improved, his harmony. He exhibits a rarepower of concentration, as opposed to the diffusiveness of hiscontemporaries. Each of his smaller poems is a thought, briefly, butforcibly and harmoniously, expressed. If it requires some exertion tocomprehend it, when completely understood it becomes a valued possession. 

It is difficult to believe that such poems as _Mariana_ and _Recollectionsof the Arabian Nights_ were the production of a young man of twenty. 

In 1833 he published his second volume, containing additional poems, amongwhich were _Enone_, _The May Queen_, _The Lotos-Eaters_, and _A Dream ofFair Women_. _The May Queen_ became at once a favorite, because every onecould understand it: it touched a chord in every heart; but his rarestpower of dreamy fancy is displayed in such pieces as _The Arabian Nights_and the _Lotos-Eaters_. No greater triumph has been achieved in the realmof fancy than that in the court of good Haroun al Raschid, and amid theLotos dreams of the Nepenthe coast. These productions were not receivedwith the favor which they merited, and so he let the critics alone fornine years. In 1842 he again appeared in print, with, among other poems, the exquisite fragment of the _Morte d'Arthur_, _Godiva_, _St. Agnes_, _Sir Galahad_, _Lady Clara Vere de Vere_, _The Talking Oak_, and chief, perhaps, of all, _Locksley Hall_. In these poems he is not only a poet, but a philosopher. Each of these is an extended apothegm, presenting notonly rules of life, but mottoes and maxims for daily use. They aresoliloquies of the nineteenth century, and representations of its men andconditions. 

THE PRINCESS. --In 1847 he published _The Princess, a Medley_--a pleasantand suggestive poem on woman's rights, in which exquisite songs areintroduced, which break the monotony of the blank verse, and display hisrare lyric power. The _Bugle Song_ is among the finest examples of theadaptation of sound to sense in the language; and there is nothing moretruthful and touching than the short verses beginning, Home they brought her warrior dead. 

Arthur Hallam, a gifted son of the distinguished historian, who wasbetrothed to Tennyson's sister, died young; and the poet has mourned andeulogized him in a long poem entitled _In Memoriam_. It contains onehundred and twenty-nine four-lined stanzas, and is certainly very musicaland finished; but it is rather the language of calm philosophy elaboratelystudied, than that of a poignant grief. It is not, in our judgment, to becompared with his shorter poems, and is generally read and overpraisedonly by his more ardent admirers, who discover a crystal tear of genuineemotion in every stanza. 

IDYLS OF THE KING. --The fragment on the death of Arthur, alreadymentioned, foreshadowed a purpose of the poet's mind to make the legendsof that almost fabulous monarch a vehicle for modern philosophy in Englishverse. In 1859 appeared a volume containing the _Idyls of the King_. Theyare rather minor epics than idyls. The simple materials are taken from theWelsh and French chronicles, and are chiefly of importance in that theycater to that English taste which finds national greatness typified inArthur. It had been a successful stratagem with Spenser in _The FairyQueen_, and has served Tennyson equally well in the _Idyls_. It unites theages of fable and of chivalry; it gives a noble lineage to heroic deeds. The best is the last--_Guinevere_--almost the perfection of pathos inpoetry. The picturesqueness of his descriptions is evinced by the factthat Gustave Doré has chosen these _Idyls_ as a subject for illustration, and has been eminently successful in his labor. 

_Maud_, which appeared in 1855, notwithstanding some charming lyricalpassages, may be considered Tennyson's failure. In 1869 he completed _TheIdyls_ by publishing _The Coming of Arthur_, _The Holy Grail_, and_Pelleas and Etteare_. He also finished the _Morte d'Arthur_, and put itin its proper place as _The Passing of Arthur_. 

Tennyson was appointed poet-laureate upon the death of Wordsworth, in1850, and receives besides a pension of £200. He lived for a long time ingreat retirement at Farringford, on the Isle of Wight; but has latelyremoved to Petersfield, in Hampshire. It may be reasonably doubted whetherthis hermit-life has not injured his poetical powers; whether, great as hereally is, a little inhalation of the air of busy every-day life would nothave infused more of nature and freshness into his verse. Among his few_Odes_ are that on the death of the Duke of Wellington, the dedication ofhis poems to the Queen, and his welcome to Alexandra, Princess of Wales, all of which are of great excellence. His _Charge of the Light Brigade_, at Balaclava, while it gave undue currency to that stupid militaryblunder, must rank as one of the finest battle-lyrics in the language. 

The poetry of Tennyson is eminently representative of the Victorian age. He has written little; but that little marks a distinct era inversification--great harmony untrammelled by artificial _correctness_; andin language, a search for novelty to supply the wants and correct thefaults of the poetic vocabulary. He is national in the _Idyls_;philosophic in _The Two Voices_, and similar poems. The _Princess_ is agentle satire on the age; and though, in striving for the reputation oforiginality, he sometimes mistakes the original for the beautiful, he isreally the laurelled poet of England in merit as well as in title. 

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. --The literary usher is now called upon to crywith the herald of the days of chivalry--_Place aux dames_. A few ladies, as we have seen, have already asserted for themselves respectablepositions in the literary ranks. Without a question as to the relativegifts of mind in man and woman, we have now reached a name which must rankamong those of the first poets of the present century--one whichrepresents the Victorian age as fully and forcibly as Tennyson, and withmore of novelty than he. Nervous in style, elevated in diction, bold inexpression, learned and original, Mrs. Browning divides the poetic renownof the period with Tennyson. If he is the laureate, she was theacknowledged queen of poetry until her untimely death. 

Miss Elizabeth Barrett was born in London, in 1809. She was educated withgreat care, and began to write at a very early age. A volume, entitled_Essays on Mind, with Other Poems_, was published when she was onlyseventeen. In 1833 she produced _Prometheus Bound_, a translation of thedrama of Æschylus from the original Greek, which exhibited rare classicalattainments; but which she considered so faulty that she afterwardsretranslated it. In 1838 appeared _The Seraphim, and other Poems_; and in1839, _The Romaunt of the Page_. Not long after, the rupture of ablood-vessel brought her to the verge of the grave; and while she wasstill in a precarious state of health, her favorite brother was drowned. For several years she lived secluded, studying and composing when herhealth permitted; and especially drawing her inspiration from originalsources in Greek and Hebrew. In 1844 she published her collected poems intwo volumes. Among these was _Lady Geraldine's Courtship_: an exquisitestory, the perusal of which is said to have induced Robert Browning toseek her acquaintance. Her health was now partially restored; and theywere married in 1846. For some time they resided at Florence, in acongenial and happy union. The power of passionate love is displayed inher _Sonnets from the Portuguese_, which are among the finest in thelanguage. Differing in many respects from those of Shakspeare, they arelike his in being connected by one impassioned thought, and being, withoutdoubt, the record of a heart experience. 

Thoroughly interested in the social and political conditions of strugglingItaly, she gave vent to her views and sympathies in a volume of poems, entitled _Casa Guidi Windows_. Casa Guidi was the name of their residencein Florence, and the poems vividly describe what she saw from itswindows--divers forms of suffering, injustice, and oppression, whichtouched the heart of a tender woman and a gifted poet, and compelled it toburst forth in song. 

AURORA LEIGH. --But by far the most important work of Mrs. Browning is_Aurora Leigh_: a long poem in nine books, which appeared in 1856, inwhich the great questions of the age, social and moral, are handled withgreat boldness. It is neither an epic, nor an idyl, nor a tale in verse:it combines features of them all. It presents her clear convictions oflife and art, and is full of philosophy, largely expressed in the languageof irony and sarcasm. She is an inspired advocate of the intellectualclaims of woman; and the poem is, in some degree, an autobiography: theidentity of the poet and the heroine gives a great charm to the narrative. There are few finer pieces of poetical inspiration than the closing scene, where the friend and lover returns blind and helpless, and the woman'sheart, unconquered before, surrenders to the claims of misfortune as thechampion of love. After a happy life with her husband and an only child, sent for her solace, this gifted woman died in 1863. 

HER FAULTS. --It is as easy to criticize Mrs. Browning's works as to admirethem; but our admiration is great in spite of her faults: in part becauseof them, for they are faults of a bold and striking individuality. Thereis sometimes an obscurity in her fancies, and a turgidity in her language. She seems to transcend the poet's license with a knowledge that she isdoing so. For example:

 We will sit on the throne of a purple sublimity, And grind down men's bones to a pale unanimity. 

And again, in speaking of Goethe, she says:

 His soul reached out from far and high, And fell from inner entity. 

Her rhymes are frequently and arrogantly faulty: she seems to scorn thecritics; she writes more for herself than for others, and infuses all shewrites with her own fervent spirit: there is nothing commonplace orlukewarm. She is so strong that she would be masculine; but so tender thatshe is entirely feminine: at once one of the most vigorous of poets andone of the best of women. She has attained the first rank among theEnglish poets. 

ROBERT BROWNING. --As a poet of decided individuality, which has gained forhim many admirers, Browning claims particular mention. His happy marriagehas for his fame the disadvantage that he gave his name to a greaterpoet; and it is never mentioned without an instinctive thought of hersuperiority. Many who are familiar with her verses have never read a lineof her husband. This is in part due to a mysticism and an intensesubjectivity, which are not adapted to the popular comprehension. He haschosen subjects unknown or uninteresting to the multitude of readers, andtreats them with such novelty of construction and such an affectation oforiginality, that few persons have patience to read his poems. 

Robert Browning was born, in 1812, at Camberwell; and after a carefuleducation, not at either of the universities, (for he was a dissenter, ) hewent at the age of twenty to Italy, where he eagerly studied the historyand antiquity to be found in the monasteries and in the remains of themediæval period. He also made a study of the Italian people. In 1835 hepublished a drama called _Paracelsus_, founded upon the history of thatcelebrated alchemist and physician, and delineating the conditions ofphilosophy in the fifteenth century. It is novel, antique, andmetaphysical: it exhibits the varied emotions of human sympathy; but it iseccentric and obscure, and cannot be popular. He has been called the poetfor poets; and this statement seems to imply that he is not the poet forthe great world. 

In 1837 he published a tragedy called _Strafford_; but his Italian cultureseems to have spoiled his powers for portraying English character, and hehas presented a stilted Strafford and a theatrical Charles I. 

In 1840 appeared _Sordello_, founded upon incidents in the history of thatMantuan poet Sordello, whom Dante and Virgil met in purgatory; and who, deserting the language of Italy, wrote his principal poems in theProvençal. The critics were so dissatisfied with this work, that Browningafterwards omitted it in the later editions of his poems. In 1843 hepublished a tragedy entitled _A Blot on the 'Scutcheon_, and a playcalled _The Dutchess of Cleves_. In 1850 appeared _Christmas Eve_ and_Easter Day_. Concerning all these, it may be said that it is singular andsad that a real poetic gift, like that of Browning, should be so shroudedwith faults of conception and expression. What leads us to think that manyof these are an affectation, is that he has produced, almost with thesimplicity of Wordsworth, those charming sketches, _The Good News fromGhent to Aix_, and _An Incident at Ratisbon_. 

Among his later poems we specially commend _A Death in the Desert_, and_Pippa Passes_, as less obscure and more interesting than any, except thelyrical pieces just mentioned. It is difficult to show in what mannerBrowning represents his age. His works are only so far of a moderncharacter that they use the language of to-day without subsidizing itssimplicity, and abandon the old musical couplet without presenting theintelligible if commonplace thought which it used to convey. 

OTHER POETS OF THE LATEST PERIOD. 

_Reginald Heber_, 1783-1826: a godly Bishop of Calcutta. He is mostgenerally known by one effort, a little poem, which is a universalfavorite, and has preached, from the day it appeared, eloquent sermons inthe cause of missions--_From Greenland's Icy Mountains_. Among his otherhymns are _Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning_, and _The Son ofGod goes forth to War_. 

_Barry Cornwall_, born 1790: this is a _nom de plume_ of _Bryan Proctor_, a pleasing, but not great poet. His principal works are _Dramatic Scenes_, _Mirandola_, a tragedy, and _Marcian Colonna_. His minor poems arecharacterized by grace and fluency. Among these are _The Return of theAdmiral_; _The Sea, the Sea, the Open Sea_; and _A Petition to Time_. Healso wrote essays and tales in prose--a _Life of Edmund Keane_, and a_Memoir of Charles Lamb_. His daughter, _Adelaide Anne Proctor_, is agifted poetess, and has written, among other poems, _Legends and Lyrics_, and _A Chaplet of Verses_. 

_James Sheridan Knowles_, 1784-1862: an actor and dramatist. He left thestage and became a Baptist minister. His plays were very successful uponthe stage. Among them, those of chief merit are _The Hunchback_, _Virginius and Caius Gracchus_, and _The Wife, a Tale of Mantua_. 

_Jean Ingelow_, born 1830: one of the most popular of the later Englishpoets. _The Song of Seven_, and _My Son's Wife Elizabeth_, are extremelypathetic, and of such general application that they touch all hearts. Thelatter is the refrain of _High Tide on the Coast of Lancashire_. She haspublished, besides, several volumes of stories for children, and oneentitled _Studies for Stories_. 

_Algernon Charles Swinburne_, born 1843: he is principally and veryfavorably known by his charming poem _Atalanta in Calydon_. He has alsowritten a somewhat heterodox and licentious poem entitled _Laus Veneris_, _Chastelard_, and _The Song of Italy_; besides numerous minor poems andarticles for magazines. He is among the most notable and prolific poets ofthe age; and we may hope for many and better works from his pen. 

_Richard Harris Barham_, 1788-1845: a clergyman of the Church of England, and yet one of the most humorous of writers. He is chiefly known by his_Ingoldsby Legends_, which were contributed to the magazines. They arehumorous tales in prose and verse; the latter in the vein of Peter Pindar, but better than those of Wolcot, or any writer of that school. Combinedwith the humorous and often forcible, there are touches of pathos andterror which are extremely effective. He also wrote a novel called _MyCousin Nicholas_. 

_Philip James Bailey_, born 1816: he published, in 1839, _Festus_, a poemin dramatic form, having, for its _dramatis personæ_, God in his threepersons, Lucifer, angels, and man. Full of rare poetic fancy, it repelsmany by the boldness of its flight in the consideration of theincomprehensible, which many minds think the forbidden. _The Angel World_and _The Mystic_ are of a similar kind; but his last work, _The Age, aColloquial Satire_ is on a mundane subject and in a simpler style. 

_Charles Mackay_, born 1812: principally known by his fugitive pieces, which contain simple thoughts on pleasant language. His poeticalcollections are called _Town Lyrics_ and _Egeria_. 

_John Keble_, 1792-1866: the modern George Herbert; a distinguishedclergyman. He was Professor of Poetry at Oxford, and produced, besides_Tracts for the Times_, and other theological writings, _The ChristianYear_, containing a poem for every Sunday and holiday in theecclesiastical year. They are devout breathings in beautiful verse, andare known and loved by great numbers out of his own communion. Many ofthem have been adopted as hymns in many collections. 

_Martin Farquhar Tupper_, born 1810: his principal work is _ProverbialPhilosophy_, in two series. It was unwontedly popular; and Tupper's namewas on every tongue. Suddenly, the world reversed its decision anddiscarded its favorite; so that, without having done anything to warrantthe desertion, Tupper finds himself with but very few admirers, or evenreaders: so capricious is the _vox populi_. The poetry is not withoutmerit; but the world cannot forgive itself for having rated it too high. 

_Matthew Arnold_, born 1822: the son of Doctor Arnold of Rugby. He haswritten numerous critical papers, and was for some time Professor ofPoetry at Oxford. _Sorab and Rustam_ is an Eastern tale in verse, of greatbeauty. His other works are _The Strayed Reveller_, and _Empedocles onEtna_. More lately, an Inspector of Schools, he has produced several workson education, among which are _Popular Education in France_ and _TheSchools and Universities of the Continent_. 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE LATER HISTORIANS. 

 New Materials. George Grote. History of Greece. Lord Macaulay. History of England. Its Faults. Thomas Carlyle. Life of Frederick II. Other Historians. 

NEW MATERIALS. 

Nothing more decidedly marks the nineteenth century than the progress ofhistory as a branch of literature. A wealth of material, not known before, was brought to light, increasing our knowledge and reversing time-honoreddecisions upon historic points. Countries were explored and their annalsdiscovered. Expeditions to Egypt found a key to hieroglyphs; State paperswere arranged to the hand of the scholar; archives, like those ofSimancas, were thrown open. The progress of Truth, through the extensionof education, unmasked ancient prescriptions and prejudices: thus, wherethe chronicle remained, philosophy was transformed; and it became evidentthat the history of man in all times must be written anew, with fargreater light to guide the writer than the preceding century had enjoyed. Besides, the world of readers became almost as learned as the historianhimself, and he wrote to supply a craving and a demand such as had neverbefore existed. A glance at the labors of the following historians willshow that they were not only annalists, but reformers in the full sense ofthe word: they re-wrote what had been written before, supplying defectsand correcting errors. 

GEORGE GROTE. --This distinguished writer was born near London, in 1794. Hewas the son of a banker, and received his education at the Charter House. Instead of entering one of the universities, he became a clerk in hisfather's banking-house. Early imbued with a taste for Greek literature, hecontinued his studies with great zeal; and was for many years collectingthe material for a history of Greece. The subject was quietly andthoroughly digested in his mind before he began to write. A member ofParliament from 1832 to 1841, he was always a strong Whig, and wasspecially noted for his championship of the vote by ballot. There was nodepartment of wholesome reform which he did not sustain. He opposed thecorn laws, which had become oppressive; he favored the political rights ofthe Jews, and denounced prescriptive evils of every kind. 

HISTORY OF GREECE. --In 1846 he published the first volume of his _Historyof Greece from the Earliest Period to the Death of Alexander the Great_:the remaining volumes appeared between that time and 1856. The work waswell received by critics of all political opinions; and the world wasastonished that such a labor should have been performed by any writer whowas not a university man. It was a luminous ancient history, in a freshand racy modern style: the review of the mythology is grand; the politicalconditions, the manners and customs of the people, the military art, theprogress of law, the schools of philosophy, are treated with remarkablelearning and clearness. But he as clearly exhibits the political conditionof his own age, by the sympathy which he displays towards the democracy ofAthens in their struggles against the tenets and actions of thearistocracy. The historian writes from his own political point of view;and Grote's history exhibits his own views of reform as plainly as that ofMitford sets forth his aristocratic proclivities. Thus the Englishpolitics of the age play a part in the Grecian history. 

There were several histories of Greece written not long before that ofGrote, which may be considered as now set aside by his greater accuracyand better style. Among these the principal are that of JOHN GILLIES, 1747-1836, which is learned, but statistical and dry; that of CONNOPTHIRLWALL, born 1797, Bishop of St. David's, which was greatly esteemed byGrote himself; and that of WILLIAM MITFORD, 1744-1827, to correct theerrors and supply the deficiencies of which, Grote's work was written. 

LORD MACAULAY. --Thomas Babington Macaulay was born at Rothley, inLeicestershire, on the 25th of October, 1800. His father, ZacharyMacaulay, a successful West Indian merchant, devoted his later life tophilanthropy. His mother was Miss Selina Mills, the daughter of abookseller of Bristol. After an early education, chiefly conducted athome, he was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1818, where hedistinguished himself as a debater, and gained two prize poems and ascholarship. He was graduated in 1822, and afterwards continued hisstudies; producing, during the next four years, several of his stirringballads. He began to write for the Edinburgh Review in 1825. In 1830 heentered Parliament, and was immediately noted for his brilliant oratory inadvocating liberal principles. In 1834 he was sent to India, as a memberof the Supreme Council; and took a prominent part in preparing an Indiancode of laws. This code was published on his return to England, in 1838;but it was so kind and considerate to the natives, that the martinets inIndia defeated its adoption. From his return until 1847, he had a seat inParliament as member for Edinburgh; but in the latter year his support ofthe grant to the Maynooth (Roman Catholic) College so displeased hisconstituents, that in the next election he lost his seat. 

During all these busy years he had been astonishing and delighting thereading world by his truly brilliant papers in the _Edinburgh Review_, which have been collected and published as _Miscellanies_. The subjectswere of general interest; their treatment novel and bold; the learningdisplayed was accurate and varied; and the style pointed, vigorous, andharmonious. The papers upon _Clive_ and _Hastings_ are enriched by hisintimate knowledge of Indian affairs, acquired during his residence inthat country. His critical papers are severe and satirical, such as thearticles on _Croker's Boswell_, and on _Mr. Robert Montgomery's Poems_. His unusual self-reliance as a youth led him to great vehemence in theexpression of his opinions, as well as into errors of judgment, which heafterwards regretted. The radicalism which is displayed in his essay on_Milton_ was greatly modified when he came to treat of kindred subjects inhis History. 

THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND. --He had long cherished the intention of writingthe history of England, "from the accession of James II. Down to a timewhich is within the memory of men still living. " The loss of his electionat Edinburgh gave him the leisure necessary for carrying out this purpose. In 1848 he published the first and second volumes, which at once achievedan unprecedented popularity. His style had lost none of its brilliancy;his reading had been immense; his examination of localities was carefuland minute. It was due, perhaps, to this growing fame, that the electorsof Edinburgh, without any exertion on his part, returned him to Parliamentin 1852. In 1855 the third and fourth volumes of his History appeared, bringing the work down to the peace of Ryswick, in 1697. All Englandapplauded the crown when he was elevated to the peerage, in 1857, as BaronMacaulay of Rothley. 

It was now evident that Macaulay had deceived himself as to the magnitudeof his subject; at least, he was never to finish it. He died suddenly ofdisease of the heart, on the 28th of December, 1859; and all that remainedof his History was a fragmentary volume, published after his death by hissister, Lady Trevelyan, which reaches the death of William III. , in 1702. 

ITS FAULTS. --The faults of Macaulay's History spring from the character ofthe man: he is always a partisan or a bitter enemy. His heroes are angels;those whom he dislikes are devils; and he pursues them with the ardor of acrusader or the vendetta of a Corsican. The Stuarts are painted in thedarkest colors; while his eulogy of William III. Is fulsome and false. Heblackens the character of Marlborough for real faults indeed; but for suchas Marlborough had in common with thousands of his contemporaries. If, ashas been said, that great captain deserved the greatest censure as astatesman and warrior, it is equally true, paradoxical as it may seem, that he deserved also the greatest praise in both capacities. Macaulay hasfulminated the censure and withheld the praise. 

What is of more interest to Americans, he loses no opportunity ofattacking and defaming William Penn; making statements which have beenproved false, and attributing motives without reason or justice. 

His style is what the French call the _style coupé_, --short sentences, like those of Tacitus, which ensure the interest by their recurringshocks. He writes history with the pen of a reviewer, and gives verdictswith the authority of a judge. He seems to say, Believe the autocrat; donot venture to philosophize. 

His poetry displays tact and talent, but no genius; it is pageantry inverse. His _Lays of Ancient Rome_ are scholarly, of course, and pictorialin description, but there is little of nature, and they are theatricalrather than dramatic; they are to be declaimed rather than to be read orsung. 

In society, Macaulay was a great talker--he harangued his friends; andthere was more than wit in the saying of Sidney Smith, that hisconversation would have been improved by a few "brilliant flashes ofsilence. "

But in spite of his faults, if we consider the profoundness of hislearning, the industry of his studies, and the splendor of his style, wemust acknowledge him as the most distinguished of English historians. Noone has yet appeared who is worthy to complete the magnificent work whichhe left unfinished. 

THOMAS CARLYLE. --A literary brother of a very different type, but of amore distinct individuality, is Carlyle, who was born in Dumfries-shire, Scotland, in 1795. He was the eldest son of a farmer. After a partialeducation at home, he entered the University of Edinburgh, where he wasnoted for his attainments in mathematics, and for his omnivorous reading. After leaving the university he became a teacher in a private family, andbegan to study for the ministry, a plan which he soon gave up. 

His first literary effort was a _Life of Schiller_, issued in numbers ofthe _London Magazine_, in 1823-4. He turned his attention to Germanliterature, in the knowledge of which he has surpassed all otherEnglishmen. He became as German as the Germans. 

In 1826 he married, and removed to Craigen-Puttoch, on a farm, where, inisolation and amid the wildness of nature, he studied, and wrote articlesfor the _Edinburgh Review_, the _Foreign Quarterly_, and some of themonthly magazines. His study of the German, acting upon an innatepeculiarity, began to affect his style very sensibly, as is clearly seenin the singular, introverted, parenthetical mode of expression whichpervades all his later works. His earlier writings are in ordinaryEnglish, but specimens of _Carlylese_ may be found in his _SartorResartus_, which at first appalled the publishers and repelled the generalreader. Taking man's clothing as a nominal subject, he plunges intophilosophical speculations with which clothes have nothing to do, butwhich informed the world that an original thinker and a novel and curiouswriter had appeared. 

In 1834 he removed to Chelsea, near London, where he has since resided. In1837, he published his _French Revolution_, in three volumes, --_TheBastile_, _The Constitution_, _The Guillotine_. It is a fiery, historicaldrama rather than a history; full of rhapsodies, startling rhetoric, disconnected pictures. It has been fitly called "a history in flashes oflightning. " No one could learn from it the history of that momentousperiod; but one who has read the history elsewhere, will find greatinterest in Carlyle's wild and vivid pictures of its stormy scenes. 

In 1839 he wrote, in his dashing style, upon _Chartism_, and about thesame time read a course of lectures upon _Heroes, Hero-Worship, and theHeroic in History_, in which he is an admirer of will and impulse, andpalliates evil when found in combination with these. 

In 1845 he edited _The Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell_, and inhis extravagant eulogies worships the hero rather than the truth. 

FREDERICK II. --In 1858 appeared the first two volumes of _The Life ofFrederick the Great_, and since that time he has completed the work. Thisis doubtless his greatest effort. It is full of erudition, and containsdetails not to be found in any other biography of the Prussian monarch;but so singularly has he reasoned and commented upon his facts, that theenlightened reader often draws conclusions different from those which theauthor has been laboring to establish. While the history shows that, forgenius and success, Frederick deserved to be called the Great, Carlylecannot make us believe that he was not grasping, selfish, a dissembler, and an immoral man. 

The author's style has its admirers, and is a not unpleasing novelty andvariety to lovers of plain English; but it wearies in continuance, and oneturns to French or German with relief. The Essays upon _GermanLiterature_, _Richter_, and _The Niebelungen Lied_ are of great value tothe young student. Such tracts as _Past and Present_, and _The Latter-DayPamphlets_, have caused him to be called the "Censor of the Age. " He istoo eccentric and prejudiced to deserve the name in its best meaning. Ifhe fights shams, he sometimes mistakes windmills and wine-skins formonsters, and, what is worse, if he accost a shepherd or a milkmaid, theyat once become _Amadis de Gaul_ and _Dulcinea del Toboso_. In spite ofthese prejudices and peculiarities, Carlyle will always be esteemed forhis arduous labors, his honest intentions, and his boldness in expressinghis opinions. His likes and dislikes find ready vent in his writtenjudgments, and he cares for neither friend nor foe, in setting forth hisviews of men and events. On many subjects it must be said his views arejust. There are fields in which his word must be received with authority. 

OTHER HISTORIANS OF THE LATEST PERIOD. 

_John Lingard_, 1771-1851: a Roman Catholic priest. He was a man of greatprobity and worth. His chief work is _A History of England_, from thefirst invasion of the Romans to the accession of William and Mary. With anatural leaning to his own religious side in the great politicalquestions, he displays great industry in collecting material, beauty ofdiction, and honesty of purpose. His history is of particular value, inthat it stands among the many Protestant histories as the champion of theRoman Catholics, and gives an opportunity to "hear the other side, " whichcould not have had a more respectable advocate. In all the greatcontroversies, the student of English history must consult Lingard, andcollate his facts and opinions with those of the other historians. Hewrote, besides, numerous theological and controversial works. 

_Patrick Fraser Tytler_, 1791-1849: the author of _A History of Scotlandfrom Alexander III. To James VI. (James I. Of England)_, and _A History ofEngland during the reigns of Edward VI. And Mary_. His _Universal History_has been used as a text-book, and in style and construction has greatmerit, although he does not rise to the dignity of a philosophichistorian. 

_Sir William Francis Patrick Napier_, 1785-1866: a distinguished soldier, and, like Cæsar, a historian of the war in which he took part. His_History of the War in the Peninsula_ stands quite alone. It is clear inits strategy and tactics, just to the enemy, and peculiar but effective instyle. It was assailed by several military men, but he defended all hispositions in bold replies to their strictures, and the work remains asauthority upon the great struggle which he relates. 

_Lord Mahon_, Earl of Stanhope, born 1805: his principal work is a_History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles_. He had access to much new material, and from the Stuart papers has drawnmuch of interest with reference to that unfortunate family. His view ofthe conduct of Washington towards Major André has been shown to be quiteuntenable. He also wrote a _History of the War of Succession in Spain_. 

_Henry Thomas Buchle_, 1822-1862: he was the author of a _History ofCivilization_, of which he published two volumes, the work remainingunfinished at the time of his death. For bold assumptions, vigorous style, and great reading, this work must be greatly admired; but all his theoriesare based on second principles, and Christianity, as a divine institution, is ignored. It startled the world into admiration, but has not retainedthe place in popular esteem which it appeared at first to make for itself. He is the English _Comte_, without the eccentricity of his model. 

_Sir Archibald Alison_, 1792-1867: he is the author of _The History ofEurope from the Commencement of the French Revolution to the Restorationof the Bourbons_, and a continuation from 1815 to 1852. It may be doubtedwhether even the most dispassionate scholar can write the history ofcontemporary events. We may be thankful for the great mass of facts he hascollated, but his work is tinctured with his high Tory principles; hismaterial is not well digested, and his style is clumsy. 

_Agnes Strickland_, born 1806: after several early attempts MissStrickland began her great task, which she executed nobly--_The Queens ofEngland_. Accurate, philosophic, anecdotal, and entertaining, this workranks among the most valuable histories in English. If the style is not sonervous as that of masculine writers, there is a ready intuition as to therights and the motives of the queens, and a great delicacy combined withentire lack of prudery in her treatment of their crimes. The library ofEnglish history would be singularly incomplete without Miss Strickland'swork. She also wrote _The Queens of Scotland_, and _The Bachelor Kings ofEngland_. 

_Henry Hallam_, 1778-1859: the principal works of this judicious andlearned writer are _A View of Europe during the Middle Ages_, _TheConstitutional History of England_, and _An Introduction to the Literatureof Europe_ in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. Withthe skill of an advocate he combines the calmness of a judge; and he hasbeen justly called "the accurate Hallam, " because his facts are in allcases to be depended on. By his clear and illustrative treatment of drysubjects, he has made them interesting; and his works have done as much toinstruct his age as those of any writer. Later researches in literatureand constitutional history may discover more than he has presented, but hetaught the new explorers the way, and will always be consulted withprofit, as the representative of this varied learning during the firsthalf of the nineteenth century. 

_James Anthony Froude_, born 1818: an Oxford graduate, Mr. Frouderepresents the Low Church party in a respectable minority. His chief workis _A History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death ofElizabeth_. With great industry, and the style of a successful novelist inmaking his groups and painting his characters, he has written one of themost readable books published in this period. He claimed to take hisauthorities from unpublished papers, and from the statute-books, and hasendeavored to show that Henry VIII. Was by no means a bad king, and thatElizabeth had very few faults. His treatment of Anne Boleyn and Mary Queenof Scots is unjust and ignoble. Not content with publishing what has beenwritten in their disfavor, with the omniscience of a romancer, he assertstheir motives, and produces thoughts which they never uttered. A race ofpowerful critics has sprung forth in defence of Mary, and Mr. Froude'sinaccuracies and injustice have been clearly shown. To novel readers whoare fond of the sensational, we commend his work: to those who desirehistoric facts and philosophies, we proclaim it to be inaccurate, illogical, and unjust in the highest degree. 

_Sharon Turner_, 1768-1847: among many historical efforts, principallyconcerning England in different periods, his _History of the Anglo-Saxons_stands out prominently as a great work. He was an eccentric scholar, andan antiquarian, and he found just the place to delve in when he undertookthat history. The style is not good--too epigrammatic and broken; but hisresearch is great, his speculations bold, and his information concerningthe numbers, manners, arts, learning, and other characters of theAnglo-Saxons, immense. The student of English history must read Turner fora knowledge of the Saxon period. 

_Thomas Arnold_, 1795-1832: widely known and revered as the GreatSchoolmaster. He was head-master at Rugby, and influenced his pupils morethan any modern English instructor. Accepting the views of Niebuhr, hewrote a work on _Roman History_ up to the close of the second Punic war. But he is more generally known by his historical lectures delivered atOxford, where he was Professor of Modern History. A man of original viewsand great honesty of purpose, his influence in England has beenstrengthened by the excellent biography written by his friend DeanStanley. 

_William Hepworth Dixon_, born 1821: he was for some time editor of _TheAthenæum_. In historic biography he appears as a champion of men who havebeen maligned by former writers. He vindicates _William Penn_ from theaspersions of Lord Macaulay, and _Bacon_ from the charges of meanness andcorruption. 

_Charles Merivale_, born 1808: he is a clergyman, and a late Fellow ofCambridge, and is favorably known by his admirable work entitled, _TheHistory of the Romans under the Empire_. It forms an introduction toGibbon, and displays a thorough grasp of the great epoch, variedscholarship, and excellent taste. His analyses of Roman literature arevery valuable, and his pictures of social life so vivid that we seem tolive in the times of the Cæsars as we read. 

CHAPTER XL. 

THE LATER NOVELISTS AS SOCIAL REFORMERS. 

 Bulwer. Changes in Writing. Dickens's Novels. American Notes. His Varied Powers. Second Visit to America. Thackeray. Vanity Fair. Henry Esmond. The Newcomes. The Georges. Estimate of his Powers. 

The great feature in the realm of prose fiction, since the appearance ofthe works of Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett, had been the Waverleynovels of Sir Walter Scott; but these apart, the prose romance had notplayed a brilliant part in literature until the appearance of Bulwer, whobegan, in his youth, to write novels in the old style; but who underwentseveral organic changes in modes of thought and expression, and at laststood confessed as the founder of a new school. 

BULWER. --Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer was a younger son of GeneralBulwer of Heydon Hall, Norfolk, England. He was born, in 1806, to wealthand ease, but was early and always a student. Educated at Cambridge, hetook the Chancellor's prize for a poem on _Sculpture_. His first publiceffort was a volume of fugitive poems, called _Weeds and Wild Flowers_, ofmore promise than merit. In 1827 he published _Falkland_, and very soonafter _Pelham, or the Adventures of a Gentleman_. The first was notreceived favorably; but _Pelham_ was at once popular, neither for theskill of the plot nor for its morality, but because it describes thecharacter, dissipations, and good qualities of a fashionable young man, which are always interesting to an English public. Those novels thatimmediately followed are so alike in general features that they may becalled the Pelham series. Of these the principal are _The Disowned_, _Devereux_, and _Paul Clifford_--the last of which throws a sentimental, rosy light upon the person and adventures of a highwayman; but it is toounreal to have done as much injury as the _Pirate's Own Book_, or the_Adventures of Jack Sheppard_. It may be safely asserted that _PaulClifford_ never produced a highwayman. Of the same period is _EugeneAram_, founded upon the true story of a scholar who was a murderer--apainful subject powerfully handled. 

In 1831 Bulwer entered Parliament, and seems to have at once commenced anew life. With his public duties he combined severe historical study; andthe novels he now produced gave witness of his riper and better learning. Chief among these were _Rienzi_, and _The Last Days of Pompeii_. Theformer is based upon the history of that wonderful and unfortunate manwho, in the fourteenth century, attempted to restore the Roman republic, and govern it like an ancient tribune. The latter is a noble production:he has caught the very spirit of the day in which Pompeii was submerged bythe lava-flood; his characters are masterpieces of historic delineation;he handles like an adept the conflicting theologies, Christian, Roman, andEgyptian; and his natural scenes--Vesuvius in fury, the Bay of Naples inthe lurid light, the crowded amphitheatre, and the terror which fell onman and beast, gladiator and lion--are _chef-d'œuvres_ of Romantic art. 

CHANGES IN WRITING. --For a time he edited _The New Monthly Magazine_, anda change came over the spirit of his novels. This was first noticed in his_Ernest Maltravers_, and the sequel, _Alice, or the Mysteries_, which aremarked by sentimental passion and mystic ideas. In _Night and Morning_ heis still mysterious: a blind fate seems to preside over his characters, robbing the good of its free merit and condoning the evil. 

In 1838 he was made a baronet. His versatile pen now turned to the drama;and although he produced nothing great, his _Lady of Lyons_, _Richelieu_, _Money_, and _The Sea Captain_ have always since been favorites upon thestage, subsidizing the talents of actors like Macready, Kean, and EdwinBooth. 

We must now chronicle another change, from the mystic to the supernatural, as displayed in _Zanoni_ and _Lucretia_, and especially in _A StrangeStory_, which is the strangest of all. It was at the same period that hewrote _The Last of the Barons_, or the story of Warwick the king-maker, and _Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings_. Both are valuable to thestudent of English history as presenting the fruits of his own historicresearch. 

The last and most decided, and, we may add, most beneficial, change inBulwer as a writer, was manifested in his publication of the _Caxtons_, the chief merit of which is as an usher of the novels which were tofollow. Pisistratus Caxton is the modern Tristram Shandy, and becomes theputative editor of the later novels. First of these is _My Novel, orVarieties of English Life_. It is an admirable work: it inculcates abetter morality, and a sense of Christian duty, at which Pelham would havelaughed in scorn. Like it, but inferior to it, is _What Will He do withIt?_ which has an interesting plot, an elevated style, and a rare humansympathy. 

Among other works, which we cannot mention, he wrote _The New Timon_, and_King Arthur_, in poetry, and a prose history entitled _Athens, its Riseand Fall_. 

Without the highest genius, but with uncommon scholarship and greatversatility, Bulwer has used the materials of many kinds lying about him, to make marvellous mosaics, which imitate very closely the finest effortsof word-painting of the great geniuses of prose fiction. 

CHARLES DICKENS. --Another remarkable development of the age was the useof prose fiction, instead of poetry, as the vehicle of satire in the causeof social reform. The world consents readily to be amused, and it likes tobe amused at the expense of others; but it soon tires of what is simplyamusing or satirical unless some noble purpose be disclosed. The novels offormer periods had interested by the creation of character and scenes; andthere had been numerous satires prompted by personal pique. It is theglory of this latest age that it demands what shall so satirize the evilaround it in men, in classes, in public institutions, that the evil shallrecoil before the attack, and eventually disappear. Chief among suchreformers are Dickens and Thackeray. 

Charles Dickens, the prince of modern novelists, was born at Landsport, Portsmouth, England, in 1812. His father was at the time a clerk in thePay Department of the Navy, but afterwards became a reporter of debates inParliament. After a very hard early life and an only tolerable education, young Dickens made some progress in the study of law; but soon undertookhis father's business as reporter, in which he struggled as he has madeDavid Copperfield to do in becoming proficient. 

His first systematic literary efforts were as a daily writer and reporterfor _The True Sun_; he then contributed his sketches of life andcharacter, drawn from personal observation, to the _Morning Chronicle_:these were an earnest of his future powers. They were collected as_Sketches by Boz_, in two volumes, and published in 1836. 

PICKWICK. --In 1837 he was asked by a publisher to prepare a series ofcomic sketches of cockney sportsmen, to illustrate, as well as to beillustrated by, etchings by Seymour. This yoking of two geniuses was atrammel to both; but the suicide of Seymour dissolved the connection, andDickens had free play to produce the _Pickwick Papers_, by Boz, which wereillustrated, as he proceeded, by H. K. Browne (Phiz). The work met andhas retained an unprecedented popularity. Caricature as it was, itcaricatured real, existent oddities; everything was probable; the humorwas sympathetic if farcical, the assertion of humanity bold, and thephilosophy of universal application. He had touched our common nature inall ranks and conditions; he had exhibited men and women of all types; hehad exposed the tricks of politics and the absurdity of elections; thesnobs of society were severely handled. He was the censor of law courts, the exposer of swindlers, the dread of cockneys, the friend of rustics andof the poor; and he has displayed in the principal character, that of theimmortal Pickwick, the power of a generous, simple-hearted, easilydeceived, but always philanthropic man, who comes through all his trialswithout bating a jot of his love for humanity and his faith in humannature. But the master-work of his plastic hand was Sam Weller, whose witand wisdom pervaded both hemispheres, and is as potent to excite laughterto-day as at the first. 

In this work he began that assault, not so much on shams as uponprominent, unblushing evil, which he carried on in some form or other inall his later works; and which was to make him prominent among thereformers and benefactors of his age. He was at once famous, and his penwas in demand to amuse the idle and to aid the philanthropic. 

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY. --The _Pickwick Papers_ were in their intention a seriesof sketches somewhat desultory and loosely connected. His next work was_Nicholas Nickleby_, a complete story, in which he was entirelysuccessful. Wonderful in the variety and reality of his characters, hispowerful satire was here principally directed against the privateboarding-schools in England, where unloved children, exiled and forgotten, were ill fed, scantily clothed, untaught, and beaten. Do-the-boys' Hallwas his type, and many a school prison under that name was fearfullyexposed and scourged. The people read with wonder and applause; thesehaunts of cruelty were scrutinized, some of them were suppressed; andsince Nicholas Nickleby appeared no such school can live, because Squeersand Smike are on every lip, and punishment awaits the tyrant. 

Our scope will not permit a review of his numerous novels. In _OliverTwist_ he denounces the parish system in its care of orphans, and throws aDrummond light upon the haunts of crime in London. 

_The Old Curiosity Shop_ exposes the mania of gaming, and seems to havebeen a device for presenting the pathetic pictures of _Little Nell_ andher grandfather, the wonderful and rapid learning of the marchioness, andthe uncommon vitality of Mr. Richard Swiveller; and also the compound ofwill and hideousness in Quilp. 

He affected to find in the receptacle of Master Humphrey's clock, his_Barnaby Rudge_, a very dramatic picture of the great riot incited by LordGeorge Gordon in 1780, which, in its gathering, its fury, and its easydispersion, was not unlike that of Wat Tyler. Dickens's delineations areeminently historic, and present a better notion of the period than thegeneral history itself. 

AMERICAN NOTES. --In 1841 Dickens visited America, where he was received bythe public with great enthusiasm, and annoyed, as the author of hisbiography says, by many individuals. On his return to England, he producedhis _American Notes for General Circulation_. They were sarcastic, superficial, and depreciatory, and astonished many whose hospitalities hehad received. But, in 1843, he published _Martin Chuzzlewit_, in whichAmerican peculiarities are treated with the broadest caricature. The_Notes_ might have been forgiven; but the novel excited a great and justanger in America. His statements were not true; his pictures were notjust; his prejudice led him to malign a people who had received him witha foolish hospitality. He had eaten and drunk at the hands of the men whomhe abused, and his character suffered more than that of his intendedvictims. In taking a few foibles for his caricature, he had left ourmerits untold, and had been guilty of the implication that we had none, although he knew that there were as elegant gentlemen, as refined ladies, and as cultivated society in America as the best in England. But a truceto reproaches; he has been fully forgiven. 

His next novel was _Dombey and Son_, in which he attacks British pomp andpride of state in the haughty merchant. It is full of character and ofpathos. Every one knows, as if they had appeared among us, the proud andrigid Dombey, J. B. The sly, the unhappy Floy, the exquisite Toots, theinimitable Nipper, Sol Gills the simple, and Captain Cuttle with his hookand his notes. 

This was followed by _David Copperfield_, which is, to some extent, anautobiography describing the struggles of his youth, his experience inacquiring short-hand to become a reporter, and other vicissitudes of hisown life. In it there is an attack upon the system of model prisons; butthe chief interest is found in his wonderful portraitures of varied andopposite characters: the Peggottys, Steerforth, the inimitable Micawber, Betsy Trotwood; Agnes, the lovely and lovable; Mr. Dick, with such noblemethod in his madness; Dora, the child-wife; the simple Traddles, andUriah Heep, the 'umble intriguer and villain. 

_Bleak House_ is a tremendous onslaught upon the Chancery system, and issaid to have caused a modification of it; his knowledge of law gave himthe power of an expert in detailing and dissecting its enormities. 

_Little Dorrit_ presents the heartlessness of society, and is besides afull and fearful picture of the system of imprisonment for debt. Forvariety, power, and pathos, it is one of his best efforts. 

_A Tale of Two Cities_ is a gloomy but vivid story of the FrenchRevolution, which has by no means the popularity of his other works. 

In _Hard Times_, a shorter story, he has shown the evil consequences of ahard, statistical, cramming education, in which the sympathies arerepressed, and the mind made a practical machine. The failure of Gradgrindhas warned many a parent from imitating him. 

_Great Expectations_ failed to fulfil the promise of the name; but JoeGargery is as original a character as any he had drawn. 

His last completed story is _Our Mutual Friend_, which, although unequalto his best novels, has still original characters and striking scenes. Therage for rising in the social scale ruins the Veneerings, and Podsnapperyis a well-chosen name far the heartless dogmatism which rules in Englishsociety. 

Besides these splendid works, we must mention the delight he has given, and the good he has done in expanding individual and public charity, byhis exquisite Christmas stories, of which _The Chimes_, _The ChristmasCarol_, and _The Cricket on the Hearth_ are the best. 

His dramatic power has been fully illustrated by the ready adaptations ofhis novels to the stage; they are, indeed, in scenes, personages, costume, and interlocution, dramas in all except the form; and he himself was anadmirable actor. 

HIS VARIED POWERS. --His tenderness is touching, and his pathos at onceexcites our sympathy. He does not tell us to feel or to weep, but he showsus scenes like those in the life of Smike, and in the sufferings and deathof Little Nell, which so simply appeal to the heart that we are for thetime forgetful of the wand which conjures them before us. 

Dickens is bold in the advocacy of truth and in denouncing error; he isthe champion of honest poverty; he is the foe of class pretension andoppression; he is the friend of friendless children; the reformer ofthose whom society has made vagrants. Without many clear assertions ofChristian doctrine, but with no negation of it, he believes in doing goodfor its own sake, --in self-denial, in the rewards which virtue givesherself. His faults are few and venial. His merry life smacks too much ofthe practical joke and the punch-bowl; he denounces cant in theself-appointed ministers of the gospel, but he is not careful to drawcontrasted pictures of good pastors. His opinion seems to be based upon ahuman perfectibility. But for rare pictures of real life he has never beensurpassed; and he has instructed an age, concerning itself, wisely, originally, and usefully. He has the simplicity of Goldsmith, and thetruth to nature of Fielding and Smollett, without a spice ofsentimentalism or of impurity; he has brought the art of prose fiction toits highest point, and he has left no worthy successor. He lived for yearsseparated from his wife on the ground of incompatibility, and, during hislater years at Gadshill, twenty miles from London, to avoid thedissipations and draughts upon his time in that city. 

SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA. --In 1868 he again visited America, to readportions of his own works. He was well received by the public; but societyhad learned its lesson on his former visit, and he was not overwhelmedwith a hospitality he had so signally failed to appreciate. And if we hadlearned better, he had vastly improved; the genius had become a gentleman. His readings were a great pecuniary success, and at their close he made anamend which was graceful and proper; so that when he departed from ourshores his former errors were fully condoned, and he left an admiringhemisphere behind him. 

In the glow of health, and while writing, in serial numbers, a verypromising novel entitled _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_, he was struck byapoplexy, in June, 1870, and in a few hours was dead. England has hardlyexperienced a greater loss. All classes of men mourned when he was buriedin Westminster Abbey, in the poets' corner, among illustrious writers, --aprose-poet, none of whom has a larger fame than he; a historian of histime of greater value to society than any who distinctively bear thetitle. His characters are drawn from life; his own experience is found in_Nicholas Nickleby_ and _David Copperfield_; _Micawber_ is a caricature ofhis own father. _Traddles_ is said to represent his friend Talfourd. _Skimpole_ is supposed to be an original likeness of Leigh Hunt, andWilliam and Daniel Grant, of Manchester, were the originals of the_Brothers Cheeryble_. 

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY. --Dickens gives us real characters in the garbof fiction; but Thackeray uses fiction as the vehicle of socialphilosophy. Great name, second only to Dickens; he is not a story-teller, but an eastern Cadi administering justice in the form of apologue. Dickensis eminently dramatic; Thackeray has nothing dramatic, neither scene norpersonage. He is Democritus the laughing philosopher, or Jupiter thethunderer; he arraigns vice, pats virtue on the shoulder, shouts formuscular Christianity, uncovers shams, --his personages are only names. Dickens describes individuals; Thackeray only classes: his men and womenare representatives, and, with but few exceptions, they excite our senseof justice, but not our sympathy; the principal exception is _ColonelNewcome_, a real individual creation upon whom Thackeray exhausted hisgenius, and he stands alone. 

Thackeray was born in Calcutta, of an old Yorkshire family, in 1811. Hisfather was in the civil service, and he was sent home, when a child ofseven, for his education at the Charter House in London. Thence he wasentered at Cambridge, but left without being graduated. An easy fortune of£20, 000 led him to take life easily; he studied painting with somewhat ofthe desultory devotion he has ascribed to Clive Newcome, and, like thatworthy, travelled on the Continent. Partly by unsuccessful investments, and partly by careless living, his means were spent, and he took upwriting as a profession. The comic was his forte, and his early pieces, written under the pseudonym of Michael Angelo Fitzmarsh and George FitzBoodle, are broadly humorous, but by no means in his later finished style. _The Great Hoggarty Diamond_ (1841) did not disclose his full powers. 

In 1841, _Punch_, a weekly comic illustrated sheet, was begun, and itopened to Thackeray a field which exactly suited him. Short scraps ofcomedy, slightly connected sketches, and the weekly tale of brick, chimedwith his humor, and made him at once a favorite. The best of these serialcontributions were _The Snob Papers_: they are as fine specimens ofhumorous satire as exist in the language. But these would not have madehim famous, as they did not disclose his power as a novelist. 

VANITY FAIR. --This was done by his _Vanity Fair_, which was published, inmonthly numbers, between 1846 and 1848. It was at once popular, and is themost artistic of all his works. He called it a novel without a hero, andhe is right; the mind repudiates all aspirants for the post, and settlesupon poor Major Sugar-Plums as the best man in it. He could not have said_without a heroine_, for does not the world since ring with the fame ofBecky Sharpe, the cleverest and wickedest little woman in England? Thevirtuous reader even is sorry that Becky must come to grief, as, with aproper respect to morality, the novelist makes her. 

Never had the Vanity Fair of European society received so scathing adissection; and its author was immediately recognized as one of thegreatest living satirists and novelists. If he adheres more to the oldschool of Fielding, who was his model, in his plots and handling of thestory, he was evidently original in his satire. 

In 1847, upon the completion of this work, he began his _History ofPendennis_, in serial numbers, in which he presents the hero, ArthurPendennis, as an average youth of the day, full of faults and foibles, butlikewise generous and repentant. Here he enlists the sympathies which onenever feels for perfection; and here, too, he portrays female lovelinessand endurance in his Mrs. Pendennis and Laura. Arthur is a purer Tom Jonesand Laura a superior Sophia Western. 

In 1851 he gave a course of lectures, repeated in America the next year, on "the English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century. " There was no onebetter fitted to write such a course; he felt with them and was of them. But if this enabled him to present them sympathetically, it also causedhim to overrate them, and in some cases to descend to the standpoint oftheir own partial views. He is wrong in his estimate of Swift, and tooeulogistic of Addison; but he is thoroughly English in both. 

HENRY ESMOND. --The study of history necessary to prepare these led to hisundertaking a novel on the time of Queen Anne, entitled _The History ofHenry Esmond, Esq. , written by himself_. His appreciation of the age isexcellent; but the book, leaving for the most part the comic field inwhich he was most at home, is drier and less read than his others; as anhistorical presentation a great success, with rare touches of pathos; as awork of fiction not equal to his other stories. The comic muse assumes atragic, or at least a very sombre, dress. We have a portraiture of QueenAnne in her last days, and a sad picture of him who, to the Protestantsuccession, was the pretender, and to the hopeful Jacobites, James III. The character of Marlborough is given with but little of what was reallymeritorious in that great captain. 

His novel of _Pendennis_ gave him, after the manner of Bulwer's _Caxton_, an editor in _Arthur Pendennis_, who presents us _The Newcomes, Memoirs ofa Most Respectable Family_, which he published in a serial form, completing it in 1855. 

THE NEWCOMES. --In that work we have the richest culture, the finestsatire, and the rarest social philosophy. The character--the hero bypre-eminence--is Colonel Newcome, a nobleman of nature's creation, generous, simple, a yearningly affectionate father, a friend to all thepoor and afflicted, one of the best men ever delineated by a novelist; fewhearts are so hard as not to be touched by the story of his death in hisfinal retirement at the Charter House. When, surrounded by weepingfriends, he heard the bell, "a peculiar sweet smile shone over his face, and he lifted up his head a little, and quickly said 'Adsum, ' and fellback: it was the word we used at school when names were called; and, lo!he, whose heart was that of a little child, had answered to his name, andstood in the presence of the Master. "

THE GEORGES. --While he was writing _The Newcomes_, he had prepared acourse of four lectures on the _Four Georges_, kings of England, withwhich he made his second visit to the United States, and which hedelivered in the principal cities, to make a fund for his daughters andfor his old age. It was entirely successful, and he afterwards read themin England and Scotland. They are very valuable historically, as they giveus the truth with regard to men whose reigns were brilliant and on thewhole prosperous, but who themselves, with the exception of the third ofthe name, were as bad men as ever wore crowns. George III. Was continentand honest, but a maniac, and Mr. Thackeray has treated him with dueforbearance and eulogy. 

In 1857, Mr. Thackeray was a candidate for Parliament from Oxford, butwas defeated by a small majority; his conduct in the election was somagnanimous, that his defeat may be regarded as an advantage to hisreputation. 

In the same year he began _The Virginians_, which may be considered hisfailure; it is historically a continuation of _Esmond_, --some of theEnglish characters, the Esmonds in Virginia, being the same as in thatwork. But his presentation and estimate of Washington are a caricature, and his sketch of General James Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, is tame anduntrue to life. His descriptions of Virginia colonial life are unlike thereality; but where he is on his own ground, describing English scenes andcustoms in that day, he is more successful. To paint historical charactersis beyond the power of his pencil, and his Doctor Johnson is not the manwhom Boswell has so successfully presented. 

In 1860 he originated the _Cornhill Magazine_, to which his name gaveunusual popularity: it attained a circulation of one hundredthousand--unprecedented in England. In that he published _Lovel theWidower_, which was not much liked, and a charming reproduction of theNewcomes, --for it is nothing more, --entitled _The Adventures of Philip onHis Way through the World_. Philip is a more than average Englishman, witha wicked father and rather a stupid wife; but "the little sister" is astar--there is no finer character in any of his works. _Philip_, in spiteof its likeness to _The Newcomes_, is a delightful book. 

With an achieved fame, a high position, a home which he had just built atKensington, a large income, he seemed to have before him as prosperous anold age as any one could desire, when, such are the mysteries ofProvidence, he was found dead in his room on the morning of December 24, 1863. 

ESTIMATE OF HIS POWERS. --Thackeray's excellences are manifest: he was themaster of idiomatic English, a great moralist and reformer, and the kingof satire, all the weapons of which he managed with perfect skill. He hada rapier for aristocratic immunities of evil, arrows to transfixprescriptions and shams; and with snobs (we must change the figure) heplayed as a cat does with a mouse, torturing and then devouring. In thewords of Miss Bronté, "he was the first social regenerator of the day, thevery master of that working corps who would restore to rectitude thewarped system of things. " But this was his chief and glorious strength: inthe truest sense, he was a satirist and a humorist, but not a novelist; hecould not create character. His dramatic persons do not speak forthemselves; he tells us what they are and do. His mission seems to havebeen to arraign and demolish evil rather than to applaud good, and thus heenlists our sinless anger as crusaders rather than our sympathy asphilanthropists. In Dickens we are sometimes disposed to skip a little, inour ardor, to follow the plot and find the dénouement. In Thackeray weread every word, for it is the philosophy we want; the plot and personagesare secondary, as indeed he considered them; for he often tells us, in thetime of greatest depression of his hero, that it will all come out rightat the end, --that Philip will marry Charlotte, and have a good income, while the poor soul is wrestling with the _res augusta domi_. Dickens andThackeray seemed to draw from each other in their later works; the formerphilosophizing more in his _Little Dorrit_ and _Our Mutual Friend_, andthe latter attempting more of the descriptive in _The Newcomes_ and_Philip_. Of minor pieces we may mention his _Rebecca_ and _Rowena_, andhis _Kickleburys on the Rhine_; his _Essay on Thunder_ and _Small Beer_;his _Notes on a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo_, in 1846, and hispublished collection of smaller sketches called _The Roundabout Papers_. That Thackeray was fully conscious of the dignity of his functions may begathered from his own words in _Henry Esmond_. "I would have historyfamiliar rather than heroic, and think Mr. Hogarth and Mr. Fielding. [and, we may add, Mr. Thackeray, ] will give our children a much betteridea of the manners of that age in England than the _Court Gazette_ andthe newspapers which we get thence. " At his death he left an unfinishednovel, entitled _Dennis Duval_. A gifted daughter, who was his kindamanuensis. Miss ANNE E. THACKERAY, has written several interesting tales, among which are _The Village on the Cliff_ and _The Story of Elizabeth_. 

CHAPTER XLI. 

THE LATER WRITERS. 

 Charles Lamb. Thomas Hood. Thomas de Quincey. Other Novelists. Writers on Science and Philosophy. 

CHARLES LAMB. --This distinguished writer, although not a novelist likeDickens and Thackeray, in the sense of having produced extensive works offiction, was, like them, a humorist and a satirist, and has leftmiscellaneous works of rare merit. He was born in London, and was the sonof a servant to one of the Benches of the Inner Temple; he was educated atChrist's Hospital, where he became the warm friend of Coleridge. In 1792he received an appointment as clerk in the South Sea House, which heretained until 1825, when, owing to the distinction he had obtained in theworld of letters, he was permitted to retire with a pension of £450. Hedescribes his feelings on this happy release from business, in his essayon _The Superannuated Man_. He was an eccentric man, a serio-comiccharacter, whose sad life is singularly contrasted with his irrepressiblehumor. His sister, whom he has so tenderly described as Bridget Elia, in afit of insanity killed their mother with a carving-knife, and Lamb devotedhimself to her care. 

He was a poet, and left quaint and beautiful album verses and minorpieces. As a dramatist, he is known by his tragedy _John Woodvil_, and thefarce _Mr. H----_, neither of which was a success. But he has given us inhis _Specimens of Old English Dramatists_ the result of great reading andrare criticism. 

But it is chiefly as a writer of essays and short stories that he isdistinguished. The _Essays of Elia_, in their vein, mark an era in theliterature; they are light, racy, seemingly dashed off, but really full ofhis reading of the older English authors. Indeed, he is so quaint inthought and style, that he seems an anachronism--a writer of theElizabethan period returned to life in this century. He bubbles over withpuns, jests, and repartees; and although not popular in the sense ofreaching the multitude, he is the friend and companion of congenialreaders. Among his essays, we may mention the stories of _Rosamund Gray_and _Old Blind Margaret_. _Dream Children_ and _The Child Angel_ are thoseof greatest power; but every one he has written is charming. His sly hitsat existing abuses are designed to laugh them away. He was the favorite ofhis literary circle, and as a talker had no superior. After a life ofcare, not unmingled with pleasures, he died in 1834. Lamb's letters areracy, witty, idiomatic, and unlabored; and, as most of them are tocolleagues in literature and on subjects of social and literary interest, they are important aids in studying the history of his period. 

THOMAS HOOD. --The greatest humorist, the best punster, and the ablestsatirist of his age, Hood attacked the social evils around him with suchskill and power that he stands forth as a philanthropist. He was born inLondon in 1798, and, after a limited education, he began to learn the artof engraving; but his pen was more powerful than his burin. He soon beganto contribute to the _London Magazine_ his _Whims and Oddities_; and, inirregular verse, satirized the would-be great men of the time, and theeccentric legislation they proposed in Parliament. These short poems arefull of puns and happy _jeux de mots_, and had a decided effect infrustrating the foolish plans. After this he published _National Tales_, in the same comic vein; but also produced his exquisite serious pieces, _The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies_, _Hero and Leander_, and others, allof which are striking and tasteful. In 1838 he commenced _The ComicAnnual_, which appeared for several years, brimful of mirth and fun. Hewas editor of various magazines, --_The New Monthly_, and _Hood'sMagazine_. For _Punch_ he wrote _The Song of the Shirt_, and _The Bridgeof Sighs_. No one can compute the good done by both; the hearts touched;the pockets opened. The sewing women were better paid, more cared for, elevated in the social scale; and many of them saved from that fate whichis so touchingly chronicled in _The Bridge of Sighs_. Hood was a true poetand a great poet. _Miss Kilmansegg and her Precious Leg_ is satire, story, epic, comedy, in one. 

If he owed to Smollett's _Humphrey Clinker_ the form of his _Up theRhine_, he has equalled Smollett in the narrative, in the variety ofcharacter, and in the admirable cacography of Martha Penny. Hiscaricatures fasten facts in the memory, and every tourist up the Rhinerecognizes Hood's personages wherever he lands. 

After a life of ill-health and pecuniary struggle, Hood died, greatlylamented, on the 3d of May, 1845, and left no successor to wield hissubtle pen. 

THOMAS DE QUINCEY (1785-1859). --This singular author, and very learned andoriginal thinker, owes much of his reputation to the evil habit ofopium-eating, which affected his personal life and authorship. His mostpopular work is _The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_, whichinterests the reader by its curious pictures of the abnormal conditions inwhich he lived and wrote. He abandoned this noxious practice in the year1820. He produced much which he did not publish; and his writings allcontain a suggestion of strength and scholarship, a surplus beyond what hehas given to the world. There are numerous essays and narratives, amongwhich his paper entitled _Murder considered as One of the Fine Arts_ isespecially notable. His prose is considered a model of good English. 

The death of Dickens and Thackeray left England without a novelist ofequal fame and power, but with a host of scholarly and respectable pens, whose productions delight the popular taste, and who are still in the tideof busy authorship. 

Our purpose is already accomplished, and we might rest without theproceeding beyond the middle of the century; but it will be proper to makebrief mention of those, some of whom have already departed, but many ofwhom still remain, and are producing new works, who best illustrate thehistorical value and teachings of English literature, and whose writingswill be read in the future for their delineations of the habits andconditions of the present period. 

OTHER NOVELISTS. 

_Captain Frederick Marryat_, of the Royal Navy, 1792-1848: in his seanovels depicts naval life with rare fidelity, and with, a roysteringjoviality which makes them extremely entertaining. The principal of theseare _Frank Mildmay_, _Newton Forster_, _Peter Simple_, and _MidshipmanEasy_. His works constitute a truthful portrait of the British Navy in thebeginning of the eighteenth century, and have influenced manyhigh-spirited youths to choose a maritime profession. 

_George P. R. James_, 1806-1860: is the author of nearly two hundrednovels, chiefly historical, which have been, in their day, popular. It wassoon found, however, that he repeated himself, and the sameness ofhandling began to tire his readers. His "two travellers, " with whom heopens his stories, have become proverbially ridiculous. But he hasdepicted scenes in modern history with skill, and especially in Frenchhistory. His _Richelieu_ is a favorite; and in his _Life of Charlemagne_he has brought together the principal events in the career of thatdistinguished monarch with logical force and historical accuracy. 

_Benjamin d'Israeli_, born 1805: is far more famous as a persevering, acute, and able statesman than as a novelist. In proof of this, havingsurmounted unusual difficulties, he has been twice Chancellor of theExchequer and once Prime Minister of England. Among his earlier novels, which are pictures of existing society, are: _Vivian Gray_, _ContariniFleming_, _Coningsby_, and _Henrietta Temple_. In _The Wondrous Tale ofAlroy_ he has described the career of that singular claimant to theJewish Messiahship. _Lothair_, which was published in 1869, is the storyof a young nobleman who was almost enticed to enter the Roman CatholicChurch. The descriptions of society are either very much overwrought orironical; but his knowledge of State craft and Church craft renders thebook of great value to the history of religious polemics. His father, _Isaac d'Israeli_, is favorably known as the author of _The Curiosities ofLiterature_, _The Amenities of Literature_, and _The Quarrels of Authors_. 

_Charles Lever_, 1806-1872: he was born in Dublin, and, after a partialUniversity career, studied medicine. He has embodied his experience ofmilitary life in several striking but exaggerated works, --among these are:_The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer_, _Charles O'Malley_, and _JackHinton_. He excels in humor and in picturesque battle-scenes, and he haspainted the age in caricature. Of its kind, _Charles O'Malley_ standspre-eminent: the variety of character is great; all classes of militarymen figure in the scenes, from the Duke of Wellington to the inimitableMickey Free. He was for some time editor of the _Dublin UniversityMagazine_, and has written numerous other novels, among which are: _RolandCashel_, _The Knight of Gwynne_, and _The Dodd Family Abroad_; and, lastof all, _Lord Kilgobbin_. 

_Charles Kingsley_, born 1809: this accomplished clergyman, who is a canonof Chester, is among the most popular English writers, --a poet, anovelist, and a philosopher. He was first favorably known by a poeticaldrama on the story of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, entitled _The Saint'sTragedy_. Among his other works are: _Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet_;_Hypatia, the Story of a Virgin Martyr_; _Andromeda; Westward Ho! or theAdventures of Sir Amyas Leigh_; _Two Years Ago_; and _Hereward, the Lastof the English_. This last is a very vivid historical picture of the wayin which the man of the fens, under the lead of this powerful outlaw, heldout against William the Conqueror. The busy pen of Kingsley has producednumerous lectures, poems, reviews, essays, and some plain and usefulsermons. He is now Professor of Modern History at Cambridge. 

_Charlotte Bronté_, 1816-1855: if of an earlier period, this gifted womanwould demand a far fuller mention and a more critical notice than can bewith justice given of a contemporary. She certainly wrote from the depthsof her own consciousness. _Jane Eyre_, her first great work, was receivedwith intense interest, and was variously criticized. The daughter of apoor clergyman at Haworth, and afterwards a teacher in a school atBrussels, with little knowledge of the world, she produced a powerful bookcontaining much curious philosophy, and took rank at once among the firstnovelists of the age. Her other works, if not equal to _Jane Eyre_, arestill of great merit, and deal profoundly with the springs of humanaction. They are: _The Professor_, _Villette_, and _Shirley_. Hercharacters are portraits of the men and women around her, painted fromlife; and she speaks boldly of motives and customs which other novelistshave touched very delicately. She had two gifted sisters, who were alsosuccessful novelists; but who died young. Miss Bronté died a short timeafter her marriage to Mr. Nichol, her father's curate. _Mrs. ElizabethGaskell_, her near friend, and the author of a successful novel called_Mary Barton_, has written an interesting biography of Mrs. Nichol. 

_George Eliot_, born 1820: under this pseudonym, Miss Evans has writtenseveral works of great interest. Among these are: _Adam Bede_; _The Millon the Floss_; _Romola_, an Italian story; _Felix Holt_; and _SilasMarner_. Simple, and yet eminently dramatic in scene, character, andinterlocution, George Eliot has painted pictures from middle and commonlife, and is thus the exponent of a large humanity. She is now the wife ofthe popular author, G. H. Lewes. 

_Dinah Maria Muloch_ (Mrs. Craik), born 1826: a versatile writer. She isbest known by her novels entitled _John Halifax_ and _The Ogilvies_. 

_Wilkie Collins_, born 1824: he is the son of a landscape-painter, and isrenowned for his curious and well-concealed plots, phantom-likecharacters, and striking effects. Among his novels the best known are:_Antonina_, _The Dead Secret_, _The Woman in White_, _No Name_, _Armadale_, _The Moonstone_, and _Man and Wife_. There is a sameness inthese works; and yet it is evident that the author has put his inventionon the rack to create new intrigues, and to mystify his reader from thebeginning to the end of each story. 

_Charles Reade_, born 1814: he is one of the most prolific writers of theday, as well as one of the most readable in all that he has written. Hedraws many impassioned scenes, and is as sensuous in literature as Rubensin art. Among his principal works are: _White Lies_, _Love Me Little, LoveMe Long_; _The Cloister and The Hearth_; _Hard Cash_, and _GriffithGaunt_, which convey little, if any, practical instruction. His _Never TooLate to Mend_ is of great value in displaying the abuses of the prisonsystem in England; and his _Put Yourself in His Place_ is a very powerfulattack upon the Trades' Unions. A singular epigrammatic style keeps up theinterest apart from the story. 

_Mary Russell Mitford_, 1786-1855: she was a poet and a dramatist, but ischiefly known by her stories. In the collection called _Our Village_, shehas presented beautiful and simple pictures of English country life whichare at once touching and instructive. 

_Charlotte Mary Yonge_, born 1823: among the many interesting works ofthis author, _The Heir of Redclyff_ is the first and best. This wasfollowed by _Daisy Chain_, _Heartsease_, _The Clever Woman of the Family_, and numerous other works of romance and of history, --all of which arevaluable for their high tone of moral instruction and social manners. 

_Anthony Trollope_, born 1815: he and his brother, Thomas AdolphusTrollope, are sons of that Mrs. Frances Trollope who abused our country inher work entitled _The Domestic Manners of the Americans_, in terms thatwere distasteful even to English critics. Anthony Trollope is a successfulwriter of society-novels, which, without being of the highest order, arefaithful in their portraitures. Among those which have been very popularare: _Barchester Towers_, _Framley Parsonage_, _Doctor Thorne_, and _OrleyFarm_, He travelled in the United States, and has published a work ofdiscernment entitled _North America_. His brother Thomas is best known byhis _History of Florence to the Fall of the Republic_. 

_Thomas Hughes_, born 1823: the popular author of _Tom Brown's School-Daysat Rugby_, and _Tom Brown at Oxford_, --books which display the workings ofthese institutions, and set up a standard for English youth. The first isthe best, and has made him famous. 

WRITERS ON SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. 

Although these do not come strictly within the scope of Englishliterature, they are so connected with it in the composition of generalculture, and give such a complexion to the age, that it is well to mentionthe principal names. 

_Sir William Hamilton_, 1788-1856: for twenty years Professor of Logic andMetaphysics in the University of Edinburgh. His voluminous lectures onboth these subjects were edited, after his death, by Mansel and Veitch, and have been since of the highest authority. 

_William Whewell_, 1795-1866: for some time Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He has written learnedly on many subjects: his most valuableworks are: _A History of the Inductive Sciences_, _The Elements ofMorality_, and _The Plurality of Worlds_. Of Whewell it has been pithilysaid, that "science was his forte, and omniscience his foible. "

_Richard Whately, D. D. _, 1787-1863: he was appointed in 1831 Archbishopof Dublin and Kildare, in Ireland. His chief works are: _Elements ofLogic_, _Elements of Rhetoric_, and _Lectures on Political Economy_. Hegave a new impetus to the study of Logic and Rhetoric, and presented theformal logic of Aristotle anew to the world; thus marking a distinct epochin the history of that much controverted science. 

_John Ruskin_, born 1819: he ranks among the most original critics in art;but is eccentric in his opinions. His powers were first displayed in his_Modern Painters_. In his _Seven Lamps of Architecture_ he has laid downthe great fundamental principles of that art, among the forms of which theGothic claims the pre-eminence. These are further carried out in _TheStones of Venice_. He is a transcendentalist and a pre-Raphaelite, andexceedingly dogmatic in stating his views. His descriptive powers are verygreat. 

_Hugh Miller_, 1802-1856: an uneducated mechanic, he was a brilliantgenius and an observant philosopher. His best works are: _The Old RedSandstone_, _Footprints of the Creator_, and _The Testimonies of theRocks_. He shot himself in a fit of insanity. 

_John Stuart Mill_, born 1806: the son of James Mill, the historian ofIndia. He was carefully educated, and has written on many subjects. He isbest known by his _System of Logic_; his work on _Political Economy_; andhis _Treatise on Liberty_. Each of these topics being questions ofcontroversy, Mr. Mill states his views strongly in respect to opposingsystems, and is very clear in the expression of his own dogmas. 

_Thomas Chalmers, D. D. _, 1780-1847: this distinguished divine won hisgreatest reputation as an eloquent preacher. He was for some timeProfessor of Moral Philosophy in the University of St. Andrew's, and wroteon _Natural Theology_, _The Evidences of Christianity_, and some lectureson _Astronomy_. But all his works are glowing sermons rather thanphilosophical treatises. 

_Richard Chevenix Trench, D. D. _, born 1807: the present Archbishop ofDublin. He has written numerous theological works of popular value, amongwhich are _Notes on the Parables, and on Miracles_. He has also publishedtwo series of charming lectures on English philology, entitled _The Studyof Words_ and _English Past and Present_. They are suggestive anddiscursive rather than philosophical, but have incited many persons topursue this delightful study. 

_Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D. _, born 1815: Dean of Westminster. He wasfirst known by his excellent biography of Dr. Arnold of Rugby; but hassince enriched biblical literature by his lectures on _The Eastern Church_and on _The Jewish Church_. He accompanied the Prince of Wales on hisvisit to Palestine, and was not only eager in collecting statistics, buthas reproduced them with poetic power. 

_Nicholas Wiseman, D. D. _, 1802-1865: the head of the Roman Catholic Churchin England. Cardinal Wiseman has written much on theological andecclesiastical questions; but he is best known to the literary world byhis able lectures on _The Connection between Science and RevealedReligion_, which are additionally valuable because they have no sectariancharacter. 

_Charles Darwin_, born 1809: although he began his career at an early age, his principal works are so immediately of the present time, and hisspeculations are so involved in serious controversies, that they are notwithin the scope of this work. His principal works are: _The Origin ofSpecies by means of Natural Selection_, and _The Descent of Man_. Hisfacts are curious and very carefully selected; but his conclusions havebeen severely criticized. 

_Frederick Max Müller_, born 1823: a German by birth. He is a professionalOxford, and has done more to popularize the Science of Language than anyother writer. He has written largely on Oriental linguistics, and hasgiven two courses of lectures on _The Science of Language_, which havebeen published, and are used as text-books. His _Chips from a GermanWorkshop_ is a charming book, containing his miscellaneous articles inreviews and magazines. 

CHAPTER XLII. 

ENGLISH JOURNALISM. 

 Roman News Letters. The Gazette. The Civil War. Later Divisions. The Reviews. The Monthlies. The Dailies. The London Times. Other Newspapers. 

ROMAN NEWS LETTERS. --English serials and periodicals, from the very timeof their origin, display, in a remarkable manner, the progress both ofEnglish literature and of English history, and form the most strikingillustration that the literature interprets the history. In using thecaption, "journalism, " we include all forms of periodicalliterature--reviews, magazines, weekly and daily papers. The wordjournalism is, in respect to many of them, a misnomer, etymologicallyconsidered: it is a French corruption of _diurnal_, which, from the Latin_dies_, should mean a daily paper; but it is now generally used to includeall periodicals. The origin of newspapers is quite curious, and antedatesthe invention of printing. The _acta diurna_, or journals of publicevents, were the daily manuscript reports of the Roman Government duringthe later commonwealth. In these, among other matters of public interest, every birth, marriage, and divorce was entered. As an illustration of thecharacter of these brief entries, we have the satire of Petronius, whichhe puts in the mouth of the freed man Trimalchio: "The seventh of theKalends of Sextilis, on the estate at Cumæ, were born thirty boys, twentygirls; were carried from the floor to the barn, 500, 000 bushels of wheat;were broke 500 oxen. The same day the slave Mithridates was crucified forblasphemy against the Emperor's genius; the same day was placed in thechest the sum of ten millions sesterces, which could not be put out touse. " Similar in character were the _Acta Urbana_, or city register, the_Acta Publica_, and the _Acta Senatus_, whose names indicate theircontents. They were brief, almost tabular, and not infrequentlysensational. 

THE GAZETTE. --After the downfall of Rome, and during the Dark Ages, thereare few traces of journalism. When Venice was still in her palmy days, in1563, during a war with the Turks, printed bulletins were issued from timeto time, the price for reading which was a coin of about three farthings'value called a _gazetta_; and so the paper soon came to be called agazette. Old files, to the amount of thirty volumes, of great historicalvalue, may be found in the Magliabecchian Library at Florence. 

Next in order, we find in France _Affiches_, or _placards_, which weresoon succeeded by regular sheets of advertisement, exhibited at certainoffices. 

As early as the time of the intended invasion of England by the SpanishArmada, about the year 1588, we find an account of its defeat anddispersion in the _Mercurie_, issued by Queen Elizabeth's own printer. Inanother number is the news of a plot for killing the queen, and astatement that instruments of torture were on board the vessels, to set upthe Inquisition in London. Whether true or not, the newspaper said it; andthe English people believed it implicitly. 

About 1600, with the awakening spirit of the people, there began to appearperiodical papers containing specifically news from Germany, from Italy, &c. And during the Thirty Years' War there was issued a weekly papercalled _The Certain News of the Present Week_. Although the word _news_ issignificant enough, many persons considered it as made up of the initialletters representing the cardinal points of the compass, _N. E. W. S. _, fromwhich the curious people looked for satisfying intelligence. 

THE CIVIL WAR. --The progress of English journalism received a greatadditional impetus when the civil war broke out between Charles I. And hisParliament, in 1642. To meet the demands of both parties for intelligence, numbers of small sheets were issued: _Truths from York_ told of the risingin the king's favor there. There were: _Tidings from Ireland_, _News fromHull_, telling of the siege of that place in 1643; _The Dutch Spy_; _TheParliament Kite_; _The Secret Owl_; _The Scot's Dove_, with theolive-branch. Then flourished the _Weekly Discoverer_, and _The WeeklyDiscoverer Stripped Naked_. But these were only bare and partialstatements, which excited rancor without conveying intelligence. "Hadthere been better vehicles for the expression of public opinion, " says theauthor of the Student's history of England, "the Stuarts might have beensaved from some of those schemes which proved so fatal to themselves. "

In the session of Parliament held in 1695, there occurred a revolution ofgreat moment. There had been an act, enforced for a limited time, torestrain unlicensed printing, and under it censors had been appointed;but, in this year, the Parliament refused to re-enact or continue it, andthus the press found itself comparatively free. 

We have already referred to the powerful influence of the essayists in_The Tatler_, _Spectator_, _Guardian_, and _Rambler_, which may be calledthe real origin of the present English press. 

LATER DIVISIONS. --Coming down to the close of the eighteenth century, wefind the following division of English periodical literature:_Quarterlies_, usually called _Reviews_; _Monthlies_, generally entitled_Magazines_; _Weeklies_, containing digests of news; and _Dailies_, inwhich are found the intelligence and facts of the present moment; and inthis order, too, were the intellectual strength and learning of the timeat first employed. The _Quarterlies_ contained the articles of the greatmen--the acknowledged critics in politics, literature, and art; the_Magazines_, a current literature of poetry and fiction; the _Weeklies_and _Dailies_, reporters' facts and statistics; the latter requiringactivity rather than cleverness, and beginning to be a vehicle forextensive advertisements. 

This general division has been since maintained; but if the order has notbeen reversed, there can be no doubt that the great dailies have steadilyrisen; on most questions of popular interest in all departments, long andcarefully written articles in the dailies, from distinguished pens, anticipate the quarterlies, or force them to seek new grounds and forms ofpresentation after forestalling their critical opinions. Not many yearsago, the quarterlies subsidized the best talent; now the men of that classwrite for _The Times_, _Standard_, _Telegraph_, &c. 

Let us look, in the order we have mentioned, at some representatives ofthe press in its various forms. 

Each of the principal reviews represents a political party, and at thesame time, in most cases, a religious denomination; and they owe much oftheir interest to the controversial spirit thus engendered. 

REVIEWS. --First among these, in point of origin, is the _EdinburghReview_, which was produced by the joint efforts of several young, andcomparatively unknown, gentlemen, among whom were Francis (afterwards)Lord Jeffrey, Lord Murray, Mr. (since Lord) Brougham, and the Rev. SydneySmith. The latter gentleman was appointed first editor, and remained longenough in Edinburgh to edit the first number. Thereafter Jeffrey conductedit. The men were clever, witty, studious, fearless; and the Review was notonly from the first a success, but its fiat was looked for by authors withfear and trembling. It became a vehicle for the efforts of the best minds. Macaulay wrote for it those brilliant miscellanies which at onceestablished his fame, and gave it much of its popularity. In it Jeffreyattacked the Lake poetry, and incurred the hatred of Byron. Itsestablishment, in 1803, was an era in the world of English letters. Thepapers were not merely reviews, but monographs on interesting subjects--anew anatomy of history; it was in a general way an exponent, but quite anindependent one, of the Whig party, or those who would liberally construethe Constitution, --putting Churchmen and Dissenters on the same platform;although published in Edinburgh, it was neither Scotch nor Presbyterian. It attacked ancient prescriptions and customs; agitated questions longconsidered settled both of present custom and former history; and thusimitated the champion knights who challenged all comers, and sustained nodefeats. 

Occupying opposite ground to this is the great English review called the_London Quarterly_: it was established in 1809; is an uncompromisingTory, --entirely conservative as to monarchy, aristocracy, and EstablishedChurch. Its first editor was William Gifford; but it attained its bestcelebrity under the charge of John Gibson Lockhart, the son-in-law of SirWalter Scott, a man of singular critical power. Among its distinguishedcontributors were Southey, Scott, Canning, Croker, and Wordsworth. 

The _North British Review_, which never attained the celebrity of eitherof these, and which has at length, in 1871, been discontinued, occupiedstrong Scottish and Presbyterian ground, and had its respectablesupporters. 

But besides the parties mentioned, there is a floating one, growing byslow but sure accretion, know as the _Radical_. It includes men of manystamps, mainly utilitarian, --radical in politics, innovators, radical inreligion, destructive as to systems of science and arts, a learned andinquisitive class, --rational, transcendental, and intensely dogmatic. As avent for this varied party, the _Westminster Review_ was founded by MrBentham, in 1824. Its articles are always well written, and sometimesdangerous, according to our orthodox notions. It is supported by suchwriters as Mill, Bowring, and Buckle. 

Besides these there are numerous quarterlies of more or less limitedscope, as in science or art, theology or law; such as _The Eclectic, TheChristian Observer, The Dublin_, and many others. 

THE MONTHLIES. --Passing from the reviews to the monthlies, we find therange and number of these far greater, and the matter lighter. The firstgreat representative of the modern series, and one that has kept its issueup to the present day, is Cave's _Gentleman's Magazine_, which commencedits career in 1831, and has been continued, after Cave's death, by Henry &Nichols, who wrote under the pseudonym of _Sylvanus Urban_. It is a stronglink between past and present. Johnson sent his _queries_ to it whilepreparing his dictionary, and at the present day it is the favoritevehicle of antiquarians and historians. Passing by others, we findBlackwood's _Edinburgh Magazine_, first published in 1817. Originally astrong and bitter conservative, it kept up its popularity by its finestories and poems. Among the most notable papers in Blackwood are the_Noctes Ambrosianæ_, in which Professor Wilson, under the pseudonym of_Christopher North_, took the greater part. 

Most of the magazines had little or no political proclivity, but werechiefly literary. Among them are _Fraser's_, begun in 1830, and the_Dublin University_, in 1832. 

A charming light literature was presented by the _New Monthly_: inpolitics it was a sort of set-off to Blackwood: in it Captain Marryatwrote his famous sea stories; and among other contributors are the everwelcome names of Hood, Lytton, and Campbell. The _Penny Magazine_, ofKnight, was issued from 1832 to 1845. 

Quite a new era dawned upon the magazine world in the establishment ofseveral new ones, under the auspices of famous authors; among which wemention _The Cornhill_, edited by Thackeray, in 1859, with unprecedentedsuccess, until his tender heart compelled him to resign it; _Temple Bar_, by Sala, in 1860, is also very successful. 

In 1850 Dickens began the issue of _Household Words_, and in 1859 this wasmerged into _All the Year Round_, which owed its great popularity to theprestige of the same great writer. 

Besides these, devoted to literature and criticism, there are also manymonthlies issued in behalf of special branches of knowledge, art, andscience, which we have not space to refer to. 

Descending in the order mentioned, we come to the weeklies, which, besidescontaining summaries of daily intelligence, also share the magazine fieldin brief descriptive articles, short stories, and occasional poems. 

A number of these are illustrated journals, and are of great value ingiving us pictorial representations of the great events and scenes as theypass, with portraits of men who have become suddenly famous by somespecial act or appointment. Their value cannot be too highly appreciated;they supply to the mind, through the eye, what the best descriptions inletter-press could not give; and in them satire uses comic elements withwonderful effect. Among the illustrated weeklies, the _Illustrated LondonNews_ has long held a high place; and within a short period _The Graphic_has exhibited splendid pictures of men and things of timely interest. Normust we forget to mention _Punch_, which has been the grand jester of therealm since its origin. The best humorous and witty talent of England hasfound a vent in its pages, and sometimes its pathos has been productive ofreform. Thackeray, Cuthbert Bede, Mark Lemon, Hood, have amused us in itspages, and the clever pencil of Leech has made a series of etching whichwill never grow tiresome. To it Thackeray contributed his _Snob Papers_, and Hood _The Song of the Shirt_. 

THE DAILIES. --But the great characteristic of the age is the dailynewspaper, so common a blessing that we cease to marvel at it, and yetmarvellous as it is common. It is the product of quick intelligence, ofgreat energy, of concurrent and systematized labor, and, in order tofulfil its mission, it seems to subsidize all arts and invade allsubjects--steam, mechanics, photography, phonography, and electricity. Thenews which it prints and scatters comes to it on the telegraph; longorations are phonographically reported; the very latest mechanical skillis used in its printing; and the world is laid at our feet as we sit atthe breakfast-table and read its columns. 

I shall not go back to the origin of printing, to show the great progressthat has been made in the art from that time to the present; nor shall Iattempt to explain the present process, which one visit to a press-roomwould do far better than any description; but I simply refer to the factthat fifty years ago newspapers were still printed with the hand-press, giving 250 impressions per hour--no cylinder, no flying Hoe, (that waspatented only in 1847. ) Now, the ten-cylinder Hoe, steam driven, works off20, 000 sheets in an hour, and more, as the stereotyper may multiply theforms. What an emblem of art-progress is this! Fifty years agomail-coaches carried them away. Now, steamers and locomotives fly withthem all over the world, and only enlarge and expand the story, the greatfacts of which have been already sent in outline by telegraph. 

Nor is it possible to overrate the value of a good daily paper: as thebody is strengthened by daily food, so are we built up mentally andspiritually for the busy age in which we live by the world of intelligencecontained in the daily journal. A great book and a good one is offered forthe reading of many who have no time to read others, and a great culturein morals, religion, politics, is thus induced. Of course it would beimpossible to mention all the English dailies. Among them _The LondonTimes_ is pre-eminent, and stands highest in the opinion of theministerial party, which fears and uses it. 

There was a time when the press was greatly trammelled in England, andlicense of expression was easily charged with constructive treason; but atpresent it is remarkably free, and the great, the government, and existingabuses, receive no soft treatment at its hands. 

_The London Times_ was started by John Walter, a printer, in 1788, therehaving been for three years before a paper called the _London DailyUniversal Register_. In 1803 his son, John, went into partnership, whenthe circulation was but 1, 000. Within ten years it was 5, 000. In 1814, cleverly concealing the purpose from his workmen, he printed the firstsheet ever printed by steam, on Kœnig's press. The paper passed, at hisdeath, into the hands of his son, the third John, who is a scholar, educated at Eton and Oxford, like his father a member of Parliament, andwho has lately been raised to the peerage. The _Times_ is so influentialthat it may well be called a third estate in the realm: its writers aremen of merit and distinction; its correspondence secures the best foreignintelligence; and its travelling agents, like Russell and others, are thetrue historians of a war. English journalism, it is manifest, is eminentlyhistorical. The files of English newspapers are the best history of theperiod, and will, by their facts and comments, hereafter confront speciousand false historians. Another thing to be observed is the impersonality ofthe British press, not only in the fact that names are withheld, but thatthe articles betray no authorship; that, in short, the paper does notappear as the glorification of one man or set of men, but like anunprejudiced relator, censor, and judge. 

Of the principal London papers, the _Morning Post_ (Liberal, but notRadical, ) was begun in 1772. The _Globe_ (at first Liberal, but within ashort time Tory), in 1802. The _Standard_ (Conservative), in 1827. The_Daily News_ (high-class Liberal), in 1846. The _News_ announced itself aspledged to _Principles of Progress and Improvement_. _The Daily Telegraph_was started in 1855, and claims the largest circulation. It is also a_Liberal_ paper. 

INDEX OF AUTHORS

Addison, Joseph, 258. Akenside, Mark, 351. Alcuin, 40. Aldhelm, Abbot, 40. Alfred the Great, 42. Alfric, surnamed Germanicus, 40. Alison, Sir Archibald, 447. Alured of Rievaux, 49. Arbuthnot, John, 252. Arnold, Matthew, 438. Arnold, Thomas, 448. Ascham, Roger, 103. Ashmole, Elias, 232. Aubrey, John, 232. Austen, Jane, 411. 

Bacon, Francis, 156. Bacon, Roger, 59. Bailey, Philip James, 437. Baillie, Joanna, 368. Barbauld, Anne Letitia, 359. Barbour, John, 89. Barclay, Robert, 228. Barham, Richard Harris, 437. Barklay, Alexander, 102. Barrow, Isaac, 230. Baxter, Richard, 226. Beattie, James, 356. Beaumont, Francis, 154. Beckford, William, 412. Bede the Venerable, 37. Benoit, 52. Berkeley, George, 278. Blair, Hugh, 369. Blind Harry, 89. Bolingbroke, Viscount, (Henry St. John, ) 278. Boswell, James, 321. Browne, Sir Thomas, 225. Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 432. Browning, Robert, 434. Buchanan, George, 126. Buckle, Henry Thomas, 447. Bulwer, Edward George Earle Lytton, 450. Bunyan, John, 228. Burke, Edmund, 369. Burnet, Gilbert, 231. Burney, Frances, 368. Burns, Robert, 397. Burton, Robert, 125. Butler, Samuel, 198. Byron, Rt. Hon. George Gordon, 384

Caedmon, 34. Cambrensis, Giraldus, 49. Camden, William, 126. Campbell, Thomas, 401. Carlyle, Thomas, 444. Cavendish, George, 102. Caxton, William, 92. Chapman, George, 127. Chatterton, Thomas, 340. Chaucer, Geoffrey, 60. Chillingworth, William, 222. Coleridge, Hartley, 427. Coleridge, Henry Nelson, 427. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 424. Collier, John Payne, 153. Collins, William, 357. Colman, George, 366. Colman, George, (The Younger, ) 366. Congreve, William, 236. Cornwall, Barry, 436. Colton, Charles, 205. Coverdale, Miles, 170. Cowley, Abraham, 195. Cowper, William, 353. Crabbe, George, 400. Cumberland, Richard, 363. Cunningham, Allan, 412. 

Daniel, Samuel, 127. Davenant, Sir William, 205. Davies, Sir John, 127. Defoe, Daniel, 282. Dekker, Thomas, 154. De Quincey, Thomas, 468. Dickens, Charles, 452. Dixon, William Hepworth, 449. Donne, John, 127. Drayton, Michael, 127. Dryden, John, 207. Dunbar, William, 90. Dunstan, (called Saint, ) 41. 

Eadmer, 49. Edgeworth, Maria, 410. Erigena, John Scotus, 40. Etherege, Sir George, 238. Evelyn, John, 231. 

Falconer, William, 357. Farquhar, George, 238. Ferrier, Mary, 411. Fielding, Henry, 288. Fisher, John, 102. Florence of Worcester, 49. Foote, Samuel, 363. Ford, John, 154. Fox, George, 226. Froissart, Sire Jean, 58. Fronde, James Anthony, 448. Fuller, Thomas, 224. 

Gaimar, Geoffrey, 52. Garrick, David, 361. Gay, John, 252. Geoffrey, 52. Geoffrey of Monmouth, 48. Gibbon, Edward, 317Gillies, John, 441. Goldsmith, Oliver, 301. Gowen, John, 86. Gray, Thomas, 351. Greene, Robert, 136. Greville, Sir Fulke, 127. Grostête, Robert, 59. Grote, George, 440. 

Hakluyt, Richard, 126. Hall, Joseph, 221. Hallam, Henry, 448. Harvey, Gabriel, 110. Heber, Reginald, 436. Hemans, Mrs. Felicia Dorothea, 409. Henry of Huntingdon, 49. Hennyson, Robert, 90. Herbert, George, 203. Herrick, Robert, 204. Heywood, John, 131. Higden, Ralph, 50. Hobbes, Thomas, 125. Hogg, James, 412. Hollinshed, Raphael, 126. Hood, Thomas, 467. Hooker, Richard, 125. Hope, Thomas, 412. Hume, David, 311. Hunt, Leigh, 411. Hyde, Edward, Earl of Clarendon, 205. 

Ingelow, Jean, 437. Ingulphus, Abbot of Croyland, 49. Ireland, Samuel, 153. 

James I, (of Scotland, ) 89. Johnson, Doctor Samuel, 324. Jonson, Ben, 153. Junius, 331. 

Keats, John, 407. Keble, John, 437. Knowles, James Sheridan, 436. Kyd, Thomas, 136. 

Lamb, Charles, 466. Landon, Letitia Elizabeth, 410. Langland, 56. Latimer, Hugh, 102. Layamon, 53. Lee, Nathaniel, 240. Leland, John, 102. Lingard, John, 446. Locke, John, 231. Lodge, Thomas, 135. Luc de la Barre, 52. Lydgate, John, 90. Lyly, John, 136. 

Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 441. Mackay, Charles, 437. Mackenzie, Henry, 307. Macpherson, Doctor James, 336. Mahon, Lord, 447. Mandevil, Sir John, 58. Manning, Robert, 59. Marlowe, Christopher, 134. Marston, John, 136. Massinger, 154. Matthew of Westminster, 49. Mestre, Thomas, 32. Milton, John, 174. Mitford, William, 444. Moore, Thomas, 390. More, Hannah, 367. More, Sir Thomas, 99. 

Napier. Sir William Francis Patrick, 447. Nash, Thomas, 136. Newton, Sir Isaac, 278. Norton, Mrs. Caroline Elizabeth, 410. 

Occleve, Thomas, 89. Ormulum, 54. Otway, Thomas, 239. 

Paley, William, 370. Paris, Matthew, 49. Parnell, Thomas, 252. Pecock, Reginald, 102. Peele, George, 136. Penn, William, 227. Pepys, Samuel, 232. Percy, Dr. Thomas, (Bishop, ) 358. Philip de Than, 52. Pollok, Robert, 411. Pope, Alexander, 241. Prior, Matthew, 251. Purchas, Samuel, 126. 

Quarles, Francis, 203. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 126. Richard I. , (Cœur de Lion, ) 52. 

Richardson, Samuel, 285. Robert of Gloucester, 55. Robertson, William, 315. Roger de Hovedin, 49. Rogers, Samuel, 403. Roscoe, William, 413. Rowe, Nicholas, 240. 

Sackville, Thomas, 127. Scott, Sir Michael, 59. Scott, Walter, 371. Shakspeare, William, 137. Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 405. Shenstone, William, 357. Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 364. Sherlock, William, 230. Shirley, 154. Sidney, Sir Philip, 107. Skelton, John, 95. Smollett, Tobias George, 292. South, Robert, 230. Southern, Thomas, 240. Southey, Robert, 421. Spencer, Edmund, 104. Steele, Sir Richard, 264. Sterne, Lawrence, 296. Still, John, 132. Stillingfleet, Edward, 230. Stow, John, 126. Strickland, Agnes, 447. Suckling, Sir John, 204. Surrey, Earl of, 98. Swift, Jonathan, 268. Swinburne, Algernon Charles, 437. 

Tailor, Robert, 136. Taylor, Jeremy, 223. Temple, Sir William, 277. Tennyson, Alfred, 428. Thackeray, Anne E. , 465. Thackeray, William Makepeace, 459. Thirlwall, Connop, 441. Thomas of Ercildoun, 59. Thomson, James, 347. Tickell, Thomas, 252. Tupper, Martin Farquhar, 437. Turner, Sharon, 448. Tusser, Thomas, 102. Tyndale, William, 169. Tytler, Patrick Frazer, 446. 

Udall, Nicholas, 132. 

Vanbrugh, Sir John, 237. Vaughan, Henry, 205. Vitalis, Ordericus, 49. 

Wace, Richard, 51. Waller, Edmund, 204. Walpole, Horace, 321. Walton, Izaak, 202. Warton, Joseph, 368. Warton, Thomas, 368. Watts, Isaac, 252. 

Webster, 154. White, Henry Kirke, 358. Wiclif, John, 77. William of Jumièges, 49. William of Malmsbury, 47. William of Poictiers, 49. Wither, George, 203. Wolcot, John, 367. Wordsworth, William, 415. Wyat, Sir Thomas, 97. Wycherley, William, 235. 

Young, Edward, 253. 

THE END. 

FOOTNOTES

[1] His jurisdiction extended from Norfolk around to Sussex. 

[2] This is the usually accepted division of tribes; but Dr. Latham deniesthat the Jutes, or inhabitants of Jutland, shared in the invasion. Thedifficult question does not affect the scope of our inquiry. 

[3] Gibbon's Decline and Fall, c. Lv. 

[4] H. Martin, Histoire de France, i. 53. 

[5] Vindication of the Ancient British Poems. 

[6] Craik's English Literature, i. 37. 

[7] Sharon Turner, History of the Anglo-Saxons, book ix. , c. I. 

[8] Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. 

[9] Kemble ("Saxon in England") suggests the resemblance between thefictitious landing of Hengist and Horsa "in three keels, " and the Gothictradition of the migration of Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Gepidæ to themouth of the Vistula in the same manner. Dr. Latham (English Language)fixes the Germanic immigration into Britain at the middle of the fourth, instead of the middle of the fifth century. 

[10] Lectures on Modern History, lect, ii. 

[11] Sharon Turner. 

[12] Turner, ch. Xii. 

[13] For the discussion of the time and circumstances of the introductionof French into law processes, see Craik, i. 117. 

[14] Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, i. 199. For an admirablesummary of the bardic symbolisms and mythological types exhibited in thestory of Arthur, see H. Martin, Hist. De France, liv. Xx. 

[15] Craik says, (i. 198, ) "Or, as he is also called, _Lawemon_--for theold character represented in this instance by our modern _y_ is reallyonly a guttural, (and by no means either a _j_ or a _z_, ) by which it issometimes rendered. " Marsh says, "Or, perhaps, _Lagamon_, for we do notknow the sound of _y_ in this name. "

[16] Introduction to the Poets of Queen Elizabeth's Age. 

[17] So called from his having a regular district or _limit_ in which tobeg. 

[18] Spelled also Wycliffe, Wicliff, and Wyklyf. 

[19] Am. Ed. , i. 94. 

[20] Wordsworth, Ecc. Son. , xvii. 

[21] "The Joyous Science, as the profession of minstrelsy was termed, hadits various ranks, like the degrees in the Church and in chivalry. "--_SirWalter Scott_, (_The Betrothed_. )

[22] 1st, the real presence; 2d, celibacy; 3d, monastic vows; 4th, lowmass; 5th, auricular confession; 6th, withholding the cup from the laity. 

[23] "The Earl of Surrey is said to have translated one of Virgil's bookswithout rhyme, and, besides our tragedies, a few short poems had appearedin blank verse.... These petty performances cannot be supposed to havemuch influenced Milton; ... Finding blank verse easier than rhyme, he wasdesirous of persuading himself that it is better. "--_Lives of thePoets--Milton_. 

[24] From this dishonor Mr. Froude's researches among the statute bookshave not been able to lift him, for he gives system to horrors which werebefore believed to be eccentric; and, while he fails to justify themonarch, implicates a trembling parliament and a servile ministry, as iftheir sharing the crime made it less odious. 

[25] The reader's attention is called--or recalled--to the masterlyetching of Sir Philip Sidney, in Motley's History of the UnitedNetherlands. The low chant of the _cuisse rompue_ is especially pathetic. 

[26] This last claim of title was based upon the voyages of the Cabots, and the unsuccessful colonial efforts of Raleigh and Gilbert. 

[27] Froude, i. 65. 

[28] Introduction to fifth canto of Marmion. 

[29] Froude, i. 73. 

[30] Opening scene of The Merry Wives of Windsor. 

[31] Rev. A. Dyce attributes this play to Marlowe or Kyd. 

[32] The dates as determined by Malone are given: many of them differ fromthose of Drake and Chalmers. 

[33]

 If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind. 

_Pope, Essay on Man_. 

[34] Life of Addison. 

[35] Macaulay: Art. On Warren Hastings. 

[36] The handwriting of Junius professionally investigated by Mr. CharlesP. Chabot. London, 1871. 

[37] H. C. Robinson, Diary II. , 79.