r » . w»y. r^ yi A HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE rKINTBD IIY SPOrnSWOODE and CO.. MiW-SIUItKT 8((UAKK i.osnoN A HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE ORIGINALLY COMPILED BY AUSTIN DOBSON REVISED, WITH NEW CHAPTERS, AND EXTENDED TO THE PRESENT TIME BY W. HALL GRIFFIN, BA. PROFESSOR OK ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE AT QUEEN'S COLLEGE, LONDON gpiolju, LONDON CROSBY LOCK WOOD AND SON 7 STATIONERS' -HALL COURT, LUDGATE HILL 1897 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PEEFACE. This Manual was first issued in 1874 as one of a series intended primarily to assist candidates in pre- paring for the Civil Service examinations. But in these examinations English literature has never proved a particularly attractive subject ; and in the second edition of 1880 an attempt was made to extend the utility of th^ribook as a work of reference. In this character it achieved a certain success, and went out of print. In 1895 the publishers decided to re- issue it with suclTrevision and supplement as might serve to bring it down to the present date. This task, rendered more formidable by two-and-twenty years of dictionaries, biographies, histories, and special ' monographs,' the original compiler had neither the leisure nor the inclination to undertake \ and with his entire concurrence, it was entrusted to the capable and experienced hands of Mr. W. Hall Griffin, Professor of English Language and Litera- ture at Queen's College, London. Professor Hall Griffin has revised the volume throughout in the light of the most recent authori- VI PREFACE. ties. For the initial chapter he has substituted another ; and he has furnished a long supplementary chapter treating of those writers who have died since 1875. He has also verified and in part re-written the different Appendices ; that entitled ' Dictionary of Minor Authors' — always regarded as a valuable feature — has indeed been completely remodelled, and has received such material additions that it now contains nearly five hundred names. In all this the existing scheme of the book has been closely adhered to ; and the original ' Introduction,' which, as before, correctly describes its scope and purpose, is there- fore, with a few verbal alterations, still retained. A. D. December 1896. CONTENTS. FAOB INTRODUCTION xiii CHAPTER I. From A.D. 600 to tlie STormaii Conquest. 600-1066. 1. The Coming of the English — 2. The old English Language, its Dialects and Versification. — 3. The Epic Poetry. — 4. The Introduction of Christianity and Learning. — 5. Religious Poetry. — 6. Lyric and Shorter Poems. — 7. The Prose Writings 1 CHAPTER II. From tbe STorman Conquest to Chaucer. 1066-1360. 8. The Language of the Normans ; Langue d'Oyl, Laiigue d'Oc. — 9. Progress of the English Language. — 10. The Literature of the Anglo-Normans ; Trouveres, Troubadours. — 11. The Arthurian Romances, tho ' Mabinogion.' — 12. Writers in Latin. — 13. Writers in French. — 14, Writers iu English 16 CHAPTER in. From Cbaucer to Surrey. 1350-1550. 15. Progress of the English Language. — 16. Langland, Gower, Barbour. — 17. Chaucer. — 18. Mandeville, Wiclif, Trevisa. —19. Occlevp, Lydgate.— 20. James of Scotland.— 21. VUl CONTENTS. PAQB Pecock, FortPBcue.— 22 The 'Paston Letters.'— 23. The Introduction of Printing. — 24. Ha'wes, Barklay, Skelton. — 25. The Scotch Poets.— 26. Translations ot the Bible. — 27. Berners, More.— 28. Elyot, Latimer, Chcko.~29. Wyatt, Surrey.— 30. Early Dramatic Writers.— 31. Ballad Poetry 29 CHAPTER IV. The Age of Spenser, Sbakespeare, and Bacon. 1650-1625. 32. Summary of the Period. — 33. The Poets : Gascoipne, Sackville.— 34. Sidney.— 35. Spknsee.— 36. The Minor Poets.— 37. The Growth of the English Drama.— 38. Early English Plays. — 39. The Precursors of Shakespeare : Mar- lowe, &c. — 40. Shakespeare. — 41. The Contemporaries of Shakespeare : Jonson, Webster, Beaumont and Fletcher, Massinger, &c. — 42. The Prose Writers : Ascham. — 43. Lyly. — 44. Hooker, Raleigh. — 45. Bacok. — 46. Burton, Selden, Lord Herbert. — 47. The Minor Prose Writers. — 48. The Authorised Version of the Bible ..... 50 CHAPTER V. Tbe Age of Milton and Dryden. 1625-1700. 49. Summary of the Period. — 50. The ' Metaphysical School ' of Poets. — 51. Cowley. — 52. Herbert, Crashaw. — 53. Quarles, Wither.— 64. Herrick, Habington. — 55. The Cavalier Poets.— 56. Waller.— 57. Milton.— 58. Butler.— 89. Marvell.— GO. The Minor Poets.- 01. The Pro.se Writers. -62. Hobbes, Clarendon. — C3. Fuller, Browne.- 64. Walton.— 65. The Diarists.— G6. Bunyan.— f>7. Locke, Temple.— 68. The Theologians.— 69. The Scientific Writers. — 70. The Minor Prose Writer.". — 71 The Newspaper Press. — 72. The Survivors of the Shakespearean Stage. — 73. The Stage of the Restoration. — 74. Dkydkn. — 75. ShadwcU, Lee. — 7G< Olway, Southeruo. — 77. The Comic DraniatistH 7y^\vVhi\iT^8\diW>j 286 APPENDIX B. The ' Canterbury Tales.' A list of the Tales, in the order adopted by the ' Chaucer Society,' showing the sources (so far as they have been traced) from which Chaucer derived them . , . .287 XIX CONTENTS. APPENDIX C. Tbe Plays of Sbakespeare. PAGE A list of the Plays, in the order of the Folio of 1623, showing the sources (so far as they have been traced) from which Shakespeare derived the plots, and tiieprolial.le or approxi- mate date of production 292 APPENDIX D. ' Paradise Xiost ' and ' Paradise Reg'alned.' A brief account and summary of the twelve books of Paradise Lost and the four books of Paradise Regained , , . 299 APPENDIX E. Dictionary of Minor Authors. A brief Dictionary of Deceased Minor Authors, &c., giving the dates of their births and death*, the reigns in which they wrote, and the titles of some of their chief works . 306- GENEEAL INDEX SO.v INTEODUCTION. In proposing to give an account of the Rise and Progress of English Literature within the space of some three hundred pages, it is desirable — in order to avoid mis- conception, and perhaps in a measure to anticipate certain not unreasonable objections to books of brief compass — that the precise nature of the account here intended should be clearly defined ; and that both what it includes and what it does not include should be plainly set forth. And, first, as to what it does not in- clude. Inviting as it might be to swell this Introduction with promises, it must at the outset be admitted that original i-esearch and a philosophic plan do not come within its scheme. To trace the growth and develop- ment of those great latent forces which have determined the direction and the course of English Literature — to recount its ' history,' and ' to seek in it for the psy- chology of the people,' must be left to larger and more ambitious works. In this it is simply designed to give a concise and, as a rule, chronological record of the XIV INTRODL'CTION. principal English authors, noting the leading charac- teristics of their productions, and, where necessary, the prominent events of their li\es. Its primary object is to assist those wliose time and opportunities are restricted ; — an oltject proscribing very definite limits. But, within these limits, care has been taken to make the dates and facts as accurate as possible, to verify all statements from trustworthy sources, and, as far as is consistent with its plan, to avert the charge of super- ficiality. In other words, cursory though the work must necessarily l^e in many respects, the compiler has endeavoured, as far as it goes, to render it exact in detail and particulars, and to make it, if possible, better than the engagement of his title-page. 'A raeane Argument,' writes Ascham in The Scholemaster, ' may easelie beai-e the light burden of a small faute, and haue alwaise at hand a ready excuse for ill hand- ling : And, some praise it is, if it so chaunce, to be better in deede, than a man dare venture to seeme.' The Divisions or Chapters, in which the book is arranged, are shown so clearly in the foregoing table of Contents that it would be superfluous to repeat them here. The reader is warned, however, that they are not scientific, but conventional : not adopted because our national literature c;in, in the author's opinion, be unalterably pigeon-holed in the compartments in ques- tion ; but because it has been found easier and more INTRODUOnON. XV convenient to class them in this manner. With a view to curtail mere lists of lesser namea, a number of the least important have been consigned to a Dictionary Appendix ; and in illustration of those portions of the earlier chapters which, deal with the formation of the language, a few Extracts are printed at the end of the volume. As exhibiting, even in an imperfect degree, the structure of English at different periods, these passages may not be without interest ; but they can scarcely be regarded as typical samples of the literaiy quality of the works from which they are taken. For such, the student is referred to some of the professed collections of longer specimens, or, better still, to the authors themselves. ' A great writer,' it has been aptly said, ' does not reveal himself here and there, but every- where.' To be studied to any good purpose, he can only be studied as a whole. A HANDBOOK OB" ENGLISH LITEEATUEEJ CHAPTER I. raOM A.]>. 600 TO THE XffOSMAXr COXTQUSST. 600-1066. 1. THE COMINO 0» THE BNGLISH.— 2. THE OLD ENGLISH LANOtJAGE, 1X3 DIA- LECTS AND VEKSIFICATION.— 3. THE EPIC POETRY. — i. THE INTRODUCTIOK OF CHRISTIANITY AND LEARNING.— 5. RELIGI0U3 POETRY.— 6. LYRIC AIJD SHORTER POEMS, — 7. THE PROSE WRITINGS. 1. The Coming: of the Eng^llsh. — There is a strange appro- priateness in the fact that the poem which perhaps contains the oldest verse of the wide-spread English race should be a record of wanderings. It bears the name of Widsi^ — the Far-Journeyer. • Always wandering with a hungry heart,' this old English scop, like Tennyson's Ulysses, could not ' rest from travel,' and in the bald lines of his verse he ' unlocks his word-hoard ' to tell how he had travelled through strange lands, and learnt Of good and evil in the spacious world, Parted from home friends and his kindred dear. - These ' home friends ' were those of the mainland, for the poem in its earliest portions goes back * to the days when the English tribes dwelt on and near the Cimbrian peninsula. To this day between the Fiord of Flensborg and the river Slei in East Sleswig the little district of Angeln preserves the name of the Angles; northward were the Jutes, while to the south along the coast and • As to the conflicting views in regard to the date of ^Vi(hi^, see Stopford Brooke's History of Early English literalttre, 1893, i. 323-326. —r~. B 2 HANDBOOK OP EXGLISn LITERATUEE. inland dwelt the more widely spread Saxons. These restless Teutonifl seamen in their ' foamy-ncckcd bark journeyed over the sea ■waves most like a bird,' to borrow the phraseology of Browidf, till they beheld ' the sea-cliffs gleam, the lofty downs, and the great head- lands,' and were early led to seek a new field for plunder in Romaa Britain. Like the Danes of later days, long before they came to settle they came to spoil. By A.n. 286 an imperial fleet, large enough to encourage its commander to revolt and proclaim himself Emperor, had to be fitted out to stay their ravages ; a ' Count of the Saxon Shore ' had to be appointed to defend the coasts, and nine castles, that of Richborough among them, lined the shores from the Wash to Sussex. Such attacks, however, -were but piratical raids, and the ' Coming of the English ' is connected with the great wave of Teutonic invasion which swept not only over distant provinces but over Italy itself. Eour hundred years before Christ, Brennus the Gaul had uttered Vce victis over a conquered Rome ; not till eight centuries later (ad, 410) did the city again fall beneath a foreign foe. Then the spoilers were Teutons ; the West Goths, under Alaric. Not even the plaintive ' groans of the Britons ' could now draw help from desolated Italy for a remote province ; and ener- vated by nearly four centuries of Roman rule, Britain uas left do- fenceless against the Picts and Scots of the North. In despair, King Vortigern called in the Teutonic seamen, and our Old English Chronicle under the year 449 thus sets forth the result : — ' The king bade them fight against the Picts; and they did so and had victory wheresoever they came. They sent then to Angeln and bade them send further help, and bade them tell the nothingness of the Britons and the goodness of the land. Tiiey therefore sent them more help. Then came men from three tribes of Germany, from Old Saxons, from Angles and Jutes.' To these we may add the Frisians, many of whom are known to have accompanied the other tribes. 2. The Old Engllsb Xianguagre, Its Dialects and vorsl* flcatlon. — ' All tl.ese tribes spoke the same Anglo-Frisian language with slight differences of dialect,' and all ' agreed in calling their common language English (O.E. Englisc), i.e. Anglish, because the Angles were for a long time the dominant tribe.' * The name Anglo-Saxon was applied to the people, not to the language ; origin- ally, indeed, it was but a name to distinguish the ' English ' Saxons from the Saxons of the mainland, and the growing tendency to discard its usage in favour of that of ' Old ' or ' Oldest English ' is one of many signs of the revived interest in the history of our early speech auj • Ily. Sweet, X(w IhujlUh Grammar, Ft. I. ]R32, p. 214. FROM A.D. 600 TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 3 literatiu'e. Modern Englibh, indeed, differs much horn its earliest form, but our grammar still remains thoroughly Teutonic, while, in spite of all additions to our vocabulary, the great majority of tho ■words we use are of similar origin. Old English, like Latin or German, was a highly inflected language ; but even in its earliest known form its inflectional system begins to show signs of decay. Some of the case-endings seen in the cognate Gothic and Icelandic are already gone ; the gender distinctions in the plural of adjec- tives, also seen in both these languages, have disappeared; and very early the tendency to use compound forms for the past and future tenses is noticeable. The stages of inflectional change cannot of course be sharply defined, but convenience demands approximate division, and the retention of the name ' English ' throughout is an obvious advantage for marking the unity of our linguistic history.* As has been stated, it was tho Anglian tribes which first assumed supremacy ; and it was also in the North that our early poetry was produced. The coming of the Danes swept away the northern centres of learning, and when literature revived it was under the West-Saxon Alfred ; thus the Wessex dialect hencefortli became the official and practically the literary language of England. In it the older poems were re-copied, and they now remain to us only in their southern dress, though the language often retains traces of the original northern. But West-Saxon writers from King Alfred to Abbot ^Ifric still called their language English. The remains of our early literature are but fragmentary. Ueo- * Various divisions of English into 'periods' have been from time to time proposed, but there is an increasing and healthy tendency to adopt the names ' Old,' ' Middle,' and ' Modern ' English. These cotTespoud with those adopted for other languages, and as technical names there can be little doubt as to their advisability, although in general speech other names may be and are at times employwl. An astronomer may still speak of the sun 'rising,' or a chemist of 'sulphuric acid' instead of hydric sulphate, and similarly the terms 'Anglo- Saxon ' and ' Early English ' may be used; but this in no %yay detracts from the value of a more systematic terminology. The technical use of the name Anglo- Saxon for the dialect of Wessex, as adopted by Professor Skeat and some others, seems but a kind of ' half-way house.' It limits a term which was popularly used in a wider sense before tlie study of our older dialects was recognised ; and it departs from the otherwise uniform territorial nomenclature adopted for these dialects— the Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish, and Wessex. The following subdivisions are those proposed by Dr. Sweet (yew English Grammar, 1892), and when it is remembered that all such dates are at best but eor has been termed the ' Father of all English lyrics,' and some students even suppose that its date goes back to the days when the English still lived on the mainland. A scop, like "\Vidsii>", Dcor laments that ho has been superseded in the favour of his lord, and seeks consolation by recalling the fates of various heroes who have suffered and endured. Each of tho six strophes of tho little poem of 42 lines ends with ' That was overcome, so may this be.' It has been said • Pec Jfr. I. Grllanc/.'s caition of the Christ, 1802. t By Dr. tirrpor Siinaziii. % A reudeiing will be touu'l in Morlcy's Eifjlish Wrihrs, ii. 237-241, 12 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. that ' with this song begins and ends the Old English lyric,' * for the other chief short poems are rather elegiac or epic in tone. Whether with Matthew Arnold we are to seek an explanation of the note of sadness in English verse in Celtic influence or not, it is certainly present from the first. Listen ! you hear the grating roar Begin, and cease, and then again begin With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. The melancholy of these lines from ' Dover Eeach,' or of Thackeray's ballad of ' Bouillabaisse,' is already heard in the Wanderer,^ the Seafarer, the Wife's Complaint, the Husband's Meskage, and in tlio Iiuin of early days. Like the faces of the seers in Dante's Inferno, the gaze of the poet in the finest of the Old English shorter poems is ever backward. Tennyson has given a modern rendering of the best of the five poems inserted in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, that on the Battle of Brunnnhurh, gained by Athelstan in 9374 -^"^ the noblest of tlie later poems is the truly epic fragment on the Battle of Maldon or tlio Death of Byrhtnoth, 991. It tells in 650 lines of the gallant figiit of the East Saxon ealdorman Eyrhtnoth against the Danes, and of his death. It is the last epic strain, full of vigour, life, and feeling.§ Its excellence is the more noticeable as it was ■written at a time of poetic decadence, when the laws ofalliteration were loosely observed and when rh3Tne was becoming more common. Some may see a striking appropriateness in the fact that what might be termed the last note of Old English song is a poem called The Grave. ^ Of this Longfellow has given a modern rendering, 7. JProse V^iitlngs. — 'Wo possess a longer pedigree of prose literature than any other country in Europe ; '^f but it was not till the ninth century, under Xing Airrod, that our prose assumed any im- portance. This was owing to the invasions of tiio Danes. Our earliest vernacular prose is only seen in laws, charters, and brief chronicle entries, because, under the influence of the learning introduced with Christianity, scholars preferred to express tlieir thoughts in Latin. • Stopford Brooke, Early English Lilernliirf. t Renderings of tliin fine poem will be found in Stopford Brooke's Early EnijlUh Lilcratiire, and in the Acndrmy, May H, 1881, by Miss K. Hickcy. Professor Morley gives a rendering of tlic ' Seafarer ' in English Writers, ii. X Pec Apjicndix A, Extract III. 5 It is translatei J'oetnj, 1818, 1, 18 IIAXDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. vornacular, vital and vigorous enough to rear itself against oppres- sion, to effect its own re-construetion, to gather new etrengfh from the very tongue of its oppressors, and finally, simplified and renewed, to resume its ascendency. It may be well to describe, in fuller detail, this transformation ot the language. Although continuing essentially English it under- went two material changes — the one acting upon its structure, the other upon its substance. To these phases in its history the names of FmsT and Second Geeat Revolutions have been very sugges- tively applied. The former practically belongs to the present chapter ; the latter, partly to the present and partly to the next. Before the amval of the Normans the language may be defined as ' a highly-inflected language with a vocabulary of native growth,' and these characteristic features it retained until the Conquest. Sub- sequent to that period the disintegration or breaking-up of its inflec- tional system which constitutes its First Revolution, was gradually effected. It became 'an illiterate patois,' to which various names have, at times, been applied ; of these, the term, ' Transition Old lOnglish,' employed by Mr. Sweet, woidd seem most appropriate. "With the precise cause of this alteration we cannot deal, and although it can by no means be entirely attributed to the Norman invasion, it nevertheless practically coincided with the new order of things, social and political, which ensued from that event. During the third century after the Conquest, the struggle for supremacy between Norman-French and English began to decline ; the conquerors relinquished their attempts to impose their owu tongue upon their subjects, and, on the contrary, began to learn and M'rito English themselves. The English, upon their side, began to admit Norniau words into their vocabulary. In this combination of a Romance, Norman, or French clement with the Teutonic dialects the Second Revolution consists. Its more active period belongs to the succeeding chapter. But its commencement may in a general way bo 5-aid to correspond with the beginning of tlie Early ' Middle Engli^-h ' stage, 1200-1300 (sec p. 3, n.). ' For a long time the two lan^niages, French and English, kept almost entirely apart. The English of 1200 is almost as free from French words as the English of 1050 ; and it is not till after 1300 that French words began to ho adopted wliolcsale into English.' * 10. Tbe Xilterature of th3 Anglo-N'ormans. — With the peaceful accession of Ivlward the Confessor, it has been said, an » Sweet, Ifi-w /in/, arammar, 1892, § C17. Sre al.^o J} 610-628. Rkpftfa Pi-inciplei of Er.g, J'iu!o!o7!t. Tt. H- 1801, chaps, l.-xii. deals with theiihllological Bide ot the subject. Prof. Lounsbury's ^0?. "/ M* /i^i/. Lang. 1891, pp. 4S-1H, gives a clear general account. FROM THE KOKMAN COXQUEST TO CHAUCER. 19 opportunity appeared to have at last arrived for the revival of English literature from the degradation into wliich it had fallen after the time of Alfred. But, practically, Edward's ascent of the throne iu 1042 only prepared the way for the change -which the Norman Conquest subsequently eflfected, viz., the stifling of the ver- nacular literature for nearly a century and a lialf. The new King was a middle-aged man, who had been educated in France. He was nearly related to the Dukes of Normandy, and his sympathies and opinions were naturally French. In his reign the inroad of Norman modes of thought and speech, so powerful under his immediate suc- cessors, had already commenced ; and for nearly the whole of the long period of which the present chapter treats, Latin and Norman- French were the recognised vehicles of literature, the former being employed in the graver work of history or science — for the records of the chronicler or the speculalions of the scholastic philosopher, and the latter — until the voice of English was once more heard — in tha popular narratives of Romance and Chivalry. 'The native tendencies of the Saxons,' says Prof. Masson, 'had been rather to the practical and ethical.' Widely differing in cha- racter wero the lively fabliaux and chivalrous romances which the Norman minstrels and joiiglciirs made familiar in court and castle. The chief exponents of this lighter literature were the trouveres or mcncstrcls of Northern France. The lyric poetry of the Provencal troubadour — the Languedocian equivalent for irouvhe — although naturalised to some extent in England after the accession of Henry IL, never made any lasting impression upon our literature. As has been already implied (p. 12), the narrative predominated over the true lyric element even in earlier days, and so vigorously was it now reiiiforccd by the Trouvere influence 'that in the whole course of English literature since, one can see the narrative impulse ruling and the lyric subordinate.' * The Trouvhe poetry may generally be classed under the two heads of fabliaud-, or short, liumorous and frequently nuilicious stories in verse ; and the longer and more ambitio\is romances of chivalry. The former, until the time of Chaucer, cannot be said to have greatly affected our literature. But an extraordinary impetus was given to the labours of the romancers by the appearance, by 1147, of the legends of Arthur and Merlin which Geoffrey of Monmouth had in- corporated in his semi-fabulous Hidory of the Britons. Here was a new and uuworked field, and the writers who had been contented with inventing fresh episodes in new narratives of Charlemagne and Alexander, turned eagerly to the majestic figure of 'mythic Uthei's son.' * Masson, Brdiih Koveiists and their Styles, 1S59, 43-7. c2 20 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Geoffrey's history became the germ of the vast cycle of Eomances, •which, iinoxh.iTisted oven in our day, has furnished to the verse of L(l. Tennyson the tbcmos for those lofty lessons of nobility and cuiirtcsj' which ho has interwoven with his Idylls of the King. 1 1 . The Arthurian Xtomances. — Whether the incidents of Geoffrey's narrative were derived from Welsh originals or Breton traditions, or from both — and to what extent he has amplified or 'romanced' them, are enquiries of too lengthy and contradictory a nature to be attempted here,* It is suflBcient to state that they im- mediately became popular and were at once reproduced in French, with considerable amplification, by Geoflfrey Gaimar and Mestre Wace, and later by the English Layamon, who introduced them into his Brut d' Angldcrre. Meanwhile an extensive development of the Arthurian story seems to have taken place. Whether the additions are due to the vigorous fancy of the narrators, or to the discovery of other traditions, which the general interest in the subject had facili- tated, it is impossible to decide, but one thing is clear, viz., that at the end of the reign of Henry II. there were no less than five sepa- rate prose narratives or Eomans upon the subject. The first of these — the Roman dit Saint Graal (sometimes called the Roman de Joseph d'Arimaihie), is the story of the holy vessel {graal, grcal, greil = a, plate or dish) from which Our Lord ate at the Last Supper, and which Joseph of Arimathea employed to collect his blood, bringing both vessel and contents — so runs the tradition — afterwards into Britain f : — 'Hither came Josepli of Arimathy, Who brought with him the holy grayU, (they say,) And preacht the truth ; but since it greatly did decay.' (Spenser, Faery Queene, Bk. II. x. 63.) The second is the Roman of the Prophet Merlin. The third— the Roman de Lancelot du Lac — records the adventures of tliat kniglit and his love of Guenever ; the Quite (or seeking) //V/Y(('/t«,s, dc Ni/(/i$ Cicrialium ct Vestic/iis Vhilosophorum, ' appeals to tho nobler philosophy of Christian moralists against tho vain array of logical formulas,' * and contrasts the frivolous ambitions of Court life with tho worthier objects of the student. The famous Franciscan and philosopher of Ilonry III.'s reign, Koger Bacon (1214 — 1292), also belongs to tho Latin writers of the Anglo-Norman period by his Ojms Majus, Ojius 3{i7U(s, and 0])us Tcrtium. These works, pent in their writer's mind until Pope Clement IV. released him from the strict anti-literary rule of his order, were composed, m'c arc told, in eighteen months : an iustauco, says one of liis editors, of ' application almost superhuman.' They display an advanced knowledge of mathematical and physical science ; but, better than this, a healthy hatred of what their author styles the four offendicula or stumbling blocks to truth — tradition, custom, the teaching of inexperience, and shame of ignorance. la some of Bacon's ingenious conjectures, discoveries of a much later date, as, for example, gunpowder and tho telescope, are popularly held to have been foreshadowed; but, in tho opinion of judges, too much importance has been attached to tho question. Another distinguished Latin writer was "WTalter XVXap or AXapes (xii. Cent.), Archdeacon of Oxford, who, upon the strength of tho drinking song in rhyming Latin verso extracted from the humorous Confession of Golias, has, perhaps unjustly, acquired a traditional reputation for joviality. Several other satirical poems, directed • O. n, Lcwta, Hist, of Philotophy, ii. 31. FKOM THE KORMAN CONQUEST TO CHAUCER. 23 like the Confession, against the vices of the clergy — the Cistercians especially — and having for their hero the same personage — a worth- less clerical sensualist and pot-companion— have been attributed to Map. His versions of the Arthurian Uomances (see p. 20, s. 11) have already been referred to. He also wi-ote a Latin book with a similar title to that of John of Salisbury — Be Nttcjis Curialium, — a elirewd and chatty record of Court ana and recollections. Map was apparently a person of considerable wit and ability, and if ho vrrote all the poems printed in Mr. Wright's collection,* may lay fair claim to the title of 'Anacreon of his Century' bestowed upon him by Lord Lyttelton. As an example of Leonine verse, we print two of the less cited quatrains of the 'drinking-song' above referred to: — ' Unicuique proprium clat natura donum : Ego versus faciens liibo vimim bonum, et quod habent melius dolia cauponum ; tale vinum geuerat copia sermonum. ' Tales versus facio quale vinura bibo : nihil possum scribcrc nisi sumpto cibo ; nihil valet penitus quoJ jejmius scribo, Kasonem post calices carmine prasibo.' In some stricter forms of this measure there is a rhyme in the middle of the verse, as in the well-known epitaph of Eede : — ' Hac sunt in fossa, Bedoi Vcncrabilis ossa' The remaining writers of this class are very inimerous ; but they are chiefly liistorians or chroniclers. Among tliem may bo men- tioned Eadmer (d. 1 1-1), a Benedictine of Canterbury, who -v^Toto, among otiier works, a Life of Ansclm; Ordericus Vita.lis (1075- 1 1 12), autlior of an Fcclesiasf ical Hisiury of Englditd and NaDnandi/ ; IVilliam of Malmesbury (109o-1143), author of an English History — Be Gesiis licgum Anglorum; Geoffrey of SAonmoutb {d. 1154), already mentioned ;t Henry of Huntingdon {d. after 1154); Joseph Xscanus or Joseph of Exeter ((/. ll'Jo), autlior of The Anliochas, a poem on tlio Third Crusade, and an epic in six books on the Trojan War; Geoffrey de Vinsauf {d. xii. Cent.), author of a treatise — Be Nova Pociria; Gervase of Tilbury (d. xii. Cent.), whoso Olia Impcrialia were written to amuse llii» Em- puror Otho IV.; Roger of "Wcndover (ice p. 2U, s. 11, 'I'he Arthurian llomanxs. 24 IIAXDr.OOK OP EKOLISn LITERATURE. Cambrensls or Gerald de Barrl (1147-1217 ?) ; OToscelln de Brakelonda (xii. and xiii. Cent), whose 'Boswellcan Note-book' of the doings at St. Edmoudsbury Convent plays a considerable part in Carlyle's Past and Prcsejit ; * and IVXattbew Farls {d. 1259). As a rule these authors were little more than painsbikiug compilers of records making no pretensions to force, originality, or elegance of style. Some of them, however — for example, "Wil- liam of Malmesbury — far excel the rest in composition. Others — as Joseph of Exeter and Geoffrey de Vinsauf— chose metre for tha medium of their productions, and attained to respectable fluency and proficiency as versifiers. 13. "Writers in French. — If we except the irouvirc, Taillefcr, ■whom "VYace represents as riding to liis death at Ilastings : — ' Sur nn roussin qui tot alont Devant li dus alout cantaiit De Kalonnaine e do Rolant E d'Oliver ct dcs vassals Ki moururcnt :\ Roncevals,* f the earliest French writer of any importance is a proteg^ of Queen Ade- lais of Louyaine, Philippe de Tbaun (fl. xii. Cent), who wrote an allegorical and chronological poem, De Crcadms, and nBestiarius, or Natural History, wliich he dediaitod to the ' imdt hdcfcmmc,' his pro- tectress. Another is Sanson de Nanteuil, who lived in the reign of Stephen, and translated the Proverbs of Solomon into octosyllabic Norman-French, under tlic title of Iioma7iz, tlius illustrating the earlier meaning of tlio word, wliich at first signified nothing more than 'liher Iio>?iani/s,' a work in tlie Romance language. Of the Norman rhyming Chroniclers the chief arc Ceffrai Craimar (Ji. 1150), author of a rhj-med chronicle entitled Estoric dcs Englcs (Angles), coming down to the death of Eufus ; the so-called 'Mestre* "VlTace {d. 1181), a canon of Baycux, author of the Brut d^ Angletcrre, a liistory of England from the Brutus of fable to the death of Cadwal- lader (C89), based mainly upon Geoffrey of Monmoutli; and the Roman de Hon (or Rollo), a chronicle of tlie Dukes of Normandy, from the earliest period to the reign of Henry II. ; Benoit de St< aCaur (/Z. 1180), who, like Wace, wrote n lioman de I^'ormandie, wliich extended to 43,000 verses, and also a Romari de Trot/e ; and, lastly, Peter de Xangtoft (Jlor. 1300), Canon of the Priory of St. Augustine at Bridlington, in Yorkshire, who compiled a metrical • V. book ii. T/ie And<-nf Monk. t Wiice, Roman de liou, citt-d In Taiiie, llitt. of Enffliih Literature, Vun Laun't translation, Bk. I. cliap. 11. Div. 2. FROM TUE NORMAN CONQUEST TO CHAUCER. 25 History of England, translating and continuing Geoffrey of Mon- mouth to the reign of Edward I. A life of Backet in French verse, from the Latin of Herbert de Bosham, Becket's secretary, has also been attributed to Langtoft ; it is not by him. The already mentioned Arthurian Romancers — "VSTalter Map, Robert de Borron, and Iiuces du Cast ;— Robert Crosstete, Bishop of Lincoln (1175-1253), an Englishman who wrote a reli- gious poem ' upon the favourite subject of the fall and restoration of man,' sometimes called the Chastcl or Chateau d' Amour {\\z. the Virgin Mary) ; and Bugb of Rutland, a native of Cornwall, who, deserting the Arthurian legends, laid the scene of his lengthy metrical romances, Ypomedon and Protesilaus, in the south of Italy, con- clude our list of writers in Norman-French. There are, however, numerous French metrical romances, of which the authorship is unknown or uncertain. Such are the Lai de Aveloc, assigned to the first half of the twelfth century, the Eomaii da Eoi Horn, and others. 14. ^Vriters in Sngllsb. — Besides a few brief fragments attri- buted to the Durham Hermit, St. Codric {d. 1170), and five lines known as the Here Prophecy, 1189, the first English writings after the Conquest are those of Iiayamon, a worthy priest of Emley- by-Severn (assumed to be Areley-Regis, near Stourport, in Worces- tershire), who translated the Brut of Wace {see p. 24, s. 13); and, completing it from other sources, produced, about 1200, a Brut or Chronicle of Britain. ' The language of Layamon,' says his editor, Sir Frederic Madden, ' belongs to that transition period in which the groundwork of Anglo-Saxon phraseology and grammar still existed, though gradually yielding to the influence of the popular forms of speech.' The Chronicle extends to more than 14,000 long verses; it holds loosely to the alliterative principle of the Old-English poems, and it also contains many rhymed couplets. A curious feature of the work is its ' nunnation,' or employment of the letter n as the termination of certain words. It has also been remarked as characteristic of the writer's unwillingness to employ the language of the conquerors that, although he is translating from a French original, and woiild naturally be tempted to emplo}' French words, there are scarcely fifty such in the whole of his work. The specimen given in our Appendix of Extracts will afford some idea of the first- named peculiaritj', and ufthe general character of the composition.* The Or?««^«m, a series of metrical homilies, attributed to Orm or Ormin, an Augustine monk, is usually placed after tiie Chronicle • See Appendix A, Extract VI. 26 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISU LITEnATURE. of Layanion ; the date is uncertain. Orm's simple stylo is iinpoetie; Pfjccting alliteration ami rhj-nie he uses the seiiioiar, which ii divided into two h;ilf-lines of eight and seven sylhibles.* A purist in vocaLular}- — he has few French or Latin words — and spelling, his poem is chiefly valuable for phonetic liistory. Two rhyming chroniclers, Robert of Gloucester {ftDip. Henry III., Edward I.), .and Kobert of Brunne or Robert IWannyngr (1260-13-10), are the principal writers of this class after Lnyamon and Orm. Tlie former, who has Lcen styled by his editor, Ucarne, the 'English Ennius,' wrote, about 1280, a Chronicle of En ff- land from Erutus to Henry III. (1272), the earlier portions of which are derived from Geoffrey of Monmouth. It is in rhymed lines of fourteen syllables ; and for its topographical accuracy was consulted by Selden when annotating Drayton's Fo/i/olbioji. Several lives of saints, a Martyrdom of Thomas a Bicket. and a Life of St. Bramhin also came from his pen. ' As a relater of events,' says Mr. Campbell, ' he is tolerably succinct and perspicuous, and wherever the fact is of any importance he shows a watchful attention to keep the readers memory distinct with regard to chronology, by making the date of the year rhyme to something prominent in the relation of the fact.'t The following lines, bearing upon the introduction of the French language into England, are taken from this chronicler's account of the reign of William I. : — ' Thus com, lo! Eugelond iu-to Nomiandie's lioml. And the Nonii.ins nccoutho ppcVc tho [then'] bote hor owe sjiccho, And spoke French ns liii dudo ntom [at home'], and hor cliildrcn dudc.^lso tcchc. So that heiemen [hiyh-mcn] of this lend that of lior hlod come, Iloldeth alle tliulkc spechc thathii o£ liom nuine [look]. Vor bote a man conne Fi-onss me tclth of him lute [lil/le] ; Ac lowe men lioldeth to Eiigliss and to hor owe spechc yutc [ijef^ Ich wene tlier ne bctli in al the world contreycs none, That ne holdeth to hor owe spechc, bote Engelond one [alone].' t The chronicle of the second writer named above, Kobert of Brunne (Bourn in Lincolnshire), is said to have been finished in 1338. It is in two parts, the first of which, in octo-syllabic rhyme, is translated from Wace {sec p. 2-1, s. 13) ; the second, in Alexandrine verse, from Peter de Langtoft {see p. 2-1, s. 13). Brunne is a smoother versifier than Robert of Gloucester. It is notable too, that his work * Sec Appendix A, Extract VIT. t JCssay o:t Engliih Poetrv, 1848, 13-9. J Upeciinens of Early Engliih, by Kev. II. Jfon-is, LL.D., and Kev. W. VT. Ekeat, M..\. {Clarendon J'ress Series), Part II. IbOl. FROM THK KOiniAN CONQUEST TO CHAUCER. 27 has a popular purpose ; — it is ' not for the lered (learned) but for the lewed {unlearned), and made ' — for the luf [?oi'e] of symple menne That strange Inglis canne not kenne [A-noip].' Under the title of Handlyng Synne, he also produced, in 1303, a free paraphrase of the Manuel des Pcchie:; of a certain William of Wadington, enlivening it with numerous anecdotes frequently illus- trative of monkish morality. An extract from I>runne's Chronicle will be found in Appendix A.-- Other writers in English are San IVXicbel of Hortbgrate, author of a prose translation from the French, entitled the Aycnbiie of Inwyt (Remorse of Conscience), 1340 ; Ricbard RoUe, styled the Hermit of Hampole {d. 1349), author of a dull Pride of Con- science, 1340, in tlio Northumbrian dialect, which drags its slow length to nearly ten thousand lines ; and Iiaurence Minot (130S-1352), to whom belongs the credit of having quitted the beaten track of translation and adaptation to follow the bent of his invention. From Minot we have eleven military ballads celebrating the victories of Edward III., from Halidon Hill (1333) to the Battle of Guisnes (13,52).t The Ancren Eiwle, or rule of Female Anchorites, a pious prose treatise possibly compiled (c. 1210) by Rlcbard Poor (d. 1237), is one of several works of unknown authorship. Another, the metrical Genesis and Exodus {ante 1300), is a humble attempt to follow in the wake of Cacdmon (p. 10); while in the lengthy Cursor Mtmdi (c. 1320) the whole history of the world is passed in review, from the Creation onward. This, therefore, has a distinct relation to our cycles of Miracle Plays. The skilful and artistic Ozvl and the Nightingale (c. 1250) narrates in dialogue a contest between the two birds as to their vocal merits, which they refer to Micbolas of Guilford, sometimes doubtfully held to be the author. Examples of ea.v\y fabliaux (see p. 19) are found in I)a7ne Siri:: (temp. Hy. III.), ■which shows signs of Indian origin ; in The Fox and the Wolf, our earliest 'animal' poem, prophetic of Chaucer's delightful Nun's Priest's Tale ; while the Land of Cocliaygne is ' an allegorical satire on the luxury of the church, couched under the description of an imaginary paradise'! — that of ' Kitchen-land' 1 Many English versions of the French Metrical Eomances also • See Appemlix A, Extract VIII. t See Appendix A, Extrac^t IX. 5 Campbell, Essay on Enjlish Poetry, 1818, 15, L'O HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. belong to this period. Such translation began under Ilcnry III., and under Edward I. and his successors it assumed vast proportions: 'The Englisli seized at random the rich treasures of French poetry, bringing forth what was valuable or worthless, ancient or modern, popular or courtly, in order to adapt it for the home public' * The jjopular Arthurian cycle was extended by poems like Sir Trisirem, formerly attributed to Thomas of Erceldoune (Earlston in Kirkud- bright, on the Scotch Border), called ' the Rhymer ; ' by Yiraine and Gawin, and the later Sir Gawaine and the Green Kniuht. The Alexander saga, of which we saw faint indications even before the Conquest {see p. 15), now became popular in England as it was throughout Europe, and our oldest version, like that of Sir Tristrem, dates from the reign of Edward I. Of the Charlemagne cycle we have about ten romances. Richard Coeur de Lion indicates a tendency to apply the extravagant romance treatment to a more ' national ' hero ; Floris and Blanchcjleur Qemp. Henry III.) shows a late Greek and oriental influence due largely to the Crusades. Other poems are distinctly English or Anglo-Danish in origin, .although the stories only survive in translations from the French. Such are Havelock .and King Horn ; while the popular Guy of War- wick, of which we have several translations, has its scene laid in the days of King Athelstan, and Bevis of Hampton in those of King Edgar. Both the latter arose early in the fourteenth century. Most of these romances are in rhyming octosyllabic metre, but that French influence did not wholly destroy the taste for our older alliterative verse is seen in two Alexander fragments, in William of Palerne or William the Werwolf {\Z5b), as well as in the poem by Langland which is dealt with in the next chapter. One fuurteenth century poem stjinds .apart from these Anglo- French romances. It is a rather fanciful medieval ' InMomoriam,' a diflBculr, but interesting lament of a father over the death of his two-year-old child. First edited thirty years ago by Dr. Morris, it was called by him the Pearl', and its poetic value may be judged from the lines written by Lord Tennyson for a more recent edition : f •We lost you— for liow long a time- True pearl of our poetic prime I Wo found you, ftiiil you glenm reset In Britain's lyrio coronet.' • Ten BriiiV. rm hj I^ng. Ulernhire, i. p. 2.14-5. t That c.f Jlr. 1. Cdllaiicz, Ibitl, publisljed by Mr. Nutt, by wliose Joint ponnis- Biou the lines arc niiroducid. Mr, UoUuucz lius added a modtru rendering. CHAPTER III. FROM CHAUCER TO SVBBS'Sr. ]3o0— 1550. 15. PROGRESS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. — 16. LANGLAND, GOW-ER, BARBOUR, — 17. CHAUCER. — 18. JIAN'DEVILLE, ■\VICLir, TREVTSA. — 19. OCCLEYE, LTD- GATE. — 20. JAMES OP SCOTLAND. — 21. PECOOK, FORTESCUE. — 22. TUB ' PASTON LETTERS.' — 23. THE INTEODOCTION OP PUINnNG. — 24. HAWES, BARKLAY, SKELTON. — 25. THE SCOTCH POETS. — 26. TRAXSLATIONS OP THE BIBLE.— 27. BERNERS, MORE.— 28. ELYOT, LATDIER, CHEKE. — 29, WYATT, SURREY. — 30, EARLY DRAMATIC WRITERS. — 31. BALLAD POETRY. 15, Progress of the Sngrlisb Xianguage. — In the preceding chapter (see p. 17, s. 9) the progi-ess of the written vernacular tongue was traced from the Norman Conquest to the middle of the fourteenth century. During that period it had undergone what has been styled its First Great Eevolution, i.e. the change of its structure by its conrersion from an inflected into an un-inflected language ; and commenced its Second Great Eevolution : i.e. the change of its substance by the admission into its vocabulary of numberless Norman-French words. During the period embraced in the present chapter — from the middle of the fourteenth to the middle of the sixteenth century — this second revolution proceeded with accelerated vigour. It will be remembered that a prominent cause of the further alteration in the language was the gradual disuse of French. To this a new motive was now given by tlie Gallic wars of Edward III. By 1350 English had taken the phico of French as a medium for teaching Latin in schools; and, in 1362, it was enacted that all trials at law should henceforth be conductoil in English, upon the plea that French was become unknown in the realm (et>i irop dcsconue en le dit rculine). As the supremacy of Norman-French declined, the reviving English made amends for its long period of suppression and stagnation by recruiting and in- ci easing ils powers from the very language which, in its servitudei it had persistently declined to assimilate. Simplified in its gram- 30 UAXDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. mar, enriched in its vocabulary, it becomes henceforth more vigorous, more plastic, more fluent, and better fitted in every respect for ex- pressing the varieties of a literary style. Tliat part of the second Great Revolution included in the fore- going chapter extends half -way through the 'Middle English' period, 1200-1500. The present chapter takes us to the beginning of ' Modern English,' which Mr. Sweet (cf. p. 3, u.) would place as early as 1500, while others prefer the date 1550. It embraces, we may remark, the whole of the time occupied by the growth and progress of the great English Protestant Reformation, and by an- other movement of no small impoj-tance to the advancement of our national literature, — the introduction into and establishment in England of the art of printing, to which, in its chronological order, a reference will hereafter be made, 16. Iiangrland, Cower, Barbour. — As the earlier works of Chaucer belong to the latter half of the reign of E^lward III., he might faii'ly precede the writers of this period. But before giving Hny account of the ' Tather of English Poetry ' (as Drj-don calls him), it will be convenient to deal -with the three chief poets of his day — Langland, Gower, and Barbour. This arrangement is the more justifiable in that the writings of none of them, Gower, perhaps, excepted, can bo said to have been vitally influenced by the works of Cliaucer. The first on the list, VT'illiam Xiangley or Kangrland (1332—1400?), conjectured to have been a secular priest, and a native of Cleobury Mortimer, in Shropshire, passes for the author of a remarkable allegorical poem entitled, Tfte Vhion of WilUam concerning Ficrs the Plowman, in alliterative unrhjtned metre. From internal evidence the earliest form of this poem is believed to belong to the year loG2, and to have been p.irtly composed by its author while wandering about the Malvern Hills. Subsequently ha appears to have come to London, to a minute knowledge of which lie testifies by numberless allusion.s. About 1377 and again about ].''03, bo is supposed to have re-written or re-cast his W'ork, so that its composition extends over a number of years. It consists of several pnssus or sections describing a series of vision.s. One pro- logue and the first seven of these pccsus only refer to tho vision of Piers tlie Plowman — the typical honest man (at times identified with tlio human nature of Christ), after whom tho entire collection has been named. The remaining thirteen of tho twenty passtis deal sueeessively willi tlio 'visions of "William* concerning certain abstractions or virtues named respectively Do-well, Lo-bet [ter], and FROM CHAUCER TO SURRET. 31 Vo-bcst.^ A detailed analysis of the book is impossible in this place. But the following qnotation will convey some idea of its character and intention : — ' The Vision has little unity of plan, and indeed — considered as a satire against many individual and not obviously connected abuses in church and state — it needed none. But its aim and pui-pose are one. . . It was [is] a calm, allegorical exposition of the corruptions of the state, of the church, and of social life, designed, not to rouse the people to violent resistance or bloody vengeance, but to reveal to them the true causes of the evils und&p which they were suifering, and to secure the reformation of those grievous abuses, by a united exertion of the moral influence which generally accompanies the possession of superior physical strength.' f The popularity of Laugland's satire gave rise, about 1394, to a shorter poem (with which it is sometimes confused) levelled against the friars, and entitled Fierce the IVoiiffknian's Crcde. Nothing is known of its author beyond the fact that he says he wrote the Plowman's Tale, sometimes printed as Chaucer's. The next great poetical contemporary of Chaucer, faintly (but perhaps discriminately) commended by him as ' the morall Gower,' ■was a poet of a different and less original stamp than the author of Piers the Plowman. Like Langland, 7ohn Gower (1325? — • 1408) also had a purpose; but its expression was impaired by the diffuseness of his style, and overpowered by his unmanageable erudition. The senior and survivor of Chaucer, he was of a knightly family in Kent, where he possessed considerable estates. Ho \va3 ■well educated, where we know not, lived much in London, in close relations ■with the court, married at an advanced age, and was buried in St. Saviour's, Southwark, to which church, says his epitaph, he was 'a distinguished benefactor.' His principal works ure Balades, love-poems in the Provencjal manner, preserved in a copy presented by the author to Henry IV. ; the Speculum Mcditantis, or Mirror of 3Ian, written in French ; the Vox Clamantis, in Latin elegiacs, and the Confessio Amantis, 1393, in English octosjllabic metre. Of the second of these, which is described by a contemporary J as seeking to teach ' by a right path, the way whereby a trans- gressed sinner ought to return to the knowledge of his Creator,' no MS. is known to exist. The Vox Clumaniis, to -which •was after- * The ' Crowley ' or B. text of 1377 is here referred to. t Marsh, quoted by Skeat, Piers Plowman, II. xli.x. 1886. See Morley's £ni;r. Writers, iv. 1889, for an analysis of the whole ; also Miss K. M. Warreu's pross rcniiei'iiig, 1895 ; J. J. Jusserand's study of the 'mystical' Bide of tlio pocin, 1S34 ; aud Appendix A, Extract XL t Quoted in Morley, English Writeri, vol. iv. p. 171, ed. 1S89. 32 HANDBOOK 01" ENGLISH LITEKATUHE. wards added a supplement known as the Tripartite Chronicle, treats the insurrection of "Wat Tyler (1381) allogorically, and then deviates into ' a didactic argumenton the condition of society in Gowor's time, prompted Ly the significant outbreak described in the first book.'* The Cottfcssio Amantis is a dialogue of more than 30,000 lines be- t-ween Genius, a pries; or clerk of Venus, and the poet himself (lie was then over sixty years of age), in the character of an unhappy lover. Genius subjects him to a minute and searching interrogatory as to the nature of his oflfences against Love, taking the sins in turn, and exemplifying each by apposite stories from different sources. Thus Chiding, a sub-sin of Anger, is illustrated by accounts of the patience of Socrates, the blinding of Tiresias, the "Wliite Crow turned black {cf. the Maunciple's Tale in Chaucer, Appendix B), and so forth. The patient prolixity and power of barren detail which are expended upon this leisurely performance would make it intole- rable to a modern reader, and have indeed extorted from students and editors such epithets as 'petrifying' and 'tedious.' Neverthe- less, Gower, says Mr. Hallam, indulgently, ' though not like Chaucer, a poet of nature's growth, had some effect in rendering the Uinguago less rude, and exciting a tasto for verse ; if ho never rises, ho never sinks low; he is always sensible, polished, perspicuous, and not prosaic in the worst sense of the word.' f The remaining great poet of Chaucer's time, Tobn Barbour (1316? — 1395), Archdeacon of Aberdeen in 1357, is the author of an ' animated and picturesque ' metrical chronicle, or romawit as he terms it, entitled The Brus, compiled about 1375, and relating the hl'!tory of Scotland from 1286 to 1329, i.e., from the death of Alexander the Third to that of Eobert Bruce, of whose life and ad- ventures it principally treats. The author, in his introductory lines, prays God that ho may 'say nought but suthfast thing;' and his work has alwa3's been regarded as reliable from an historical point of view. Barbour has also been doubtfully credited with two frag- ments on the Trojan War found in two MSS. of Lydgato's work (see p. 41, 6. 19), and with fifty metrical Legends of Saint s.^ 17. Cbaucer. — The researches of later schol.irs, and the vhUi- able Six-text and other issues of tiio Society founded by Dr. F. J. Furuivall in 1868 § (a good work, to which all lovers of Chaucer • Morley, Knj. Writers, iv. 182, 1883. t /-''• llislorij, Pt. I. ob. i. J 61. J See Skeafs ed. of The Brus (E. E. Text Por. 1870-1889), xlv.-lil. 5 The results of the noble work of this Society— its Issues cf pnrallel texts, enalopucs nnidi'>, i. ; also Skcat's Chaucer, i. 20-48. Only Ave need lueutiou. Th' Coinjilaini nf ihf Black Knight is now known to be by Lydk'nte. Th« Floiter and the Leaf was written, probably by u ln'Iy, as it states, c. 1 160 ; Ths Court of Love must be dated c. 1500 ; Chaucer's Dream is even later. Only one— The Cuckoo and the Xightingale (?xiv. ceut.)^an be considered 'doubtful;' and Prof. Lounsbury rejects it on internal evidence. Mr. Skcat will issue these poems in a seventh volume. Ho and Eome others attribute fcevea lately diEOOvered little poems to Chaucer. J Mr. LOT^ell, if]/ iitudy V'indotci : Chiucer, FllOil CUALCER TO SURREY. 35 employment of his familiar seven-line stanza and the deca- syllabic couplet have Loth been attributed. ' Chaucer Chronology' is distinctly uncertain, but his first poem (? 1366) is usually considered to be a free rendering in 184 lines of the Pelerinage de la Vie humaine of Guillaume de Deguilleville, called The A.B.C. because each verse begins ■with a new letter of the alphabet. The Compl(>/nte unto Piic, in which the seven-line stanza first appears, is often held to be his first original poem. The most im- portant, however, of these early works was a translation of the famous Eoman de la Eose of Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung, although scholars are still divided as to how much, if any, of the existing version is by Chaucer.* The Book of the Buchesse, a rather conventional lament over the death of Duchess Blanche of Lancaster (d. Sept. 12, 1369), is the first poem — and one of few — of certain date. The Compleynt of Mars (298 lines) may also be an early work. Chaucer's eleven months' visit to Italy (1372-3), while Petrarch {d. 137-i) and Boccaccio (c?. 1375) were still living, ushers in the second period of his work. Henceforth it is the influence of these and of Dante that is predominant, though Chaucer's work becomes increasingly individual. Troilus and Criseijde, his longest poem (1380-3), is based upon the Filostrato of Boccaccio, but nearly three lines out of four are his own,f while the atmosphere is purified, the characters are conceived in his own way, and treated with a psycho- logical skill which makes this early novel in verse, in spite of blemishes, one of our finest poems. The unfinished Hous of i^awc (1383-4) affords the most striking illustration — sometimes unduly magnified — - of the influence of Dante. Tlie allegorical Parkmcnt of Foidcs (1 382) and the incomplete Legend of Good Women (1385) again show Italian influeuco. This last poem is the earliest in which Chaucer is known to have used the heroic couplet, and we may thus connect with it two fragmentary metrical experiments, Anelida and Arcite and the Compleint to his Lady (botl) c. 1380), in the latter of which the difficult terza rima of Dante is attempted. The seven lines to Adam Scrivener (see p. 39) and a balade to Eosemounde also belong to this period. To Chaucer's third period, from 1386 onward, belong most of the Canterbury Tales, and a few short poems, such as the ComplcT/nt of * Ten Brink says none ; Lounsbury (ii. IGG) says tlie whole ; Skeat, after rejcct- 5ng it, now claims 11. 1-1705 for Chaucer, and sees tvo other bauds ia 11. J70G-7698. Sec rollard's Primer, § 86. t 6663 out of 8216, according to Mr. AV. M. Ro?sctti's careful estimate. Bo3- eaccio has only 5704 line=, and of these Chaucer rojects one half. 36 nAXDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Venus (1393 ?), the Envoi/ to Scogan (1393), and that to Ltd/on (1396), and the oft-quoted Lines to his Purse (1309). With these ■n-o may associate an earlier group of five little poems — including the noble lines on Truth, partly suggested by the poet's translation of Boethius (1380-3), which is one of his four prose vorks : the others being the Treatise on the Astrolabe (1391), for 'liteli LoTrys my 6one,' a boy often, and two Canterbury Tales, that of Mdibeus and the Parson's Tale. The Canterburij Talcs, which open a new era in, — or rather inau- gurate, — modern English Literature, were chiefly written after 1386. They may be broadly dated at 1390. The main idea of connecting a variety of tales by a common thread was probably suggested by Boccaccio's Decameron. In Boccaccio's work the tales are told by ten fashionable fugitives from Florence, who, during the ' Black Death ' of 1348, have sought an asylum in a country villi. The plan of Chaucer is much more pleasing and natural, besides allowing far larger scope. Ilis tale-tellers are a number of pilgrims, selected from all classes of society, but united by a common object — a pilgrimage to the shrine of 'the holy blisful martir,' St. Thomas a Becket, at Canterbury. To this end they have assembled, in the month of April, at the ' Old Tabard Inn,' Sonthwark, which, pre- vious to its destruction by fire in 1676, stood on the site of the more modern building (The Talbot) in the Borough High Street, which was pulled down twenty-two years ago, in 1874.* The pilgrims are Chaucer himself (1), a Knight (2), a Squire, his son (3), s Miller (4), a Reeve or Steward (.i), and a Cook (6) ; a Sergeant of Law (7), a Shipmanf or Mariner (8), a Prioress (9), a Nun's Priest (10), a Monk (11), a Doctor of Physic (12), a Pardoner or Seller of Indulgences (13), a Wife of Bath (14), a Friar (15), a Summoner to the Ecclesiastical Courts (16), a Clerk of Oxford (17), a Merchant (18), a Nun (19), a Franklin or Freeholder (20), a Manciple or Victualler (21), a Poor Parson (22), and a Canon's Yeoman (23), who joins the cavalcade at Broughton-under-Blcan, seven miles from Canterbury. Tales by all these are preserved. But besides these there are the Knight's Yeoman (24), other Priests (25, 26), a HaberdaHhor (27), a Carpenter (28), a Weaver (29), a Dyer (30), a Tapchtry Mtik.r (i'.H, a Ploughman (32). and Harry Bailly, the Host of the 'Tabard' (33), whose tales, if written, do not remain to us. • The present bnlliUnff fNo. ftS Doronph Hlph Street) Js callort 'Tim DM Tftbnrd,' wliilo tlio aUjoiniiig Talbot YarJ retains the comtpted form of tlio ii.ime. t See Appendix A, Extract XY, FROM CHAUCER TO SURREY. 37 How wide a range of society and how great a variety of por- traiture his scheme afforded to the poet, the preceding list will show. The vigour and originality with which he has sketched his characters, and the skill ■with which, in the several links of the subsequent tales, they are made to unfold their personality,* place him, at one bound, far beyond the painstaking, plain-sailing chroniclers and translators, his predecessors and contemporaries. It was an excur- sion into the delineation of real life such as they, trammelled by convention and tradition, had never contemplated. The following quotation will testify how naturally the device for telling the stories originates. The Host, of whom we are told that he was — ' A semely man .... For to han been a marschal in an halle ; A large man he was with eyghen stepe, A fairere bwgeys was there noon in Chepe,' mirtliful at the goodly company assembled, after remarking that ' — trewely comfort ne mirths is noon To rjde by the weje domb as a stoon [stone],' announces that he has a proposal to make to them if they will fall in with it. They assent : — ' " Lordynges," quoth he, " now horkneth for the beste ; But taketli it not, I praye you, in disdayn ; This is the poynt, to speken schort and playn, That ech of yow to schorte with youre weie In this viage, schal telle tales tweye, To Caunterbiiri-ward, I nieue it so. And horn- ward he schal tellen othere luo, 0/ arentures that ichilom han hifalle. And which of yow that bcreth him best of alle, That is to scyn, that tcUeth in this caaa Tales of best sentence and most solas, Schal han a soper at youro alther cost Here in this place sittynge by this post, Whan that we come ageyn from Canturbury. And for to maken you the more mery, I wol mysolven gladly with you ryde. Eight at my owen cost, and be your gyde. And whoso wole my jnggement withseie Schal paye al that we spenden by the weye." ' t The guests then draw lots as to who shall begin. The duty devolves upon the Knight, who leads oflf with a tale of chivalry. The drunken Miller, — you may know it ' by his soun,' — breaks in next with a characteristically coarse story; the Eeeve follows, and » See Appendix A, Extract XV. t Trolosue to the Canterbury TaUi, 88 IIAXDROOK OF ENGLISH LITF-RATUHE. the others in their turn tell talcs suited to their respective rantj and avocations.* Tliero are only twenty-four tales, and it will bo evi- dent from the outline of tlie Ilost, that a much larger number would be required to complete his plan. In all probability, death overtook the pott at the work which he had designed as the labour of his old age. Still, unfinished though they be, the Cantcrhni'y Tales stand out prominently in English literature. As there had been nothing like them before they Avere written, so for years after there was nothing to compare with them. Indeed, Shakespeare excepted, ' no other poet has yet arisen to rival the author of the Canterbury Talcs in the entire assemblage of his various powers. Spenser's is a more aerial, Milton's a loftier, song; but neither possesses the wonderful combination of contrasted and almost opposite characteristics which wo have in Chaucer: the sportive fancy, painting and gilding every- thing, with the keen, observant, matter-of-fact spirit that looks through whatever it glances at; the soaring and creative imagina- tion, with the homely sagacity, and healthy relish for all the realities of things ; the unrivalled tenderness and pathos, with the quaintest humour and the most exuberant merriment; the wisdom at once, and the wit ; the .all that is best, in short, both in poetry and prose, at the same time.' The same VTiter further says that in none of our poetry is there ' either a more abounding or a more bounding spirit of life, a truer or fuller natural insj^iration. Ho [Chaucer] may be said to verify, in another sense, the remark of Bacon, that what wo commonly call antiquity was really the youth of the world: his poetry seems to breatlie of a time when humanity was younger and more joyous -hearted than it now is.'f As compared with that of Langland, the language of Chaucer is of tlie court and city rather tlian of tlio provinces. His dialect is mainly the East Midland, and this he m.ay be said to have made national, giving it at once 'in compass, flexibility, expressiveness, grace, and all the higher qualities of poetical diction .... the utmost perfection whicli the materials at his hand would admit of.'| lie was, in truth, what his imitator Lydgate styles him : — ' Of our Inng.igo . . . the lode stcrre.'} Into the still debated question of his metre and versification our space will not allow us to enter. Posterity has not endorsed Dryden's • St-e Appendix B : Note to tlic Canterhury Talei, t Cmik, Knn. I.il. and Langunne, 1871, 1. 313, 291. 1 TAarsh^Lectiireiun ihc JCiir/lish Lnmituige,lii62,lx.ZSl; ». also Skeat's C%au««; vol. vi. nnd Prof. T. R. Loiuisbury's Sludiei, it chap. vl. p. 420, 4c., ed. 1893, 5 Falli of Princet, FROM CHAUCER TO SURREY. 39 sneer at his ' unequal numbers.' On the contrary, if due regard ba taken to contemporary habits of accentuation, often diametrically opposed to cur own, ho -will certainly be found a most highly com- petent and ciiltirated metrist. Rather than attribute to Chaucer the fault of what we cannot explain, it will surely be preferable to lay it to the addition, omission, or mistranscription of some long- locked and long-eared 'Adam Scrivener', like liim whose 'necligence and rape ' the poet so pathetically bewails : — • Adam Scrivener, if ever it thee befalle, Boece or Troilus for to write newe. Under thy longe lockes maist thou have the scalle, But after my maUins thou write more trewe I So oft a day I mote thy wcrke rcnewe. It to correct and eke to rubbe and scrape ; And all is thorow thy necligence and rape. ' • These verses may stand as an example of the seven-line stanza so popular with Chaucer and liis followers. It was a modification of the ottava rima, first used by Boccaccio in his Tcseide,\je,wg in fact that measure with the fifth line omitted. As giving some faint idea of tlie changes of pronunciation above referred to, the following lines from the beginning of the prologue to the Canterbury Tales, written by Mr. A. J. Ellis as they would have been spoken in Chaucer's time, may prove of service ; but, lest the reader shoidd fail to recognise them in their pihonetic form, the corresponding verses are subjoined : — ' Beefel' dhat, in dhat sai'zoon' on a dahy. At Soothwerk at dhii Tab'ard' as Ee lahy, Rodec toh wendcn on mce pilgrimah'je Toh Kan'terbcr'ec with f ul devoot' kohrah'ie, At nikht was kooni in'toh' dliat ostelrce'ii Well neon and tweutce in a kranpanee'e. Of stindrce folk, bee ah'ven'tuir' ifal'u In fel'ahw'shecp', and pilgi-imz wair dhahy alle, Dhat tohwerd Kau'terber'eo wolden reede ; Dhe chahmbrcz and dhii stahb'lz wairen weedo And wcl wai wnircn aizcd atij bcstc.' [Byfel that, in that sosoun on a day, At Sonthwerk at the Tabard as I lay, Redy to wendcn on my pilgrimage To Canturbury with ful devout coragc, At night was come into that liostelrie Wei nyne and twenty in a companyc. o Ten Brink's Chancers Spraehe nnd Verskunst, 1834, deals elaborately with tho poet's metres: cf. also Lounsbury ii., and Skeat vi. Ten Brink (§ 347) tmccs the Bcven-llnc stanza to Provencal poets; Skeat to the direct iuflucuce of JIachault, d. 1377. 40 HAXDUOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Of sondry folk, by aventure i-falle In felawscLipe, and pil^yms were thei alio, That toward Caiiturbury woldon ryde ; The chambres and the stables weren wyde And wel we weren esed atte beste.]' 18. Mandeville, VTicllf, Trevlsa. — Chaucer also finds a place among prose writers by reason of the Tvorks already referred to (p. 36, s. 17) ; but by far the most popular prose work of the century -was that of a writer known as 'Sir John Mandeville' (1300 ?-1372), reputed a native of St. Albans. A wanderer in the East for thirty-four years, he is said to have returned in 1356-7. and to have then written an account of his travels in Latin, French, and finally in English, ' that every Man of my Naeioun may under- stand it.' This ingenious, if not ingenuous, writer has, after the vein of Geoffrey of Monmouth, mingled with what seems to be the record of real travels ' monsters out of Pliny, miracles out of Legends, and strange stories out of . . . Romances,' f to quote Mr. Ilalliwell ; while with a Defoe-like realism he boldly writes in the first person of travels he had only made through tlie pages of other authors. The English knight's name seems but a mask, and the original work — perhaps that of De Bourgogne, a Elemi^h doctor — was in French, our version being a xv. century translation, of which ' the terseness, the simplicity, the quaintness, together with the curiosity of the subject-matter, will always make delightful reading, but the title " Father of English prose ". . . must ... be now transferred [from Mandeville] to Wiclif ' { a writer whose influence upon his time is not 10 be measured by his literary productions alone. 7olin "Wlcllf, the Reformer (1321-138-1), besides writing many treatises and ser- mons in Latin and English, undertook, in his retirement at Lutter- worth, the first English version of the entire Scriptures, said to have been completed the year before his death. In this labour he was assisted by a priest named STicboIas Hereford. Hereford translated from Genesis to Baruch, Wiclif the remainder. AViclif's translation, intended for the people, and couched ' in the familiar speech of the English heart in the reign of Edward III.,' § is of the highest importance both to literature and religion, and may be regarded as the basis of all subsequent versions || (sec p. 45, s. 26). JTohn of Trevlsa {d. 1412?), Vicar of Berkeley, is the only other prose writer of any importance during Chaucer's time. IIi.s chief • Ctar. Prat edition of the Prologue. See also Appendix A, Extract XIV. •f ,sVe Appendix A, Kxtract X. X Enq/. Urilan. 9th ed. An article by E. B. Nicholson and OoL Yule. § Marsh, Lectures on thf Enrilifh Language, 18C3, v. p. 112, 1 See Appeudix A, Extract XII. FROM CHAUCER TO SURREY. 41 work was a traaslatiou,* executed circa 1387, of theLatiu Polychro- nicon, or Universal History, of Ralph Hidden (died ISGl), a Benedictine monk of Chester {sec also p. 43, s. 23.) 19. Occleve, Xiydgate. — Whether it be attributed to the dis- turbing influence of the Wars of the Eoses or to the absorbing interest of the Reformation, it is certain that, notwithstanding the invention of printing, for more than a century after the death of Chaucer a barren interval occurs in the history of English litera- ture. Allegorists, such as Hawes and Barklay, satirists of the Skelton type, sonneteers like Surrey and Wyatt, prose writers like Pecockand More, are all we have to oppose to Chaucer and Wicliff. Scotland, indeed, had her Dunbar and Lyndsay, the former a poet of no mean order. In England, however, the poets succeeding Chaucer were distinctly of inferior class. His two immediate imitators never rose above fluent mediocrity. They had acquired from their master the mechanism of verse ; but poetical genius was denied to them. The first of these, Tbomas Occleve (1370?-1450?), aclerk of the Privy Seal, was the author of a long poem, in the seven-line stanza, entitled Be Eegimine Principum, compiled from a book of that name by Guido de Colonna, from Aristotle, and from the Game of C'Afss ef Jacobus de Cessolis. The second, John Siydgrate (1370?- 1451?), styled the 'Monk of Bury,' was a learned and indefatigable, if not imaginative, writer. His chief works are the Falls of Princes, a translation, through a French medium, of Boccaccio's Pe Casihus Virorum Illmtriura; the Troi/ Pool', a version of the Historia, Trojana of Colonna; and the Storie of Thchcs, a supplementary Canterbury Tale based upon the Pkehais of Statins. To Lydgate is also ascribed the Conrplaint of the Plack Knight, long printed as Cliaucer's. 20. James of Scotland To the son of Eobert III. (1394- 1437) we owe a poem, which, apart from the creative merit which raises it above the labours of mere translators like Lydgate and Occleve, possesses a somewhat romaniic interest. The King's Quhair (Quire or Book), written by the ill-fated monarch wliile a prisoner in the Eouud Tower of Windsor Castle, relates (allegori- cally) his love for the daughter of the Earl of Somerset, Jane Beaufort, whom he afterwards m;u'ried, and whom he had first seen much as, in Chaucer's Knight's Tale, Palamon sees Emelye, from the window of his prison. Tiie poem is in the seven-line stanza, hence- forth known as rhyme Eoyal {see p. 39, s. 17). Two shorter • Ste Appendix A, Extract XIII. 42 nAXDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. humorous poems, Peebles to the Flaij, and Christls Kirk of the Grenp, have also been attributed to King James. An Oi'ygijnale Crom/kil of Scotland, finished about 1420, by Andrev? de ^VyntouIl (xv. cent.), Prior of St. Serf's Monastery in Loch Leven, also belongs to this period. Anotlier Northern poet, who comes between James and Dunbar {see p. 45, s. 2.j), is Henry the minstrel {d. after 1492), author of a life of Wallace, produced about 1460. 21. Pccock, Fortcscuc. — Though poetry may be said to havo languished in the hands of the disciples of Chaucer, prose, on the contrary, -was not unworthily supported by the successors of Mande* ville and Wiclif. The Ecprcssor of over-much blaining of Clergy, written in 1449, by Reginald Pecock (1395?-1460?), sometime Bishop of St. Asaph and Chichester, has been described by one of its editors as ' the earliest piece of good philosophical disquisition the language can boast,' and its author has been styled ' the pre- cursor of Hooker . . as the expositor of the province of reason in matters of religion.' This, Pecock's chief work, was undei-taken to vindicate the clergy against the Wicliiites or ' Bible-men,' and ' ita historical value consists in this, that it preserves to us the best arguments of the Lollards against existing practices which he was able to find, together with such answers as a very acute opponent Avns able to give.'* Ultimately Pecock ' foil upon evil days and tongues : ' his books were condemned, and he had to choose between recantation and the stake. lie did not choose the latter, but died in confinement at Tliorney Abbey, Sir John Fortescue (1395?- 14S5 ?), Chief Justice of the King's Bench, also wrote, in Latin, a valuable work, De Laudihus Lcgum Aiiglicd, and, in English, a trea- tise, in the same spirit, on the Difference between Absolute and Limited Monarch)/:\ A staunch adlierent of Henry VI., he fled with him to Scotland after the battle of Towton (1461), was attainted of high treason, and forfeited his estates. It was about 1470, when exiled in France with IMargarct of Anjou, that he composed the first of the above-mentioned works for the instruction of Piince Edward, murdered after Tewkesbury (1471). He, too, like Pecock, ' recanted ' — by willidrawing his objections to Edward IV.'s succession— and his attainder was consequently reversed. 22. The • Paston Zietters ' (1422-1509). To the period of the "Wars of the Roses, up(jn which we have now entered, belongs a curious collection of family letters chiefly by, or addressed to, the • B.ibinplon'8 RtTpressor, 18G3, Intro, xxx. xxv. xxiv. See Appendix A, Extract XVL f Excel'ieutly eJite'l, for the Claremlon Presn, 1885, by Cli. Flummer. FROM CHAUCER TO SURREY. 43 tnembers of ' a wealthy and respectable, but not noble ' Norfolk family — the Pastons. The correspondence extends from 1422 to 1509, and includes over 1,000 letters, written during the reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV. and V., Eichard III., and Henry VII., ' containing,' in the words of the original editor. Sir John Fenn,* •who printed the first series of them in 1787, ' many curious Anecdotes relating to that turbulent, bloody, but hitherto dark period of oiir history ; and elucidating not only public matters of Btate, but likewise the private manners of the age . .' 23. The Zntroductlon of Printing-. — In 1455, the year of the first battle in the "Wars of the Eoscs, the invention of printing had progressed from wood blocks to moveable type, and the famous Mazarijt BiUe had been printed at Mentz by John Gutenberg (1400-1468). In 1477, six years after Tewkesbury, -William Cazton (1422 ?-1401), a London mercer, ■who had acquired the art of printing abroad, whilst living in the household of Margaret of Burgundy, set up a press in the Almonry at Westminster, under the protection of Anthony V^oodville, Eiirl Eivers, whose DiVto or sai/en(/is of iJie pliilosopfircs (1477) was the first book actually printed in England. Caxton, however, h.ad throe ye.ars earlier printed abroad his own translation of The Beatyell of the History es of Irnye {Wl^'i), this being the first English book ever printod.f One of the most remarkable of the many works that subsequently came (1485) from the Westminster press — Le morte DarLhur of Sir Thomas IVIalory (y?. 1470) — has already been referred to as an inexhaustible mine to modern poets, and is styled by Scott ' indisputably the best Prose Eomance our language can boast.'J It was completed in 1469-70, and the sources of its material have already been indicated (.5^c p. 20, s. 11). Caxton also printed in 1482 the Fohjchronicon of Trevisa {see p. 41, s. 18), with a con- tinuation from 1357 to 1460; and it is characteristic of the rapid alteration of the language that, in order to make it intelligible, he felt bound to modernise the phrnseology of its author. The book, says the title, is 'Imprinted by William Caxton, after having some- what changed the rude and old English [i.e. of 1387], that is to wit, certain words which in those daj's be neither xised norunderstanden.'§ 24. Hawes, Barklay, Skelton. — The reigns of Henry VII. and VIII. produced no great English poet. Stephen Kawes (jl. 1509), Groom of the Privy Chamber to the first-named King, <> Fenn's ei//, or metrical contest, with Walter Kennedy, a fellow poet ; while his highest level is reached in The Dance of the &i'm Dcidly Sfjnnis, a vivid Callotesque conception. Dunbar's range was a wide one. He essayed allegory, morality, and humorous poetry — e.g. The Frcirs of Berwick * — with nearly equal success ; but his comic verse, as in the Tiia Marijit Wemen and the IVedo, is, like Chaucer's, decidedly open to the charge of coarseness. Gavin Douglas (1474-1522), Bishop of Dunkeld, translated the JEneid, producing ' the first metrical version of any ancient classic that had yet appeared in the dialect of either kingdom.' He also wrote The Palace of Honour, an apologue for the conduct of James IV., and King Hart, a poem on human lifo. Sir David Xiyndsay, of the Mount (1490-1555), the favourite of James V., and a vigorous assailant of the clergy, was rather a pun- gent and plain-spoken satirist than a poet. The Breme, The Com- •playnt of the King's Papingo (peacock). The Plag (or Satire) of the Three Estates (King, Barons, and Clcrg}'), The History of Squire Meldrum, and The Monarchic, all vfrittcn between 1528 and 1554, are his best known works. ' The antiquated dialect, prolix narrative, and frequent indelicacy of Lyndsaj-'s writings, have thrown them into the shade ; but they abound in racy pictures of the limes, in humorous and burlesque description, and in keen and cutting eatire.'t Last in importance, but preceding the foregoing in point of time, comes Robert Kenrysou ('/. beR.re 1508), author of the Testament of Cresydr, a sequel to Cliauoer's poem {see p. 35, s. 17). 26. Translations of the Bible.— The first of these in point of date after Wiclifs {see-[>. 40, s. 18), was theiS'ftt) Testament oi'WiWiaxA • The authorship is considered doubtful. t Chambers's Cyclop, of i:ng. Lit., by Carruthere, 1858, i. 55, 46 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Tyndale (1 181?-1536), printed, in 1525,* partly at Cologne and partly at Worms, for which ho ultimately paid the penalty of his life, being strangled and afterwards burnt at Vilvonle, near Brussels, by imperial decree. It was re-issued in loSi; and has been de- Bcribed by Mr. Marsh as ' the most important philological monument . . of the whole period between Chaucer and Shakespeare . . having more than anything else contributed to shape and fix the sacred dialect, and establish tiie form which the Bible must per- manently assume in an English dress,' t In 1530, Tyndale printed a translation of the Pentateuch. "While abroad, he is said to have been assisted in his labours for a short time, in 1532, by Miles Coverdale (1488-1568), later Bishop of Exeter, who after- wards published, in 1535, a translation of the Old and Now Testa- ment ' out of the Doutcheand Latyn,' memorable as the first Englisli Bible allowed by royal authority. By royal proclamation copies •were ordered to be placed in the quires of parish churches for com- mon use. The Bibles of Tyndale and Coverdale were followed, in 1537 and 1540, by the translations known respectively as Matthew's and Crajimcr's Bibles. 27. Berners, Tttore. — It is as contemporaries only that it is convenient to link these names, for, in respect of literary excellence, they cannot bo compared. John Sourcbler, Xord Berners (1469-1533), Governor of Calais, was, however, a translator of the highest rank ; and he has given us an admirably faithful and charac- teristic rendering of the picturesque pages of Sm John Feoissaut (1337-1410), the 'Livy of France,' who, as resident in England from 13G1 to 13GG, and writing int(r alia of English History, might almost be claimed as a national author. His Chronicle, embracing the affiiirs of England, Scotland, France, and the IjOW Countries, extends over the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. (1327- 1400); the translation of it by Lord Berners, published in 1523-5, was underbiken at the request of Henry VIII. Sir Tbomas IVXore (1478-1535), a zealous Roman Catholic, and Lord Chancellor in 1529, was beheaded for denying tho legality of Henry VIII.'s marriage with Anno Boleyn. His two principal works are tho TJfe and Reign of Edward V., printed in 1557, and his Happy Republic, or Utopia {oh, no, tottoj, place ; in Latin, JSusquamd). Tho latter, first published at Louvain, in Latin, in 1516, and not translated into • r. Arber's Ftxr.ximili (1871) of tbo nniquo frat?raont of Tyndalo's Testament In tlio Orenvillo Collection. t L(cturi5 on the English Lanjvage, 18G3, v, p. 113. Sa Appondix A, Extract XVJII. FKOM CHAUCER TO SUKKEY. 47 English by Ealph riobinson until 1551, or some years after the author's death, pui-ports to be an account of a ' newe yle ' as taken from the A-erbal narratiye of one Raphael Ilythlodaye, described as a sea-faring man ' well stricken in age, -with a blacke soune-burned face.' It is, in reality, ' a philosophic exposition of Mere's own views respecting the constitution and economy of a state, and of his opinions on education, marriage, the military system, and the liko.* The idea was, perhaps, suggested by the liejmhlic of Plato, -whose influence, or that of More, may be traced in many subsequent works of a somewhat similar cbai-acter, e.ff. Hall's Mundus Alter et Idem, 1605 ; Barclay's Argenis, 1621 ; Bacon's New Atlantis, 1627 ; Godwin of Llandafif's Man in the Moon, 1638; and Harrington's Oceana, 1656, It should bo noted that More's title has given rise to the adjective ' Utopian,' now commonly used to qualify any fanciful or chimerical project. f 28. Elyot, Iiatimer, Cheke. — The first of these, Sir Thomas Slyot (1490 ?-1546), was a physician, and the friend of More. He ■wrote several works, of which 2he Governor, 1531, and a profes- sional Castle of Health, 1 534, are the best remembered. The former, a treatise on education, is said to have been a favourite book with Henry VIII, Hugh Iiatimer (1485 ?-l 555), the martyr-Bishop of Worcester, and the fervent advocate of the Reformation doctrines, has loft a niTmbcr of sermons, mostly preached before Edward VI., which, for their popular style, homely wit, and courageous utterances, are models, in their way, of a certain school of pulpit eloquence. They are ' still read for their honest zeal and lively delineation of manners.' Latimer's Sermon on the Tlovghers and Sermons before Edward VL, 1549, and the Governor of Elj'ot, are both included in Mr. Arber's series of English lieprints.X Sir John Ctoeke (1514- 1557), memor.able in Milton's verso as the advanced scholar who ' taught Cambridge and King Edward Greek,' survives in English by the Hurt of Sedition, 1549, on the subject of the rising in Norfolk in that year. 29. Wyatt, Surrey. — These 'firstreformersofourEnglishmectre and stile,' as thoy have been called by Puttenham,§ stand upon the threshold of the school of Sidney and Spenser. Both had foi'med themselves upon ' the sweete and stately measure of the Italians,' and both ' as nouices newly crept out of the schooles of Dante, Arioste and Petrarcli,' considerably advanced the poetic art in • Masson, British ^\tfc!isls ami Ihcir Styles, 1859, p. 59. t S^e Appendix A, Extract XIX. t ^e« Appendix A, Extract XX. § Arte of English Foe'sie, 1589, p. 74 (Arber's Eeprint, ISCD). 48 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATUHE. Kn;^land. Tho priority, in point of culture, belongs perhaps to the Earl of Surrey (1517?-47), 'an English Petrarch ' M. Taine calls him, who is regarded as tho introducer of blank verse, in which measure he produced a translation of the second and fourth boolcs of the JEneid. Tlie numbers of Sir Thomas "Wyatt (ir)03-4'2), usually called the Elder, to distinguish him from the unfortunate noble who raised an insurrection in Mary's reign.iaro not so correct as those of Surrey, but the sentiment of his poetry is sometimes deeper. The verses of both, consisting chiefly of sonnets and amorous poems, were first published in 1557. together with those of Ifictaolas Grlmald (1519-62), Thomas Iiord Vaux (1511-62), and some other minor poets, in Ihtfcl's MiseeUany, now easily acces- sible to all as one of Mr. Arber's excellent English Reprints (1870). From this collection wo transcribe one of Surrey's sonnets as an example of the sonnet-form at this period. Tlie lady celebrated is Surrey's ' Laura ' — ' f;uv Geraldine ' : — ' From Tuskanc came my Ladies worthy race : Faire Florence was somctyme her anncient scale : The Western ylo, whose pleasaunt shore dothe face "Wildc Cambers clifs, did gcuc tier liuoly hcato : Fostered she was witli milkc of Irishc brcst : Her sire, an Eric : her damn, of princes blood. From tender ycres, in Britain she doth rest. With kinges childe, where she tastctU costly food. Uonsdon did first present hor to mine yicn : Bright is her hcwe, and Geraldine she hight. Hampton mc taught to wishc her fir,;t for minf^ : And Windsor, alas, dotho chase mc from licr sight. Hor beauty of kind [,] her vcrtncs from abouc. Happy is he, that can obtainc her louc.' .TO. Early Dramatic \jrritcrs. — As tho dr.imn altainnd ils most splendid development under Elizabeth and James, its earlier history may fitly bo relegated to the succeeding chapter {sec p. 67, B. 37, ct seq.). It is proper, however, to note that tha first two dramatic writers belong to the period of which tho present chapter treats. One is Nicholas Udall, ]\r.A. (1504-56), sometimes srylcd 'tho father of English Comedy,' and Master in succession of Eton and Westminster Sclicols, who wrote not later than 1551, and probably to bo acted hy the I'lon boys, a fwvd Jirlc fivo-act comedy of London manners, under the title of Roister Dni^^ier. The other, John Heywood {d. 1580?), Court Jester to Henry VIJI. and Mary, aod author of H dreary allegory entitled The Spider and the Flic (Pro- testant find Catholic), produced, chiefly by lo.*}!, six dramatic composition.s or Interludes, — of no great literary value. Of those, FROM CHAUCER TO SURREY. 49 the best known, ■which may serve as a sample of the somewhat gross satirical humour of the rest, turns upon a dispute between the Four Ps of its title, — a Palmer, a Pardoner, a 'Poticary, and a Pedlar — as to who can tell the greatest falsehood. The Palmer, following in his turn, and commenting upon some previous statement unfavourable to women, asserts, as if accidentally, that • Nat one good cytye, towne nor borougli In cristendom, but I have ben thorough, And this I wolde ye shulde understande, I have seen women v hundred thousande : And oft with them have longe tyme taried. Yet in all places where I have ben, Of all the women that I have sene, I never sawe nor knewe in my conscyens Any one woman out of paciens.* It is needless to add that the speaker is at once_held to have attained the maximum of mendacity, 31. Ballad Poetry. — In his description of the ' Seven Deadly Sins,' the author of Piers the Plowman makes the priest, Sloth, confess his ignorance of his paternoster, ' as the prest it syngeth,' but acknowledge his familiarity with ' rymes of Eobyn hood and Randolf orle of Chestre.' * Numbers of such ' rymes' or ballads, chanted or recited from house to house by minstrels of the humbler order, were current during this period, though the majority of them are lost to us. But, even now, those collected by Ritson with re- ference to the Sherwood outlaw (so popular even in Bishop Latimer's day as to make the good prelate complain bitterly that his sermons were neglected for the ' traytoure ' Eobyn Hood f), make a book by themselves. For Chevt/ Chace, Sir Patrick Spence, The Gaberlunzie Man, The Not- Browne Mayde, and the remainder of those which Time has spared, the student is referred to the lieliques of Bishop Percy, the Border Minstrelsy of Scott, the Ballad Book of William AUingham, and the collections of Motherwell, Jamieson, Bell, Aytoun, and others. * Piers the Plowman, Edited by Skeat, 188C : B-test, Passus v. See the entire passage in Api>endix A, Extract XI. t Sixth Sermon he/ore Edward VI., 1549, 173-4 (Arber's reprint, 1869). Seetiao Appendix A, Extract XX, CHAPTER IV THE AGS OF SPENSER, SUAKESPSARE, AND BACOir. 1560-1C25. 82. SUilMAriY OF THE PEKIOD.— 33. THE P0KT3 ! OASCOIGJTE, SACKVILLE.— 04. SIDXEV. — 35. SPENSER. — 3C. THE MKOU POETS. — 37. TIIE GROWTH OP THE ESCLISII DRAMA. — 38. EARLY EKOUSII PLATS.— 39. THE PRE- C0RS0R3 OP SHAKESPEARE : MARLOWE, ETC. — 40. SHAKESPEARE. — 41. THE CONTEMPORARIES OP SHAKESPEARE : JONSON, WERSTER, BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER, MASSDJOER, ETC. — 42. THE PROSE WRITERS : ASCHAM.— 43. LYLY. — 44. HOOKER, RALEIGH. — 45. DACON. — 46. BURTON, SELDEN, LORD HERBERT. — 47. THE MINOR PROSE WRITERS. — 48. THE AUTHORISED ViaiSION OF niE BIBLE. 32. Summary of the Period. — By the end of the first half of the sixteenth century, if not a little earlier (see p. 3, n.), the days of ' Middle English' may he considered as past, for certainly with the advent of Spenser, Bacon, and Shake.speare — all born soon after 1550— the period of 'Modern English' had already begun. This con- tinues to tho present day; for, generally speaking, the English of the Victorians does not essentially differ from that of tlie Elizabe- thans. Tho more material alterations in the grammar and vocabulary of the language had been effected when the two great revolutions had done their work. It must, however, be once more repeated that the dates hero given for tho commencement and termination of these successive stages of transition are at tho best approximate. During tlic second revolution, thatbreaking-up of the grammar which is tlio main characteristic of the first, would still proceed, though less ap- preciably ; and, if it be asserted tliat no so-called linguistic revolu- tion has taken place since 1550, it does not by any means follow tliat our language has undergone no changes in structure or substance during the period that intorvonos. I'lio dates used simply denote or limit the epochs during whicli the two great movements were in most noticeable activity. Time, says one of tho great writers of this era (Lord Bacon), • Innovatcth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees, THE AGE OF SPEKSEI^, SHAKESPEARE, AND BACON. 51 Bcarce to be perceived ; ' * and the alterations of a language are effected in the same imperceptible j'ct resistless manner. The foregoing chapter extended over two centuries ; the present includes sevent j-five years only. But these seventy-five years consti- tute the most prolific period in our literature. Never, in England at least, has been witnessed so mnguificent an outburst of the creative faculty, so rare an assembling of splendid and diverse powers. Spenser, Shakespeare, Bacon — the luminous names alone out-dazzle all around them. Yet the plays of Webster and Marlowe (to take a pair at random), the verse of Sackyille and Sidney, the prose of Hooker and Ealcigh, might well have sufficed to make a time illus- trious ; and behind these again there is a host of contemporaries scarcely less gifted. The three great writers of this ' golden age ' of English history — for, be it remembered, it was also the age of Drake, of Cecil, and of Walsingham — serve to centralize the different groups of poets, play- wrights, and prose-writers. Spenser's brief life ended in 1599, and the majority of his poems were produced in the latter half of the reign of Elizabeth. To the close of the same period, and the early years of James, belong the plays of Shakespeare ; while Bacon's works are confined, almost exclusively, to James' reign. Romantic poetry may therefore be said to have reached its zenith first, dra- matic poetry next, and prose last. Hence, the writers of the period under consideration fall easily into the succession adopted in this chapter. If a classification be desirable, s. 33 to s. 37 may be said to treat of ' Spenser and the Poets,' s. 37 to s. 42 of ' Shakespeare and the Dramatists ' and s. 42 to s. 48 of ' Bacon and the Prose Writers * But such an arrangement can bo adopted solely for convenience Bake, as some of the so-called poets wrote plays and prose, and many of the dramatists are famous by works that are purely poetical. 33. The Poets : Cascoigne, Sackville. — The Steele Glas, n by-no-means 'toothless satire,' in blank verso, on contemporary fashions and follies, is the most important of the poetical works of George Cascoigrne (1525 ?-l 577), who, after a life varied by law studies, foreign travel, parliamentary duties, insolvency, soldiering, contributed, by his Frincelye Pleasures at Kenelworth, to the enter- tainment given by Leicester to Queen Elizabeth in 1575 {see also p. Gl, s. 38). The literary reputation of Thomas Sackville, £arl of Dorset (153G-1G08), Lord High Treasurer of England, rests • Esuiyn or Cvunself, C'U'iU and Morall, 1023, p. 627 (Arbcr's rcpriut, 1871). E 2 T)^ IlANDDOOK OF F.XGLISII LITKHATCnf:. chiefly upon his connection with the Mi/rroiire for Magistrates, tlie })lan of which lio liad himself originated, a scries of metrical narra- tives of tlie lives of illustrious and unfortunate persons — Boccaccio's Be Ca.sibus Virorum lUusirium over again, in fact (see p. 41, 8. 19). The first edition of tlie Mijrroxire by "William Baldwin {fl. xvi. cent.) and Ceorg^c Terrers (loOO?-79) was puLlished in 1559 ; to the second, Sackville contributed an Induction or prologue in the seven-line stanza, and the Complaint of Henry, BuJce of Buckingham — the Buckingham of Shakespeare's Bicliard III. {d. 1483). It was subsequently continued by ' various hands ' — Tbomas Ptaaer, wlio translated the JEncid, and Tbomas Churchyard (1620- 1G04), a multifarious poet, among others; but Sackville's portions ftlone have saved the work from comparative oblivion. The scene of the Indication is laid in Ilell, where, at the gates of Elysium, the characters relate their stories, and it includes a number of sombre and powerful personifications of Eemorse, Avarice, and bo forth, which will bear a comparison with Spenser's delineations. ' But,' says Campbell, ' though the Induction to The Mirror for Magis- trates displays some potent sketches, it bears the complexion of a saturnine genius, and resembles a bold and gloomy landscape on wliich the sun never shines* (see also p. Gl, s. 38). 34. Sidney. — Having regard to his historical eminence, the works of Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86) are scarcely equal to his fame. One is almost disconcerted to find that the literary claims of the noble soldier of Zutphon, — the ' Lumen familicB sufp,' and 'Jewell of his times,' — the candid courtier and the precocious ambas- sador — are based upon a lengthy (yet unfinished) ' pastoral romance,' a few fashionable love-poems, and a not very extensive essay. Yet it should bo remembered that these were, at best, but recreations, not destined for the public cye.f The Arcadia, 1590 (first referred to), was composed in retirement at Wilton ten years previously to amuso the poet's sister, Mary, Countess of Pembroke, Ben Jonson's 'sub- ject of all verse;' and its author is said to have expressed his desire that it should be destroyed ; the Astrophci and Stella are sonnets to Penelope Devereux, afterwards Lady Eich ; and the Apologiefor Poctric, though undoubtedly prompted by the strictures upon poets in the Sckoole of Abuse, and its sequel, published in 1579 by Stephen Gosson (1555-1624), remained in MS. until 1595. The poems and tlio essay are the most memorable of his productions. Charles Lamb (there can bo no more competent judge of Elizabethau • Fssay on Ennlish Poetry, 1R18, p. 152. t They were ttil pnblJBheU after Sidney's death. THE AGE OF SPENSER, SUAKESPEARE, AND BACON. 53 work) praises the sonnets highly ; * and the reader maybe especially referred to the one beginning, With how sad steps, Moon, thou climb'st the skies; and to the Highway, since yon my chief Parnassus he — which even Hazlitt, who failed to admire the author, could not refrain from quoting.f Longfellow has called the Apologie 'a golden little volume, which the scholar may lay beneath his pillow.' Uut, despite its exalted chivalry and elaborate eloquence, — for, bo it remarked, Sidney's prose is, artistically, far in advance of that of preceding writers, — the tediousness of the Countess of PemhroJces Arcadia will always to some extent neutralise the beauties that it undoubtedly contains. 35. Spenser^ — Under his pseudonym of Astrophcl, Sidney was mourned by a more illustrious contemporary — Edmund Spenser (1552 ?-99), whose beautiful monody upon the death of his friend was published in 1596, inscribed to Sidney's widow, then Countess of Essex. The record of Spenser's life is as scant as that of Chaucer or Shakespeare. Born in London in 1552, he was educated at Cam- bridge, where he formed a friendship with that Gabriel Harvey (1545-1630), who desired that he might 'be epitaphed the inventor of the [not yet naturalised] English hexameter,' and by whom he was later {circa 1578) introduced to Sidney. To Sidney, ' as most worthio of all titles both of learning and chivalry,' he inscribed his first published work — the Shepheards Calender — in M-hich his friend Harvey figures as 'Hobbinol.' In 1580 he went to Ireland as Lord Wilton's secretary. Four years after this, Elizabeth pre- sented him with the estate of Kilcolman, the obligation by patent to cultivate which, determined his residence in Ireland. Here ho designed and wrote the commencement of tho Faery Qiicene. Raleigh — ' the Shepherd of the Ocean' — (as Spenser afterwards styles hini in a poetical account of the occurrence),! visited him at this period, and urged him to present his poem to Elizabt th. The Queen re- ceived it graciously, and granted the poet a pension of 50/. per annum, from which it has been inferred that he was, virtually, tho first of the Laureates. In 1594, he was married, at Cork, to the Jadv whoso wooing and winning he has celebrated iu his Amoretti and Epiihalaviion. During Tyrone's Eebellion,in 1598, tho Irish insur- gents burned his castle of Kilcolman, and one of his children perished in tho flames. The poet himself escaped to London, and died shortly after in King Street, "Westminster, certainly in • Last Esm>is of F.Ua. t Lectures on the Literniiire of the Age of Elizaheth, 1870, vi. 212. See alfO Appendix A, Extract XXV. X Colin Cloutt come fiom-- wjaine. 5'i HAXPnOOlC OK EXGLISII LITKIJATUIIE. Blraitonecl circumstances; but not — let it bo liopcd — ucfnally *fop lako of bread,' as Bon Jonson puts it.* At his own desire, lie •was buried in ^yestminster Abbey by the tide of Cliaucer — the revered Tifyrus of his Aeglogucs. Tlio Faery Quccne, Spenser's longest and most ambitious poem, is an unfinished allegory. Its plan is .sufilcicntly described in the ex- planatory letter to Ealeigh, prefixed to the first three books published in 1590. 'The gonerall cndo .... of all the booke,' saj-s the autiior, ' is to fashion a gentleman or noblo person in vertuous and gentle discipline.' Of this, King Arthur is his exemplar, and he strives ' to pourti'aict ' in him, ' before he was king, the image of a brave knight, perfected in the twelve private niorall vertues, as Aristotle hath devised.' Each ' morall vertue,' if the work had boon finished, ■would have had its special book and patron knight, whos« individual adventure is laid upon him by the Fiiery Queene. TIius HoUn&^se has its patron in the Kedcrosso Knight (Bk. i.) ; Tcmpr- raitnce in Sir Guyon (Bk. ii.) ; and Chastitic, in the ' lady knight,' Britomartis (Bk. iii.). Arthur, to whom no special virtue is allotted, represents Magjiificcncc, whicli includes all, and he assists in every book, succouring the rest f when in need. The origin of the several .adventures was to Lave been revealed in t!ie concluding book, * where,' s.ays the author, ' I devise that the Faery Queeuo kept her annuall feast twelve daies, uppon which twelve severall dayes, the occasions of the twelve severall adventures hapened, which being undertaken by xii. severall knights, are in these twelve books severally handled and discoursed.' | In addition to the virtues w'hich they typillcd, many of Spenser's characters figured some special contempor.iry. ' The original of (very knight,' Fays Dryden, ' was then living in the court of Queen Elizabeth ; and ho attributed to each of them that virtue, whiclt he thought was most conspicuous in them; an ingenious piece of llattery, though it turned not much to his account.' § The Queen licrsolf sufficed to the two characters of Gloriana and Belphocbc ; Leicester and Sidney are both at times identified with Arthur, to whom, in the twelfth book, Gloriana was to bo united. But the juijieious modern reader will probably set aside such ' cftntinued Allegorie' .altogether, and surrender himself entirely to the poet's lofty morality and splendid descriptions, — to the inexhaustible succession of images that, 'like the vapours which rise ceaselessly from the ocean, ascend, sparkle, commingle their .scrolls of snow and • As reported by Dnimmnnd of Hawthorndeii. t Kxccpt Britomart, Bk. iii. t .S/'i' alfio Appoii'lix A, L.\tract XXIII. S Discourse on Satire, Diydcu'B Wi/rks, i867, G50. THE AGE OF SPENSER, SHAKESPEARE, AXD BACON. 55 gold, whilst below them new mists and yet new mists again arise in undimmed and undying procession.'* He will be thankful that the absence of six books (for only fragments of the seventh remain) has not materially affected what time has preserved. Spenser's greatest work leaves little space for any detailed ac- count of his lesser pieces. The Shepheard's Calender, 1579, which preceded it, was a series of twelve Aeglogues, of which the defects are that they are ' framed (in Sidney's words) to an old rustick lan- guage,' and marred by a warp of ecclesiastical allegory. Mother Hubberd's Tale, 1591, or the adventures of a fox and an ape, is ' a sharp and shrewd satire upon the common mctliod of rising in Church and State.' Colin Clout's come home again, 1595, the Amoretti, and the splendid Epithala7nion on his own courtship and marriage ; the Prothalamion in honour of the double marriage of the ladies Katherine and Elizabeth Somerset, 1596, and the Fowrc Hymns in praise of Love, of Beauty, of Heavenly Love and Heavenly Eeauty, 1596, are some of his more important minor pieces. His sole remaining prose work, A J'iew of the State of Ireland, written dialogue-wise between Eudoxus and Irenaus, was first published in 1633, after his death. The language of Spenser's poetry is designedly archaic, and rather resembles that of Chaucer (' For hee of Tityrus his songs did lera ') than that of his own time. Tlie stanza of the Faery Queene, DOW known as the Spenserian stanza, is the eight-lino measure of Ariosto, another of the poet's models, with the addition of an Alex- andrine line. An example will be better than a formula : — • ♦ And more, to lulle him in his slumber soft, A trickling streanie from high rock tumbling downc, ^ Ami CTcr-cirizling raine upon the loft, \_skii'] Mixt Tvith a murmuring windc, much like the sowno Of swnmiing bees, did cast him in a swownc : Ko otlicr noysc, nor peoples troublous cryes, ■ '.. As still arc wont fannoy the walled townc, ^ /■" . Slight there be lioard : but cnrolesse Quiet lyes % Wrapt in ctcrnall silence || farre from enemyes.' {Faery Queaic, Bk. i. Canto i. 41.) In the last lino, the csesura, for the sake of variety, is placfed at the seventh syllable. Spenser more usually puts it in the middle of the verse, as in the last lino of the stanza wliich immediately precedes the one above quoted : — • And unto Morpheus come;, whom drowned decpe In drowsie lit he findes |1 of nothing he takes kccpc* • Taiuc, l/isl. of Etiy. Lit., Bk. ii. chap. i. Div. 2, J 6. 56 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LlTERATUnE. The Spenserian stanza is a favorite ■with English versifiers. Thomson, Campbell, Byron, and others have used it successfully ; and it ■was employed by the late Mr. "Worsley with happy effect in his transhitions of the Iliad and Odyssey, the latter poem especially (1861-8).* 36. Tbe Minor Poets. — The minor poets of the Elizabethan age are very numerous ; and, for the most part, ■well worthy of more than a passing notice. The scope of this volume, however, restricts us to a brief selection. f The first to bo named is Mlcbael Drayton (1563-1631), whose most famous work, the Poly-Olbion, 1613-22, is a metrical and topographical description of England, extending to 30 books, and 'illustrated with a prodigality of historical and legendary erudition.' It is said to be accurate. Drayton also wrote an 'elegant and lively little poem,' entitled Nymphidia, or, the Court of Faery. Samuel Daniel (1562-1619), Master of the Queen's Kevels under James, and Laureate after Spenser, was the author of a metrical history of the wars of Lan- caster and York ; Mu^opfiilus, a dialogue conUiining a defence of learning ; and a collection of 5i sonnets entitled Delia — perhaps the most poetical, though the first-iiamed is undoubtedly the most impor- tant, of his productions. Sir JTobn Davles (1569-1626), Soli- citor-General and Attorney-General under James I., ■wrote a metaphysical poem in the heroic quatrains afterwards employed in Dryden's Anmis Mirabilis, under the title of Noscc Teipsnm : Two Ekgies, I. Of Human Knowledge ; 11. Of the Soul of Man and the Immorlalily thereof,! 509, which is praised by Ilallara for its closeness of thought and uniformity of power. Tobn Donne (1573-1631), Bomotime Dean of St. Paul's, and, as a preacher, famed for his elo- quence, is kno^wn as a poet by a number of songs, sonnets, marriage pieces, funeral pieces, and satires, chiefly of a metaphysical cast, the inherent poetry of which is frequently disfigured by harsh metres and whimsical conceits, which have given rise to contradictory opinions as to his merits (sec p. 77, s. 50). Giles netclier(1588- 1623) and Pblneas rietcher (1582-1650) were imitators of Spenser, and allegorical poets. Christ's Victory and Triumph in Heaven and Earth over and after Death, 1610, is the cliief work of tiie former ; and the Purple Island, 1633, — under which tropical title the reader will hardly divine ' an anatomical lecture in verse on the human frame' progressing to the intellectual and moral faculties of the soul • Sfe Appendix A, Extract XXI'V. t For some account of Arthur Brooke, Browne, Churchyard, Constable, BlwBfds, Southwell, Sylvester, Taylor tlio ■Water Poet, Watson, ■W'arner, and others, the readar Is referred to our Dictionary Appendix (E). THE AGE OF SPENSEU, SHAKESPEARE, AND BACON. 57 —that of the latter, who, chronologically, belongs more strictly to the next chapter. To the first-named work Milton is said to have been indebted for certain passages of Paradise Eegaincd. "William Brummond, of Hawthornden (1585-1G49), — concludes our list of original minor poets. He is the 'son-in-the Muses' of Surrey and Sidney, whose efforts 'in the Italian meetre and stile' ho has rivalled, if not excelled, in his sonnets. The reader may compare the following, addressed To a Nightingale, with that of Milton upon a similar theme {see p. 83, s. 67) : — • ' Sweet bird, that sing'st away the early howres, Of winters past, or comming, void of care. Well pleased with delights which present are, Faire seasones, budding sprayes, sweet-smeUing flowers ; To rocks, to springs, to rils, from leauy bowres Thou thy Creator's goodnesse dost declare And what deare gifts on thee hee did not spare, A staine to human sence in sinne that lowres. What soule can be so sicko, which by thy songs, Attir'd in sweetnesso, sweetly is not driuen Quite to forget earth's turmoilcs, spights and wrongs, And lift a reuerend eye and thought to heauen ? Sweet artlesse songstarre, thou my minde dost raise To ayres of spheares, yes and to angels' layes.' • By a version of the Iliad and Odyssf-y characterised by Pope, for its 'daring fiery spirit,' as ' something like what one might imagine Homer himself would have writ before he arrived at years of dis- cretion,' f Ceorgre Cbapman (1559 ?-1634) takes precedence of the other metrical translators. He also produced renderings of Hesiod's Works and Bays, and Juvenal's Fifth Satire, and he com- pleted Marlowe's translation of the Hero and Leander of Mus^jus. The Ovid's Mctamor2)hoscs of Arthur Coldingr {d. 1605 ?) ; the Jt^tieid of Ttaomas Phaer {d. 1530) and Tbomas Twyno (d. 1613); the Orlando Furioso, 1591, of Sir J'otan Harrington (1561-1612), and tlia liccovcrie of Jerusalem, 1600, of Edward Fairfax (d. 1635) — the last two especially — also deserve notice. 37. The Growth of the English Drama. — The germ of the English Drama is to be found in those rude and primitive rejirc- sentations of events in Scriptural history which, as they generally involved the exhibition of supernatural power, were, on this account, known to oxir forefathers as Miracle Plays or Mysteries. "When they were introduced into England is uncertain. In all probability • Drummond's Poems, 1832, p. 172 (Maitlnnd Club).' t Preface to the Iliad, 68 IIAXDROOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. they first Ccirae to us from France, and ■wcro, perhaps, first acted here in Frencli. The curliest recorded performance is that of a Miracle Playacted at Dunstable about 1110. It was written by Geoffrey, afterwards Abbot of St. Alban?, and was based upon the legend of St. Catherine. Later we learn from Fitz-Stephon, Eeckot's biographer, that, during the life or soon after the death of that martyr, religious plays were frequently performed in London. Later still they became common in most large cities ; and the three series of 42 Coventry, 25 Chester, with the 32 Townclcy or Wood- Jcirk plays have long been in print. In 1885, the 48 York plays, dating from 1430-40, were first published. The brief Harrow! nej of Hell {temp. Edw. II.) may fairly claim to be our oldest Miracle Play.* At first these were acted during divine service by the priests to convey religious instruction to the people ; but ultimately they passed from the hands of the clergy into those of the laity, the craftsmen of the different guilds becoming their chief exponents, — occasionally with much propriety, as, for example, when Noah's Flood, one of the Chester series, was entrusted to the Water-Drawers of the Dee. In many cases, the Scripture characters represented wore the costume of the fraternity to which tlio actors belonged. This homely and familiar rendering of the sacred stories was often accompanied by grotesque and even profane incongrui- ties. A scene from the last-named mystery, in which Noah and his insubordinate wife come to blows because she obstinately refuses to enter the Ark, is a frequently-cited iust^ince of the former character- istic. The same unfavourable view of the disposition of the patri- arch's helpmate prevails in the Woodkirk play of the Career of Noah, where she persists in continuing her spinning until the rising waters have all but submerged the seat she sits on. In the Coventry piece, however, which treats the same subject, she is pictured as amiable and devoted. The personages of the first INfystories M-ero confined exclusively to stock characters drawn from Holy Writ and the Legends of the Saints. As these lost novelty, it became necessary to revive the fading interest of the audience by the addition of allegorical enibf)- dimcnts of vices, virtues, conditions of life, &c. ; and out of this necessity grow the second stage of the drama — the Mohamty, or Moral Pi.ay. From the Moral Pla}', with its abstract ideas personi- fied, to the modern drama, the transition was natural and inoA'itable. « This Is printc'l in A. W. TolLird's Eng. Miradf riap.i, pp. IGO 9, Cfl. 1R95. This worlc lins a goo^J lutroUuetiou. C/. also Kath. h. Bates, The Eiig. lieligious Drama, 1893. THE AGE OF SPEXSER, SHAKESPEARE, AXD BACOX. 59 This transition was materially hastened owing to the study of the Latin drama. Our very first regular tragedy, Gorhodv.c, shows the influence of Seneca, from whom a little later the popular 'ghost' was to be borrowed ; our first comedy, Ealph Eoister Doistcr, is based on a play by Plautus. The stage for the clerical actors, in the days of the earlier Miracle Plays, was usually erected in the church itself. From the church it was transfeiTcd to the churchyard, and thouce, as the representations passed out of the hands of the clergy, to movable pageants or scaffolds ' dragged through the town, and stopped for the performance at certain places designated by an announcement made a day or two before.' From these it was again transferred to barns and halls, lastly to inn yards, ' where windows, and galle- ries, and verandas commanded a view of a court round which the house was built.' The yards of the JOull, in Bishopsgate >Street, the Cross Keys, in Gracechureh Street, the Bell Savage, on Ludgate Hill, were regularly used for this purpose when Shakespeare arrived in London. The Elizabethan Theatre was an extension of, or improvement on, the inn yard. It was commonly of wood and plaster, circular in form, and, in the so-called public theatres, open at the top. A flag, bearing the name of the house, was hoisted on the roof. Inside were boxes, galleries, and a pit or yard without seats. In the covered buildings cressets, or large rude chandeliers, supplied the place of daylight. Upon the stage, which was generally strewn %vith rushes, the critics, wits, and gallants lay, and sat on stools, and read, gamed, cracked nuts, and smoked, during the performance. The players' wardrobe was costly enougli, but the properties were of tlio rudest kind, and to denote localities and change of scene the simplest expedients Avero adopted. At tlio back of the stage was a perma- nent balcony in which were represented incidents supposed to take place on towers or xipper cliambers. The musicians occupied .a second balcony projecting froni the proscenium. The price of admis- sion to the pit ranged from a penny to sixpence; that to the boxes from one shilling to half-a-crown. The female parts were played by boys. The performance took place in the afternoon. With three flourishes of trumpets the proceedings began. The curtain was drawn from side to side ; a player in a black cloak and wreath of bays spoke a prologue, and then with — ' — three rusty swords, And hell) of some few fuot ;uid half-foot words,' 60 IIANDEOOK OF ENGLISII LITERATUHK. tlio Burbagos and Alleynes of tho period would ' Fight over York and Lancaster's long jars,' • or ' Tear a passion to tatters ... to split the ears of tho groundUngs ' t in the pit. Between tho acts there was dancing ; after the play, a jig by the clown. Finally, tho Queen was prayed for by all tho actors, on thoir knees. The 'jig,' it must be added, was something more than is implied by our modern acceptation of the term. It is described as ' a farcical rhyming composition of considerable length, sung or said by the clown, and accompanied with dancing or playing on the pipe and tabor.' J The following are tho names, as given by Mr. Dyce,§ of the chief theatres during Shakespeare's time : — ' The Theatre (so called by dis- tinction) and The Curtain, in Shoreditch ; Paris Garden, The Globe, The Hose, The Uoj)e, The Swan, on tho Bauksido, Southwark ; The Blaclcfriars, near the present site of Apothecaries' Hall; The Whitefriars, The Fortune, in Golden or Golding Lane, St. Giles's Cripplegate ; and Tlie lied Bull, at the upper end of St. John Street. There was also The Ncudngton Butts Theatre, frequented by the citizens during summer.' 38. Early English Flays. — The oldest English Moral- Play that exists in MS. bears the title of The Castle of Perseverance, and was written about 1450. There are also two moralities by Skelton {see p. 44, s. 24), — the Nigrainansir and Magnificence, the former of which was acted before Henry VII., at "Woodstock, in 1504. Of the Nigramansir no copy is known to exist. Tho following is Warton's summary of the latter, which may give some idea of the Bubstance of these entertainments: — ' Magnilicenco becomes a dupe to his servants and favourites Fansy, Counterfct Countenance, Crafty Conveyance, Clohijd Colusion, Courtly Ahusion and Foly. At length he is seized and robbed by Advcrsytc, by whom lie is given up as a prisoner to I'ovcrte. He is next delivered to Ikspare and Mischrfc, who offer him a knife and a halter. He snatches the knife to end his miseries by st-ribbing liimsolf ; when Good Hope and Eedresse appear, and per.'iuade him to t-ake tlie " rubarbe of ropentTnce," with some "gostly gummes " and a few " drammes of dcvocyon." Ho be- comes acquainted with CircurnspeccyoTi and Perseverance, follows • B. Jonson, rroIoRiic to r.vrnj .Van in his Ifumour. t namUl, Til. 11. + Dyccs fi;iri; i. 40. AIm) rf. Btauntoii, i. ; Grant White's Kssnii in his first vol. ; and Appendix A, KxtractXXV. A unique contenniorary skctrli (1591!) of the interior of the Hican, toj^etlier witli an account of its history, will be found in the New Shak. Soc. Transaclion.i, ]8S7-'J2, pp. 211 225. § Vol. i. 44 6, C/. also F. G. Fleay's Clirunide llisl. of the London f^tajf, 1891, U7-53. THE AGE OF SPENSER, SHAKESPEARE, AND BACON. Gl their directions, and seeks for happiness in a state of penitence and contrition.' * One of the latest of the Moral Plays — The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London, printed in 1590, must be dated after 1588, and may almost bo regarded as a comedy. Tobn Heywood's Interludes, or farces, have already been noticed ; as also Udall's lioisier Doister (see p. 48, s. 30). The Gammer Gurion's Needle of John Still (1543-1608), Bishop of Bath and Wells, a comedy turning upon the loss and ignoble recovery of an old-wife's needle, is the next in point of date (1566). The first tragedy extant is the Ferrex and Porrex (sometimes called Gorhoduc) of Sack- ville {see p. 51, s. 33) and Tbomas KTorton (1532-1584), a frigid production in blank verse, which was acted by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple, in 1561. Next, as the first play extant in prose, comes the Supposes of Gascoigrne {see p. 51, s. 33), an adaptation from Ariosto, acted in 1566, and his blank verse Jocasta, a tragedy from Euripides. With these the Elizabethan Drama may be fairly said to have commenced its career. 39. The Precursors of Shakespeare. — Lyly, Peele, Greene, Marlowe, Kyd and Nash are the most distinguished of the dramatists who immediately preceded Shakespeare. As a detailed list of their plays cannot be attempted here, we must content ourselves with simply naming their principal works. JTohn Iiylyi the Euphuist (1554 ?-1606), whom we shall hereafter notice under the Elizabethan prose-writers, was the author of Campasjje, Endymion, and several other plays on mythological subjects, mostly in prose, .and, as a rule, cold and artificial in style, but containing some beautiful lyrics, notably the well-known lines beginning Cupid and my Cam- lyaspe p>layed. The Love of King David and fair Beihsahe is the most celebrated drama of Ceorg^e Peele (1552-1598). In another of his — the Old Wives' Tale, on account of some coincidences, Milton is said to have found hints for Comus, — a suggestion which, if valid, is of no great importance. Robert Creene (1560-1592), a vo- luminous pamphleteer, and ultimately-repentant Bohemian, wrote a number of pieces for the stiigo, of which the most pleasing are his comedies of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, and George-a- Greene, the Tinner of Wakefield. Thomas Kyd (xvi. cent.) is chiefly known in connection with a play called Jcronimo, the authorship of which is doubtful. To this, under the title of The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is mad again, Kyd wrote a sequel, which, deducting a certain fustian for which the author was ' proverbial even in his own • nist. o/Evg. Poetry, cd. by "VT. Carcw nazlitt, 1871, iii. 28!), 62 nAXDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. diiy,' coutiiins some depth of tliougbt and passion. Summer's la.e Sh/dfxpfnre nostrnl. 1041. \ Sve Appcndbc C ; Tlit I'latjs o/ Hhake. i^f art. TFTE AGE OF srr.Ksr.p., siiAi:r.srEAi:n, an*d eacox. G5 Ben Jonson. The 'putters forth' claimed to have used the 'true originall copies,' but it is more than probable that their real sources were the above-mentioned quartos, or imperfect transcripts of the author's MSS, A second folio edition, memorable as containing Milton's first published English poem {see p. 82, s. 57), followed in 1632 ; and a third in 1664, to which the seven following plays were added: — (1) Pericles, Prince of Tyre; (2) The London ProdigaU; (3) The History of Thomas Lord Cromwell ; (4) Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cohham; (5) The Puritan Widow; (6) A York-shire Tragedy; and (7) The Tragedy of Locrine. Of these the first alone has been retained. The earliest annotated Edition of Shakespeare's plays was that of Nicholas Eowe, 1709-10. Since that date commentators have been innumerable. Of Shakespeare's minor works, two have already been mentioned {see p. C3, s. 40). To Venus and Adonis and Lucrece must be added a part of the collection entitled llie Passionate Pilgrime, 1599, and the 'sugred Sonnets' referred to by Meres, 1609. Bej'ond recording the opinion of Mr. Staunton ' that although these [last- mentioned] poems are written in the poet's own name, and are, apparently, grounded on actual incidents in his career, they are, for the most part, if not wliolly, poetical fictions,' we cannot touch upon the vexed question of their intention or the person to whom they were addressed. Ample information will be found in the edition by Prof. Dowden, 1881, and some new theories in that of Mr. Thos. Tyler, 1890. To select a suitable testimony to Shakespeare's genius is far more difficult than to find one. His prime and all-inclusive characteristic was the perfection of his imaginative faculty : — ' He was of imagina- tion all compact,' as he says of his own poet. ' He had a complete imagination — in this his genius lay,' says M. Taine ; and the defini- tion might content us. But a few words at hand may be quoted, because they carry this idea a little further. ' His great merit is, that he had no peculiar or prominent merit. His mind was so well constituted, so justly and admirably balanced, that it had nothing iii excess. It was the harmonious combination, the well-adjusted powers, aiding and answering to each other, as occasion required, that pro- duced his completeness, and constituted the secret of his great intellectual strength.' * As regards his work (we here borrow the words of a master of literary style), 'In the gravest sense it may be affirmed of Shake- speare, that ho is among the modern luxuries of life; that life, in • ifemoir of Jonson, by Barry Cornwnll, In Jfoson's Edn. 1842, p, xxsy. 66 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. fact, is a new thing, and one moro to Lo coveted, since Shakespeare has extended the domains of human consciousness, and pushed its dark frontiers into regions not so much as dimly descried or even suspected before his time, far less ilhiminated (as now they are) by beauty and tropical luxuriance of life .... In Shakespeare all is presented in the concrete ; that is to say, not brouglit forward in re- lief, or by some effort of an anatomical artist, but embodied and imbedded, so to speak, as by the force of a creative nature, in the complex system of a human life ; a life in which all the elements move and play simultaneously, and with something more than mere simultaneity or co-existence, acting and re-acting each upon the other, — nay, even acting by each other and through each other. In Shakespeare's characters is felt for ever a real organic life, ■where each is for the whole and in the whole, and where the whole is for each and in each. Tliey only are real incarnations .... From his works alone might bo gathered a golden bead-roll of thoughts the deepest, subtlest, most pathetic, and yet most catholic and imiversally intelligible ; the most characteristic, also, and appro- priate to the particular person, the situation, and the case ; yet, at the same time, applicable to the circumstances of every human being, under all the accidents of life, and all vicissitudes of fortune.' * 41. The Contemporaries of Staakespeare. — Tlie dramatist with whom we propose to head this class is generally admitted to hold the second place in the Elizabethan School. If Shake- speare had little learning, his contemporary, Ben Jonson (1573- 1635), was perhaps unwieldily equipped with erudition, altliough — to use Mr. Campbell's figure — it docs not impair his activity. Ex- panding this, M. Taine compares him to ' the war elepliants which used to bear towers, men, weapons, machines, on their backs, and ran as swiftly under the freight as a nimble steed.' Jonson, like the scholar he was, sought his models among the ancients, and endeavoured to construct his pieces in accordance with classical precepts. Un- fortunately, it is the defect of Scjanus, 1G03, and Catiline, 1611, tliat these ' labored and understanding works ' can claim no loftier praise than that of being excellent mosaic. Upon his Comedies of Manners and Character (or rather characteristics — for ho does not 60 much depict character as personify abstract qualities), f — upon Every Man in his JLanonr, Volpone, The Silent Woman, and the AlcJicmist, his reputation principally rests. Nevertheless, in Cynthia's Bevels and other Masques (of which class of composition • Do Quinary, mrks, 18C2-3, xv. 71, 72, 82. t UaUnm, Taiiio, THE AGE OF SPENSER, SHAKESPEARE, AND BACON. 67 he has been called the creator), in the beautiful pastoral of the Sad Shejpkerd, and in numerous exquisite IjTics, he exhibits a delicate vein of poetry distinct from, and of a higher rank than classic re- production or the portraiture of humours. From the literary note* book wliich he quaintly entitled Timber; or, Discoveries made upon Men and Matter, a quotation has already been made (seep. 64, s. 40). His life was a cliequered one. He began as a bricklayer, — turned soldier, actor, and dramatist successively, — became laureate and pensioner under James and Charles, — died poor, like most of his brethren, and Ayas buried in Westminster Abbey, under the simple epitaph, '0 rare Ben Jonson!' cut — so runs the story — at the in- stance and charges of a passer-by. After Een Jonson, the leading contemporaries of Shakespeare are Middleton, Marston, Chapman, Hey wood, and Dekker, who began to write plays in the latter years of Elizabeth ; and Webster, Ford, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Massinger, who belong more exclu- sively to the reign of James. Tlie Witch is the chief work of Thomas IMClddleton (d. 1627), but it probably owes its vitality more to its alleged affinity to Macbeth than to any intrinsic merit of its own. Eight plays are assigned to 7ohn Marston (died 1634), a collaborator of Jonson and Chapman; whose Scourge of Villainy — a collection of vigorous ' Juvenalian Satires ' — also shows liim to advantage. George Cbapman (1559 ?-1634), who, with Marston and Jonson, wrote the lively comedy of Eastward Hoe! (said by Hazlitt to contain 'the first idea of Hogarth's Idle and Industrious Apprentices '), is better remembered in connection with the translations already mentioned {_sce p. 57, s. 3G). His chief tragedy is JDussy d^Ambois. Of the pieces of untiring, indefatigable Thomas Hey wood (died about 1050), who had, by his own show- ing, an ' entire hand, or at least a main finger,' in some two hundred plays — whom Charles Lamb styles ' a sort of j^rose Sliakespeare,' and Professor Craik, ' a poetical Richardson,' — the Woma7i Killed with Kindness is most vital, while Thomas Dekker (jd. 1641 ? ), a writer of facile and pleasing fancy, is chiefly remembered by For- tnnaius,or the Wishing-Cap and The Honest ffV/ore, written with Mid- dleton (y. iupra). In his Satiro-mastix, Dekker entered the lists with Jonson, as one of the poets attacked in the latter's Poetaster. He also wrote a number of pamphlits, among them the characteristic Seven Deadly Sins of London, 1606, and The GidVs Horn-booh; 1609, the latter being a curious repertory of seventeenth-century middle- class manners, said to have assisted Scott in the Fortunes of Higel. The remaining dramatists — j.c.those assigned above more exclusively p2 68 HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. to Jamea* rejgn — rose to a far greater height than their contempo- raries of the preceding paragraph. In his own walk, the sombre, sepulchre-haunting genius of Jobn ^Webster (XVIIth century) has not an equal ; and The Duchess of Maify and Vittoria Corom- bona afford ample evidence of that ' power of moving a horror skil- fully — of touching a soul to the quick' * with which he could inform and energise the ' perilous incidents ' of Italian crime. John Ford (158G-1639), author, with Dekker and another, of the Witch of Ed- monton, had a mind of a cast as melancholy as Webster's, and in The Brother and Sister, the Broken Heart, and Love's Sacrifice, worked upon themes as gloomy and painful. But he had a pathos especially his own, and a verse singularly fluent and beautiful. The colleagues — Francis Beaumont (1584-1616) and John Fletcber (1579-1625) — the first a lawyer's, the second a bishop's son, deserve, perhaps, the next place to Jonson. ' Taking them all in all, they have left us the richest and most magnificent drama we possess after that of Shakespeare; the most instinct and alive both with the true dramatic spirit, and with that of general poetic beauty and power, [and] the most brilliantly lighted up with wit and hu- mour. . . .'t It is difficult to make a selection from their fifty- two plays : — The Maid's Tragedy, VMlaster, The Two Noble Kinsmen (in the composition of which last tradition has associated Shako- ppeare) ;% and Fletcher's comedies of Bide a Wife and have a Wife, The Spanish Curate, Beggar's Bush, and the Elder Brother, are some of the best known of their productions. To Fletcher's pen alono belongs also the pastoral of the Faithful Shepherdess, by which Jonson's Sad Shepherd was excelled and Milton's Comus antici- pated. After Beaumont and Fletcher comes Philip Masslngrer (1683-1640), an eloquent and musical ■writer. For tragic power, Hallam ranks him next to Shakespeare, and in tlie higlier comedy near to Jonson; but he was deficient in wit. His biographer, Hartley Coleridge, has defined liis excellence as consisting ' in the expression of virtue inits probation, its strife, [and] its victory.' His chief plays are The Virgin Martyr (with Dekker), and the comedies of The City Madam, and A New Way to Pay Old Dibts, — the last conspicuous for its popular character of Sir Giles Overreach.' Mas- Binger closes our list of the Eiizabctlian dramatists for the present.§ • Charles Lamb, f^pecxmens of Kngliith Dramatic Poels who tired about the time of SJiakrtpeare, Temple edition, 1893, ii. 42 note. t Craik, Kng. Lit. and Language, 1H71, i. C03. j The beautiful song of liosei, their sharp spines being gone, In this play, is certainly Slialcespearenn. 5 For Lodge, Chettle, Tftvlor, Wilwn, Ilowley, jrumlay, Cyril Tournour, and Bome other playwrights of this period (1550 1C25), the reader Is referred to the W'-tWoary Ajifciidi^t (E;. ■. , ,-n^,- TUE AGE OF SPENSER, SHAKESPEARE, AND BACON. 69 Shirley, the last of the race, belongs to the succeeding chapter. (See p. 101, s. 72.) 42. The Prose "Writers : Ascbam. — After Earners' Translu' lion of Froissari and Sir Thomas More's History of Edward V., the next English prose works of importance are the Tox&philus, 1545, and Scholemaster, 1570, of Roger Ascliam (1615-68), successively Tutor to the Princess (afterwards Queen) Elizabeth, Secretary of Embassy under Edward VI., and Latin Secretary to Queen Mary and her successor. The former work, sub-titled The Scheie of Shoting, is a treatise written ' dialogue-wise ' between Toxophilus and Philo- logus — lovers of archery and learning — upon the English long-bow, the use of which had been extended and enforced by statutes of Henry VIII. ; but the ostensible purpose of the book is often aban- doned for moral digressions. The Scholemaster is further defined as a ' plaine and perfite way of teachyng children to understand, write, and speake, in Latin tong,' specially designed for private tuition. A third work, the Cockpitte, a defence of that pastime, if ever written, is now lost. One of Ascham's first merits lies in this that, deserting the learned languages, he chose to discuss an ' Eng'ishe matter in the Englishe tongue, for Englishe men.'* 43. Iiyly.— The name of John iyly (1554 ?-1606)has already been mentioned among Shakespeare's predecessors {see p. 61, 6. 39). It must be recalled now as one, if not eminent, at least note- worthy among the Elizabethan prose-writers. The ' high fantastical ' conceits and ' gallant tropes ' of Euphues ; The Anatomy of Wit, 1.579, and its seqael Eaphucs and his England, 1580, have passed so completely out of date that their great contemporary popularity can bo explained now only by a supposition that they led a fashion. To the gallants and Court beauties, whose accomplishment and merit it was to ' parley Eupliueisme,' not difiering greatly from the language of Don Adrian de Armado in Love's Labour's Lost, or Fas- tidious Brisk in Every Man out of his Humour (the ' Sir Piercio Shafton * of Scott being an acknowledged caricature), Lyly's Eiiphma was the breviary and text-book. But when the fashion passed away, the text-book fell into disuse so complete, that, for a long period, it has seldom been mentioned without ridicule. This it has not entirely deserved. 'In spite of occasional tcdiousness and pedantry,' Bays Canon Kingsley, it is ' as brave, righteous, and pious a book as a man may look into, and [I] wish for no better proof of the noble- ness and virtue of the Elizabethan age, than the fact that Euphues • «. Toxophilut and TJie SclwUmatler, Aibcr's Reprints. See Appendix A* 70 UANDBOOK OF EXC4LISH LITERATLBE. and the Arcadia [see p. 52, s. 34] wore the two popular roniauces of the day.'* Euphucs has been reprinted by Mr. Arber. 44. Hooker, Ralelgrh. — To the already mentioned prosc-writers of the sixteenth century must now bo added the illustrious author of those famous Eight BooAs of ihc Laws of EcclesiastLal Politi/, for •which the antagonism of Anglicanism and Puritanism that agitated the latter half of Elizabetlis reign furnished the motive. A poor man's son, the boyish abilities uf Ricliard Hooker (1554 ?-lCOO) acquired for him the protee-lion of Dishop Jewel, of Salisbury, at •whose charges, and those of a rich uucle, he was sent, about 1567, to Oxford. In 1577 ho became M.A. and Tello-wof his College. lu 1584-5 he was appointed Master of tlie Temple, his colleague being a certain Travors, who inclined to the Calvinistic tenets which Hooker disapproved. Consequently, ' the pulpit of the Temple,' says Fuller, 'spake pure Canterbury in the morning, and Geneva in the afternoon ;'t and this conflict of opinion originated the above- mentioned weighty and vigorous defence of the ritual and ceremonies of the English Church — a work unrivalled in our prose for its sonor- ous amplitude and dignity, and worthy, in all other respects, ' of the sweetest and most conciliatory of men, [and] the most solid and persuasive of logicians.'^ To finish and elaborate this great work, Hooker relinquished his Mastership, in 1591, for the living of lioscombo, whence, in 1595, he removed to ISishopsbornc, ■where ho died, rive only of the ' Eight Books ' came complete from their author's hand. The first four, finished at Boscombc, were published in 1593-4 ; the fifth in 1597. "What are called the remaining books were not given to the world until years after his death. Sir Egerton Bridges collected (in 1813) some of the poems of the ill-fated Sir "Walter Raleigb (1552-1618), praised by Puttenham (Art of F.nfjlish Pocsic) for their 'most loflie, insolent [unusica^, and passionate vayno' ; but his literary glory rests more securely upon Wxo History of the Ji^orld to the end of the Macedonian Empire, 1614, which ho composed during Iiis thirteen years' im- prisonment in the Tower after the discovery of the Main Plot. ' The Greek and Roman story,' says Mr. Ilallam, ' is [hero] told more fully and exactly than by any earlier ]']nglish author, and with a plain eloquence which has given this book a classical reputation in our language, though from its length, and the want of that critical sifting of facts which wo now justly demand, it is not greatly read.' § Another of Raleigh's prose works is his Discovers/ of ihc large, rich, • Wrsttrnrd Ifn! chap. \iii. f Wnrlhies, \!HO,i. i2Z. X Tnirip, /Ciif/. Uhrntin/' (Vim Lftiin's trau3.), Bk II, chap. v. Div. 4. 5 Ltl. JJii'orii, rt. HI. cliap vii. J 3l'. THE AGE OF SPENSER, SHAKESPEARE, AND BACON. 71 and heautiful Empire of Guiana, 1596, a personal record of hifl South-American experiences. 45. Bacon. — The remarks which prefaced the account of Shake- speare in this chapter {see p. 62, s, 40) apply equally to Francis Bacon (1561-1626). He was the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, to which dignity he himself afterwards succeeded, — ' the destined heir, In his soft cradle, to his father's chair,'* as Ben Jonson writes, referring to the youthful precocity and viva- city which attracted to the boy from ' greatest Gloriana ' herself the title of 'the young Lord-keeper.' In 1573, he went to Cambridge. After leaving college ho visited France, in the train of Sir Amyas Paulet — ' Ambassador Lieger.' ' Being returned from travel,' says his chaplain Kawley, ' he applied himself to the study of the Common Law, which he took upon him to be his profession.' f In 1593, he sat as member for Middlesex; in 1603, he was knighted by King James; and then became successively King's Counsel (1604), Soli- citor-General (1607), Attornev-General (1613), Counsellor of State (1616), Lord Keeper (1617), Baron of Verulam (1619), Lord Chan- cellor (1619), and Viscount St. Albau (1621). Then came the check to this rapid progression. In 1621, he was charged with taking presents from suitors in Chancery. He pleaded guilty, was sen- tenced to a heavy fine and other punishments, from which he was afterwards released. ' The last five years of his life,' says Eawlej', 'being withdrawn from civil aifairs and from an active life, he employed wholly in contemplation and studies.' \ Asa man. Bacon has been equally censured and excused ; and the vexed question of his conduct towards his protector, Essex, or the exact amount of his culpability in the case above referred to, are not likely to be settled satisfactorily. Meanwhile — to use the mild ver- dict of one wi-itor — ho was, probably, ' not without weaknesses of character.' But, considered from a literary point of view, there can be little doubt of his pre-eminence. ' Hee seem'd to mee ever, by his worke' — s;iy Jonson's loving words — 'one of the greatest men, and most worthy of admiration, that had beene in many Ages. lu his adversity I over prayed, that God would give him strength: for Greatnesso hce could not want.' § The prevailing philosophy at the beginning of the Elizabethan era * UiiJertcoods: Lord Bacon s Birthday, % Eawlcy in Speddingr, i. 8. t llawley in Spcdding, i. 5. j Timber: Lord St. Albane, 72 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. M'cas that of Aristotle, To this, or rather to tho degradation of this, Bacon had early conceived a dislike — ' not for tlie worthlessness of the author, to whom he -would ever ascribe all high attributes, but for the unfruitfulness of the -way ; being a philosophy, . . . only strong for disputations and contentions, but barren of the production of works for the benefit of the life of man.' * And indeed, in Bacon's day, its infertility — in the form of scholasticism — had become mani- fest. It was perishing for lack of vitality, powerless to cope with progressive forces and independent thought. For the outworn pro- cedures of a priori reasoning, Bacon suggested the substitution of another method, that of a posteriori investigation by observation and experiment. His merit lies in his indication of this, now generally denominated tho Baconian or 7«ductivo Method, as opposed to the 2>cductire Method of Aristotle. 'He raised experience, which hitherto had been only matter of chance, into a separate and inde- pendent object of thought ; ' and ' he awoke a general consciousness of its indispensable necessity.' f It has been said that he did not so much apply tho principles of the new Philosophy as propose them. Nevertheless, like Moses on Mount Pisgah — to use the illustration of Cowley — it was his privilege first to behold the Promised Land ; and, this being so, it seems profitless to inquire, at this date, whether, without a Bacon, the Inductive Method would have originated in England. The outline of tho new Philosophy has been sketched by its pro- jector in a grand group of works, to whicii he gave the general title of Insiauratio Magna — or ' Great Institution ' of the Sciences. Of this, the six sections, given in tho Bistribulio Opcris prefixed to the Novum Organum, \ are as follow: — I. Partitioncs Scicntiarum. — This was to be a survey of then existing knowledge, and to it belongs tho treatise Bo Augtnentis Scieniiariim, of whicli nine books were published in 1623. It is a franslation, with largo additions, of tho author's previous work in Englisli 071 the Advancement of Learning, 1605. II. Novum Organum, or Indicia de Intcrpretatione Naturae. — This so-called 'Now Instrument of Philosophy' is an exposition of the Inductive Method, in two books, first published in 1620. It was valued by its author above all his other works, and was revised, altered, and corrected no less than twelve times. But even this is incomplete. • Rftwley In Spcfldlng, i. 4. t SchwegWs Hut. of Philosophij, by Ptirling, 18G8, 182. j Bacon'i Works, Ellis ancj SpeUding, i. 71, 134. Preface to yovum Organum, THE AGE OF SPENSEK, SIIAKESPEAUE, AND BACON. 73 III. Phenomena Univcrsi, or Ilistoria Naiuralis ct Erperimentalis ad condendam Philosophiam. — These were to be the materials for the newmethod. Historiesof the "Winds, 1622,— of Life and Death, 1623, — of Density and Earity, 1658 ; the treatise called St/lva Sylvarum, 1627, and a few prefaces, are the only works extant which can be properly classed in this section of the Instauratio. IV. Scala Intellectus. — This was to contain examples of the opera- tion and results of the method. Nothing exists of it but a preface. V. Prodromi, or Anticipationcs ThilosophicB SecundtS. — This was to contain 'anticipations of the now philosophy,' i.e., facts established \»ithout the aid of the Baconian method, by which they were subse- quently to be tested. Nothing remains of this section but a preface. VL Philosophia Sccunda, or Scicntia Activa. — This was to bo ' the result of the application of the new method to all the phenomena of the universe.' [Ellis.] Such is this great conception, the importance and significance of which are evident. That it was only a half-executed conception, as the preceding list will show, is not surprising. If one man only could have sketched the plan, it was not in one man's power (even though that man were Bacon) to bring it to completion. He him- self speaks of Sect. vi. as a task beyond his strength and hopes— ' ct supra vires et ultra spes nostras coUocata ; ' * and, in the most finished work of the series — the Novum Organum, he reached but the threshold of his tlierae. The chief of Bacon's remaining works, in the order of their publi- cation, are his Essaycs, or Counsels, Civill and Morall (1597-162.5), compressed extracts of experience, the depth and suggestiveness of which are too well known for further comment ; ihe Wisdom of the Ancients, 1609, in which the author endeavours to explain the alle- gory which ho believes to bo concealed in many of the ancient fables ;■!* the Boo/c of Apophthrg)ns, 1 625 ; the Elements of the Laws of England, 1636; the History of Henry VH.; and the unfinished fable of the Fell) Atlantis, 1635, to which Eawley refers, as devised by its author ' to the end that he might exhibit therein a model or descrip- tion of a College, instituted for the interpreting of Nature, and the producing of great and marvellous works for the benefit of man.* \See also p. 46, s. 27). 46. Burton, Selden, Xiord Herbert. — A ^^Titc^, who, accord- ing to his epitaph at Oxford, consecrated his life to the gloomiest of all sciences, has left a singular tribute to his ruling passion in the • Distribudo Opcris. * v. Preface, 74 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. eo-called Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621, a systematic examinution of the nature and treatment of hypochondria. Its author, Hobert Barton (1577-1640), was rector of Seagrave, in Leicestershire. Despite the methodical divisions and subdivisions of the book, quota- tions of a most multifarious character make up its body and sub- stance. Burton himself terms it a cento. It is certainly a cento unparalleled. Sterne was notoriously indebted to it, as also (it is said) were the wits of the Augustan and Georgian eras ; and since Thackeray makes it the entire library of one of his literary charac- ters, it may be inferred that its use, as a convenient storehouse of out-of-the-way erudition, is not, even now, unknown. Two other writers, although they cannot be said to belong more exclusively to the reign of James than to that of his successor, nevertheless produced some of their most important works within the period comprised in this chapter. One was Xiord Herbert of Cberbury (1583-1648), the author of two deistical works, entitled respectively De Veritate and Dc Eeligionc Geniilium, the first of which was published in 1624 ; of a valuable, if partial, History of the Life and licigii of Henry VIII. ; and a singularly direct and can- did autobiography. The other is Jobn Selden (1584-1654), a man of a learning as vast as, but better disciplined than, Burton's, author of numerous works, of which the Treatise of Titles of Honour, 1614, his largest English work, and the History of Tithes, 1618, belong to this period. After his dcatli was published his Table-Talk, 1689, reprinted in IVlr. Arber's scries. 47. The Minor Prose 'Writers. — Foremost among the minor writers comes the unfortunate Sir Thomas Overbury (1581- 1613), poisoned on account of his opposition to the marriage of Carr, James' favourite, with the Countess of Essex. Overbury was the author of the poem of The Wife, and of Characters or Witty Descrip- tions of the Properties of sundry Persons, 1614, pieces characterised by the prevailing taste for conceit and epigram. A valuable and original iTistoric of the 'l\irlcs, 1603, was written by Richard KnoIIes (1550?-1010). Among the clironiclcrs must be mentioned Richard Grafton {d. after 1572); Raphael Bolinshed {d. 1580?), to whoso Chronicles of England, Ireland, and Scotland Sbakospcaro was indebted for some of his raw material ; John Stowe (1 525-1 COo), author of the well-known Survey of London, 1598; John Speed (1552-1629), author of a History of Great Britain, 1611. In his Britannia, 1586, >Villlam Camden (1551- 1623) described the country topographically ; and the achievements of the Elizabethan navigators were carefully commemorated iu the THE AGE OF SPENSEE, SHAKESPEARE, AND BACOX. 75 collections of Voyages and Travels compiled by Eakluyt, Furcbas, and others.* For Jewel, 'Whitglft, Cartwrig^Iit, and the other theological writers of the period the reader is referred to the Dic- tionary Appendix at the end of this volume. Two prose translations also claim our notice. These are the Mo7itaigncs Ei^-c-ays of John Florlo {d. lG2o), •who by his cen- Bures on the contemporary drama has also been said to enjoy the doubtful distinction of being the original f of Holofernes in Love's Labour's Lost ; while the Plutarch (1579) of Sir Tbomas Z7ortIi (1535 ?-post 1600), from tlie French of Amyot, was used by Shake- speare for his Eoman plays just as Ilolinshed had been for the English ' Histories.' 48. The Authorised Version. — The account of the prose writings of the Shakespearean ago is fittingly brought to an end by the Authorised Translation of the Scriptures, which, originating with the Hampton Court Conference of 1604, was commenced in 1607, and was published in 1611. The basis of this was the so-called Bishops'', ovArchbishoj) Par Jeer's Bible, 1568, which was tobe followed as closely as possible. The Bishops' Biblevraa based upon Cranmer's, which again may be said to derive from Tyndale's version. (See p. 45, s. 26.) To this literary descent, and to the careful collation of the new transla- tion with the earlier ones, must be attributed that mellow archaism of phraseology which apparently removes the langiiage of our pre- sent Bible to a period far more remote than the reign in which the translation was actually executed. ' The English of the Authorised Version represents, not the language of 1611 in its integi-ity, but the language which prevailed from time to tim': during the previous century.j; * See Dictionary Appendix (E). t .SVc /iostccU's ' MaloHi',' iv. 479-483, for some ol the arguments for aud against tliis. Wailiurtoii and Farmer lield this view : few now do. X Eastwood and Wright, Preface to Bible Word-Bool; 1886. CHAPTER \'. THB AGS OF MZXiTOST AND DRTSBN. ■ 1625-1700. 49. SUMMARY OF THE PEUIOD.— 50. THE ' METAPHYSICAL SCHOOL ' OF rOETS.— 61. COWLEY. — 52. KERBERT, CRASHAW. — 53. QUARLES, WITHER. — 54. HEtl- nlCK, HABIXGTON. — 55. THE CAVALIEU POETS. — 56. WALLER. — 57. MILTOX. — 58. BLTLER. — 69. MARVELL. — 60. THE JUXOR POETS. — 61. THE PROSIl WRITERS. — 62. IIOBBES, CIJLREXDOX. — 63. FULLER, BROW.VE. — 64. WALTON. —65. THE DLAKISTS. — 66. BUNYAN.— 67. LOCKE, TEMPLE.— 68. THE THEO- LOQLAXS.— 69. THE SCIENTIFIC WRITERS.— 70. THE MDCOR PROSE WRrrERiS. — 71, THE NEWSPAPER PRESS. — 72. THE SUR\aV0RS OF THE SHAKF.SPEAREAN STAGE.— 73. THE STAGE OP THE RESTORATION.— 74. DRYDEN. — 75. SHAD- WELL, LEE.— 76. OTWAY, SOUTHEIINK.- 77. THE COMC DRAMATISTS. 49. Summary of tbe Period. — The period embraced by tbe last chapter came to an end with tlie death of James I., in 1625. The present chapter extends from that date to the close of the seven- teentli centurj'. It includes the reign of Charles I., the Common- wealth, t lie Protectorates, the reigns of Charles II. and James II., and (two years only excepted) the reign of "William and Mary. Taking the commencement of the Civil War as one point of division, and the Restoration in 1660 as another, this epoch of Knglisli literary history may be an-anged in three stages — the first from 1625 to 1640, the second from 1640 to 1660, and the third from 16G0 to 1700, — the date of the death of Drydon. During the first of these stages the great school of dramatists, which had thrown a lustre over the two previous reigns of Elizabeth and James, was slowly dying out. Of the major prose writers of James' re ign, only Selden and Lord Herbert were still active. Bacon having died in 1626. A hush preceded the coming struggle, and literature flourislied chiefly in the hands of a little group of poets, of whom Jonson, in his minor pieces, and Donne ( sec p. 56, s. 36), who lived until 1631, may bo said to be the leaders. Of these, Cowley, Wither, Herbert, Crashaw, Ilabington, Quarles, Suckling, and Carew had all published poems before 1640, and in that year Den- ham's masterpiece was written. Nothing had been printed of THIS AGE OP MILTON AND DRTDEN. 77 Milton's earlier poetry, some of which belongs to this school, but the Epitaph On Shakespear, Comus, and Lycidas, — the first two anonymously, the last with the writer's initials only. L' Allegro and n Penseroso ; seven or eight of the Sonnets, and most of the shorter pieces, however, are all supposed to have been composed before the last-mentioned date. During the whole of the second stage (1640-1660) the great poet practically laid by his ' singing robes ' for controversial prose, and, with some few exceptions, the bulk of the little literature was of this kind. As, after Chaucer, the Wars of the Eoses and the Reformation were succeeded by a literary dearth, so now the Civil Wars and the Puritan Revolution gave rise to a temporary suspension of works of imagination. The closing of the theatres in 1642 put an end to plaj's. Most of the lesser minstrels were silent during the storm, or, if they sang at all, their song was changed. ' Either the time of their literary activity did not coincide with the period of struggle, but came before it, or after it, or lay on both sides of it ; or what they did write of a purely literary character during this period was written in exile.'* With the Restoration the third stage began, and the drama, eon- niderably modified by French influences, became at once the popular form of literature. If Paradise Lost, Paradise Eegained, and Samson Agonistes vreve produced during the reign of Charles II., they must be regarded as produced in spite of their surroundings. The years from 1660 to 1700 belong, above all, to Davenant and Drj-den, to Otway, Southerne, the Comic Dramatists and their congeners. In the present chapter we shall take the poets first in order (s. 50 to s. 60), the prose writers next (s. 61 to s. 71), and the dramatists last (s. 72 to s. 77). 50. Tlie ' Metaphysical School ' of Poets. — To the majority of the verse-writers referred to above as following the fashion of Donne, Johnson, f perhaps taking a hint from Dryden, applies the adjective ' metaphysical.' The qualification has been demurred to by Southey, who, nevertheless, refrains from proposing a better. By Hallam it is held to be more exactly applicable to Mriters like Sir John Davies {see p. 56, s. 36) ; but, correct or incorrect, it will pro- bably continue to bo used in describing this particular group of poets. Perpetual striving after novelty, intricacy of conceit, and a certain lettered quibbling are their chief characteristics. Wit and » Mnsson : E.isayn, Iliographkal and Critical, 185C, 9.1, I /.ivf.t 0/ i/ie Pods : (^('vUj/, Cunninglmm's eii, i, IS'4, 78 HAKDDOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. learning they had undoubtedly ; but Johnson denies to them pathos or sublimity. lie allows, however, that, in the pursuit of fanciful analogies, they ' sometimes struck out unexpected truths,' and, falling into a conceit himself, admits that if their conceits wore far- fetched, they were often worth the carriage. And, indeed, although some of them may be found on occasion to compare ' eyes to burn- ing-glasses, and tears to terrestrial globes, coyness to an enthymemo, absence to a pair of compasses, and an unrequited passion to the for- tieth remainder-man in an entail,' * they have nevertheless left us many dainty IjtIcs (not to mention some longer pieces) which could ill be spared from our anthologies. Such are, for example : — Love- lace's Tell me not, Sweet, I am unMnd, and the lines. To Althea, from frison; Wither's Shall I,iuastingindes])airl — Suckling's IMiysopale and wan, fond lover 1 Catow's He (hat loves a rosi/ check; Waller's Go lovely liose! and the verses On a Girdle; or, the Gather ye rose- buds while ye may, and others by Ilerrick. 51. Cowley. — The most illustrious representative of the meta- physical school, after Donne {see p. 56, s. 36), is Abrabam Cow- ley (1618-1667). On this account chiefly he is entitled to priority of place, as more than one of the writers named subsequently had produced mature works when Cowley had put forth nothing but the Poetical Blossoms (1633) of his boyhood. Ilis father was a Chcapside tradesman. Set on fire by the study of Spenser, he began to write early, publishing the above-mentioned volume of verses while still at Westminster School. From Cambridge he was ejected in 1613 for his Royalist tendencies. He afterwards became Secretary to the Earl of St. Albans, and was for some time employed as a medium of communication between Charles I. and Henrietta Maria. Neg- lected at the Restoration, in spite of his hopes, he retired to Chert- sey, where he died. His principal works are a collection of love verses, entitled The Mistress; Pindaric Odrs; an \mfinishod epic, The Davideis, and the comedy of the Cutter of Coleman Street (produced in 1661, and first called 77ie Guardian), to the frank portraiture of Cavalier humours in which, his disfavour with Cliarles II. has been attributed. Of his Essays mention will bo made in their place. Cowley's reputation has faded since Milton ranked him next after Spenser and Shakespeare. Professor Craik considers him much inferior to Donne, ' less deep, strong, and genuine,' — substituting gilding and word-catching for the gold and meditative quaiutness of the elder poet, although he sometimes exhibits dignity and a playful fancy. • Macaulay, 3fi3ccUan(^:is Writings: John Dr]/d(n% THE AGE OF MILTON AND DRTDEN. 79 62. Herbert, Crasbaw. — The first of the pair whom we have thus linked together, — George Herbert (1593-1633), a younger brother of Lord Herbert of Cherbury {see p. 7i, s. 46), was, during the last two years of his life, Eector of Bemerton, in Wiltshire. Ills poems entitled The Temple ; or, Sacred Poems and Private Ejacula- tions, 1633, appeared shortly after his death, and a prose work styled A Priest to the Temple ; or, the Country Parson, not until 1652. The second, Ricbard Crasbaw {d. 1649), was at first elo- quent as a Protestant preacher. He subsequently became a Roman Catholic, went to France, and finally died canon of the church of Lorctto. His English poems were issued, in 1646, under the title of Steps to the Temple. Sacred Poems,with other Delights of the Muses. ' Holy Mr. Herbert,' as he has been called, is the greater of the two. His poems have, in excess, the obliquities of his friend Donne ; l)ut they are informed with an imaffected and exalted piety, and have afforded to many that solace which, 'Gothic and uncouth as they were ' — to use Cowper's words — they afforded to that unhappy poet in his periods of dejection. Crashaw's style was influenced by that of the Italian Marini, whose Sospetto di Herode he translated ; and he was also an ardent admirer of St. Theresa, not, it has been said, to the advantage of his work, which displays considerable power of imagination. He is the author of the well-known Wishes to a supposed Mistress, and among his Latin poems, 1634, occurs the famous line on the water turned into wine : — ' Nympha pudka Detim viJil et eriihvil ' (The modest water saw its God, and blushed) Bometimes attributed to Dryden. 53. Quarles, "Witber. — Although Francis Quarles (1592- 1644) and Georgre AWltber (1588-1667) wrote much, it is now chiefly by the Divine Emblc?ns, 1635, of the one and the Emblems of the other — quaint, allegorical conceits in the taste of the Low Country moralists, that they are remembered. Quarles was cup-bearer to Elizabeth of Bohemia, Secretary to Archbishop Usher, and Chro- nicler to the City of London. Wither, whose works number more than one hundred, served first on the Roj'alist and then on the Round- head side in the Great Civil War. Many of his shorter poems are exceedingly beautiful. The volume of satirical verse entitled Abuses Stript and Whipt, 1613, which procured his imprisonment by the Privy Council for its alleged offensive tone to certain persons in authority ; a manly Satire to the King, said to have effected his release; a collection of Eclogues entitled the Shepherds Hunting, 80 IIAllDBOOK OF ENGLlSIt LlTF.nATlTRP.. 1615, and the pastoral entitled the Mistress of Philarde, 1622, are some of his better-known productions. ' lie has left,' says Professor Masson, 'along with some real poetrj', a sea of the flattest verse known in our language, but his influence was as healthy as his style was plain and apprehensible.'* 54. Herrlck, Habingrton. — Like Herbert and Crashaw, Robert Herrlck (1591-167-1) was a clergyman, and published Works, Huinan and Divine, which, although his lively (and some- times licentious) Anacreontic muse has graver moments, have more of the former than the latter attribute. But many of the lyrics in Hesperides, 1648, — for such is the first title of Herrick's book — are wholly free from taint, and cannot easily be matched. Their blithe beauty must plead for the ' unbaptised rhymes Writ in his wild unhallowed times.' The second writer, 'William Habin^on (1605-1654), authorof Castara, 1634, a collection of poems in honour of Lord Powis' daughter, whom he married, is at least free from the charge of coarseness. But the chastity of his thoughts has not preserved his verse from the affectations of his school. Castara, it should, how- ever, be added, contains a number of miscellaneous devotional poems ' on texts taken from the Latin Vulgate,' which are, in some respects, of a higher flight than his pre-nuptial and conjugal eflFiisions. 55. Tbe Cavalier Poets. — I'ive poets — Suckling, Carew, Den« ham, Cleveland, and Lovelace— may fairly come under this denomi- nation. The name of Sir John Suckling: (1609-1643) at once recalls the delightful Ballad on a Wedding, — that of the afterwards Earl of Orrery and Lady Margaret Howard. This 'though not written,' says Hallam,t' for those Qui musas colitis severiores,' [it is generally abridged in most collections] ' has been read by almost all the world, and is a matchless piece of liveliness and facility.' Suckling also wrote, in 1637, the Session of the Poets, in which he good-humouredly rallies his brother versifiers. Thomas Carexr |(I598?-1639?), ' Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Sower-in- Ordinary ' to Charles I., and a celebrated court-wit, died just before the Civil War. Suckling banters him for his laborious polish and sluggish conception, and ho appears to have succeeded best in short pieces well adapted to tlie music of ^lillon's friend Lawes and other composers. Sir Jobn Senbam (1615-1669) is familiar from the off-quoted couplet in his poem of Cooper's Hill, the measured and • Lift of ii:Uon, 1859, 1. 4-10. t Halliim, lAI. Hittorj/, P«rt III. oliap. t. } 58, THE AGE OF MILTON AND DUYDEN. 81 stately versification of which has been highly praised. He died an old man in the reign of Charles II., -with a mind clouded by the sudden loss of his young wife, whom he had married late in life. John Cleveland (1613-1658), author of the Rebel Scot, and cer- tain vigorous attacks on the Protector, was the earliest poetical champion of roj'alty. Butler is said to have adopted the style of his satires in Kudihras. Colonel XUcbard Iiovelace (1618-1658), like Habington, christened his collected verses with the name of his Lucasta ( = Lux casta = Miss Lucy Sacheverell), but had not the good fortune of the author of Castara, for the lady, believing that he had died at Dunkirk, married another. Lovelace is the type of the Cavalier, and his personal cliaracter and appearance corre- sponded to the graceful gallantry of his poetry. He, and Cleveland too, after suffering poverty and imprisonment in the royal cause, died miserably before they could reap their recompense in the Restoration. The titles of some of tlie best known lyrics of Suckling, Carew and Lovelace are given on p. 78. 56. Diraller. — Born a Royalist, and connected by marriage with Cromwell himself, Sdmund "SVaUer (1605-1687) escaped the miserable end of the last-named poets, to die an old man, upon the eve of the second Revolution. But then he did not encumber himself with any inflexible fidelity to either cause, slipping as easily from a panegyric on Cromwell to a panegyric on Charles, as he slid from the celebration of his Sacharissa, Lady Sidney, to that of his Amoret, Lady Murray. He saved himself from the consequences of con- spiracy by betrayal of his accomplices ; and, when taxed by the cynic king with his more effective praise of the late Protector, replied, with easy assurance : — ' Poets, Sir, succeed better in fiction than in truth.' In fact, as a man, he was a by-no-means estimable character. As a poet, his work is more finished, — less marred by the defects of the metaphysical school, than that of many of his pre- decessors, although some of them have greatly the advantage of liim in sincerity. ' Of elevated inuigination, profound thought, or pas- sion, he was utterly destitute,' says one of his biographers, 'and it is only in detached passages, single stanzas, or small pieces, finished with great care and elegance, as the lines on a lady's girdle {see p. 78, s. 50], those on the dwarfs, and a few of the lyrics, that we can discern that play of fancy, verbiil sweetness, and harmony, which gave 60 great a name to Wallei- for more tlian a hundred years.' * 67. Milton, — The first genuine edition of Waller's poems was published in 1645. In the same year appeared the first collection • Stujiclop. Britannka, 8th ed. ; see also Prof. Miuto'e notice iu the 9th ed. 82 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITEHATURE. of the early efforts of a far nioro important -writer than the witty trimmer and 'Virgil of the Nation,' namely, — Jobn Milton (1608-1674). The life of the great Puritan poet is so inextricably bound up with his works that our narrative of the one must neces- sarily include an account of the other. Ho was born in Bread Street, Cheapside, on the 9th of December, 1608. His father was a scrivener, a respectable composer and musician, and a repub- lican in his opinions. Young Milton was educated first at home, under a tutor, and then at St. Paul's School, whence, in 1624-5, he passed to Christ's College, Cambridge. He was admitted B.A. in 1628-9, and M.A. in 1632. Meanwhile, his father had re- moved to Horton, near Colnbrook, Bucks. Hither Milton, iu the last-named year, returned from Cambridge. By this time he was one of the best Greek and Latin scholars of his University, a pro- ficient in Hebrew, could write and speak both French and Italian, possessed an extensive knowledge of ancient and modern literature, and was a skilful musician. Already, too, he had written verse. The earliest of liis poems now extant are renderings of the cxiv. and cxxxvi. Psalms, produced at fifteen years (1624). In 1626, he had written his Elegy, On a fair Infant, the child of one of his sisters ; — in 1628, the Vacation exercise, beginning, 'Hail! native language, that by sinews tvcak' — and, in 1629, the noble ode, On the morning of Christ's Nativity; followed, in 1630 (?), by the lines Upon The Cir- cumcision and The Passion. To this last year belongs, also, his first published English poem, — the epitapli beginning, ' What needs my ShaJcespear for his honour'd bones?' given tn the world in 1632. {See p. 65, s. 40.) During a five years' residence at Horton ho wrote the companion poems L' Allegro and // Penseroso ; Arcades, a fragment of an entertainment presented at Harefield (Middlesex) baforo the Countess-Dowager of Derby; and the masque of Comua, performed, in 1634, at Ludlow Castle, by the Earl of Bridgewater's tons and daughter, Lady Alice Egerton, whose benighting in Hay- wood Forest is said to have furnished the motive. This last ' dainty piece of cntort;iinmeiit' was sent to the press, in 1637 (without the author's name), by Ht^nry Lawes, the composer of tiio accompanying music, who had grown tirrd of re-copying the words for his friends ; and it appears to have been highly eulogised by Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of P]ton, in a Utter to Jliltou, dated 1 638. ' I should much,' ho writes, 'commend tlio tragical part [i.e. the dialogue], if the lyrical did not ravish me with a certain Doric delicacy in your songa abd odes ; whereunto I must plainly confess to have seen yet nothing parallel iu pur language. Ipia moUitics !' 'It was suflBcicnt,' eaya 1st group (I. 1 to 8). THE AGE OF MILTON AND DRYDEN. 83 Hallam, ' to convince any one of taste and feeling that a great poet had arisen in England, and one partly formed in a different school from his contemporaries.' To 1637 belongs the monody of Lycidas, which was published, in 1638, at the end of a volume of memorial verses upon the death of the poet's Cambridge friend, Edward King, who was drowned in the first-named year while crossing from Chester to Ireland. Another of the poems of this period of his lifa is the following Bonnet To the Nightingale, printed here, not so much on account of its dewy woodland beauty, as to give an example, in its more perfect form, of the Italian exotic which Surrey, Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare had already so successfully cultivated : — ' O Nightingale, that on yon bloomy Spray (o) "Warbl'st at eeve, when all the Woods are still, (6) Thou with fresh hope the Lovers lieart dost fill, (6) Wliile the jolly hours lead on propitious May, (a) Thy liquid notes that close the eye of Day, (a) First heard before the shallow Cuccoo's bill (h) Portend success in love ; O, if Jove's will (6) Have linkt that amorous power to thy soft lay, (a) > ' Now timely sing, ere the rude Bird of Hate (c) Foretell my hopeles doom in som Grove ny : {d) j As thou from yeer to yeer hast sung too late (c) I on(j group For my relief ; yet hadst no reason why, (f?) j (/. 9 to 1-1 > Whether the Muse, or Love call thee his mate, (c) J Both them I serve, and of their train am I.' {d) Tho letters at the end of the lines hare been added to show more clearly the arrangement of the rhymes, usually indicated typo- graphically in foreign, but not always in English, examples. In the first group of eight lines (a pair of quatrains) there are only two rhymes ; in the second group of six lines, there are but two also. Further, says tho law, there should be a break or pause at the close of tho eighth line. Such is the sonnet, according to the severest Petrarchan model.'*' "We shall not detain the reader by enumerating (he variations — chiefly in the multiplication and disposal of the rhymes — which even the most illustrious English practitioners, de- spairing to compel our stubborn terminations to tho canons of this dainty tour-de-force, have at times excused or sanctioned. In 1637, Milton's mother died. With his father's leave, ho set out, in the following year, for a lengthy tour on the Continent. Wotton, in tho above-mentioned letter, had equipped him with a travelling maxim — ' i fensicri slretti, cd il viso sciolto' — 'thoughts close and looks loose,' by which the young Eepublican did not entirely profit. • Petrarch in the In Vtta and In Morte di M. Laura has 112 sonnets with four rhymes, and 203 with Bve. C/, T. HaU Caine's SonneU of Three Cemuries. 03 84 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. He visited Frdiico, Italy, and Switzerland successively, being intro- duced at different times to Grotius, to Galileo, then, to use the tra- veller's words, ' a prisner [in his own house] to the Inquisition, for thinking in Astronomy otherwise than the Franciscan and Dominican licensers thought,'* and to Tasso's friend, Giovanni Manso, Marquis of Villa. By the Italians in particular ho was well received, and addressed three of his Latin Epigrams to the celebrated singer, Leonora Baroni. But the disturbances at home abridged his wan- derings. ' When I was preparing to pass over into Sicily and Greece, the melancholy intelligence which I received of the civil commotions in England made me alter my purpose ; for I thought it base to be travelling for amusement abroad, while my fellow-citizens were fighting for liberty at home.' t He accordingly returned in 1639. At first he occupied himself peaceably in tuition. But in 1641, ' God, by his Secretary, Conscience, enjoined' him to 'embark in a troubled sea of noises and hoarse disputes.' The controversy respecting Episcopacy was raging, and his first prose efforts were directed against the Anglican Church Establishment. ' As long as the liberty of speech was no longer subject to controul, all mouths began to be opened against the bishops ; some complained of the vices of the individuals, others of those of the order . , I saw that a way was opening for the establishment of real liberty ; . and as I had from my youth studied the distinctions between reli- gious and civil rights . . I therefore determined to relinquish tho other pursuits in which I was engaged, and to transfer the whole force of my talents and my industry to this one important object.'J Acting upon this decision, he accordingly \^Tote his first work Of Reformation touching Church Discipline in England, and the causes that hitherto have hindered it, 1641, followed in the same year by another. Of Prelatical Episcopacy, in answer to a pro-Episcopal pamphlet by Arcbblsbop Vsber (1580-1656), and The lieason of Church Government urg'd against Trelaty. Ho also contributed to the controversy between ' Smectymnuus ' (a name concocted from tho initials of the five Puritan authors who collectively employed it) and Bishop Hall (1574-1656), an Animadversions on the Re- monstrant's [Uall's] Defence against Smectymnuus, 1641, and an Apology for Smectymnuus, 1642. These make in all a total of five unti-Episcopal pamphlets on the church question. His marringe gave rise to his next works. In 1G43 lie was united to Mary Powell, • Arcopagiliea, 10-14, f.O (Arl)or'« n>'pnnt, l«fi8). t Defeniio becuiida pro J'op. AngI,, Syinmon's cd. vl. 40.1. j Df/cnsio Sccunda pro I'op. Aryl,, SJmmon's cd. vi. 401. thE AGE OF MILTON AND DRYDEN. 85 daughter of a gentleman of Oxfordshire. The austerity of the poet's household seems to have proved uncongenial to the lady, and after a brief residence she left her new home, declining to return. It was under these circumstances that Milton published successively his Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, \&^Z, Judgment of Martin Bucer concerning Divorce, 1644, Tetrachordon and Colasterion — the last two being published on the same day, March 4, 1644-5. Mrs. Milton subsequently returned to her husband in 1645. To the year 1644 belong also two important works, the Tract on Education, and the Areopagitica, — the latter, generally regarded as the most favourable specimen of its author's prose, being a splendidly eloquent and urgent plea for the liberty of the press, prompted mainly by the restrictive Ordinance of June 14, 1643, for the Regulating of Printing. 'So that the judgment of the true and the false, what should be pub- lished and what suppressed, should not be in the hands of a few men, and these most unlearned and of common capacity, erected into a censorship over books — an agency through which no one almost either can or will send into the light anything that is above the vulgar taste — on this subject,' says Milton, ' in the form of au express oration, I wrote my Areopagitica.' • The fame of Milton as a controversialist was now established. In 1649 the Council of State appointed him Secretary for Foreign Tongues; and in this capacity he replied by his so-called Eikon- oclastes, 1649, to the Eikon Basilike ; or, the Portraiture of his Most Sacred Majesty in his Solitudes and Sufferings, ascribed to Blsbop Gauden (1605-1662), a book which 'contained the most invidious charges against the Parliament.' Subsequently, by order of the Council, he entered the lists with the celebrated Leyden Professor and critic, Salmasius (Saumaise), who had been employed by Charles II. to write a defence of his father. To this Milton replied by the Defensio pro Populo Aiiglicano (IGol) ; and to a second work, entitled Begii Sanguinis Clamor ad Cslum, by Peter du Moulin, he rejoined by a Defensio Sccunda ( 1 654). Already, at the outset of this last controversy, his eyesight, injured by intense application since boyhood, had been gradually failing, and his medi- cal advisers had repeatedly warned him, although ineffectually, of his danger. About 1652 he became entirely blind. His first wife having died in child-bed, he was married again in 1656 to Catherine Woodcock, and ultimately retired from his more arduous secretarial duties, receiving a reduced emolument until 1659. This brings us to the ove of the Restoration. Hitherto, the life of Milton has ox- • De/ensio Secunja, qwtcd in Masson's U/e of iliUon, iii. (1873), 27C. 86 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. emplified those characteristics of tlie literature of the period referred to in the opening paragraph of this chapter. With few exceptions (and those exceptions sonnets) his earlier English poems belong to the years preceding the CivilWar. Thenceforward, until the Re- storation, his pen was devoted to prose, to ' which manner of writing,' be it remarked in his own words, ho was ' not naturally disposed.' As might be anticipated, it is, in parts, splendidly sumptuous and eloquent ; but it is also stiff, laboured, and overladen M'ith Latinisms. ' It is like a fine translation from the Latin,' says HazUtt, and the phrase indicates its chief defect. At the Eestoration, Milton was in some danger until the Act of Indemnity was passed ; and even after this ho was for a short time in custody. No prose work of any importance belongs to his later years. lie occupied himself mainl)" with the composition of Para- dise Lost and Paradise Ecgaincd, the former of which poems appeared in 1GG7, in ten books. In 167-1 appeared a second edition, in which the ten books were arranged in twelve. By his agreement with the printer, the author received 10/. for the first edition, in two pay- ments of 5/. ; and his widow, Elizabeth MinshuU (for after the death of his second wife, in 1058, he had married again) afterwards received afurthersum of 8/., in full of all demands. In 1671 appeared Para- dise Regained, infoiir books, and Samsoyi Agonistes. These were his last poetical works. In 1674 (November 8) ho died, and was buried in St. Giles,' Cripplegate. Milton's minor poems have been already noticed. It remains to give some account of his great epics and his tragedy. In an appen- dix to this chapter will bo found a short analysis of both Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, and it will therefore bo sufficient to con- fine ourselves here to giving a few particulars respecting their com- position and reception.* The writing of some great poem appears to have been an early dream of the poet's life. In a letter to his friend Manso (1638) ho expressly refers to this desire; and ho returns to it in the Epilaphium Damonis elicited by the death of his schoolfellow, Charles Deodati (1608-39). Ills song shall be, he says, of Brutus and Imogen, of Brcnnus and Belinus, and of the ■wife of Gorlois, who, surprised ' By Utlicr, in her husband's form disguised (Such was tlie force of MerUu's art), became Pregnant with Arthur, of heroic fame.' f It was to the Arthurian legends, then, and early British history that • See Appendix D : Note to Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. t Cowpcr, Translations from Hilton, THE AGE OF MILTuN AND DUYDEN. 87 he was to look for his hero. But, as Fentou said truly, although foreseeing only good Sir Richard Blackmore, who wrote, in Drjden's phrase, 'to the rumbling of his coach's wheels,' — 'Arthur was reserved to another destiny.' In the third of his great prose works Milton again refers to the 'inward prompting, . , that, by labour and intense study, . . joined with the strong propensity of nature, he might perhaps leave something so written to after times as they should not •willingly let it die ; ' * though in the subsequent Apology for Smectymnuus he postpones the execution of his project until ' a still time, when there shall be no chiding.' Yet, when at last the still time came, the poet's theme had changed. He no longer proposed to celebrate the shadowy exploits of Igraine's famous son, but turned to that sublimer story — ' Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought Death into the world, and all our woe.' He is said to have actually commenced his task in 1G58, but doubtless had earlier planned and rounded his design. The un- rhymed verse of the poem (for which the publisher found it necessary to procure a justification) may have been one reason why its first reception was apathetic; although, as Sir Walter Scott points out, the unpopularity of the author's character, — the subject itself, and its entire discordance with the Court of the Eestoration, ■were other and more probable obstacles in the way of its success. Nevertheless, it met with some appreciative contemporary admirers, and those of the highest calibre, Marvell and Dryden ; the latter of whom declared it, shortly after Milton's death, to be ' undoubtedly one of the greatest, most noble, and most sublime poems, which either this ago or nation has produced.'f During the next period the enlightened criti- cism of Addison assisted in popularising it, and since that time it has wanted neither commentators nor readers. Paradise liigaincd was suggested by the question of a friend to whom Milton exliibited the MS. of the earlier poem. 'Thou (the speaker was EUwood, the Quaker) hast said much here of Paradiso lost; but what hast thou to say of Paradise found?' It is inferior to its predecessor, but, as is not unusual, its author valued it as of equal if not superior merit. Samson Agonistes at once invites contrast with the poet's earlier dramatic effort of CoJ)ius, — the one sombre, severe, mature, the other youthful, joyous, with the freshness of the morning on it. Comns is • Reason of Chnrch-Governmenl urged aqalnst Prelalii, \ 041 , Symmon's ed.i ,119. t Prefoco to Tt>e Stale of Innocence, and Fall of Man, 1 074. 88 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATUHE. of kiu with The Tentfest, and the pastorals of Jonson and Fletcher: Samson Agonistes derives rather from Sophoclean or Euripidean models; being in structure a strictly Greek tragedy, on a scriptural theme — clear-cut, and of a majestic simplicity. The sublime morality, the pure-toned praising of temperance and chastity, — the buoyant ethereal verse ' as sweet and musical Aa bright Apollo's lute, strung ■with hiahair, trill probably attract the reader rather to the former than to the latter work. But it is impossible not to admire the grandly-reached catastrophe of the mighty Nazarite, nor to forget the aflBnities of the hero and the poet, himself fallen upon evil days, poor, and deprived of sight. In the following Poliloquy, for example, no one can fail to perceive the expression of a feeling as distinctly personal to Milton as the invocation to Light in Paradise Lost (Bk. iii.), or the specific sonnet On his Blindness : — ' — chief of all, O loss of sight, of thee I most complain ! Itlind among enemies, O woree than chains, Dungeon, or beggary, or decrepit age 1 Ligbt, the prime work of God, to me is extinct, And all her variouii objects of delight AnnulI'd, which might in part my grief have eas'd. Inferior to the vilest now become, Of man or worm ; the vilest here excel me. They creep, yet see ; I, dark in light, expos'd To daily fraud, contempt, abuse and WTong, ■\Vithin doors, or without, still as a fool. In power of others, never in my own ; Scarce half I sef-ni to live, dead more than half. O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon. Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse Without all hope of day 1 O first created beam, and thou g^reat Word, " Let there be ligbt," and light was over all ■WTiy am I thus bcreav'd thy prime decree ? Tlie sun to me is dark And silent as t)ic moon, When she deserts the night Hid in lier vacant intcrluniir cave.' {Samson Agonistes, II. CC-80.) A passage from M. Taine, referring to Milton's position as a writer, may not inappropriately close our account of him : — ' Placed, as it happened, between two ages, he participates in their two characters, as a stream, which, flowing between two different soils. THE AGE OF MILTON AND DRTDEN. 89 is tinged by tlieir two hues. A poet and a Protestant, he re- ceives from the closing age the free poetic afflatus, and from the opening ago the severe political religion. He employed the one in the service of the other, and displayed the old inspiration in new subjects . . Adorning the cause of Algernon Sidney and Locke ■with the inspiration of Spenser and Shakespeare . . he holds his place between the epoch of unbiassed dreamland and the epoch of practical action ; like his own Adam, who, entering a hostile earth, heard behind him, in closed Eden, the dying strains of heaven.' * 58. Butler. — In 1663, or a year after MiUon was introduced to the young Quaker, to whom he showed Paradise Lost, Mr. Pepye, the Diarist, was greatly puzzled to account for the success of a • new book of drollery in use,' which for a long time enjoyed far more popularity than the great poet's tardily accepted epic. lie (Pepys) buys the work in question at a bookseller's for two and six- pence, and likes it so little that he sells it again for eighteenpenco. Afterwards, feeling loth to fall out with what 'all the world cries up to be the example of wit,' he pvirchases it once more, and likes it no better. A year later it is still the book ' in greatest fashion for drollery,' but, though for the third time he buys a copy, he ' cannot see enough where the wit lies.' The work which gave the candid chronicler so much trouble was the Hudihras of Samuel Butler (1612-1680), the first part of which was published in 1663, the second in 1664, and a third, leaving the book unfinished, in 1678. The author had been secre- tary to Selden, and then an inmate of the family of a certain Sir Samuel Luke, one of Cromwell's officers, in whom he is said to have found the features of his hero. Recently he had been made Steward of Ludlow Castle by the Earl of Carbury. His Hudibras is a Presbyterian Justice of Peace — an ignoble kind of Quixote, who, in company with an argumentative Independent clerk, Ralpho, 'in the confidence of legal authority, and the rage of zealous ignorance, ranges the country to repress superstition and correct abuses.' f There is not mucli plot in the story, and its endless arguments are sometimes wearisome, but of wit there is enough and to spare. The metre is that doggerel octo-syllabic measure now generally known as Hudibrastic verse. The following lines will exemplify it, and give some idea of the reckless rhyming and the humour of indi- vidual passages. The hero of the poem is, of course, the person referred to. • Van Laun's trans. Bk. II. eliap. vi. Div. 6, at the end, t Jolmson, Lives of the Poets, Cunningham's ed. i. 179. 80 HANDBOOK OF ENQLISII LITEHATURE. • He was iu Logiclc a gi-cat Critick, Profoundly skilled iu Analytic ; He could distinguish, and divide A Hair, twixt South and Soiilh-tcest Side ; On either which he would dispute. Confute, cliange Hands, and still confute ; He'd undertake to prove by Force Of Argument a Man's no Horse ; He'd prove a Buzzard is no Fowl, And that a Lord may be an Oicl, A Calf an AlJerinan, a Goose a Justice, Aojd Rooks Comniitlee-men and Trustees, , « • For Rhetorkk, he could not ope His Mouth, but out there flew a Trope ; And when he happened to break ofl I' th' Middle of his Speech, or cough, H'had hard Words, ready to show why, And tell what Rules he did it by : . . • In School-Dioiiii/u as able As he that bight Irrefragable ; A second Thomas, or at once. To name them all, another Duns : Profound in all the Nominal And real Ways beyond them all ; For he a Rope of Sand could twist As tough as learned Sorbonist ; And weave fine Cobwebs, fit for Scull That's empty when the Moon is full ; Such as take Lodgings in a Head That's to be let luifurnishd-d.' Oludibras, Canto 1. Part 1.) We are told that Ilndihras was received with iiuivorsal applause, and that King Charles II. carried it about in his pocket. Never- theless, the poet died poor, and was buried at the charges of a friend. ' Of all his gains by ver;e, he could not save Enough to purchase flannel and a grave.' Butler was also the author of The Elephant in the Moon, a satire on the newly-founded Ro3-al Society ; and of some prose Characters in the style of Earle and Overbury, first published in 1759. 59. Marvell. — One of the first to appreciate Taradisc Lost had been Milton's colleague in his secretaryship — Andre^ir Marvell (1621-1678), Member for Hull from the Restoration to his death. Of his personal character, it is sufficient to say that lie was in all things the opposite of Waller. The fame of his nervous and plain- epokou satires, in which ho was, in some sort, the forerunner of Swift, has passed with the audience to whieli they were addressed. THE AGE OF MILTON AND DRYDEN. 91 One of his prose works — the Rehearsal Transposed, attacking Samuel Parker(164:0-1688), afterwards Bishop of Oxford — was exceedingly popular ; and several of his poems, e.g. the Emigrants (i.e. Pilgrim Fathers), the Nymph's Complaint for the Death of her Fawn, and, in part, tho beautiful lines, Had we hut World enough and Time 1 ad- dressed to his ' Coy Mistress,' have great beauty and genuine feeling. 60. The IVXinor Poets of the Restoration. — Of, or devoted to, the Court, as these were chiefly, the prevailing tone of their pro- ductions may be easily divined. ' In all Charles's days Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays, — ' sang Pope.* The thus-eulogised 33arl of Roscommou (1633- 1 08 5) was author of a blank-verso translation of Horace's Art of Poeiry, and of an Essay on Translated Verse, in heroics. Johnson praises his versification. He was a correct but tame ■WTiter — one of those of whom it has been aptly said that they are 'toir/ours lien, jamais mieux.' The only other minor poets of any importance were John Wilmot, ZSarl of Rochester (1647-1C80), a man of great wit and satiric talent, but infamous, during a short life, for all tho vices; and Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset (1637-1706), author of the sprightly ballad To all you Ladies now on Land, written at sea during the Dutch war of 1604-67. Sedley and Buckingham we have placed among the dramatists f — ^where also will be found our account of Dryden (iccp. 102, s. 74). 61. The Prose "Writers. — Not a few of the poets of this ago verified the truth of tho dictum which attributes to them excellence as prose-writers. Waller, Marvell, Donne, all thus distinguished themselves. Tho prose of Milton has already been characterised. But the two most eminent are Cowley {see p. 78, s. 51) and Dryden {see p. 102, s. 74). The Essays of tho former have an ease and felicity of expression scarcely to bo anticipated from the trifling conceits of the typical ' metaphysical poet,' and show an immense advance in tho art of composition. The Prefaces and Essay of Dramatic Poesy by tho latter were long famous for the easy epi- grammatic vigour and freshness in which ho clothed his critical apologies for his principles as an author : — • • Imitations of Horace, ii. 1. t For Corbet, Fanshawe, Menni.s, Pomfrct, Vanghan, and some other poets of this period 1625-1700), tJie reader is referred to the Dictionaij Appendix (B). 92 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. ' Read all the prefaces of Dry den, For these our critics much confide in ; Though merely writ at first for filling To raise the volume's price a shilling.' (Swift, Rhapsody on Poetry, 1733.) 62. Hobbes, Clarendon. — The great exponent of ' the selfish school of Philosophy,' Tbomas Hobbe»(lo88-1679), was a man of thirty-seven when Charles I. came to the throne. He was educated at Oxford, and spent his earlier years as tutor to the Cavendish family, in which capacity he lived long on the Continent. In 1629 he published his first work, a translation of Thucydides. Bat the first of his more important productions, the treatise Be Give, did not appear until 1G42, when it was circulated privately. The principles of this were more fully elaborated in the subsequent Leviathan; or, the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclcsiasticall and Civil/, 1651, which may be briefly described as a philosophic defence of despotism. Setting out with the idea that men, in a state of nature, would destroy each other, Hobbcs makes them, by com- pact, place themselves under a common power (a ' Leviathan ' that swallows thorn all), who acts for the common good, and whose laws alone form the standard of right and wrong. Among the ad- vocates of despotism these doctrines, announced ' in language more precise and luminous than has ever been employed by any other metaphysical writer,' were naturally popular; and 'Ilobbism,' says Miicaulay,* ' soon became an almost essential part of the character of the fine gentleman.' On the other hand, his opinions raised a host of vigorous opponents among the clergy, to say nothing of Buch laymen as Clarendon and Shaftesbury ; and, to-day, the works of the philosopher of Malmesbury, despite the undoubted shrewd- ness and talent of their author, and the excellence of his style, are seldom consulted. "While abroad, llobbes had for some time acted as mathematical tutor to the Prince of Wales, and the latter years of his life were absorbed by a controversy upon the quadrature of the circle, in which ho gained few laurels. Among his other works area Treatise on Ilumati Nature, IGUO ; a Lcttir on Liberty and Necessit//, 1 654 ; an indifferent version of the Iliad and Odyssei/, 1674-5, and the so-willed Behemoth, a history of the Civil Wars, 1640 to 1660, published in 1679. Preceding the Behemoth in point of composition, although pub- lished later, comes a somewhat similar work from the pen of one of the most distinguished opponents of Hobbism, the History of ilie • Ilislory of rnglaiut, 18CI, chap. ii. 80. THE AGE OF MILTON AXD DRYDEX. 93 Grand Rebellion, 1702-4, by Edward Hyde, Barl of Clarendon (1609-1674), begun during the author's residence in Jersey, ■where, on the collapse of the royal cause, he had sought an asylum. Though the style, to use the words of Hume, ' is prolix and redundant, and suflFocates us by the length of its periods,' though written from a Koyalist point of view, and composed at different times, under dif- ferent conditions and with different objects, it is still the most valuable of all contemporary accounts of the civil wars, its value lying largely in its excellent delineations of the leading characters of the period, drawn from the life, by one who had been their colleague and intimate. Besides the Survey of the Leviathan, 1676, Clarendon wrote a History of his Life, which appeared in 1759. 63. Fuller, Browne. — There is a certain intellectual fellowship between this pair of authors, for each had distinctive peculiarities of style which separate him widely from his contemporaries. Tbomas Fuller (1608-1661), after brilliant successes at Cambridge, became eminent as a preacher at the Savoy, an office which he lost at the beginning of the Civil War. He then joined the Royalist army as Lord Hopton's chaplain, and in this capacity found leisure to collect materials for his Worthies of England, not published until 1662. His other considerable production, the Church History of Britain, was issued in 1655. He is bestkno'wn by the former — a most careful and entertaining topographical, biographical, and antiquarian miscel- lany. In such a work one does not look for wit ; yet Fuller was one of the most genial and natural (' sweetest-blooded,' says one writer) of jesters, and, side by side with his more serious passages, he shakes off, as it were, an infinitude of kindly, and not discordant aphor- isms and comparisons, leavened with the quaintest and happiest essence of humour. At the Restoration he was restored to his old dignity, and by his death only, it is said, escaped a bishopric. Fuller, we have seen, made capital of his campaigning. Eut Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) was not even disturbed in his quiet Norwich study by the storm of civil war. Like the recluse of the Rue St. Honore, who stuffed birds through the Reign of Terror, he ) went on placidly pursuing his vagrant disquisitions and speculations ' respecting pigmies, ring-fingers, sneezing, and the like. In 1642 — the year of the arrest of the Five Members — was published his Eeligio Medici ; or. Religion of a Physician ; and, iu 1646, he issued his Vseudodoxia Epidemica ; a Treatise of Vulgar Errors. The character of some of these last may be gathered from the following headings to chapters: — That Crystal is nothing else hut Ice strongly congealed ; TJiat a Diamond is softened or broken by the Blood of a Goaf ; That i / 94 HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. Bays preserve from the mischief of Light ning and Tliunder ; That the Horse hath no Gall; Thai a Kingfisher hanged by the Bill sheivcth tcherc the wind lay ; That the flesh of Peacocks corriiptelh not ; and so fortb. Twelve years after the Vulgar iVror*- appeared his Hydriotaphia ; or. Urn Burial, a rhapsody on mortality, suggested by the discovery of bomo Druidical Remains in a field at WaLsingham in Norfolk, to which was added a Discourse on the Quincunx of the Ancients. It is difficult to describe the charm which these works imdoubtcdly possess for literary ^oi/rwif/s. The brain of the author, as Coleridge says, has a twist, and this twist is iu the stylo of the writer. For this wo follow his eloquent speculations and conjectures, his learned triflings and out-of-the-way inquiries. 'His mind,' says Hazlitt, 'seems to converse chiefly with the intelligible forms, the spectral apparition! of things ; he delighted in the preternatural and visionary, and ho only existed at the circumference of his nature.' * 64. ^UTalton. — There is no more interesting figure in English literature than that of the even-minded angler of the Lea. Xzaak IValton (so he wrote his name) (1593-1683) commenced as a sempster or linen-draper in a narrow shop in the City, and having early acquired a competency, retired from business to spend the last forty years of a long life with his rod and hooks. His Compleat Angler ; or. Contemplative Man's liecreatiun, a prose pastoral, inter- spersed with lyrics filled with Cowper's matutini rores, aurwqne salubres — a book ' that breathes the very spirit of innocence, purity, and simplicity of heart.'f — was published in 1653, and passed through numerous editions. Cbarles Cotton (1630-1 687), Walton's adopted son, and author of one of the best versions of Montaigne's Essays, added a supplementary book on Trout Fishing, in 1676 ; and iu more recent years the Sal7)io7iia of Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) owed its origin to the same source. Walton married twice, — his first wife being a descendant of Cranmer, his second half-sister to Bishop Ken. To these clerical connections we perhaps owe that acquaintance with Church dignit^irics which prompted the set of ad- mirably simple, if over-loving, biograpliies, scarcely less prized than the writer's Angler. The first of these, the life of Donne, was pub- lished in 1640, and was followed by those of Wollon, 1051, Hooker, 1662, Herbert, 1670, and Sanderson, 1678. With the first two and the last, their biographer had been personally acquainted. 65. The Diarists. — To the readers of to-day any personal record of the past, especially if it can be proved to have been pre- • Lt/ures on the lita-ature a/ the Agc- of EXxiawlh, 1870, 2ii. t Lamb, Letter to Colerid^jf, Oct. 2(*, 1796. THE AGE OF MILTON AND DRYDEN. 95 pared without regard to a possible public, is of infinite interest. Such were the Paston Letters (sec p. 42, s. 22). Such — not the less amusing from the different characters of the wi-iters — are the Dia- ries of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) and John Evelyn (1620- 1706)— the first extending from 16.i9 to 1669, the second from 1641 to 1706. Pepys was Secretary to the Admiralty in the reigns of Charles II. and James II., a man of taste in art and literature (he collected the Pepysian Library), and of suiRcient enthusiasm for science to get himself made President of the Royal Society. In his diary, which lay for a long time unregarded in its original short- hand until Lord Braybrooke deciphered it in 1825, he appears as a shrewd, simple, inquisitive, and indefatigable gossip, whoso miscella- neous and multifarious notes of things around him afford a vivid and minute picture of the time. Evelyn's mind was of a graver cast ; but his longer diary, also, chronicles endless fomiliar occurrences. lie wrote numerous works, of which one, the Sylva; or. Discourse of Forest Trees, 1664, prompted by an anticipated lack of timber for ship-building, deserves notice, if only on account of the stimulus which its well-timed warning is said to have given to the arboricul- ture of the United Kingdom. 66. Bunyan. — Next to Milton, the writer, who, perhaps to the fullest extent possessed the imaginative faculty, was Jobn Bunyan (1628-1688), ' a man,' as he himself phrases it, ' of a low and incon- siderable generation,' — his father being a tinker of Elstow, in Bed- fordshire. After receiving some rudimentary education, the son earned his livelihood in the same way. As a youth, if we may believe his own account in the little autobiographical tract drawn up in his prison-days, entitled Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, he was notorious for precocious depravity, alternating with periods of the most terrible spiritual anguish. Pinally, having passed through a long probation of mental convulsion, he was admitted, in 1653, into a Baptist congregation at Bedford, and shortly after became a preacher. During the oppression of the Dissenters which followed the Restoration, his popularity in this capacity, singled him out for peculiar rigour, and he was thrown into Bedford Gaol, where he remained until 1672. "While in prison he supported his family by making tagged thread-laces. But his chief occupation was writing. It was during his confinement that — with the Bible, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, and a tattered copy of Luther on the Gala- tians for the bulk of his library — he conceived and began the First Part of that allegory of the Christian Life which is read alike by rich and poor, — by ' lered ' as well as ' lewed.' In the damp gaol upon the Ouse, 96 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. the poor fugitive from the City of Destruction, whom Evangelist directed, set out on the every-day journey through the Strait Gate, and over the Hill Difficulty ; — by the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and the booths of Vanity Fair, to reach at last the Delectable Mountains, and the far-off-shining Heavenly City, whose foundation is framed higher than the clouds. The first inconspicuous edition of the Pilgrim's Progress, the date of which long remained unknown, was issued in 1678. It made its way silently and rapidly, and six more editions appeared in the next four years. In 1684, partly to silence some cavils as to his authorship of the book, he published a Second Part, which relates the journey of Christian's wife and family, and subsequently ho produced his Holt/ War viade by King Skaddai [Jehovah] upon Biabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World, or the Losing and lictaJcing of Mansoul, ' which,' says Macaulay, ' if the Pilgrim's Progress did not exist, would be the best allegory ever written.' That distinction, however, belongs incon- testably to Banyan's earlier work. Its vivid personifications and all-alluring theme are still attractive as ever. Destined at first for a special class, making an obscure and unregarded entry into the world, there can bo no greater proof of its excellence than that it should gradually have compelled the sympathies and admiration of all classes of readers, 67. locke, Temple. — The ' unquestioned founder of the ana- lytical philosophy of mind ' (as ^olin Xiocke [1632-1704], has been called by a great modern authority*) was born at Wrington, in Somerset, and educated at Westminster, and Christ Church, Oxford. At first he devDtcd himself to the study of medicine, acquiring suffi- cient knowledge to deserve the praise of the celebrated Sydenham. His delicate health, however, obliged him to relinquish the hope of becoming a doctor. But before he did this finally, a happy prescrip- tion for Lord Ashley obtained him the friendship of tluit nobleman, who speedily discovered his fine intellectual qualities. With Shaftes- bury's fortunes Locke's are henceforth bound up. In 1683, he fol- lowed his fugitive protector to Holland, whence ho only rtturned at the Revolution. In 1696, lie was made one of the Commissioners of Trade and PlantatioDs ; but his health did not enable him to retain his post, he retired in 1700, and died at Sir Francis Masham's, at tlie advanced age of seventy-two. The English works of Locke belong to the period following the Kovolution, Before referring to his first and greatest work we may record the titles of his principal remaining productions. These are • The late John Stuart Mill, iu his Hystem o/ Logic, THE AGE OF MILTON AND DHYDEN. 97 A Second Letter on Toleration, 1690 (the first, -nTitten in Latin, bad appeared in Holland in 1689) ; A Third Letter on Toleration, 1690 ; two Treatises on Government, 1690 ; Thoughts concerning the Educa- tion of Children, 1 693 ; and Eeasonahleness of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures, 1695. His reputation rests chiefly upon his Essay on the Human Understanding, published in 1690, but planned nearly twenty years before — an abridgment of it having, in fact, appeared in the French language. This book enjoys the distinction of being the first attempt to construct a theory of knowledge by a systematic examination of the features and mechanism of the human mind. The fundamental points of Locke's philosophy are that our ideas aro not innate, and that all our knowledge springs from experience. We borrow the following description of his further procedure : — ' After clearing the way by setting aside the whole doctrine of innate no- tions and principles, both speculative and practical, the author traces all ideas to two sources — sensation and reflection ; treats at large of the nature of ideas simple and complex ; of the operation of the human understanding in forming, distinguishing, compound- ing, and associating them ; of the manner in which words are applied as representations of ideas ; of the difficulties and obstruc- tions in the search after truth, which arise from the imperfections of these signs ; and of the nature, reality, kinds, degrees, casual hindrances, and necessary limits of human knowledge.' * It has been objected that dangerous conclusions may be drawn from some of the principles of the Essay. ' But,' says Hallam, ' the obligations we owe to him for the Essay on the Human Understand- ing are never to be forgotten. It is truly the first real chart of the coasts ; wherein some may be laid down incorrectly, but the general relations of all are perceived.' f With the larger work of Locka must not be confounded a smaller treatise on the Conduct of tha Understanding, published after its author's death. Another writer of the period from the Eestoration to the end of the century was Sir VTilliam Temple (1628-1699), an eminent states- man and diplomatist. His career in these capacities belongs to poH- tical rather than literary history. But, in his various periods cf retirement from more active duties, ho wrote several works, the style of which shows a marked improvement upon that of preceding prose. The chief of these are the Memoirs of the Treaty of Xime- gitcn ; Observations on the United Provinces of the Netherlands, 1673 ; • Bruckcr's Hisl. af Philoiophy, by EnficKl, quoted in Clmmbprs' C»c}on. of Eng. Lit. i. 632. - ' - t lit. llistonj. Tart IV. cliap. iii. § 121. u 98 HANDBOOK OF EKGLISH LITERATURE. Essat/s, and Correspondence. Of liis niisccllaneous pieces, the moat notable are those On Gardening (the Dutch fashion of which was one of his amusements); and the Eesai/ on Ancient and Modirn Learning, a defence of the former against Fontenello, Perrault, and the other upholders of the latter, out of a passage in which arose the celebrated controversy respecting the Letters ofPhalaris. For an account of this the reader is referred to Lord Macaulay's Essay on Temple's Life and Works. Of his manner of writing Macaulay eays : — ' lie had gradually formed a style singularly lucid and melodious, superficially deformed, indeed, by Gallicisms and His- panicisms, picked up in travel or in negotiation, but at the bottom pure English, which generally flowed along with careless simplicity, but occasionally rose even into Ciceronian magnificence,'* 68. Tbe Theologrians. — So rich is this period of the sixteenth century in writers of theological works, that we cannot pretend to notice them at length, or hope to notice them all. The first in order, after Joseph Hall (157i-16o6) already mentioned (ircp. 84, s. 57), are 7obn Hales (1584-1656), and William Cliillingrwortli (1602-1644), both conspicuous for their advocacy of tolerance and rational principles in religion. The Religion of Protestants a saft" Way to Salvation, 1637, is the chief work of the latter; the Tract concerning Schisin and Schismatics, 1 642, that of the former. James Vsber, Archbishop of Armagh (1581-1656), a distinguished anti- quarian, has also been referred to (see p. 84, s. 57). Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), who has been styled the ' Spenser of Prose' and the •Shakespeare of divines,' published a number of works, of which the Discourse of the Liberty of Vrophtsying, 1647, the Great Exemplar, 1649, the Holy Living, 1650, and Holy Dying, 1651, are the best. Robert Sanderson (1587-1663) was the author of l^ine Cases of Conscience Besolved, 1678. Ricbard Baxter (1615-1691), the persecuted author of the Saint's Everlasting Rest, 1650, and :i Call to the Unconverted, 1667; Robert Barclay (1648-1690); 'William Penn (1644-1718), author of iVo Cross, No Crown; and Georgre rox (I624-I691). the founder of the sect, were all Quaker;*. Isaac Barrow (1630-1677), an illustrious mathe- matician as well as theologian, has left a number of masterly and eloquent sermons; Jobn TllloUon (1630-1694) also. The principal work of Edward StiUingrfleet (1635-1699) is his Origincs Sacra; a ratii^iial account of tlie grounds of religion ; that of John Pearson ( Id 1 3-1 686), his Krpositioii of the Creed, 16.')0. 'William Sherlock (1641-1707); Robert South (1633> • Euayt. THE AGE OF MILTON AND DRYDEN. 99 1716), the 'wittiest of English divines,' Thomas Sprat (1636- 1713), Ralpb Cudworth (1617-1688), the celebrated opponent of Hobbes; Tbomas Burnet (1630-1715), author of the Sacred Theory of the Earth, and others, must pass without further mention. 69. Tbe Scientific V/'riters. — Towards the end of the seven- teenth century an extraordinary advance was made in the physical bciences. This was greatly aided, in England, by the establish- ment of the RoYAi Society, which, growing out of the meetings of a few learned men, received a charter of incorporation in 1GG2. Among its earlier members were the Honourable Robert Boyle (1627-1691), according to the well-known example of bathos, ' the father of chemistrj-, and brother to the Earl of Cork,' — a dis- tinguished experimental philosopher; Dr. JTobn VTallis (1616- 1703), the mathematical oppoueut of Hobbes, and Savilian Pro- fessor of Geometry at Oxford; I>r. Jobn TVilkins (1614- 1672), Bishop of Chester, an indefatigable projector and inventor; Sir Christuphcr Wren, Earrow, Sprat (who wrote its history in 1667), Evelyn, Aubrey, Dryden, ^yaller, Denham, and Cowley, besides a number of titled amateurs. Oue of its first presidents in the next century was the famous Sir Isaac Wewton (1642- 1727), whose Principia, or Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, was published in 1687. His treatise on Optics belongs to the next chapter. Other notable scientific names are those of VTilliam Harvey (1678-1657), the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, and Jobn Ray the botanist (1628- 1705). 70. Tbe Minor Prose "Writers. — We must now retrace our steps to recover the names of a few writers of this period who belong to no particular class. Of these, the author of the EjnsioliP Ho- Eliana (164o-55), a series of familiar letters which come between the Paston collection and the Diaries of Pepys and Evelyn, is en- titled to the first place. James Howell (1594 ?-1666), Historio- grapher Royal to Charles II., was a facile writer and keen observer. His Instructions for Forrcine Travel, 1642, has been reprinted in Mr. Arber's series. Another minor prose writer was Jobn Earle (1601?-1665), author of the Microcosnwgraphie ; or, a Pccce of the World Discovered ; in Essaycs and Characters, 1628 — sketches in the vein of Overbury and Butler, also included in the English Ecprints. Owen reltbam (1602?-1G68) was the author of a volume of Essays entitled Resolves, 1620?, after the fashion but not in the material of Bacon's. Milton's friend Sir Henry "Wotton (1568- 1639) may also be included among the Essay writers. His works, n 2 100 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITEKATUKE. under the title of lidiqum Woitonian(S, were published after his death, ■vnth his life by Izaak Walton (sf'c p. 94, s. 6i). James Barringrton (1611-1677), the author of the political Utopian romance of Oceana, 1656; Algernon Sidney (1622-1683), the republican author of Discourses on Government, 1698, and Sip Xogrer Ii'Bstrange (1616-1704), journalist, translator, and Censor of tlie Press in 1663, are other noticeable nann'S. 71. Tlie XTewspaper Press. — Towards the end of James's reign, pamphlets or tracts of news — e.g., Woeful newes from the west 'partes of England, of the burning of Tiverton, Ato, 1612, 'with a frontispiece' — began to be the fashion. The titles of those show that their subjects referred chiefly to foreign aff-tirs, the home occur- rences being of the 'sensational' kind — floods, fires, monsters, and so forth. The first regular series of newspapers in the British Museum is entitled the Wcekh/ Nerves from Italy, Germany, &c., later changed to The Newes of this present week, and subsequently to other titles. The dramatists of the day frequently made sarcastic reference to the doubtful expedients which the early journalists employed to decoy subscribers. But wo may pass from these to something nearer the present — namely. The Diurnal Occurrences, or Daily Proceedings of both Houses in this great and happy Tarliament [the Long Parliament] from the 3rd of November, 1640, to the 3rd of November, 1641. Thenceforth we hare numberless 'eccentric publications, which, taking the title of Mercuries, purported to bring their satires from heaven, from hell, from the moon, and from the antipodes — calling themselves doves, kites, vultures, and screech- owls, laughing mercur'is, crying mercuries, merry diurnals, and smoking nocturnals.' * After the Kestoration tliey were put imder a licenser. But tlicy had acquired a footing witli the public, and neither this control, nor the future Stiimp Act of 1712, Was ablo to crush out the gathering powers of the press. 72. Tbe Survivors of tbe Shakespearean Stag:e. — The diclining radiance of tlio l'>lizabethan school stretciied far into the first fifteen years of Charles's reign. During this period, indood, Ford produced his best plays, and Massinger some of his best. Chapman and ^larston, too, were still writing, but tlioir master- pieces belong to the earlier time. Ben Jonson, ' sick and sad,' albeit Btill regal at limes on his throne at the Devil Tavern, was struggling' with envy, poverty, and his own decaying powers. One of his last plays, the iV(w/»«, produced in 1 629, was received with unmerited con- • Andrews, History of British Journalism, 1. 37. THE AGE OF MILTON AND DRYDEN. 101 tempt, and the only work of importance which he produced after the death of his patron James was the Sad Shepherd, a veritable swan-song, the final effort of his muse. Of the rest, Webster was also living, and perhaps now composed his fine drama of Appius and Virginia, printed in 1654, but certainly brought on the stage some years previously. Ueywood, productive as ever, was still ply- ing his unwearied pen ; so too was Dekker, but he had done his best. The plays of one dramatist, however — the ' last of a great race/ Lamb calls him — belong exclusively to the reign of Charles. James Shirley (1596-1666) has, moreover, the merit of being more free ' from oaths, profaneness, or obsceneness ' than his forerunners, a novelty which extracted from tlie Master of the Revels, in 1633, the expression of a hope that he would ' pursue the beneficial and cleanly ■way of poetry ' which characterised his drama of The Young Admiral. His pieces, mostly tragi-comedies, if we may believe his editor, Mr. Dyce, are happiest in their tragic portions. Two other writers, Tbomas Randolph (1605-1634) and VTUliam Cartwrl^ht (1611-1643), whofre names, as Ben Jonson's ' Sons-in-the-Muses,' may fitly be conjoined, also belong to this time. The Muses Look- iiig-Glass is the chief play of the former; the Boyal Slave that of the latter. Each published a collection of poems. 73. The Stae:e of the Restoration. — According to the Roscius Anglicanus, 1708, by John Downes,* four of the playhouses men- tioned iu the preceding chapter {see p. 60, s. 37), namely, the Blackfriars, Glohe, Fortune, and Red Bull, were open until the be- ginning of the Civil AVars. Besides these, there were a playhouse in Salisbury Court and the Cockpit or Phoenix in Drury Lane, which last had been converted into a theatre after Shakespeare's retirement to Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1642, by an ordinance of the Long Parliament, the repre- sentation of stage plays was forbidden, as being inconsistent with public feeling. Subsequent ordinances, in 1647 and 1648, enforced this measure with great severity ; and although these enactments were occasionally evaded, tlie theatres, up to the Eestoration, were practically closed. Some of the playwrights — Shirley, for instance — continued to jjublish plays, wliich, in default of stage present- ment, found readers in the cabinet. Toward 1G60, however, the rigid legal proliibition appears to have outworn itself, for we find tiiat ^((rt^i-theatrical entertainments were arranged by Sir -William Bavenant (1606-1668), laureate from 1660 to 1668, and author of Gondibirt, without interference on the • A fncsiinilo of the rare original was edited, \\itb a proface, by Joseph Knight, iu IHSU. 1G2 II.WDBOOK OF EKGLISri MTERATUni:. part of the axithorities. With the Restoration the theatres flew open. From the remnants of the old liouses a company was formed, which, acting at the Old Ked Bull, and at a house in Vero Street, Clare Market, finally, in April IGG;?, removed to Drury Lane, and opened with Beaumont and i'letchor's Ilumorons Lieutenant. This, under the direction of Thomas Killigrew, was the so-called ' King's Company.' Another, under Davenant, with the title of the 'Duke's Company' (i.e. the Duke of York), having performed for some time in Salisbury Court, transferred its operations to Lincoln's Inn Fields, where it commenced a fresh career, in 16G2, with Davenant's Siege of Bhocles, and The Wits — ' the said Plays, having new Scenes and Decorations, being the first that e're wei'e Introduc'd in England ' (Downes). At the outset, wax candles had supplanted the old- fashioned cressets, women had taken the place of boys in the female parts, and the forcible and flexile blank verso of the Elizabethans was superseded by the new-fashioned declamatory rhyming heroics after the French manner, which, in their continental exile, the Royalists had learned to admire in the tragedies of Corneille and his school. Puritan rigorism no longer placed its restraints on theatrical license, and the re-appearing drama, lawless with freedom, reinforced with foreign elements, began to run shamelessly its riotous and disreputable course. 74. Bryden. — One man, Jobn Sryden (IC.Il-l'OO), is pre- eminently associated with the Drama of the Restoration. His career as a writer, in the opinion of Jlacaulay, exhibits, ' on a reduced scale, t!io whole history of the school to which he belonged — the rudeness and extravagance of its infancy, — the propriety, the grace, the digni- fied good sense, the temperate splendour of its maturity.'* Active to the day of his death, he fills the foremost place during the last forty years of the present chapter, and through all this time liis influence was felt. The son of a Northamptonshire squire, ho had come to London from Cambridge to eke out a small patrimony by literature, only a few years before the return of Charles II. Ilis first ]X)em, written at Westminster School, and printed in a collection of Efegiex dated 1G49, had a like origin with that of Milton's Lycidas, being prompted by the death of a schoolfellow, the young Lord Hastings. It was in the worst stylo of Donne and Cowley, and gave no promise of future poetical power. Johnson's description of it is characteristic : — ' Lord ITastings died of the small-pox ; and his • Lifeof Dryden, ifiscUaneons Writings. THE AGE OF XflLTON AND nRTDEN. 103 poet has made of tho pustules, first rosebuds, and then gems ; at last exalts them into stars, and says — ' No comet npeJ foretell his chnngo drew on Whose coi-pse might seem a constellation.' * His next effort of any importance -was tlio ILroic Slan~as on the dmth of the Protector in 1658, which, like AValler, he followed with-- out compunction by his Astrcpa liediix, publislied in 16G0, celebrat- ing the return of the Saturnian age with Charles II. Over these, and other panegyrical pieces 'made up,' in Macaulay's words, of ' meanness and bombast,' although ' superior to those of his prede- cessors in language and versification,' one need not linger. The poet was seeking his vocation; and the re-opening of the theatres at once afforded him the requisite arena for his talents. His first play — the prose comedy of the Wild Gallant — was produced by th* King's Company in February 1663, at their A''ei'e Street house, Mith indifferent success. A tragi-comedy, the liival Ladies, brought out in the same year, was more favourably received. His next play, the Indian Queen, 1GC4, a rhymed heroic tragedy, written jointly with Sir Robert Howard (a literary partnership which gave rise to one of another kind, for he married his colleague's sister), aided by splendour of scene and costume, proved completely successful. But the plague of 16Go put an end, for the time, to theatrical represent- ations. During the enforced interval caused by this national calamity, tho poet turned his leisure to account by writing his Annus Mirahilis, 1GG7, and his Essay of Dramatic Poesi/, ICCS. Tlie first, a poem in tho heroic quatrains of Nosce Teipsmn and Davcnant's Gondihert, celebrated tho Dutch War and the Great Fire of tho 'year of AVonders,' — 1666 ; the second, a vigorous com- position in prose, and styled by Johnson 'the first regular and valuable treatise on the art of M-riting,' advocated rhymed tragedy ngiiinst tho blank verso of tho elder dramatists. Drydcn had already exemplified his theories by tho Indian Emperor (acted in tho beginning of 1GG5, published in 16G7), which established hi^ posi- tion ; and in tho preface to a second edition ho defended himself against the opponents of his canons. The production of the Indian Emperor was followed, in 1667, by tiie comedies of tho Maiden Quecv, Sir Martin Mar-all, and, in conjunction -with D.avenant, to whose theatre he temporarily transferred his efforts, an adaptation of the Tempest, tho prologue to which, a, skilful tribute to the Bard of Avon, contains a well-known couplet — • Lives of the Poets, Cunninglinrn's ed., I. 270. 10 1 IIAN'DCOOK OF EXGLISII LITERATDRE. ' But Shakespeare's magic could not copied be ; Within that circle none durst walk but he.* After the production of the Tempest, Killigrew secured the ser- vices of tlie poet exclusively for the King's Theatre, for which he produced successively the Mock Astrologer, first acted in 1668;' - Ti/rannic Love, in 1669 ; and tiie Conquest of Granada (afterwards* printed in 1672), in 1670. In the last-mentioned year he succeeded Davenant as Laureate, and James Howell as Historiographer Eoyal. To the year 1671 belongs an occurrence which cannot lightly be passed over — the production of The Rehearsal, a clever attack upon the heroic plays which Davenant had introduced and Dryden had popularised. In conjunction witli Clifford, Butler,' Sprat, and others, the Duke of Buckingham concocted a farce in which the tumid extra- vagances of the popular writers for the stage were held up to ridi- cule. Passages from the plays of Davenant, Killigrew, Howard," •' and Mrs. Aphra Behn were freely parodied. But the main attack was directed against Dryden, whose peculiarities, literary and per-- ^ sonal, were remorselessly mimicked in the character of ' Eayes '— T Buckingham, it is said, taking infinite pains to teach Lacy the actoV -■ to accurately copy the appearance and gestures of the author satir- ' izcd. He, however, was wise or prudent enough to let the assault pass unnoticed. Nor did the heroic plays at once receive their death- blow ; although Dryden himself only wrote one more, Aureng-zebe, produced in 1675; and, in the prologue, intimates that he, ' to confess a truth, though out of time, Grows weary of his long-loved mistress Rhyme.' Aureng-zebe, however, is one of the best of its class. But All for Ix>ve, first brought out in 1678, a blank-verse play based upon Shakespeare's Antony and C'/copafra, and which, as Dryden has affirmed, was written for himself, had great success ; as also liad flie Itoman Catholic tragi-comedy of the Spanish i^mr, written in 1C80, and produced the year after. His only other successful work, be- tween 1670 and 1680, was the comedy of the Marriage a-Ia-Mode, produced in 107'^. The so-called opera of tlio State of Innocence, published in 1G74, in whicli he 'tagged the rhymes' oi Paradise Lost, may pass with the record of its title. Tlio composition of All for Love marks an era in Dryden's life. •The year 1678,' says Macaulay, 'is that on which we should be inclined to fix as the date of a great change in his manner. During the preceding period appeared some of his courtly panegyrics, — his Annua Mirabilii, a.nd most of his plays; indeed all liis rhyming tra- THE AGE OF MILTON AND DnVDEN. 105 gedies. To the subspquent period belong his best dramas, — All for Love, The Spanish Friar, and Sebastian, — his satires, his translations, his didactic poems, his fables, and his odes.'* It is with his satires that we have next to deal. His powers in this direction had already been partially manifested in his prologues and epilogues, and acci- dent determined his adoption of this branch of poetry. He found his motive in the struggle between the "WJiigs and Tories, whose particular bono of contention at this point of time M'as the succes- sion to the Crown after Charles's death — one party, the Tories, put- ting forward the Duke of York (afterwards James II.), the other, or "Whig party, the Duke of Monmouth. Most of the minor poets had drawn their pens on one or other side of this controversy when Dryden entered the lists overwhelmingly in the Tory interest with his Absalom and Achitophel, 1681. Little more than the names are taken from Holy Writ: Monmouth was Absalom; Shaftesbury, Achitophel; Abdael, the Duke of Albemarle; Said, Oliver Cromwell ; Corah and Agar/, Titus Gates and Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey ; Barzillai, the Duke of Ormond ; Shimei, Slingsby Bethel ; and the personalities of The Behearsal were avenged by the famous portrait of Buckingham as Zlmri. Other names will be found in the Ket/ which generally accompanies the satire. Its success was enormous ; the poet followed it up immediately by the Medal, a Satire against Sedition, 1682, prompted by the striking of 'a medal in honour ot Shaftesbury's acquittal of the charge of high treason,' and by Mac Flecknoe, 1682, an inimitable castigation of ' the true-blue Protestant poet T[/io?;ias] '&\Jiadwell]^ to whom the crown of Diilness is solemnly bequeathed by the Grub Street writer, whose name furnishes the title. A little later in the same year appeared a second part of Absalom and Achitophel by NabumTate (lGj2-171o), containing some two hundred verses by Dryden, devoted chiefly to the demolition of Shadwell under the name of Og, and, under that of Doeg, of an old enemy, the city poet Elkanah Settle (IG 18-172 i), who had pub- lished an Achitophel Transprosed. Dryden's next work was one admirable for its lucidity of reason- ing — the Eeligio Laid, or Layman'' s Faith, 1682, an exposition of his Protestant belief. But, after tho death of Charles, he suddenly became a Roman Catholic, and almost liis next production — The Hind and the Panther, 1687 — was an allegorical defence of his new creed. In this, his longest original poem, the diti'erent sects, Churches, &c., are figured by animals and birds. The Independent is a Bear ; • Li/e 0/ Dri/thn. MiscelUinfoiis Writings. 106 HANDBOOK OF EKOLISH LITERATURE. the Quaker, a Hare; the free-thinker a 'buflfboii Ape ;' the Ana- baptist, a ' bristled Boar ;' the fox is the Unitarian ; and the Presby- terian, a ' vrolf ■with haggrred eyes ;' while the Church of England is represented by a panther, 'fairest creature of tlie spotted kind,' and the Church of Kome by ' a milk-white Ilind, immortal and un- changed.' To the King is assigned the part of the Lion. The allegory, of course, found answers, and one of the replies, the joint Country Mouse and City Mouse (1867) of Charles Montague and Matthew Prior {sec p. 121, s. 80), was long deemed one of the wittiest of parodies ; its literarj' merits, however, are but small. With the accession of William III. tlic CatliolicLaureate and His- toriographer was obliged to vacate his post in favour of Sh.idwell. During liis remaining years he fell back upon plaj' -writing, produc- ing, in 1690, Don Sebastian, one of his best efforts in this line. But his chief works henceforth were translations or adaptations, dis- playing, at their best, his perfected powers over metre and expression. These consist of versions of several satires of Juvenal, and the whole of Persius, 1C93, the AOPE, SWIFT, T&E NOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 113 cally, suffice to constitute [ennis], \lVi. X An instance of change in pronunciation. ' Tea ' (T/i^, which in Pope, S^^■ift, Gay, and Young, rhymes to ' obey,' ' play,' and the like, is another of many. 118 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITEKATDRB, Like Culo, giro bis little Senate laws, And sit attentive to his own applause ; While Wits and Templars ev'ry sentence raise, Ajid wonder with a fooUsh face of praise : — Who but must laugh, if such a man there be ? Who would not weep, if Atticus were he ? * (Prohgue to (he Satirei, il. 193-214.) Whatever pain these Hues iuflictecl (and Pope, • Semper ardenles acums sagiitas,' Iiad patiently assured himself of their power to wound), Addisou received them, when sent to him in MS., with characteristic serenity, llis sole reply was a more studiows courtesy. Of Pope's relations with another literary character, tlie celebrated Lady Mary VTortley Montagu (1690-1762), whom he began by liking and ended by lampooning, tlio limited nature of this book does not permit us to give any adequate account. Nor can wo here touch upon his friendship with the two Miss Blounts. His next published works of any importance, after the Tcmph of Fame, are the Ekffi/ to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady, whoso identity is one of the vexed questions of his biography ; the Epistle of Eloisa to Ahclard ; and (with Arbuthnot and Gay) the farce of Three Hours oftcr Marriage, which proved a failure on the stage. All tlieso belong to the year 1717. Not much significance CJin bo attached to his edition of ShaJcespcave, 1725, little better than that subsequently published by Johnson. It was eclipsed, in Pope's lifetime, by tho more accurate labours of a lesser man, Xewls Tbeobald (d. 1744). Tlie name of Theobald appropriately introduces a work which, by many of Pope's admirers, is regarded as his best. This was his famous onslaught upon the swarming hacks and poetasters of his (l;iy, among Avhose ranks he counted many real or imagined enemies. It will be remembered that Drydon's Mac Fhcknoe, ' without dispute, Through all the realms of Nonsense absolute,' h.idre.'-igncd his empire to Shadwell, who later ousted Drydcn from tlio laurcateship. Pope's Dunciad, founded to some extent upon the earlier satire, tikes up tho succession at the death of Lawrence Ensden, ShadwcH's third successor, and describes the elevation of Theobald to tho vacant throne at tho hands of tho Goddess of Dulness. His criticism of Pope's Shakcf>pcarc had earned him this distinction. Tiie eolemnity is gructd by 'highlieroic game?,' at THE AGE OF POIE, SWIFT, TUE NOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 119 which all Grub Street is made to compete; and Pope, revenging himself, in the name of literature, for injuries suffered in his own person, mercilessly rains down his scathing satire upon the whola body of inferior scribblers : — ' Unceasing was the play of wretched hands, Now this, now that way glancing, to shake o£E The heat, still falling fresh.' {Inferno, canto siv.) The earliest known edition of tlie three books of the Dunciad was published in May 1728 ; but a more perfect edition, dedicated to Swift, appeared in the following year. Other editions followed; and, in 17-12, was added a fourth book, directed against dunces, theologic and pliiloKopliic. To this succeeded, in 1743, a fresh edition of the entire poem, in which the name of Colley Gibber, the then laureate — a dramatist and wit to whom wo shall hereafter refer — was sub- stituted for that of Theobald. The alteration gratified another antipathy on the author's part, but it scarcely improved the 'Epos of the Dunces.' That is, nevertheless, and remains, in Professor Conington's words, ' a very great satire.' Eut its wanton character is well expressed in the sentences with which he concludes his criticism of this celebrated work : — ' Such inhuman, unpityiug ani- mosity cannot be justified, oven on the plea of retaliation; and the plea of retaliation, though elaborately urged, seems not to have been always true.' . , . It is ' an unblessed contest, undertaken in the spirit of Persian tyranny against those who would not propitiate the arrogance of one man, and waged partly witli weapons of the keenest edge and finest temper, but partly also with noisome imple- ments of offence, and inventions of gratuitous barbarity.'* The remaining works of Pope consist of the so-Ciilled Moral E&says, which appeared from 1720 to 1735; the Essay on Man (four Epistles), 1732-4, generally included with them {sre p. 120); and the Satires (Imitations of Horace and Donne), 1733-8, from the Prologue to whicli — the Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot — wo have already printed an extract (.st'c p. 117)- The first principles of tlie Essay on Man Pope received from the famous Bolingbroke, to whom also lie was indebted for the suggestion that gave rise to the Satires — master-pieces of language and metrical skill, unrivalled in their pungent portraiture of contemporary character and manners. ' It is no paradox to say that these Imitations are among the most original of his writings. So entirely do they breathe tlie spirit of • Aliscithtiicoiis Wrilinjs, 167'.\ i, 59, 120 UANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITEUATUKE. the age and country in which they were written, that they can b« read without reference to the Latin model.' * The Satires, it is held by judges, will probably outlire the E.^say on Man. But, more on account of its place among Pope's writings than its intrinsic value, this much-discussed latter work demands some further notice. The poet's purpose, he says in the prefatory ' Design,' is ' to consider Man in the abstract, his Nature and his State.' By ' steering betwixt the extremes of doctrines seemingly opposite,' by ' passing over terms utterly unintelligible,' he hopes to frame ' a temperate yet not inconsistent, and a short yet not im- perfect, system of Ethics.' The Essa>/ (as we now have it) ' is to be considered as a general Map of Man, marking out no more than the greater parts, their extent, their limits, and their connection, but leaving the particular to be more fully delineated in the charts wliich are to follow.' Tlie four Epistles of which it is composed are therefore only part of an incomplete scheme, altliough they form a complete portion of that scheme. They are all dedicated to Bolingbroko (sec p. 134, s. 90), who is expressly apostrophised in the last Epistle as ' master of the poet, and the song ' — as his ' guide, philosopher, and friend.' It has indeed been asserted that Pope simply rhymed the prose Essays of his Mentor. At all events, the presiding influence of Bolingbroke is clearly discernible, and to that influence, taken in connection with the poet's ambition to try his hand at a popular ethical subject, the work must mainly be at- tributed. The Epistles treat severally: Of the Nature and State of Man — (i.) with respect to the Universe ; (ii.) with respect to Himself; (ill.) with respect to Society ; and (iv.) with respect to Happiness. But the theme was unsuited to the treatment adopted. Jloreovor, it has been said, the writer imperfectly understood, nay, was not even in sympathy with, the system ho advanced ; and hence the Essay is ' without permanent value as a philosophical treatise.' In point of execution, however, there is little to be desired. Pope's power of crystallising precepts, of manufacturing ' — jiwcls fivc-words-long That on the stretched fore-finger of nil Timo Bpnrklo for ever,' has never been shown to greater advanUige than in this poem. It is true the gems may bo often paste, but the workmanship is wonder- ful, and the brilliancy incontestable. The following are a few examples : — • npT. Mark rattison. Preface to Tope's Salirts and Epitlki (Clarendon Tress Series), 5. THE AGE OF POPE, SWIFT, THE NOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 121 • Hope springs eternal in the human breast : Man never is, but always to be blest.' rp. i. L 95. •Virtuous and vicious ev'ry man must bo, Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree." ^p.ii. 1.231. ' For modes of faith, let graceless zealots fight ; His can't be wrong whose life is in the right.' Fp. ill. 1. 305. ' Honour and shame from no condition rise ; Act well your part, there all the honour lies.' Ep.iv.l.lQ3. ' What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards ? Alas I not all the blood of all the Howards.' ib. 1. 215. ' Know then this truth, enough for man to know, Virtue alone is happiness below.' ib. 1. 309, In 1718, after the deatli of his father in the preceding year, Pope had settled with the mother — his affection for whom is one of the most pleasing traits in liis character — at Twickenham, where his re- treat, his grotto, and the eccentricities of that taste for gardening which he had inherited from liis father, hare become historical. Here he lived in constant correspondence or personal communion with Gay, Swift, Bolingbrokc, Warburton, and others ; and here, in 1733, his mother died. Iler son survived her nearly eleven years. As a man it is difBcult to regard him with much admiration. ' lie was the most irritable of the ffeniis irritabile,' says one contemporary ; 'mens ciirva iii corpore curvo,' says another. Ho ' played the politi- cian about cabbages and turnips,' says a third ; in other words, plotted and schemed about the veriest trifles. It is this that makes his life 'a succession of petty secrets and third-rate problems' — witness, to take one example onlj', the mysterious shifts and pitiable equivocations to which he resorted in order to smuggle his cor- respondence into print during his lifetime."" He appears to have been vain, sensitive, artificial. He was, however, a good son, — an attached friend; aud it is but just to recall his continued ill-health and painful physical disadvantages when referring to his peculia- rities of character. And he was a genuine litleratenr. Loving letters, at least, with an unfeigned devotion, his exquisite taste and almost faultless metrical art have given him a position in, and influence over, our literature, which will not easily be contested. 80. Prior, Cay. — The story of the precocious youth at the • t'. the full discussion of this subject in the Woris of Alexander Pope, edited bj the Rev. WhitwcU Klwin, i. (1871), Introduction, xxvi.-cxlvii. 122 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATUBE. Rhenish Wiuehouse, who set the fine gentlemen right upon a pas- sage from Horace, recurs at once with the name ofHIatthew Prior (1664-1721). When tiiis incident is supposed to have occurred, ho had already rccdred some brief instruction at Westminster School. In 1683, accepting one of three scholarships esfablislicd by the Duchess of Somerset, ho vent to Cambridge. His first literary effort was in connection wkh the successful parody of Dryden's Hind and Panther, 1687, before referred to {H'e p. 106, s. 7-i). In 1690, by Lord Dorset's aid, he commenced a long diplomatic career, the details of which do not coucern us, as Secretary to the Embassy at the Hague. His principal poems are Alma, a discursive metaphysical work in Hudibrastie verse; Solomon, an epic of the Davidcis {see p. 78, s. 51) class ; and Henri/ and Emma, a modei'n, yet not very happy, adaptation of the fine old ballad of the Not-Brownc Maydc (see p. 49, s. 31). But it is not by these that he will be remembered. His lighter pieces, songs, talcs, and epigrams arc models of their kind. Cowper, who speaks somewhere of ' dear Matt. Prior's easy jingle,' has praised his mastery over familiar verso in a passage • which may stand for a definition of those sprightly social pieces of wliich, in his own age. Swift was the only other really skilful prac- titioner, and of which, from Uerrick and Suckling down to Praed and Thackeray, our literature furnishes so many sparkling examples. 'Priors seem to mo,' says the last-named writer, ' amongst the easiest, the richest, the most charmingly humourous of English lyrio.il poems. Horace is always in his mind ; and his song, and his philo- sophy, his good sense, his happy easy turns and melod}', his loves, and his Epicureanism, bear a groat resemblance to that mostdeliglit- ful and accomplished master,' f ^i^i'^ is one of his epigrams: — ' Yes, every poet is a fool ; By (IcmonBtratioii, Ned can show it ; Happy could Nod's inverted rule I'love every fool to be a poet.' To Prior, in the lecture from which the last quotation but one is taken, succeeds Jobn Oay (168.5-173'.'), already mentioned as joint author with Pope and Arbuthnot of the farco of T/fcc Hours after Mnrrio'ir, of which he bore the blame. Gay was nn easy, in- dolent, good-natured man, now chiefly remembered by the Fables, 1727-38, wliicii he wrote for tlio edification of the young Duke of Cumberland, afterwards the 'Eutcher' of Cullodon, and by that famous ' Newgate pastoral ' — the Beggars Opera — which, when pro- » V. I-cttcr to L'liwiii, Jim. 17, 1782, on Joluisou's Li/c of Piior, t Livjlish Hu,m'jvridi: I'rior Cuy, and J'"i>c. THE AGE OF POPE, SWIFT, THE NOVELISTS, AXD JOHNSON. 123 duced in 1728, banished Italian song, for a time, from the English Stage, procured a coronet for its prima donna, and, in the epigram of the day, made 'Rich [the manager] gay, and Gay [the author] rich.' A sequel, entitled Folly, was prohibited by the Lord Chamberlain ou political grounds, but its publication as a book proved even moro lucrative than the representation of the earlier play. Among Gay's other works are the Shepherd's Week, 1714, six pastorals undertaken, according to Johnson, in ridicule of the so-called 'namby-pamby' style of Ambrose Phillips (1671-1749) ; Trivia ; or, The Art oj Wedking the Streets of London, 1716, a mock-heroic poem, still fre- quently consulted for its pictures of town life and humours ; and the What d'ye Call it? produced in 1715, a mock-tragedy, containing, like the Beggar's Opera, some of those ballads in which the author's ekill was conspicuous, 81. Voungr, Thomson.— The Night Thoughts of Edward Young' (1681-176.5), although they failed to procure for their author the ecclesiastical preferment he sighed for, brought him both gain and honour when they first issued from the press in 1742-6. Now they are but seldom read. True thoughts and lofty imagery are frequent in this series of sombre poems — the full title of which is the Complaint; or, Night Thoughts upon Life, Death, and Immor- tality ; but, side by side with these, are trivial conceits (' butterflies pinned to the pulpit cushion,' one critic has called them), which have earned for the -n-riter the character of a ' successor,' under Pope and Dryden, ' of the Donnes and Cowleys of a former ago.' Young's first important work was a rhymed satire — Love of Fame, the Universal Passion, 172o-8, after the manner of Pope. He was also the author of the licvenge, 1721, a tragedy which long kept the stage. The fame of James Thomson (1700-1748) has been more durable than that of Young. A Scotchman by birth, after resigning tlie study of divinity in favour of that of literature, he came to Lon- don, in 1 725, to seek his fortune, with the manuscript of Wi7itcr in his pocket. This he published in the succeeding year, following it up by Summer, 1727, Spring, 1728, and Autumn, 1730. His love for nature was deep and genuine ; and, tumidity and pomj? of language notwithstanding, his work acquired and still enjoys a merited popu- larity. ' It is almost stale,' says Campbell, ' to remark the beauties of a poem [ho is speaking of the Seasons collectively] so universally felt — the truth and genial interest with which he [the poet] carries us through the life of the year ; the harmony of succession which Lo gives to the casual phenomena of nature; Lis pleasing Irausitioa 124 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATUKE. from uativo to foreign scenery ; and the soul of exalted and un- feigned benovoleuce which accompanies liis prospects of creation.' * After producing two or three tragedies, tlie chief of which is Sopho7iisha, 1730, he issued the Caitlc of Indolence, 1748, a poem in the Spenserian stanza, to the composition of which he brought his matured poetical powers. Of all tlie numerous imitations of the great Elizabethan, this ccrUiinly bears away the palm. In one of Thomsons dramatic attempts — the masque of Alfred, 1740, — occurs the now national song of liide Britannia. 82. Cray, Collins.— The name of Tbomas Gray (1716-1771) recalls at once the Elegy written in a Countri/ Church-yard — a title which must not, howcA'er, be too literally accepted, as, brief though the poem be, the fastidious composer devoted several years to its revision and completion. "When published at last, in 1751, it ' pleased,' as Bj-ron says, ' instantly and eternall}' ;' f and Wolfe de- clared that he would rather have written it than take Quebec.J Its excellence somewhat overpowers the remaining (and not very numerous) productions of its author. But the Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, 1747, the Hymn to Adversity, and the Ode to Spring — all conspicuous for their careful finish — deserve a per- manent place in literature ; as also do the Pindaric Odes of the Bard, and the Progress of Poesy, allhough fit their publication, in 1757, they failed entirely to attract the attention of the public. No better fate attended the Odes of "William Collins (1721-1759), first published in 1747, which nevertheless included the Ode on the Passio7is, and the beautiful Ode to Evening, now known to every schoolboy. The only other notable poetical work of Collins was h\s Persian Eclogues, published in 1742. The scanty recognition which his productions received is said to have been one of tlio causes of the lunacy of his later years, when he is described as wan- dering, during his hours of liberty, in the aisles and cloisters of Chichester Cathedral, accompanying the music with sobs and groans. Gray's life, essentially that of an easy scholar, and passed mainly in a quiet college seclusion, whence he dated those chatty unaffected letters to his friends which still rank as ojiistolary models, is a fctriking contrast to the unhappy fate of his gifted contemporary. 83. Churchill. — Educated at 'Westminster, and, as ho says in the Author, ' decreed. Ere it wns known that I should learn to read,' • Specimens of the British Pocls. t Ohserralion.i upon an Article in /Haclironil, 1820. i Lord Mahon's Ilistonj of i:nglanil, iv. '.'H. Tlic ancciloto Is tbcro reported upon the authority of a middy who was In tho boat >vith '\YoUc. tnE AGE OF 1»0PE, SWIFT, TtlE NOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 125 to the clerical profession, Charles Churchill (1731-17G4) finally discarded the cassock to try his fate as a poet. His first two essays in verse (the Bard, and the Conclave) ■were declined by the publishers ; his third, the Eosciad, 1761, a vigorous and unexpected satire upon the principal contemporary theatrical performers, he published anonymously, and at his own expense. Its success was immediate. Ere the world of critics had well recovered from its astonishment, he followed it up with an Aj^ology addressed to the Critical Reviewers, as daring and outspoken as its predecessor. 'It was a fierce and sudden change from the parterres of trim sentences set within sweet-brier hedges of epigram, that were, in this line, the most applauded performances of the day.'* In that day he was openly named as the rival of Dryden ; but posterity has not ratified the judgment. Of the numerous pieces which, until the close of his short life, he rapidly put forth, the Trophecy of Famine, 17C3, directed against the Scotch place-hunters who swarmed under the Bute administration, and the Epistle to William Hogarth, 1763, to which the great painter rejoined with interest by a caricature of his assailant, are perhaps the most noteworthy. Vigour and fear- lessness are the chief characteristics of Churchill's verse. His breathless and reckless mode of production rendered polish impos- sible, even if (which is not probable) it had been congenial to his nature as a poet. ' Perish my Muse ;— a wish 'bove all severe To him who ever held the Muses dear, If e'er her labours weaken to refine The gen'rous roughness of a nervous line.' (The Apology.) 81. Chatterton, Macpherson, — But a few words can be de- voted to these once celebrated writers. Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770), the first, died by his own hand, after a brief struggle with the hardships of a literary existence. He is remembered chiefly by a number of poems and other pieces purporting to have been the work of a certain Thomas Eowley, priest of Bristol in the fifteenth century; and opinions were long divided as to their genu- ineness. What tha boy of seventeen, wlio could scribble off tolerable political letters, satires d la Churchill, and imitations of Ossian; — who 'goes an evening or two to Marylebone Gar- dens, and straightway writes a capital burletta,'t would have done • Forster'3 Biographical Kssatjx, 18C0, 278 : Cfiarlrs ChurchiU. f Masson's L'ssavs, 185G, 335 ; Chatterton, a Story of (he i'ear 1770. Sec also Wilson's Cfiatttrton, 18C9. 126 HAXDEOOK OF ENGLISH LlirRATUnK. with liis iiiarvclloiis assimilativo powurs had lie aUaiiu-.l maturity, cannot now be conjectrured. It is, however, to ho remarked that his avowed original works are not to bo compared with tlio ' tragyoal entcrlude ' of JEUa, the Vethe of Si/r Charhs Bnmliii (or the Brlstowe Tragedie), and others of the ' Eowley ' series. Tiie second, James Macpberson (1738-1700), was the srlf- styled exhumer of the supposed Gaelic poet, Ossiaii, translations of whose works he issued in 17o9-G3. Tiiesc, again, gave rise to consi- derable controversy; but, although tlic question was never definitely settled, there is little doubt as to tlieir spurious character. 85. The Minor Poets. — To this age belong a number of minor poets, memoralilo in most cases by a single work, i.e. — Samuel Gai-th (1661-1719), Pope's friend, and author of the Dispensary, 1099, a satire originating in a dispute between the physicians and apothecaries, and directed against the latter; 7otaii Philips (1676-1708), author of Cydci; 1708, and a clover parody of Paradise Lost, entitled the Splendid ShiUing, 1701 ; Drydeu's 'quack Maurus'* Sir Richard Blackmore {d. 1729), whose principal works are his ' pliilosophical poem' of The Creation, 1712, and his Arthurian cpios [see p. 87, s. 57) ; Thomas Parnell (1679- 1718), autlior of the //«•/;(/;',• John »yer (1700-1758), author of (irongar Hill, 1727, nnd the Fleece, 1757; "William Somervlle (1677-1742), author of the Chacc, 1735 ; Matthew Green (1C96- 1737), author of the Sjjlcen, 1737; "William Shenstone (17H^ 1703), who survives chiefly by a poem in the Spenserian stanza, entitled the Schoolmistress, 1742; Robert Blair (1C99-1746), author of tlio Graic, 1743; Mark Akcnside (1721-1770), author of the Pleasures of Imagination, 1744, William Falconer (1730- 1769), author of the Shiptcreck, 17C2; James Graingrer (1723- 1767), author of the Sugar Cane, 1764; Christopher Anstey (1 724-1805), author of tlie New Path Guide, 176G ; James Beattio (1735-1803), author of the Minstrel, 1771-1774; and others foi whom the reader is referred to our Dictionary Appendix (E). Of Scotch Poets must be menlioned Allan Ramsay (1686-1 758), originally a wig-maker ; but subsequently— choosing (as lie said) ratlier ' to lino tho inside of the pash [head] than to theck [thatch] tho out* — a publisher and author. Ramsay's chief work is a delightfully genuine pastoral, entitled the Gentle Shipherd, 1725; and lie contributed much towards the preservation of ancient popular poetry by assiduously collecting old ballads, many of which appeared in his earlier Tea-talle Miscellany and tho Evcrgrene, 1724. • p. Drydcn's Trologuc to tho PJgrim, 1700 ; Preface to tlie FalUi, &c. THE AGE OP POPE, SWIFT, THE NOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 127 Robert Fergusson (1750-1774), a poet who M'as even a greater favourite with Burns than Ramsay, was the author of some pleasing pieces in the Scotch dialect, 86. The VTartons, Fercy. — Both Thomas and Joseph VTarton — the former of whom lived until 1790, the latter until 1800, — wrote poems; but their prose services to poetry have sur- vived their verse. Josepli was the author of an important Essai/ on the Genius and Writings of Pope, 175G-1782; and Thomas of an exhaustive History of English Poetry, 177-1-1781, extendingfrom the close of the 11th to the beginning of the IStli century, which, from its want of system, remains, as Scott predicted, rather an im- mense ' common-place book ' of Mhnoircs pour servir than a stan- dard work.* The name of Scott recalls another book, M-hich h.ad no small influence upon his career, and those of not a few of his literaiy contemporaries — namely, the lieliqucs of Ancient English Poetry, 1765, collected and edited by Thomas Percy (1728-1811), bishop of Dromore, a work from the appearance of which, ' some of higli name have dated the revival of a genuine feeling for true poetry in the public mind.' f Percy's materials were derived from an old MS. volume in his possession ; and, in adapting them to the tasto of his age, he used considerable editorial license. Curiosity has long been rife as to the extent of his additions and omissions, and the publication by the ' Ballad Society' of the folio MS., under the able editorship of Messrs. J. W. Hales and F. J. Furnivall, has placed the public in possession of the unsophisticated origin.^l.s. 87. The Prose-writers: l>e Toe, — In the year after Dry- den's death, 1701, appeared a metrical satire, entitled the True- born Englishman, the author of which was a London tradesman and Dissenter, who, having tried various branches of commerce, was destined at last to win a great name in literature. The satire in question was the answer of Daniel De Poe (1601-1731) to the aspersions of one Tutchin, a Grub Street hack, upon the Ilouse of Orango and the Dutch generally. Regarded :is verse, the perform- ance of Do Foe was poor ; but its manly, p.atriutic sentiments found so great a favour that more than 80,000 copies were sold in the streets alone. A year later, the same s;itirist published, anony- mousl)', and in prose, an inimitably ironical Shortest Way with the Dissenters, 1702, in which, to the complete mystification of that sect, • A new edition in four voluni03, l,y W. Carew ITazlitt, appeared in 1871, with 'notes and atlditinns' by Sir F.'MaiWeii, Til. VTrigbt, Alijis Wriglit, Truf, SVtent, Dr. Morris, Dr. Furnivall, anil the editor. t lUU.iin, Lit. Jiis(j,f, UG4, ii, 23J. 128 ItANbfeOOk Ot feS^GLlSH LitERATURE. and the delight of High Churchmen and Tories, the 'rooting out' of Dissent was roundly advocated. "When the pamphlet was found to emanate from the pen of a Dissenter, the audacious author was fined, pilloried, and imprisoned, and his book was burned by the common hangman. In Newgate — 'unabash'd' — he wrote a Hymn to the Pillory, 1 703, apostrophising it as an • — UicroKlyphic State machine, Contriv'd to punish Fancy in.' By two or three similar couplets, or lines, the homely and practical muse of De Foe is now alone remembered. Such are— ' Wherever God erects a house of prayer, The Devil always builds a chapel there ; ' and the noble — • It's personal virtue only makes ns great,' in the Truchorn EiifjUshman. In Newgate, too, he projected, and began, the Review, 1704-1713, a part of which paper — i.e., the ' Scandalous Club,' may be re- garded as the precursor of the Tatkr. Ho continued it, single- Iianded, for nine years. The power and assiduity of his pen were recognised by the Government, and ho appears to have been em- ployed in socret service up to a late period of his life. In this place the enumeration of his two hundred and fifty works, political, religious, and commercial, can sc^arcoly bo attempted. It is with the series of realistic fictions, inaugurated by Iiobi7iso7i Crusoe, that we are most concerned. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd parts of Robinson Crusoe {the 3rd part being his Serious Reflections) a'p^ieared in 1719- 1720. In 1720 also came out the Life and Piracies of Captain Singleton, and the History of Duncan Campbell; the Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders ioWovred in 1722; also in 1722, the Life and Adventures of Colonel Jack and the Journal of the Plague Year (16Co); and, in 1724, Roxana. The Memoirs of a Cavalier are not dated, but they appeared in 1720. Other notable works of De Foe are the History of the Union, 1709; the Family Instructor, 1715-8; Religious Courtship, 1722; Political History of the Devil, 172G; Complete English Tradesman, 1725-7; and Travels in Eng- land and Wales, 1724-1727. Of the Life and strange surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner, who, according to the original title-page, ' lived eight-and-twenty years all alone in an uninhabited Island [surely this coraos in the category of Bulls ' !]oftho Coast of America, near Tile AGE OF ^OrT, SWIFT, TIIH KOVkUSTS, AXD JOIIXSOX. 120 the mouth of tho Great Eiver of Oroonoquo,' and was at last ' strangely deliver'd by Pyrates,' who has not heard ? For what are we not indebted to his living prototype — that morose Alexander Selkirk or Selcraig, whom Dumpier ' marooned,' in the old bucca- neering days, upon Juan Fernandez ? * To say that Bobinson Crusoe has been translated into many languages, — that it has attracted audiences to Arab story-tellers, and paid, again and again, its penalty of excellence in parody and imitation, is only to repeat what is recorded in every fresh edition. The incontestable charm of De Foe's style in this and other fictions is its truthful lifelikeness. No one has excelled him in the art of accumulating matter-of-fact minut'ue and circumstantial detail, — in what Professor Masson calls his ' power of fiction in fac-simile of nature.' No wonder that his inventions have been mistaken for gpnuine records. Chatham was deceived by one set of memoirs ; Johnson by another. It is hard, even now, to disbelieve the Journal of the Plague, still less the ' true Eelation' of the ^/>/>fl;"i7w?j of one Mrs. Veal . . to one Mrs. Bar- grave, at Canterhury, the Eighth of September, 1705 — in order to recommend to the attention of that lady (and, collaterally, to the attention of all other perusers of devotional manuals), the con- solatory but unsaleable precepts of Drelincourt 0« Death. Never was device more successful. Not only did the French Calvinist'a book become popular, by reason of its preface, but it remains so. 'Mrs. Veal's ghost is still believed in by thoxisands; and the hundreds of thousands who have bought the silly treatise of Brelln- conrt (for hawking booksellers have made their fortunes by travers- ing the country with it in sixpenny numbers), have borne unconscious testimony to the genius of De Foe.' f 88. Swift. — In the same year in which De Foe published his Shortest Wag tuith the Bissenters, there came to London 'an eccen- tric, uncouth, disagreeable young Irishman,' of five-and-thirty, who astonished the wits at Button's Coifee-House by the extravagance of his behaviour. If we regard that kind of supremacy which is con- ferred by fear rather than love, Jonathan Swift (1GG7-17-1;>) was certainly one of the greatest men of his age. At the time of bis visit to this country, he was incumbent of Laracor, iu Meath, and had come over to claim the authorship of a pamphlet Essay in tho Whig interest, A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nob'es and the Commons in Athens and Borne, 1701. Previously, • Scott 'maroons' his /*(>«/?, and alleges that such abandonments were com- mon amonp tlie Bnooaiieers. t l''i)r>ter'.-i liio'iraphUal i:ssaii$, 18C3, 123. It is now contendcil that Defoe'a ttiM-y was really truo. ICO nAXDEOOK OF EInGLISH LITERATURE. after echioation at Trinity College, DuWic, ■whore, ou account of his verj irregular studies, ho received Lis degree spcciali gratia, ho had been a dependant of, and Secretary to, Sir "William Temple {see p. 97, B. 67); — had quarrelled with and returned to him ; and, finally, at his patron's death, had settled down discontentedly in the Irish living, presented to him by Lord Berkeley, whence he had just arrived. His first work, as we have said, was on the side of the Ministry. But the politics of Swift were of a mingled tissue. As a 'lover of liberty,' ho inclined to tiio "Whigs ; as a clergyman, he confessed himself tu be a High Churchman, — consequently a Torj'. These divided opinions have given colour to the accusation of Macaulay, that he was ' an apostate politician.' "With the statement that, Avhile pre- serving his Iligli Church principles, he appears to have attached himself at first to tlie Whig party, we may proceed to the list of his chief works until he transferred his allegiance to the Tories. In 1704:, came out his Tale of a Tub and Battle of the BooJcs, — the latter a burlesque Homeric description of the Eoylo and Bentley contro- versy {sec p. 98, s. 67), in which he attacks the vindicators of the moderns. The Tale of a Tub is an allegorical account of the for- tunes of three brothers : Martin, who stood for the Church of Eng- land, and Peter and Jack, who respectively figured Popery and Dissent, and of their dealings with their father's will (the Bible) ; and, more especially, with certain coats (or creeds) therein be- queathed to them. The honours of the fable lay, of course, with Martin; but the author's satire fell so impartially, that Voltairo is alleged to have recommended tho book to his disciples as tending to discredit Revelation. Swift at once became a power in literature; and, in some respects, did not excel tho Tale of a Tub by any subsequent effort. So, in fact, he believed himself, being reported to have exclaimed in later years — '"What a genius I had when I wrote that book ! ' 'It exhibits ' — says Johnson — ' a vehemence and rapidity of mind, a copiousness of images, and vivacity of diction, such as he afterwards never possessed or never exerted. It is of a mode so distinct and peculiar that it must be considered by itself; what is truo of that is not true of anything else that ho has written.'* Though its irreverence scandalised readers, it has been remarked that the author was ntvertheless a staunch supporter of the Established Church, and that his successive works during the next six years, i.e. Letter on the SacramcJital Test, 1708 ; Sentiments of a Church of England Man with respect to Religion and Government, 1708; Eea- sons against Abolishing Chrisiianify, 1708 (a matcliloss ppecjmen of • J I'.nson, Lira of (he Pocti, TnE AGE OF POPE, S^VIFT, THE NOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 131 irony), and Trtject for the Advancement of lieligion, 1708, afford suiBcient evidence of this position. Yet, on the whole, it is scarcely surprising that the formidable author of the Tale of a Tub waited long and vainly for ecclesiastical advancement. From 1704 to 1710, Swift lived between England and Ireland. In the latter year, he came over to London ' at the desire and by the appointment of the archbishops and bishops of Ireland ' to obtain, if possible, the long-solicited remission of the rights of the Crown to the first-fruits and twentieth-parts payable by the Irish clergy. Having succeeded in his object, he shortly aftei-wards transferred his services to the Tories ; and, until 1714, continued on terms of the greatest intimacy with their leaders. His life, at this time, is minutely detailed in the well-known epistolary journal, 1710-13, which he kept for the benefit of the unfortunate Stella, to whom we shall make some further reference. His daily habits, his power with the ministers, his pamphlets, his literary friends, his imperious kindness and bullying benevolence, are all exhibited without reserve in this familiar chronicle. Eut, in sum, the only practical reward he received was, not the English bishopric upon •which he had set his heart, but the Irish deanery of St. Patrick's; and, at the fall of the Tories in 1714, he once more returned to Ireland, which he detested. In Ireland Swift was destined, nevertheless, to acquire an im- mense reputation. About 1720, he began, in various ways, to champion Irish affairs against the Whigs {teste his Proposal for the Universal Use of Irish Manvfactures and the liejection of Everything tvcarahlc that comes from England, published in that year) ; and, in 1723-4, when a patent was granted to a certain William Wood for an Irish copper coinage, the Dean, by his celebrated Drapiers Letters, raised so serious a storm of opposition to the poor man's ' brass halfpence' that, good or bad, the patent for them was recalled. This exploit completed his popularity. Medals were struck in his honour ; the ' Drapier's ' head was elevated to ale-house signs ; and, as the vindicator of Irish nationality, ha became the idol of the Irish people, a distinction which he retained to the day of his death. In 1726 and 1727 appeared, in two successive volumes, the won- derful book of imaginary voyages, with which Swift's name is most generally associated, viz., GtdUver's Travels. The first of the voyages, that to LiUiput, deals with a race of pigmies, in the account of whose doings contemporary politics and politicians were severely satirised; the next, the voyage to Brohdingnag, describes a country of giants in much the same relation to humanity as Gulliver himself was to the Lilliputians of his first adventure. Voyages to Laputa (a flying lo'2 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. island), Balnibarhi, Lttggnagg, and othRr places occupy the third part, and tho satire in this is chiefly levelled at scientific quackery. In the voyage to the country of tho Houyhnhnms, horses served by degraded specimens of humnnity called Yahoos, the author gives a cruel and loathsome picture of mankind. ' With what power, wliat genius in ludicrous invention, these stories are vrritton, no one needs to be reminded. Schoolboys, who read for tlie story only, and know nothing of the satire, read Gulliver with delight ; and our literary critics, even while watching the allegory and commenting on the philosophy, break down in laughter from the sheer grotesqucness of some of tho fancies, or are awed into pain and discomfort by tho ghastly significance of others.'* During 172G and 1727, Swift again visited Englanil, spending much of liis time in the company of Gay, Arbuthnot, Eolingbrokc, and Pope. With the last of these his friendship was of tho closest. His hopes of preferment revived witli the attempts of the Tories to return to power. But he was doomed to dio Dean of St. Patrick's ; and, in 1727, returned to Ireland for the last time. Between this date and 1736, his literary activity continued to expend itself in political pamphlets and lampoons. To this period belong his famous ironical Modest Proposal for prevoiting the children of poor people in Ireland from becoming a burden to their Parents or Country, 1729; his Directions to Servants, 1745; and his Polite Conversation, 1738. His health, however, had already begun to fail; and, not long after the last-named date, tho mental disorder which he had for years foreboded came Tipon him, and the ' great Irishman,' as ho was affectionately called, 'from a state of outrageous frcnz}-, aggra- vated by severe bodily suffering, . . sank into tho situation of a helpless changeling.' He was buried in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, where, according to the words of his epitaph on himself, S(Z'va indignaiio tdt(rius cor laarare nequif. In most accounts of Swift much space is devoted to tho discussion of his intercourse with tho Stella and Vanessa of those 'easy, am- bling verses,' of which, like Prior, ho was so skilled n mastcr.t .Stella, the young lady in Ireland for whom ho wi'oto his Journal, was a Mi.«s Esther Johnson, a resident in fho household of Sir William Temple, after whose death slio had moved into Swift's vicinity, first at Laracor, and then at Dublin ; Vancsa was a Miss Vanhomrigh, who had formed a violent attachment for the Dean • Ma5snn, Dritish Xocelistx and their SI ijles, 185!>, 91, t V. Birilnlay I'oemt to f>!clla, 1718-25: Cailfnut (i.e. Dfcanus, D^an) and Tanessa, 1723. I'lIE AGE OF rorC, SWIFT, TUE XOVELISTS, AKD JOIlNSC:r. 133 during his sojourn in London, and had followed him to Ireland. Finding it impossible to supplant her rival in his affections, Vanessa died in 1723 of a broken heart; and the life of Stella, to whom ho is alleged to have been privately married in 1716, was embittered by his refusal, on some obscure grounds, to acknowledge their relations. The story of the marriage, however, rests upon no very conclusive evidence, and we must set against it the fact that the lady, in her will, made shortly before her death in 1728, described herself as a 'spinster.' The matter is, in fact, a problem, the solu- tion of which is more or less bound up "with the solution of the leading mystery in Swift's life. And what was that? His biographers have answered the question ^itli much conjecture and little certainty. How are we to explain that 'demoniac' element (as Professor Masson stylos it) in the character of this great and unhappy genius, which, in its milder form, no worse than intolerance of cant and ' Scoru of fools, by fools mistook for pride,' degenerated at times into raving misanthropy and obscene brutality ? Let the reply bo what it may, ' herein at least was a source of etrcngtli which made him terrible among his contemporaries. He came among them by day as one whose nights were passed in liorror; and hence in all that he said and did there was a vein ot ferocious irony.'* The ' foremost satirist of his ago' he remains to posterit}', in the words of Archbishop King, as reported ly Dr. Delany, ' the most miserable man on earth, but on the subject of his wretchedness you must never ask a question.* 89. Berkeley, Arbuthnot. — The first of these writers, George Berkeley (lG8o-l7o3), Eishop of Cloyne, was a distinguished pliilosopher and contemporary of Swift. Among his works are an FsiO!/ io'.vards a new Theory of Vision, 1709, and a Treatise con- cernivg the Princij^les of Human Knowledge, 1710, with the attempt in the latter of which to prove that the commonly received notion of the existence of matter is false, the name of the author is now generally associated. The series of dialogues called Alcipkroji ; cr, the Minute Thilosnphcr, 1732, written to expose the weakness of infi- delity and scepticism, is another and well-known work of Berkeley. In Sir is ; or, rhilosoj^hical Erjiedions and Inquiries concerning the virtues of Tar Water, and divers other suiijccts connected together and arising one from another, 1744 — the virtues of that then popular • llassoii, Rritish li'orclists and llicir Slyks, 1859, 03. v. also 5I.'.E5on's Eisatii, ISStJ : Dean Hiei/t, 134 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LlTEKATl'i;!' . specific arc discussed at length. l>r. Jobn Arbutbnot (1667- 1735), Pliysician in Ordinary to Queen Anne, and a celebrated Tory wit, was also a contemporary and friend of Swift. He was the author of the History of John Bull, 1712, a satire upon Marlborough and the AVars of the Succession ; and took a considerable part ia the proceedings of the ' Scriblcrus Club,' formed by Barley, Con- greve, Pope, Swift, Gay, Atterbury, and others, about 1714, to ridicule all the false tastes in literature under the character of a man of capacity that had dipped into every art and science, but injudiciously in each. 90. Shaftesbury, Boling:broke, Mandeville. — The grand- son of Dryden's ' Achitophol,' Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Sbaftesbury (1671-1713), is the author of a number of ethical works entitled collectively Characteristics of Mm, Manners, Opinions, and Times, 1711-1723, and of an Inquiry conccrniiig Virixic, 1699. Henry St. John, Viscount Boling:broke (1678-1751), a celebrated statesman and orator of Queen Anne's reign, for whose unsound philosophy Pope's Essay on Man was made the mouthpiece, is to be remembered now by his Letters on the Study of Iliitory, his Idea of a Patriot King, 1749, and the defence of his political conduct in a iMtcr to Sir William Windham, 1716. Bernard de XtXande- ville (1670-1733), another writer of this day, is the author of a ' Satire upon Artificial Society, having, for its chief object, to ex- pose the hollowncss of the so-called dignit}' of human nature,' and entitled the Fahlc of the Bees ; or, Private Vices Public Benefits, tho first sketch of which appeared in 1705. 91. Tbe Essayists. — "With both Do Poe and Swift, the periodical work by which Steele and Addison inaugurated a long succession of Essay-literature was, in a measure, connected. In tho Mircure Scandalc; or. Advice from the Scandalous Cluh, — the 'little Diver- sion' with which Do Poc sought to enliven the somewhat prosaic and over-practical pages of bis lievietv, may perhaps be traced tho germ of the Taller, which made its first appearance on the 12th ot April, 1 709. From tho pseudonym under which Swift had issued cer- tain famous anti-astrologic Predictions for the year 1708, beginning witii tho announcement of the death of Partridge the almanac-maker, whoso subsequent protestations respecting his vitality, gravely op- posed by Swift's merciless assertions of his non-cxistcncc, had kept tho town in an uproar of merriment, — Steele borrowed that well- known name of ' Isaac Bickerstaff,' which his tri-wcekly papers made still more familiar. But, before proceeding to any account of this eldest collectiou of ' Essays,' it will bo well to s;iy something of THE AGE OK rori-, SWIFT, THE NOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 135 the two principal writers. Slicliara Steele (1672-1729) was the son of an Irish attorney; 7osepIi i^ddison (1C72-1719), the son of an English clergyman. They were of the sumo age, they wero educated at the Charter-house together, and both went to Oxford. Addison was at first destined for the Cimrch. By the favour of the Earl of Halifax, he obtained a grant enabling him to travel on the Continent; and, in 1705, published a narrative of Iiis Tour, bristling with illustrations from the Latin poets. At ^Yilliam's death this grant ceased ; but through a poem on the Battle of Blenheim (the Campaign, 170-1), he obtained a Commissionership of Appeal in the Excise, and became subsequently Under-Secretary of State, Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Secretary of State. In 1/07 he supplied the words to Clayton's opera of Eosamond, Steele in the meantime had enlisted as a cadet in the second regiment of Life Guards; had becomo a captain in Lucas's foot; written a pious book under the title of the Christian Hero, 1701 ; and X^roduecd the comedies of the Funeral ; cr, Grief a la Mode, acted in 1701 ; the Lying Lover, 1704:; and the Tender Husband, 1705, — all of which plays, in point of morality and decency, arc considerably in advance of Vanbrugh and Farquhar. In 1707, he was made 'Gazetteer.' In 1709, he designed and published the first uumbei of tlie Taller ; or, Liicuhraiions of Isaac Bic/cerstaff', Esq., a penny paper, issued every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and having for its ' general purpose/ in the words of the Preface to Vol. I., ' to expose the false arts of life ; to pull off the disguises of cunning, vanity, and affectation ; and to recommend a general simplicity in our dress, our discourse, and our behaviour.' After eighty numbers had appeared, Addison joined him, and thenceforward the ' lucubra- tions ' were produced in concert. Steele refers to this alliance with the frank generosity which is characteristic of him : — ' I fared,' lie says, ' like a distressed prince, who calls in a powerful neighbour to his aid; I was undone by my auxiliary; when I had once called him in, I could not subsist without dependence on him.' * The Taller readied 271 x^apers (the last of which is dated January 2, 1711) ; and was succeeded by the Spectator, the first of whose utter- ances bears date the 1st of March following. An extract from tho introductory paper will explain the title: — 'I live in the World,' says the -writer, ' rather as a Spectator of Mankind, than as one of tlio Species; by ■which moans I have made myself a Speculative Statesman, Soldier, Merchant, and Artizan, without ever meddling with any Practical Part in Life. I am very well versed in tho • I'lxfi'.L'C to Tatler, iv. 136 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Thooiy of an Husbaiul, or a Father, and can discern llio Errors in the fficononiy, Business, and Diversion of otliers, better than those who are engaged in tliom ; as Standers-by discover Blots, ■which are apt to escape those -n-ho are. in the Game. . . In srhort, I have acted in all the parts of my Life as a Looker-on, which is the Character I intend to preserve in this Paper.' * In the second number we are introduced to the admirable character of Sir Roger de Covcrley, and tlio remaining members of the immortal ' Club,' in which the plan of the papers is ' laid and concerted.' Such is the machinery of that delightful periodical, which was the daily ac- companiment of the eighteenth-century breakfast-tables; and it must certainly be allowed ' to bo both original, and eminently happy. Every valuable essay in the scries may bo read with pleasure separately ; yet the five or six hundred essays form a whole, and a whole which has the interest of a novel. It must be remembered, too, that at that time no novel, giving a lively and powerful picture of the common life and manners of England, had appeared. . . The narrative, therefore, which connects together the Spectator's Essays, gave to our ancestors their first taste of an exquisite and untried pleasure.'f The Spectator appeared daily (Sundays excepted) until the Gth of December, 1712, at which date it had reached its 655th number. Then Steele (whom wo must regard as the leader of these successive enterprises, Addison's assistance being pseudonymous), with a view to obtain a greater scope for the discussion of contemporary poli- tics, decided upon a new venture, and substituted the Guardian, 1713. The Guardian reached 175 papers; Steele followed it up with the Englishman, 171 3-1 4, in which he opposed Swift's Examiner. To the Enijlishman, Addison did not contribute. But in 1714, without Steele's aid, he recommenced the Spectator, which, how- ever, only extended to an additional volume, generally known as the ' eighth.' \ Numerous periodical Essnys succeeded the Guardian of Addison and Steele. Among these arc included the liamtdcr and Idler of Johnson {see p. 1 40, s. 9 1) ; the Adventurer of Hawkcsworth, 1752-4; the World of Edward Moore, 1753-G; the Connoisseur oi George Colman and 13onnel Thornton, 175 1-6 ; the Mirror, 1779-80 ; the Lounger, 1785-7 ; the Babbler, and others. Of tlic lives of the two great essayists little more remains to be Baid. The production of his frigid ti-agcdy of Cato, 1713, and his • flpectator. No. 1, Thnrsdny, Mnrcli 1, 1711 [by Addison], t Mnciulay's L'ssa>/s, ]8ti0, li. 3 1.'* : /.i/e and )f'iiliiif/s n/ Aflilison. t For UiulpoU and Iluglica, tlic only two rcfriiLir contributors to the Spfctalor after btcL'lc uiid Addison, tlic reader is referred to tbe Dictionary Appcudi.^ (E.). TUE AGE OF rOPE, SWIFT, THE KOYELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 137 uasuccessi'ul comedy of the Drummer, 1716, the puLlication of tho Beries of papers entitled tho Freeholder, 1715-16, and his marriage, in 1716, to the Countess Dowager of War wick were the chief occurrences of Addison's remaining years. Steele survived his friend, and pro- duced, in 1722, another comedy — the Conscious Lovers, generally considered to be his best. Lord Macaulay has left an appreciative essay upon Addison ; Mr. Forster has written another upon Steele ; — and each is equally tenacious of the character of his author. '•" With a reference to these tributes, and the following citation from Professor Craik, we may pass to those great novelists, who were to evolve in artistic narratives tho fortunes of characters as admirable as the Coverleys and Honeycombs who had diversified the Spectator. ' Invented or introduced among us as the periodical essay may be said to have been by Steele and Addison, it is a species of writing in which perhaps they liave never been surpassed, or on the whole, equalled by any one of their many followers.' . . Besides ' the con- stant atmosphere of the pleasurable, arising simply from the light- ness, vanety, and urbanity of these delightful papers, the delicate imagination and exquisite humour of Addison, and tho vivacity, warm-heartedness, and altogether generous nature of Steele give a charm to the best of them, which is to be enjoyed, not described.' f 92. The Wovelists. — In any list of the writers of fiction who belong to the present chapter, Swift and De Eoe must, of course, be included. Eut, M'hen speaking of the great novelists of this age, the names of Eichardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne, as com- posers of works more closely resembling modern novels than Gulli- vir's Travels or Eohmson Crusoe, naturally come first to memory. Samuel Ricbardson (1689-1761) was a well-to-do printer, who, by attention to business, had duly raarried his master's daughter (like Hogarth's ' Industrious Apprentice '), become a master himself, pi-inter of the Journals of the House of Commons, and, lastly. Printer to the King. As a youth, a faculty for senti- mental letter-writing had procured him the post of confidential secretary to the girls of the neighbourhood ; and, in the exercise of this honorary vocation, he appears to have obtained a minute insight into feminine character. Yet lie had no thought of turning his experience to account in tho way of fiction, imtil, in his own words, ' ho accidentally slid into tho writing of Pamela.' He had • V. Jfacaulny's Ksanys ; and Forster's liioyraphical Fss'rt/s. Later works are : Tikfiard Sifele by Uio present wiitcr, in the ICnglish Worthies series, 1886 : and the Life of Steele, 1889, by G. .\. Aitken, who has edited tlio six plays for tlie //(•rmairf scries 1804. ' Selections ' from Steele will be found ia the Clarendon l-rm scries (last cd. 189G). I Ciaik, Eiiijlish Lit. and Lnwjuage, IS'I, ii. 250. 138 UAXDBOOK or ENGLISH LITKUATUr.i;, passed fifty, when his known epistolary skill induced two booksell- ing friends to suggest to him tlio preparation of such a little manual as ■would now answer to a Polite Letter-Writer. But it occurred to Eiehardson that it ■woidd be ■well (in his own words again) to teach his readers ' how they should think and act in common cases, as ■well as indite,' and 'hence sprung Pamela,'' published in 1740. A leisurely title amply sets forth its intention: — Pamela; or, Virtue Bcvardcd. In a scries of familiar letters from a beautiful youvg damsel to her parents. Published in order to cultivate the jyriticijilcs of virtue and religion in the 7ninds of the youth of both sexes. A narrative tchich has its fou7idation in trxtth ; and at the same time that it agreeably entertains, by a variety of eurious and ajfecting in- cidents, is entirely divested cf all those images which, in too many 'pieces calculated for amnseinevt only, find to inflame the minds thfy should instruct. Tliat the worthy writer is explicit, and even tedious, may bo seen at the outset, and the text of the book is of a pieco ■with its title. But, nevertheless, so novel a production, after ' tlie huge folios of inanity over which our ancestors had ya\vuec] them- selves to sleep,' did not fail of fortune. Clubs, pulpits, and coCee-rooms combined in its praise, and at fashionable resorts, euch as Vauxhall, fine ladies were wont to exhibit the popular treasure to each other. The generally conceded defect cf th« book is that the virtue of the heroine reads too much like calcu- lation. There could, however, be no doubt about the author's moral intentions, or the simplicity of the style, or the skilful conduct of the story. It prepared the public for the second and greater novel of Clarissa ; or, the History of a Young Lady, (usually misnamed Clarissa Ilarlowe), 17-18, the theme of which is Virtue not Rewarded, but hunted down and outraged. Upon this book, says Scott, 'his [Richardson's] fame as a classic of England will rest for ever.' 'No work,' ho says again, 'had appeared be- fore . . containing so many direct appeals to the passions, Btated, too, in a manner so irresistible.' And it was tiio opinion of Johnson, who admired Clarissa more than Richardson's otiur novels, that ' it was the first book in the world for tho knowledge that it displays of the human heart.' In his tliird and last work. Sir Cliarlcs Grandison, 173-i, intend«:d for tho picture of a model fine gentleman, Richardson has failed to enlist the reader's sympathies for his unimpeachable hero, and the prolixity of the style {Clarissa was a seven-, and Grandison a six-volumo novel*) becomes less cn- • For the benefit of impatient moclcrns.C/arfwa lias been shorn dcwn to thrro- volume diiucn&lous by Mr. K. S. Uallaa, 1808. As cue instance of the tliffuscncsa cf the orignal, tho heroine's Will occupies thirteen closely printcl pages I Aa Bbridgcd Grandiion was e-Jitcl, iu two volumes, by Trof. U. Saiuttbury, 1835. THE AGE OF POPE, SWIFT, THE XOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 139 durable. No. 97 of the Eamhlcr, and a voluminous correspondence, eelccted in 1804 by Mrs. Barbauld from tlio original MSS., con- stitute the only other literary remains of this M'riter. To Richardson we indirectly osve it that the pen of one greater than himself was enlisted in the perfecting of the new form of fiction. Gibbon's prophecy that Fielding's Tom Jones — ' that ex- quisite picture of humour and manners' — would outlive the Escorial, was curiously illustrated some years since by a fire in the palace aud the almost simultaneous appearance of a fresh edition of the novel. Its author was a scion of the noble house of Denbigh. From the fostering care of a clergyman, whom ho is afterwards said to have immortalised as the 'Parson Trullibcr' of Joscjih Andrews, Henry Fielding: (1707-51) passed early to Eton. Thence, as was then usual wirti those intended for the Bar, he proceeded to Leyden. But his father's means were not adequate to his support as a law student. In 1727, he returned suddenly to London; and, in all the plenitude of health and high spirits, plunged down the vortex of town dissipations. Being without resources, his alter- natives of subsistence were, he has said, to be a hackney writer or a hackney coachman — and ho chose the formei'. His first essays were dramatic, aud he began with a play called Love in several Masques, 1 728, followed, shortly afterwards, by the Temple Beau. Both of these were fairly received, and for the next ten years he continued to produce pieces for the theatre with great rapidity, nearly all his plays belonging to this period. In 1735 he married well, and, besides, acquired a small inheritance. Upon this he retired into the country. But his genial, lavish habits soon obliged him to fall back upon London and literature for a livelihood ; and while he was thus struggling for existence as a journalist and essayist, Eichard- Ron's Tamela came out. To the robust palate of Fielding, the sentiments of the sober printer were necessarily somewhat insipid, and it presently occurred to him to compose (1742), in imitation of the manner of the author oiBun Quixote,* a burlesque pendant to the story of the popular servant girl. lie accordingly wrote his first novel, Joseph Andrews, supposed ' brother to the illustrious Pamela, whose virtue,' says Chapter II., ' is at present so famous,' and he ma- liciously turned Mr. B , her master and ultimate husband, into 'Squire Booby.' But, in the evolution of his plan, like many another, his primary purpose became secondary, and Joseph Andrews is read * V. the titlc-pn^c : — Uistonj of the Adrenfiires of Joseph Andreics ami his frieiit) Mr. Ahrahniii Adnmx, urillvn in imilation of the intiiiiier of Ctrraiilrs. ])cib btott Hiinkotla' niock-licruictti'li: isilirivtiifi'om \.\\c IIoiimh Comiquent Scairou, 140 HANDBOOK OF DNGLISU LITEliATUllE. for its own sake, and for its aJniirablo Parson A Jams, ' designed,' in his creator's words, 'a character of perfect simplicity ;' and, in this respect, decidedly successful. Among Fielding's next works were a Journey from this World to the next, and the Life of Jonathan Wild the Great, an ironical Liograpliy of the notorious thief-taker — both published in 1743. In 1743 he becanio acting magistrate at AVest- minster. This office Mas procured for him by the Hon. (afterwards Lord Lyttelton) to whom he dedicated his next novel — the History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, 1749 — a perfect contrast by its exuberant animal spirits, and genial, if somewhat over-indulgent, humanity to the comparatively straitlaced moralities of Richardson. It is now pretty well agreed on all sides that the chief character of the book is rather a sorry hero ('sorry scoundrel' is Lady Montagu's term); but 'as a picture of manners,' says Mr. Thackeray (recalling Gib- bon's words), ' the novel of Tom Jones is indeed exquisite : as a work of construction quite a wonder. Tho by-play of wisdom; tho power of observation ; the multiplied felicitous turns and thoughts ; the varied characters of the great Comic Epic; keep tho reader in a perpetual admiration and curiosity.'* In his next fiction, Amelia, 1751, Fielding is alleged — if we may believe his kinswoman above quoted — to have given a true picture of himself and tho beautiful and amiable wife he had lost not long previously. Its enthusiastic reception may bo inferred from tho statement that a second edition was called for on the day of publication; audits chastened merit from the fact that even the surly Eichardsonian, Dr. Johnson (from whom we have the preceding statement), was constrained to read it througli without stopping. And, altliough Tom Jones is tho author's masterpiece, Amelia may well be a favourite. "What it loses in humour and pictorial vigour, it gains in pathos and morality ; and many will be inclined, with tho groat Dictionary-maker, to rank tho long-suffering wife of tho not-vcry-reputablo Captain Booth, as ' the most pleasing heroine of all the romances. 'f Some philan- thropic tracts, and the Covent Garden Journal, constitute the re- maining literary work of Fielding's life. In 17o4, his health being wholly broken up, he started for Lisbon, where ho died in tho October of that year. A journal of his voyage was published in 1755. If, for the sake of comparison. Fielding may bo said to have fol- lowed the manner of Cervantes, his contemporary, 1'obias Smol- lett, 1721-71, in tho preface to Boderick liandom, confesses to tho • r.mjVxh /fumovrisis of the Eighteenth Ceiiltinj, 1808, 275— llorjarlh, SmoltcU, tiirt /'ielJiiio. t UoswcU's /«/in»on, by Crokcr, 18C0, Iv. 008 {note). TUE AGE OF rOPE, SOVIET, THE NOVELISTS, AXD JOHNSON. 141 imitation of Le Sap;e. Smollett vas of good Scotch extraction. After essaying the medical profession (he sailed as surgeon's mate on the 'Cumberland' in the Carthagena Expedition of 17-10-1 — a circumstance to which wo owe his excellent marine characters), he finally, about 17-16, embarked in literature -with a couple of satires, Advice, 17^6, and Ecproof, 1747. But satire in shilling pamphlets was not likely to make his fortune; and, in 1748, he published, anonymously, the Advc7itnres of Boderick liandom, a novel to some extent autobiographical, the merit of which was so evident as to warrant its being at once attributed to Fielding. It contains two capital conceptions — the hero's devoted henchman. Strap, and the sea-lieutenant, Tom Bowling, a nautical portrait in a style which, although frequently attempted since, was then comparatively new to fiction. But the difference between the manner of Smollett and the metliod of the author of Tom Jones is easily discernible. In the case of the latter, the plot is conducted to its designed denoueynent by a gradual march of skilfuHy-inrolved incidents ; — in that of the former it consists of a succession of brilliant but loosely attached scenes, terminated arbitrarily, after a certain time, by the marriage of the leading personages. ' His (Smollett's) notion of a story was rather that of the traveller than the historian ; his chief characters are kept on the move through a succession of places, each full of things to be seen and of odd physiognomies to be quizzed.' * These remarks apply equally to the Advctiiures of Peregrine Pic/de, a longer novel, which appeared in 1751. This, which, besides some riotously humorous scenes and incidents, contains the famous amphibious trio of the ' Garrison ' — Commodore Trunnion, Lieutenant Hatch- way, and Pipes the boatswain, — swelled its sale rather discreditably by embodying in its pages the Memoirs of a Lady of Qualify (the notorious Lady Yane), an item of scandalous interest with wliich its well-nigh inexhaustible fertility of circumstance might have dispensed. The chief of Smollett's succeeding works are the Ad^ ventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — a clever chevalier d'indnsirie, 1753; — a version oi Bon Quixote, 1755; the Critical Beview, 1756; History of England, 1758; Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves, 1762; Travels in France and Italy, 176G; the Adventures of an Atom, 1769; and last but not least, the Expedition of Humphri) CVinlcer, 1771, written while its autlior, worn out by the petty irri- tations of a militant literary life, which his own sarcastic but sensi- tive spirit rendered more unbearable, was dying near Leghorn. In this book, published shortly before liis death, the characters, after « Q.(«;-<<-/ /;' K (kw, ciii. ?G, Tvbias SmoUdt [by the late Jamca IlanuayJ. 142 iiAxnnooK of English LiiErATrnr:. tho fasliion of the 'E— r— d F.imily' in Anstoy's New Bath Guide, def.ict themselves in a series of letters ; and it is, liy many, preferred to Smollett's earlier effn-ts. ' Tho novel oi Humphry Clinker,' says Thackeray, ' is, I do think, the most laughable story that har, over been written since the goodly art of novel-writing began, Winifred Jenkins and Tabitha Bramble must keep Englishmen on tho grin for ages yet to come ; and in tlieir Utters and the story of their loves there is a perpetual fount of sparkling laughter, as inexhaustible as Bladud's well.' * Let lis add that, beside the Methodist maid and her spinster mistress, here referred to, this book contains another inimitable character, also praised by Mr. Tiiackeray, in tho person of tho doughty and disputatious Scotch lieutenant, Lismahago. Smollett's well-filled gallery of eccentrics has formed a repertory of models for succeeding novelists. It is frequently asserted, for example, that the nautical occupants of the Garrison, in reregrivc Pickle, furnished tho hint for tho fiimous Undo Toby and Corporal Trim of Xiaurence Sterne (1713-G8), a clcrgj'man of Irish birth, and, like Fielding, a devoted disciple of Cervantes. f But, beyond this, tho whimsical prebendary of York has little in common with his predecessors. 'His humour,' says Professor Masson, 'is something unique in our literature . . Thcro is scarcely anything more intel- lectually exquisite . . To very fastidious readers much of tho humour of Fielding or of Smollett might come at last to seem but buffoonery; but Shakfspoaro himself, as one fancies, would havo read Sterne with admiration and pleasure.' J His life liad no par- ticular cventfuluess, and tho list of his works is not large. A number nf forgotten sermons, the unfinished Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandt/, Gent., 1759-67, and a Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 1768, mako up tho sum of them. Tlie two last are 1'amous classics, unrivalled in stylo, originality, whim, and pathos. Sterne disregards his plot even more than tho author of Roderick Eandom ; but he paints his characters with tho greatest minuteness and tho most subtle disposition of detail. Ills works are, however, marred by much thinly-veiled indelicacy. Yet, on this score. Fielding, Smollett, and even tho good Ilich.ardson him- self arc far from unexceptionable modern reading, although wo • EnijU.ih Ilumonrisls nf the Fighttenth Centurij, IS:)?, 2CC; Hogarth, SmnlUtt, and /■'iflding. t ' Trunnion's " p.irrison " is slavLslily nopied by Stcmc In his Cnstlo of ITnrle Toby,' snys Chamlwrs (Li/e of Smollett, 1807). But it is nfTii-nud in Macmillan't Jl/ng'uine (July, 187.')) that the rofti original of Cnptnin Shandy was a Ilertfonl- ehire worthy. Captain IlinUe, who lived in an old-fiist.iored country house, called Preston flosMn. J Britiah NovclUts and their S/ijla, 1859, 1 15-C, THE AGE OF rOPE, SWIFT, THE NOVELISTS, AXD JOIIKSOX. 113 kno^r, from Hichardson's correspondence, (hat, in its day, Tom Jones liad lady admirers as ■well as Clarissa. Aidrcs temps, antres mceurs. Xeyertlieless, Sterne has been censured more severely than the others because his questionable paragraphs are less honest than theirs, and because, while they -were laymen, he was a clesgyman and writer of sermons. Coleridge, who defends Tom Jones against those who commend Pamela and Clarissa as ' strictly moral,' does not extend the same indulgence to Tristram Shandi/. With the exception of Johnson and Goldsmith, of whom we de- sign to speak presently, the foregoing writers were the most illus- trious representatives of that prose fiction in which the eighteenth century finds its most characteristic expression. But, beside these, there were numerous minor writers whose merit has been, to some extent, overshadowed by that of their greater contemporaries, yet whose names at least deserve mention. Such are Charles John- stone (d. 1800), the author, among other romances, of Chri/sal ; or, the Adventures of a Guinea, 17G0-5, which owed much of its now- pnssed-away popularity to its delineations of contemporary characters and vices ; Sarah Fielding: (1710-68), sister of the great novelist, and authoress of David Simple, which appeared shortly after Joseph Andrews {see p. 139, s. 92) ; Henry ZVIackenzie (1745-1831), a watery kind of Sterne, author of the Man of Feeling, 1771, the j\fan of the JIWW, 1773, and Julia de Bonhigne, 1777; Panny Eurney, afterwards Madame d'Arblay (1752-1810), whose novels of Evelina, 1778, and Cecilia, 1782, belong to this period; Henry Srooke (1706-83), author of the Fool of Quality ; or, the History oj Henry, Earl of Moreland, 17GG;* Horace "Walpole (1717-97), author of the Castle of Otranto, 1764; his imitator Clara Zteevo ( 1 7125-1 803), author of the Old English Baron, 1777 ; and IVilliam Seckford (1 760-184-1), author of the History of the Ccdiph Vathek, 1 78C, an Oriental I'omanco of considerable power. 93. Goldsmith. — The vanity, the goodness, the genius and the blunJoro of the immortal autlior of the Vicar of Wakefield have been rendered so familiar by the excellent biographies of Irving and Forster that there is scarcely need to recall them, and to this day no novel of the preceding writers, except liohinson Crusoe, cau bo s:nd in any way to approach his masterpiece in popularity with modern readers, llow Oliver Goldsmith (1728-74) was a dull and ugly boy, ' little better than a fool ' in the eyes of unprophetic intimates, an idle and truant sizar of Trinity and a B.A. at the * Tlcpublished in 1S5D, willi a prefare and life of the author, by Canon Kinssley. 144 HANDBOOK OF r\*r.LiSii i.iTrRATi'nt:. bottom of tlie list; how he -wrote ballads at five shillings a head, and stole, at night, into the streets of Diibliu to hear them sung; how ho is alleged to have been refused ordination for appearing be- fore the bishop in flaming rod small-clothes ; how ho studied medi- cine in Edinburgh and Lcyden, and human nature during a long vagabondage in Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Italy ; how, at last, after being usher, druggist, physician, reader to Richardson, and usher again, he drifted into literary hack-work as the hind of Griffiths the bookseller (and Mrs. Grii^iths), where our account of him must begin — have all been written and rewritten in endless memoirs. We may pass over his contributions to Month/)/ licvieivs, Critical Bcvkws, Litcrari/ Magazines, and the like, to note liis first book, An Enqitiry into the Present State of Pulitc Leaining, 1 759, which, on the whole, was well received. In the same year he was chief coutributor to the Bee, the Busy Body, and the Lady's Maga-ine, the first two of which soon collapsed. The papers in the Bee, however, obtained popularity and a reprint. In 17G0 he began, iu the I'nhlic Ledger (on the hint of Montesquieu's Lettrcs Persanes), the series of ' Chinese Letters ' afterwards collected as the still classic Citizen of the World, 1762, Lives of Voltaire, 17G1 — oi Beau Nash, 17C2, master of the ceremonies at Bath and little king of little people, next came from his pen, now pretty actively employed in miscellaneous work for Ncw- bery, the children's bookseller of St. Paul's Churchyard, and the proprietor of the Ledger. By this time he had acquired the friend- ship of Johnson and Eeynolds, and become a member (1761) of the famous ' Literary Club ' (sec p. 148, s. 94). In the sameyear appeared tho Traveller ; or, a Prospect of Society : a Poem. By Oliver Gold- s'/nith, M.B. — the abbreviation signifying that ' formal authority to slay ' which he had somehow picked up in his foreign rambles. Ue has used the mellowed memories of those rambles in this, liis first verse production of any length. Coming upon the world as it did in a time of poetical dearth, dedicated to no great patron, utterly unofficial and unfeigned, this poem was warmly welcomed. Its popularity gave rise to the publication of another and more f;imou3 work. In 176G, the success of the Traveller turned the attention of the younger Newbery to a proso MS. by tho same author, which Johnson had induced him to purchase for 60^. some years before ; in fact, it had probably been written concurrently •with the poem. This was tho Vicar of Wakefield : a Talc ; supposed to he written hy himself. Its success, not immediate, but gradual, ■was neverthf'less certain, and befora its author died the fiftli edition THE AGE OF POPE, SWIFT, THE KOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 145 had been reached. After an ineffectual attempt to practise as a physician — for, in spite of his successes as an author, he was etill engaged in solving the problem of obtaining a livelihood, a task rendered more diflBcult by his constitutional improvidence — he made an experiment in a new direction — that of the Drama, and he brought to his work the freshness and untraditioned felicity which had distinguished the Traveller. The Good-natured Man, produced by Colman at Covent Garden in 1768, prevailed over all opposition, had a fair run, and brought the author from 300?. to 400/. But ho was still unable to emancipate himself from hack-work, and there is a long lisit of compilations — Eoman History, 1769; Lives of BoUngbroke and Parnell, 1770; English History, mi ; History of Greece, 1774 ; History of the Earth and of Animated Nature, 1774 ; — for his few and sad remaining years. They are brightened, how- ever, by two masterpieces — the exquisite poem of the Deserted Village, 1770, and the comedy of She Stoops to Conquer, 1773, 'an incom- parable farce in five acts,' also brought out by Colman, of which the success was unequivocal. In the following year he died. Goldsmith's biographers have familiarised us with his curiously complex character. ' He seems,' in Thackeray's words, ' to have been compounded of two natures, one bright, the other blundering.' Ho ' talked like poor Poll,' as Garrick said, but ' he wrote like an angel.' Few writers have left a wreath so unsullied. Composed in the days of Fielding's ' indulgent and sympathising warmth,' — of Richardson's morbid morality, and Sterne's ' innocent exposures,' his Vicar may still bo read by the most fastidious. 'There are an hundred faults in this thing,' says he in his Advertisement, but tve forget or forgive them in the charm of his pathos and his humour. ' We read the Vicar of Wakefield^ says Scott, ' in youth and in age. We return to it again and again, and bless the memory of an author who contrives so well to reconcile us to human nature.' As a practical commentary on this of the most distinguished kind, there is the statement of no other than Goethe that, in his eighty- first year, he had read it from beginning to end with renewed delight. The Traveller and the Deserted Village yet preserve an unfaded freshness, and She Stoops to Conquer still rectifies our modern theatrical standard, as, in its own day, it vanquished ' Senti- "niontal Comedy.' ' Whether,' says the next celebrity of whom we b>i^■o to give an account, ' wc take him [Goldsmith] as a poet, as a comic writer, or as a historian [' historical compiler ' would be a juHter phrase], he stands in the first class. . . He deserved a L 146 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. place in Westminster Abbey,* and every year he lived he would have deserved it better.' 94. Tobnson. — It has been said that Goldsmith has had the advantage of admirable biographers. But the great man who loved him ^vith a growling kind of affection, and who has so appre- ciatively defined his position in literature, had the same advantage, Math the additional one, that his biographer was not an admirer born in another century, but a devotee born in his own. If Gold- smith's weaknesses have been brought out in the process of writing his life, his friend's superstition and scrofula, his greediness, his goodness, his conversations, contradictions and opinions have all been imperishably ' printed ' by the persistent Scotchman, who was for ever at his heels ' taking notes.' In company vrith the future actor, Garrick, Samuel Jobnson (1709-84) had come to London to seek a fortune, nearly twenty years before Goldsmith landed at Dover from his continental vagabondage with a like purpose. He had been at Pembroke College, but left it without taking a degree ; he had acted as an usher at Bos worth, — had failed as a schoolmaster at Edial. Literature was not a lucrative employment in 1737, and a London bookseller to whom he applied for work ad- vised him rather to turn porter — a calling for which his huge frame seemed specially to qualify him. His first regular engagement appears to have been with Edward Cave, the publisher, and pro- jector of the Gentleman's Magazine, for which ho reported the speeches in Parliament under disguised names, and considerably 'edited.' In May 1738, ho published London, his vigorous imitation of the third satire of Juvenal, and ' it is remarkable,' says his biographer, Boswoll, ' that it came out on the same morning as Pope's satire, entitled 173$ [the first part of the Satires] : so that England had at once its Juvenal and Horace as poetical monitors.' f His next important work was a life of one of those needy men of letters, with whom misery had made him acquainted, Ricbard Savae:e (1698-1743), the author of tlie Bastard, a poem, in which ho mirrors his own condition as the alleged illegitimate son of Earl Rivers and Lady Macclesfield. ' The little work,' says Maoaulay, ' with all its faults, was a master- piece. No finer specimen of literary biography exibtctrips many a leaf from every laurel. Still Johnson's is the finest critical work extant, and can never be read without instruction and delight.' * If we set aside the Dictionary, the value of which, always dimin* ished by the compiler's ignorance of the Teutonic languages, has now been considerably reduced by the labours of later and more enlightened etymologists, the literary fame of Johnson would appear to rest upon two poems, two collections of essays, and a number ot briof critical biographies. One is, at first, puzzled, therefore, now- a-days, to account for his unquestioned literary eminence, and for the familiarity with his character and general appearance displayed by nearly every member of the reading public. This knowledge of, and respect for him are attributable to two causes, — one being the fidelity and accuracy with wliich his habits and opinions have boon portrayed by his biographer Tames Boswell (1740-95); the otlier his supremo talent for that conversation, which has been so faithfully reported. As a writer, his style, though it found imita- tors and admirers, was ponderous, artificial, and — to use the quali- fication of Coleridge — 'hyper-Latinistic' to a wearisome degree. But his talk had none or few of these blemishes, while it was as sedulously correct, with 'little more than a fair proportion of words in osity and ation. All was simplicity, ease, and vigour.' ' The influ- ence exercised by his conversation, directly upon those with whom ho lived, and indirectly on the whole literary world, was alto- gether without a parallel.' f He had, moreover, a singularly suitable arena for the display of Tiis powers. In 1 764, as we have already said (see p. 144, s. 93), was formed that famous ' Literary Club,' whose decisions were so potent. Of this he was the acknowledged bead ; and here, among his ' tribu- tary wits,' he delivered his generally sound, if often dogmatic, decrees. Its most illustrious members have all been made vital to us in the ' Life' of the indefatigable Boswell. •There,' says Lord M.iciulay, in a vignette-passage, which may appropriately close this account of the 'Great Cham of literature' — as Smollett christened him — 'are assembled those heads which live for ever on the canvas of Reynolds. There are the spectacles of Burke and the tiill thin form of Langton, the courtly sneer of Beauclerk and the beaming smile of Garrick, Gibbon tapping his snuff-box and Sir Joshua with iiis trumpet in his ear. In the foreground is that btrange figure • Letter to Murray on Bowla't strictures on Pope, in Moore's H/e qf Byren^ 1844,699. t Mocaulay, Biognphies for the Enq/clop. Lrilannica : SamuclJo/inson, THE AGE OF POPE, SWIFT, THE NOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 1 19 which is as familiar to us as the figures of those among whom we have been brought up, the gigantic body, the huge massy face, seamed with the scars of disease, the brown coat, the black worsted stock- ings, the grey wig with the scorched foretop, the dirty hands, the nails bitten and pared to the quick. We see the eyes and mouth moving with convulsive twitches; we see the heavy form rolling; we hear it puffing ; and then comes the " Why, sir ! " and the •'What then, sir!" and the "No, sir! "and the "You don't see your way through the question, sir ! " ' * 95. Burke. — Among the above-mentioned luminaries of the ' Li- terary Club ' was one who has been described as the ' supreme writer of his century,' and whose powers of conversation were fully equal to those of Johnson himself, although, like Gibbon, he was usually contented to play second to the great table-talker. This was Sdmund Burke (1729-97). The bulk of the writings of this fervid and illustrious rhetorician belong, however, rather to the suc- ceeding than to the present chapter — his Reflections on the French Revolution being published in 1790, his Appeal from the Old to the New Whigs in 1791, his Letter to a Noble Lord (the Duke of Bedford, who had attacked him for taking a pension), in 1795, and his Letters on a Regicide Peace, in 1796. But the Annual Register which he sug- gested to Dodsley in 1758; the clever imitation or parody of Bolingbroke, entitled a Vindication of Natural Society, 1756; and the still famous Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful, 1757) belong to the days of Johnson and Goldsmith, with whom he was connected by friendship. ' Here lies,' wrote the latter in that genial little fragment of a satire, which has been called by Lord Lytton ' the most consummate, though the briefest, of all his works of character,' t — • Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius \y.is such. We scarcely can praise it or blame it too much ; Who, bom for the universe, narrowed his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind ; . . Who, too deep for his hearers, still went on refining, And thought of convincing, while they thought of dining ; Though equal to all things, for all things unfit ; Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit. For a patriot too cool, for a drudge disobedient, And too fond of the right to pursue the expedier,!.' {Retaliation, a Poem, 1774.) Burke's public life cannot bo treated here, but it is to be read in the history of England. To that the reader must turn for his atti- • Mftcaulay, Essayt, 1860, i. 10.3. Croker's etiidon of Bosttell's Life of Johnson, t i/w. I'roie Works, 1868, 1. 04 ; Qolthtnilh. 150 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITEUATCRE. tude during tho long struggle with tlie American Colonies, liii impeachment of Warren Hastings, and the kindling eloquence with which from first to last he denounced the French Revolution. His encyclopaedic knowledge and his rhetorical supremacy are also historical. 'Burke understands everything,' said 'Single-speech* Hamilton, to whom he was at one time private secretary, ' but gaming and music' ' Ho is the only man,' said Johnson, ' whose common conversation corresponds with tho fame he has in the world.' ' The name of Burke,' said another contemporary (Lord Thurlow), ' will be remembered with admiration when those of Pitt and Fox v.'ill be comparatively forgotten.' 96. The Historians. — In an age of which prose composition is held to be the foremost form of literature, it might be anticipated that historians would be active. Accordingly we find that Hume's History of England, 1754-61 ; Robertson's Chat-lcs V., 1769; and Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776-88, all belong to this time. David Hume (1711-76) comes first of these, his Treatise on Human Nature appearing in 1738. His other works are Essays Moral ajid Political, 1741-42; Enquiry concerning Human 'U7idcr standing, 1748 ; Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, 1751 ; and the posthumous Dialogues on Natural Religion, 1 779. In addition to tlio history mentioned above, 'William Robertson (1721-93) wrote a History of Scotla7id, 1759; a History of Ame- rica, 1777; and a Disquisitio7i on Ancient India, 1791; and Edward Gibbon (1737-94), besides his magnum opus, is tho author of a short Essai sur FJ^tude de la Littcrature, published in 1761. The style of Hume, both in his philosophic essays and history, is brilliant and pcrspicuons, and by incorporating chapters on tho people with his work, he added a new feature to historical writing. Robertson's style lacks what Gibbon has called the 'care- less inimitable graces of his predecessor, and his writing, though correct, is colourless and unidiomatic. Tlio stylo of Gibbon himself, on the other hand, is proverbial for its ornate splendour and sump- tuous, albeit somewhat overpowering. Orientalism, 97. VT'iikes, * Junius.' — Political writing during this period ■was made notorious by two authors, Jobn Xirilkes (1727-97) and the celebrated 'Junius;' — tlie former of whom, however, is scarcely to bo named with tlio latter. "Wilkes attacked tho Govern- ment in the North Briton, a weekly newspaper which camo out from June 1762, toApril 1763, when tho appearance of its famous 'No. 45' caused tho authorities to take decisive steps for its suppression. Wilkes was arrested ; but, being member fur Buckingliamshire, his THE AGE OF POPE, SWIFT, TOE NOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 151 arrest was pronounced illegal. He was expelled from Parliament, re-elected, and his re-election reversed. For a time ho became a popular idol, but ultimately sank into insignificance. As the result of a quarrel with Hogarth, not very creditable to either party, his by no means prepossessing features have been perpetuated in a print, well known to all collectors of that artist's works. Five years after the cessation of the North Briton, there appeared in the Public Advertiser, from January 21, 1769, to January 21, 1772, a series of letters criticising and attacking the Duke of Grafton and other leaders of public affairs, in a style which, for its merciless invective and biting sarcasm, has long been regarded as a model for party writing. The authorship of these letters, much debated, is still sub judice. A variety of claimants have been set up during the inter- vening century, but of none can it be unanswerably affirmed that he composed them. The bulk of the evidence tends to indicate Sir Pbilip Francis (1740-1818), Clerk in the War Office, 1762-72, and member of the Supreme Council of Bengal in 1773, as the probable author. A recent scientific comparison of the Junian MSS. with some of the letters of Francis still extant, goes far to show that they were the work of one person. But it nevertheless remains open to the opponents of the so-called ' Franciscan ' theory to con- tend that Francis was only the scribe and not the author of these mysterious epistles.* 98. Adam Smith, Blackstone. — Two writers of this period deserve a longer notice than our space will admit. One is Adam Smltta (1723-9 )), successively Professor of Logic and Moral Philo- sophy in the University of Glasgow and ' founder of the science of political economy;' the other Sir W^illiam Blackstone (1723-80), the elucidator of ' That codelrss myriad of precedent. That wilderness of single instances, — ' English law. His Cojnmentaries on the Laws of England were pub- lislied in 1765-68; Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments in 17o9, and his Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776. Both authors wrote other books ; but those cited are their masterpieces, and, progress in law and political economy notwith- standing, neither of these great works can safely be neglected by modern students. For the principal works of Roid, Priestley, Tucker, and some other philosophic writers of this era, the readez is referred to our Dictionary Appendix (E). • Tfie Ilandtcriling of Junius Professionally Invesliijated. By Mr. Ch. Chahot, Ki-pert. With Preface ami Collateral Evidence. By the Hon. E. Tiiisleloii, 1871. Mr. W. F. Uac'a five articles in the .\thenwum, ISSS 90, should be consulted. 152 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATDRE. 99. Tbe Tbeologrlans.— From the maoj theologians of thiB epoch three names must be selected, viz., those of Attorbury, Butler and Warburton. The first, Prands Atterbury (1662-1732), Bishop of Kochester, was a brilliant and active controversialist (in- deed he, too, was engaged on Boyle's side in that famous battle about the Letters of Phalaris — see p. 99, s. 69), and a kind and amiable man. The second Josepb Butler (1692-1752), Bishop of Bristol and Dean of St. Paul's, was author of the Analogy of Htligion, Natural and Eevealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature, 1736, a work which Lord Brougham has styled ' the most argumentative and philosophical defence of Christianity ever sub- mitted to the world,' and of which the excellent matter has overcome the abstruseness of the manner. 'William Warburton, the last (1698-1779), was Bishop of Gloucester, and author of the Divi7ie Legation of Moses, 1738. But a more signal work (in the opinion of many) is his adroit apology for the Essag on Man (see p. 120, s. 79), against the charges of Deism advanced by M. Crousaz in his Examen dc I'Essai de M. Pope, 1737. For the Hoadleys and Lowths, Watts and Doddridges, Wesleys, Whitefields, and other theologians of this chapter, the reader is referred to our Dictionary Appendix. 100. Tbe Dramatic 'Writers. — The list of dramatic writers of eminence during this period is not a long one. Authors there were in abundance, but masterpieces are few. Vanbrugh and Farquhar belong to the early part of the century by several works already enumerated (scf p. Ill, s. 77). The comedies of Goldsmith, still popular as ever, have also been mentioned {sec p. 145, s. 93). Besides the unacted tragedy of the Regicide, 17^9, Smollett wrote a play called the Reprisal, or the Tars of Old England, 1757, — of average excellence ; and, of the many works of Fielding, but few deserve remembrance. Walpole, too, comes among the playwrights by the Mysterious Motlier; which, however, was never acted. The chief tragic writers were— Wicbolas Rowe (1673-1718), author of Jane Shore, 1714, the Fair Penitent, 1703, and other plays; and Jobn Home (1724-1808), author of Douglas, 1757. Home wrote five other tragedies of indifferent merit. Colley Cibber (1671- 1757), l>avld Carrtck (1716-79), Cbarles Macklln (1690- 1797), Artbur Murptay (1730-1805), Aicbard Cumberland (1732-1811), and George Colman, the Elder (1733-94), also pro- duced anumber of comedies and farces. But tin? plays of Samuel roote (1720-77) and RlcbardBrinsley Bberidan (1751-1816) deserve more than a passing mention. The comedies of the Minor^ THE AGE OF POPE, SWIFT, THE NOVELISTS, AND JOHNSON. 153 1760 ; the Lyar, 1761 ; and the Mayor of Garrett, 1763, are the best of the twenty-four pieces of the former.* Sheridan's principal plays, all written before the date fixed for the conclusion of this chapter, were produced in the following order : the Rivals, St. Patrick's Bay, and the Duenna, \1hb; A Trip to Scarborough (altered from Vanbrugh's Relapse), and the School for Scandal, 1777; and the Critic, 1779. The remainder of the writer's life belongs to political history. That he has laid previous authors- Fielding and Smollett for instance — under contribution for some of his characters has not been held to detract from the merit of his dramatic production?, of which the only fault is uniformity of brilliancy. ' There are no delicate touches, no hues imperceptibly fading into each other: the whole is lighted up witli an universal glare. . . Every fop, every boor, every valet, is a man of wit. The very butts and dupes, Tattle, Witwould, PutF, Acres, outshine the whole Hotel of Rambouillet.' f • For a valuable essay on Foote, ti. Forster's Biographical Eiiays, 18C0. t Macaulay's Essays, 1860, i. 40 : Machiavelli. CHAPTER VII. THS ACS OF UrORBS'WORTH, BTXtON", AZVB SCOTT. 1785—1835. 101. SUMMARY Off THE PERIOD. —102. TUB POETS : COWPKR. — 103. CRADBE.— 104. DARWIN. — 105. THE DELLA-CRUSCANS. — 100. BURNS. — 107. KOOEllS, BOWLES. —108. WORDSWORTH. — 109. SOUTHEV. — 110. COLERIDGE. — 11 1. LA.MB.— 112. CAMPBELL. — 113. HOGO, BLOOMFIELD. — lU. MOORE, — 115. BYRON-.— lie. SHELLEY.— 117. KEATS.— 118. LEIOU HUNT, tANDOR. — 110. OTHER POETS.— 120. THE NOVELISTS : MRS. RARCUFFE.— 121. LEWIS, GODWIN. —122. MISS EDGEWORTH, liHSS AUSTEN. — 123. SCOTT.— 124. OTHER NOVELISTS, — 125. THE PHILOSOPHERS.— 12G. THE HLSTOUIANS.— 127. THE THEOLOGIANS. — 128. H.VZLITT, COBBETT.— 129. THE ' QUARTEliUES.' — 130. THE DRAMATIC WRITERS. 101. Summary of the Period. — Within a short space of time from the date at which the foregoing chapter concluded, the destruction of the Bastille announced the upheaval of that great democratic volcano, whereof the premonitory rumblings and hoarse underground agitations had long been threatening on the Con- tinent, That a social disturbance so widespread in its extent, how- ever apparently confined and local in its issue, should be without its effect upon the minds and opinions of surrounding nations, is not to be expected ; and it is acconlingly to the increased mental activity brought about by the first French Kevolution, and the simultaneous appearance in Germany of the transcendent<\l philosophy, that wo must look for two powerful influences over forthcoming English literature. Yet to attribute the magnificent second-growth of English Poets belonging to the end of the eighteenth century and the first thirty years of the nineteenth, entirely to these two causes, as some h.ivo done, would bo probably to unduly ignore other influences, not less potent, if more obscure. Thus much may bo conceded — that the marked manifestation of poetical genius in the one case was deeply affected by the surging aspirations and enthusiasms set free by the groat social outbreak in the other; and to this extent, if onlj to this THE AGE OP WORDSWORTH, BYRON, AND SCOTT. 155 extent, there is a connection between them. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that new impulses had long been discernible in English poetry, against which the prestige of the old leaders had been powerless. Pope, and Johnson after him, had not been able wholly to detain the new thoughts in the orthodox channels, even whep opposed by dissenters not more formidable than Thomson and Percy ; and Pope and Johnson were now dead. If, among the later school of the next age, there were those who, like Byron, clung to their precepts, they devia^-ed from them in their practice, like the rest of their contemporaries. The departure from the old traditions traceable in Gray and Collins, in Goldsmith and Beattie, was con- tinued during the last years of the eighteenth century by Cowper and Burns. Following the recluse of Olney and the Ayrshire ploughman, come with the new century, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey, — Scott and Campbell, — Moore, Eyi-on, Shelley, Keats, to say nothing of a crowd of minor poets, — who ' carried to further perfection the later tendencies of the century preceding, in simplicity of narrative, reverence for human Passion and Character in every sphere, and impassioned love of Nature.' The quotation may be still further ex- tended, 80 apt is its conciseness : ' Whilst maintaining, on the whole, the advances in art made since the Restoration, they renewed the half-forgotten melody and depth of tone which marked the best Elizabethan writers,' and, ' lastly, to what was thus inherited they added a richness in language and a variety in metre, a force and fire in narrative, a tenderness and bloom in feeling, an insight into the finer passages of the Soul, and the inner meanings of the landscape, a larger and wiser Humanity, — hitherto hardly attained, and per- haps unattainable even by predecessors of not inferior individual genius.' * In prose, too, a distinct revival is to be traced from the beginning of this period, although it was not until 1814 that the supreme tale- teller of the nineteenth century — the 'Wizard of the North' — turned from his poetical successes to earn new laurels in romance. But before Scott came Mrs. Radcliffe's supernatural fictions and Godwin's social studies, Miss Edgeworth's and Miss Austen's novels of manners, — and with him and after him the throng of Gaits and Hooks, of Marryats and Jameses, of Carletons and Wilsons. This is the ago, besides, of Hallam and the elder Mill in History, — of Chalmers and Hall in Theology, — of Cobbett, of Bentham, — of Jeffrey, Brougham, Sydney Smith, and the cluster of writers whose • The Oolden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics. Ed. by F. T. Palgrave, 1861, 320 ; v. also Descriptive Poetry in England from Anne to Victoria, Fort. Rer., June, 1866. 156 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITEHATURE. brilliant al)ilities found their uttemnce in the newly-esttblished critical organs, — the Edi7iburgh and the Quarterly Reviews. 102. The Poets: Cow^p«r. — Fifteen years only of the long life of 'WilUam Cowper (1731-1800)belong to this period (1785-1835). But his first important volume of poems (if, for the moment, we set aside the earlier Olncy Hymns) did not appear, and then but incon- spicuously, until 1782, two years before Johnson's death, and it is to the last decade and a half of the eighteenth century that his literary influence and his masterpiece especially belong. For this reason, and also from the fact that he saliently marks the progress of the school which found its completest expression in the verse of Wordsworth, we place him in the forefront of the present chapter. Cowper was born at Great Berkbamstead, in Hertfordshire, of good family. His mother, upon whose portrait he wrote, in later years, some of his most beautiful lines, died when he was six years of age. A timid and sickly boy, he was sent early to a provincial school, and afterwards to Westminster. Tlie tyrannical treatment to which he was subjected at the first of these places served further to aggravate his morbid sensibility. At Westminster he had for schoolfellows Churchill (seep. 124, s. 83), Lloyd, Cumberland (see p. 152, s. 100), and Colman {sec p. 152, s. 100). The usher of his form was the gifted Vincent Bourne. In 1748 he left Westminster, entered the Middle Temple, and, in 1752, went into residence. He had already begun to be afflicted by appalling fits of depression, and already, as may be gathered from liis Epistle to Robert lAoyd, Esq., had turned to verso for relief from the ' — fierce banditti (Sworn foes to every -thing that's witty), That, with a black infernal train. Make cruel inroads in my brain.' In 1756 his father died. The poet's means were small ; and when, in 1763, it became in the power of a relative to offer him the appoint- ment of Clerk of the Journals of tlie House of Lords, an easy com- petence appeared within his reach. But, at this time, his diseased fancies had increased to so great an extent, that, under nervous anticipation of the preliminary examination, he became insane, and was placed under control at St. Albans. Upon his recovery he went to live at Huntingdon. Here, after some time, ho made the ac- quaintance of the Rev. Morlcy Unwin, into whose house ho was received in 1765. At Mr. Unwin's death, in 1767, Cowper still continued to reside with the widow at 01nr.v//V/e and personal beauty of the author —his rank — his attractive .attitude as ' the world's tired denizen,' all conspired to make him the darling of the day. His popularity was further increased by tlie rapid series of tales which followed: — the Giaour, and the Bride of Ahydos, 1813; the Corsair, and Lara, 1811; — in all of which the Eastern garb and glowing • Moore's Li/'' nf LorA Byron, 1R14, ch. xir. J 59. THE AGE OF WORDSWORTH, BYRON, AND SCOTT. 175 atmosphere served only to throw new lustre over a central hero, in whom the different costumes but thinly served to disguise what the readers of that day chose to regard as the poet's own physiognomy and sentiments. They took the fancy of the pubhc ; and ' at twenty- four,' says Macaulay, ' he [Byron] found himself on the highest pinnacle of literary fame,- with Scott, Wordsworth, Southey, and a crowd of other distinguished writers at his feet.'* Then came a reaction. In January 1815, he married the daughter of Sir Ealph Milbanke, who in the following year returned to her parents. Into the disputed cause of this separation (over which so much ink was, years ago, spilt by a Transatlantic authoress) we neither pretend nor desire to enter. It is sufficient to say that justly or unjustly public feeling became greatly excited against the poet, and in April 1816, Lord Byron left England never to return. In Switzerland ho made the acquaintance of Shelley and his wife, passed thence into Italy, and settled at Venice. Two more tales, Parisiiia and the Siecfe of Corinth, 1816; the third canto of Childe Harold, the Prisoner of Chillon, and the beautiful Drcain of his early love for Miss Chaworth belong to this period. In 1817 he sent forth from his Venetian home the dramatic poem oi Manfred and the Lamentof Tasso; in 1818, the sparkling oi^ara- rima poem of Bcj^po; in 1819, Mazeppa and the first two cantos of Bon Juan. It was at this time that ho commenced his acquaint- ance with that Countess Guiccioli, who survived until recent years as the Marquise de Boissy. In 1820 appeared Marino Faliero; and, in 1821, the dramas of the Tuv Foscari and Sardanapalus, and the mystery of Cain were published together. In the same year came out cantos III., IV., and V. of Don Juan, which, like the first two, issued from the press anonymously. In 1819 Byron had removed to Eivcnna ; in 1821 he went to Pisa. Here he engaged in a new enterprise, the Liberal newspaper, in which his colleagues were Shelley and Leigh Hunt. Only four numbers came out. To these ho contributed the Vision of Judgment {see p. 168, s. 109), Heaven and Earth, another mystery; the Blues, a poor satire on learned women, and a close version of the Morgante Maggiure of Pulci, in the eight-line stanza of the original. In 1823 he published the Id^'iul and the Age of Bron~c ; and in July of this year also set sail for Cephalonia to assist the Greece of his earlier poems in her war of independence. He had already ad- vanced 12,000^. for the relief of Missolonghi, raised a force to • Essay t : Moore's Byron, 176 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. attack Lepanto, and done much by his influence and money to compose differences and introduce order, -Hhen liis health, shattered by the passions of his life, gave way, and, after successive fits of epilepsy, he died at Missolonghi, on the 19th of April, 1824, aged thirty-six. In the year of his death the last cantos of his unfinished Don Juan (being the XV. and XVI., — cantos VI. to XIV. having all previously appeared in 1823) were published in London. This poem baa been styled its ill-fated author's masterpiece. After commenting upon its objectionable features (and they are many) a contemporary of the poet says : — ' Don Juan is, without exception, the first of Lord Byron's works. . . It contains the finest specimens of serious poetry he has ever written: and it contains the finest specimens of ludicrous poetry that our age has witnessed.' The judgment of 1820 still remains unreversed. As a more recent writer has said, 'There is hardly any variety of poetic power which may not bo illustrated from Don Juan. In the opinion of all competent judges it forms the copestone of Byron's fame.'* That fame — and the fact speaks much — is not confined to the country of the poet, but is wider and perhaps more unmixed in foreign lands. Upon the authority of the last-quoted writer wo have it as the result of extensive investigations that Byron is universally regarded throughout Europe as the greatest poet that England has produced for the last two hundred years ; nay, the latest of his foreign biographers (Karl Elzo, 18"0) does not scruple to name him her supreme lyrical genius — ' lyrical understood in its widest sense as subjective poetry.' From the already-cited and liberal minded critique of Lord Macaulay upon Mocrc's Life we summarise some of what he holds to be the more strongly-marked of Byron s excellences and defects. Pirst comes the limited range of character : — there are but one man and one woman in his works (this, by the way, is strenuously combated by his more enthusiastic admirers), — the man being himself draped differently by the Oriental trappings of a Corsair, a Lara, or a llarold — the woman, a being ' all softness and gentleness, loving to caress and be caressed, but capable of being transformed by passion into a tigress.' Of dramatic skill — Lord Slacaulay thinks — his genius had none ; but in description, in meditation tinged with the gloomy egotism, the despairing mis- anthropy that his poetry for years after made a fashionable affecta- tion — he had no equal. Whether these last characteristics were unfeigned as ho would have them believed to be, may, perhaps, ba questioned. But, in the errors of his education, in his inherited • Quarler}!/ Reviett, Oct. 1871, 873 (cxxxi.) : Byron and Tennyson. tn^ AGE OP WORDSWORTH, BYRON, AND SCOTT. 1T7 temperament, in his misfortunes, deserved and undeserved, lay grounds enough for a genuine sadness. 116. Shelley.— Like Bjron, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792- 1822) was of noble birth. His father -was an English baronet, whose ancestors were on the Eoll of Battle Abbey, At a private school, and afterwards at Eton, the system of ' fagging ' then pre- valent threw his morbidly sensitive system into a state of revolt at beholding '.The selfish and the strong still tjTannise Without reproach or check ; ' and, filled with humanitarian aspirations and speculations, he passed to Oiford. He had already published, anonymously, in June 1810, one novel — Zastrozzi ; another, St. Irvyne, or The Rosicrucian, fol- lowed in December, while he wag at University College, whence he was speedily expelled for writing a pamphlet on the Necessity of Atheism, 1811. In the latter year he eloped with a coffee-house keeper's daughter, Miss Harriet Westbrook. The marriage was un- happy, and, in 1814, they separated — apparently against her desire — and the poet left England in company with Mary WoUstone- craft Godwin, daughter of the novelist (s^e p. 183, s. 121). The year before had appeared, full of strange promise and questionable utterances, the poem of Queen Mab. In 1815 his father made him a handsome allowance. In the following year he published his blank verse poem oi Alastor; or, the Spirit of Solitude; and his unfortunate wife committed suicide by drowning. Shortly after- wards Shelley married the lady with whom he had left this country. A decision of Lord Eldon debarred him from assuming the guardian- ship of his children by his first marriage, a decision which the circum- stances will explain, without making it necessary to enter upon the merits of an act very differently regarded by the friends and the enemies of the poet. Mention has already been made of Shelley's intimacy with Byron at this date in Switzerland. After a short resi- dence in England, during 1817-18, ho retired to Italy. His con- nection here with Hunt's Liberal we have also referred to. To the years between 1 818 and 1821 bolongall his other importaBt poems — the Revolt of Islam, 1818; the beautiful Ode to a Skylark ; Rosa- lind and Helen, 1819; the tragedy of The Ccnci, 1819; the lyrical drama, oi Prometheus Unbound, 1820; Adonais, an elegy on the death of Keats, 1821, and Epip>ychidion, 1821. In 1822 he was drowned in the Gulf of Spezzia by the overturning of a boat, and, in accor- dance with the Italian Quarantine Laws, his body was burned on the beach by Byron and Leigh Hunt, his heart only reaaining 173 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. unconsumed. Such are, briefly, the chief facts of Shelley's life. Let us cite a few words by his talented second wife aa to his poetical character. After referring to the open-air composition of the Skylark and The Cloud, two of the shorter Ij-rics in which, rather than in his longer pieces, he was most successful — lyrics ' written as his mind prompted, listening to the carolling of the bird, aloft in the azure sky of Italy, or marking the cloud as it sped across the heavens, while he floated in his boat on the Thames ' — she says : — * ' No poet w.as ever warmed by a more genuine and unforced inspiration. His extreme sensibility gave the intensity of passion to his intellectual pursuits, and rendered his mind keenly alive to every perception of outward objects, as well as to his internal sensations. Such a gift is, among the sad vicissitudes of life, the disappointments we meet, and the galling sense of our own mistakes and errors, fraught with pain; to escape from such he delivered up his soul to poetrj', and felt liappy when he sheltered himself from the influence of human sjTnpathics in the wildest regions of fancy.' From hard realities, from weari- ness of beholding oppression, Shelley rose like his own skylark into the trackless ether of imagination, which he filled with a glorious music and quiver of joyous wings. Morbid his visions may have been ; but in no modern poet, Burns alone excepted, is the purely lyric spirit so clear-toned and melodious as in the author of Prometheus. 117. Keats. — The year before Shelley's death another poet of extraordinary promise had passc.l away — Tobn Keats (1795- 1821), upon whom Shelley had written his beautiful elegy of Adonais, closing it, by a singular coincidence, with a strange antici- pation of his own approaching end. The life of Keats is briefly told. Born in Moorfields, of poor parents, and self-educated, he commenced life as a surgeon, and, in 1817, put forth a small volume of poems. In 1818 he followed this by Endymion, which was savagely attacked in the Quarterly Iieiicv\y>\{\\ a result upon the sensitive poet which has been diversely described by different writers. f Shelley, in the preface to Adonais, distinctly rofi-rs the poet's subsequent death to this shock ; and J5yron, following his lead, has perpetuated the idea in the well-known lines which end — ' 'Tis strange the mind, th.it very fiery pnrticlo. Should let Itself be suufled out by an article.' But, however irritating the adverse review may have been to the poet, Byron's opinion, elsewhere expressed, that ' a man should not • Prffacf to Shelley's }\'vrks^ 1850. f C^'f- W. M, Rossettl's L\fe, ck v. THE AGE OP WORDSWORTH, BYRON, AKD SCOTT. 179 let himself be killed by it,' \rould be shared by many ; and it is pro- bable that, under anj' circumstances, Keats was not constitutionally destined to length of days. In 1820, in the hope of regaining his health, he visited Italy, after publishing a second volume of poems, containing Isabella, Lamia, the Eve of St. A(jncs, and other pieces. In the following year he died of consumption at Rome, and was buried in the cemetery of the Protestants, where Shelley's ashes were afterwards laid. It was the Faery Quccne of Spenser that first awakened the poetic faculty in Keats ; his inseparable companion and darling models, we are told, were the Minor Poems of ShaLcspcare ; and in the works of the Elizabethan writers especially he sought his inspiration. Profuse and luxurious imagery, a languorous sense of music surrendering itself to the lulling of its own melody, and an inborn attraction towards those ' fair humanities of old religion, The power, the beauty, and the majesty. That had their haunts in dale, or piny mountain, Or forest, by slow stream, or pebbly spring,' are the prominent features of his poetry. Deep feeling and passion his critics deny him. But it must be remembered, as they have remembered, that he died at five-and-twenty, and that we cannot regard as completed that life which closed when the writer had barely freed himself from the first excesses of undisciplined genius, and yet had produced poems of so rare a quality that his admirers have not scrupled to compare them to the earlier efforts of Miltou or Shakespeare. We quote here one of the most beautiful of his sonnets — one, moreover, to which attaches the sad celebrity of being the 'last word' of its author : — ' Bright Star 1 would I were steadfast as thou art— Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night, And watching', with eternal liJs apart, Like nature's patient sleepless Eremite, The moving waters at their priestlike task Of pm-e ablution round earth's human shores. Or gazing on the new soft fallen mask Of snow upon the moimtains and the moors :— ' No — ytt still steadfast, stiU unchangeable, Pillow'd upon my fair Love's ripening breast. To feel for ever its soft fall and swell, Awake for ever in a sweet luu'est ; StUI, still to hear her tender-taken breath. And so live ever,— or else swoon to death.' K3 180 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LlTEHATUUt. 118. Xieierb Hunt, Xiandor.— In point of time James Henry Xteigb Hunt (1784-1859), a graceful versifier, and an essayist of the Spectator school, by his poetical Juvenilia, 1801, comes between Moore and Byron, both of whom he survived. Hunt was educated at Christ's Hospital with Charles Lamb, tried first law, and then a Government office, and finally became dramatic critic of the News, which he edited with his brother. In 1808 he edited the still-exist- ing Examiner, for certain strictures in which upon the Prince Kegent he was, in 1813, imprisoned for libel. In 1816 he published the Story of Eimini, which Professor Craik has called ' the finest inspi- ration of Italian song that had yet been heard in our modern English literature.' In 1822 he went to Italy to assist Byron and Shelley in the already mentioned Liberal. The scheme was a failure, and Hunt, after his return to this country, endeavoured, in his much-censured EecoUcctions of Lord Byron, ' to exculpate himself at the expense of his friend.' In 1847 he received a pension of 200^ a year. His best poem, after the Story of Eimini, is the play of the Legend of Florence, 1840. His essays — the Lidicator, the Seer, the Taller, the Companion — are charming specimens of graceful literary chit-chat. He also wrote a novel, Sir Ealph Esher, 1832, the scene of which is laid in the days of Charles II ; and two delightful antiquarian books — the Toiun, 1848, and the Old Court Suburb, 1855 — ^besides several other miscellaneous works. The life of 'Walter Savagre Xandor, 1775-1864, the author of Gehir, Count Julian, and the Imaginary Conversations, has been written by the biographer of Goldsmith and Dickens.* To this, or to tliatby Prof. S. Colvin f the reader must be referred for the inci- dents and tracasseries of the long life which closed in Italy. Gebir (or Gehirus, for the poem was written in Latin as well as in English), 1708, had little ornosucccss ; Count Julian, 1812, which, inSouthey'a opinion, contained some of the finest touches of pathos and passion he had ever seen, was not enthusiastically received. It is by his Imaginary Conversations of G reeks and Eomans, 1824-9, and the sub- Boquont Pericles and Aspasia, 183G, in which his scholarly prose and classic knowledge lends vitality to his personages, that he is best known. ' The most familiar and the most august shapes of the Past arc reanimated with vigour, grace, and beauty, . . "Large utter- ances," musical and varied voices, " thoughts that breathe" for the world's advancement, " words that burn " against the world's oppres- sion, sound on throughout these lofty and earnest pages. We are in the higli and goodly company of Wits and Men of Letters ; of Church' • Wnltfr Siirri'ii' hnndor. A Pfnjrnphu. By Joba Foriter. 1809. .il^e^L r/4/^i^ ^^*^ THE AGE OF WORDSWORTH, BYRON, AND 6C0TT. 181 men, Lawyers, and Statesmen ; of Partjmien, Soldiers, and Kings ; of the most tender, delicate, and noble Women ; and of Figures that eeem this instant to have left for us the Agora or the Schools of Athens, — the Forum or the Senate of Home.' * Less familiar than his prose, bxit perhaps more certain of ultimate popularity, are the delicate ' occasional pieces ' scattered through Lander's poems. But he himself cared little for the random reader. ' I,' he says, • Neither expect nor hope my verse may lie With summer sweets, with albums goOy drest. Where poodle snifts at flower between the leaves. A few will cull my fruit, and like the taste, And find not overmuch to pare away.' t 119. Other Poets. — In a period which includes the names of Byron and Shelley, of Scott and Wordsworth, it may be anticipated that the ignes minores would not be few. The enumeration of them here must of necessity be brief. To take the poetesses, the first to be named is Felicia Dorotbea Hemans (1793-1835), a writer of much touching and chastened domestic poetry, long deservedly popular. Next comes Xietitia Elizabetb liandon [L.E.L.] (1802-1838), whose brief life was terminated ere she could bo said to have attained the height to which her poetic talents seemed to have destined her. Of tlie men may be mentioned 7aines Monteromery (1771-1854), author of the Wanderer of Suitserland, 1806; the West Indies, 1810 ; t\ie Pelican Island, 1827, and other poems ; Stegrinald Heber (1783-1826), Bishop of Cal- cutta, author of a prize poem entitled Palestine, 1803 ; and also of a Life of Jeremy Taylor, 1822, and other miscellaneous prose writings ; JTobn Clare(l 793-1864), the peasantpoetof Northampton, a writer with the keenest eye for rustic sights and pictures, whose Poe?ns descriptive of Eural Life and Scenery first appeared in 1820; Sobert PoUok (1798-1827), author of the Course of Time, 1827, a blank-verse poem of great merit; and Hartley Coleridgre (1796-1849), already referred to {see p. 170, s. 110). Another writer who deserves notice is the talented Tobn Hookbam Frere (1769-1846), author of the so-called 'Whistlecraft' burlesque poem in the ottava rima which BjTon adopted for Beppo and Do7i Juan. Frere is also known as one of the most successful Tenderers of Aris- tophanes ; and as the author of a translation, made while he was Btill an Eton boy, of the Battle of Brunanhurh {see p. 12, s. 6), into the English of the XlV.th century. The list, not by any means an • Edinhnrgh nevictr, April, ISiG, 489 (ls.xiii.), t AppcndU to HellatUs, 1869, 247, 182 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. exhaustive one, closes with Tames (1775-1839) and Horace Smith (1779-1849), tho talented authors of the clever series of parodies, entitled the Rejected Addresses {i.e. upon tho opening of Drury Lane Theatre), in which the styles of Crabbe, Wordsworth, Byron, Scott, and others, were inimitably mimicked. 120. The XTovelists: Mrs. Radcliffe.— Tho Gothic mine which Walpolo had opened in tho Castle of Otranto {see p. 143, e. 92), and which Miss Reeve had worked in the Old English Baron, now fell into the hands of a writer who, for her skilful manipulation of the spectral and mysterious, but more especially for her power of gloomy chiaro-e.iairo, it has become customary to term the Salvator Eosa of British novelists. Tlio region where ' hollow blasts through empty courts resound. And shadowy foniis with etaring eyes stalk round ;' the stage of ' bloody deeds, Black suits of armour, masks, and foaming steeds,' • belongs of right to Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), by an odd an- tithesis tho exemplary home-keeping wife of a barrister and news- paper proprietor. Ilcr first fiction, published in 1789, had no success. But, in tho Sici!ia7i Romance, 1790; the Romance of the Forest, 1791 ; and, above all, the Mysteries of Udolpho, 1794, — tho two latter being ' interspersed with Pieces of Poetry,' — she attracted an audience which eagerly (one might almost say tremulously) welcomed her best, and practically last, work. The Italian, 1797. 121. KeTirls, Godwin. — The most illustrious of the disciples of this school was Matthew Gregory Xiewls (1776-1818), gone- rally known among his contemporaries as 'Monk' Lewis, from the immoral work, with that title, which ho published in 1795. Tale^ of Terror, 1799; Tales of Wonder, 1801 (to which Scott contributed Glenfinlas, the Eve of St. John, and some otlier pieces) ; and tho Bravo of Venice, 1804, arc tho chief of his remaining romances, which, however extravagant and melodramatic, were generally vigorous. Lewis was more than a respectable poet; witness tlio Btill popular ballads of Diirandartc and Belerma, and Alon-o the Brave and the Fair Imogcne, in evidence of that ' finest ear for tho rhythm of verso' with which Scott has credited him. In private, the author of the Monk was an amiable man, and, in his dealings with the slaves upon his Jamaica estate, appears to have been a humane and benevolent master. Tho stylo of Mrs. liadclifTo liad many other imitatorB, whose • Crabbe, Tlic Library. THK AGE OF WORDSWORTH, BYllON, AKD SCOTT. 183 names our space ■will not permit us to reproduce. One writer, however, who with the rest adventured in this field, William Godwin (1756-1836), deserves mention on other grounds — namely, as the author of the remarkable novel of Things as They Are ; or, the Adventures of Caleb Willmins, 1794, described as 'a general review of the modes of domestic and unrecorded despotism by which man becomes the destroyer of man.' This is enforced in the story by the narrative of the miseries and persecutions which an aristocratic murderer inflicts upon the unfortunate youth who has accidentally acquired the secret of his guilt. St. Leon, 1799 ; Fleet- wood; or, the New Man of Feeling, 1805, and other novels, animated by the same ' roused democratic spirit,' were afterwards produced by Godwin ; but Caleb Williams is his classic, and will be read for its earnestness and vivid interest long after his political sentiments are forgotten. Those sentiments he had set forth in a book which, preceding Caleb Williams, was indeed intended to illus- trate some of the opinions it advanced, viz. the Inquiry concerning Politiccd Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness, 1 793, a work which, appearing as it did in sur-excited times, obtained a dangerous ascendency over contemporary minds, Godwin's daughter, already referred to as Mrs. Sbelley (1798- 1851), was also an industrious romaneist. One of her novels, Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus, 1818 — the story of a soulless monster created by a student, which pursues and haunts its miserable maker — survives for the ghastly fascination of the leading idea, and the power with which it is elaborated. 122. Miss Edirewortta, Miss Austen. — From the Utopian theories of Godwin, and the terrors of the supernatural school, it is a relief to turn to Castle Eackrcnt, Onnond, the Absentee, Patronage, &c., and the rest of the admirable studies of real life and manners, and Hibern'an life and manners especially, with which, between 18o0 and 1834 (the date of her last work, Helen), IVXarla Edg^ewortta (1767-1849) delighted the readers of the first half of the present century. Scott praised the rich humour, tenderness, and tact of her Irish portraits. But the great charm, more novel to readers then than now, lay in the simple naturalness of her fictions. ' Iler heroes and heroines,' says one of her critics, ' if such they may bo called, are never miraculously good, nor detestably wicked. They are such men and women as wo see and converse with every day of our lives ; with the same proportionate mixture in them of what is right and whftt is wrong, of what is great and what is little.' ♦ • Q>i((iletli> Ha-iar, August, 1800, 14C (ii.) 184 nXNDBOOK OF ENGLISU L1TEKATCI:E. This skill in minute realisation of character and foible wa* carried to still higher excellence by another lady-novolist, Jane Austen (1775-1817). Of her, Scott says— with that generous ad- miration for his contomporarics which is one of his most pleasing characteristics — ' That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements, and feelings, and characters of ordinary life, which is lo me the most wonderful I ever met with.' Her first novel, Sense and Sensibiliti/, was published in 1811 ; Pride and Prejudice, 1813, MansMd Park, 1814, and Emma, 1816, followed during her life- time ; Northanger Abbey and Persuasion appeared after her death. A fragment of another, JTie Watsons, and a short story, entitled Lady Susan, have (in 1871) been given to the world by one of her relatives. The sketch of her life, which accompanies these, makes more wonderful the genius of the quiet and placid clergyman's daughter, who, living in the retirement of a secluded rural parson- age and a remote country home, a retirement broken only by the mild dissipation of a four years' residence at Bath, — not brilliant, not bookish, — contrived to write a series of novels which (on her own ground) have not even yet been surpassed. In a letter to one of tlie most illustrious of her successors, Charlotte Bronte, a well- known critic describes her 'as one of the greatest artists, [one] of the greatest painters of human character, and one of the writers with the nicest sense of means to an end that ever lived.' * 123. Scott. — But it is time to speak of Scott himself. Through the memoirs of his son-in-law, Lockhart, the life of the great • Wizard of the North ' has been made nearly as well known to us as that of Johnson. Sir "Walter Scott (1771-1832) was born at Edinburgh, where his father was a Writer to the Signet. For the benefit of his health he was sent in childhood to Sandy-Knowe, a farm belonging to his grandfather, on the Scottish Border, a district teeming with historical and legendary associations. Here, carried about the crags by a garrulous old 'cow-bailie,' he speedily began to acquire, according to the autobiographical sketch of his early years, a keen love of nature and tradition, ' combined M-ith a very strong prejudice in favour of the Stuart family , . imbibed from the songs and tales of the Jacobites.' f At the High School of Edinburgh, to which he was sent when eight years old, ho did not distinguish him- self by any special industry; glancing — in liis own words — 'like a meteor from one end of the class to the other.' ■{• With his school- fellows, however, his good-nature, courage, and imaginative faculty, • O. H. T-pwcfl, Life of CharlotU BronlH, 1860, xvL 263. t Lockhart'B Htmvirt, 1814, 3, 9. THE AGE OF WORDSWORTH, BYROK, AND SCOTT. 185 lis evidenced in a talent for tale-telling, made him a special favourite. After leaving the High School, he went for a short time to Kelso. Here he fell in with a copy of the Eeliques of Ancie7it Poetry {see p. 127, s. 86), an accident of no small moment to the future romancer. Having been ' from infancy devoted to legendary lore of this nature,' his delight at this collection was unbounded, and he overwhelmed his companions, and all who would listen to him, ' with tragical recita- tions from the ballads of Bishop Percy.' Here, too, in sight of the meeting of the song-renowned Tweed and Teviot, his love of nature received fresh stimulus. ' To this period, also,' he says, ' I can trace distinctly the awaking of that delightful feeling for the beauties of natural objects which has never since deserted me.' . . . ' The love of natural beauty, more especially when combined with ancient ruins, or remains of our fathers' piety and splendour, became with me an insatiable passion, which, if circumstances had permitted, I would willingly have gratified by travelling over half the globe.' He was then a boy of twelve ; and, from the words italicised, it will be evident that the characteristics which at forty distinguished him as the ' Father of the Modern Historical Novel ' were present with him from the beginning. In 1786, after a brief academical course, he was articled to his father. In 1792 he became an advocate; and, in 1796, made his entry into literature by some translations from Biirger — the ballads of Lenore and ihaWUd Huntsman. But neither these nor the version of Goethe's Gbtz von Berlichingen, by which they were followed three years later, attracted much attention. In 1797 he married; in the succeeding year settled near Lasswade ; and, in 1799, was appointed Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire. This office freed him from the uncongenial drudgery of the law, and left him larger leisure for an undertaking of far higher import than his previous translations — namely, the editing of a large number of old Border ballads, which, without any definite purpose of publication, he had been gradually accumulating. Accordingly two volumes of the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border were published in 1802, and a third in 1803. The judgment shown in the selection of the texts, and the reverent care with which they were edited, at once placed these volumes, in the opinion of many, above the famous Eeliques. Chalmers, George Ellis, Percy himself, all welcomed them heartily — nay, even 'Monk' Lewis, whose coldly-received Tales of Wonder {see p. 182, s. 121) were eclipsed by the new venture of his quondam colleague, added his voice to the others. Not the least attractive feature was the com- piler's notes, overrunning with curious anecdotical antiquarian know« 186 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. ledge, and couched in a style so eruditely happy as to have extorted from Professor Wilson, when, later, the concealed authorship of Wavcrley was canvassed, an impatient — ' I wonder what all these people are perplexing themselves mth : have they forgotten the ^rose of the Minstrelsy ^^ In writing an account of Scott's life, it is necessary to lay some stress upon the publication of these Border ballads. Their collec- tion had insensibly constituted his training ; their unworked resources of legend and incident became his literary mine. They contained, as one of his critics said, ' the elements of a hundred historical romances;' and to historical romance it might be expected he would next turn his attention. Yet, although the first chapters of Waverhy were written as early as 1805, the maintenance of his then slender poetical reputation seemed to their author of more importance than a doubtful experiment in prose. Accordingly the first outcome of the Minstrelsy was ' a romance of Border chivalry in a light- horse- man sort of a stanza,' suggested by the poet's recollection of Coleridge's then unpublished Christahcl, and called the Lay of the Last Minstrel. It appeared in 1805, and 'its success,' says Lock- hart, ' at once decided that literature should form the main business of Scott's life.' Within the next few years poured forth in rapid succession — Marmion, 1808; the Lady of the Lake, 1810; Rokeby, 1812 ; and the Lord of the Isles, 1815 ; to say nothing of the less known Vision of Bon Boderick, 1811; the Bridal of Triermain, 1813; and Harold the Bauniless, 1817. When these poems first appeared, and more especially when the first of them appeared, the ajiplause which greeted them was of tho most enthusiastic descrip- tion. Their novelty, animation, colour, picturcsqueness — their skil- ful delineations of manners and localities — made readers overlook the 'ambling rhj-mo' and not always happily constructed story. ' Ilis poetry,' it has been well said, 'admits of a very specific and explicit statement. Its chief merit lies in its power of description ami narrative. Beyond this it does not pass into the deep regions of human nature.'* It is due to this last characteristic (aided, per- haps, by the rapidly rising popularity of Byron's Oriental Romances), that, after tiie first dazzling effect of the style and subject had sub- sided, the later poems were less successful. But the author was not without other resources; and before his poetical reputation had suffered a total eclipse, he had sought and found a splendid distinc- tion in another branch of literature. This was inaugurated by the publication in July 18H, attony- • Henry Hccd, Lecture! on (he Lritish Poets, 1SC3, p. 251, THE AGE OF WORDSWORTH, BYRON, AND SCOTT. 187 /, of the novel of Waverley ; or, 'Tis Sixfi/ Years Since, com- pleted from the chapters which he had thro-n-n aside some years before. From this time forth, until the year preceding his death, he continued to produce in uninterrupted succession the magnificent series of romances, ranging over the whole period from the eleventh to the eighteenth century, -which are generally known as the Waverley Novels. As might be expected, the author has preferred the nearer to the remoter centuries, eighteen of the total of twenty-nine belonging to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, three to the sixteenth, three to the fifteenth, one to the fourteenth, and the remaining four to the other centuries as far back as the end of the eleventh. As a rule, too, he deals with Scottish scenes and Scottish characters (his first intention, be it remembered, was to do for Scot- land what Miss Edgeworth had done for Ireland), so that, as has been suggested by Professor Masson, from whom we have borrowed the foregoing data, the name of ' The Scottish Novels' might not inaptly be applied to the whole series. They appeared in the following order: — Waverley, 1814; Guy Mannering, 181-5; the Antiquary, 1816; Tales of My Landlord (1st series, Black Bwarf and Old Mortality), 1816; Boh Boy, 1817; Tales of My Landlord (2nd series, the Heart of Midlothian), 1818 ; Talcs of My Landlord (3rd series, the Bride of Lainmemioor and Legend of Montrose), 1819; Ivanhoe, the Monastery, and the Abbot, 1820 ; Keniltvorth, 1821 ; the Pirate and the Fortunes of Nigel, 1822 ; Peveril of the Peal; Quentin Burward, and ;S';. Bonan's Well, 1823 ; Bcdgauntlcf, 1824 ; Tales of the Crusaders (the Betrothed, the Talisman), 1825 ; Wood- stock, 1826; Chronicles of the Canongate (1st series. Two Drovers, Highland Widow, and Surgeon's Baughter), 1827; Chronicles of the Canongate (2nd series, the Fair Maid of Perth), 1828 ; Anne of Geierstein, 1829; and, lastly. Tales of My Landlord (4tli series, Count Bobcrt of Paris and Castle Bangerous), 1831. Such is the roll of these famous works. To repeat their titles is well-nigh un- necessary, nor is it needful in this place to recall their personages. It is their highest praise that they need no guide to indicate their merits. ' The novels of Scott will furnish entertainment to many generations ; nor is there any race of men so fastidious as to require anything purer, so spoilt by excitement as to need anything more amusing, or so grave as to scorn all delight from this kind of com- position.'* . -- In addition to the novels and poems above enumerated, Scott wrote ft number of miscellaneous works, of which the most important are • Lord Rusidl. 188 ILVNDBOOK OF EXGLISII LITERATURE. the Life of D)-ydcn, 1808 ; Life of Stcifi, 1814 ; Lives of the NoveltstB CtoT B'd'U.imtyiie's Novelists' Librari/), 1820; Life of Buonaparte, 1827 ; and the Tales of a Grandfather, 1827-30. It would be pleasant to ihink of the great writer as finishing his life with unabated powers and undimmed popularitj'. But, in later years, the fertile brain was sorel}' taxed, and the evening of his life went down upon one of the most gallant struggles ever recorded. At the outset of his literary career he had engaged in business relations with some former school- fellows, the Brothers Ballantyne, and ultimately, although the matter was not publicly made known, became a partner in their publishing and printing business. In the crisis of 1825-26, Messrs. Ballantyne failed, and Scott became liable for a debt of some 117,000/. What- erer opinion may be held as to his entanglement in affairs of this nature, there can bo but one as to the means which he employed to extricate himself from his diflSculties. He resolved to devote the rest of his life to the service of his creditors; and to that resolve he adhered, although his strength gave way under the effort. Paralysis attacked him in 1830 and 1831 ; and change of air and scene failed to restore his shattered health. He hurried back to die in his beloved home, within sound of the ripple of the Tweed. Prac- tically, he had already accomplished his end. At the time of his death the enormous obligation had been reduced to 54,000/., and, shortly afterwards, this amount too was discharged by advances upon his copyright property and literary remains, and the insurances upon his life. In 1820 Scott had been made a baronet. It had been the dream of his life to found a family of Scotts of Abbotsford — that Abbots- ford which he had reared upon a farm by the Tweed, and where, in the zenith of his fame, ho had delighted to surround himself with the friends of the present and the tropliies and memories of the past. It was not given to him to realise his wish. One young lady long represented the family.* But ho will be remembered by his incomparable romances, and by the nobility and goodness of his character. ' God bless thee, Walter, my man ! ' .said an olJ re'ativo; ' thou hast risen to be groat, but thou wast always good.' Nearly his last words to Lockhart were, ' My dear, bo a good man.' 124. OtherWovellsts.- After Wavcrley, the throng of novelists, historical, domestic, naval, military, becomes so thick that we must confine ourselves to the bare mention of a few names and principal works. First comes Hannah More (1745-1833), an industrious morjilist.and author of CaUli.-i in Search of a Wife, 1 809, besides much otherproseand poetry; Mary RubsoU Mltford (1787-1855), the • There are now seven c)iililrcnof Mr. aod Mrs. Mnxwcll Scott, of Abbotsford; four are sons, of whom the eldest, Walter, came of age in April 189(3. THE AGE OF WORDSWORTH, BYRON, AND SCOTT. 189 author of the delightful series of sketches of rural life and character entitled Our Village, 1824-32 ; John Gait (1779-1839), author of the Ayrshire Legatees, 1820, the Annals of the Parish, 1821, the Entail, 1823, and other stories of Scottish life; the lively and rattling improvvisatore, Theodore Book (1788-1841), author of Sayings and Doings, 1826-9, Maxwell, 1830, Gilbert Gurney, 1836, J^ack Brag, 1836, and a score of other farcical productions; the naval novelists, Frederick Marryat (1792-1848) and Michael Scott (1789-1835) — the former the author of the King's Oum, 1830, Mr. 3fidshipman Easy, 183C, Peter Simple, 1834, Jacob Faith- ful, 1834, Poor Jack, 1840, and a long roll of seafaring fictions, for parallels to the characters in which we must go back to the Trun- nions and Bowlings of Smollett, — the latter of two novels only, Tom Cringle's Log, 1833, and the Cruise of the Midge, 1834, originally published earlier in Blackwood's Magazine; and G. P. R. Tames (1801-60), from whose productive pen some seventy historical novels have followed his first successes of Bichelieu, 1829, and Larnley, 1830. But these are only a few of the names. After Gait come Miss Ferrier, Lockhart, Professor Wilson, Hogg, and Mrs. Johnstone ; after Hook, Mrs. TroUope, Mrs. Gore, Lady Bless- ington, Lady Caroline Lamb, and Mr. Plumer Ward ; after Marryat, Glasscock and Chamier. Besides these there are the Irish novels of Lady Morgan, Carleton, Croker, Banim, and Gerald Griffiu, the Eastern novels of Morier and Fraser, the novels of Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Inchbald, and Mrs. Opie, and a host of others, for brief particulars concerning some of which the reader is referred to the Biblio- graphical Appendix which concludes these pages. 125. The Philosophers. — The first among this group of ■writers is Du^ald Stewart (1753-1828), Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, author of the Elements of the Philosophy of Mind, 1792, and Philosophical Essays, 1810. In that year he resigned his Philosophic chair to Thomas Brown (1778-1820), author of an Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect, 1804, and Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind, 1820, published posthumously. But perhaps the greatest of the philosophers of this chapter was Teremy Bentham (1748-1832), the celebrated Utilitarian advocate of 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number,' and founder of the science of jurisprudence. Bontham's views have been better expressed by others than by him- self — one of his most successful interpreters being the Marquis of Lansdowno's Swiss librarian, M. Dumont, by whom his chief work, the Traith dc Legislation Ciiile ct Phialc, was issued in Freucli in 190 HANDBOOK OF EKGLISII LITERATURE. 1802, having been compiled in that language from the author's MSS. Other philosophical winters of eminence of the period arc T. X£. Malthus (1766-1834), author of the -well-known Essai/ on the Principles of Population as it affects the Future Improvement of Society, 1798, and Savid Xlicardo (1772-1823), whose chief work was the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, 1817. This book, in Lord Brougham's opinion, divided with Malthus's Essay the claim to the second place among the books produced in this coiuitry uiwn the science of economics. 126. TUe Historians.— The //is/ory o/ Greece, 1784-1810, by -WilUam Mltford (1744-1827), although disfigured by pecu- liarities of style, and now, to a great extent, superseded by more recent works on the subject, has nevertheless a just claim to be con- sidered the most important historical work of the early part of the nineteenth century. Tames mill (1773-1830), a distinguished philosophical and political writer, was the author of an admirable History of British India, 1818; and Henry Hallam (1777-1859) produced successively his Vieiu of the State of Europe during the Middle Ayes, 1818; Constitutional History of England (from Henry VII. to George II.), 1827; and Introduction to the Literature of Europe (i.e. during the XV.th, XVI.th, and XVU.th centuries), 1837-9, a book which has been frequently considtcd in the course of these pages. That so vast a field should have been successfully occupied by one man is a matter for admiration.* Lastly must bo mentioned Sir James Mackintosb (1765-1832), whose Vindicim Galliccs appeared in 1791, and whose Ecvlcw of the Causes of the lievo- lution of 1688, being a fragment of a twenty years' meditated History of England, was published after his death, in 1834. With this must not be confused the abridged History, prepared by him for Lardner'a Cyclopedia, 1830-1, and completed after his death by other hands. 127. The Tbeolog'lans. — From the numerous writers under this head we select three only :— ■William Paley (1743-1805), Robert Hall (1764-1831), and Tbomas Chalmers (1780- 1817). The first was the author of tlic following well-known works:— Moral and Political Philosophy, 1785 ; Hora; Paulincr ; or. The Truth of the Scripture History of St, Paul, etc., evinced, 1 790 ; Evidences of Christianity, 1794; and Hattiral Theology, 1802 — works still remaining, for their happy expository power and clear style, un- dimmed in their popularity. Hall, a Baptist minister, was one of • The liistorian's son, Arthur Henry IMlam, 1811-33, by whose early donth the In Memoriam of Tcnnjson w.is prompted, waa a most gifted and promising p ct. THE AGE OF WORDSWORTH, BYRON, AND SCOTT. 191 the most eloquent of modern preachers, and the few sermons he published are highly prized. Chalmers was a voluminous writer, and also a preacher of great reputation. ' Fervit imniensusque rtiit,' says one of his admirers, speaking of his eloquence. It 'rose like a tide, a sea, setting in, bearing down upon you, lifting up all its waves, — "deep calling unto deep ; " there was no doing anything but giving yourself for the time to its will.' * 128. Hazlitt, Cobbett. — The first-named of these writers, DVilliam Hazlitt, 1778-1830, was one of the most sympathetic and enthusiastic, albeit partial and paradoxical, of modern critics. His chief works are his Pmiciples of Human Action, 1805; Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, 1817 ; Lectures on English Poetry, 1818 ; On the English Comic Writers, 1819 ; On the Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth, 1821 ; Spirit of the Age, 1825 ; Life of Napoleon, 1828-30, &c. -WlUiam Cobbett, 1762-1835, was a sturdy ex- ample of the ' John Bull' breed, who raised himself from a compara- tively obscure position to a seat in the House of Commons. As a political writer he was violent and an agitator ; but his Bural Bides, his English Grammar, Sec, are distinguished by their common-sense style and idiomatic language. 129. The ^Quarterlies.' — The foundation of the Edinburgh Review in 1802 and the Quarterly Be view in 1808 effected so im- portant an advance in critical literature that they cannot be passed over iu silence. The first was projected in Edinburgh by a knot of young men, tlie eldest of whom was only thirty, when society was still violently agitated by the French revolution. Sydney Smltb (1771-1845), rrands oreflRrey (1773-1850), Henry Brougham (1778-18G8), were the most celebrated of this little coterie. Smith is said to have originated the idea, and indeed edited the fii-st number, but the management afterwards fell into the hands of Jeffrey, perhaps one of the ablest editors that ever lived. From 1803 to 1829 he conducted the Edinburgh solely, and only ceased to contribute to it in 1810. The influence over public opinion obtained by the Edinburgh gave rise, in 1808, to the projection by John Murray, the publisher, with the assistance of Scott, Canning, and others, of a grand scheme of opposition to the proud critics of Edinburgh — the Quarterly Beview, tiie editorship of which was confided to "William Cifford, already noticed as the critic of the Delia Cruscans {see p. 160, s. 105), and who held the editorial reins from 1808 to 1824. The most distin- guished of his successors was John Gibson Iiookhart (1794- • Uorcr Si(bsff!ta;W,2,m : Dr. Chalmers. 195 &ANi)BOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATDKfi. 1854), an admirable biographer — witness his lives of Scott, 1838-d, Burns, 1828, and Napoleon, 1829. Previous to his assumption of the editorship of the Quarterly, Lockhart had been one of the chief writers in BlacJcwoocCs Maga- zine (established in 1817), a periodical which may fairly claim to be the ancestor of all the shoal of modern monthlies. Gait, Mrs. Hemans, Michael Scott, and some other wTiters already mentioned contributed to its pages. But the soul of 'Maga,' as it wag familiarly termed, was the famous author of the Isle of Palms, 1812, the at)/ of the Plague, 1816, and the ' Christopher North' of the Nodes Ambrosian(B (1822-35), John VTilson (1785-1854), a writer of strange eloquence and dominant power. In mentioning these •works of Professor Wilson, it may be noted that some of the writers named above are also celebrated by works other than those contributed to the foregoing periodicals. Sydney Smith, one of the keenest and frankest of English wits, wrote an admirable book on the Catholics, entitled Peter Ply7)deys Letters, 1808. Brougham, a Hercules of versatility, was the author of a long list of political, biographical, and scientific works, and Gifford edited some of the Elizabethan playwrights. Lockhart and Wilson both wrote novels of Scottish life and manners. 130. Tbe Dramatic VTrlters. — The most illustrious names in this branch of literature during the period under review are those of Joanna BalUle (1762-1851), 7. Sberldan Xnowles (1784-1862), and Tbomas XToon Talfoord (1795-1854). Only two of Miss Baillie's plays on the passions, JDe Montfort and Hatred, were produced on the stage — a fact which points to their suit- ability for the cabinet rather than the footlights. On the contrary, Virginius, 1820, The Hunchback, 1832, The Wife, 1833, The Love- chase, 1837, and others by Knowles still hold the boards. Of the plays of Talfourd, Ion, a tragedy upon the Greek models, is the best. Reference has already been made to the Remorse of Coleridge. Mrs. Cowley ('Anna Maria') is the author of a sprightly comedy, the Belle's Stratagem ; Miss Mitford and Miss Edgeworth both produced plays ; and Monk Lewis was a fertile dramatist, whose IJolta is his best remembered work. One play of Jobn Tobln (1770-1804), the Honeymoon, 1805, must not bo forgotten. But the dramatic growilis of this chapter are barren as compared with some of those ▼hich precede it—a circumstance as significant as it is regrettable. CHAPTEE VIII. THS MOSERW ACS. [deceased aothobs.] 1835-1875. 181, SUMMARY OF THE PERIOD. — 132. THE POETS : HOOD.— 133. MRS. BROWMLKO. —134. OTHER POETS : JUSS PROCTER, AYTOUN, SJUTH, CLOUQH. — 135. THB XOVEUSTS : LYTTON, DICKENS, THACKERAY, LEVER, MRS. KICHOLLS, MRS, GASKELL, ETC.— 136. THE HISTORIANS : MACAULAT, G. C. LEWIS, GROTE, ALISON, MILMAN, BUCKLE.— 137. THE PHILOSOPHERS : HAMILTON, J. 8. MILL. — 138. THE THEOLOGIANS. — 139. THE SCIENTIFIC VTRITERS. — 140. OTHER PROSE WRITERS: DE QUINCEY.— 141. THE DRAMATIC WRITERS. 131. Sammary of tha Period.— Upon the threshold of these, our concludiDg chapters, it ■will perhaps be judicious at the outset to direct the reader's attention to the limitation of their range expressed by the words placed in brackets under the title. Most of the distin- guished writers of this fast-waning century have already gone over to the great majority, although some, we hasten to add, still remain witli us. Dealing, for divers reasons — of which itis sufficient to indicate the poverty of biographical material and the difficulties of contemporary criticism — witli ' deceased' authors only, it will be obvious that the elcctch of the ' Modern Ago' comprised in these chapters must of neces- sity be inadequate and imperfect. And, even wiih regard to deceased authors, it is not always possible to separate the measured utterance of just criticism from that ' full voice which circles round the grave,' or to select only those estimates -which are unbiassed by community of opinion or uncoloured by personal enthusiasm. In the systematic labours of intelligent German and Trench critics, who, it has often been observed, regard our contemporaries with something of the eyes ■with which they will be regarded by our descendants, we might perhaps trace out the germs of the judgment which is ultimately to bo passed upon the Wordsworths and Shelleys, the Smolletts and riehiings of our day. But an investigation such as this would involve is wholly beyond the province of the present work ; and, in the succeeding pages, we thall confine ourselves to reproducing tha O 194 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. views and opinions of native critics, at the same time taking a somo- what larger license of quotation than -vvo have permitted oursolvea ■when dealing with remoter periods. The consideration of the works of two of the greatest poets of the Victorian age, Alfred Tennyson and Eobcrt Ijrowning, is reserved for our concluding cliapter, for we rejoice to recall that it is only during the last decade that their names have been among those of which this volume treats. So, too, with Dante Gabriel Eossetti and Christina, his sister; while William Jloriis and Coventry Patniore have still more recently passed from us. The poets, therefore, who fall within the scope of the present chapter are but few, the chief among them being Thomas Hoed and Mrs. drowning. In the department of prose fiction — a department in which this ago rivals the great masterpieces of the eighteenth century — the losses have been more considerable. Although in 1873 the British Novelist was still represented by more than one eminent writer and a host of minor authors, wo had no longer the keen satire and polished st.ylo of Thackeray, the exuberant vivacity and sentiment of Dickens, the scholarly versatility of Lytton, or the dasiiing narra- tive of Lover. Nor had we the fervid imagination of Charlotte Eronte, or the delightful domestic painting of Elizabeth GaskoU. In History, too, our wealth had been gi'cat, and our losses also great. Macaulay, Grote, Cornewall Lewis, Alison, Milman, Duckle, had already gone from among us, and come, therefore, witliin the range of this chapter. In two of these cases the loss was heightened by the fact that death cut short the cherished labour of tiic author's life. The great Histories of I\Iacaulay and Buckle are fragments, though fragments from which, as from the ruined arc of some un- completed Cyclopean wall, the extent of the ground it was intondid to enclose may still be conjectured. In the ranks of the Philosophers a great breach had been made by the disappearance of one of the foremost of modern teachers, John Stuart I\Iill. But we must abridge a catalogue which would grow too long. The names of Hamilton and Jlaurice — of Whewcll, Murctiison and Herschel — of Hugh Miller, of Mrs. Somervillc — of De Quincoy and Mrs. Jameson, are but a few of those deceased authors who are included in these forty years of the ' Modern Age.' 132. The Poets : Kood. — Some of the drollest and most mirtli- provoking vcr.-o of this century, and some of the most touching and patlietic poetry over written, proceeded from the pen of the author of tlio Song of the Shirt (which first appeared in Punch in 1813) and the Dream of ICufjcnc Aram, 1829. Tbomas Hood (1700-18 15) was at once an engaging writer and a genial and lovable man. His chief THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 195 works, in chronological order, are Odes and Addresses to Great Teople; Whims and Oddities, 1826; Kationcd Tales, 1827; the P/fa of the Midsummer Fairies, and other Poems, 1828 ; the Comic Annued, 1830-42; Tynley Hall,a. novel, 1834; Up the Ehine, 1810; Poems, 1846 ; Poems of Wit and Humour, 1847. ' In most of Hood's works, even in his puns and levities, there is a " spirit of good " directed to some kindly or phil.intliropic object. He had serious and mournful jests, which were the more effective from their strange and unex- pected combinations. Those who came to laugh at folly remained to sympathise with want and suffering. Tlio " various pen " of Hood, said Douglas Jerrold, " touched alike the springs of laughter and the sources of tears." Cliarles Lamb said Hood carried two faces under his namesake, a tragic one and a comic' * 133. nirs. Browning. — But the greatest name among the poets of the present chapter is that of a -woman, Slizabetn Barrett 3rowningr(1806 f-1861). Delicate health as a child, aggravated by the mental shock caused by the sudden death of her brother from drowning, condemned Miss Barrett to a darkened room and the life of an invalid. Yet in this solitude she ranged tlu-ough all literature, aud thence sent forth the splendid emotional poetry, quivering with that humanity and impatience of wrong which are marked characterisstics of her powerful genius. One of her earliest works was an Essay on Mind (in heroics) and other poems, written in 1826. She was an accomplished linguist and familiar with the Greek and Latin classics — especially the former, her keen appreciation of which appears in the lines entitled Wine of Cyprus, addressed to her friend, the blind Hellenist, Hugh Stuart Boyd : • Oil, onr ^schylus, the thunderous, llow he drove the bolted breath Through the cloud, to -n-cdKe it pondcroua In the gnarled oak bcncatli 1 Oh, our Sophocles, the royal. Who was born to monarch's place. And who made tlie ■whole world loyal, Less by kingly power than grace 1 Our Euripides, the human, Witli his droppings of warm tears, And his touches o£ things common Till they rose to touch the spheres I Our Theocritus, our Bion, And our Pindar's shining goals !— These were cup-bearers undying Ot the wine tliat's meant for souls.' t • Chambers's Cyclop, of Enfi. lit., ii. 578 ; r. also the charming ilemorlali of T'lomas JJ.ocl, by iiis Son and Daughter, 18U0. t Mrs. Browning was boru Marcli 6, ISO'G (ml 180fi), at Coxhoc Hall, Co. Purham. Cf.R. Browuiug's iTi/ftfiuVoI. I. of Mrs, Browning's IKwrAi.cd, liib3-30. o2 19G nAN^DBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Iler next -work (1833) — 'an early failure' the terms it — was the afterwards rc-written translation of Prometheus Hound ; •while in 1838 aj^peared Seraphim, and other Poems. The Cry of the Chil- dren, ytTintcd in BlacJ:u>ood (18-13), made a great stir, and added interest to the first collected edition of Poems (1844), which con- tained much new verso. Among this was Lady Geraldine's Court- ship, with its well-known allusion to Edueut Bkownino, whom she married in 1846. After her marriage Mrs. Browning settled in Italy, and, as a result of the Italian Revolutions of 1848 and 1849, published her Casa Guidi Windows, 1851, followed in 1860 by an- other work as earnestly espousing the Italian cause, Poems before Congress. Previous to this had appeared her masterpiece, Aurora Lciijh, 1857, a blank verse poem abounding in autobiography, into which, v,o are told in the preface, ' her highest convictions upon Life and Art had entered.' This Mr. Euskin considered the greatest poem of the century. 134. Other Poets. — Disregarding chronological order for the moment, wo mention the only other of the poets belonging to this chapter who can be at all compared with Mrs. Browning, Adelaide iXnn Procter (1825-64), the daughter of 'Barry Cornwall ' (B. W. Procter), and the author of Legends and Lyrics, 1858 ; Second Series, 1860. Miss Procter's poems have an individual beauty and original grace of fancy which fully entitle them to a distinct place in English poetry. 3>avld Macbeth Molr (179S-lS51),"V«;'illIam Edmonstoune Aytoun (1813-1865), and Alexander Smith (1830-67), were Scotch poets. Moir, the 'Delta' of Blac/cicood's Magazine, was the author of many delicate and beautiful pieces, lie also wrote the Life of Mansic Wauch, Tailor in Dalkeith, 1828, a very humorous work, and a series of excellent Lectures on the Poetical Literature of the La^t Half-Century, 1851. Aytoun, who succeeded Moir as Professor of Literature and Belles Lcttrcs in the University of Edinburgh, was for some years editor of Blacku-ood, and was (he author of some spirited ballads entitled Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers, 1849; also of Firmilian, a Spasmodic Tragedy, 'by T. Percy Jones,' 1854, in which some modem forms of poetry are satirised ; Bothwell, a Poem, 1856, &c. To Aytoun also we owe many of the parodies in the 'Bon Gaulticr' Book of Ballads, in which his colleague was Sir Theodore Martin, the gifted translator of Goethe, Horace, Catullus, and the Vita Xuova of Dante. Alexander Smith's works are respectively entitled Poems, 1853 ; City Poems, 1857; and Edwin of Deira, 1861. lie was also the author of a couple of novel?, and of Drcamthorp, 1863| THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 197 a collection of essays, ' written in the country.' From Arthur Hug^b Clougrb (1819-1861), Fellow and Tutor of Oriel College, we have some of the best existing English hexameters in the 'Long- Vacation pastoral,' entitled the Bothie of Tober-na- Vuolich, 1 848. His collected poems also include Amours de Voyage, records of continental travel in 18-48-9, and Marx Magna, or Tales on Board, written shortly before his death. Besides those he prepared a revision of Dryden's Translation of Tlutarch. As a typical Eugby boy of Arnold's time, and an Oxonian of the Oxonians, Clough is the darling of many moderns. JIuch of what he did was of the best, but much in his ehort life was left undone. He lived, rather than wrote his poem. Bays the author of his Memoir, ' Few men, it is probable, have looked on nature more entirely in the spirit which his favourite "Wordsworth expressed in the immortal lines on Tintern ; fewer, per- haps, in this age have more completely worked out his ideal, " plain living and high thinking," ' * 135. Tlie Vovellsts. — Belonging by his brilliant talents and Tersatile successes to almost every department of literature — novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, biographer, orator, translator, politician, and historian — Edward Bulwer, Xord Syttoa (1803-1873), if not ^^. by genius, yet by actual priority In the field of fiction, worthily heads the list of novelists in the present chapter. A patrician, like Shelley and Byron, he had already followed the example of the former by publishing, not a novel, but a poem — Ismacl, an Oriental Tale, dated 1820— before he passed to Cambridge, where, in 182G, he took his B.A. degree. In 1825 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal for his poem on Sculi^iure; he also then published a collection of verse entitled Weeds and Wild Flowirs. O'Neil, or the licbcl, followed in 1827, together with the novel of Falkland (after- •wards suppressed). His next fiction, Pelhain, or the Adventures of a Gentleman, 1828, was a success, and with it began the author's sub- ecqucnt popularity. He was then threc-and-twenty. Pclham was succeeded by a long lino of fictions — The Disowned, 1829 ; Dcve7-eu.v, 1829; raul Cliford, 1830; Eugene Aram, 1S32 ; Godolphin, 1833; the Pilgrims of the Bhine, 1834 ; the Last Days of Bompdi, 1834 ; Bienzi, 1835; Ernest Maltravers, 1837; its sei\\\c\, Alice, 1838, forming, witli the previous book, parts i. and ii. of the Eleusinia; ^'ight and Morning, 1841; Zanoni, 1842; the Last of the Barons, 1843; Lucrciia, 1846; Harold, 1848; the Caxtons, 1849, the first of the group of so-called ' Shandean novels ; ' My Novel, 1853 ; What * F. T. Palgrave. 108 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. v-ill he do u-ith if, 18.j7 ; A Strange Story, published in All the Year liound, 1862 ; Kemhn ChillwrjUj, 1873; and the Parigians, 1873, the last of ■which, at the time of his death, had commenced its anonymous course in Blackwood's Magazine. Lord Lytton's poems after O'Ncil, to name tho more important only, are Fa't, and other Poems, 1812; Poems and Ballads tvanslatci. from Schiller, and prefaced by an txcollent life of that poet, since reprinted in the author's collected Essays ; tho satire of the Niw Timon, 1817, out of some lines in -which arose the now forgotten little passage of arms with the late Lord Tennyson ; the epic of King Arthur, 1818; the Lost Tales of Miletus, 18C6, a collection of legends in original rhythmical strophes, founded upon, though not directly imitating, the Greek metres ; St, Stephen's, 1860 ; and a version of the Odes of Horace, 1860, with a preliminary life. Tho dramatic works of Lord Lytton we shall later refer to. It remains to notice some of his more important miscellaneous works. These arc tho famous political pamphlet of the Crisis, 183-1, which ran through no less than nineteen editions in as many weeks ; the Confessions of a Water Patient, 1845; and the two volumes of Caxtoniana, or Essays on Life, Literature, and Manners, Ly ' Pi si stratus Caxt on,' 1863. So wide in range and so diverse in character is the roll of Lord Lytton's productions that ho often paid tlie penalty of versatility in tho lack of response by a public not so elastic as himself. But he repeatedly courted the most unbiassed verdicts by issuing his works anonymously and declining to lean upon liis already acquired reputation. Godolphin, tlie Lady of Lyons, tho Caxtons, tho ^^cw Ti>no7J, were so given to the M-orld, and it was with a start of surprise that people first learned, a week or two after his death, that the remarkable Coming liacc and the brilliant Parisians were the work of his pen. ♦ Whatever tho character Lonl I/ytton essayed to fill, ho worked at tho object he jiut before himself with conscientious thoroughness until he had completed his design ; and if he did not in every walk achieve equal distinction, ho failed in none. His first efforts in poetry are now but little known, and are scarcely referred to, except as curious illustrations of Lord Byron's influcnc* over his generation ; nor is it likely that King Arthur will belong remembered in his Epic ; but in later years I,ord Lytton discovered tho true limits of his poetic power. Tlic vigour, wit, and polish of St. Step/ten's entitle him to high rank in the masculine school of Dryden and Pope ; tho Lost Tales of Milrtus have charmed scholars with their playful fancy, and the translations from Schiller have THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 199 been Touched by Mr. Carlyle as the versions an English reader should consult who wishes to know the ]yrics of the great German author, Tliose who are most familiar with LordLytton's essays are most fond of them, and aro most persuaded that they have never received fit recognition. . . The author of the Lady of Lyons was flattered by the preference of every actress on the stage for the part of Pauline ; and the audience in the most fastidious of our theatres have welcomed Money every night for more than six months past. The whole world knows his fame as Orator and Novelist, and re- members the singular range of knowledge and experience upon which ho built up his success.'* '"We have no hesitation in affirm- ing,' says another high critical authority, ' that, in the last years of his life. Lord Lytton was not only the foremost novelist, but the most eminent living writer in English literature.'f The life of the next great novelist of the 'Modem Age' was '-VC,^ written under eingular advantages, nearly a generation ago, by a well-known pen. J Whether, on the whole, Mr. Forster's Life adds to or detracts from the personal prestige of the brilliant and genial writer whose friend and literary executor he was, our readers must judge for themselves. In these pages, the literary rather than the personal aspect of an author is the chief consideration, and the record of his working life would often alone absorb the whole space we can assign to him. Char les Sickens (1812-70) was born at Landport, in Portsea, his fatlier being aT clerk in the Navy Pay Office, and at that time stationed at Portsmouth. As a child, h.' delighted in reading, and chance directed him chiefly to the works oi Cervantes, Le Sage, and the eighteenth-century classics which formed his father's little library. But this congenial course of training did not last. The father was transferred to London, fell into difficulties, passed into the Marshalsea prison, and his son was obliged to earn his living by a very subordinate employment in a warehouse in the Strand. In 1824, ho was again sent to school (he had received some previous education ut Chatham}, and, in 1827, entered the office of a solicitor — a profession which he did not long pursue. Most of his early ex- periences have left their traces in his novels. The warehouse period is pretty accurately depicted in the earlier chapters of David Copper- field, as also the later school reminiscences ; those of the prison days reappear in Pickuick and Bleak House, while it is doubtless to his • Times, .lannnry 20tli, 1873. t Qiiarliily liivicir, April, 187,". i r. T/ie Lite of Cliarhs Dictcns, by John Forstcr, the tliird and concluding Toliune C'f wUich appeared in Febranry, 1874, <2*^ /^if^^^/t- /^. 200 nANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. legal apprenticeship that we owe Uriah Heep, Dodson and Fogg, Sampson Brass, and the inimitable Dick Swivellcr. After leaving the law ho set himself to the study of shorthand {v. chap, xxxviii. of David Coppcrficld on this head), and commenced reporting for the newspapers. Of the amenities of reporting in those days he gave a graphic account, in 18G5, at the Newspaper Press Fund dinner. It was during tliis time that he began his first literary work in the shape of the sketches afterwards published, in 1836, under the title of Sketches bi/Boz — Boz being a family pet-name. The success of these gave rise to his association with Seymour, the artist, upon the scheme which subsequently grow into the famous Fosthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club, published in a complete form in 1837. The overrunning humour, the geniality, the fresh- ness, and the unflagging spirits of the story were irresistible. And here we tiike leave to quote a few words which explain some currently imputed characteristics of the further work of this popular humourist. • Facetiousness pushed to extravagance was the fundamental idea of Pickwick. The characters were likenesses of actual persons with the salient peculiarities and weaknesses exaggerated. . . He (Dickens) was tempted to go on colouring highly in works which were framed upon a diflferent principle. . . A tendency to indulge in melodramatic effects and overdrawn traits soon began to mar delineations which otherwise wcro traced by the hand of a master. The vice increased in his later works after he had traversed the round of his extensive observation, and fell back upon the artificial creations of his fancy. Even his humour which flowed in such a full tide, and appeared for mar.y years to bo inexhaustible, could not stream on in the plenitude of its affluence for over, and as it became less spontaneous and brilliant he tried to give zest to his characters by magnifjnng their eccentricities.'* Thus much in anticipation. But ho had a long course of triumphs before him ere he arrived at those later efforts to which tho foregoing remarks are most justly applicable, and even then his immense influence and popularity remained unaffected liy them. To Pickwick succeeded Oliver Twist and the Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nicklchj, with its ' Dotlieboys Hall,' 1839 ; tho Old Ciiriosifij Shop, 1840; Bamahy Rudge, 1811 ; the Life and Adventures of Martin Chiizzlcwit, with its inimiUible hypocrite Pecksniff, 1841 ; Dealings with the Firm of Domhetj and Son, Wholesale, JRctail, and for Exportation, 1848; the Personal Hist or j/ of David Copperficld, its author's ' favourite child,' 1850 ; Bleak House, 18.>'! ; Hard Times, 1854 ; Little Dorrit, 1857 ; a • Quarterly Unieic, January, 1872, 140 (cczzxil.) THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 201 Tales of Two Ciiies, 1859 ; Great Expectations, 1861 ; Our Mutual Friend, 1865; and the unfinished Mystery of Edwin Brood, 1870. Most of these books were published in the serial form of Pickwick, or in the pages of the weekly periodical started by Dickens in 1850 under the name of Household Words, which after being temporarily merged in All the Year Round again exists under its old name. Besides these there was the series of delightful Christmas Stories, which, commenced in 1813 by A Christmas Carol in Prose, was con- tinued by the Chimes, 1844 ; the Cricket on the Hearth, 1845 ; the Battle of Life, 1846; and the Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, 1848, The Essays entitled the Uncommercial Traveller (1860), American Notes for General Circulation, 1842, Pictures from Italy, 1846, and a Child's History of England, 1854, are the most impor- tant of his remaining works. Dickens died on the 9th June, 1870 ; and the generation for whom (to borrow a phrase from that epitaph on Goldsmith which Johnson so obstinately refused to write in English) he had been sive risus essent movendi, sive lacrimw, affectuum potens at lenis dominator, decreed him a resting-place in Poet's Corner. The time has scarcely arrived for an exact appreciation of his position as a writer. Some of his more obvious defects have been hinted at above ; but his merits are far in excess of his faults. In his initial lines Mr. Forster calls him ' the most popular author of his day and one of the greatest humourists the ago has produced,' and this qualification will, in all probability, be endorsed without reservation by the race of readers who have lauglied over the wit of Sam Weller, and pitied the sorrows of Little Nell — have rejoiced in the eccentricities of Micawber and Mrs. Gamp, or shuddered with the ghastly horror of Jonas Chuzzlowit. Future critics will classify his affectations, and appraise his attempts at reforming abuses ; they will note the limitations of his art and range of character; bu* they cannot fail, at the same time, to render justice to his vivid imagination, his genial humour, his earnestness, his humanity, and, above all, his purity. ' I think of these past writers (Sterne, &c.), and of one who lives among us now,' said his great rival Thackeray, 'and am grateful for the inno- cent laughter and the sweet and unsullied page which the author of David Copperjicld gives to my children.'* The ' green leaves ' of the Pickwick Papers had long fluttered into English households, and other fictions as genial and humourful had succeeded them, before the name of another writer whom most of us • Z4tlura on the EnglUh llumouritta, 1864, 310 : Slernt and GoJdmm. 202 nAXDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. delight to honour made its appparance on library taLles. William XVTakepeace Tljackeray (1811-63) was a man of sis-and-thirty when Vaniti/ Fair was iirst issued in monthly numbers. Born in Calcutta, ho had come to England at the age of five. lie was educated at the Charter House ; afterwards at Trinity Collogo, Cam- bridge, whore he was the contemporary of Tennyson, John Sterling, and Lord Houghton. He left the university without taking a degree. His means were ample, and, until they were reduced by an unfor- tunate business connection, relieved him from the necessity of adopt- ing a profession ; and he travelled leisurely thi'ough Europe, visiting its capitals. It was at this period that he had the interview with Goethe at Weimar, the circumstances of which he relates in a letter published in Lewes's life of that poet.* When it became necessary for him to increase his income by his own exertions, he for a time leaned toward art, which he etill continued to study at Paris. ' But it was destined,' says one of his few biographers, ' that he should paint in colours which will never crack and never need restoration. All his artist experience did him just as much good in literature as it could have in any other way; and in travelling through Europe to see pictures, he learned not them only, but men, manners, and languages. He read German ; ho knew French well and spoke it elegantly ; aud in market-places, salons, hotels, museums, etudios, the sketch-book of his mind was always filling itself.'f At the age of thirt}-, then, ho began to direct his attention to literature. His earlier labours, not now always to bo traced, were anonymous or pseudonymous. ' Ho wrote letters in the Tmcs under the signature of Manlius Pennialinus.' Ho contributed to reviews — to newspapers. He wrote for Fiascr's Magazine (established in 1830), for Tunch (established in 1841), and for many other publica- tions. Muchof his work from 1841 to 1847 iscontained in the volumes of Miscellanies, published in 1867. Not comprised in these, however, are the Varis Sketch Book, 1840 ; the Second Funeral of h'apolcon, 1841 ; and the Iri^^h Sketch Book, 1843, all published under his favourite nom de jAumc of ' Michael Augolo Titmarsh,' — ' a name in whicli the dream of the artist still haunted tlio fancy of the liumourist.' Tl'.e list of the Miscellanies is too long for repetition. But in the touch- ing Histori/ of Sainuel Titmarsh and the Great Iloggarty Diamond he had already put forth his strength, and in the Memoirs ^ of Barry Lj^ndon, Esq., he had tried the ground of Esmond. The Miscellanies contain, besides, the Yellow-Plush Papers, with their wonderful spell- • Lewes's Li/e of Ooc/lie, ISCt, flSj. t Brief Memoir of Thackeray, by James Uannay, 1864, 9-W, THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 203 ing, the Boole of Snobs, contributed to Punch ; the excellent parodies entitled Novels by Eminent Hands {i.e. Bulwcr, Lover, G. P. E. James, Disraeli, &c.), and the Ballads. ' His (Thackera3''s) poetic vein,' says Hannay, ' was curiously original.' 'Poetry was not the predominant mood of his mind, or the intellectual law by which the objects of his thought and observation were arranged and classified. But i7iside his fine common-sense understanding, there was, so to speak, a pool of poetry — like the impluvium in the hall of a Roman house, which gave an air of coolness and freshness and natxire to the solid marble columns and tcsselated floor.' * The Chronicle of the Drum is perhaps his highest poetical effort; but for the genuine Thackerean mixture of humour and pathos the reader is referred to the Ballad of Bouillabaisse, the Cane-bottomed Chair, Ho, 'pretty fage with the dimpled chin, the bright little paraphrase of Fersicos odi; and other familiar specimens. To return to his prose writings. In 1847, with a completed train- ing and a perfected style, he came before the world with his first groat book — which, as usual, had been declined by publisher after publisher, like many another masterpiece from Bohinson Crusoe to Jane Eyre. This was Vanity Fair, a Novel without a Hero, written in 1846-7-8, and whicli, aided by an appreciative article in tlie Quarterly, gradually' compelled its audience. It was ' the key with which he opened the door of his f;ime.' Inconsecutive and irregular as was the plot (the incidents succeed each other as in ordinary life), it soon ' became known that a new delineator of life was at work in society, and one whoso pen was as keen as the dissecting knife of tho surgeon. An author had sprung up who dared to shame society by a strong and manly scorn, and by proclaiming that it ought to loathe [clothe?] itself in dust and ashes. The world was not un- willingto read tho reflection of its foibles and its vices mirrored with 60 much wit, originality, and genius.'f Vanity Fair was followed, in 1850, by tlic History of Bendennis, his Fortunes and his Miffcrtuncs, his Friends and his greatest Enemy. Tho autlior's object was to describe the career of an ordinary English gentleman, ' no better nor worse than most educated men . . . with the notorious foibles and selfishness of their lives and their educa- tion.' The picture is accurate in the last degree, and it is perhaps by reason of its undrapcd, unvarnished truthfulness that wo like the hero, Pendcnnis, no better than tho hero Tom Jones. Tom Jones was a • sorry scoundrel ;' and there is reason for acquiescing in the verdict • liricf Memoir of T/tackerau, by James Hannay, 18C4, 10. t Edinburgh Reviem. January, 1873. 101 <'cxxi-vHi.) : The Works of Tliarlerav. 20-1 ILVNDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. of a modern critic that Pendenuis is a 'poor creature.' Eut tTi» drawing of the subordiuate characters is to the full as keen and fine as that of those in Vanity Fair, and the old tuft-hunter, Major Pendennis, may fairly stand comparison with Lord Steyne and Sir Pitt Crawley, the ' wicked nobleman ' and the yuJgar baronet of the earlier novel. We must pass more rapidly over Thackeray's later works. Vanity Fair and Pendennis had appeared in tlio serial form. His next work, the History of Henry Esmond, Esq., a Colonel in the service of her Majesty Queen Anno, Written by Himself, 1852, camo out in the ordinary three Tolumes of circulating libraries — a fact which partly explains its superior artistic unity. Thackeray delighted in the pseudo- Augustan age, and has reproduced with marvellous skill its manners, thoughts, feelings, and style.* ' Queen Anne's colonel writes his life — and a very interesting one it is — just as such a Queen Anne's colonel might be expected to write it ; ' and in this respect alone the book is on all hands regarded as a remarkable tour deforce. In his next, ho reverted to tlie familiar 'yellow covers,' producing a work M'hich divides with Vanity Fair the houourof being his master- piece, i.e. — The Ntwcomes : Memoirs of a most respectable Family, Edited by Arthur Tendcnnis, Esq., 1855. This contains that admirable character of the old Indian officer and gentleman, Colonel Newcome. for a parallel to whom one must revert to ' ^My Uncle Toby ' or Don Quixote ; and one of the most charming of the author's feminine creations, — after Lady Castlewood in Esmond, — the colonel's niece, Ethel. The moral, if there be a moral to the book, is the evil arising from ill-assorted marriages. The Virginians, a Tale of the last Century, 1859, narrates the fortunes of Esmond's grandsons. Lovcl, the Widower, a Novelette, 18C0 ; the Adventures of Fhilip on his Way through the World, showing Who Robbed Him, Who HelpedHim, and JVho Passed Him by, 1862; and the beautiful fragment of Denis Duval, in which he returns to his favourite century, and the progress of which was checked by his death in 1863, arc tlie chief of his re- maining woi-ks. Like liulwcr, like Dickens, lie died in harness. From the foregoing paragraplis some of Thackeray's minor works, such as the series of Christmas stories which appeared from 1817 to 1854 (including the delicious 'Fireside Pantomime' entitled the Bose and tJie Ring; or tlie Adventures of Prince Giglio and Prince Bulbo, 1851), have, for want of space, been intentionally omitted. But the famous Lectures on the English Humourists of the Eighteenth • C/. tl\e allcRcd Sptctntor • for Tuesday, April 1, 1712,' containing the itory of Jocasta, bk. iii. cbap. ili. THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTflOES). 205 Century, delivered in 1851, and the Lectures on the Four Georges, Sketches of Manners, Morals, Court and Town Life, delivered in 1 855-7, cannot be so passed over. The pictures of Hogarth, Steele, Addison, and Fielding in the first-named of these works are in the author's best style, but with Swift and Sterne his sympathies (and many will say rightly) appear to have been imperfect. ' He came to the task of painting Swift prejudiced by Swift's ferocity, just as to that of painting Steele and Goldsmith, prejudiced by their kindli- ness, helplessness, and general weakness;'* and hence the sketches of the Humourists have been called ' models of writing, if not of bio- graphy.' Indeed, as regards style and beauty of composition, Thackeray had few equals. The Four Georges (sufficiently described by their sub-title), appeared in 1860 in the Cornhill Magazine, the herald venture of a long list of shilling monthlies, which date from the success of this one, launched under the prestige of the great novelist's editorship in January 1860. In it were published his last two novels and the fragment of a third, besides the mellow and kindly Montaigne-like causeries entitled Boundahout Papers. ' Mr. Thackeray's humour,' says Brimley, ' does not mainly consist in the creation of oddities of manner, habit, or feeling; but in so representing actual men and women as to excite a sense of incongruity in the reader's mind — a feeling that the follies and vices described are deviations from an ideal of humanity always present to the writer. The real is described vividly, with that perception of individuality which constitutes the artist ; but the description implies and suggests a standard higher than itself, not by any direct assertion of such a standard, but by an unmistakable irony. . . It is this which makes Mr. Thackeray a profound moralist, just aa Hogarth showed his knowledge of perspective by drawing a land- scape throughout in violation of its rules.'f ' He had no notion,' says another writer, ' that much could bo done by telling people to be good. Ho found it more telling to show that by being otherwise they were in danger of becoming unhappy, ridiculous, and contemp- tible. Yet he did not altogether neglect positive teaching. Many passages might be taken from his works — even from the remorseless Book of S7iobs itself — which indicate the beauty of goodness ; and the whole tendency of his writing, from the first to the last line ha • nacieray on Su-i/t,hs 3. Hannny : Temple Sar, Oct. 1SG7. The ITumourisls WHS annotated, for the author, by Mr. llnnnay, to whose information about the novelist we may add tliat of Anthony Trollope, in the Men of Letters Series, 3379, and of Messrs. Itcrivulc and M.irzials, Great Writers Series, 1891. The latter contained some hitherto anpubliehed facts. t Urimlcy, fssais, 1800, :'55-C : A';m mj. / 20G HANDBOOK 01- EXGLISII LITERATUnE. penned during a long nnd active literary life, has invariably boon to. inspire areverenco for manliness and purity and truth.'* Contemporary with Dickens, with Thackeray, and with Eulwer, tbo two former of whom ho survived, comes another novelist endeared to this generation, Charles tever (1806-72). Educated tt Trinity College, Dublin, and Gottingen, Lover began life as a physician, afterwards occupying diplomatic posts at Floreuco, Spezzia, and Trieste, at which last place ho died. In 1837, ho began a series of racy sketches in the Dublin Magazine under the title of the Confessions of Harrij Lorrcqucr, succeeded, in 1840, by Charles O'Malley, the Irish Dragoon. The welcome accorded to the spirit and dash of llicso works assured his popularity and determined his career. It is not needful for us to recall the long list of his novels, from those above named to his last in the Cornhill Magazine — Jjjrd Kilgohbin, 1871. BlacJciuood, tho Dublin University, All the Year Bound, St. Paul's — each knew his pen and his unflagging powers. Long experience of the ins and outs of continental life give a singular variety and zest to his social sketches, and though his typos are not universal, nor does ho sound the deeper chords, yet in the delinea- tion of lower Irish life he has had few or no rivals. This ago is rich iu the works of women. To one in particular of tho throo daughters of a clergyman, living in a small and ob- scure provincial parsonage, wo owe some of the most remarkable of modern novels. Charlotte, Emily, and Ann Sronte were tho dauglitcrs of tho Ilev. Patrick Bronte, perpetual curate of llaworth, in Yorkshire. Charlotte, the most gifted of the trio, was born in 181G, and died in 1855, having lost her sisters in 1848 and 1849 respectively. Imaginative composition appears to Lavo been an early amusement of tho motherless girls, for, between 1829 and 1830, they had produced as many as twenty-two volumes of MS., much of which was in a hand as small as tho minute extract-type of the present volume.f In 1846, preserving their initials under tho pseudonyms of ' Currcr,' ' Elli.s,' and ' Acton Bell,' tho Bisters publislied a volume of miscellaneous poems without much success. Each had al»out this time a novid ready for the press. Emily and Ann succeeded in publishing their tales of Wuthcring Heights and Agnes Greg together in 1847; Cliarlotte'a Professor (afterwards published posthumously) was however declined. But, by 1847, alio bad completed a masterpiece — the novel of Jane Eyre, This, issued by Messrs. Smitli and Elder in the October of that year, • [Dr. John Brown], N. British liev., February, 1861, 269 (xl.) t r. fac-iimile in the Li/e by Mrs. Quskcll, THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 207 attracted immediate attention, and the public interest was subse- quently greatly heightened by the disclosure of the author's sex. Jane Eyre was followed, in 1849, by Sldrley, and, in 1852, by VUlctte. In 1854 the now popular authoress was married to the Eev. A. B. Nicholls, and died in the following year. Her novels are too well known to need much detailed description here. The vigour, the white-heat of imagination, the pulsating eloquence of Jane Eyre still hold the modern reader as they did that more pro- fessional ' reader ' to Messrs. Smith and Elder's firm, who sat up all night to finish the MS. '■Jane Eyre' (we are translating from the French reviewer whom the authoress said appreciated her best) 'is not only Miss Bronte's finest romance, but it is the finest of con- temporary romances. ''^' Shortly after Charlotte Bronte died, an already wcll-knowu novelist and personal friend published her Life, 1857, a work which, bating some inaccuracies removed from subsequent editions, is a model of a biography. Little is known of the life of the writer, Mrs. Slizabetb Gaskell (I810-G5), beyond the fact that she was the wife of a Unitarian minister in Mauchester. Before the appear- ance of the Life of Mrs. Nicholls, she had published the novels of Mary Barton, 1848, 'a picture of Manchester life,' having for its groundwork the depression of trade in 1841-2 ; liuth, and Cranford, 1853 ; and North and South, 1855. Ilor subsequent talcs are Sylvia's Lovers, 1863, a story of the last century, which takes place in a little Northern whaling village ; the beautiful cabinet-picture entitled Cousin Pkillis ; and the unfinished yet delightful tale of Wives and Danyhters, 1 865. The sweet, truthful, and pure domestic pictures in this most charming of modern novels of everyday life will not require to bo further described here. Of the novelists of the last epoch, many might be as fairly placed in this one, since several, c.y. Marryat, Hook, and G. P. 11. James, continued to write long after the j'car 1835, at which this chapter begins. To the fictions of Hood, IVXoir, and Alexander Smltb a reference has already boon made. Those of Z>oug:las Jerrold will be noticed under the ' Dramatic Writers.' Among the remain- ing deceased novelists must be mentioned Samuel liOver, 1707- 18C8, an admirable song-writor, and author of the Irish talcs of liory O'Morc, 1837; Handy Andy, 1842; and Treasure Trove, 1844; XiCitcb Ritcliie (1800-65), sometime editor of Chamhers's Journal, • M. Emile Montognt, Rn'ue de DeiLv ifondes, .Tuly 15, 1R57. Mr. Auffustine Birroll has written a life for the Qreat Writers Series, 1837. Mr. Clement Shortcr'a ftigerly expected CharhtU BrotiU and h r Circle h;is just appeared, 1806. 208 HARDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATDRE* and author of Weary foot Common, 1854, and other tales; Mark Kemon (1809-70), editor of Punch, and author of several genial novels and acting plays; Tames Hannay (1827-1873), a distin- guished critic (to ■whose labours on Thackeray, Smollett, and others, this work has been more than once indebted), and author of the nauti- cal novels of Singleton Fontcnoy, 1850, and Eustace Conyers, 1855 ; or. s. X.e Tana (1814-1873), authorof[7ncfc5»7as, the House by the Churchyard, and other sombre and powerful works belonging to the ' Sensational School' of modern fiction; and a crowd of minor \n'iters qiios nunc perscrihere longum est. 136. The Historians. — If the New Zealander, so often referred to by contemporary journalists, should chance hereafter to extend his inquiries into the historical literature of this age, he will probably arrive at the conclusion that the writer, by whom he was practically introduced to the public of this country, was the most brilliant, and certainly the most popular, of modern English historians. Thomas Bablng:ton Macaulay (1800-1859) was born at Kothley Temple in Leicestersliire, his father being the well-known Abolitionist, Zachary Macaulay. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where, in 1819, he obtained a medal for a poem on Pompeii ; and, in 1821, was elected Craven University Scholar, gaining, in the same year, another medal for a poem on Eventide. In 1822, he became B.A., and won a prize for an essay on William III. In 1824, he was elected Fellow; in 1826, he was called to the bar. As a bar- rister he made no great figiire, and after his return to Parliament as member for Calne, in 1830, did not long continue to practise. But, on the other hand, he had early devoted his mind to literature ; and, between June, 1823, and November, 1824, contributed numerous papers and poems to [Charles] Knight's Quarterly Magazine, in some of which his bias towards historical composition may bo already discerned. A more important production than these, how- ever, was his essay on a writer whose works had been his favourite study from boyhood (he is said indeed to have literally known Paradise Lost by heart), namely, the Essay on Milton, which appeared in Iha Edinburgh Bcview for 1825. This was the ' flying- post' of that famous series, which (to use one of his favourite phrases) may now, in one way or other, bo truly said to bo 'known to every Bchool-boy.' In 1828 appeared, among others, the Essay on Dryden (included in the Miscellaneous Writings) and that on Hallam ; in 1831, Byron and Johnson; in 1S^2, Biirlfigh; 1834, P/«; 1837. Bacon; 1838, Sir W. Temple; 1839, Church and State; 1840, CY/w and the Lives of the Popes; 1841, Comic Dramatists of the Restoration &iii THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 209 Warren Hastings; 1843, Madame U Aril ay and Addiso7r. In these essays ' there is hardly an important period,' says Dean Milman, ' ut least in our later history, which has not passed under his review. . . . Burleigh gives us the reign of Elizabeth ; Bacon, that of James I. ; Milton and Hampden, of Charles I. and the Eepublic ; Temple (with Mackintosh's History), Charles II. and the Eevolution ; Horace Walpole, Chatham, Pitt, the Geoi-ges ; Clive and Hastings, the rise of our Indian Empire. The variety of topics is almost as nothing to the variety of information on every topic : he seems to have read everything, and to recollect all that he had read.' * During his absence in India as President of the Law Commission (1834-38), he had found leisure to continue his contributions to the Edinburgh. But now he was desirous of devoting himself to a life- long project, as present to his ambitions throughout as his Epic to Milton, namely, the History of England, ' from the accession of James II. to a time which is in the memory of men yet living.' In 1847 he lost his seat for Edinburgh, to which ho was elected in 1839, and set to work in earnest at his long-cherished scheme. He was returned again for Edinburgh in 1852 ; but his parliamen- tary life may be said to have terminated with the reverse of 1847. In 1840, to complete the few remaining particulars of his life, he was made Lord Eector of the University of Glasgow; and, in 1857, raised to the peerage as Baron Macaulay of Eothley, in Leicester- shire. Two years later he died (December 28, 1859), and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The proposed extent of the famous History which absorbed his later years (for, with the exception of Lives of Bunyan, 1854; Goldsmith, 185C ; Johnson, 1856; Pitt, 1859; and At fcrbury, 1853, ■written for the Encyclopedia Britannica, he produced no other literary work), has been given from his opening lines. It reached, however, no further than the death of William III. The first pair of volumes appeared in 1849. Two more, expected breathlessly by the public, succeeded in 1855, and a fifth volume was published after his death. The cxtraordinaiy demand for this book forms a memorable event in publishing annals ; and, despite its ac- knowledged sacrifices to effect and contrast, its reputation as a claesic is a fact too common for repetition. The vast aggi'cgation of fads and details, the lucid and sonorous style, the animation of the dphcriptiou.^, and the critical vigour of the work as a whole, will Kurvive the chippings and scrapings to which certain parts have been subjected. • Memoir of Lord Macaiilaii, 1864, ,xii. Kir Ct. 0. Ti-uvflyau':; Life and LtHers of his uuc!e appeared iu 1876, nud is now accessible in a cheap form. 210 HANDBOOK OF ENGMSn LITEnATURn. In 1842, Lord Macaulaj' had come before the world as a poet ^vitll the spirited Lays of Ancient Borne addiug to the volume two of liis earlier contributions to Knight's Quarterly Magazine, the Battle of Ivry and the kindling fragment of the Armada. The four Eoman ballads, too, are fragmentary. The subjects are respectively tlio keeping of the bridge by Horatiits, the death cf Virginia, the Battle of the LaJce Bcgillus, and the Prophecy of Capys, The author's object, he says in his preface, ' has been to transform some portions of early Roman history back into the poetry of •which they -wero made.' They were spoken ' in the persons of ancient minstrels, who knew only what a Eoman citizen, born three or four years before the Christian sera, may bo supposed to have known, and wlio aro in nowise above the passions and prejudices of their ago and nation.' This standpoint will explain the limits and reservations of these noble lays. Action rather than passion is their leading,' characteristic. They are of the race of tho Homeric poems and the Old English ballads, and deserve the praise of Sidney concerning the latter that they ' move the heart more than with a trumpet.' Two of Macaulay's characteristics — his powers as a talker, and his marvellous memory — deserve especial record. In the former talent he fairly rivalled Johnson and Coleridge ; and, as in their cases, his complete absorption of tho conversation has sometimes been made the subject of jealous comment. ' His thoughts,' says Dean Milman, 'wci-e like lightning, and clothed themselves at onco in words. While other men were thinking what they should saj-, and how they should say it, Macaulay had said it all, and a great deal more.' On the other hand, his retcntiveness was as remark- able as Scott's or Fuller's. He would quote books and authorities in conversation as freely as thougli lie had the works themselves under his eye as ho spoke. Nor diil his power of recollection lie only in his own subjects, but grasped the last fngitivo squib or bon-mot as securely as Milton's epic or a broadside for tho History. The animated spirit of tho Eoman Ballads of Macaulay drew from IJrougham a wish that he would turn his thoughts to a History of Borne, — a suggestion whicii, as it would havo furtlicr diverted tho author from his unfinished masterpiece, we may bo thankful was never acted upon. But the investigations to which the tbenries of Niobuhr as to tho fabulous originals of i^arly Eoman History (warmly advo- cated by Thomas Arnold, 179iJ-18J2, in his unfinished History of Borne) had given rise, were continued by more than one illustrious scholar. Such an one was Sir Georgre Cornewall Xiewis (1806-G3), Chancellor of the l>xcheqncr in lS.55-8, and previously THE MODEKN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 211 editor of the Edinburgh Beview. Besides translations of Boeckh on the Public Economy of Athens, of K. 0. Muller s Doric Bacc, and (with Dr. Donaldson) of the latter 's unfinished Literature of Ancient Greece, Sir G. C. Lewis wrote an Enquiry itito the Credibility of the Early liomaii History, 1855, in which he combats Niebuhr's views, and ' not only the results of his investigations, but the method by which he has arrived at them. He not only rejects Niebuhr's views as untenable, but maintains that it is impossible they should be other- wise. . . We do not believe that the future historian of Eome will acquiesce in his sweeping scepticism ; but he will undoubtedly be indebted to him for the most ample and complete examination of his materials ; and will derive from his elaborate essay that ad- vantage which must always proceed from every fresh examination of an obscure subject by an independent and original thinker.' * Other works by this author are On the Origin and Formation of the Fomance Languages, 1835 ; On the Use and Abuse of Folitical Terms ; On the Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion, 1849, &c. The History of Greece, by Mitford (see p. 190, s. 126), was followed in 1 835-40, by a work bearing the same title, but of stricter scholar- eliip and more extensive research, from the pen of Dr. Connop Thirlwall (1797-1875). Both books have been now superseded by the labours in the same field of George Grote (1794-1871), who, after spending nearly thirty years of his life as a London banker, retired from business in 1843, and set to work in earnest to write a third and still more elaborate history, the materials for which he had for twenty years been accumulating. The first two volumes were published in 1846; tlie twelfth and last appeared in 1856. It ■was said by Hallam that he never knew a book take so rapid a, flight to the highest summits of fame as this history. 'AH other "Histories" of Greece,' wrote Sir Cornewall Lewis to the author upon its conclusion, ' are superseded by your work ;• and those who treat the subject hereafter must take your treatment of it as their starting-point. The established character of your " History " at our Universities, where its political principles would not make it accept- able, is a remarkablo fact, and is creditable both to you and to them.'t Grote was Member for London from 1832 to 1841 ; and his political principles were those of the little group styled ' Philo.- Bophical Radicals,' \ — principles which had attracted him to Grecian • Qiiarlerh/ Review, Mnrch, 185G, 025, 352 (xcviii.) t I'erxojial Life or George Grote, by Mrs. Grote, 1S73, 225. t Defined by J. S. Mill ns thosu ' who in politics observe the common manner of iihilosnphcrs— that is, who, when they nro discussing means, begin by cou- Bidering the eud, and when they de.-ire to rtoiiiice effects, think of causes.' 212 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATUIJi:. history as a themo for h'.s pen, ' The idealised democracy of Athens, as Mr. Grote regarded it, is an ever-living protest against those forms of monarchical, aristocratic, and priestly government ^vhich he abhorred.'* His next work, Flato and the other Companions of Sokrates, appeared in 1865, and dealt with Greek speculation and philosophy. A companion woi-k on Aristotle was in progress at his death, and two volumes of it have since been published. Some con- tributions to reviews excepted, a small volume of letters on Swiss Politics, 1847, is his only other noticeablo work. He was elected a Trustee of the British Museum, 1859; Vice-Chancellor of the London University, 1862; and President of University College — in all of which duties he did active service ; a pleasing record of which is contained in the Memoir by Mrs. Grote already quoted. The marked politics of Macaulay's History are signified in the nickname of ' Whig Evangel,' which has been applied to his master- piece. The next historian we iiavo to name was as conspicuously a Tory, although his opinions cannot bn said to have coloured his narrative so completely as in the case of Macaulay. In 1814, we learn from the Preface to the Historj/ of Europe, fro7)i the commencement of the French Bevolittian to the Restoration of the Bourbons, 1833-42, Sir Arcblbald Alison (1792-1867), then a young advocate on a visit to Paris, conceived the idea of writing tlie story of tlie Froncli Eevolutionary War. For fifteen years he collected materials, and for fiftren more composed the History of whicli the title is quoted above. In 1852-9 appeared a continuation, — the History of Europe, from the Fall of i\ap6lcon in 1815, to the Accession of Louis Kupoleon, in 1852. Diifuseness and a faulty stylo rather than actual inaccuracies of statement have been tlie chief critical cliarges against the author. But a work, which, beside translation into Continental languages, has received the lionour of being rendered into Arabic and Hindustani, can plead a popularity to whicli tlie above defects apparently present no obstacle. 'It' (the 'History' of Alison) 'is, upon the whole, a valuable addition to European literature, evidently compiled with the greatest care; its narration, so far as we [tlio Edinburgh /i\- viewl Ciin judge, is not perverted by the slightest partiality. Its defects, or what wo deem such, are matters partly of taste, and partly of political opinion. Its merits are minuteness and honesty.' Besides the above-mentioned works, Alison wrote a Life of the Duke of Marlborough, 1847, and three volumes of Essays, published in 1 849. A writer who belongs to the previous cliapter by a number of • Edinburgh Jieview, July 1873, 242 (cxxxviil.) THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 213 poems and dramas reappears in this as an historian of high order. Henry Hart IVIilman (1791-1868), made Dean of St. Paiil's in 1849, published successively a History of the Jews, 1829 ; a History of Christianity from the Birth of Christ to the Abolition of Paganism in the Eornan Empire, 1840; and a History of Latin Christianity, 1854-6, continuing the last-named -work. Dean Milman veas also the author of a Life of Horace, prefixed to a splendid edition of that poet issued in 1849, and copiously illustrated with drawings of coins, gems, &c. One of his latest works (ISGo) was a series of translations from the lyric and later Greek poets (including versions of the Agamemnon of ^schylus and the Bacchanals of Euripides), being mostly translations interspersed in the lectures delivered by him while Professor of Poetry at Oxford, a post to which he was elected in 1821. His Histories have experienced the fate which awaits most ecclesiastical studies of the kind, \\z. — opposition, not unmixed with charges of unsoundness on the ^Titer's part ; but most critics concur in commending their copious minuteness and comprehensive information. A work that deserves more than a passing notice is the History of Cifilication in England and France, Spain and Scotland, by Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-62), a production which was the result of long-sustained study and patient accumulation of material. The first volume appeared in 1857, and was followed in 1861 by a second. Unknown as a literary man — indeed he had mainly confined his labours from the age of twenty-one to preparation for his darling project, and had not published a lino previously — its appearance took the public by surprise, and the author suddenly found himself iamous. He fell a victim to over-work before he had completed his design, and died of fever at Damascus, to which place he had travelled in tlie search for health. 137. Tbe Philosophers.— For the Edinburgh chair of Moral Philosophy, filled successively by Stewart and Brown (sec p. 189, s. 125), one of the greatest a priori philosophers of this century. Sir 'William Hamilton (1788-1856), was, in 1820, an unsuccessful can- didate. In 1821, he was appointed Professor of Universal History, and, in 1836, called to the Chair of Logic and Metaphysics, which ho held until his death. The articles contributed by him to the Edinburgh Bcvieiv, upon which his fame as a writer chiefly rests, were reprinted in 1852 under the title of Discussions on Philosophy and Littrature, Education and University Eeforrn. Sir William also edited the works of Peid, 1846, and, when he died, was engaged upon those of Dugald Stewart (sff p. 189, s. 125). ' Sir William Hamilton, cays the Edinburgh lieview, ' has attained to the very highest distinc- >^ 214 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. tion as a philosopher, and in some respects lie is decidedly superior to any ot his illustrious predecessors — Reid, Stewart, and Brown. With a remarkublo poAver of analysis and discrimination, ho com- bines great decision and elegance of style, and a degree of erudition that is almost "without a parallel.' Upon this last point there is little difference of opinion. De Quincey calls him 'a monster of erudition,' — a title -which may be set beside the 'book in breeches' applied by Sydney Smith to Macaulay. The life of another eminent v.-ritcr, Join Stuart Willi (180G- 1873), has been told by himself in his Autuhiographj (1873). His importance, declares a frier.dly critic,* rests upon no one great work, yet 'a multitude of small impressions may have the accumulated effect of a mighty -whole, (and) -who shall sum up Mill's collective iidluence as an instructor in Politics, Ethics, Logic, and Meta- physics ? ' We must perforce limit ourselves to the bare mention of some of these 'impressions.' Born at Pentonville,the extraordinary character of the education he received at thehandsof the father, James Mill, the historian {sec p. 190, s. 12G) is fully described in the above- mentioned Life. In 1823, at the ago of seventeen, ho entered the India Office as a clerk under his father, who had been appointed Assistant-Examiner there in 1821. His education still -went on under his father's care, and his leisure was devoted to botanical studies andpedestrianism. His ' first publicly-acknowledged literary work' -was the preparation for the press, and annotation of, Bentham'a Bationalc of Judicial Evidence, 1827. Subsequently ho contributed to the Westminster liivkw, established by Bentham in 1824, various articles, one being on Whately's Logic. Among other papers may be noted, as showing his -width of range, an article on Poetry and its Varieties, published in the Monthhj Bepositonj, 1833. In 1835, he became editor of Sir William Molesworth's venture, the London Bcvicw, afterwards amalgamated -with tho Westminster, to which, vitcr alia, lie contributed important articles on Civilization, on Bentham, Coleridge, tho French poet, Alfred do Vigny, and the French publicist, Armand Carrel. But wo must pass to the enumeration of his more important works. These aro a System of Logic, 1813, styled by Mr. G. H. Lowes 'per- haps tho greatest contribution to English speculation sinco Locke's Essay ; ' Essays on Soine Unsettled Questions of Political Economy, 1844; Principles of Political Economy, 1848; Dissertations and I>iscussio7is, 18o9 (which contained tho famous essay Oti Liberty) ; Considerations on licprcsentativc Governmctit, 1861 ; Utilitarianism, 1863; Auguste Comte and Positivism , and the Examination of Sir • rrof. Bain, J. ,". iliV, a Criticism, mth Perxonal necoUeclionf, 1882, p. 193. THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 215 William Hamilton'' s Philosophi/, 1865 ; and the Subjection of Women, 1869. Mill had retired from the ludia House in 1858, where two years previously he had been made Chief Examiner of Indian Corre- spondence. In I860, he was elected member for Westminster, and took a distinguished part in parliamentary aifairs until the election of 1868, when he lost his seat. He died, on May 8, 1873, at Avignon, where the wife, to whoso intellect and sympathies he has 60 touchiugly referred in the Autobiograjoht/, is buried. Another writer who may be included in this class, although he might bo ranked with the Scientific Writers, was the late Master of Trinity, "William "Wliewell (1795-1866), concerning whoso wide and varied attainments it has been wittily said that science was his forte, and omniscience his foible. Of his numerous works we can only mention the History of the Inductive Sciences, 1837; FhilosopJi^ of the Inductive Sciences, 1840; and the well-known Flatonio Dialogues for English Headers, 1859-61. 138. The Theologrians. — Manj"- of the authors in this class might with equal propriety bo described as Philosophers or Scientific AVritcrs, a fact which affords another example of the difficulties of that system of arbitrary classification concerning the conventional natiu'e of which we have more than once warned our readers in tho course of this w'ork. Tho exact assignment of the winters in these three branches of literature is, however, of minor consequence, as, in an outline such as that proposed in these pages, the space allotted to Theology, Philosophy, and Science must be wholly inadequate to the importance of the subject. In this and the succeeding section we cannot pretend to do more than name the principal authors, and give the titles of two or three of their works, which, in the case of some of the following writers, are especially voluminous. Jobn Xitto (180-1-54) is chiefly memorable from his well-known Cyclo' jxedia of Biblical Literature, 1843-5, and other works of simiUir de- scription, in which his success is tho more remarkable from the serious obstacles v.-liich total deafness opposed to his literary labours. Richard IVhately (1787-1863), Archbishop of Dublin, was the author, among numerous oilier productions, of Elements of Logic, 1826 ; Elements of lihctoric, 1828; Introdvctory Lectures on Political Econo7ny, 1831 ; and a number of valuable theological works. He con- tinued to write until his death. Isaac Taylor (1787-18G5), the son of an Independent preacher, to which profession ho had himself at first devoted his attention, sent forth from his literary seclusion at Stanford Rivers, a long list of theological and scientific works, of which wo can only mention the Natural Ilifiory of Enthusiasm, 21 G HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITEHATURE. 1829; Fanaticis?ii, 1833; and Spiriiual Bcspotisvi, 1835. llo, too, continued WTiting until late in life, one of his latest productions being Considerations on the rcntateuch, 1863, in answer to Bishop Colcnso. Other theologians are Frederick Denlson IHCaurice (1805-72), author of Theological Essaj/s, 1853; Historj/ of Moral and MetapJu/sical Fhilosophi/, completed in 1861, &c., and Henry illford (1810-71), Dean of Canterbury, whoso greatest produc- tion is his Greek Testament, with notes, 18'19-61. Lastly, to the list must be added the name of Samuel "Wilberforce (1805-73), Bishop of Winchester, author of tlio Life of his father, the famous "William Wilberforce, 1838, and also of Agathos, 1810 ; EucJiarisiica, 1839 ; and various theological works. 139. The Scientific "Writers. — Among the more distinguished scientific writers of this chapter must bo mentioned Sir Savld Brewster (1781-G8), whose chief works are the Treatise on Optics, 1831, and More Worlds than One, 1854; Sir Jobn Hersctael (1792 1871), author of numerous astronomical wwks ; Sir Ro- derick Ztlurchison (1792-1871), the well-known President of the Geographical Society, ana author of a magnificent work on tJie Silurian Systeju, 1839; and IMCrs. IMary Somerville (1780- 1872), author of the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, 1834, and Physical Geography, 1848. The works named are only a few of the writings of the autliors in question. From a literary point of view the wTiter whose name we have reserved for the last is perhaps the most remarkable of tlio group. This is the wonderful Cromarty stone-dresser, Kugrli Miller (1802-1856), whoso progress from that humble vocation to the rank of one of the most distinguished of modern geologists must serve for a lasting example to struggling genius. His chief works in chronological order are the Old lied, Sandstone, 1841 ; Footprints of the Creator, 1847; and the Testi- mony of the BocJcs, 1857. He was also the author, inter alia, of an autobiogi'aphical work entitled My Schools and Schoolmasters, pub- blishcd in 1852. The last-named book but one was dearly pur- chased by the death by his own hand of the overstrained \mtcr. Miller's eminence, in the words of Sir David Brewster, consists, not merely in his discovery ' of now and undcscribed organisms in the Old Sandstone, but from the accuracy and beauty of his descriptions, the purity and elegance of his compositions, and the high tone of philosophy and religion which distinguishes all his "writings. . . , With the exception of Burns, the uneducated genius which has done honour to Scotland during the last century has never displayed that THE MODEllN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 217 mentiil refinement and classical taste and intellectual energy Tvliieh mark all the ■writings of our author.' 14:0. Other Prose 'Writers. — Among the writers of prose ■whoso "works are more or less of a miscellaneous character, and do not fall easily into any of the foregoing classes, the name of the famous * English Opium-Eater' stands pre-eminent. Loth for the yalue and variety of his -works, and the beauty and fastidious finish of his style. Thomas De Quincey ^(1785 — 1859) -was born near Manchester, Ills father being a merchant there ; and he was educated at Oxford, v.hero he led a singularly reserred and uncommunicatJA-e life, ab- sorbing himself -wholly in the study of French, Latin, and Greek literature. Towards tlie close of his academical career, he made the acquaintance of Words-worth, his visit to -whom at Grasmere {see p. IGJ, s. 108) is minutely described in Chapter V. of his Autobiograjihio Sketches. In 1808-9 he moved into Words-worth's cottage, which the latter had vacated for his house at Allan Bank ; and here, in tho midst of the lake-country, he lived for nearly twenty years. It was at this time that the habit to which wc owe his famous Confessions began to gain ground, and he beaime a confirmed opium-eater, reach- ing at last the appalling dose of 8,000 drops a day. His experiences of, and ultimate victory * over, this enthralling drug, are contained in tho papers published in 1821, in the London Magazine, which form his first literary production. Henceforth he became a frequent contributor, and a litterateur of established reputation. The Con- fessions of an English Opium-Eater, published in a separate form in 1822, were followed by a crowd of brilliant works, which in the edition of 1862-3 occupy sixteen octavo volumes. The bulk of his productions were contributed to Tait's Magazine and Blackwood. Among them may be particularised the Dialogues of Three Templars on Tolilical Economy, 1824; Logic of Political Economy, 1844; SuspiriadeTrofundis, 1845 ; the Vision of Sudden Death, 1849 ; and the personal recollections comprised in the two volumes of AictobiO' graphic Sketches and Recollections of the Lakes, forming xiv. and ii. of Messrs. Black's complete edition of his works above re- fen-ed to. Of individual pieces the famous Essay on Murder considered as one of the Fine Arts, published in Blackwood in 1827, and the historical sketch of tho Flight of the Kalmuck Tartars, may bo particularised. De Quincey died on December 8, 1859, at • Tlio word ' victory ' is used advisedly. Jtr. Hiiito (TlamJhool: of Knglish Prose literature, 1872, p. 4\) points out that" lie never wholly reliuQuisliedtlie use of opium, although he ceased to be its slave. See 'H. A. Page's' life, ed. 1881, ii. 809-339, for a nietlical view of his case. Trof. Mas?iin has ;il-o wiitten a /Jfe. /- \\ 218 HANDBOOK OV ENGLISU LITKRATUnn:. Edinburgh, whero, for the latter years of his life, he had chiefly resided. The extract from his article in the Enci/dopadia Britannica on Sliakespeare, at pp. 65, GG, gives but a faint idea of De Quiucey's supremo excellence, his nervou.s, copious, and elastic stylo of writing, in which ho can scarcely be said to be approached by any modern, Macaulay alone excepted. For a lengthy analysis of its elements and qualities, the reader is referred to Mr. Minto's Handhoolc of English Prose Literature, where are adequately treated the compositions of this groat writer, whoso eloquent productions have been rightly termed ' a combination which centuries may never reproduce, but whicli every generation should study as ono of the marvels cf English literature.' * IVXrs. Anna JTameson (1791-1860) also requires to bo men- tioned among the prose writers of this opoch. Mrs. Jameson was a delicate and discriminating art-critic. Ilcr chief works arc Hand- hook to the Public Galleries cf Art in and near London, 1842; Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters, 1 84.5 ; Legends of the Monastic Orders, 1850 ; Legends of the Madonna, 1852, &c. We cannot do better than devote some of tho last lines of ouraccount of the prose writers to one who has but recently gone from us, and whose strenuous exertions to promote a sound and cheap form of literature (the story of which he has told at length in his Passages from a Working Life), were unflagging and unfeigned. The namo of Charles Knigrlit (1791-1873) is familiar in many a household, ■where, at the commencement of the centiu-y, letters, if represented .it all, were represented by the Booh; of Drcmns, or the Lives of Illustrious Highwaj/men. To tlio Quarterly Magazine, in which his contributors were Macaulay, Praed, Henry and Dcrwent Coleridge, Moultrie, and others, we have already refeiTcd {sec p. 208, s. 135). 33ut the works -with wliich his name will remain more permanently associated are t\\Q) Penny Magazine, fivst issued in 1832; and tho Penny Cyclopedia, commenced in tho following year, and finished in 1844. In his Struggles of a Book against Excessive Taxation, tlio author gives an interesting account of these two publications, whicli, how- ever excellent, embarrassed him pecuniarily for years. Of his otiicr magazines, periodicals, and miscellaneous works, wo can only men- tion William Shakesperc, a Biography, 1842, written to accompany his Pictorial Edition of that dramatif^t's works, and tho excellent • Quarterly ncikic, July, 1861, 35 (ex.) THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 219 Popular History of England, a book -which may be held to have fairly attained its author's object, as tracing out and exhibiting all the movements that have gone to form the characters of the people. With many of Charles Knight's enterprises (the Penny Cyclo- pmdia especially) was connected a writer to whom our obligations during the course of this worlc have been considerable. Frequent reference has been made in the notes to the valuable History of the English Language and Literaiztre of Georg:e Zi. Craik (1798-1866), Professor of English Literature at Queen's College, Belfast. One of his earliest works was the Pursuit of Knowledge tender Difficulties, 1831 ; begun at the suggestion of Lord Brougham. ]\Ir. Craik was also the author of The English of Shakespeare ; the Bomance of the Peerage, 1848-50; and other books characterised by sound reasoning and conscientious accuracy. 141. The Dramatic "Writers. — The closing words of the last chapter might fitly serve as a prelude to this too brief section of our modern literature. Jerrold, Bulwer, and T. W. Eobertson are the three most prominent names among the deceased dramatists of this chapter. The first, Douglas Jerrold (1803-57), was one of the most prompt and pungent of modern English wits. Originally a midshipman in the Koyal Navy, he made his debut as a dramatist in 1829, with the ' nauLiciil and domesiic HT&mA' oi Black-Eyed Susan ; or, All in the Downs, produced at the Surrey Theatre, with T. P. Cooke, the actor, in the principal part of "William. The piece grow iu popularity, and ran for three hundred nights. ' All Londco went over the water, and Cooke became a personage in society, as Garrickhad been in the days of Goodman's Eields. Covent Garden borrowed the play, and engaged the actor for an after-piece .... Actors and managers throughout; the country reaped a golden harvest.' * So did not, however, the author, whose profits by what enriclied so many, were but small. Ilis first successful effort Was followed by the Rent Day, produced in 1832, and based upon Wilkie's picture; Bubbles of the Day, 1842, which Charles Kemble said had wit enough for three comedies ; Time Works Wonders, 1845 ; and numevous other plays. Jerrold was also one of the pillars of Punch, and author of several novels and humorous pieces, such as St. Giles and St. James, 1851; A Man Made of Money, 1849; Chroniclesof Clovcrnook, 184G ; the inimitable Caudle Lectures, 1846 ; and the pathetic Story of a Feather, 1844. • Life and Remains of Douglas Jerrold, by Blanchard Jerrold, 1859, 85. 220 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. The cliief ilramatic works of Xiord £y tton arc the Lady of Lyons, 1838; Bichelieu, 1838; and tho comedy of Moncjj, 1840; all still popular on the stage (seep. 199, s. 135). Lord Lytton also pub- lished, in 1869, a rhymed comedy entitled Walpole ; or. Every Man has his Price; and, in aid of the funds for tho establishment of the Guild of Literature and Art, he "vrroto Not so Bad as we Secjn, 1861, of which Punch wittily remarked that it was 'Not so Good as we Expected.' It did not obLiin a permanent place upon the stage, A generation younger than Jerrold and Lytton, T. IV. Robert- son (1829-71) inaugurated a new school of idealistic comedy by a series of six plays, which for some years rendered the Prince of Wales' Theatre one of the most fasliionablc resorts in London. In 1865 the Saturday Review remarked that ' some noise has been made by the production of a comedy called Society'; in 1SC3 Ours was 'the pet novelty of the day.' Caste, tho greatest of the series, followed in 1867, and the 'Caste company,' the dramatist's biographer* declares, soon 'constituted a regular school for young actors — a kind of little Com^die Fran^aise.' I'lay appeared in 1868, School in 1869, and JIf.P., when health was failing, in 1870. 'Robertson,' says an American critic, ' was a disciple of Thackeray. . . . His plays employ by means of action precisely the expedients that Thackeray employed by means of narrative— namely, contrast and suggestion. ... In Caste, which is the best of his plays and the epitome of his observa- tion and thought, the echoes of Pendentiis and Vanity Fair are clearly audible. The pie:e is not imitative. Its originality would never be questioned ; but there can be no doubt as to its school.' • The Principal Dramalic Works of T. W. R. 2 vols. 1889. Edited, with » memoir, by his sou. CHAPTER IX. THE IVSOBESN AGS {continued), [deceaskd authors.] 1875-1896. 143. SUMMARY OB- THE PERIOD.— 143. TEXNYSOIJ AND BROWNING. — 144. OTttim POETS : MATTHEW ARNOLD, DANTE GABRIEL AND CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, 5IR HENRY TAYLOR, WILLIAM MORRIS, ETC.— 145. THE NOVELISTS : DISRAELI, GK.OIIGE ELIOT, B. L. STEVENSON, KINGSLKY, TROLLOPE, CHARLES READK, ETC.— 14G. THE HISTORIANS : CARLYLE, FROUDE, GKEEN, FREEMAN, ETC.— 147. THE nilLOSOPHEUS AND THEOLOGIANS : CARLYLE, NEWMAN, PUSET, LIGHTFOOT, COLENSO, ETC.— 148. THE SCIENTIFIC WRIIERS : DARAVIN, LY-ELT, HUXLEY, TYNDALL, ETC.— 149. OTHEIt PROSE WIUTERS : JOHN FORSTER, JAMES SIEDDING, SIR A. HELFB, ETC.— 150. THE DRA.MATIC WRITERS. 142. Summary Since the foregoing chapter was penned the century lias drawn more than twenty j-ears nearer to its close, and the 'great majority' to which allusion was then made has there- fore been augmented by many a name Mhich the plan of this •work did not at that time allow us to include, but which must noAv bo reckoned among those of our ' deceased authors.' Tennyson, whom Wordsworth fifty years ago described as ' decidedly tlie first of living poets,' and who so nobly maintained his pre-eminence to the last, has now 'crossed the bar,' and ' that which drew from out the boundless deep ' has turned again homo. Throe years earlier, in the loved Italy of which ho had Avritten ' Open my heart ami you will see Graved inside of it, " Italy 1 " ' Robert Browning, a poet of widely-divergent genius, had 'marched breast forward ' into the unseen ; and botli poets now rest at the feet of Chaucer in the Abbey. At Laleham, where he was born, the grass grows green round the grave of Matthew Arnold. At quiet little Bireliington rests Dante Gabriel Rossctti, whom they laid 'by the pleasant shore, and in the hearing of the wave ;' his sister Christina, who takes high rank among our female poets, lies X 222 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. at Highgatc ; and at Kelmscott the rooks no-w caw in the branching elms that overhang the grave of William Morris. Novels and novelists are still as abundant as over, but seventeen years have passed since Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, in ■whom, as Mr. Birrell has remarked,* it is difficult to ' discern -where tlie novelist ended and the statesman began,' was laid at Hugh- enden. In the same 3'ear (1880), as the grave at Highgate reminds lis, the great ' novelist of the Midlands,' George Eliot, joined ' the choir invisible.' Charles Kingsley sleeps Jimong the heather at Eversley. Henry Kingsley, Anthony TroUope, Charles Eeade are gone. And less than three short years ago, in far-off Samoa, Robert Louis Stevenson, like the grammarian in Browning's poem, found his last resting-place \ipon a lofty mountain-peak. Sixteen years have sped since the little group gathered in the rain, slcct, and sunshine of a February day around the grave of Thomas Carlyle in the village churchyard at Ecclefeclian; and now from amoiigliistoriansFroudealsohasgone,and John Eiehard Green ;whiio away in Spain, at Alicante, lies the historian of the Norman Conquest, Edward Freeman. The tragic death of Tyndall is still fresli in every memory ; Huxley and Eomanes are no more ; chief among modern men of science, Darwin now rests in the Abbey, close by the tomb of Newton, whom in patient unassuming toil he so closely resembled. P~yd(^>.L_holds what was mortal of one of the purest natures and the subtlest intellects of modern times, John Henry Newman; while in the Cathedral church of Oxford rests Dr. Pusey, whoso name, like tliatofthe Cardinal, takes the mind back half a century to the days of the Oxford movement. Dean Stanley and Archbishop Trench among tlioologioal writers; Sir Artlinr Helps among essayists ; John Forstcr and James Spedding among biographers — these and numerous others also call for mention, for they too now form part of that ' bearded grain ' which the groat ' Eeaper whose name is Death' has been so busily harvesting. 143. Tennyson and Brcwnlng:.- — 'Fifty years hence people will make pilgrimages to this spot,' said Arthur Henry Hallam of Somersby, the birtliplace of his friend Alfred. Iiord Tennyson (1809-1892). One of a large family— tTiu fourth of twelve children* of the Bcv. George Clayf(jn Tennyson, Ecctor of Somor.sby — Tennyson was born at the 'Old Eectory ' of the tiny mid-Lincoln hamlet, which lies, not among fens, but amid the scenery wliich he himself has dpscribed.f with its unduhiting hills, its grey old • In tlie outer Dicla. \ Cf. In Memortam, c.-cil., the Ode to ifi:monj, iv., rik] A Fareicell. THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHOIls). 223 granges, its trees and ■whispering reeds, its -windy wolds from -which the 'pastoral rivulet' — chief delight to a family of boys — 'babbles down the plain.' Early a lover of poetry, fec4ing even as a boy of fifteen that the -world must end when Byron died, his first verse is said to have been -n-ritten at tlie age of five ; and after school at Louth (181G-20), he and his elder brother Charles (6. 1808), after- -^•ards Charles Tennyson Turner, 'crossed the Rubicon,' as their preface declares, -n^ith Poems b^ Two Brothers (1827), -written be- tween the ages of fifteen anl eiglitcen. More fortunate than the boyish Hours of Idleness oiByvon, these 102 exercises in metre were allowed by both revie-wers and author to slumber quietly on the banks of Lethe. Passing in 1828 to Trinity College, Cambridge, Tennyson became intimate -with Arthur Henry Hallam (181 1-1833), son of the historian. Eighteen mouths Tennyson's junior, Hallam, ayouth of great promise, was himself a poet,* critic, and student of philosophy, and a member of the little group of ' Apostles,' as the society called itself, which included, besides the t-wo friends, Dean Alford, James Spedding, Archbishop Trench, Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton), A. W. Kinglake, the historian of the Crimean War, and others. The meetings of this ' Water Club,' as Tennyson has termed it — 'because there -was no -wine' — in Hallani's rooms, and Hallam's visits to Somersby — the picnics in the woods, the reading of poetry on the la-wn, the harp-playing by moonlight — are embalmed in soma of the finest verse of lit Memoriam.-f Shortly after entering college, where in 1829 he gained the Chancellor's medal for a blank verse poem on Thnlmctoo, Tennyson issued, when aged twenty-one, Poejiis, chicfi/ Lyrical (1830). Of the fifty six poems, thirty have found a permanent place in the poet's -works, although, like all his verse, they have been subject to m-nch revision. In the collected edition they extend as far as the sonnet to 'J. M. K.' — John Witchell Kemble. Tennyson's early work is, unlike that of Shelley, mainly impersonal, possessing somewhat of the coldness lio attributes to his o-wn Maud, but not like her quite ' faultily fault- less.' Coleridge, indeed, declared that Tennyson began to write verso before ho knew metre, and it is noticeable that, marvellous as are his powers as an artist, his rhymes, even in his mature -works, are ' Hiillnni's liemaim in I'rofc and Ver.^e wore collected by liis father, whoso iutro(lucli)i-y incnioir casts light on In M-moriam. The poems refer largely to theTcnny.sons. The sonnet ToJ/t/ Mollier (1831), wliich speaks of his doubts, may be coniparetl witli /;; Mem. xevi. ; and the interesting Lines Sjjoken in the Character of /'ii'imminn (is:!-.)) doubtless nddrog-od by Hnlli.m to Kmily Tennyson as (JiiliiU'a, form a beautiful comment on the ' mimic picture's breathing grace' of In Jf-m. Ixxviii. t See In Memoriam, Ixxxvii. (Cambridge), and Ixxxix. (Somersbv). 224 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. oft( n faulty.* This may povcluuico iu'couiit for his neglect of the sonnet, in which Wordsworth had soexcelled. Twopoenisin thisearly collection, however, reveal the lofty ideal of his art — Miltonic and Wordsworthian in character — -which he always maintained. In The Foet ho claim? wide injluence, duo to depth of insight : — ' ne saw thro' life and death, thro' good and ill, He saw tliro' lils own soul, The marvel of the everlasting will, An open scroll Before him lay. . . .* Clearness, beauty, and spirituality are prevalent notes throughout of Tennyson's work, and in The Poet's Mind he already insists upon all three. At the end of 183"2 (dated 1833) thirty poems appeared in another volume ; twenty of these have been retained — as far as the lines to 'J. S.,' i.e. James Spedding, to the death of whose brother Tiiomas they make reference. In this volume, at the age of twentj'-thrcc, Tennyson, in the Lacly of Shalott, first touched the main theme of his verse, the Arthurian legends : this, though based upon an Italian romantic version, is the germ of the later Lancdot and Elaine suggested by the work of Malory. In Q^none, The Lotos F.atcrs, and Choric Sovg are seen instances of the strong classical influence which is so marked a feature in Tennyson's verse, both in detail and, at times, in subject, as may be evidenced by the names of his latest works, the Tiresias volume (1885), tlie Bcmcicr (1889), and the Death of Qinonc, his last (1892). The Two Voices is an indication of his interest in speculative thought, of which Li Mcmoriam is the most notable example. Tlio May Queen i\\\(\. Lady Clura I'vre de Verc also appeared in this volume. Arthur Ilallam, while travelling with his father in 1833, died at Vienna, and for the next nine j'cars Tennyson was practically silent, while his elegy on his friend did not appear till 1850, seventeen years after Hallam's death. Undoubtedly the mental and spiritual experiences of Tennyson after the loss of the friend upon whom he had leaned so much gave depth and breadth to the two volumes of 1812, and these at once placed him in the front rank of poets. The Ejiic and Morte d' Arthur, Sir Galahad, Lancelot and (iidiicverc, mark liis growing interest in tho legends of Arthur, and the first two reveal a deep interest in the course of cuntemporary thought. Lwkslnj Hall rang » K.g. sec the I'nJace of Art (1832), and In Mnnnriam (ISjO). In tho latter one rhyme in eight is defective— 1C8 in all. See Mr. J. Jacobs' Stiuly of the poem, 1804, p. 41, and the list given in his Appendix. THE MODERX AGE (DECEASED AUTUORS). 225 through the land like a trumpet blast. Ulysses vividly pictures the restless enterprise of modern life, under the guise of the aged Ithacan king. Bora and The Gardeners Daughter show the idyllic grace of what 3Irs. Browning happily termed ' Tennyson's enchanted reverie.' In 1847 The Princess, the daintiest of Tennj-son's longer poems, appeared ; merum sal, like the Bape of the Lock, and like it destined to undergo much alteration, for not till the fifth edition of 1853 did it receive its final form. It deals in playful seriousness with the question of women's position and education, and is akin on the one side to Love's Labour's Lost, and on another to Spenser's legend of Radigund in the fifth book of the Faerie Quetnc. The real 'heroine of tlie piece,' to borrow Tennyson's own words,* is not, however, the princess who gives her name to the poem, but Lady Psyche's littlo babe; and the songs in which the child-influence is accentuated, although not in tlie first edition of the poem, were part of the original conception. The year 1850 — the year of Wordsworth's Prelude, of Browning's Christmas-Eve and Easter-Bay, and cf Dickens' Bavid Copperjleld, was also the year of In Memoriain, of Tennyson's marriage to Miss Emily Sellwood of Ilorncastle, and of his election, after Wordswortli's deatli, to the post of Laureate. At Farringford, Fresliwater, Isle of Wjglit, where he settled in 1853, his life was as secluded as that of Wordsworth at liydal Mount, and although, in 1872, he purchased Aldworth, on Elackdown, Surrey, where ho died, Farringford always remained in his possession. The Crimean war (1854-6) drew fruni him the Charge of the Light Brigade, the popularity of which led him to send a thousand copies to the soldiers in Russia; ani\ Maud (1855), ' of all the author's poems perhaps the most powerful and the most intensely lyrical,' as ]\Ir. F. T. Palgrave has truly called it, and the one which the poet himself classed with Guinevere, as the finest lie had written, is artistically marred by its association with the same event; for the Crimean war was no such struggle as that marked by a Marathon or the destruction of an Armachi, and this can hardly fail to aiFcct the judgment on the exquisitely musical dramatic poem in which it is interwoven as a main motive in restoring a morbid nature to sympathy with others by acting and cndurii'g with them. With Maud M'hat may be termed Tennyson's first period may bo said to close. It had extended over twenty-five years (1830-55'^, and in it the lyric and true idyllic prevails. The years 1859-1872 * See Tcnnysou's letter of 18S2 to Mr. Dawson, iu the second etlition of the Utter's Study of the Priticess. The poet wrote cuuflrmiDg Mr. Dawson's con- ception of the rCle of the child ia the poem. Q 226 nANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. may be aiUed his epic, or rather narrative, period — for Tennyson produced no true epic — during which ho published eleven out of the twelve Idylls of the King, as well as the popular Enoch Arden volume {?ivst c&Wa^ Idylls of the Hearth) in 1864. From 1875 to 1884 his strength was largely spent on his least successful work, tho drama. He produced three historical plays : — Queen Mary (1875), Harold (1876), and BccJ;et (1884). Tiio Falcon was acted in 1879, The Cuj) in 1881, and tho unfortunate Promise of May in 1882. The romantic pastoral The Foresters was both acted and printed ten years later, in 1892. Tennyson's work throughout is, in the main, singularly well susbiincd, and, like Browning, he maintained his pro- ductivity to the last, so that a fourth ' period ' may conveniently be made from 1885-1892. With this may be classed tho BaVads of 1880, a return to his older form with an increased dramatic power, which was heartily welcomed — a Sophoclean autumn, in which bloomed tho fine vigour of The Ecvoigc, the Lear like power of Ei:pah, and the lines In the Children's Hospital, which, criticised as they were, have been characterised by Mr. Palgravo as ' the most absolutely pathetic poem known to me.' The Tiresias volume of 1885, Lockslei/ Hall Sixty Years Later (1886), Demctcr (1889), and the Death of Qinone (1892) belong to this time. In them his interest in life and contemporary thought is still marked ; and of the author of By an Evolutionist, it was Huxley who said ' Tenny- son's grasp of the principles of physical science was equal to that of the greatest experts.' * The chief poem of tho first period, Tennyson's most finished work, and one of tho most remarkable of the century, is hi Mcmoriam consisting of 131 closely connected groups of stanzas written in a metro used by Bon Jonson and Lord Herl^crt of Cherbury, and employed by Eossetti at the very time when Tennyson was writing liis poeni.f An elegy lik» Lycidaa.Adonais, and Thyrsi.^, it is much more ; like them it aljounds in personal references, it abounds also in philosopliical reflections, not thrown, as in Browning's La Saisias, into argument, but expressed in little 'swallow-flights of song;' 'It tlicse brief Iny.", of Sorrow born, Wci-e tttkcii to 1)0 such as cIopciI Grave doubts and answers bore proposed. Then these were such an men might scorn ! Her part is not to part and prove. • Cf. au article In the iVci/i Reiiew, Julv ISnft, by Wilfre^l Ward. t Cf. B. Jonson's L'ndenroofls, \xxix. (an t'leijy. it will be noticed). RoESCttI wrote his My Sister's SJc-pia 18i7 ; it was publiih°d in the G^rm in January J 850, before In ifemortam. TUE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTUORs). 227 Kor dare she trust a larger lay, But rather loosens from the lip Hhort sicallow-fliijhts of song, that dip Their wings iu tears, and skim away.' ' When the clouds are heavy and the rain falls, the swallows in their wayward flight skim the surface of the pools ; but Tv-hen the rain ceases, and the clouds break and the blue sky appears, the swallows quit the earth and ' sweep in ever-highering circles up ' toward heaven. So the poet in his poem rises from the gloom of sorrow and the mists of doubt to the height of serene faith, not by a regular series of ' stepping-stones,' but with the irregular flight of the bird, tending upward, but ever and anon sweeping downward — breaking 'the low beginnings of content' — and returning to former moods, even to former words and phrases. The poem may be termed an imaginative record of the feelings of the poet during the two years and a half after the death of his friend. Hallam died at Vienna, on September 15, 1833; and Tennyson, in the opening por- tion, artistically associates the gloom of autumn, when the chestnut is pattering to the ground, or the equinoctial gale is howling, with his own downcast state. Beginning thus in the decay of autumn, the poem closes in the period of hope and of promise — spring. The first Christmas (1833) with its mist ushers in the first cycle of thspoem (xxviii.-lxxvii.), acycle of doubt, of questioning, and of woe. Carlyle, indeed, describes the poet in 1814 as 'a man solitary and sad, . . . dwelling in an element of gloom, carrying a bit of Chaos about him, which he is manufacturing into Cosmos,' and a little later as 'a truly interesting son of earth and son of heaven, who has almost lost his way amongst will-o'-the-wisps ;' yet no poet is really to be identified with all the w^ords he artistically utters, and fennyson himself has made known that ' the "I " in the poems is not always the author speaking of himself, but the voice of the human race speaking through him.' f The sequence of time is closely marked througliout; spring (xxxviii.-xxxix.) is followed by the first anniversary of Ilallam's death (Ixxii.), the equinoctial storm — typical of the poet's state of unrest — being artistically con- trasted with the calm of the next anniversary in the second cycle (Ixxviii.-ciii.) — a cycle of Fcacc, the keynote of which is struck at once in the words ' and calmly fell our Christmas eve.' New Year (1835), f-pring, summer, and the second anniversary in autumn are • In ifemoriam, xlviii. + Cf. Mr. A. Gatty's A"«/ to lit ifemoriam, third ed. 18S5. See also the Ifineleenth Centuru, Jan. 1893. 228 HANDBOOK OF EXGLTSH LITERATURE. all indicated, and duriug this cycle of peace the poet, no longer filled -with doubt and questions, loves to calmly linger upon the past. He recalls the old days at Trinity, the pleasant holidays at Somersby, he re-reads the letters of his friend on the lawn of the old home ' where lirst we gazed upon the sky ; ' and the cycle closes with a description of the parting from this Somersby home, so that when, in civ., the third brief cj'cle is entered upon with the Christmas of 1835, it is in a new home — a change which prepares us for a further break from the old grief, and for the restored communion with his fellows with which the poem now deals — ' I will not shut me from my kind.' * Ring out the olJ.ring in the new, Ring out, ring out uiy mouruful rhymes.' As he now dwells upon his friend's character (cix.-cxiv.), it is as a type — ' a noble type, appearing ere the times were ripe ' — of what mankind may and should bo ; and from the retrospective mood of cxx.-cxxxi., in which the poet, so to speak, stands apart from, con- templates and reflects upon what he had previously written, he rises to a vision of human progress, and a profession of faith in ' That God which ever lives and loves, One God, one law, one element, And one far-oflE divine event, To which the whole creation moves.* Thus, as the poet himself has told us, 'altogether private grief swells out into thought of and hopes for the whole world. It begins with a funeral and ends with a marriage, begins with dtath and ends in promise of life ; a sort of Divine Comedy, cheerful at the close. It is a very impersonal poem, as well as a personal.' If In Memoriam was the work of seventeen years, the Arthurian legends — whieii Iiave also occupied the mind or the pen of Spenser, Milton, Dryden, Scott, and Wordsworth, and, among recent writers, of Matthew Arnold, William Morris, and Swinburne — claimed Tenny- son's attention fur half a century. The Lady of Shaloft appeared in 1832; Baliii and Buhin, the last of those 'Idylls' whicli were begun in 1857, was issued in 1885. Tennyson when but, twenty- four ' meant to write a great poem on Arthur, and began it with the Morlc (C Arthur'' of 184'J, a poeni which that ' ilccp-mout hcd Boeotian' Walter Savage Landor considered ' more Homeric than any poem of our time.' True to his plan thronghout, Tennyson adapted the legend to modern life, as is seen in tiie lines termed The Kjnc which precede it. It was the ' general decay of faith right thro' the THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 229 world,' the influence of German thought seen in works like Strauss, LebenJesu, soon to make Mary Ann Evans (' George Eliot')' Strauss- sick,' as she translated it (1846); geological pronouneementa concemiug the age of the world; theories of development as set forth a little later in such a popular work as the Vestiges of Creation (1844), that suggested this application and gave the poem an immediate hold upon the popular mind. When some cherished views seemed crumbling into dust, like the phantoms in his own Holt/ Grail, Tennyson in silver tones sounded the bugle-note of Hope : — 'The okl order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfils himsel/in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.' The ' Arthur ' of spiritual life might be sore smitten, seemingly unto death, but only to ' come again and thrice as fair.' The first two of the Idylls were privately printed in 1857, as Enid and Nimue, The True and the False; and these, with some changes, were published in 1859 together with two others, Elaine and Guinevere, the * Nimue ' being renamed Vivien. Mr. Gladstone in reviewing these poems remarked that, ' though the Arthurian romance be no epic, it does not follow that no epic can be made out of it. . . . We do not despair of seeing Mr. Tennyson achieve, on the basis he has chosen, the structure of a full-formed epic' Some indeed would claim the fulfilment of this, and Mr. Hutton has even gone so far as to say that Tennyson has ' written what is far more perfect as a work of art, though less imposing as a work of genius, than Paradise Lost 'I* Truer criticism is that of Mr. Stopford Brooke : ' The Idi/lls of the King, as a whole, borders on the epic ; it is not an epic. Its form forbids us to call it by that name, and I suppose that Tennyson, feeling this, gave it the name of the Idylls of the King.'f The poems, like all Tennyson's work, abound in beauty, yet as a work of art they present serious .and manifest inconsistencies, and among these is an evident uncertainty of design or of execution. The second series of the poems, for instance, which appeared in 1869, was termed the ' Completion ' of the Idylls : it consisted of 2%e Coming of Arthur, The Hoi g Grail, Telleas, and The Passing of Arthur. ' This last,' the poet informed us, ' the ear- liest written of the poems (it is the Morte d' Arthur of 1842, with additions), is here connected with the rest in accordance with an • Literary Essays, 0(1.1888, p. 400. t Tennyson, his Art anil lielation to Moderrt Life, 1894, For Mr. Brooke'i criticism of the Idylls, sec his pp. 246-374. 230 HANDBOOK OP EXGLISH LITERATURE, eavly project of the author.' The first two of these poems introduco a -wholly new clement — that of allegory ; and this was accentuated in the allegorical Garcth and Lxjnettc, issued in a volume ^^^th the Last Tournammt, in 1872. This volume, in the closing lines addressed ' To the Queen,' still further insisted on an allegorical meaning : — 'accept this old imperfect tale, Now-old, and shadowing Sense at war with Soul Rather than that gray king, whose name, a ghost, Streams like a cloud, man-shaped, from mountain-peak, And cleaves to cairn and cromlech still ; or him Of Geoffrey's book, or him of Malleor's.' These latter being Geoffrey of Monmouth (see pp. 19-20) and Sir Thomas Malory (sec pp. 21, 43), who is Tonnj'son's chief source for his legends. That the epic conception finally commended itself to the poet is manifest — in spite of the 'Completion ' of 1869 — by the late interpolation of Balin and Balan (1885), and the final division (in 1889) of Geraint and Enid into two poems, so as to make the traditional twelve epic ' books ' — a number sacred since the days of Virgil, whose modesty, Fielding playfully suggested, led him to write but one half of the number contained in the Riad and the Odyssey. Of the Idylls as a whole Mr. Stopford Brooke has well said, ' the poem is not plainly an allegory, nor is it plainly a story. . . . We glide from reality to vision, and from vision to reality. The things are not amalgamated.' In the Faerie Quccnc (see p. 64) Arthur was tlie embodiment of all tlie virtues treated of separately in the various books of the poem ; in Tennyson Arthur is something higher still — he is the soul itself. 'By King Artliur,' the poet himself has owned, ' / always meant the soul, and by the Round Table the passions and capacities of a man.' As such, the ' Mortc d' Arthur ' of earlier days became in the final plan the ' Passing of Arthur ; ' for as with Browning so with Tennyson, the belief in immortality was passionately strong. In the partially sustained allegory Guinevere represents human nature, beautiful and attractive, but failing, and bringing failure upon others througli imperfect subjection to the spiritual. But, so far as this main allegory is carried out — and it is not consistently or uniformly borne in mind — it cannot escape notice that it practically makes Laiiceht, and not Arthur, the real hero ; for he it is in whom 'tlic wholesome flower And poisonous grew together, each as eacb. Not to be phick'd asunder.' THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 231 He it is "who is both Arthur's ' mightiest ' and Guinevere's slave he it is who, by virtue of his very humanity, is divided in his allcgiunce to the things of heaven and the things of earth. The ' old imperfect tale ' therefore has serious imperfections even in the hands of a literary artist such as Tennyson, who was him- self convinced that ' a small vessel on fine lines is likely to float further ' down the stream of time ' than a great raft.' But from tho Idylls, as from his other verse, what a fleet of such little vessels detach themselves ! Possessed of an exquisite power of o! servation — as is seen in his descriptions of nature and of the sea — Tennyson was endowed with a singular gift of word-painting, and his imagination ever tended to cast around his creations a 'purple mantle ' such as he himself wore. His conception of his art was, he said, ' to get the workmanship as nearly perfect as possible,' and Crowning well termed him 'in poetry — illustrious and consummate; ' adding also 'in friendship — noble and sincere ;''>' and one other friend of his later years has told us that ' the simplicity, sensitive- ness, fresliness, and almost divine insight of a child were joined ... to the dignity, sagacity, humour and knowledge of age at its noblest-.' f From the Laureate we turn to another ' great poet, a very great poet indeed, as the world will have to atree,' said Landor long ago — the ' good friend ' to whom Teonyson dedicated his Tircsias \o\\\mc, Rob'Tt Browning: (1812-1889). This 'Dantonof'niodcrnpoetry,'J our Wiigner in verse, the 'subtlest of writers, was the simplest of men, and he le.-irned in serenity and happiness what he taught in song.' § A Londoner, like Chaucer, beside whom ho now rests, he even as a child of eight sagely doubted whether to devote himself to poetry, art, or music ; at twelve he already had his little MS. volume of Eyronic verso ready, and at fourteen came under the more lasting sway of Shelley, ' the Suntreader ' of his first published poem. Like Milton, but beginning even earlier, he was definitely trained for poetic work, with a parental devotion such as is seen in the early life of Ruskin. At twenty-one he published — anony- mously — \\\s^0QX\\Vaidine, the Fragment of a Confession {l^'^Z),v,■\\\^:\\ 60 fiscinatcd Dante Gabriel Rossetti that ho copied at the Uritish Museum the whole thousand lines of the unknown writer. Browning as instinctively turned to dramatic utterance as Tennyson to lyric • Dedication of liis Selfclions, Series I. t Mr. Kiiowles (Ninelecnth Century, January ISO.I), from wliose article several of tlie above quotations of the poet's words are takou. X Augustine BirrcU, Ohiifr Ltictii. } EOmuud Gosse, New lievkic, 1830, p. 19G ; reprinted in his Personalia, 1890. f 2o2 UAKDnOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. ■ and idyllic, and he terms Pauline ' my earliest attempt at poetry always dramatic in principle, and so many utterances of so many imaginary persons, not mine.' Rarely indeed has a first work been more typical than this interesting ' almost muddle of a poem,' Mr. Stopford Brooke has called it, realistically condensing thepoct'a own criticism that 'good draughtsmanship and right handling were far beyond the artist at that time.' It shows an inclination fur dramatic monologue, which culminated thirty-five years later in the Eiiiq and the Book; an eager probing of the great questions of life, which marks his verse througliout ; a phase of doubt, through wliich we know him to have passed, and in so doing to have indirectly given rise to one of the most widely known of modern hymns; * it expresses a belief in God, in Christianity, in immortality, which pre- vails even to the epilogue to Aaola/ido ; it reveals a close observance of nature, often obscured, but appearing from time to time, usually in the background ; a love of music proplietic of Abi Voglcr and tho other 'musical' poems; •while its description of Caravaggio's 'Andromeda 'is a foretaste of what will develop into Andrea del Sario and Fra Lippo Lippi. The poem, as well as Paracthuis (1835) and the much-abused Sorddlo (1810)— all instances of defective art combined with fragmentary beauty — also shows the poet's interest in the 'development of a soul — little else,' he has said, 'is worth study. I at least always thought so.' This interest, however, might perhaps be more truly defined as one in the crises which reveal development, for Mr. Pater's remark is true, that ' the poetry of Robert Browning is pre-eminently tho poetry of situations; ' yet Men and Women, the name given to the volume of 1855, aptly defines the subject of the poet's verse. It deals mainly with ' Man's thouglits and loves and hates : liartli is my vineyard, those grew there.' f And with his abounding vitality and his wide sympathy, what a gallery of men and women has he vividly painted, in spite of all peculiarities in his delineation. Musical himself, his lines at times are harsh and rough ; artistic himself, his verso may even be ungainly in its realism. Rocked to sleep as an infant to tho sound of snatches of Anacreon ; acting even in childhood, as his Develop- ment X charmingly tells us, the story of Troy; growing up even to • Tlie yrarfr, my Goliot, spent their best strength in picturing English country life, tliat business-like novelist who served for thirty years as an official in the Post Office and whom Stevenson playfully credited with chronicling a certain amount of ' small beer,' Anthony TroUope (1815-1882), deserves a place. A prolific writer, like his mother and his brother, Thomas Adolphus TroUope, his realistic pictures of 'Barsctshire' contain his best work. The Warden (1855), Barchcster lotccrs, Dr. Thome, Framley Parsoiwf/f, and The Last Chronicle of Barset (1866-7) all belong tea series marked by much rather photographic but life-like conception * Vailimn Ldtrrs, p. IOC, ed. 1895. t Afemorks ami J'orlrails, 1887 : A College Magazine, 7^ 246 IIAXDBOOK OF EXGLISH LlTERATUnE. of character. lie also wrote a ' political ' group of novels, of which The Prime Minister may bo taken as a typ<^, and his Orlcy Farm has a place by itself. Dinah r?Iarla IVEulock, afterwards Mrs. Craik (1826-1887), in Joh7i Halifax, Gentleman (1857) limned a picture of ideal Engli.^li middle-class life which forty years have not served to dim ; and the Tom Browjis Schuoldays of Thomas Hughes (1823-1896), which appeared in the same year, still retains its freshness. Piccadill//, the bright satirical society novel of IiaurenceOHphant(1829-1888), was published in 1870, iind what fate awaits the popular Trilbt/ (1894) of the artist-author George Du IVIaurier (1834-1896) it would be premature to prophesy. By several writers fiction has been used for social aims. Harriet Martineau (1802-187G), a busy writer, produced in her earlier days a number of once famous but now forgotten Talcs — ' an unread- able mixture of fiction . . . with raw masses of the dismal science,' Mr. Leslie Stephen terms them : — Illustrations of Political Economy (1832-4), of the Poor Law, and on'axation (1834), Dccrlrook (1839) was her best tale, and the Feats on the Fiord, a children's talo (1841), was long popular; but she correctly gauged her own ability when slic owned in her valuable Autohiograplnj (1877) that 'she could popularise, though she could never discover nor invent.' Charles Iting-sley (1819-1875) also had — largely under the in- fluence of Carlyle and Maurice — a keen interest in social questions, as his Yeast (first published in Frascr, 1848) and Alton Loch (1850) give evidence; while in his Westward Ho (1855), which divides with Two Years Ago (1857) the claim of popularity, hegavo a stirring picture of Elizabethan days; in ////pn/w (1853) he pic- tured life in Alexandria with a distinct sense of its application to modem times; and in Hcrcward the WaJcc (18G6) gave a sketch from the days of the Conqueror. The novels of his less widely knoM-n younger brother, Henry Eing-sley (1830-1876), may perhaps ultimately rank higher. Among tiicse are Geoffrey Hamhjn, 1859, and The H'dhjars and the Ihirtons, 18G5, based on his experi- ences in Australia ; and Ravcnshoe, 1861. As far as mere popularity is concerno i few works have exceeded the historical roninncrs of "William Harrison Alnsworth (1805-1882), the 'Lancashire novelist.' In some at least of his forty tales — the best of which is perhaps Old St. Paul's — vivid conception of scene and incident, com- bined with a swift directness of touch, do much to compensate for the absence of any depth of cliaracter. To Charl es Reade (1814- 1884), however, has been assigned the palm ofHTstorieal fiction. Sir Walter Besant has termed his medieval romance The Cloister and the THE MODERX AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 247 Ilcarlh (18G1) ' the groatest historical novel in the language,' * and Jlr. Swinburne places it ' among the very greatest masterpieces of narrativo ; ' ' a story better conceived, better constructed, or better related, it would be difficult to find anywhere.' f Eeade began fiction with his charming tale Peg ]Voffi.ngto)i (1853), which had in 1852 appeared as a play under the name of Masks and Faces. His earliest works, indeed, were plays, and nearly all his successful stories were afterwards ari-angcd for the stage. He also manifasted much interest in social questions, as in It is Never too Late to Meiid (185G) andPKi! Yourself in his Place (1870). Griffith Gaunt or Jealousg (1865), less pleasing as a whole, may in some respects be placed beside and even above The Cloister and the Hearth. Among sensational novelists ■WllUam "Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) maintained supremacy with his Woman in White {I860), Armadale (1866), TJie 3Ioonsto)ie (18GS), and The New Magdalen (1873); while by 1895 four hundred thousand copies oiEastLynne (1861), by Mrs. Henry -Wood (d, 1887), had been sol-], and of her il/r». Halli- burton's Troubles (1862) nearly a third of that number had appeared. The novel of adventure has found vigorous if quite humble expres- sion through the long series of Scalp-hunters, Headless Horsemen, and other exciting creations of Captain IVSayne Reid (1818-1883), of Irish birth, who has embodied in his fiction much of his own experience in America, as store-keeper, negro-overseer, schoolmaster, actor, hunter, Indian warrior, soldier, and journalist. H6. The Historians. — 'A paradoxical figure, solitar}-, proud, defiant, vivid, no literary man in tlie ninetccntli century is likely to standout more distinctly than Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), both for faults and genius ; ' and it is quite possible, the writer of these words i adds, that it will be 'as the author of i\\e French licvolution, the most unique book of the century, that ho will be chiefly remembered.' Certainly there can be no doubt as to the unique character of the position Carlyle long occupied — a position left vacant since the days of Dr. Johnson — as the acknowledged head of English letters ; yet it was not simply as the writer of liistory, biography, or pamplilet, but as a prophet — the ' Chelsea Seer,' a ' spiritual volcano' — that he exerted an influence so potent tliat Walt Wliitman could say: 'Consider for one moment the array of British thought . . . of the last fifty years . . . but with Carlyle left out! It would bo like an army with no artillery.' The effect of his stirring words on the Kingsleys and the Ivuskins in carlior * .'^00 the preface to his edition of that wcrk, IROI. t l^iUKij oil Charles llcaJo. J 11. II. Iluttou. '.^ 248 UANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. days ni.iy Le judged from the record of Mr. Froude : 'To the youBg, the generous, to every one 'wlio took life seriously, who ■wished to make an honourable use of it, and could not be content with making money, his words were like the morning reveillee.' It may be true that ' as a revolutionary or pentecostal power on the sentiments of Englishmen, Iiis influence is perliaps nearly spent, and, like the romantic school of Germany, will descend from the high level of faith to the tranquil honours of literature,' to quote the words of Dr. James Martineau.* But if this be so, a large share of such honour will rest on the 'wild savage book' of which the 'most angry and desperate man of genius then in the flesh' ex- claimed on the January night of 1837, fis he flung from the house .after penning its last words: 'I know not whether this book is worth anything, nor what the world will do with it, or misdo, or entirely forbear to do, as is likeliest; but this I could tell the world : You have not had for a hundred years any book that comes more direct and flamingly from the heart of a living man. Do what you like with it, you 'f Conceived in 1832, the first volume was com- pleted in 1834, and lent to John Stuart Mill, who, in the March of 1835, staggered into Carlyle's parlour, ' the very picture of despera- tion,' to tell the news that, through the carelessness of a servant, the manuscript had been burned! Carlylo had no notes; every vestige of his work was gone. In despair he began again ; but not till 1837 did the book appear. It may be said to mark an epoch in historical composition, for it was published twelve years before the first volumes of Macaulaj^'s Hisfori/ ; and Carlyle and Macaulay had this in common, that both sought to use as the material of history all — even the most ephemeral — records of the past, so as to reconstruct, if possible, a living and moving picture of bygone days. Carlyle's strength may be said to lie mainly in his treatment of incident ; ho might almost endorse the view of ^Ir. R. L. Stevenson that ' the desire for knowledge, I had almost said the desire for meat, is not more deeply seated than this dr-mand for fit and striking incident.' The fall of the Bastille, the march of the women to Versailles, ther.aising of the huge arena on the Champ de Mars in the ' Age of Gold,' the lumbering of the king's yellow 'Berline' to Varennes.J the deaths of the King, of the Queen, .and of the 'sea-green incorruptible' Robespierre, when he, too, with his broken jaw bound in dirty linen, passes in the tumbril to the guillotine on the Place do la » F'.sfniix nttofnphical and Tlieolniiieal, 1S79. t Y\fGZ- 87), may probably, in spite of some notable descriptions in that work, be better remembered as the author of ZTo^Zicw (1844), a rccon.1 of travel in the East, which first made him known. Arthur Pcnrhyn Stanley (1815-1881), long a fimiliar figure as Dean of "Westminster, produced while Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford, Lectures on the Eastern Chtcrch (1861) and on the Jewish Church (1863-1865), marked, like his otlier works, by a fascination of style. His Life of Dr. Arnold of Iii'gl>y (1844) took its place at once among our best biographies. Charles Merlvale (1808- 1893), Dean of Ely, in his History of Borne under the Empire (1850-1864) produced a work which is still regarded as a standard authority. At the head of the ' New School ' of historians, in whom si tendency to subordinate literary style to what is of greater import- ance to the student, if not to the general reader — Fact — stands Edward A. Freeman (1823-1892), whoso Ilistor?/ of the Norman Conqun^t {ISdT-lSlO), with two supplementary volumes, in 1882, on William II., is his chief work. It is a veritable mine of research, dealing with the political rather than witii the social fide of the Conquest. Freeman i« credited with having contributed two ifnpor- THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 251 taut doctrines to modern liiiitorical study: the 'continuity of man's doings in Europe from the earliest times to the present day,' as exemplified in his brief but excellent General Sketch of European History {1^12), and ' the value of geography and archeology as hand- maids to the historian,' one part of which at least is set forth in his Historical Geography. Sir John Robert Seeley (1834-1895), Professor of History at Cambridge — in succession to Ch. Kingsley, 1 869 — as Freeman was at Oxford, was most widely known in connec- tion with his £^cce Homo (1 866). His Life and Titncs of Stein (1878) is a most valuable contribution to our knowledge of Germany during the Napoleonic wars. His Expansion of England appeared in 1883. •Walter T. Skene (1809-1892), historiographer of Scotland, in his Cdtie Scotland (1876-1 880) contributed to our knowledge of the pre- Teutonic period not only of Scotland but of the whole Island ; wliile the labours of John Sbarren Brewer (1810-1879) at the Eecord Office for nearly a quarter of a century have given access to mucli that is at least ' history in the making.' His chief work is ThcBeign of Henry VHL from his Accession to the Dcathof Wolscy, Jietiewed and Illustrated from Original Documents, edited by his friend, Jas. Gairdner, in 1884. Sir Thomas Srskine May (1815-1886) wrote, in 1861-1863, as a continuation of Hallam, a C'lnstituiional History frovi 1760-1860; but his chief work, and one recognised as authoritative, is his Privileges, Proceedings, and the Usage of Parliament (1844), continually revised in subsequent editions. 147. The Phllcsophers and Theologians. — The name of Thomas Carlyle again calls for mention here, for his Sartor Eesartus, (\e[i['m^ with the 'Philosopliy of Clothes,' contains the essence of all liis spiritual teaching, and in the second of its three books records his own spiritual struggles. It is a counterblast to materialism. 'The Universe is but one vast Symbol of God : nay, if thou wilt have it, what is man himself but a Symbol of God ? ' * Nature is ' the living visible Garment of God : ' man is a ' Soul, a Spirit and divine Apparition,' deep hidden under the ' Garment of Flesh ; ' and similarly of all things material, ' the thing visible, nixy, the thing imagined, the thing in any way conceived as visil^le, what is it but a Garment, a Clothing of the higher celestial In- visible?'! And the beginning of all wisdom, snys Carlyle, is to look fixedly on all such clothing till it becomes transparent, and tlio spiritual is clear to view. In his Journal ho further writes thus: 'That the Supernatural uiflors not from the Natural is a = Eook III. ch. iii. | Look I. cli. riii. 252 nANTDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. great truth wliicb the last century (especially in Francf) has been engaged in demonstrating. The Philosophers went far wrong, how- ever, in this, that instead of raisiiiff the natural to the siipcrnatitral, they strove to sink the supernatural to the natural. Tlie gist of my whole way of thought is to do not tlio latter, hut tho former. I feel it to be the epitonio of mueh good for this and following generations.' Tbomas Kill Creen (1836-1882), Professor of Moral Pliiloscphy at Oxford, a deep thinker and 'an earnest and noble spirit devoted , , . to the active service of his fellow-men,' exerted a strong influence upon modern thought. A leading expo- nent of Kant, he applied his keen logic to a searching criticism of English philosophy from Locke to Ilume in two elaborate Introduc- tions to the hitter's Treatise on Human Nature (187-1-5); and afterwards to the positions of Herbert Spencer and G. II. Lewes. His constructive work app'eaved after his death in the Prolcgomeim to Ethics, 1883. "William Klngdon Clifford (181.5-1879), eminent also as a mathematician, oppos-ed the modern Hegelians and looked back with reverence to leaders of the English school of thought such as Berkeley and Hume, while holding that their views need modification under the modern teaching of Evolution. His Lectures and EssntjR {\^'%) &re. termed by Mr. Leslie Stephen, one of the editors, 'a collection of fragmentary though luminous sug2:es- tions.' Professor Thomas Henry Huxley, most widely known for his scientific attainments, also frequently dealt with piiilo- S'phic subjects, and in 1879 produced a monograph on Hume, Georere Henry Iiewes (1817-1878), a busy miscellaneous writer, chiefly notable for liis Life of Goethe (18.5.i), wrote a vivacious and popular Bioqrajjhical History of Philosophy (1845-6), in which he skilfully interwove the personal history of thinkers with an account of their views, but, if we may once more quote Jlr. Lc?lie Stephen, 'the book represents ralher tho impressions of a very quick and brilliant journalist than the investigations of a profound student.' His Frohlems of Life and Mind (1874- 1879) show him, as indeed in the main he always is, a follower of Comte, whose works Harriet Martlneau freely translated in 1853. In theology one of the most potent influences of modern days bears the name of tho O.^ford Movement^, for ' Oxford men started it and guided it. At Oxford were raised its first hopes, and Oxford was the scene of its first successes. At Oxford were its deep dis- appointments, and its apparently fatal defeat. And it won and lost as a champion of English theology and religion a man of genius THE MODER}^ AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 253 •whose name is among the illustrious names of his age,' * Jolin Benry Newman (1801-1890). The atmosphere of change at the time of the Reform Bill of 18S2 was not confined to matters political; the Irish Church Bill of 1833, ■which, among other cljanges, seemed to many to do but scant justice in abolishing ten out of twenty-two Protestant bishoprics in a laud where but one iu nine of the inhabitants held that form of faith, filled the minds of others with a deep alarm which found expression in the Assize sermon on National Apostasy by the retiring, unobtrusive Jobn Keble (1792-1866). He was Professor of Poetry at Oxford (1831- 1841), and was widely known as the author of The Christian Year (1827); the last thirty years of his life he was vicar of Hursley, near Winchester, where he lies buried. Newman ever regarded the date of this sermon, July 14, as the ' start of the religious move- ment of 1833.' f Two week« later tliere was held at the parsonage ot Hugh James Rose, the ' Hadleigh Conference' among a few friends. ' We felt ourselves,' says one of these, ' assailed by enemies from without and foes within. ... Iu Ireland ten bishoprics suppressed. We were advised to feel thankful that a more sweeping measure had not been adopted. What was to come next ? ' % One proposed a Idnd of Church Defence Association ; another a petition of clergy and laity to the Archbishop of Canterbury : while three Oriel men — Newman, Keble, and Richard Hurrell Froudo (1803-1836), brother of the historian, determined by a series of Tracts dealing with the doctrines, services, discipline, policy and claims of the Church to effect a ' Second Reformation ' § in public opinion. Hence the name ' Tractarian ' Movement. Newman wrote the early brief tracts, the first of which appeared on September 9, 1833, and aUhou'j;h the accession, in 1835, of Edward Bouverle Pusey (1800-1882), who for .seven years had been Regius Professor of Hebrew and a canon of Christ Church, at once gave the movement • a name, a power, and a personality,' so that it became known as Puseyism, and abroad throughout Europe 'the terms Puseismus, Puseisme, Puseida, found tli. ir way into German lecture-halls and Paris salons, and remote convents and police-offices in Italy and Sicily,' II yet in Oxford, the true homo of the movement, it was still Newman, who, like a magnet, by his ' extraordinary genius drew all those within his sphere,' 'J^ and by his four o'clock sermons in the • Preface to Doan R. W. Church's Oxford Movement (1833-1815), 1831 t Apoloqia, p. 100, ed. 1891. I Will, i'iiliiier's y.irratiie or F.enits, 9G-100, ed. 1833. § Fnmilo's licmains, 1. 2Gj. '1833-39. j Dcau CUurcb, p. leO, \ Sir F. Dojrl«'s Rminisctnca, p. U% 254 UANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. University church of St. Mary's, of which he was vicar, ' created a moral atmosphere in which men judged the questions in debate.' Even ' light-hearted xiudergraduates would drop their voices and whisper, " There's Newman," when, head tlinist forward and gaze fixed as though on some vision seen only by himtjelf, with swift, noiseless step, lie glided by. Awe fell on them for a moment as if it had been some apparition that had passed.' * Tremendous, therefore, was the effect when in Tract No. 90 (1841) Newman seemed openly to lean to Eome. Condemned by the heads of Houses in Oxford, condemned by the Bishops, he retired to the neighbouring Littlemore, ' on my deathbed as regards my membership with the Anglican Church,' as he himself puts it. In 1843 he resigned his living at St. Mary's ; in 1845 he confirmed the opinions of those who had long proclaimed this to be the ultimate goal of his move- ment, by entering the Roman Church : ' an act,' says Mr. Gladbtone, ' which has never yet been estimated at anything like the full amount of its calamitous importance.' In 1879 he became Cardinal, and in 1890 died at the Oratory, Edgbaston, Birmingham, M-hich he had long since established. His works fill thirty-four volumes. His sermons are marked by great spirituality, and the beauty of a pure, lucid style. His best known prose work is his Apologia pro Vita Sua (18G4), an account of the first forty years of his life, wrung from him by controversial words written by Charles Kingsley. His best known lines are Lead, Kindly Li i/ h t, ■wv'ittcn in 1833, when becalmed on an orange boat in the Straits of Bonifacio on his passage from Palermo to Marseilles. Pusey defended Ko. 90, and continued till death the work which Newman had begun. His Oxford Library of Fathers, commenced in 1838 with Aiiyiistine's ConfessioJis, &nd ultimately including forty-eight volumes, was a direct outcome of the Oxford movement ; while as Professor of Hebrew, Pusey wrote a minute comment on tlio Minor Proplicts (1862, &c.). John 'William Colenso (1814-1883), for thirty years Bishop of Natal, also made no small stir in the world by his criticism of tlie Pentateuch — 77ie Ttntateuch and the Book of J ltd yes Critically Examined — the seven parts of which appeared from 18G2-1879. A state of wild excitement followed the issue of tlio early volumes of this advanced historical criticism ; calmer seas awaited the launch- ing of the later ones, but all that the Bishop was called upon to endure for his views must be read in the story of his life.1' Joseph Barber Xlghtfoot (1828-1889), Bishop of Durham, was one of the most learned of commentators. His Commentaries on the • rriuciial Sl.airp, John K/a/o/7i(CA' (1871), accompanied by luminous intro- ductory comments, forms a noble moniiment of devoted scholar- ship. Mark Pattlson (1813-1884), Rector of Lincoln College, a student of narrower range, produced numerous essays and a monograph on Milton, Ijut his chief work was the Life of Isaac Casauhon (1875), perhaps the best biography wo have dealing with the work of a ' scholar ' of the Eenaissance type, somewhat after the kind depicted by Browning in his Grammarians Funeral. The progress made in recent years in English scholarship cannot fail to bo suggested by the names of Tosepb Bosworth (1789- 1876) and Bdwln Guest (1800-1880). Boswovth'a Elements of Anglo-Saxon Grammar (1823) was the first work of its kind in THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 261 English, and his chief work, the Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, appeared nearly sixty years ago, in 1838. It can but be a subject of regret that the recent re-issue, begun in 1882, of the work of one who was a pioneer should not be more final in its form. Guest's History of Enc/lish Rhythms also appeared in the year following the accession of Victoria, and the new edition by the Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Cambridge, Dr. Skeat, was likewise issued in 1882 This able work was produced when many of our older poems existed only in manuscript, and the fact that societies such as the Early English Text Society, the Chaucer Society and others have now made most of our chief manuscripts accessible in print, together with the critical stimulus afforded by a body such as the Philological Society — of which Guest was a main founder— and by German workers, has so altered the conditions of English study that it can only be a matter of satisfaction that the laborious research of Guest should now require supplementing from other sources. The study of Shakespeare has gone hand in hand with that of the older works, and among Shakespearian students Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke, J. Payne Collier, and Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps claim recognition. Cbarles CoT7den Clarke (1787-1877), a well-known lecturer and writer on Shakesperean and kindred sub- jects, had early in life taught John Keats to read when the poet attended his father's school at Enfield ; and a little later he taught him a higher form of reading when he introduced him to the fairy- land of Spenser's great poem. In 1845, after sixteen years of labour, Mary Novello, his wife, issued her Shakespeare Concordance; and to this a valuable supplement was added in the Shakespeare Key of 1879, the joint labour of iiusbaud and wife. Well would it have been if Jobn Payne Collier (1789-1883) had clung to the principle set forth in the Miltonic motto prefixed to his first work : — 'I have done, in this, nothing unworthy of an honest life and studios well employed ; ' for even in his valuable History of English Drajnaiic Poetry (1831), a book awkwardly arranged indeed, but abounding in new matter, there are signs of 'that series of in- sidious literary frauds ' which have marred his whole work. This tendency culminated in the Notes and Emendations to the Text of Shakespeare (1852), said to be founded upon marginal manuscript comments on a copy of the second Folio of 1G32 by a contemporary hand, but manifestly the work of the Editor. Similarly his reprint of Henslowe's Diary (1815) contains entries not to bo found in the original. Valuable as much of his work undoubtedly is — e.g. the interesting descriptive Bibliographical Catalogue of old books — yet 2G2 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. caution is continually needed in jilacing reliance upon it. The labours of James Orchard Halllwell-Pbimpps (1820-1889), long known ■without the last addition to his name, are of a mora reliable character. His Life of Shalcsjyeare {iT^i>o'ATei in 1818, and his Outlines of the Life of Sfia/:cspcare (1881) — largely augmented in the last edition of 1887 — though it cannot bo regarded as final, is particularly valuable to the student as containing reprints of rare documents, etc., upon which its statements are based. Like Collier and the Clarkcs, lie edited the poet's works ; and among his multifarious labours was that of superintending a valuable series of photographic reprints of forty-eight early quartos of the plays, as well as of the first Folio of 1C23. The name of •William Chambers (1800-1883) as publisher and writer is honourably associated, like that of his brother, Robert Cbambers,''' with the successful attempt to bring within reach of the people a wide range of information ; and much of the labour of Professor Henry IVIorley (1822-1891) as lecturer, editor, and author, was devoted to bringing home to the minds and hearts of hearers and readers the treasures contained in our books. In his chief work, English Writers, begun in 1864, resumed in 1887 in the autumn of life, and continued till his death, he wrote more especially for the student, and aimed at tracing the develop- ment of our literature from the earliest times to the present day. Ten volumes had appeared when he died ; the eleventh was completed by another hand, and the history closes with the death of Shake- speare. 'William IMlnto (1815-1893), successor to Professor I3ain at Aberdeen, was known as journalist, novelist, and critic, but will doubtless be best remembered by his excellent Manual of English Prose, lAterary and Biograpli ical, 150. The Dramatists. — The greater names connected with the drama on its more literary side have already been mentioned. Tennyson's acted plays have been indicated (p. 22G), and of those written by Browning, Sirofford was successfully acted by Macready in 1837 ; A Blot in the 'Scutcheon, when perfonned in 1843, enjoyed a marked if brief succqs^^ and the poet could not but feel flattered by the cries for ' Author, Author,' which were then heard. Colomhc's Birthday vias represented in 1853. But of the modem drama as a whole it m.iy be said that it is copious in proportion as it is poor; that it lacks originality may be judged from the whole- sale adaptation from foreign, chiefly French, sources; and the ftbsence of liigh-class work is but feebly compensated for by the • For Robert Chambers, see Dictionary AppcnJis E. p. 318. THE MODERN AGE (DECEASED AUTHORS). 263 vigorous development of extravaganza, melodrama, and sensational plays. Of this last form, the modern father is Slon Boucicault (1822-1890), actor, manager, and as an author said to rival the wellkno-wn fertility of the Elizabethan Thomas Heywood (see p. 67). Irish by birth, he holds a distinct place as the delineator of Irish life and character, yet two of his best plays — London Assur- ance {\M\), a brilliant early success marked by smart Sheridan- like dialogue, and Hunted Doivn (186G), deal with English subjects and character. In sensational drama ho holds a place akin to that of Wilkie Collins among sensational novelists, and great was the success and influence of his Colleen Lawn (1860). Tom Taylor (1817-1880), a Cambridge 'Apostle,' and a Fellow of Trinity, who, during the last seven years of his life, was editor of Punch, in succession to Shirley Brooks, began writing melodramas before he took to school books. In maturcr years he produced about a hundred pieces, usually, like The Tickct-of-Lcave Man, adaptations from French plays and stories. Others M-ell known are Still Waters Run Deep, The Overland Route, and Clancarty. From 1870 he strove to stem the sensational wave by attempting to re-establish a standard of literary excellence by blank verse historical dramas — 'TicLxt Axe and Crown'dnd Joan of Arc (1870), and Anne Loleyn {1876). OTames Robinson Plancbe (1796-1880) was the originator of what is best in modern extravaganza, and his work was intimately associated with the dramatic career of JVIme. Vestris. A prolific writer, like Taylor. he is credited with seventy-two original pieces, and with nearly one hundred adaptations from French, Spanish, Italian, German, and older English plays. But one of the most popular of recent play- wrights has certainly been Henry James Byron (1834-1884), ■whose domestic drama Our Loys was acted continuously for four years— from January 16, 187-5, till April 18, 1879. From 1858 to 1882 he poured forth a series of extravaganza, farce, burlesque and more regular drama, the best of which is held to be his comedy Cyril's Success {\M8). A keen observer and witty recorder of the foibles of middle-class life, his works abound in puns, and in a pointed, if not wholly refined, somewhat Cockney smartness of repartee. Tho genial and scholarly dramatic critic, 7oIin Oxenford (1812-1877), produced some seventy odd plays ; and out of tho sixty— chiefly adaptations from tho Frencli— by John Palgrave Simpson (1807-1887), All for Her, written with Herman M'?rivale, has so far assumed a somewhat permanent place. William Blanchard Jerrold (182G-1884), son of Douglas Jerrold (see p. 219), a busy journalist, whose residence in Paris brought him in close touch 2G4 HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. Tvitli Napoleon III., •whose JAfe he wrote (1874-1882), and whose career he defended, was modestly content with only four plays. His farce Cool as a Cucumber (1851) supplied Charles Mathe-ws the younger -with one of his most delightful impersonations ; two dramas and a comedy complete the list. Mention has already been made of the dramatic ■work of Cbarles Reade (p. 247) when speaking of him as a norelist. His Masks and Faces (1852) still holds the stage, and his Li/ons __Mail, first called The Courier of Lyons (1854), has been a favourite with Sir Henry Irving. In 1865 he dramatised his novel ^ever too Late to Mend; and his 'greatly daring' romance Foal Play (1869), written with Dion Boucicault, was first adapted for the stage by the co-workers, and then by Reade alone as The Scuttled Skij) (1877). In one of his last plays. Brink (1879), he adapted Emilo Zola's L' Assommoir. A busy writer and a hard worker throughout life, five new plaj's by him were acted during one year (1854) at the London theatres. ' I am a painstaking man,' said he late in life, ' and I owe my success to it.' APPENDIX A. EXTRACTS Illustrative of the Progress of the Xiang^uagre previous to 1600. The following extracts are arranged in the order of their pro- duction or pulilication. The Old English letters employed are i>-ihin thin, and '5 = ^A in then, p is the capital in the one casev D in the other ; % = g oxy. The character f signifies ' that ; ' t ia Extract II. signifies ' and.' The structure of our older verse has been examined on pp. 5 and 6, but by the following extract from Beowulf its characteristics may be still more clearly exemplified. Eighteen complete lines are here printed, and the caesura mentioned on p. 5 is indicated by a sligh* division between the two ' half-lines, the alliteration being marked by means of italics. In eleven out of the eighteen lines the coih- ionant alliteration is quite regular, there being two alliterative syllables in the first half line, and one in the second. This is the case in the first five lines ; but in the sixth (1363), as in four others (1365, '7, '8, 75), the alliteration is defective, there being but twn alliterative syllables, one in each half-lino. Lines 1371 and 1373 afford instances of vowel alliteration ; in the former case this is regular, there being three alliterative words ; in the second case it is defective. It will bo noticed {tf. p. 6) that the vowels must clijfir (e.g. 1. 1371, a, o, jc; 1. 1373, y, u). In all cases the alliterative word also bears a natural stress, and therefore unstressed syllables, such as '[go]-?i'ipu,' inl. 13G0, and' [ge]-?«'carces,' in 1. 1302, are not considorei. Mr. Wm. Morris, it may be remarked, in his modern rendering has preserved tlie original rhythm, there being uniformly four stressed words in each lino ; while, as in the older poem, tho 266 nANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. number of syllables varies. IIo has also happily retained much of the archaic phraseology, and has discarded the use of rbymo. Extract I a.I>. 650 (T) BEOWULF, 11. 1357-1376. [Beowulf having heard how the monster Grendel had desolated Ileorot, the proud mead-hall of the Danish King Hrothgar, journeyed from Sweden and slow the fiend. Then once more the sound of feasting was heard in the hall, and the retainers dared to sleep there. But that very night Grcndol's mother came and slew .(?i)schere, the friend and adviser of King Hrothgar, who, having hastily called for the hero Beowulf, bewails iEschero's loss, and describes the abode of the two destroyers.] 'They dwell in a dim bidden land. The wolf-bents they bide in, on ncsscs the windy, The ix;ril()us fen-pait sc mere standc'5, Ofer J>a;m /iongia'5 /irlmgc bcnrwas, IKudu tryrtum fwst, irrcter ofcrhcImaS. 1305 f>ier mocg wihta gchwiem «r5-wandor .'^eon, /"yr on /lode. Ko Jitcs/lrod Icofa'S Cumcna bcarna, ]pKt J>ono yrund witc. APPENDIX A. 267 Deah ]>e //aiS-stapa Auiidum geswenced, y/eorot Aornum trum, Aolt-wudu scce, 1370 /"eorran ge/lymed, rer he/eorh seletS, ^Idor on ofre, cEr he in wille //afelan [//yJan]. Nis J)xt AOoru stoW J ponon u^-geblond wp astlge'5 iron to ifolcnum, fJonne zrind styrej) 1375 Za'5 gowidru, o'5 "Sxt lyft drysmajj, TJoderas recta's.' [Text from tho Cambridge edition, 1894, ed. by A. J. WyaU. The translation is from the beautiful Kelmscott edition (1895), pp. 48-9, of William Morris, author of the Earthly Paradise.^ ExTOACT II. Ante A.D. 900. THE ACTS OF SEVEEUS, by King Alfred. [See p. 12.] •^fter \>xm )>e Romeburg woes 'After Rome had been built nine getimbrcd Dcccc wintra •] xliii, feng hundred and forty-three years, Severus Scnerus to Romana onwalde, •) hiene succeeded to the dominion of the hasfde xvii ger. He besEet Piscenius Romans, and had it seventeen years, on anum ffestenne, oJ> he him on hond Ho besieged Pescennius in a fortress, cotle : ■) lie hiene si()|5an het ofslean, until he surrendered to him, and he for J)on ho wolde ricsian on Sirie •] on afterwards commanded him to be Egyptc. ^fter j^a^m (he) ofslog slain, because he would reigu in Syria Albinus )>oue mon on Gallium, for |jon and in Egypt. After that, he slew the Jjc he eac woldo on hine winnau. man Albinus in Gaul, because he also Si)?)>iin he for on Brcttanie, -) Jjrer oft would war against him. He after- gefeaht wi'5 Peohtas -) wi'5 Scottas, wards went to Britain and there often eer he \>a, Brettas mehte witS hie be- fought against tlifi Picts and Scots, werian. ~] het a;nne weall )>wyres ofer before he could protect the Britons call J)cCt lond asettan from sse o\> s», against them ; and commanded a wall ■J ra^e l>!es gefor on Eforwicccastre.' to be constructed across over all that land from sea to sea ; and shortly after, he died in the city o£ York.' [Text from the contemporary Lauderdale MS. of Alfred's Orosius, edited by Hy. Sweet, M.A., for the E. E. Text Soc, p. 270. 1883. Mr. Sweet's promised English rendering not having yet appeared, that of Thorpe {Bokn's AntiqKarian Lihrarij) is given.] Extract in. ' ~ "' A.]>. 937. THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH. [Gained in 937 by King Athelstane and his brother, Edmund Atheling, over tho Irish Danes under Anlaf, and tho Scots under 268 HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LlTEnATURE. Constantine of Scotland. The following are parts only of the poem. See p. 12 and p. 181, s. 119.] • Hettend cnin jiui' Sceotta Icoda and scipflotan* faege feoUan. Feld dajnnedo secgas hwate* si'SJ'an simne np* on morgen tid" maere tiingol' glad ofer grundas* Godes condel beorht eces Drihtnes" ot5 sio ajjele gesceaft sah to setle.' • Qewitan him f)a Nor Jnnen* naegled cnearriim" dreorig daralSa la£" on dinges mere* ofer deep waetor Difelin secan* and eft hira land* aewisc mode. SwUce }>a gebrojjcr began ietsamne* cjTiing and a;J>eling' cy)j)>e soli ton' Wesseaxcna land* wiges hreamige. Letan him behindau hrae bryttian saluwig padan* )?one sweartan hraefn' hyrned nebban* and J>ane hascwan padan* earn seftan hwif B2se3 bnicau" graedigne giiShafoc* and })a;t grajgo deor wulf on wealdc. No ^a;r'5 wa;l luare* on )>is eiglaniic* scfer gieta* lolces gcfj'Ued" beforan J)issum' Bweordea ecfrnm* J>8e3 ))e na BccRa'S bcc* ealde u^witan- ' The foes lay low, the Scots' people, and the shipmen death-doom'd fell. The field Btrcam'd with warriors' blood [or stceal], what time the sun up, at morning tide, the glorious star, glided o'er grounds, God's candle bright, the eternal Lord's, until the noble creature sank to its setting.' • Departed then the Nortlimcn in their nail'd barks, the darts' gory leaving, on the roaring sea,» o'er the deep water, Dublin to seek, Ireland once more, in mind abash'd. Likewise the brothers, both together, king and £ethcling,t their country sought, the West Saxons' land, in war exulting. They left behind them, the carcases to share, with pallid coat, the swart raven, with homed neb, and him of goodly coat, the eagle [or erne] white behind, the carrion to devour, the greedy war-hawk, and that grey beast, the wolf in tlie weald. No slaughter has been greater in this island ever yet of folk laid low, before this, by the swurd"? odgofl, from what iKmks tcU us, old chroniclers. • This is stated by tlie Translator to be a conjectural rendering of ' on di/nga mere.' t Atbclstane and Edmand. APPENDIX A. 209 Bi)>J>an eastan Mder Engle and Seaxe* up becoman* ofer brad brimu Brytene sohtan* wlance wigsmi|>a3 "Wealles ofercoman* corlas arhwate eard begeatan.' • since hither from the ftast Angles and Saxons came to land, o'er the broad seas Britain sought, proud war- smiths, the Welsh o'ercame, men for glory eager, the country gam'd.* [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1861, 1. 202-8, ii. 86-8; Thorpe's Translation, EoUs Collection.] Extract IV. A.2>. lOOO (r) THE GRAVE. [The Speaker is Death. See p. 12.] • De wes bold gebyld Er ^u iboren were ; De wes mold imynt Er i5u of moder come. De hit nes no idiht, Ne tSeo deopnes imeten ; Kes til iloced, Hu Ions hit "Se were, Ku me ■ge brinj^ae'S Wer '5u been scealt, Nu me sceal Se meten And 'Sa mold seo'SSa : Ne bi'S no 'Sine hus HeaUce itimbred, Hit bi'S unheh and lah ; Di>nne 'Su bist "Serinne, De helewajes boa's lage, Sidwa^es unhe^o. De rof bi'S ybiUl Dele brost full neh, Swa iSu scealt in mold Winnen ful cald, Dimine and deorca?. Det clen fulaet on hod. Durelaes is 'Sfet hus. And deorc hit is wi'Sinnen ; Prer 'Su bin fest bidyte, And Dx^i hcfS 'Sa cx^q. La'SUc Is "Sajt eor^ hus, And srim inno to -n-unien. Der 'Su scalt ■mmicn. And ■«-urmes 'Se to-dele'S. ' For thee was a house built Ere thou wast bom, Por thee was a mould shapen Ere thou of mother earnest. Its height is not determined. Nor its depth measured. Nor is it closed up (However long it may be) Until I thee bring Where thou slialt remain. Until I shall measure thee Ajid the sod of earth. Thy house is not Highly timbered, It is unhigh and low ; ■Wlien thou art in it The heel- ways are low. The side-ways mihigh. The roof is built Thy breast fuU nigh ; So thou Shalt in earth Dwell fuU cold, Dim, and dark. Doorless is that house. And dark it is within ; There thou art fast detained. And Death holds the key. Loathly is that earth-house. And grim to dwell in ; There thou shalt dwell And worms shall share thee • The Saxon text is that of the folio belonging to the library of Corpus Christ! College, Cambridge (c.LXxm.). 270 nANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATUHE. Dus ^u bist iley'S, And ladaest ^ine fronden, Nefst ^u ncnne freond De 'Se wille faren to, Dtet tefre wiile lokieii nu ^'e 'Saet bus tSe like, Doet sefre undon De ■wale "Sa dure And "Se asftcr baton ; For sone "Su bist ladlic, And lad to iseonne.' Thus thou art laid And leavest thy friends ; Tliou hast no friend That vs-ill come to thee, Who \v\\l ever enquire llow that house llketh thee, Who shall ever open For thee the door And seek thee, For soon tliou becomest loathl/j And hateful to look upon.' [Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, by J. J. Conybeare, 1826, pp. 271-3.] Extract V. A.2>. 1160 (r) CLOSE OF THE ' ANGLO-S.iXON CHRONICLE.' [See^. 14.] •MiLLESBio. c.xxxvn. Dis grcro for J>e k. Steph. ofcr sje to Normandi. and }>er wes underfangen. for'Si ")> hi uuenden "^ he sculde ben alsuic alse J>c eom was. and for he hadde get liis tresor. nc he todeld it and scatercd sotlice. llicel hadde Henri k. gadercd gold and syluer. and na god no dide mo for his saulo tharof. pa J>e king S. to Englal. com )>a macod he his gadering set Oxeneford. and J)ar he nam })e ft Roger of Sei-oberi, and k\cx. 1) of Lincol. and te Cancclcr Roger hise neues. and dide a;lle in prisim. til lii iafon up here castles. |3a )>o suikes imdergajton "Ji ho mildc man was. and softe. and god. and na jiistise no dide. J>;i diden hi alio wunder. Ho haddon him mnnrod maked, and athcs suorcn. ac hi nan troutho no hoolden. alle hi waeron forsworen. and hero treothcs forlorcn. for rcuric rice man his castles makodo and npa?ncs him heoldon. and fylden J>c land ful of castles.' ' Nu ■vve willon stegcn sum del wat bclamp on Stcplino kinpes time. On his timo \>c ludcns of Noruuio bohte ilce pining •}> ure Drihtcn wiis pined, and on Lang Frodtri him on rode hcngcn. for uro Dribtiiio^ Inuc. and s>'thcn byriwlon him. Wenden i> it icoldo ben forholcn. oo u.*c DriUtcu 'An. Mc.xxxvn. In this year king Stephen went over sea to Normandy, and was Uaere received ; because they imagined that he would be such as his uncle was, and because he had got his treasure : but he distributed it and scattered it foolishly. Much hod king Henry gathered of gold and silver, and no good was done for his soul thereof. Wlien king Stephen came to England (a. 1139), he lield an assembly nt Oxford, and there ho took the bishop Roger of Salisbury, and Alexander bishop of Lincoln, and the chancellor Roger, his nephew, and put them oil into prison, till tliey gave np their castles. When the traitors perceived that lie was a mild man, and soft, and good, and did no justice, then did they all wonder. They had done homage to him, and sworn oaths, but had held no faith ; they were all forsworn, and forfeited their troth ; fcir ever)' power- ful man made his castles, and lield them tipninst him ; and they filled the bind full of castles.' , . . . • Now wo will Ray a part of what befel In king Stephen's time. In his time the Jews of Norwich bought a Christian child before Easter, and tortured him with all the same torture with which our li'ird w;is torturoe minstre. and he maket )>ur ure Drihtin wunderhce and manifeeldhce miracles, and hatte he & Willelm.' [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1861, Translation, Kolls Collection.] Lord, and afterwards buried him. They imagined that it would be con- cealed, but our Lord showed that he was a holy martyr. And the monks took him and buried him honourably in the monastery ; and through our Lord he makes wonderful and mani- fold miracles, and he is called St. William.' i., 382-3 ; ii., 230-2 ; Thorpe's BXTRACT YI. A.D. 1200. THE DEEAM OF BEUTUS. By Layamon. [Brutus, great-grandson of ^neas, is banished from Italy for slaying his father Silvius. In the Island of Leogice (conjectiired, •without much probability, to be Leucadia or Lycia) ho has a dream of Albion, in "which he idtimately settles, and builds New Troy, or Trinovant, called afterwards Kaerlud by his successor Lud, and then Lunden or Lundres. See p. 25.] j3a J>uhte him on his swefnc : t>ar he on slepe Ifei. •^at his laucdi Diana : hine leofliche biheolde. mid wiisume Icahtren : wel Iico him bi-hihte. and hendiliche hire bond : on his heued leide. and J>us him to seide : \>cr he on slope lai. Bi-^ende France i J>et west : \n\ scalt finden a wiuisum lond. })at lond is bi-unian mid )>a;re Sie ; )>ar on )>u scalt wr)>an sael. l>ar is tugel ))ar is fisc : )>er wmiiaiJ feire door. \>ar is wode Jjar is water : J)nr is wilderne muchel. |)atlond is swiJ>o wunsum : woollen J>or boo'S feire. wmiia'5 I )>on londe : eotantes Bwi'Se stroge, Albion hatte Jiat lond : ah leodo ne beo'5 J>nr nana, per to }>u scalt teninn : and ane neowe Trojo J>i>.v mnkian. t>er seal of ^iiic ciumo : Then seemed it to him in his dreaiUj where he asleep lay, that his lady Diana beheld him lovingly, with winsome smiles, well she liim promised, and courteously her hand on his head laid, and tlms to him said, where he asleep lay : ' Beyond France, m the ■west, thou Shalt find a winsome land ; the land is b)' the sea surroimded thereon thou slialt prosper. There is fowl, there is fish ; there dwell fair deer ; there is wood, there is water ; there is much desert ; the land is most ^rinsome springs tlicre are fair ; dwell in the land Eotens [ijian's] most strong Albwx is the land named, but men are there none. Thereto thou shalt proceed, and a now Trey there make there shall of thy kin. 272 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. kine-beam arisen. and seal ))m msere kun : wffilden ^U3 londcs. jeond \>a weorld beon iluej;ed : and ))u beo hncl and isund. JJsB awoc Brutus : wel was hi on life. He J)oute of his swefne : and hou )>e lacfdi him soeide. mid muchclere hife : he seide hit his leoden. hu him imette : and \>a. la^f di hine igrettc. royal progeny arise, and thy powerful kin shall rule this land ; over the world they shall be cd^ bra ted, and thou be whole and sound,'— Then awoke Brutus ; weU was he alive ! He thought of his dream, and how the lady said to him ; with much love he told it to his people, how ho had dreamt and the lady greeted him. [Laj/amo7i's Brut ; or, Chronicle of Britain (MS. Cott. Calig. A. IX., V. 1222-61), by Sir Frederic Madden, 1847, i., 62-4.] ExTBACT Vn. A..D. 1200 (r) THE FINDING OF CHEIST IN THE TEMPLE. By Ohm, or Ohmin. [&e p. 25.] ' & te355 J>a wenndenn eSt onngien Jiatt dere child to sekcnn, & cc jjridde dajjg \>XT fundenn i ipc temmple Bitwenenn )>att Judisskenn flocc J>att laeredd wass o boke ; k, tasre he satt to frasjnenn hcmm Off )>es5re bokess laro, & alle J^att himm herrdenn }>a;r, Hemm J>uhhte mikell wunnderr GIT )>att he wass full ^ajp & wis To swarcnn & to fraji^cnn. & Sannte Marje comm till himm li, se^i^do himm J)us3 wij>|? wordo Whl didesst tu, lef sune, J>uss 'Wi)>)> uss, for uss to swcnnkcnn 1 Witt hafeun sohht to widewhur Ice &i ti faderr bajjo Wi)>J> scrrhfull hcrrtc & sarig mod, ^Vhl didesst tu l>is3 dedo ? ti tanne scjsde Jesu Crist Till ba)>c )jus3 wi))J> worde Wliat wass juw swa to sekcnn me, Whatt was juw swa to serrshenn? * And they then turned back again that dear child to seek, and came again to Jerusalem, to sock him there within, and they him on the third day there found in the temple among the Jewish flock that learned was in book ; and there he sat to ask them of their book's lore, and all that him heard there, them thought much wonder of that he was full shrewd and wise t'j answer and to ask. and Saint Mary came to him and said [to] him thus with word, Wiy didst thou, dear son, thus with us, for us to trouble ? wc-twohave sought thee wide where I and thy father both with sorrriwful heart and sorry mood, why didst thou this deed? and then said Jesus Christ, to both thus with word, what was [there to] you so to seek me, what was [there to] you so to sorrow? APPENDIX A. 273 Ne wisste •ge nohht tatt me birrj> Min faderr wille f orjjenn ? Ne l>att me birr}) bcon hoshcfiill Abutenn hise ))ingcss ? & te55 he roihtenn nohht tatt word jet ta wel nnderrstanndemi ; & he J)a jede for]) ■ni)'}) hemm & dide hem heore willc & comm v!i^\> hemm till Nazaras]), Swa simim \>e Goddspell kij^ej))?, & till hemm baj?e he lutte & ba;h })urrh so})fasst herrsnmmnesse & was wij))) hem till ))att he ■wass Off l)rltti5 -n-iniiterr eldc' not \v\st ye not that me becomes my father's will [to] do ? iKir that me becomes [to] be careful about liis things ? and they might not that word yet then well imderstand ; and ho then went forth with them and did them their will, and came with them to Nazareth, so as the Gospel saith, and to them both he obeyed and bowed through soothfast obedience, and was v.-ith them till that he was of thirty winters' age.' [The Ormulum, edited from the original MS. in the Bodleian, by E. M. White, and E. Holt, 1878, 11. 8925— 896i, The Modern ver- sion is from Marsh's Orir/in and Histori/ of the English Language, 1862, 183-5.] Extract VIIl. A.3. 13& blome ; in alle manncre J)at kj-ng suld do, None o))er had grace Jjerto, Ho herd neuer spekc of knyght tJat losed was of dodes wjght, pat he ne jcmed liim to se. And for to haf of him mercy ; If he for medo seme him wold. He ne left for silucr ne for gold. IT For his barons Jiat were so hold, pat alio J)C world pris of told,— [Quoted in Appendix V. to Preface to the Handlyng Synne, edited by F. J. Furnivall for the Eoxburghe Club, 1862, xxxriii. — xxxix.] For no man vnst who was best No in armes douhtiest, — Did he ordeyn J>e romide table pat men telle of many fable. At J)Gr burde and tyme of mete. Alio \>o douhty knyghtes suld ete, Non sat within, nou sat withoute, r.ot alle euer roimd aboute ; Non sat first, non sat last, But pere by pero euer kast ; Non sat hie, non sat lawe, But alle euenly for to knawe ; Non was set at \>c ende. But alle o roimd, and alle were hende ; Non wist who of J)an most was. For })ei sat alle in compas ; Alle at ons, doim J)ei siten, At ons ros, whin J)ei had eten j All were serued of a seruys, Kuciili alio of on assise.' 274 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. ExTBAcr IX. A.D. 1346. THE BATTLE OF NEVILLE'S CROSS. By Laurence Minot. [' Tho ninth song, — perhaps the most spirited of them all, — com- memorates the battle of Nevile's Cross, and tho defeat and capture of king David Bnico ... It was by the counsel of Philippe of Valois that the Scots invaded England, we are told, and they were so confident in the belief that all the fighting men had been carried out of England to the French wars, that king David talked of descending from his horse at the palace of Westminster.' Wright, Introduc- Hon, xxiv. The following is part only of the ballad. Sec p. 27.] ' Sir David the Bruse Said he siUd fonde \,try1 To ride thiirgh all Ingland, Wald ho noght wonde [.slaij'^ ; At the ■Westminster hall Suld his stedes stonde, Wliils cure king Edward War out of the [IJonde lland]. But now has Sir David Missed of his merkcs [marics]. And PhiUp the Valays, With all thaire grete clerkea. ' Sir Philip the Yalais, Suth [rraW] fur to say, Sent unt) sir Daviil And fuire gan him pray. At ride thurgh Ingland Thaire fonien to flay. And said, none es at home To let hym tho way. None letes him the way To wcnde whnrc he will ; Bet [_DuQ with schipcrd [shepherd^ staves Fand he his fill.' * WHicn sir David the Bnue Satt on his stedc, He said of all Ingland Havcd he no drede. Bot hinde .I-ilin of Coupland, A wight [active'] man in wcdo, Talktd \m David, And kend [laughfl him hla Creilo. Thare was sir David So dughty in his dede. The faire toiire of Louden Havcd he to medo [reward]. ' Sone than was sir David Broght luito the toure. And William the Dowglas, With men of honowrc. Full swith [mclft] ready servis Fand thai thare a schowrc [batlle] For first thai drank of the swete. And senin [then] of the sowre. Than sir David tlie Brnso Miiko=: his nione, The faire coroun of Scotland Haves [has] he forgone.' ' The pride of sir David Bigon fast to slakcn ; For he wakkind the were [varl Tliat held him self waken. For Philyp tlic Valaiso llad ho brcdo baken, And in the toure of Ijondcn His ines [lodging] or taken. To be both in a place Tliairo forward [promiic] thai nonicn [look] ; But Philip fayled thare, And David cs [m] cumin.' • The Scottes, with thaire (alshcdc. Thus went thai obout For to win Ingland Whilfl EdwM'd was out. APPEXDIX A. 275 For Cutlibert of Dorem Tliare loutoJ tbai law [7otr], Haved thai no dout [fear} ; And leved allane. Tharfore at Xevel Cros Thus was David the Bruse Law gan thai lout IbendJ. Ii'.to the toure taue.' [Political Poems and Son/js rdafhir/ to E)igUsh History, 1327- 1485. Edited by Thomas Wright, 1859, i., 83-7, Rolls Collection. Minot's poems have been separately edited for the Clar. Press, 1887, by Jos. Hall.] ExTKACT X. A.3>. 1356. THE LADY OF THE LAND. By Sir John Mandeville. [Under the title of The Daughter of Hippocrates, but ^vith a less tragic termination, the folio-wing legend has been retold in the Indicator, by Leigh Hunt, -who says in a note that it is ' founded on a tradition still preserved in the island of Cos.' It is also one of the tales in The Earthly Paradise of our latter-day Chaucer— "William Morris. See p. 40.] ■ And thanne passen Men thorghe the Isles of Colos & of Lango ICos] ; of the whiche lies Ypocras [Hippocrates'} was Lord offe. And some Men scj-n, that in the Isle of Lanpo is zit the Doughtre of Ypocras, in forme & l.vkenesse of a grot Lragoun that is an hundred Fadmc of Icngthe, as Men Seyn : For I have net seen hire. AjuI thei of the lies cnllcn hire. Lady of the Lend. And sche lyethe in an olde C;istelle, in a Cave, and schewethe tvrycs or thryos in the Zcer. And Eche dothe non harm to no Man, but zii Men don hire harm. And sche was thus chaunged and transformed, from a fair Damyscle, in to lyknesse of a Dragoun, be a Goddesse, that was clept Deane [Diana], And Men sejn, that Eche schalle so endiure in that forme of a Dragoun, tmto the tyme that a Knyghte come, that is so hardy, that dar come to hire & kisse hire on the Mouthe : And then schalle sche tiirne azon to hire owne Kynde, & ben a woman nzen : But aftre that sche schaUe not liven longc And ... a zonge Man, that wiste not of the Dragoun, wcnte out of a Schipp, & went thorghe the He, till that he come to the Castello, and cam in to the Cave ; & wente so longe, til that he found a Chnmliro, and tlicrc he siuighe a Daniyscle, that kembod hire Hede, and lukcde in a Myronr ; & sche hadde mccho Trcsoure abouten hire And lie abode, tillc the Damyselo saiigho the Schadcwe of iiim in the MjTour. And scha turned hire toward him, & asked hjon, what he wolde.- And he seyde, he wolda ben hire Limman or Paramour. And sche asked him, zif that Tie were a Knyghte. And he seyde, nay. And than sche scydo, that he myghte not ben hire Lemman : But sche bad him gon azen unto his Felowes, & make liim Knyghte, & come ageu upon the Mcrwe, & sche scholdo come out of the Cave before hmi ; and thanne couie & kysse hire on the Mowthe, & have no Drede ; for I schalle do the no manor hann, alio bo it that thou see me in Lyknesse of a Dragoun. For thoughe thou see me hidouse & horrible to lokcn otme, I do the to wjtene, that it IS made be Enchauntement. For withouten doute, I am non other than thou seest now, a Woman ; and therfore dreda the noughte. And zif thou kj'Ese me, thon Bchalt have alle ttiis Tresoure, k bo my Lord, and Lrrd also of alle T 3 276 llAXDEOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. that lie. Aiul he Jepartcil fro hii-e & wcnte to his Felowes to Scliippc, and Icct make him Knyglite, & cam azen upon the Morwc, for to kysse this Damysele. And when lie saugho hire comen out of the Cave, in forme of a dragoun, so liidoiise & so hi.rrible, lie hadde so grete drode, that he flcyghe azen to the Schippe ; & sclio fulewcd him. And when eche saughe, that he turned not azen, she began to crye, as a thing that had meche Sorwe ; and thanne sche turned azen, in to hire Cave ; and anon the Knyghte dyede. ' • [The Voiageand TravaUeofSirJohnMaundcville, £^^., Halliwell's Keprint, 1883, pp. 23-25.] Extract SI. A.D. 1377. THE DESCKIPTIOX OF SLOTH. By Wuxiaji Langlaxd. \_Accidia, or Sloth, is a ' priest and parson.' He goes to sleep over liis prayers, and is awaked by Eepentance. See p. 30, and p. 49.] •"^Yhatl awake, renkel {man'\" quod repentance* " and rape J>e [maJt« ^oi/e] to shrifte." ^ " If I shulde deye hi J>is day • mo list nouste to loke ; I can \_knoic'\ nonjte perfitly my pater noster • as Jie prest it syngoth. But I can \_knoic'\ rymes of Robyn hood • and RandoU erlo of Chestre, Ac neither of o^\Tre lorde ne of owre lady • J>e lesto J>at enero was made. \ I hane made vowcs fourty and for-seto hem on ))e moriie ; I parfourncd neiire penaimco • as )>e prest me liij;te, Ne ryste sori for my synnes • ^et was I neucre. And sif I bidde any bedes" but if it be in wrath, pat I telle with my tonge • is two myle fro m3'ne herte. I am occupied cche day • haliday and other. With ydel talcs atte ale • and otherwhile in cherchcs ; Goddcs pojiic and his passioim ■ ful selde Jjynke I )>erc-on. ^ I visited neucre fieblo men • ne fettered folko in puttes [dungeons], • • And as it come on towards him, with its teeth The body of a slain goat did it tear, The blood whereof in its Iiot jaws did seethe. And on its tongue he saw the smoking hair ; Then his heart s;iiik, and standing trembling there, Tliroughout his mind wild thoughts and fearful ran, " Some liend she was," he said, " the banc of man." * Yet he abode her still, although his blood Curdled within liim : the thing dropped the gnat, And creeping on, came clo<;c tn wliere he st'>od. And raised its head to him, and wrinkled throat, Then ho cried out and wildly at her smote, Shutting his eyes, and turned and from the place Kan swiftly, with a white and ghastly face. • • * ' ?irpanwhile the drngnn, ncf'ing him clean yone, Followed him not, but crying horribly. Caught up within her jaws a block of stone And gromid it into powder, then turned she. With cries that folk could hear far out at sea, And reached the treasure set apart of old, To brood above the hidden heaps of gold.' Morris, The Earthly Paradur, The Lady of the Land, pp. X34-0. APPENDIX A. 277 1 hare leuere here [hear] an harlotrie [buffoonery^ • or a somor game of souteres l^e-makers], Or lesynges {lyings'] to laughe at • and belye my neighbore, pan aJ )>at euere Morke made ■ Mathew, Jolm, & lucas." • • • 1 " I haue be prest and parsoun • passynge thretti wynter, Ijete can I neither solfe [sol-fa'] ne synge* ne seyntes lyues rede, But I can fynde in a f elde • or in a f ourlonge an hare, Better ))an in beatus vir • or in beati omnes Construe oon clause wel • and kemie it to my parochienes.' " » [7%e Vision of William concerning IHers the Plowman, &c., by William Langland; text of 1377, edited by the Eev. Walter W. Skeat, M.A. {Early English Text Society), 1869, pp. 78-80.] Extract 211. A.D. 1380. THE PAEABLE OF THE TAEES IN THE WHEAT. By John Wiclif. \_See p. 40 ; see also pp. 282 and 283.] ' Another parable Jhesus putte forth 'to hem, seyinge, The kyngdam of heuencs is maad liche to a man, that sew good seed in his feeld. But, when men slepten, his enmye came, and sew aboue demel, Vr cokil [tares], in the midil of whete, and wente away. Sothely when the herbe hadde growid, and maad fruyt, tliaiinc the demel, 'or cokil, apperiden. Forsothe the seruauntis of the husbondeman 'comyinge nig, 'seiden to hym, Lord, wher thou hast nat sowen good seed in thi feeld ? wher of than hath it demel, '^or cokil ? And he seith to hem, The man enmye hath don this thing. Trewly the seruauntis seiden to him, Wolt thou we go, and gedren hem ? And he saith, Nay, lest perauenture je gedr3nge dcrnck* V)r coclis, draw vp by the roote togidre with hem and the whete. Suffre 5c 'hem bothe wexa til to rype corno ; and in tyme of rype com I shal seie to reperis. First gedre gee'to gedre demels, '^or cockilis, and byndeth hem to gidrc in knytchis, 'or smale bundelis, for to be brent, but gedere ge whete in to my berue.' [The Holy Bihle in the earliest English versions, made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his followers ; edited by tha Bev. Josiah Forshall and Sir Frederic Madden, 1850, iv., 34-5.] • Cf. Chaucer's ' poor parson of a town ' : — • Wyd was his pariscli, and houses fer asonder, But he no lafte not for reyiie ne thonder. In siknesse nor in meschief to visite The ferreste in his p!iris.<;che, moche and lite, tJppon his feet, and in his bond a staf.' This noble ensamplo fcj his sheep he yaf That first he wroughte, and after that he taughte Out of the gospel he tlio wordes caughte, And tills figure he addede cek thorto, That if golde ruste, what schal yren doo ? • • » • He was also a lorncd man, a clerk That CrLstes gospel trewely woldo prcche ; His parischens devoutly wolde ho Uiclie.' (Prologue to the Cunterhury TaUt.) 278 IIAXDBOOK OF EXGLISU LITERATURE. Extract XIII. A.D. 13S7. THE SUBSTITUTION OF ENGLISH FOR FRENCH. By John of Teeyisa. [See pp. 29 and 40.] ' pis apeyryng li>ijuriii<; or impairinr/'] of \>a biir)>tonge [the molher tongue, English'] ys by-cause of twey [tiro'] }jinges : — on ys, for [because] chyldern iu scole, a3enes [against] \>e vsage and miuore of al o);>er iiacions, buj) [are] com- pelled for to leue here [their] ouiie longage, & for to construe here lessons & here ))inges a [in] Frcynscli, & habbcji, suJ)tUe [have sino-] )>e Normans come furst.in-to Kngcloud. Also, geutil men children bu|j ytau3t for to speke FreyuscU fram tyme \>at a [they] buj> yrokked iu here cradel, & connc)) [know hote to] speke & playe \vi\> a child hys brouch ; and oplondysch [ruslii-] men wol lykue haw-sylf [i/iemselves] to gentil men, & foudc]) [oulcavour] wi}> gret bysynes [pains] for to speke Frcynsch, for to be more ytokl of [rccloncJ e f urste moreyn [murrain or plague,— probably that of 1348] & ys se})the [ii'nce] somdel ychaunged [somewhat changed]. For lohan Cornwal, a mayster of gramtre, chaj'ugede J>e lore [learn- ing] iu gramsr-scole, & construccion [eomlruing] of Freyiisch in-to Englysch ; & Richard Pencrych lurucde Jjat mancre techyng [manner of leaching] of hym, & oJ>?r men of Pencrycli ; so Ipat now, jjj 3cr of cure Lord a Jjousond J) re hondred foure score & fyue, of j^e secuude kyug Richard after J>e conquest uyne (i.e., the ninth year of the reign of Hichard IJ.), mal^egramer-scolcsoi Engelondchildern leuejj Frensch & construe)) & lurue}) au [in] Englysch, and habbej) J)e)'-by avauntage iu ou syde & desavauutage yn anoj)?;- ; here [their] avauntage ys, Jxjt a lurue)> here gram^r yn lasse tyme fian childcrn wer ywoned [icont] to do — disavauutage ys, \>at now childern of grame/-- scole connc|» [inou^] no more Frensch ))an can here Itft [inoirs Ifieir left] heele, & ))at ys harm for ham [ihein]. o se & trauayle iu strange londes, & iu mcny caas also. Also gentil men habbe]> now moche ylcft [left-off] for to teche here childeru Frensch,' [Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon, 1387, from tho contemporary MS. Tiberius D. vii., quoted in Morris and Skoal's Specimens of Early English, Pt. II., p. 241, ed. 1894.] Extract XIV. 1377-78 (Kocb) ; 1377-83 (Skeat). TUE VISION OF PHILOSOPHY. By GEOKrREY Chaucer. [Boethius, 480 ?-524 (from whom the following extract is trans- lated), was a Roman patrician, imprisoned by the Emperor Theodoric. During bis confinement ho wi'otc his treatise, De Consolaiione I'/tilosophice. Cliaucer's version was preceded by ona by Iviug Alfred. See pp. 36 and 13.] AI'l'EXl-iIX A. 279 • In J>e mene ■while J>at I stille recordede }>ise J>inges wij) my self [_his opening complaint], and markede my -n-epU compleyute wi)) office of poyntel [slijle]. I saw stondyng above ^e heyst of my heued a -vroman of fuU greet reuerence by Bemblannt hir eyen brennyug and clere seing oner Jjc comune mygt [rniijhQ of men. wiJ) a lijfly ojloiir and wi)> swiche vigonre and strenke]> [strength] })at it myjte not be emptid [exhausted]. ^ M were it so ])at sche was ful of so greet age. )>at menne vrolde not trowe in no manere J>at sche wore of oure elde. pe stature of hir was of a doutoiis ingcmcnt. for snmt}'me sche constreynede [con- trcKted] and schrouk hir seliien lyche to )je comune mesuro of men. and snmtjane it semedo Jiat she touchedo \>c lieuene wij> Jje hcyjte of hir licucd, and when sche hef [raised] hir heued heyer sche percede )Je selue heuene. so \>at J>c sy^t of men loking was in ydel [in vain]. 1 Ilir clojjos weren maked of rygt delye [thin] ))redes and sabtil crafte of perdurable [lasting] matore. J>e wj'che clojies sche hadde wonen wij> her owen hondes : as I knowe wel af tir by hir selfe. dccl.iryng and shewyng to me J'C beautc. \>e -sviche clo})es a dcrkenesof aforloten [neglected] and dispised elde haddo duikid and dirkid as it is wont to dirken [darken] by- smoked IbcsiiwkeJ] ymagcs. 4:c.' [Chaucer's Boethius, from the Addit. MS. 10,340 (Cr. Jluseum), ed. by Dr. K. Morris (£". E. Text Soc), 1868, 5. It will be useful t'j compare the text in Skeat's Chaucer, 1894, based on Dr. Furai- vall's ed. of MS. Camb. I. i. 3, 21 {Chaucer Soc, 188G).] Extract XV. A.D. 1390. THE POKTEAIT OF THE SCHIPMAN. By Geoffret Chaucer. [Sec p. 37.] ' A Schipman was ther, wonjiig [dwelling] fer by wcste : For ought I woot, he was of Dertemouthe. He rood upon a rouncy [horse], as he couthe, lu a gowno of faldyng [coarse cloth] to the kue. A daggero Uangyug on a luas [lace, lanyard] hadde he Aboute his nekke under his arm adoun. Tlie hoote somcr hadde maad his hew al broun ; And ccrteinly ho was a good felawe. Ful many a drauglit of wyn had he drawe From Burdeux-ward, whil that the chapman sleep. Of nycc conscience took he no keep. If that he foughtc, and hadde the heigher hand. By water he scnte hem hoom to every land. But of his craft to rikno wel tlie tydcs, His stremes and his dangers him bisidc.^, Uis herbcrgh [harbour] and liis mone [moon] his lodemonage [jnlotag''], Ther was non sucli from HuUe to Curtage. Uardy lie was, and wys to undertake ; Witli many a tempest hath his herd ben schake, He know wel all the havenes, as thci were, From Scotloud [or GottUmd] to the cape of Fynost6ro, And every cryk in Bretayiio and in Spaync ; Uis barge y-elepud wn;3 the Magdclayuo.' 2S0 nAxnnooK of f.ngltsii litehature. We get a further glimpse of this sun-Lurned mariner in tbe pro- logue to his tale. The host, -with a brace of oaths, calls upon the parson : — ' Tlie Person him answcrdc : " Bcnedicile! What c.cleth the mnn, so synf ully to swere ? " Onr Ost answcrd : " Jankyn, be ye there ? Now gooJo men," qnod our Oste, " herknetli nio. I sniel a loller [Mhtrd] in the wind," quod lie, " Abidetli for Goddcs digne passion, For we schul have a prodicacion ; Tliis loUer lieer woldo jirochen ns somwliat." " Nay by my father sculc I tliat shal he nat," Saydo tlie Scliipman ; " heer schal he naught precho, He schal no gospel gloscn licer no teclm. We levyn [lit'liei-ej al in the gret God," quod he. " Ho wolde sowcn some difflcultti Or spruigen cokkil [_larcs *] in our cleno er-rn. And thcrfor, Ost, I warne the byforn My July body schal a tale telle, [And I schal clinken you so nicry a belle That I sclml waken al this compagnie ; But it schal not ben of philosopliie, Ne of physike, no tcmics queinte of lawe ; Tlier is but litel Latin in my mawc."]' [Canierlmry Talcs. Akline Edition of Chaucer's Works, ii., 13,— iii., lOG-7. Cf. the text of Skeat's edition, 1894.] Extract XVI. A.I>. 1449. THE SCHEJEE OF THE ' REPRESSOR.' By Reqinalo Pecock. [Tlie author, it •will be observed, claims to write in the 'common people's language.' See p. 42.] ' Now that God for his godenes and charite cccse the sooner in the comoun jieple such vn\vij8, vntrewe, and oucrhasti Tudirnyming and blamjTig iniuid upon the clergie, and that for the hurnies and yuelis therbi comyng now sold, y Bchal do therto siimwhat of uii part in this, that y scli.al iustifle xj. gouemauncis [praclkes] of the clergie, whicho snmme of the Cdmoun peple viiwijsly and vntreuli iugen and condenjpnen t. 1485. SIB ECTOR'S LAMENT FOR SIR LANCELOT. By SiE Thomas Malort. [After the death of King Arthur at the Battle of Camlan, Sir Lancelot visited Guenever at Almesbury. Passing thence he entered a monastery, and, there dying, his body Tras carried, by his own desire, to his castle of Joyous Gard, concerning which we are told in La Mart d'Arikure, ' some men say Anwick, and some men say it is Bamborow.' It is supposed to be Berwick. See p. 43.] 'And whan syr Ector herde suclie noyse & lyghte in the quyre of Joyous garde [Lancelot's castle] he alyght & put his hers from hym & came into the quyre & there he sawe men synge wepe / & al they knewe sjt Ector / but he knewe not them / than wente syr Bors vnto syr Ector & tolde hym how there laye his brother syr Lauucelot dede / & tlian Syr Ector threwe hys shelde swerde & helme from hym / & whan he bfhelde S3'r Launcelottos v\ sago he fyl [fell] doua in a swoun / & whan he waked it wore harde ony touge to telle the doleful complayntes that he made for his brother /A Launcelot he sayd thou were beds of al crysten knyghtes & now I dare say sayd syr Ector thou sir Launcelot tliere thou lyest that thou were neuer matched of erthely knyghtes hande / & thou were the curtest [most courteous] knyght that euer b;ire shelde & thou were the truest frende to thy louar that euer bestrade hors & thou were the treuest louer of a syiiful man that euer loued woman / & thou were the kyndest man that euer strake wyth swerde /& thou were the godelyest persoiie )>' euer cam emonge pries [press] of knyghtes / & thou was the niekest man & the leiitylle^t that euei- ete in hallo emonge ladyes / & thou were the sternest knyght to thy mortal foo that euer put spore in the bresto / ' [Le Morle Darthtir, Buok xxi., Capitulum xiii. Facsimile re- print of Caxton's original edition of 1485, edited by H. Oskar bommer, Ph.D., 1889, vol. i. p. 895*.] 282 HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATUIir:. ExTHCT SVIir. A.3>. 1S25. THE PARABLE OF THE TAKES IN THE WHEAT. By Wu-LiAM Tyndale. [Sec p. 46, and also pp. 277 and 283.] ' Another similitude put he forth / unto them saj-ngc : The kyngdm off hoven ys lykc unto a man which sowed good seedc in his felde. Butt whyll men slilepte / ther cam his foo / and sowed tares amonge the wheatc / and went liia waye : Wlie the blade wassproge up / ad had brought forth frute / the appered the tares also. The servaunts cam t<3 the householder / and sayde unto him : Syr sowedest not thou good seed i thy closse / from whence then hath it tares ? llo sayde to tliem / the eWoiis man hath done this. Then the servaunts sayde unto hjTn : wylt thou then that we go ad gader it? and he sayde / nay / lest wliyll ye go aboutc to wede out the tares / ye plucke uppc also with them the wheatc by the rotts : let bothe growe together tyll harvest come / and in time of harvest / I will saye mito my rei)ers / gadtlicr ye fyrst the tares / ad bynd them in shoves to be brut : but gadther the wheate i to my barnc.' [Tyndale's black-letter New Testament (1525 or 1526). Fry's facsimile. Bristol, 1862.] Extract XIX. A.B. 1535. A LETTER FROM PRISON. By Sir TiioitAS More. [Written ' with a cole ... to hys daughter maistrcs Margaret Roper, within a whyle after ho was prisoner in the tx)wre.' See p. 46.] ' Myne own good doughtcr, our lorde be thanked I am in good liclthc of bodyc, and in good quiet of minde : and of worldly tliyngcs I no more desyer then I haue. I besechc hym make you all mcry in the Lope of hcauen. Ami such thynges as I somewhat longed to talke with you all, concerning the worlde to come, our Lorde put theim into your myndcs, as I truste lie dcthc and bettor to by hys holy spirite : who blesse you and prcscruoyou all. Written wytli a cole by your tender louing father, who in hys pore prayers forgetteth none of you all, nor your babes, nor your nurses, nor your good husbandes nor your good hus- bandes shrewde [clevrr'] wyues, nor your fathers shrewde wyfe neither, nor oui other frcndes. And thus fare ye hartcly well for lacke of paper. ' Tii().MAS Mors knight.' [ The workes of Sir Thomas More Kiujght, 8 7nefi/me Lorde Chauncellour of England, wrytten Inj him in the Englysh tonge. 1667, Vol. II. p. 1430.] APPENDIX A. 283 Extract XX. A.l>. lSft9. THE BISHOP AND EOBIN HOOD. By Hugh Latimeh. \_See p. 47, and also p. 49.] ' Euer thys office of prcachyngo bath bene least regarded, it hatb skante badJe the name of goddes seniyce I came once myselfe to a place, ridyng on a iornay home warde from London, and I sente wordo ouer nygUte into the tomie that I would preach there in ye niomiiige because it was holy day, and me thought it was an liolyc daycs worcke, the churche stode in my waye, and I toke my horsse and my companye, and went tliither, I thoughte I shoulde haue found a greate companye iu the chmxho, and when I came there, the churche dore was faste locked. ' I tarried there halfe an houer and more, at last the keye was founde, and one of the parishe commcs to me and sa3'es. Syr thys is a busye daye wyth vs, we can not hcare you, it is Robyu hoodcs daye. The parishe are gone a bri^de [abroad] to gather for Ilobyn hoode, I praye you let [prevent] them not. I was fayne there to gcuo place to Ilobyn hoode, I thought my rochet shoulde haue bene regarded, tliougho I were not ; but it woulde not serue, it was fayn to geue place to Robyn hocdcs men.' [Seven Sermons hifore Edward VI. on each Friday in Lent, 1549 (Arbor's Keprint, 1869, 173).] Extract XXI. A.l>. 1557. THE PARABLE OF THE TARES IN THE WHEAT. From llio Geneva Bible. \_Scc also pp. 277 and 282.] ' Another similitude put he forth vnto them, saying. The kyngdome of heaucn is like vnto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, there came his fo, & sowed tares among the wheat, and wont his way. And when the blade was sprong vp & broght forth fnite, then appeared the tares alsp. Then came the seruantcs of the householder, & sayd vnto him, Sjt soweddest not thou good seed in thy close, from whence then hath it tares ? And he said to them, the enuious man hnth done this. Then the seruantes sayd vnto hjTii, Wylt thou then that we go and wcde them out ? But he said, Nay, lest while ye go about to wede out the tires, ye pluck vp also with them the wheat. Let botli growc together tyl haniest come, and iu tyme of haniest, I wyl say to the repers, gather ye fyrst the tares, & bhid them iu shoues to be burned ; but gather the wheat into my barne.' [Geneva Bible, 1 557, as printed in Bagster's English Hvxa^la, 1841.] 284 HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. ExTiUCT XXn. A,». 1570. THE APOLOGY FOR 'THE SCHOOLMASTER." By EoGEU AscnAM. [Sec p. G9.] •Wise men I know, will well nllnw of my choise herein : and as for such, whc haue not witto of them seines, but must learne of others, to iudge right of mens doyngcs, let them read that ■wise Poet Horace in his Arte Poclica, who willeth wlsemen to beware, of hie and loftie Titles. For, great shippes, require costhk tackling, and also afterward dangerous gouemment : Small boates, bo neither verie chargeable In makyng, nor verie oft in great ieoperdie : and yet they cary many tymes, as good and custlie ware, as greater vessels do. A meaiio Argument, may easelio beare, the light burden of a small faute, and haue alwaise at hand, a ready excuse for ill handling : And some praise it is, if it so chaimce, to be better In deede, than a man dare venture to seeme. A hye title, doth charge n man, with the heauie burden, of to groat a promise : and therefore sayth Horace verio wittelie, that, that Poete was a verie foole, that began bys booke, with a goodlio verse in deede, but ouer proude a promise.' Fortunam Priami caiitabo et jwbile helium, And after, as wiselie, Quantb rectius hie, qui 7iil molUur inepti, ix,' * [The Scholemasfer, 1570, 65 (Arber's Keprint, 1870).] KxTOACT XXIII. A.B. 1589. THE FIRST ADVENTURE OF THE ' FAERY QUEENE.' By Edmtind Spenser. [See p. 64.] • . • .In the beginning of the feast, there presented him selfe a tall clowmsh younge man, who falling before the Qucene of Faeries desired a boone (as the man- ner then was) which during that feast she might not refuse : wluch wos that heo might have the atchievemcnt of any adventure, which during that feast should happen ; that being granted, he rested him selfo on the flooro, unfit through hi3 • The whole of the passage runs thus : — ' Don't open like the cyclic, with a burst : " Troy's war and Priam's /ale are here rehearsed." What's coming, pray, that thus ho winds his horn ? The mountain labours and a mouse Is born. Far teller he who enters al his ease, Nor takes your breath trilh empty flourishes : " Sing, Muse, the man who, after Troy was burned, Baw divers cities, ond their manners learned." ' Conington's Translation of the Satires, kc, 1871, 177. APPENDIX A. 285 tusticitie for a better place. Soone after entred a faire Ladie [ Una] in mourning weedes, riding on a white Asse, with a dwarfe behind her leading a warlike steed, that bore the Armes of a knight, and his speare in the dwarf es hand. She fall- ing before the Queene of Faeries, complajTied that her father and mother, an ancient King and Queene, had bene by a huge dragon many yeers shut up in a brazen Castle, who thence suffered them not to issew : and therefore besought the Faery Queene to assigno her some one of her knights to take on him that exployt. Presently that clownish person upstarting, desired that adventure ; whereat the Queene much wondering, and the Lady much gaine-saying, yet he earnestly im- portuned his desire. In the end the Lady told him, that unlesse that armoiu* which she brought would serve him (that is, the armour of a Christian man specified by Saint Paul, v. [vi.] Ephes.) that he could not succeed in that enterprise : which being forth- with put upon him with due furnitures thereunto, he seemed the goodliest man in al that company, and was well liked of the Lady. And eftesoones taking on him knighthood, and mounting on that strannge Courser, he went forth with her on that adventure : where beginneth the first booke, viz. A gentle Knight was pricking on the playne,' &:c. [Letter to Sir Walter Ealeigh, dated '23 lanuarie, 1589.'] Extract XXIV. A.D. 1590. DESCRIPTION OF THE EED-CEOSS KNIGHT AND UNA. By Edmtjxd Spenser. \_See p. 54,] ' A gentle Knight was pricking [spurringl on the plaine, Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde, "Wherein old dints of decpe woimds did rcmaiue. The cruel markes of many a bloudy flelde ; Yet armes till that time did he never wield : * His angry steede did chide his foming bitt, As much disdayning to the curbe to yield : Pnll jolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt, As one for knightly giusts and fierce encoimters fitt. ' And on his brest a bloudie crosse he bore. The deare remembrance of his dying Lord, For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he bore, And dead as living ever him ador'd : Upon his shield the hke was also scor'd. For sovcraine hope, which in his helpe he had : Right faithfull true ho was in deede and word, But of Ids cheere did seeme too solemne sad ; Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad [rfrcnif^rf]. ' A lovely ladic rude him f;iiro beside, Upon a lowly asse moro white then snow, Yet she much whiter, but the same did hide Under a vclc, that wimpled was full low, • Cf. Lctia- to Sir Waller RaUiyh, Extract XXIII. 286 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. And over all a blacko stole she did throw As one that inly mournd : so was she sad Ajid henvie sat upon her palfrey slow : Seemed [it] in heart some hidden care she had. And by her in a lino a milke white lambe she lad [fo^* [Faer!/ Qncene, Bk. i., Canto i. 1, 2, 4.] Extract XXV. A.». 1595. THE ELIZABETHAN STAGE. By Sm PnrLip Sidney. {See p. 52, and also p. 69.] 'Our Tragedies, and Comedies, (not wthout cause cried out against,) obsernlng rules, neyther of honest ciuilitic, nor of skilfuU Poctric, excepting Gorboduck, [by Sackville,~see p. 61, s. 38] (againe, I say, of tliose tliat I hanc scene,) which not- withstanding, as it is full of stately speeches, and -neU-sounding Phrases, clyming to the height of Seneca his stile, and as full of notable moralitio, which it doth most delightfully teach ; and so obtayno the very end of Poesie : yet in troth it is very defcctious in the circnnistannccs ; which grocueth mee, because it might not remaine as an exact model of all Tragedies. For it is faulty both in place, and time, the two necessary companions of all corporall actions. For where the stage should alwaies represent but one place, and the vttcrmost time presupposed in it, should be, both by Aristotle's precept, and common reason, but one day : there is both many dayes, and many places, inartificially imagined. But if it be so in Gorboduek, how much more in al the rest ? where yon shal have Asia of tlie one side, and Affrick of tlie other, and so many vnder-kingdoms, that the Player when he commeth in, must oner begin with telling where he is : or els, the talo wil not bo concciucd. Now ye shal have three Ladies, walke to gather fl nvers, and then we must beleeue the stage to be a Garden, By and by, we hen ro nowes of shipwracke in the same place, and then wee are to blame, if wo accept it not for a Eock. "\'pon the backe of that, comes out a hidions Slonster, with Are and smoke, and then the miserable beholders, are bonndc to take it for a Cane. While in tho mean-time, two Armies flye in, represented with foure swords and bucklers, and then what hnrde heart will not rcceiue it for a pitched fielde ? • &c.' \_An ApohgicforPoctrie, 1695 (Arber's Ecprint, 18G8), 63—4.] • C/. Shakespeare, King Henry V., Chorus :— — ' Can this cockpit hold The vasty fields of France ? or may we cram Within this wooden O tlio very casques 1'liat did affright the air at Agincourt ? O, pardon,' &c. Jlr. Knight thinks that Sidney's words may have promptwl Shakespeare's ap. peal to his audience in this address to 'piece out our imperfections with jronr thoughts.' S yet appcnre, And make those fliglits upon the bankos of Thames That 80 did take Eliza and our James 1 ' • This Addres.i ilhistratos one of the fraturos of tlie Elizabethan Stage (.«Mp, C9, s. 37) : — ' And though you [the rcaflcr] bo a Magistrate of wit, and sit on tb* Stage at Black-friers, or the Cock-pit to arraigno Ploycs dailic,' ic. APPENDIX C. 293 (b) Histories. 13. King Jolm. IG. Richard II. 17. Henry IV., Pt. i. 18. Ilenri/ IV., Pt. ii. 19. Jlenrt/ V. 20. Henry VI. (Pt. i.) 21. Henry VI. (Pt. ii.) 22. Hem-y VI. (Pt. iii.) 23. Richard III. 24. Henry Vm. Yet, notTrithstanding the colourable advertisement of the playel •putters forth' of 1623, 'it is however demonstrable,' say Messrs. Clark and "Wright {Merchant of Venice ; Clarendon Press Series, 3rd Edition, 1869), that in nearly every case where a previous quarto existed the text was printed from it, and it is almost certain that where there was no previous edition the text of the folio was taken, not immediately from the author's MS., but from a more or less faulty transcript.' The general features of the First Folio are given on pp. 64-5. The thirty-six plays which it contained were arranged in tliree groups, as follows. Those printed in italics had previously appeared in quarto form : — (a) Comedies. 1. Tempest. 2. Two Gentlemen of Verona. 3. Merry Wives of ^Yindsor. 4. Measure for Measure. 5. Comedy of Errors. C. Much Ado about No- thing, 7. Love's Laiour's Lost. 8. Midsummer Night's Dream. 9. Merchant of Venice. 10. As You Like It. 11. Taming of the Shrew. 12. All's WeU that Ends WeU. 13. Twelfth Night. 14. Winter's Tale. Besides these, and not included in the Folio of 1623, was the play of Pericles, published in quarto in 1609. A second folio was issued in 1632, a third in 1664, a fourth in 1685. After Howe's first ' edited' issue of 1709, camePope's, 1725 ; Theobald's, 1733; Hanmer's, 1744 ; Warburton's, 1747; Johnson's, 1765; and Malone's, 1790. For the numerous subsequent editions, the reader must consult a Bibliogra- phical Dictionary. Shakespeare seldom originated a plot ; but, like Chaucer before him, and Moliire after him, took his outline or framework where he found it, developing and filling it up from the inexhaustible resources of his vivid and complete imagination. From an Italian novelist, such as Bandello (whether direct from the original or through a translation it matters little), he borrows the plot of a * Not in the liBt of plays prefixed to the Folio, but nevertheless Included in the volume. (c) Tragedies. 23. [Troilus and Cres- sida.*'\ 2C. Coriolanus. 27. Titus Andronicus. 28.7/Jomeo and Juliet. 29. Timon of Athens. 30. Julius Csesar. 31. Macbeth. 32. Hamlet. 33. King Lear. 34. Othello. 35. Antony and Cleo- patra. 36. Cymbeline. 294 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITEUATURE. comedy ; from a chronicler, such as Holinshed, the facts of an historical play ; and in his hands they become a Twelfth Night, or a Macbeth. As an illustration (though by no means a novel one) of the great dramatist's transforming power may be cited the description of Cleopatra in her barge on the Cydnus. In North's Plutarch, Sliakespeare's source for the incidents, the passage runs thus : — 'Therefore when she was sent nnto by diverse letters, both from Antonius himseUe, and also from his friends, she mtide so light of it, and mocked Antonius so much, that she disdained to set forward otherwise, but to take her barge in the river of Cydnus ; the poope whereof was of gold, the sailes of purple, and the oares of silver, which kept stroke in rowing after the sound of the musicke of flutes, howboyes, cithemes, vials, and such other instruments as they played upon in the barge. And now for the person of her solfc, she was laycd under a pavilion of cloth of gold of tissue, apparelled and attired like the goddesse !>«!«, commonly drawne in picture: and hard by her, on either hand of her, pretie faire boys apparelled as Painters do set foorth god Cupid, with little fans in their hands, with the which they fanned wind upon her. Her Ladies and Gentlewomen also, the fairest of them were apparelled like the Nimphes Nereides (which are the Myrmaides of the waters), & like the Graces, some stcaring the helme, others tending the tackle and ropes of the barge, out of the ■which there came a wonderfull passing sweet savour of perfumes, that per- fumed the wharfcs side, pestered with innumerable multitudes of people. Some of them followed the barge all along the river side ; others also ranno out of the city to see her coming in.' (North, quoted in Staunton.) In Antoiry and Cleopatra (Act ii., Sc. 2) these details take the following form. The speakers are Agrippa and Enobavbus. Eno. Wlien she first met Mark Antony, she pursed up his heart, npon the river of Cydnus. Agv. There she appeared indeed ; or my reporter devised well for her, Eho. I will tell you. The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne. Burnt on the water : the poop was beaten gold ; Purple the sails, and so perfumed that The winds were love-sick with them ; the oars were silver, Wlucli to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made Tlie water which they beat to follow faster, As amorous of their strokes. For her own person, It beggar'd all description : slie did lie In her pavilion (cloth-of-gold of tissue), O'er-picturing that Venus where we sco The fancy outwork Nature : on each side lier Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Onpidis, With divers-ciloiur'd fans, whose wind did seem To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, And what they undid, did. Agr. O, rare for Antony I Eno. Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides, ; So many mermaids, tended )icr i' the eyes, And made their bends adoniings : at the helm A seeming mermaid steers ; the silken tackle Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hand% That yarely frame the offlcc. Erom the bargo APPENDIX C. 295 A strauge invisible perfume liits the sense Of tlie adjacent wharfs. The city cast Her people out upon her : and Antony, Entliron'd i' tlie market-place, did sit alone, Whistling to the air ; which, but for vacancy. Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too, And made a gap in nature. Agr, Rare Egyptian 1 In the following list the sources of most of Shakespeare's dramatic •works, so far as they have been traced or conjectured, are indicated, and the probable or approximate dates of production are also given. TJie numhering corresponds iv'ith that of the list printed on p. 249 : — I. Tempest, Comedy (probable date, 1610). — Die sck'dne Sidea, by Jacob Ayrcr (d. 1605), has a somewhat similar plot. Both are probably from the same unknown original romance. II. Two Gentlemen of Verona, Comedy (between 1592 and 1593). — Some incidents are in Sidney's Arcadia, i. 6. The story of Proteus and Julia resembles that of Felix and Felismeua, in the J)ia7ia of George de Montemayor (1520 — 62), translated by Bartho- lomew Yonge, 1508. III. Meery Wives of Windsor, Comedy (Before 1602, date of quarto). — Various sources are given for the incidents. IV. Measuue for Measure, Comedy (1603?). — Taken from George Whetstone's Hlstoryc of Promos and Cassandra, &c., 1578, borrowed in its turn from Giraldi Ciiithio's Hecatommithi, Part ii., D. viii., N. V. V. Comedy of Errors, Comedy (1589 — 1591). — The main in- cident is in Plautus' Menachni ; but Shakespeare's play was possibly based on an English vcr.^ion intitled the Historic of Error, acted in 1576 — 77, ' by the children of Powles.' VI. Much Ado about Nothing, Comedy (Between 1598 and 1600, when it was entered on the Stationers' Kegister). — The ' serious incidents' are taken, probably through some English version, from the twenty-second novel of Matteo Bandello (1480 — 1562). VII. Love's Labour's Lost, Comedy (About 1590. — Meres*).— 'As far as we know, is wliolly of Shak.'^pere's invention ' (Dowden). VIII. Midsummer Night's Dream, Comedy (1593 — 1694. — * ' As Plautus and Seneca arc accounted the best for comedy and tragedy among the Latins, so Shakespeare among ye English is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage ; for comedy witness his GOtleme of Veron.a, his Errors, his Love Labor's Lost, his Lovf Labour's Wonne, his Midsummer's Night Drcame, and his Merchant of Venice; for tragedy, Ins Richard the II., Richard the III., Henry the IV., King John, Titus Andronicu.'-:, and his liomco and Juliet.' falladis Tumia, by Francis Meres, 1598. 296 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Mercs). — Theseus and Hippolyta come from li^oTth.'B Pluiarch, lo79, Life of Theseus ; Pymmus and Tliisbo from Golding's Ovid, 1567. IX. Merchant of Venice, Comedy (1594 — 1598. — Meres). — The fables of the bond and caskets are in the Gcsta Bomanorum, chaps, xlviii. and xcix. ; the former is also in the Pecorone of Giovanni Fiorontino {circa 1378). But Shakespeare probably worked from an older play. This, both on the stage and in the study, is one of the most popular of Shakespeare's Comedies. It has been edited for the Clarendon Press Series, by Messrs. Clark and Wright, X. As You Like It, Comedy (1599 — 1600). — Founded on Lodge's novel of Eosaly7ide, Euphues Golden Legacie, &c., 1590 (see p. 69, s. 43), which was partly derived from the Cokes Tale of Gamelyn {see p. 244). XI. Taming op the Shrew, Comedy (date of composition doubtful). — Based upon an earlier anonymous play, printed in 1594, entitled A Pleasant Conceited Historie, called the Taming of a Shrew. XII. All's Well that Ends Well, Comedy (date of composi- tion doubtful). — If it be the Love's Labour's Won, specified byMerea (see note, p. 295), it should bo placed before 1598. The leading circumstances are in the Decameron, D. iii., N. ix. ; and in Paynter's Palace of Pleasure, 1566, Vol. i.. Novel 38. XIII. Twelfth Night; or. What You Will, Comedy (between 1598 (Meres) and February, 1602, when it was acted at the Middle Temple). — The ' serious incidents ' are in Bandello, Part ii.. Novel 36, translated by Barnabie Eiche, 1581 ; and in the drama of GV Ingannati, 1537. XIV. Winter's Tale, Comedy (Before May, 1611, when it was acted at the Globe). — Founded on Robert Greene's Patidosto; the Triuinph of Time, or The History of Dorastus and Fawnia, 1588. XV. King John, Hist. Drama (Before 1598.— Meres). — Probably worked up from an old piece called The Troublesome Raigne of John, King of England, 1591. XVI. Life and Death of Kino Richard the Second, Hist. Drama (between 1593 and 1594). — Incidents hiken from Uolinshed. It has been edited for the Clarendon Press Scries, by Messrs. Clark and Wright. XVII. First Part of Kino Henry the Fotjeth, Hist. Drama (Before 1598.— Mores). XVIII. Second Part of King Henry the Foxthth, Hist. Drama (Before 1598. — Meres).— Period occupied, from Hotspur's death, 1403, to accession of Henry V., 1413. XIX. King Uenrt the Fifth, Hist. Drama (pcrlLap", from the APPLKDIX C. 297 reference to Essex's expedition of 1599, written in that j'ear). — Period occupied, from 1413 to Henry's marriage with Katharine of France, 1420. XX. FmsT Pabt of King Henry the Sixth, Hist. Drama. XXI. Second Part of King Henry the Sixth, Hist. Drama. XXII. Third Part of Kino Henry the Sixth, Hist. Dz-ama, (The dates of this and the two preceding plays are very early.) XXIII. King Eichard the Third, Hist. Drama (Before 1597, date of quarto). — Shakespeare's ' only authorities appear to have Lcen the old chroniclers' (Staunton). Theplaj' ends with the death of King Eichard at Bosworth, 1485. XXIV. King Henry the Eighth, Hist. Drama (Before June, 1613, when it was acted at the Globe). — ' Frequently in Henry VIII. we have all hut the very words of Holinshed ' (Dyce), XXV. Tboilus and Cressida, Tragedy (written before 1609, date of quarto). — Based upon Chaucer's Troylus and Criseyde {see p. 35, s. 17), Lydgate's Troy Hook [see p. 41, s. 19), and Caxton's Eecuyell of the History es of Troy. XXVI. CoEiOLANUS, Tragedy (1607-S).— Based on Life of Cains Martins Coriolanus, in North's Plutarck, 1579. XXVII. Titus Antjeonictis, Tragedy (written before 1598. — ■ Meres). — The source is not known. Shakespeare's share in the play is much discussed; it is possibly the very earliest. XXVIII. EoMEO AND Juliet, Tragedy (written between 1591 and 1597, date of quarto). — Based chiefly on Arthur Brooke's poem of the Tragicall Historye of Eomeiis and Juliet, 1562, and Paynter's Palace of Pleasure,Yol. li., Nov. 25. It was a popular Italian story. XXIX. TiMON OF Athens, Tragedy (written circa 1607-8?). — The story is in Paynter's Palace of Pleasure, Vol. i., Nov. 28, and in North's Plutarch. But Shakespeare probably re-cast some old dramatic form of it, XXX. Julius C/TJSAE, Tragedy (probably written about 1600-1). — Incidents in North's Plutarch, but there were other plays. XXXI. Macbeth, Tragedy (probably written between 1604 and April, 1610, when it was acted at the Globe). — Based on Holinshed. It has been edited for the Clarendon Pirss Series, by Jlessrs. Clark and Wright. XXXII. Hamlet, Tragedy (before July, 1602, when it was entered in the Stationers' Eegister). — The story of Hamlet is in the Historia Banica of Saxo Grammaticus (1150-1220), and Belleforest's col- lection of Novels, 1570. This latter was translated under the title cf the Tlystoryc of Hamhlct. But there was probably an earlier 298 HANDBOOK OF EXGLISH LITF.r.ATUIIE. pliiy. Hamlet, lias boon edited for the Clarendon Press Series, hj Messrs. Clark and Wright, 1872. XXXIII. Xing Leak, Tragedy (Before Christmas 160G, whcu it was acted at "Whitehall). — The story may have been taken from the Mi/rroitrefor Magistrates {sec p. 52, s. 33), from Geoffrey of Mon- mouth, from Spenser's Faeri/ Qucene, h. ii., c. x., or Ilolinshcd. Sidney's Arcadia, perhaps, suggested an episode. King Lear was edited in 1877 for the Clarendon Press Series by Mr. AV. A.Wright. XXXIV. Othello, Tragedy (IGOi?).— Based iipon Cinthio'.s Hecatommithi, Part i., Deca Terza, Nov. 7. XXXV. Antony and Cleopatea, Tragedy (probably written iu 1608). — Story taken from the Life of Antonius, in North's P/«/arc/i. Period occupied, li.c. 40 to B.C. 30. XXXVI. Cymbeline, Tragi-comedy (supposed to be written in 1609). — The main incident appears to have been taken from tho Decameron, D. ii., N. ix. ' The historical facts and allusions . . . were seemingly derived from Ilolinshed' (Staunton). XXXVII. Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Comedy (Before 1608, when it was entered in the Stationers' Ei-gister). — The original source is tho romance o{ AppoUonius of Tyre {see p. 15, s. 7), but it was probably taken from Gower's Confessio Amantis, and a transla- tion oi ApoUonius, by Laurence Twine, 1576. It is supposed Shako- t^peare worked upon tho drama of another writer, perhaps George Wilkins. The follow •ing are the dates sugge sted by Prof. Dowden ia SIta/csjyere, Ins Mind and Art ; and in hi s excellent Primer'. — 1.— 1588-90. Titus Andronicus. 20.- -1599. As You Like it. 2.— 1590-1, 1 Henry VI. 21.- -lG'IO-1. Twelfth Night. 3.— 1590. Love's Labour's Lost. 22.- -1601. Julius Caesar. 4.— 1591. Comeily of Errors. 2.3.- -? 1001-2. All's Well, 5, 0.— 1591-2. 2 ami 3 Ueiiry VI. 24.- -1CU2. Hamlet. 7.— 1592-3. Two (.iciit. of Verona. 25.- -1603. Measure for Measure. 8.— 1593. lUchard III. 2G- -1603 ? TroLlus and Oressidii 9.— 1593-4. Miilsnninier Niglit's (revised 1007 ?> Dream. 27.- -1G04. OthcUo. 10.— 1594. Ilieliard II. 28.- --1605. Lear, 11.— 1695. King Joliii. 29.- -1600. Macbeth. 12.— 159G. Merchant of Venice. 30.- -1607. Ant. and Cleopatra. 13.-159G-7. Home ami Juliet (a 31.- -1007- 8. Timon of Atheus. revision of 1591). 32- -1608. Coriolanus, 14.— 1597. Tnminp the Shrew. 33.- -1608. Pericles. 16,16.-1597-8. 1 nud 2 Henry IV. 34.- -lOlin. Cynibelino. 17.-1598. Jferry Wives. S."..- -1010. Tempest. 18.— 1598. Much Ado. 30.- -1610 11. Winter's Tale. 19.-1599. lleury V. 37.- -1012-3. Ucury VIIl. APPENDIX D. •PARADISE XOST' AMD 'PARADISE REGAIXTED.' The first of Milton's epics, as -we have already said, Tvas written Letween 1658 and 1665, -when its author, — that 'Puritan among poets' and 'poet among Puritans' — was poor, Llind, and advanced in years. It was published, in ten books, in 1667. 'The measxire,' in the words of the prefatory notice, ' is English heroic verse without rime, as that of Homer in Greek, and of Virgil in Latin ; rime being no necessary adjimct or true ornament of poem or good verse, in longer works especially. ..." ' Tliis neglect then of rime so little is to be taken for a defect, though it may seem so perhaps to nilgar readers, that it is rather to be esteemed an example set, the first in English, of ancient liberty recovered to heroic poem, from the troublesome and modern bondage of riming.' How grandly and majestically the muse of Milton wears that 'ancient liberty' has long been conceded ; and we question whether anyone since the days of Byron has been found bold enough to hint that rhyming couplets would be a fitter vehicle for that sublimest story than the various and harmonious measure employed by the poet. ' To analyse Miltonic blank verse' (we borrow a passage that it is hard to excel) ' in all its details would be the work of mucli study and prolonged labour. It is enough to indicate the fact tliat the most sonorous passages com- mence and terminate with interrupted lines, including in one organic structure, periods, parentheses, and paragraphs of fluent melody, that the harmonies are wrought by subtle and most complex allite- rative systems, by delicate changes in the length and vohime of syllables, and by the choice of names magnificent for their mere gorgeousness of sound. In these structures there are many pauses which enable the ear and voice to rest themselves, but none are perfect, none satisfy the want created by the opening hemistich, imtil the final and deliberate close is reached. Then the sense of hannony is gratified and we proceed with pleasure to a new and 300 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. different soquonco. If the truth of this remark is not confirmed by the following celebrated and essentially Miltouie passage, it must fall without further justification : — ' And now his ISalan's] heart Distends with pride, and liardning in his strength Glories : for never since created man, Jlet such imbodied force, as nam'd with these Could merit more than that small infantry AVarr'd on by cranes ; though all the giant brood Of rhlegra, with th' heroic race were joined That fought at Thebes or Ilium, on each side Mixed with auxiliar Gods ; and what resounds In fable or romance of Uthcr's son, . Begirt with British and Armoric knights ; And all who since, baptiz'd or infidel, Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban, Damasco, or Morocco, or Trcbizond ; Or whom Biserta sent from Airic shore, When Charlemain with all his peerage fell By Fontarabbia.* [Paradise Lost, I. U. 571-87.] In the early days of Paradise Lost, -we are told, ' few either read, liked, or understood it.' 'The old blind schoolmaster, John Milton,* ■HToto Waller, ' hath published a tedious poem on the Fall of Man : if its length be not considered a merit, it liath no other.' But even Johnson's prejudice, — so obstinate as to provoke De Quincey's saying of it that it made that arch-critic a ' dishonest man' — ■was ultimately overcome. Ilis abstract of the subject may bo quoted. 'It is,' says he, ' the fate of worlds, the revolutions of Heaven and of earth ; rebel- lion against the Supreme King, raised by the highest order of created beings ; the overthrow of their host and the punishment of their crimes; the creation of a new race of reasonable creatures; their original happiness and innocence, their forfeiture of immortality and their restoration to hope and peace.' The contents of tiie twelve books into which Paradise Lost was divided in the edition of 1671 may be shortly summed up as follows : — Book I. — Satan, expelled from Heaven, and lying in Chaos, con- soles his legions with the hope of regaining their lost estate, and then tells them of a new kind of creature to bo made 'according to an ancient prophecy or report in Heaven.' To confer on the full moaning of this prophecy ho institutes a council. Pandemonium is raised out of the deep, and hero the council sits, — ' A thousand demigods on gold'n scats, Frequent and full.' • From n paper on Blank Vent, Comhill ilagaxine, xv. 680-9. APPENDIX D. 301 EooK II. — The result of the consultation is that Satan undertakes to verify the tradition concerning the existence of another ■world and another kind of creature — Man. He arrives at the gates of Hell, and thence Sin and Death ♦ Pav'd after him a broad and beat'n way Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf Tamely endur'd a bridge of wondrous length From Hell continu'd, reaching th' utmost orb Of this frail World ; by which the spirits pervcrso With easy intercourse pass to and fro To tempt or punish mortals, except whom God and good angels guard by special grace' Book III. — As Satan flies towards this world God the Father shows him to the Son, and foretells his success in tempting man, M-ho was made ' just and right. Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.' The Father then declares that man who ' falls deceived' shall find grace if ' Some other able, and as willing, pay The rigid satisfaction, death for death.' The Son of God offers himself a ransom: the Father accepts him. Satan, meanwhile, reaches the outermost orb of the world, and passing through the Limbo of Vanity, directed by Uriel, alights on Mount Niphates (in Armenia). Book IV. introduces tlie Arch-Eucmy in the Garden of Eden, where, in the guise of a cormorant, he sits on the tree of Life, ' devising death To them who liv'd,' and gathering from the discourse of Adam and Eve tliat the tree of Knowledge was forbidden them under penalty of death, resolves through it to tempt tliem to transgress. His presence in Paradise being announced by Uriel to Gabriel, he is at length discovered by two of the latter's ministers, 'squat like a toad,' whispering tempta- tion in the ear of sleeping Eve. Book V. — With the morning Eve relates to Adam her dream and is conoforted. Raphael, sent of God, descends to Eden, to remind Adam of his free estate, to enjoin obedience and to warn him of an enemy at hand ; and, at his request, tells him who the Enemy is, relates the story of liis rorolt hi Heaven, his inciting his legions to rebel, and of tlio seraph Abdicl's opposition to and desertion of him. In Book VI. Raphael describes the war in heaven. Ho tells Adam that Michael and Gabriel were sent forth to fight against 302 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Satan and his host, that they found the task insiiperable until, on the third day the Messiah, in the power of His Father, unaided by His ' host on either hand,' drove his enemies to the "wall of heaven, which opening, caused thena to plunge Tnth confusion into the bottomless pit. ' Hell at last Yawning received them whole, and on them clos'd ; Hell their fit habitation fraught with fire Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain." Book VII. is occupied with Eaphael's narrative of the creation of the world. Book VIII. — Adam's enquiries of Eaphael concerning celestial motions are met by the reply : — ' SoUcit not thy thoughts with matters hid, Leave them to God above, him serve and fear.' Adam relates to the angel all he remembers since his creation, and Eaphael, after admonition, loaves him. Book IX. — Satan returns into Eden as a mist and enters into the Berpent. Eve having elected to pursue her daily work alone, is accosted by him. Surprised at hearing the serpent speak, she enquires how he became possessed of such understanding, and is informed that he obtained the wisdom by eating of the fruit of a tree which Eve discovers to be the tree of Knowledge. She is at length persuaded to eat of the fruit, and Adam, though he knew her to be lost, resolves, for the love ho bears her, to perish with her, and eats also of the forbidden fruit. The book ends with their mutual accusations and their attempt to cover their newly-discovered nakedness. Book X. — The guardian angels return from Paradise to Heaven and the Son of God descends to judge the transgressors, and having clothed them, returns to Heaven. Sin and Death, resolved to sit no longer at the gates of Hell, make a bridge over Chaos to this world. Satan returns to Pandemonium, whore both ho and his attendants are transformed into serpents. God the Father foretells the victory of His Son over Sin and Death. Adam, aftor bewailing his lost con- dition, exhorts Eve to seek, witli him, their peace with God. Book XI. — The Son of God intercedes with His Father on behalf of suppliant Man, whose prayers are, therofore, accepted. Adam iind Eve are nevcrlholoss expelled from Paradise by the angel 3liehael, who afterwards takes Adam to a high hill and phows hira in vision what shiil! fake place before the Flootl, and the appearance of the ' triple-coloured bow' in the clouds. ArPENDIX D. 303 Book XII. — The angel, continuing liis prophetic narrative, ex- plains to Adam who that Christ shall be whose ' God-like act' ' Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength, Defeating Sin and Death.' Adam, much comforted by the relation, is then led with Eve out of Paradise by Michael.* ' High in front aclvanc't, The brandish"t sword of God before them blaz'd. Fierce as a comet ; which with torrid heat. And vapour as the Libyan air adust, Began to parch that temperate chme ; whereat In either hand the hast'ning angel caught Our ling'ring parents, and to th' eastern gate Led them direct, and down the cUfE as fast To the subjected plain ; then disappeared. They, looking back, all th' eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, Wav'd over by that flaming brand ; the gate With dreadful faces throng'd, and fiery arms : Some natiural tears they dropt but wip'd them soon ; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide : They, hand m hand, with wand'ring steps and slow. Through Eden took their sohtary way.' [U. 632-G49.] The temptation of our Lord is the subject of Milton's shorter poem, Paradise Eegaincd, which, as we have already said, was called into existence by the question put to the poet by his Quaker- friend Ellwood. {See p. 87, s. 57.) Coleridge pronounces the work to be ' in its kind the most perfect poem extant.' There is no doubt that Milton's consummate art in its descriptive power is here developed in its highest form. ' There is not a hollow or a vague sentiment, not a useless word, in the whole poem,' though we cannot but feel with Southey that, owing, perhaps, to the fact of the entrra subject being but an incident in the many incidents in the life of our Saviour, it had been grander as an episode in a longer work. The ' Death for Death,' alluded to in Paradise Lost, is not realised in Paradise Bcgaincd, in which the wilderness instead of Calvary is the ' appendage to Eden,' and this alone has been suggested as a theological deficiency which has affected its popularity. That the poem has never attained its just fame because forced into com- parison with Paradise Lost is probably the key to its being so often unduly disparaged by readers of the present day. • It may not here be out of place to note the idea which Addison comments nn, of the misery of Satan in the midst of his transient triumph contrasted with the triumphant hope of Adam in the excess of his wretchedness. 304 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Paradise Begaincd is contained In four books of which the first presents Jesus — ' this man of men attested Son of God,' retiring to the -wilderness to be ' tempted of the devil,' M-ho, having previously announced his plans to his peers in council, appears to Him in the disguise of a peasant. Book II. shows Mary bewailing the absence of lier son, Jesus. Satan, in the garb of a courtier, tempts the Saviour with a feast and the offer of riches. Book III. continues the temptation, and the kingdoms of Asia are exhibited. Book IV. introduces Eome and Athens in their architectural and intellectual greatness, and our Lord, after being exposed to a raging storm, is brought back to the desert to be conveyed to the pinnacle of the Temple, from which Satan, defeated in his plans, fiills, while angels bear Jesus away. Their hymn of triumph ends the poem. The following are the lines on Athens (236-284) :— ' Look once more, ere wo leave this specular mount, Westward, much nearer by south-west, behold ; Where on the Mgnxn shore a city stands Built nobly, pure the air, and light the soil ; Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts And eloquence, native to famous wits Or hospitable, in her sweet recess, City or suburban, studious walks and shades. See there the olive grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird Trills her thick-w-arbl'd notes the summer long ; There flowery hill Hymcttus, v.-itli t'.ic soimd Of bees' industrious mtu-mur, oft invites To studious musing ; there Ilissus rolls His whispering stream : within the walls then view The ficlmols of ancient sages ; his who bred Great Alexander to subdue the world, Lyceum tliere, and pauited Stoa next : There shalt then hear and learn the secret power Of harmony, in tones and numbers hit By voice or Imnd ; and various-mcasiu:'d verse, .ffioUan cliarms and Dorian lyric ode? , And bis, who gave them breath, but higher sung Blind Melesigcncs, thence Homer call'd, ■Whose poem riiccluLs challcng'd for his own. Thence what the lofty grave tragedians taught In chorus or Iambic, teachers best Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd In brief sententious precrpt?, while they treat Of fate, and chance, and change in human life. High actions and higli passions best describing: Thence to tlie famous orators repair, Those ancient, whoso resistless eloquence Wielded at ^vill tliat fierce democraty, APPENDIX t). 305 Shook the Arsenal, and fubnm'd over Greece To Macedon, and Artaxerxes' throne : To sage Philosophy next lend thine ear, From Heaven descended to the low-roof't housa Of Socrates ; see there his tenement, MThom well inspir'd the oracle pronounc'd Wisest of men ; from whose mouth issued forth MeUifluous streams, that water'd all the schools Of Academics old and new, with those Sumam'd Peripatetics, and the sect Epicurean, and the Stoic severe ; These here revolve, or, as thou lik'st, at home, Till time mature thee to a kingdom's weight ; These rules will render thee a king complete Within thyself, much more with empire join'd.' APPENDIX E. DZCTZOirARir OF MINOR AXTTBOBS. This . . . abridgement Hath to it circumstantial brunches.— Cymbeline, Act v. sc. S. [In the following Appendix a number of deceased authors -whose names are not included in the body of the foregoing Handbook are arranged in alphabetical order. The reader is requested to bear in mind that the reigns given are those during which tbey published or produced their works, and do not necessarily include the reign in which they were born. The worAs cited are usualli/ not all (hose produced, bid only the best or best-knoiun works. The letter p signifies Prosk Works ; the letter m, Metbical (or Poetical) Works ; and the letter d Dramatic Works.] * Adam, Jean, 1710-1765. Scottish poetess. (George II., George III.) The ballad There's irne luck about the House has been doubtfully attributed to her. {Sec Mickle.) [It was sung in the streets about 1772, and printed in Herd's collection 1776.] Adams, Sarab no wer, 1805-1848. Poetess. (A'ictoeia.) m Vivia Pcrpetua, a dramatic poem, 1841. She wrote the familiar hymn Nearer, my God, to Thee. [See Moncure Conway's Centenary History of South Tlacc Society, 1804.] Adams, Thomas, fi. 1612-1653. Puritan divine. (James I. to Commonwealth.) ' Works ' in Nichol's Puritan Divines, 3 vols. 1862, with a ' Life,' by Joseph Angus, D.D. [Southcy calls him ' the prose Sbakespcaro of the puritan theologians.'] Alkln, Iiucy, 1781-1864. Historical writer. (Georoe IV. to Victori.\.) p Memoirs of the Court of Elizabeth, 1818 ; James /., 1822; Charles I., 1833; Life of Addison, 1843 (reviewed by ^lacaulay) ; also some verse and 'Lorimer,' a tale. \_LJfc and Letters, by P. H. Le Breton, 1864.] Aln&worth, WlUlam Harrison. 1805-1882. Novelist. • To antioipate the objection tliat many 'Dramatic' works are metrioal, It Ehonld be stati', ed. Grosart, 1876; and in Arber's Eng. Scholar's Lib., No. 14.] N.B. 7'hc Passionate Pilgrime, 1599, pirintcd two pieces from the Eneomion as by Shakespeare. Barton, Bernard, 1784-1849. Poet. (GEcmcK III, to Victoria.) Many forgotten volumes from 1812-1845. Ho is often termed tho ' Quaker Poet.' [Poems and letters, 1849, with Memoir by E(dward) F(itz) G(orald.)] Bastard, Tbomas, 1566-1618. Satirist and divine. (Eliza- beth, Jamks L) m Chrestoleros : Sciten Bookes of Ejpigramcs (200 of them), 1598; Screnissimo 'potcntissimoquc Monarchw Jacobo, 1605 (a Latin poem to James ; three books, about 800 lines), p Twelvo Sermons, 1615. Grosart, 1880, repr. the poems, Latin and English. (S^^o Gcnhhigic dc la maisun do Bastard, Paris, 1847.) HANDBOOK OP EXGLISn LITERATURE. 311 Beaumont, Sir Jobn, 1583-1627. Poet. (Elizabeth, James I.) tn Mctajnorphosis of Tobacco, 1 602 (anon. : a mock heroic) ; Bostcorik- Jield, 1629 (posthumous). The poems are in Chalmers' Poets \i„ and Grosart's Fuller^s Worthies Lib. 1869. [B. was elder brother of Francis Beaumont. See p. 68.] BecoQ, Thomas, D.D. (-wrote sub nom. ' Theo. Basille'), 1512-1567. Protestant divine. (Henry VIII. to Elizabeth.) p The Workes of Th. Becon, 156.3-lo6-l. Parker Soc, 1843-184i, issued 3 vols, (a careful ed.). \^Athen(e Cantabrigmises, i. 246-250, gives a list of 47 works ; the Princeton Eeview (America), v. 504, has a good article.] Beddoes, Thomas Iiovell, 1803-1849. Poet and physiologist. George IV. to A'ictdria.) d Brides' Tragedy ^ 1822; Death's Jest Book, or the Fool's Tragedy, 1850. m Improvisatore 1821 (his first work; suppressed). Poems, 1851, with 3Iemoir. [Best ed., 1890, 2 vols. ; and Letters, 1894, both ed. Edmund Gosse.] Behn, Aphra, or Afra, 1640-1689. Dramatist and novelist. (Charles II., James II.) p Oroonoko, or the Boyal Slave (upon this Southern's play -was founded, see p. 109), and eight other novels, d Seventeen plays (collected 1702). m Various occa- sional odes, &c. [Pope alludes to her licentious style in the line ' The stage how loosely doth Astra:a tread,' Astroea being her assumed name. Her works were repr. in 6 vols. 1871.] Bellenden (Ballenden, or Sallentyne), John, fl. 1533- 1587. Translator, (Henry VIII.) p 1536. Trans, into Scotch vernacular of the Historia Scotorum of Hector Boece (1465?- 1 536). This, when ' Englished ' by W. Harrison, formed the Descrip- tion of Scotland in vol. i. of Holinshcd, 1577. Trans, of Livy (first five books) ; printed in 1822 in B.'s ' Works.' [C. was the earliest Scotch prose writer ; and his Livy the first trans, of a Latin classic iu Britain.] Bentley, Richard, D.D., 1662-1742. Classical scholar. (William III. to George II.) p Dissertations vpon the Ejnstlcs of Phalaris, 1697-1698 {see p. 98). Various editions of the classics. [' Works,' ed. A. Dyce, 3 vols. 1836-1838'; Prof. Jebb's ' Life ' in the Me}i of Letters Series gives an elaborate list of authorities and useful ' annals.' Pope's shallow satire is in the Dunciad, iv. 203-274.] Berners, JTuliana, 1390 ?-1460 ? Prioress of Sopwell Nunnery. (Just north-east of St. Alban's Abbey), p The Soke of St. Albans, 1486. (Repr. in facsimile 1881.) This contains four treatises: on Hawking, Hunting, Coat Armour, and the Blazing of Arms. In 312 HANDBOOK OF EXGLISU LITERATURE. 1496 a Treatise on Fysshynge was added to a new edition. (This, our first work on fishing, was repr, in facsimile 1880.) No book except the Bible was so frequently repr. in the sixteenth century. Beveridire, 'William, 1 637-1708. Bishop of St. Asaph. (Com- MOXWEALTH to Anne.) p Thesaurus Theologicus, 1711 (posthumous). [His theological works fill 12 vols, in the Lib, of Anglo- Catholic Theology, 1842-6.] Beverley, Peter (of Staple Inn), fl. 1565. Translator. (Eliza- beth.) m The Historic of Ariodanto and leneura, daughter to tho King of Scottes, 1565 ? [The first English translation of any part of Ariosto.] Blrcb, Thomas, D.D., 1705-1766. Historian and biographer. (Geohge II., George III.) p Lives of Eobt. Boyle, Tillotson, Henry Prince of Wales, ^-c. ; historical works on the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., Charles I. His General Dictionary, based on that of Bayle, appeared 1734-1741. Blacklock, Thomas, 1721-1791. Blind poet. (Geohob II., George III.) m Toems, 1746. Eepr. in Anderson's Poets xi., Chalmers' xviii., with lives. [B. lost his sight from small-pox when six months old. See p. 161.] Blair, Hugrh, D.D., 1718-1800. Professor of rhetoric at Edinburgh. (George III.) p Lectures on rhetoric and belles-lettres, 1783 (10 ed. up to 1806) ; Strmons, 1777-1801. [Long considered models of art; 19 cd. of vol. i. in seventeen years.] Blake, "William, 1757-1827. Painter and poet. (GeorgrIII.) m Poetical Sketches, 1783; Songs of Innocence, 1789; Book of Thel., 1789; Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1790; Songs of Expe- rience, 1794. Twenty-tbreo works in all. [His works were largely illustrated and printed by himself. 'Life/ by A. Gilchrist, 1863- 1880; 'Works,' an elaborate edition, 3 vols., 1893, containing re- productions of the original illustrations.] Blenerhasset, Thomas, 1550?-1625? Poet and writer on Ireland. (Elizaukth.) m The Sccondc part of the Mirrour for Magistrates, 12 legends from the days of Cresar to those of William I. (Also other works.) Blesslngrton, nzarg^uerlte, Countess of, 1789-1849. Novel- ist, niHgazine wi-iter, and editor. (George IV. to Victoria.) Various novels, 1833-1850; Conversations with Lord Byron, 1834. ' The most gorgeous Lady Blessington,' 1896, a Life, by J. Molloy.] Blind Barry, fl. 1470-1492. Scottish poet. (Henry VI.) m ChToaide oi Wallace, wr. circa 1461, first pr. 1570. Eepr. more often than any old Scotch poem. [See Jas. Moir's Critical Study, nAXDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 313 1888; his edition of the poem for Scot. Text Soc, 1885-188G, and Jamieson's Preface to ed. of 1820.] Bodenham, John, fl. 1600. Eeputed editor of Miscellanies. (Elizabeth.) p Politeuphuia, Wits Commonwealth, lu97 (18 ed. up to 1661): a collection of brief extracts, m Belvedere; or, the Garden cf the Muses : brief unsigned extracts, all in ten-syllablo verse (repr. Spenser Soc., 1875). Englands Helicon, 1600 (repr. in Collier's Seven Eng. Miscellanies, 1867). 2nd ed., 1614, has nine added poems (repr. 1887, ed. A. H. BuUen). Probably B. edited neither of the latter. (See Dictionary of National Biography, sub nom.) Boniface, St. (-Winifred), 680-755, The Apostle of Germany. (Anglo-Saxon Period.) His Latin letters (about 100) were pr. 1629. There are also ecclesiastical statutes in 36 articles, 15 sermons, and Latin verse JEnigmata, &c. [' Works ' in Migne's Patrologia, vol. Ixxxix. ; Dr. .T. A. Giles, Patres. ' Lives,' by G. W. Cox, &c. German ' Lives ' are numerous.] Boston, Thomas, 1677-1732. Scottish divine. (George L, George II.) His theological works fill 12 vols., as edited 1848- 1852, by Eev. S. McMillan. [B. took a prominent part in the 'M-irrow Controversy,' so called from the Marrow of Modern Divinity, 1645; repr. 1718, when B. adopted and advocated its principles. He and eleven others were therefore called ' Marrow- Men,' and the ' Twelve Apostles.' ] Boyle, Charles, Fourth Earl of Orrery, 1676-1731. (William III., Anne.) p Trans, of the Letters of Phalaris [1695], Examination of Dr. Bentleys Dissertation, 1698, aided by Atterbury, Smalridge, and three others. {See p. 67.) d As you Find it, a comedy, 1703. Boyle, Roger, First Earl of Orrery, 1621-1679. (Charles II.) d Six rhymed tragedies and two comedies (chiefly acted 1664-1669). He has been called the father of English heroic drama from having revived rhyme on the stage, p Parthenissa, 1654 ; completed in 1665. (A long romance after the manner of Scudery.) Also other works. Bradford, John, 1510?-! 555. Protestant martyr. (Edward VI.) 'Works,' Parker Soc. 1848-1853. Ed. Eev. Aubrey Townsend. Breton, sricholas, 1,545 P-1626? Miscellaneous poet and prose writer. (Elizahetu, James I.) A. B. Grosart has edited B.'s Works, 2 vols., with a good Introduction; and issued ia 1893 A Bower of Delights, verse and p)rosc,from Nicholas Breton, 314 nAXDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Eev. T. Corser's Collectanea Anglo-poetica describes many ■vrorks. The fullest list is in H. Morley's English Writers, vol. xi. pp. 349-53 — OA'er sixty headings for verse and prose. Brldgres, Dr. Jobn, d. 1618. Poet, divine, controversialist. (Elizabeth.) p 1587. A Defence of the Government established in the Church of England, pp. 1412. (A reply to Thos. Cartwright's Discourse and to Beza's Judgment : it -was the direct cause of the Marprelate Controversy.) Brimley, Georgre, 1819-1857. Essayist. (Victobia.) p Essays, 1858 (11 in number; the two chief being on Wordsworth and Tennyson). 3rd ed. 1882. Broke (Brooke), Artliar.cZ. 1563. Translator. (Elizabeth.) m The Tragicall Historye of liomeus and Juliet, 1562. Translated from the Italian of Baudello. Over 3,00i) rhymed lines, 12 and 14 syllables alternate. (Eepr. 1875 by New Shak. Soc, and else- ■where.) Brome, Alexander, 1620-16G6. Songwriter. (Charles II.) m Songs and other poems, 1661. d 77ie Cunning Lovers, 1654, a comedy. (Milton's nephew Phillips, in his Theatrum Poetarum, calls B. the ' English Anacreon.' Chalmers' Pucts vi. contains the poems and a ' Life.') Broome (Brozne), Blcbard, c^. 1652? Dramatist. (Charles I., Commonwealth.) His 15 existing comedies (out of 24) were repr. in 3 vols., 1873. [B. was at one time Ben Jonson's servant.] Bro-wn, Oliver IVXado:s, 1855-1874. Poet and painter. (Victoria.) p Gabriel Denver, 1873. Eemains (prose and verse), 1876, with memoir. Brown, Thomas, 1663-1704. MiscellancOLis writer. (Ciiaiu.es II. to William III.) Essays, poems, satires, epigrams, letters, translations. Collected ed. 3 vols., 1707-1708; ninth ed. 1760. [Addison calls him 'Tom Brown of facetious memory.'] Browne, Isaac Eavrklns, 1705-1760. Poet. (George II.) ra De Anind Lninortulitalc, 1754. (Ilis principal work ; in Latin, trans, by R. Gray, 1754): A Pipe of Tobacco, 1736, six parodies on Cil)bcr, Ambrose Phillips, Thomson, Young, Pope, and Swift. Browne, VTllliam, 1590-1645? Poet. (James I.) m Britannias Pastorals. Book i., 1613; ii., 1016; iii. (incomplete), 1862. An Elegy on Prince Henry, 1613, and The Shepheardes Pipe, 1614 (7 eclogues), d A masque acted Jan. 13, 1G14-1615. ['Works,' best ed., 1894, 2 vols., ed. Goodwin; introd. by A. H, Bullcn.] Bruce, Micbacl, 171C-1767. Poet. (Geoboe III.) Poems on HA^^DBOOK OF ENGLISU LITERATURE. 315 teveral occasions, 1770 (posthumous) ; 17 pieces, with a memoir by his friend, Eev. John Logan. [Much controversy has raged round this vol., as Logan afterwards inserted several of the pieces in a volume of his own poems, 1781. They probably -were his.] Erunton, Mary, 1778-1818. Novelist. (Geokge III.) Two novels, Self-control, 1810; Discipline, 1814. ['Life,' the novels and remains, pr. by her husband, 1819.] Bryant, Jacob, 1715-1804. Antiquary. (George III.) p^ new System of Ancient Mythology, 1774-1776; The Plain of Troy, 1795; The War of Troy [1796]. [B. did not believe in the Trojau war, nor in the existence of Troy ; he did believe in Chatterton !] Budgell, Eustace, 1686-1737. Miscellaneous -writer. (Anne to George II.) Memoir of Earl of Orrery, 1732. B. contributed to the Tatler, Spectator and Guardian, and started the Jjce. [He committed suicide by jumping from a boat under London Bridge.] EuU, George, 1634-1710. Bishop of St. David's. (CharlesIL, James II.) 'Works,' repr. 1827. 7 vols., ed. Kev. E. Burton; Lib. of Anglo-Cathol. Theology, 5 vols. 1843-55. Bulleln, V^illiara, d. 1576. Physician, (Elizabeth.) p A Dialogue against ike Fever Pestilence, 1564-1565: an interesting work. [Repr. Early Eng. Text Soc. 1888.] Also several other works. Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715. Bishop of Salisbury. (Charles II. to Anne.) HiMory of the Reformation, \o\. \., 1679; ii. 1681; iii. 1715. (Best ed. 1865, 7 vols. Clar. Press.) Hist, of his oioii Times, vol. i., 1723 ; ii. 1734. (C/a^ P/css, 1833. Full list of B.'s works in vol. vi., pp. 331-52.) Bury, Ricbard de (Ricb. Aungrerville), 1281-1345. Bishop of Durham. (Edward III.) p Philohiblon. A famous Latin treatise in praise of books, first pr, 1473, [Best ed, 1888, by E. 0. Thomas; for this 28 MSS. from all parts of Europe were collated. It gives Latin and English. Prof. Mori ey's Universal Lib., \o\.lxiii., contains a trans, by T. B. Ingles, 1832.] Byrom, Tobn, 1691-1763. Miscellaneous writer. (George II.) p Universal Shorthand, 1767. m Enthusiasm, 1751. B. wrote Colin and Phebe. {Spectator, No. 603, Oct. 6, 1714.) ' Phebo' is said to have been R, Bentley's daughter, Joanna. [^Pocms, 1894, ed. A. W, Ward ; Chalmers' Poets, xv.] Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666. Divine. (Charles I. to Charles II.) p Chiefly sermons, 1642-1676, [lie was one of the 'Smec- tymnuus ' writers, see p. 84.) Calderwood, David, 1575-1650. Historian. (,L\.mes I. 516 HANDBOOK OF EXGLISH LITERATURE. Charles I.) p True History of the Church of Scotland, from 1560-1625. An abridgmout was pr. 1678 (28 years after C. died) ; and the Woodrow Soc. pub. another digest in 8 vols., 1842-1849. [This gives a life and a list of 18 works published, 1619-1638.] Calverley, Char2cs Stuart, 1831-84. Poet. (Victoria.) m Verses and Translations, 1862; Translations into English and Latin, 1866 ; Theocritus in Eng. verse, 1869 ; Fli/ Leaves, 1872. Campbell, X>r. Ceorgre, 1719-1796. Divine. (George III.) p Dissertation on Miracles, 1762 (one of the chief replies to D. Hume's E'sOTy of 1748); Philosojjhy of Ehctoric, 1776. A Trans- lation of the Gospels, 1789. Campion, Edmund, 1540-1581. Jesuit. (Elizabeth.) p Decern rationes, 1581, an anti -Protestant work repr. all over Europe; 1587 (in 'Holinshed') a History of Ireland, wr. 1567. ['Life,' by Eich. Simpson, 1867, gives full list of works, biblio- graphy, &c.] Campion, Thomas, M.D., d. 1619. Doctor, poet, musician. (Elizabeth, Jajies I.) m Poemata, 1595, repr. 1618, enlarged ; Four Bookes of Ayres (songs and music), 1601-1617? d Four royal masques, p Observations in the Art of English Poesie, 1602, wr. against Ehyme. Sam. Daniel replied in his Defence of Byrne, 1602. ['Works 'first collected 1889, ed. A. H. EuUen. This does not include the prose.] Capi^rave, J'obn, 1394-1464. Augustinian friar, theologian, historian. (Edward IV., Hexry VI.) p De lUustrihus Hcnricis, ded. to Henry VI., in praise of 6 German Emperors and 6 Kings of England, named Ilenry): A Chronicle of England (ded. to Edward IV.) [Both are repr. and translated in the Rolls Series, 1858.] Carew (or Carey), Xady Elizabetb. Poetess. (James I.) d 1613, Tragcdie of Marian the fa ire Quecne of Jewry, a tedious poem in rhymed quatrains. [There are two ladies of this name; one, the mother (fl. 1590), to whom Spenser ded. his il/«/()/)o/TOOs; and the daughter, d. 1635. Probaljly the latter wrote this play.] Carew, Rlcbard, 1555-1620. Poet, translator, antiquary. (Eli/.ai!ET!i.) m Trans, of 5 cantos of Tasso's G(ydfrey of Bvlloigne, 1594. [The firf-t trans, from 'Jasso (soo Fairfax). Eepr. Grosart, Occns. Issues, 1881.] -fi A Survey of Cornwall, 1602, and a few other works. Carey, Henry, d. 1743. Musician, dramatist, song-writer. (George I., George II.) Over 200 works. The 3rd ed. of Pofws, 1729, included Sally in Our Alley (pr. eep. in 1715); and Namby nAXDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. 817 Paiiihy. God Save the King, first pr. in Harmonia Anglicana, 1742, has been ascribed to C. It was sung by him in 1740. [See W. Chappel's Popular Music in Olden Times, ii. 691, and Musical Times, 1879, March- August.] d. 1743. Dramatic works (7 plays). Carleton, 'William, 1794-1869. Irish novelist. (William IV., Victoria.) Twenty volumes, p Traits and Stories of Irish Peasantry, 1830-1833; Fardorougha the Miser, 1839, a powerful story. [' The truest, most powerful, and tenderest delineator of Irish life,' Quarterly Eevieiu, 1841. Autobiography, and 'Life' by D. J. O'Donoghue, 1896.] The works are being repr. 1896. Carruthers, Robert, LL.D., 1799-1878. Newspaper editor and miscellaneous writer. (Victoria.) p 1857 Life of Pope (whose works he edited, 1853) ; C. edited the 3rd ed. of Chambers' Cyclopedia of English Literature, 1876. Carte, Thomas, 1686-1754. Historian. (Geoege II.) p Life of James, Duke of Ormonde, 1736 (defending Charles I. in regard to the Irish rebellion); History of England, 1747-1755. Carter, Slizabetb, 1717-1806. Poetess and miscellaneous writer. (George II.) p Translation of Epictetus, 1758 (all the extant works), m Poems, 1762. [Her letters were published 1817.] Cartwrigbt, Tbomas, 1535-1603. Puritan divine. (Eliza- beth.) p A Second Admonition to Parliament, 1572. (This was part of a controversy with Arch. Whitgift, which led ultimately to Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity) ; An Admonition to the People of England, 1589. [Strype calls T. C. 'the head and most learned of that sect of dissenters then called puritans.'] Cary, Henry Francis, 1772-1844. Translator. (George III. to Victoria.) m Trans, of Dante. Inferno (Cantos i.-xvii.), 1805, to which the Purgatorio and Paradiso wore added, 1814. Also Sonnets and Odes, 1788, &c. p Early French Poets, 1846, with Introduction by his son. [' Life,' 2 vols., 1847, by his son.] Cavendish, Georg^e, 1500-1561? Biographer. (Maey.) Life of Cardinal Wolsey ; wr. 1554-1557, first pr. 1041. The pre- face to Prof. Morley's od. in the Universal Library gives a full history of the book. [C. was Wolsey's gentleman usher.] Centlivre, Susanna, 1607 ?-l 723. Actress and dramatist, (Axxe, Geoege I.) d 19 plays, 15 of which were acted, usually with success. Two are tragedies, the rest comedies or farces. The Busy Body, 1709 ; The Wonder ; or, A Woman Keeps a Secret, 1714 ; A Bold Stroke for a Wife, 1718. (This contains the character of the Quaker 'Simon Pure.') [' Works,' 1761, repr. 1872.] Chalkl^ill, Tohn, xvi, Sc xvii. cent, Poet. (Elizabeth.) m 318 HANDBOOK OP EXOLISH LITERATURE. Thcalma and Clcarchus, a Tasioral History in smooth aud cade verse, pr. in 1683 by Izaak Walton, who calls C. 'an Acqxiaintant and I'riend of Edward Spencer ' {sic). [C. has l)oen credited -with Alcilia PhilopariJici'.s Louing FoUic, repr. 1879 hy Grosart, -who shows it is not his.] Chamberlayne, "William, 1619-1689, Physician, poet. (Commonwealth.) d Loves Victory, a tragi-comedy, 1658. m Fharonnida, an HeroicJc j^oem, 1 659. Five books of fonr cantos cacli in rliymed heroics, repr. 1 820. [Sonthey calls Ch. * a poet to whom 1 am indebted for many hours of delight.'] Chambers, Robert, 1802-1871. Publisher and writer of educational works. (George IV. to Victokia.) p 1844, Vesdgts of Crcafioii, an exposition of the theory of development which made much stir. [Repr. in Prof. Morley's Universal Lib.] Seven vols, of Selections {rom. Ch.'s works were pr. 1847. ['Memoir' of R. and W. Chambers. 12th ed., 1883.] Cherry, Andrew, 1762-1812. Actor, dramatist. (GeorgeIII.) d Ten dramatic works, sketches, comedy, &c. m 77ie Bay of Biscay, ! is one of Cherry's songs. Chester, Robert, 1566 ?-1640 ? Poet. (Elizaheth, James I.) m Love's Martyr ; or, liosnlins Complaint, 1601 ; reissued 1611 as TLc Annals {sic) of Great Brittaine. [' Poems,' ed. Grosart, 1878.] Chesterfield, Earl of (Philip Dormer Stanhope), 1694-1773. (George III.) p Letters to his Son, 1774 ; Economy of human life, pr. anon., and formerly attrib. to R. Dodslcy (see Notes and Queries, Series I. x. 318). Chettle, Henry, 1564-(1565?)-1607 ? Dramatist and prose wi'iter. (Elizabeth.) d Five plays remain (out of 52 men- tioned in Henlowe's Diary). Hoffman, 1631 (repr. 1852) ; Tho Boivvfall and the Death of Boh. E. of Huntingdon, 1601 (both in Hazlitt's Dodslcy, viii.) ; Tatient Gressil, 1603 (repr. by Shak. Soc. 1841, and in Grosart's cd. of Dekker) ; Blind Beggar of Bednal Green, 1659 (ropr. in Uullcn's cd. of Day), p Kind-Harts Drcame [1595] and Englandcs Mourning Garment,* 1603, are in the Now Shak. Soc.'s Shahsperc AlUision Books, pt. i. Child, Sir Josiah, 1630-1699. Writer on Trade. (CnARi,E.sII.) p Brief Observations concerning Trade, ^r., 1668 (afterwards called A New Discourse of Trade). » Tliis includes a wfU-known rcforencc to Shakespeare. Chettle, in npology for tho worils of Ori-enc (sk p. 03, s. 40), says, ' My selfe have scene his demeanor no lessc civill, than he oxelciit in the qualities lie professes; besides, divers of worr^hip have reiiortrd his uprightncs of dealinp, which argues his honesty, and hia facetious (i.e. felicitous) grace in writting, that nprooves hla art.' HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. 319 Charchyard, Thomas, 1520 ?-I604. Miscellaneous prose and verse writer. (Elizabeth.) m Shores Wife in the 1563 ed. of the 'Mirror for Magistrates.' C. -was fond of alliterative titles. Churchyards Chippcs, 1575; Churchyards Chance, 1580; Church- yards Challenge, 1593, etc. His most valuable -work, The Worthines of Wales, 1587, M-as repr, by the Spenser Soc, 1871. [Hazlitt's Handbook gives 60 numbers under Ch.'s name.] Chute, Anthony, d. 1595? Poet. (Elizabeth.) m Beaiotie dishonoured, written under the title of Shores Wife, 1593. 197 6-line stanzas. [Cephalvs and Procris, 1595, assigned to Clmte, is by Thomas Edward. See 'Eoxburghe Club ' reprint 1882.] Clarke, Dr. Samuel, 1675-1729. Divine and metaphysician. (William III. to George I.) p Boyle lectures, 1704; Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, 1712 ; Sermons, 1724. [After Locke's death, 1704, CI. -was for a quarter of a century considered the first living metaphysician.] Cokain (or Cokayne), Sir Aston, 1608-1684. Dramatist and verse writer. (CoiiMONWEALTn.) d Three plays, m Small poems of divers sorts, 1658. [These, like the plays, are of no merit, but are of great interest for the almost unparalleled number of references to contemporary persons and events.] Colton, Charles Caleb, 1780?-1832. (George III., George IV.) p Lacon, or many Things in few Words, 1820 (6 ed. by 1821) ; vol. ii. 1822. (A collection of aphorisms of a telling kind.) Other unimportant works. Columha, St., 521-597. (Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Period.) Dr. Reeves' ed. of Adamnan's Lifeof St. Columha, 1857, abounds with information as to C.'s times and the works attributed to him. Combe, George, 1788-1858. Phrenologist. (George III. to Victoria.) p Essays on Phrenology, 1819, followed by other works on the subject ; The Constitution of Ma?}., 1828 (2,500 copies a year sold for a long time). [' Life ' by Charles Gibbon. 2 vols. 1878; valuable.] Conlng;ton, John, 1825-1869. Classical scholar and tran.slator. (Victoria.) m Odes of Horace, 1863 ; Horace's Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica, 1870 ; Vergil in Scott's ballad metre, 1866; completion of Worsley's trans, of the Iliad, 1868 (bks. xiii.-xxiv. in Spenser's stanza). Miscellaneous tcritings 1872, with 'Memoir.' Constable, Henry, 1562-1613. Sonnet writer. (Elizabeth.) tn Diana, The praises of his Mistrcs, in certaine sweete sonnets, 1592 (23 sonnets); Diana . . , Augmented, 1594 (76 sonnets; only 27 are signed II.C. ; 8 are by Sidney, others by unknown writers). 320 HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. [Repr. in Arbor's Eng. Garner, ii. ; 'Poems,' ed. W. C. Hiizlltt, 18.39. with fiiiilty introduction.] Cooper, Thomas, 1517?-1594. Bishop of Winchester. (Edward VI. to Elizabeth.) p An Admonition to the People of EngJand, lo89. [This was the first of 15 pamphlets on the Bishops side during the famous ' Martin Marprolate ' controversy. Repr. in Arbor's Sclwlars' Library, No. 15.] Also other controversial and linguistic works. Corbet, Richard, 1582-1635. Bishop of Oxford and Norwich. (James I., Chakles I.) m Certain Elegant Poems, 1647; some of these were repr. 1648 as Poctica Stromata; p Journey to France^ 1613. [The poems are in Chalmers' Poets, v.] Coryat, Thomas, 1577P-1617. Traveller. (James I.) p Coryats Crudities, 1011, an account of five months' travel (May 14- Oct. 3 1608) in Fr.ance, Italy, &c. lie journeyed 1,975 miles, chiefly on foot, and visited 45 cities. The work long remained the only handbook for foreign travel. Two appendices, Coryats Crambc and The Odcomhian Banquet, were also issued, ICll. Cotton, Dl'atha.xilel, 1705-1788. Physician and verse writer. (George II., George III.) va. Visions in Verse, 1751 (an attempt to moralise Gay's Fables). [Cowper during his loss of reason stayed with Cotton at St. Alban's from Dec. 1763-June 1765; and C. attended Young, of Night Thoughts fame, on his deathbed.] Coverdale, Miles, 1488-15G8. Bible translator. (Henry VIII. to Elizabeth.) The Parker Soc, 1844-1846, issued two vols., i. Writings and Translations (6 works); ii. Remains (10 works). Coxe, William, 1747-1828. Historian. Archdeacon of Wilts. (GEOKfiE III., George IV.) p Memoirs of Sir E. Walpole, 1798 ; of Marlborough, 1818-1819; Hist, of the House of Austria {from 1218-1792), 1807 ; and about 11 other minor works. Cranmcr, Thomas, 1489-1556. Archbishop of Canterbury. (Henry VIII., Edward VI.) liemains, 1833, 4 vols. Select Works, Parker Soc. 1844-1846, 2 vols. 'Life' by J. Strype (repr. Clar. Press 1821); H. J. Todd, 1831 ; C. W. Le Bas, 1832; Dean Hook's Lives of Archbishops of Canterbury, vol. vi. p. 422 ad fin. and vii. in tola. Crawford, Robert, c/Vcrt 1G90-1733. Songwriter. (Georob I., George II.) m C. contributed to Allan Ramsay's Tea-table Mis- cellany, and wrote tlie ballads of 'Jweedside and The Bush aboon Trafjuair. [Most of his songs are in Johnson's Musical Muscian.] Creech, Rev. Thomas, 1659-1700. Translator. (Charles II. to William and Mary.) m Trans, of Lucretius, 1682 (given Hasdecok oi? EXGLisn literature. 32l in Anr^erson's Poets, vol. xiii. This vied for a time with Dryden'a Virgil and Pope's Homer) ; Trans, of Horace, 1681; others of Ovid, Plutarcli, Theocritus, Juvenal, Cornelius Nepos, &c. Croker, John "Wilson, 1780-1851. Politician and essayist. (George III, to Victokia.) p Eeviews, &c., chiefly in the Quarterly, C.'s edition of Bos^vell's Johnson was reviewed by IVIacaulay. ['Life,' 3 vols. 188-1. L.J.Jennings.] Croker, Thomas Crofton, 1798-1854. Irish antiquary, (George IV. to Victoria.) p Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, series i. 1825, ii. 1827 (several times repr., last ed. 1882). Several other works. Croly, Rev. G-eorg-e, 1780-18G0. Divine and miscellaneous author. (George IV. to Victoria.) p Salathiel, a romance, 1829. m Poems, 1830. Many works on theology, &c. Crowne, John, ^. 1703 Dramatist. (Charles II. to William III.) d Two parts of The Destruction of Jerusalem, in heroic verse, 1677 (extraordinarily successful). Sir Courtly Nice, 1685, in prose ; his most popular play (it kept the stage for 100 years) ; City Politiques, 1688 (the date of this has also been given as 1675). [Dramatic works, 4 vols., 1872 &c.] Cumberland, Richard, 1631-1718. Writer on Jewish anti- quities and speculative philosophy. (Chaeles II. to George I.) p Be Legibus iiaturcB Disquisitio Philosophica, 1672 (one of the books called forth by Hobbes' Leviathan, 1651). Cuuningrham, Allan, 1784-1842. Art biographer. (Vic- toria.) p Lives of the most eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, 1829-1S33, 6 vols.; Life of Wilkie, 1843 (pos- thumous). Also other works, including verse. [' Life,' 1875.] Cunningham, Peter, 1816-1869. TopograjDher and critic. (Victoria ) p Handbook of London, 1849, enlarged by Wheatley, 1£91 ; and many critical, biographical, and antiquarian works. la 1857 he edited AValpole's Letters. Darley, Ceorg^e, 1795-1846. Poet, mathematician, critic. (Victoria.) m Errors of Ecsiacie, 1822 (a blank verse dialogue between a mystic and a muse) ; Sylvia, or the May Queen, 1827 (a lyrical drama). Several tragedies and mathematical works. [D. edited ' lleaumont and Fletcher' with a good Introduction in 1840.] Davenport, Robert, 11. 1623. Poet and dramatist. (CiiarlesI.) d I'he City Night-cap, 1661 (licensed as early as 1624). Eepr. llazlitt's Dodslcy, xiii., with a list of D.'s other works on p. 101. Bavics, Jcl:n, of Uercford. 15G5?-1618. Poet and writin" 322 HANDBOOK OF EXGLISH LITERATURE. teacher. (Elizabeth, James I.) m Twelve volumes of verse, from Mimm in Moditm, 1602, to Witi^ B dlam, 1617. [All were repr. by Grosart in 1878, 2 vols.] p WriUiij Schoolmaster, 1 63!i (prac- tical directions, and engraved specimens of handwriting.) Davis, Jobn, cirea 1550-1605. Navigator. (EuziBExn.) His accounts of three voyages in 1585-1587 for the discovery of a N.W. passage, and other works, wore carefully edited for the Halduyt Soc. by Capt. A. H. Markham, in 1880, with a critical, biographical, and bibliographical introduction. [D. discovered Davis' Straits.] Davison, Francis, 1575-1618. Poot and Miscellany editor. (Elizahetu.) m a Poetical liapsody, 1602, repr. 1608,1611 (in both cases with additions), and in 1621 (newly arranged). Collier included it in his Seven Eng. Miscellanies, 1867, and in 1890 A. 11. BuUen edited it in 2 vols. It is the most poetic of the Elizabethan Miscellanies, and contained poems by Constable, Davies, Donne, Raleigh, Sidney, Spenser, Wotton, the two Davisons, and others. Day, 7obn, fl. 160G. Dramatist. (James I.) d 4 plays wr. alone: The Isle of Guls, 1G06 ; The rarliament of Bees, 1641, and two others. The Travailles of the Three English Brothers, 1607 (with "W. Rowley), and The Blind Beggar of Bediial Green, 1659 (with H. Chettle). The Maydes Metamorphosis, IGOO, has been attributed to him by Mr. Edmund Gosse. ['Works,' 1881, ed. A. H. Bullen. Many of his plays are lost.] Day, Thomas, 1748-1789. Eccentric. (Georoe III.) p Sandford and Merton, 1783-1789 ; and other works. [A 'Life' of this odd man, by Blackman, appeared in 1862.] De Xiolmo, 7obn Xiouls, 1740?-1807. Constitutional writer. (George III.) p The Constitution of Englaiul, 1775 (first pr. in French, 1771). Given in Bohn's Library, 1853. Also other works. De Tablcy, Baron. See Warren, J. B. L. Dennis, Jobn, 1657-1734. Critic, dramatist, &c. (Wiluam III. to George II.) Miscellanies in prose and verse, 1693. d A Blot no Pliit,n comedy, 1697; liinaldo and Armida, a tragpdy, 1699; Iphigcnia, a tragedy, 1702. p Various critical and other ■works, e.g., 1711, Three Letters on the genius and writings of Shakespeare. [Southey said that ' Dennis' critical pampldets de- serve rrpuM leal ion.'] Deutscb, Emmanuel Oscar IVIonabcm, 1829-1873. Semitic fccholar. (Victoria.) p A famous article on the Talmud, 1867, in the Quarterly; another on Mam, 1869 (less striking). [' Literary Remains ' and ' Life,' 187 I, by Lady Strangford.] HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. 323 Sibdin, Charles, 174-5-1814. Dramatist and song -uritci'. (GEonGElII.) p Autohiography, with the Words of 600 Songs, 18^3. D. wrote nearly 70 dramatic pieces, and claimed nearly 900 songs. ITis sea songs are his best. He arranged Iiis own music. Sickenson, Tolin, 11. 1594. Romance -nriter and poet. (Elizabetu.) The Shcpheardes Complaint [1594 circa], a prose story, verse interspersed ; Arisbas, Euphues ainidst Ins slumbers (prose and verse), 1591; Greene in Conceipt, 1598. ['Works' ed. Grosart, Occas. Issues, 1878.] Disraeli, Isaac, 1766-1848. Liter.iry historian. (George III. to Victoria.) p Curiosities of Literature, 6 vols., 1791-1834 ; Literary Character, 1795; Calamities of Authors, 1812-1813; Quarrels of Anthors, 1814. Several romances, a Life and Reign of Charles L, 1828-1831, and other works, [Biographical sketch Ly his son, hefore the 1849 ed. of the Curiosities.] Dobell, Sydney Thompson, 1824-1874. Poet and critic. (Victoria.) m The lioman, a dramatic poem, 1850 ; Balder, 1854 ; Sonnets on the Crimean AVar, 1856 (with Alex. Smith); England in time of War, 1856. [Poems, 1875, 2 vols. ; Prose, 1876 ; Life and Letters, 1878, 2 vols.] Doddridere, Philip, D.D., 1702-1751. Nonconformist divine, (George III.) p Bise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, 1745 (translated into many languages), and many other works. [Works, 10 vols., 1802-1805, repr. 1811 ; Correspoiidence and Piary, 1829-31, 5 vols. ; ' Life,' 1880, by C. Stanford.] Sodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. Poet, dramatist, publisher. (George II., George III.) p m and d Miscellanies, D, started the still existing Annual Register (see p. 149), issued a Select Collection of old Plays, 1744 (last edition ed. Hazlitt, 1874, 15 vols.); and a Collection of Poems by several hands, 1748; often repr. and added to. [Anderson's Poets, vol. xi., contains D.'s poems.] Srant, Thomas, d. 1580. Poet, translator, divine. (Eliza- beth.) m A Medicinahle Morall, 1560 (2 books of Horace's Satires in English verse, followed by The Wailyngs of the prophet Hieremiah, in verse) ; Horace his arte of Poetrie, Pistles, and Satyrs Englished, 1567, and other works. [Athena Cantabrigienses, i. 384-0, gives a good account.] Bugrdale, Sir -William, 1605-168G. Antiquary, Garter King- of-Arms. (Commoxwk.vlth.) p Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. i., 1655; ii., 1061 ; iii., 1673 (an account of the Abbey.s, Monasterios, Cathedrals, and Collegiate Churches) ; Antiiuiiies of Warwichshire, T2 .^24 liANDBOOit OP EifGtlSH LtTERATtRi:. 1656 (the model for many country histories); Jlie Baronage of England, 1675-1676, and other works. B'Urfey, Thomas, 1653-1723. Poet, dramatist. (Charles II. to Geoegk I.) m Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to Purge Mdancholg. Eallads, sonnets, 1684-1720. d 29 plays. Dyer, Sir Edward, 1510-1607. Poet. (Elizabeth.") Grosart collected D.'s "Works, 1S72. There are 13 poems (inchiding il/y onynde to mc a Icyngdome is, first pr., Avith music, 1588), and thn prose Praysc of NotJdng (an imitation of Erasmus' Praise of Folly). Sixe Idillia, which Collier ascribed to Dyer, are only dedicated- to him. [Repr. privately in 1883 by Eev. H. C. Daniel, andin Arber's Eiig. Garner, vol. viii., 1896.] Sdwards, Rlcbard, 1523 ?-1666. Poet, musician, playwright. (Elizabeth.) in The Paradyse of Daynty I)eiiise.% our second and most popular Elizabethan miscellany (eight editions up to 1600), 124 poems, E. E. being editor and chief contributor. Repr. in Collier's Seven Eng. Miscellanies, 1867. d Bamon and Pithias, 1571 (repr. in Hazlitt's Dodsley, i.); Palemon and Arcyte, a tragi-comedy acted 1566, is lost. Edwards, Thomas, 1599-1647. Puritan divine. (Charles I.) p GangrcBna; or, a Catalogue and Discovery of many Errours, Heresies, Blasphemies, and ijcrnicioiis Practices of the Sectaries of this Time, 1646. [This, directed against the Independents, made a great sensation; a number of replies were issued, so that E. ■wrote second and third parts. Sec JMilton's Sonnet On the iWjo Forcers of Conscience. ] Elliot, Jane (or Jean) of Mlnto, 1727-1805. Poetess. (George II., George III.) Her solo poem is the exquisite ballad The Lament for Flodden, usually called from its refrain, The Flourrs of the Forest are a' wcde away, written when 28. [Alice Ruther- ford (Mrs. Cockburn, 1712-94), also wrote a sons:, two verses of which have a similar refrain ; but its subject is ' fickle Fortune,' not Plodden field. Sec Jas. Veitch's History and Poetry of the Scottish Border. ] Elliott, Ebenczcr, 1781-1849. Tlio 'Corn-law rhymer.' (George III, to Victoria.) m Corn-law rhymes, 1831 ; Carlyle has an • Essay ' on these. ['Works' in prose and verse, 1876; 'Life and Letters,' 1850, J. "Watkins; Memoir, 1852, J. Searlo.] Ellwood, Thomas, 1639-1713. Quaker, and friend of Milton. (Charles II. to Anne.) p 77^e History of the Life of Thomas Ellwood, written hy his own hand, 17Hi and about 25 other -vrorks. HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. o'lo [This intensely interesting ' History,' -with its reference to Milton (see p. 87), is accessible in Prof. Jlorley's Universal Library. See also TJie Penns and rcnningtons, 186", Maria Webb.] Erceldoune, TUomas of, fl. 1220?-1297? Scotch seer and poet, m Sir Tristrcm, a metrical romance, first pr. (incori-ectly) by Sir W. Scott, 1804. Accurate ed. 1886, for Scottish Text Sac, with Introduction, &c., by Gr. P. McNeill, who still attributes the poem to Erceldoune. Kolbing's ed. (Heilbronn, 1882) is excellent and cri- tical; he, like most others, does not accept E. as author. [See also Dr. J. A. H. Murray's Introd. to E.'s Eomance and Prophecies, Early Eng. Text. Soc. 1875.] Erskine, Rev. Ebenezer, 1680-1754. Founder, with his brother Ealph, of the Scottish Secession Chui-ch. (George II.) Works, 1799 and 1826, with ' Memoir ; ' these are chiefly sermons pr. from 1725 onwards. Erskine, Rev. Ralpta, 1685-1752. Seceding divine and poet (George II.) m Gospel Sonnets, 1726 (first called Gospel Canticles 1720) ; 24 ed. up to 1793 ; repr. 1870. Also other religious poetry and Sermons. [Works, 1764-1765, with Memoir; last ed. 1863, 7 vols.] Faber, Frederick 'William, 1814-1863. Superior of the London Oratory. (Victoria.) p m Numerous religious works, poems, and hymns, including the Pilgrims of the Night. [' Life,' by J. E. Bowden, 1869, repr. 1888.] Fabyan, Robert, d. 1513. Chronicler. (Henry VIII.) p The New Chronicles of England and France, 1516; extending to the battle of Bosworth, 1485; 2nd ed., 1533, was continued to Henry VII.'s death (possibly F.'s own M-ork) ; 4th ed. 1559, continued by another hand to 1559. [Historically of slight value, except for some details of London, where F. lived as a tailor. Eepr. 1811 by Sirlly. Ellis.] Fairfax, Edward, c?. 1635. Poet and translator. (Elizabeth, James I.) m A trans, of Godfrey of BiiUoigne ; or, The Recoveiie of Jerusalem (our first complete trans, of Tasso, see Carew) ; 12 Eclogues (10 lost), p A discoi/rse of Witclicraft, wr. 1621, pr. 1859. Fansbawe, Sir Richard, 1608-1666. Diplomatist and trans- lator. (Chari.es I. to Charles II.) m. Trans of Gnarini's Pastor Fido, 1648; Horace's Odes, 1652; Camoens' Z?(sia(Z, 165.5, d Trans. of two plays of Don Antonio de Mendoza, Querer por solo qiterer, Love only for Loi.c's salr, 1654; and Fiestas de Aranjue::, 1671. [Interesting memoir by Lady F., first pr. 1829, ed. Sir H. Nicholas.] 326 HANDBOOK OF EXGLISII LITEKATUHE. Farmer, Dr. Richard, 173o-1797. Master of Emmanuel Coll. Camb, (George HI.) p Essa?/ on the learnbig of Shakespeare, 1767; to show that S.'s classical It-arning was gained socond-haud. [His only published work ; ropr. inEoswcU's Varionini Shakespeare, 1821, vol ',.) Ferg^u^ion, Adam, 1723-1816. Prof, of Philosophy at Edin- burgh. (Geokge 111.) p Hisiorij of the Ixoman Republic, 1783 (of no permanent value) ; Principles of Moral and Political Science, 1792. Ferrler, Susan Sdmonstone, 1782-1854. Novelist. (Georub III., William IV.) p Three novels; Marriage, 1818 ; Tlie Inherit- ance, 1821; Destiny, 1831. These deal chiefly with upper class Scotch society. [Pepr., 6 vols., 1882 and 1894.] FieldjITathaniel, 1587-1633. Actor and dramatist. (JamesI.) d Three plays survive ; A Woman is a Weathercock, 1612; Amends for Ladies, 1618 (both these comedies are in Ilazlitt's Bodsley, xi.); The Fatal Dowry, a, tragedy, 1632 (wr. with Massinger, and repr. in his works). Fllmer, Sir Robert, d. 1653. Political M-riter. (CiunLES I.) p Patriarcha ; or. The Natural Power of the Kings of England asserted, first pr. 1680, to help the Court party. [It defends the patriarchal system, as against Ilobbes' ' social compact ; ' Locke's 2'wo Treatises of Government, 1690, opposed it, the first being a direct reply.] Also other works. Fisiier, Edward, 11. 1627-1655. Tiieologian, (Chaki.es I., CoMMOJi WEALTH.) F. has been identified with the 'E. F.' who wrote the Marrow of Modern Divinity, 1645, which, eighty years later, gave rise to the ' Marrow' controversy (see T. Uostou), but internal evidence is said not to support this. Fisher, John, 1450?-1535. Cardinal Pishop of Rocliester. (IIenuy \ll., IIexhy Vlll.) The Early English Text Soc. hits issued one vol. of English ' Works' (ed. I'rof. J. E. B. Mayor), and a Life and Letters is to bo edited by Pev. Konald Bayno. 'Life,' by T. E. I5ridgolt, 1888. F.'s Latin theological works were pr. 1597 at Wiirzburg. FltzGeffrey, Charles, 1575 ?-l 638. Poet and divine. (Eliza- liETii to CuAELES I.) Orosart in Occas. Issues, 1881, collected bis poems. Fletcher, Andrew, of Saltoun (now Salton), 1655-1716. Political writer. (James I. to Anne.) Political Works collected 1737. [Full account in Dictionaiy of National Biography.'] Fletcher, Giles, LT,.T).. 15I9?-1G11. Poet and ambassador. HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 327 (Elizabeth.) m Licia; or, Focmcs of Love (repr. by Grosart 1876); and some Latin poems, p Of the Eusse Common Wealth, 1591 ; and an Essay . . that the Tartars . . are the Posterity of the Ten Tribes of Israel, pr. 1677. Florence of Worcester, t^. 1118. Chronicler. (IIexry I.) p A Latin Chronicle from the creation till 1117. [Ed. by B. Thorpe for the Eng. Historical Soc, 1849 ; Bohn's Hist. Library contains a translation ; also J. Stevenson's Church Historians, vol. ii., 1853.] Fordun, John, d. 1384? Scotch chronicler. (Ed-«-aed IIL) p Chronica Gentis Scotorum; and GcstaAnncdia. Upon these Walter Bower {d. 1449) based Bks. i.-v. out of the sixteen composing his Scotichronicon, \_Sce W. F. Skene's ed. of Fordun, Edin. 1871- 1872; vol. i. gives information as to MSS. and the relations of Fordun and Bower.] Foster, John, 1770-1843. Essayist, (Victoria.) p Essays, 1 805 (four in number, one being on Decision of Character) ; contri- butions to the E'c/fdic i?ewew, 1806-1839 (184 articles, a number being repr. in 2 vols , 1844) ; Essay on The Evils of Topular Jynorance, 1820. [' Life," ed. J. E. Eyland, 1846.] Foxe, John, 1516-1587. Martyrologist. (Mary, Elizabeth.) p Acts and Monuments of these latter and perilous Dayes, ^c, usually called the Book of Martyrs. Latin editions 1554, 1559, 1562 ; this last appearing on the same day as the first English edition, 1562. Often repr. (hist ed. 1877, ed. Dr. Stoiighton) and abridged. F. produced some 25 works, among them d Christus Triumphans, a Latin mystery play, formerly used as a school book on account of its btyle. Fraunce, Abraham, fl. 1587-1633. Hexameter poet. (Eliza- beth.) m 27(6 Lamentations of Amintas, 1587 (Thos. "Watson's Amyntas in English, sec Watson) ; The Coiintessc of Tenibrokes Yuychurch, 1591 ; her Emanuell, 1591 ; and a Third Part . . . cntituled Amintas Bale, 1592, all in hexameter (with some prose). p Three works. [F.'s verse is an extreme example of the ' reformed versifying' in which Gabriel Harvey (see p. 53) was a leader. See also Spenser's letters to Harvey. Globe ' Spenser,' pp. 706-10.] Gager, -WlUlam, 11. 1580-1619. Latin dramatist. (Eliza- beth, James L) d Mclcagcr and Ulysses liedux, 1592 ; and much Latin verse. Portions of other plays remain in MS. Gale, Theophilus, 1628-1678. Nonconformist tutor and divine, (Chari.es 1L) p The Court of the Gcniilcs, in 4 parts, 1669- 1677 ; ill this all European languages are traced to Hebrew, and all. S28 nAXDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Bcience, pLiloiopliy, and ancient literature to Ilebrew tradition! Also theological -works. Ceofifrey the Grammarian {alias Starkey), fl. 1440. (Henry VI.) p Tromi^toriuni Parvulorum, an Englisb-Latin dictionary first pr. 1499, by Pyiison, and edited for the Camden Soc, 1843-1853, by Albert Way. It is of great value as an authentic record of 15th century East-Anglian. McdxiUa Grammaticc, a Latin- English dictionary, is -with probability assigned to G. Cifford, Humpbrey, fl. 1580. Poet. (Ei.izabeth.) m A Tosic of GiUoJlou-crs {sic), 1580; repr. by Grosart 1870 and 1875. Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 1539?-1583. Navigator. (Eliza- beth.) p A Bif course of a . . , new Passage to Cataia, 1576. The Erection of Q. Elizahcthcs Achadcmy . . . for education of . . , yoiitks . . . and gentlemen "was first pr. 1869 by Dr. Furnivall. Glldon, Charles, 1665-1724. Miscellaneous writer. (GeorgeI.) p Cuinplcte Art of Poetry, 1718 ; Latcs of Poetry, 1721. d Five Plays. Pope, •whom he attacked, put him in the Dunciad, bk. iii., and in the Prologue to the Satires, 1. 151 : — Yet then did Gildon draw his venal quill ; I wish'd the man a dinner, and sate still. Gillies, John, LL.D., 1747-1836. Historian and classical scholar. (Geoege III., George IV.) p History of Greece, 1786 (long popular), and other works. Clanville, aanulf de, d 1190. Chief Justiciar. (Henry II.) p Tractatus de Lcgibus ct Consuctudinihus liegni A7igliae. First pr. [n.d.] circa 1554. This is our first legal classic, and one of the first law treatises produced in North Europe. [Latest ed. in 'EoUs Series,' ed. Sir T. Twiss.] Glapthorne, Henry, fl. 1C39. Dramatist. (Charles I. Commonwealth.) m Poems, 1639. d Argalns and Parthenia, a pastoral tragedy, 1G39 ; Albertus Walknstein, a tragedy, 1639 ; The Ladies Privilcdge, a comedy, 1640; and other plays. ['Works,' consisting of Plays and Poems, 1874, 2 vols.] Glover, Richard, 1712-1785. Poet. (GeorgeII., George III.) xa Leonidas, 1737 ; an epic on the Persian -wars, 9 books, blank verse ; Athcniad, 1 787, 30 books ' much longer and far worse than " Leonidas," but no one lias been able to read either for a cen- tury ' (Leslie Stephen). His ballad, Hosier's Ghost, pr. 1740, was a party song after Admiral Vernon's taking of PortobcUo, 1739. Hosier had led an unfortunate expedition to tliis place in 1726, and died there. [Soo Percy's licliqucs, Series II., Bk. iii.. No. 25. The * Poems ' arc in Andevson's Pots, xi., and Clialmcrs', xvii.] nAXDCOOK OF EICGLISn LITERATURE. 329 Godwin, STancis, D.D., 1562-1G3.3. ELshop of Llandaff and Hereford. (Elizabeth to Chaeles I.) p TJie Man in the Moone, 1638; see p. 47. [Possibly Swift gained some ideas for Gulliver's voyage to Laputa from this.] Numerous other works. Coogre, Barnabe, 1540-159i. Poet and translator. (Eliza- beth.) m Eglogs, Efytajjilies and Sonnets, 1563. (Eepr. in Arber's Reprints, 1871); and various translations, e.g. the Zodiacns VitcB of ' the most Christian poet Mareellus Palingenius,' 1560-156.} ; the Popish Kijigdome, 1570 (repr. 1880)of Thos. Naogeorgus (i.e.Kirch- mayer) ; and two others. Grabaine,Sev. James, 1765-1811. Scotch poet. (GeorgbIII.) m The Sabbath, 1804 (much admired by Scott; and by Prof. Wilson in the Nodes Ambrosiance). Also Wallace, a tragedy; and Mary, Queen of Scots, a dramatic poem, 1801. Grang-er, James, 1723-1776. Biographer and print collector. (George III.) p Iliographical Hidory of England from Egbert to the Eevulution, 1769. As this work referred to various portraits, several illustrative supplements were issued. Gray, David, 1838-1861. Scotch poet. (Victoria.) m The Ltiggie, and other focms, 1862, with a Life by J. Hedderwick. En- larged ed. 1874. [Essay by E. Buclianan, 1868. 'Letters, poems and selected prose.' 2 vols. Buffalo, U.S.A. 1888.] Grey, Arthur, 1536-1593. Statesman. (Elizabeth.) p A Commentary of the Services and Charges of William Lord Grry de Wilton. Incorporated iu Ilolinshcd's Chronicle. Eepr. by Camdon Sec, 1847. GrifiSn, Bartliolomew, d. 1602. Poet. (Elizabeth.) m Fidessa, more chaste then kindc (62 sonnets), 1596. Eepr. Grosart, Occas. Issues, 1876. Grove, IVZattbew, H. 1587. Poet. (Elizabeth.) m The most famovs and tragicall Historie of Telops and Hippodamia, 1587. Eepr. Grosart, Occas. Issues, 1878. Guest (Giieast or Geste), Sdmund, 1518-1577. Bishop of Salisbury. (Elizabt-h'!!,) m Trans, of the Psalms iov t\\c ''B\sho^s' Bible,' 1568 (still in use in the Prayer Book). [' Life,' 1840, by Henry Gheast Dngdale.] Gullpin, Sdward, fl. 1598. Poet. (Elizabeth.) ra S/da- Isihcia, or a Shadowe of Truth, in certaine Epigrams (70), and Safyres (7). Eepr. Grosart, Occas. Issues, 1 878. Gutbrle, Tbomas, D.D., 1803-1873. Scottish preacher aud philanthropist. (Victokia.) p The Gospel of EzeJciel (sermons), and many other works. The Plea for Ragged Schools, 1847 (11 ed. 330 IIAXDBOOK OF EXGLISU LITERATURE. that year), IcJ to establishing the 'Original Eaggcd Schools' in Edinburgh, and of others all over Europe. [Autobiography and memoir, 1874.] Halles, David Balrymple, Xord, 172G-1792. Historian. (Geougk in.) p Annals of Scoihuid (105G-1370), 1776-1779, &c. Hake, Edward, fl. 1579. Satirist. (Eliz.vbkth.) m ^'ewcs out of Powles Churchyarde wherein is reprcoued excessive and vnlauftdl seekinrilliam, of Gilbertfield, 1665?-1701. Scottish poet. (George I.) m Contributions to Allan Ramsay's Tca-talle Miscellany. His Bonny HecJc (an elegj' on his dog), was first pr. in 1706. Willie was a Wanton Way is his best-known piece. [He modernised Blind Harry's Wallace, 1722.] Hamilton, "William, of Bangour, 1704-1754. Scottish poet. (George II.) xn Poe7ns, 1749 (unauthorised ed.). H. wrote what "Wordsworth justly called the ' exquisite ballad,' the Braes of Yarrow, Hardyng:, Jobn, 1378-1465? Chronicler. (Henry VI.) m A doggerel metrical Chronicle of England, in 7-liue stanzas, of no literary merit. Pr. 1543 by R. Grafton (see p. 74), who continued it up to date in prose. (The verse extends from tho earliest times till 1461.) [Repr. 1812, ed. SirHy. Ellis.] Hare, Aug-ustus "William, 1792-1834. Divine. (George IV., William IV.) p Guesses at Truth, 1827 (with his brother Julius) ; The Alton Sermons, 1837. Hare, Julius Cbarles, 1795-1855. Archdeacon of Lewes. (George IV. to Victoria.) {See A. W. Hare.) p Life of John Sterling, 1848. [Sterling was Hare's curate at Hurstmonceux, and Hare's 'Life' called forth that of Carlyle.] Harington, Sir John, 1561-1612. Translator, satirist, &c. (Elizabeth, James I.) m Orlando Furioso, 1591 (from Ariosto); Epiyrammes, 1613, p The Metamorphosis of AJa.v, and three other connected satirical pamphlets, 1596 (all repr. 1814). The Nuyce Antique, 1769-1775 (repr. 1804), contains miscellaneous verse and prose. Also other works. Barman, Thomas, il. 1567. Writer on beggars. (ELizAnETH.) p A Caitcat or Wareniny for commeii Cvrsetors, vidyarely called Vayahones, 1566 or 1567. [24 essays on various kinds of thieves and tramps, &:c. Repr. 1880, New Shale. Soc.'] Harris, James, 1709-1780. (Geokge II., George III.) p 332 HAXDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. Hermes, or a Philosophical Inqiiiiy conccrnivg Universal Grammar, 1751 ; and three other works. [' Works,' last ed. 1841.] Harrison, ^KriUiam, 1534-1593. Topographer, chrouologer, historian. (Elizahetii.) p A Description of England mY\.o\m^\\G^'s Chronicle, loll. [Dr. Funiivairs edition of Bks. ii. and iii. has valuable notes.] Hartley, Savid, 1705-1757. riiilosophor. (Georgk II.) p Observations on Man, 1749. II. had much influence on later ethical thought. Coleridge speaks of 'Hartley of mortal kind wisest' (^Heligioiis Musings), and named his son Hartley Coleridge after him. Ilathway, Xbichard, fl. 1G02. Dramatist. (Elizabeth.) d The First Part of Sir John Old-Castle, twice pr. 1600; once anon., and once as by Shakespeare. Ilenslowe's 'Diary ' mentions 14 other (lost) plays. Hawker, Rev. Kobert Stepben, 1803-1875. Poet and antiquary. (^William IV., Victoria.) m Becords of the fVcstern Shore, 1832-1836; Echoes from Old Cormvall, 1846; Quest of the Sangraal, 1864 (his best work) ; Cornish Ballads, 1869. ['Poetical Works,' 1879 ; Prose, 1893. Earing Gould has written a ' Life.'] Hawliesworth, John, LL.D., 1715? -1773. Miscellaneous writer. (George II., Georcje III.) p Trans, of Fenelons Tele- machus, 1768; Voijages of Byron, Wallis, Carteret and Coo /c, 1773 (inaccurate). See also p. 136. Hay ley, ■William, 1745-1820. Poet. (George III.) m Triuiuphs of Temper, 1781 (his most successful poem), p Life, Letters, and Works of Wtn. Couper {d. 1800), 1803. Hayward, Sir Jobn, 1564?-1627. Historian. (Elizabeth.) p The First Part of the IJfe and Faigne of King Henrie the HIT., 1599, and other historical and religious works. Henry, Z^attbew, 1GG2-1711. Nonconformist divine and com- mentator. (William III,, Anne.) p Commentary on the Bible (completed to the end of the Acts), 1708-1710, and other works. [This practical commentary is not yet superseded.] Herbert, Hon. & Bev. IVilllam, 1778-1847. Dean of Manchester. (George HI. to Victoulv.) m Jhlga, a poem in 7 cantos, 1815 ; Attila, an epic, 1838, kc. [' Works,' 3 vols., 1842.] Hervey, James, 1714-1758. Calvinistic divine and devotional writer. (George II.) p yZ/fTOM «;«/ yl^/wsw (a series of dialogues and letters inculcating imputed rigliteousness), 1755; Meditations and Contemplations, 1745-1717. (26 cd. by 1792; translated into many languages.) HAIsTiBOOK OP EXCLISn LITERATURE. 333 Sttervey, Orohn, Iiord, 1C96-1743. Writer of memoirs. (Geokge II.) p Valuable Memoirs of the Court of George II. and Queen Caroline, first pr. 1848 (repr. 3 vols. 1884), anti many other works. [Queeu Caroline used to call him 'her child, her pupil, her charge;' and Pope alludes to his royal favour in a savage attack in the Frologuc to the Satires, 11. 305-33 : Ete's tempter thus the Rabbins have e.^prest— A cherub's face, a reptile all the rest.] Heylin, Peter, 1600-1 6G2. Theologian and historian. (JamesI. to Chaeles II.) p Eccksia Vindicata, 1657; Ecclesia Bestawata, 1661 (justifying Laud's acts; repr. for Eccles, Hist. Sac. 1849); Cyprianus Anglicanus, 16C8 (a defence of Laud). These (and other) ■works are valuable for contemporary ecclesiastical histoiy. Heywood, Tasper, D.D., 1535-1598. Jesuit and poet. (Elizabeth.) d Trans, of Seneca's Troas, 1559; Thycstes, 1560; Hercules Furens, 1561. xn Eight poems in the Paradysc of Duyniy Deuises, 1576. Higrgins, John, circa 1545-1602. Poet and compiler. (Elizabeth.) m H. wrote The First Parte of the Mirrour for Magistrates, 1574, being 16 legends dealing with events before the Incarnation. {See Baldwin, whose edition of 1559 had dealt with events from 1388-1483 a.d.) Several other works. Hill, Aaron, 1685-1750. Poetaster and dramatist. (Anne to Georue II.) m Miscellaneous poems, d Seventeen plays. Pope's ambiguous compliment in the Dunciad (ii. 295-8), and Hill's rejoinder, alone preserve the latter from oblivion: Kext . . . tried : but hardly snatch'd from sight ; Instant buoys up, and rises into light ; lie bears no token of the sabler streams, And mounts far ofE among the ' swans of Thames.' Soadly, Senjamln, M.D., F.R.S., 1706-1757. Physician and dramatist. (George II.) d The Suspicious Husband, a successful prose comedy, 1747. H. aided Hogarth in the Analysis of Beauty, 1753. Also medic;il lectures. Hofland, Barbara, 1770-1844. Novelist. (George III. to Victoria.) p The Sou of a Genius, 181G, and other works chiefly of didactic fiction. nolcroft, Tbomas, 1745-1809. Dramatist, novelist, trans- lator, (George III.) Some forty works, p Anna St. Ives, 1 792, an.l other novels, d The lioad to Buin, 1792 (9 ed. in a year), and Cher plays. ['Memoir' by himself, last ed. 1852.] 33 I nANT)BOOK OP ENGLISH LTTEF.ATURn. Holyday, Barten, 1593-1061. Dramatist, franslalor, divine. (James I. to Charles II.) m Trans, of Pcrsiits, 161G ; Horace's Odes, 1G53 ; Jtivcnal, 1G73. d T(x^°y°-h'-''-<'- ', C'^'i The ]\[arriagcs of the Arts, 1618, a comedy in prose and verse (one of our longest plays). p Sermons, &c. Hook, VTalter Farqubar, 1798-1875. Dean of Chichester. (Victoria.) p R-cIcsiasiical Biograiihy, 1845-1852 (8 vols., the names of ' fathers and divines ' being arranged alphabetically) ; Lives of the Archbishops of Cantcrhuri/, 1860-1876 (12 vols., arranged clironologically) ; Church Dictionary, "[^il, 14th ed. 1887. [/.//e and Letters, by K. \V, Stephens, cheap cd. 1850.] Hope, Thomas, 1770 7-1831. Eomance writer and virtuoso. (George III., George IV.) p Costttme of the Ancients, 1809; Anastasius ; or. Memoirs of a Modern Greek, 1819, a romance, attributed at first to Eyron, who (it is said) wept bitterly on reading it, ' for two reasons : one, that ho had not written it ; and the other, that Hope had.' Home, George, 1730-1792, Bishop of Norwich. (George III.) p Commentary on the Psalms, 1771 (twenty years' labour), and other works. Works and Jlcmoir, 6 vols. 1799. Horsley, Samuel, D.D., 1733-1806. Bishop of St. Asaph. (George III.) p Tran.s. of Hosca, 1801 ; and of The Book of Psalms, 1815. Also various theological and scientific works. Howard, Xiieut. Edward, d. 1841. Marine novelist. (William IV., Victoria.) p Rattlin the liecfer, 1836; Tlie Old Commodore, 1837, and five or six other works. Howe, John, 1630-1705. Nonconformist divine. (Commov- WE.\.LTii to Anne.) p Sermons and theological works. [Howe was Cromwell's domestic chaplain. There are various ' Lives,' the latest being that \,y R. F. Ilorton, D.D., 1895.] Howell, Thomas, fl. 1568-1581. Poet. (Eliz.vbetii.) m The Arbor of Amitie, 1568 ; Nen-e Sonets and pretie Pamphlets [n.d.], 15C8 ; Howell His Denises, 1581. [Poems repr. by Grosart, Occas. Issues, 1879.] Howltt, Mary, 1799-1888. Mi.scellaneous writer. (Geohge IV. to Victoria.) p m Over 40 works. ['Mary Hewitt, an Auto- biography,' 1880. Kepr. 1891.] Howitt, "William, 1792-1879. Miscellaneous writer, (George IV. to Victouia.) p ThcBookofthc Seasons, 1831 ; The Rural Life of Hnrjland, 1838; and other works, the best of which deal with native and country life, m Poems. Eowson, John Saul, D.D,, 181G-1885. Dean of Chester. ITAXBr.OOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 6oi> (ViCTOmk.) p Life and Epistles of St. Paul, 1852 (with Eev.'W. J. Conybeare) ; also other works on the same subject ; devotional works and sermons. Hughes, Jobn, 1677-1720. Poet. (Akxe, George I.) p Contributions to the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian (see p. 136). d The Siege of Damascus, a tragedy, 1 720, the best and last of many works. II. died the night of its production. [Swift calls H. 'too grave a poet,' and classes him 'among the mediocribus in prose as well as verse.' ' Poems,' in Chalmers' Poets x.] Hume (or Home), Alexander, 1.56()?-1609. Scottish poet. ( Elizabeth.) m Hymns and Sacred Songs, 1 599 (repr. by the Banna- tyne Club, 1832). His best verses are A description of the Bay of Estivall, a lyric on Summer; and lines on the Bcfait of the Spanish Navie (the Armada). Both are in Sibbald's collection. Hunnis, 'Wmiam, circa 1530-1597. Musician and Poet. (Elizabeth.) m Certayne Psalmes, 1550; A HyvefvUof Hunnye. 'Genesis in English Meetre,' 1578; Seven Sobs of a Sorrowfull Soulefor Sitme, whereuuto are also annexed his Handftdl of Honi- sucMcs, a metrical version of the Athanasian Creed, 1583 ; Hunnies Recreations, 1588 ; .also 12 poems in the Parody se of Daynry Dcuises, and two in Englands Helicon. Hurd, Richard, D.D., 1720-1808. Bishop of Worcester. (George LT., George III.) p Introduction to the study of the Prophecies concerning the Christian Church, 1772; Life of Warbur- ton, 1794, whose works he edited. Also other works. Hutcheson, Francis, Ll.D., 1694-1746. Philosopher, (George II.) p Inquiry into the original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, 1725; Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Pas- sions and Affections, 1728 ; System of Morcd Philosophy, 1755. Hutchinson, Ziucy, 1620-2^05;! 1675. Biographer. (CoJiiiOK- WEALTii, Charles II.) p Life of Col. Hutchinson, her husbmd, wr. 1664-1671 ; first pr. 1806, and often repr., latest cd. 1885, with portraits. [It is a unique picture of Puritan life, having ' the grace and tenderness of a portrait by Van Dyck' (J. R. Green).] Also other works. Inchbald, Elizabeth, 1753-1 821. Novelist, dramatist, actress. (Glorge III., George IV.) p A Simple Story, 1791, her best work, and an early example of the ' Novel of Passion ' (still reprinted). Nature and Art, 1796. d Plays. [' Life,' 1833, James Boaden.] Ireland, William Ecary, 1777-1835. Forger of Shakespeare MS.'S. (George III. to "William IV.) As a lad of 18 and 19 he, ooo IJAXBROOK OF F.XGLIPn LITERATlTlifi. like Chatterton, forged Vortigern,^ tragedy, 1795, and Miscellaneous Papers and Legal Instruments under the hand and seal of William Shakespeare, 179C. These deceived many, but he confessed the forgery in the Authentic Account of the Shalicspcare Manuscrijns, 1796, expanded in 1805 into Confessions. Also novels, verse, &c. [James Payn's novel, The Talk of the Town, 1885, takes np tho tale of these famous forgeries.] James 1. of Bng:!and, 1566-1625. m Essayes of a I'rentisc in the Divine art of poesie, 1584 (repr. in Arber's Reprints, 1869); Poetical exercises at vacant houres, 1 591, repr. 1818. p Tour religious Meditations on passages of Scripture : Basilikon Boron ; or, his Maiesties Instructions to his dearest sonne, Henry, 1599 ; controver- sial works with Bellarmine {see Andrewes) ; and A Counterhlast to Tobacco, 1604. (Repr. Arber's licprints, 1869.) Jewel!, John, 1522-1571. Bishop of Salisbury. (Elizabeth.) p Apologia pro Ecclesia Anglicana, 1562, the first methodical state- ment of the position of the Church of England against Komo. Often trans, and repr. ; the first trans, by Lord Bacon's mother, 1564. ['Works,' 1609; best ed., 1848, 8 vols., ed. E. W. Jelf.] Jolinsoii, Xticliard, 1573-1659? Eomanee writer and poet. (Elizabeth, James I.) p The Famous Historii of the Seaiicn Cham- pions of Christendom, 1597, often repr. ; The most pleasant History of Tom a Lincolne, 1007 ; Look on me, London, 1613 ; and two other works, m Tlie Nine Worthies of London, 1592; The Crowne Gar- land of Golden Roses, 1012 ; and four others. Jolinston, Arthur, M.D., 1587-1641. Scotch writer of Latin vei'se. (Charles I.) m Psalmorum Bavidis Parajjhrasis Poctica, 1637, his chief work, often repr. J. edited the Belicice Poetarum Sootorum, 1637 (,«ee Aytoun). Much Latin verse. Jones, Sbenezer, 1820-1860. Poet. (Victorli.) m Studies of Sensation and Ev:nt, 1843; repr. 1879, with 'Memoir.' Jortin, Joiin, D.D., 1698-1770. Ecclesiastical historian and critic. (George I. to George III.) p Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, 1751-1774 (still valuable); Life of Erasmus, 1758-1760 (quite superseded). Kames, Henry Home, 3E.ord, 1690-1782. Scottish judge. (George I. to Geouge IU.) p Principles of Morality and Natural Religion, 1751 ; The Art of Thinking, 1761 ; Elements of Criticism, 1762 (often repr.) and about 18 otlier works, Kavanagb, Julia, 1824-1877. Novelist and biographer, p HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 337 Wo7nan in France during the Eighteenth Century, 1850 ; Various graceful tales. Kaye, Sir John "William, 1814-1876. Military historian. (ViCTOEU.) p History of The War in Afghanistan, 1851 ; Historg of the Sepoy War (i.e. the ' Mutiny '), 1864-1876 (this is the best of a number of works on Indian subjpcts ; it has been revised and continued by Col. Malleson, 6 vols. 1888-1889). Keble, John, 1792-1866. Divine and poet. (Gteokoe IV. to ViCTOBiA.) m The Christian Year, 1827 (109 editions of from 3,000 to 5,000 copies by the year after his death) ; Lyra Innocentium, 1846 ; and other works. [His edition of Hooker, 1836, as revised by Church and Paget, 1888, is still the standard edition.] Ken (or lEenn), Thomas, 1637-1711. Bishop of Bath and "Wells. (Charles II. to William III.) p m Morning and Even- ing Hymns, poems, sermons, &e. ['Life,' by Dean Pluratree, 1888, Poetical works, 4 vols., 1721 (hymns, two epics, &c.) ; 'Prose,' in Ancient and Modern Library of Theological Literature, 1889.] SilUgrrew, Thomas, 1G12-1683. Dramatist. (Charles II.) d Comedies and Tragedies, 10 plays, chiefly in prose ; these were not published till 1664, but several were acted before the Civil War. [K. is best remembered as a wit. Pepys called him ' a merry droll,' and declared that he had a ' fee for cap and bells under the title of the King's Foole or Jester.' Diary, Feb. 13, 1667-8.] King, Henry, 1592-1669. Bishop of Chichester. (CharlesI., Charles II.) m Psalms of David turned into Metre, 1651 ; Poems, 1057. Knox, John, 1505-1572. Eeformer and historian. (Mart, Elizabeth.) p The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrvovs regiment (i.e. 'rule') of women, 1558 (repr. Arber's Eng. Scholar's Lib.) ; History of the lieformation in Scotland, 1587-1644. [' Life,' byT. MacCree, 1818; ' Works,' 6 vols., 1846-1864, ed. David Laing. Both excellent.] Xiaing:, Malcolm, 1762-1815. Scottish historian. (George in.) ft History of Scoilund, from. James, VI. to Anne, 1S02 (still of considerable value). Xamharde, 'Willlam, 1530-1601. Topographer. (Eliza- Ei/ru.) p A Perambulafiua of Kent, 1576, the first county history known. Also 5 other works. I.ane, Edward "William, ISO 1-1 876. Arabic scholar. (Vic- toria.) ^Modern Egyptians, 1836 (1st ed. sold in two weeks: last cd. 1890. It is still a standard authority); Trans, of The 338 nANT)BOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Arabian ^Iffhls, 1838-40 (our first accurate trans, often repr.); Arahic-Engli&h Lexicon, 1863-74, Continued by S. Lane Poole, 1877-1892. [Life Ly S. Lane-Poolo, 1877.] Ziangbalne, Gerard, 16-56-1692. Dramatic biographer and critic. (William IIL) p Account of the English dramatic Poets, 1691. (\''aluable in some respects, but inaccurate in bibliographical details.) Xiangtaorne, John, I>.X>., 173o-1779. Poet and translator. (George III.) p Trans., with his brother, of Plutarch's Lives, 1770 (still in circulation), in Poons are in Chalmers' Poets, xvi. He produced about 25 works. Xiardner, STatbanlel, D.S., 1684-1768. Nonconformist divine and scholar. (George II., George III.) p Credibility of the Go$pel History, 1727-67. This at once took first rank. Paley and others freely used and popularised his thoughts. Zia\7, Rev. VTllllaiD, 1686-1761. Nonjuror and mystic. (George II., George III.) Serious Call to a devout and holy Life, 1728. [Law much influenced the Wesleys, Whitfield and the early Evangelicals. Dr. Johnson called Law's work ' the finest piece of hortatory theology in any language ; ' he first read it at Oxford, when aged 20, and found it ' quite an overmatch for me; and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion.'] Xiee, Harriet, 1757-1851. Novelist and dramatist. (Georob III.) TIio Cantcrhury Talcs with S. Lee, q.w Xes, Soptila, 1750-1820. Novelist and dramatist. (Georor III.) p The Cantcrhury Talcs, 1797-1805. Twelve talcs told by travellers accidentally thrown together. Byron founded hia Werner upon the ' German's Tale, Kruitzner,' which he read when a boy, and says it contains ' the germ of much that I have since written.' (See Preface to Wernrr.) Zteigtaton, Robert, 1611-1684. Archbishop of Glasgow. (CoMMuxwKALTjt, CuAKLEs II.) p Semions and Commentaries. 1692-17(18 (posthumous, like all his wurk). Often rcpr. ; full account in W. West's cd., 1869-1875. leland, John, 1606 ?-1552. Antiquary. (Henry VIII., Ed- WARi) VI.) p The Itinerary, a description of England, first pr. by Ucarne, 1710. 9 vols. [Leland was our earliest modern English antiquary.] Te.^nox, Charlotte, 1720-1804. Miscellaneous writer. (Geouoe III.) p Harriot Stuart, 1750. The Fonale Quixote, 1752, her best work. Also other works, including plnys and poems HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATUKE. 339 [Dr. Johnson flattered Mrs. Lennox. Bcc Hawkins' Life of John- son, p. 286.] Xieslie, Charles, 16o0_1722. Nonjuror and controversialist. (William III. to George I.) p A short and cmy Method with the Deists, 1698. Often repr., translated and abridged. Also numerous other works. ['Life and Writings,' by E. J. Leslie, 1885; Works, 7 vols., 1832.] Xieyden, Jolin, M.D., 1775-1811, Physician and poet. (George III.) m Poetical Remains, 1819; Poems and Ballads, with a memoir by Scott, 1858. A centenary edition was pub. in 1875. p Various works. XiUo, Ceorgre, 1693-1739. Dramatist. (George II.) d George Barnwell, acted 1731. This was wonderfully successful, and kept the stage for over a century. Thackeray wrote a burlesque on it, with the same name. The play was founded on the ballad given in Percy's Eeliqucs, series iii., book iii.. No. 6. Arden of Vaversham, 1762. This adaptation of an old play pr. 1592, and once altributed to Shakespeare, was left unfinished by Lillo. It was acted 1759, as completed by Dr. John Hoadly. The Fatal Curiosity, 1737, and other plays. [Works, 2 vols., with memoir, 1810. Lillo helped to popularise 'domestic drama,' and influenced the novel at home and the drama abroad.] Ziing-ard, John, D.D., 1771-1851. Eomau Catholic historian of England. (Geor'je III. to Victoria.) p History of England to 1688, 1819-1830. Last ed. 1888, 10 vols. Numerous other works. I.lster, Thos. Hecry, 1800-1842. Novelist and dramatist. (GEOhGE IV. to Victoria.) p Granhy, 1826, a clever society novel, and some 6 others. Uoyd, Xlobert, 1733-1764. Poet. (George III.) m The Aetor, 1760, and other poems. [L. was the friend of Churchill, and was engaged to his sister. ' Works,' 1774.] l^ocker-Iiampson, Frederick, 1821-1895. Poet and humour- ist. (Victoria.) m London Lyrics, 1857 (10th ed. 1885) ; LyraFlc- gantiarum, a collection of some of the best vers de societc and vers d'occasion in English, 1867, enlarged 1891. p m Patchwork 1879. [31 1/ Conjidenccs, an Autobiographical Sketch, 1896.] ZiOdg^e, Thomas, 15o8?-1625. Poet, dramatist, romance writer, translator. (Elizabeth, James I.) d The Wounds of Civill War, 1594 (repr. Hazlitt's Dodsfey,vn.); A Looking Glass for London, 1594 (with Robert Greene: repr. in Gr.'s works), m Phillis, 1593, was his chief vol. of verse — 40 poems, p Rosa'.yKda (see p. 252, No. x.), repr. Cassdl's National Lib. Also other Z3 340 HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. romances and moral prose, together •with trans, from Josephus, Seneca, and Du Bartas. Xiofft, Capell, 1751-1824. Miscellaneous writer. (Geoeob III.) Some 18 works, among them Laura, or an Aiithology of Sonnets, in 6 languages, original and translated. 5 vols., 1812- 1814. Sio&an, Rev. John, 1748-1788. Poet and divine. (George III.) m Poems, 1781. These included the ' Ode to the Cuckoo,' which Burke called the most beautiful lyric in our language, d Runnamede, a tragedy, 1783. p Sermons, 1790-1791. [L. was one of the most popular preachers of his day. The controversy about his ed. of the poems of 31. Bruce, q.v., has been dealt with by D. Laing, 1873, and by John Small, in the British and Foreign Evangelical Review, 1877 and 1879. The poems are in Anderson xi., Chalmers xviii.] Ziyttleton, Georg-e, 1st Baron Lyttluton, 1709-1773. Miscel- laneous writer. (George II., Gj:orc5E III.) p Letters from a Per- sian in England to his Friend at Ispahan, 1735 ; Observations on the Conversion . . . of St. Paul, 1747 (often repr.) ; Dialogues of the Dead, 1770 (often repr.) ; m Miscellaneous poems (given in Anderson x. and Chalmers xiv.). These include the lines beginning Tell me, my heart, can this be Love ? [Dr. Johnson said of the St. Paul, ' infidelity has never been able to fabri&ite a specious answer.' L. is known as the 'good Lord Lyttleton.' ' Memoir ' and Corre ondence, 1845.] Macaulay, Mrs. Catharine, 1731-1791. Historian and controversialist. (Gkokgk III.) p History of England itom \QQZ- 1714, 1763-1783 (now forgotten). Also other works. [Mary Wollstonecraft in 1792 called Mrs. M. ' tlie woman of the greatest abilities that this country has ever produced.'] M'Culloch, John Ramsay, I7S9-18G4. Stsvtisticiau and political economist. (George IV. to A'^ictoria.) p Dictionary of Commerce, 1832 ; and works on Political Economy. Mackay, Charles, LL.D., 1814-1889. Song M-ritcr and journalist, &c. (Victoria.) m Collected Songs, 1859. Among these are 7'he Good Time Coming, and Cheer, Boys, Cheer ; Various . poems and pioso works. Dr. M. edited iho '1001 Gems' of Poetry, &:c. Mackenzie, Sir Ceorg:e, IG3G-1691. King's Advocate in Scotland. (Charles II. to William III.) p A Moral Essay, \QQo, and about 30 other works. Collected od., 1716-1722. His Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland was pr. 1822. [Dryden HANDBOOK OP EXGLISH LlTERATURfi. 3il called him ' the noble wit of Scotland ; ' the Covenanters termed hinl 'Bloody Mackenzie.' He practically founded the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.] Magrlnn, -William, LL.D., 1793-1842. Poet, journalist, miscellaneous writer. (George III. to Victoria.) p m Homeric Ballads, 1850 (appeared in Fraser's Magazine, 1838 &c.) Mis- cellanies, last ed. 1885. 2 vols. [Thackeray introduced him in I'endennis as Captain Shandon.] Itlallet (orig. Mallock), Savld, 1705?-1765. Poet, mis- cellaneous -writer. (George III.) p m and d Ballads and miscel- laneous works. [Eule Britannia, which is at the end of the masque of Alfred, acted If 40, has been ascribed to him: more probably it is by Jas. Thomstej. The poems are in Anderson ix. and Chalmers xiv.] Malone, Sdmund, 1741-1812. Shakespearian critic. (Geoege III.) His edition of Shakespeare in 10 vols. — vol. i. being in two parts — appeared 1790. It included various 'Essays' — e.g. on the order of Shakespeare's plays, &c. Manley, Mary de la Riviere, 1672P-1724. Miscel- laneous writer. (Anne, George I.) p Secret Memoirs . . . from the Neiv Atlantis, 1709, a vigorous attack on the Whigs, who had promoted the Revolution of 1688-1689. Other works, including plays. [Mrs. M. succeeded Swift as editor of the ' Examiner' in 1711.] IVXarkham, Gervase or Jervis, lo68?-1637. Miscellaneous writer. (Elizabeth to Charles I.) p Many works on agriculture, fishing, archery, &c. m The Poem of Poems . . . the Divine So7ig of Salomon in Eight Eclogues, 1595; and two other poems, 1600-1601, which were repr. by Grosart in 1871. d Herod and Antipater, 1622. [M.'s poem in 174 8-line stanzas on the Honor- able Tragcdie of Sir Richard Grinvile, 1595, as repr. by Arber, 1871, was used by Tennyson for his ballad ' The Eevenge.' He has been called our ' earliest English hackney writer.'] AXarmion, Sbackerley, 1603-1639. Poet and dramatist. (Charles I.) m Cupid and Psyche, 1637, in heroic couplets : repr. 1820. d Three comedies, //b//a?i(7s Lcagver, 1632 ; A Fine Companion, 1633; The Antiqt(ary,\(3\\, repr. in Hazlitt's Bodsley, xiii. All three repr. 1875 IVXaturin, Rev. Charles Xlobert, 1782-1824. Novelist and dramatist. (George III., George IV.) p Mclmoih, the Wanderer, 1820, and seven other novels. ' Melmoth,' his best work, had much influence on the French romantic school : Balzac wrote a kind 342 TTAXDDOOK OF EXfJLlSri LITEUATrui:. of sequel to it. Eopr. 1892 with a 'Life.' d 3 Tragedies. Bertram, 1816, ran for 22 nights, .ind 7 ed. were sold that year. maxwell, 'William Hamilton, 1792-1850. Irish novelist. (George IV. to Victoria.) p Stories of Waterloo, 1834, his Lest-known work, still repr. ; Hector OHalloran, 1842-1843, illus- trated by Leech ; and other tales. [He originated the rollicking style of fiction which culminates in Chas. Lever.] IVIaxwell, Sir William Stirlingr, K.T., 1818-1878. llis- torian. (Victoria.) p Annals of the Artists of Spain, 1848 ; Cloister Life of King Charles V., 1852; Velasquez and his Worl:s, 1855. ['Works,' 6 vols., 1891.] May, Thomas, 1595-1650. Poet. (James I. to Common- WEAiTH.) p History of the rarliavient of England which began Kovember 3, 1640, 1647 (repr. Chir. Press, 1854), a valuable work. m Trans, of Lucan's Pharsalia, 1627 ; VirgiPs Georgics, 1628 ; and two narrative poems on the reigns of Henry II. (1633) and Edward IIL (1635), both in 7 Bks. d The Heir, a comedy, 1622 (repr. Hazlitt's Dodsleg xi.) ; The Old Cotiple, a comedy, 1658 (repr. Bodsley xii.) ; and three tragedies. IVXayne, Jasper, D.D., Archdeacon of Chichester, and dramatist, 1604-1672. (Charles I. to Charles II.) p Trans, of Luciajis Dialogues, pr. 1664, but completed by 1038; and Sermons, m Tians. oi Donne's Latin Fjyigrams, 1602. d Two plays. TheCityc Match, a comedy, 1639 (ropr. in Hazlitt's Dodale?/ xiii.); The Amorous Warre, a tragi-comcdy, 1648. IVIayne, John, 1759-1836. Scottish poet. (George III. to William IV.) in The Siller Gun, 1777, 12 stanzas describing a Dumfries W.ipenschaw (by 1830 this became 5 cantos); Hallowe'en, 1780 (this possibly suggested Burns' Tarn o' Shanter) ; Logan Braes, 1789, a song from which Burns adopted two lines for his own of the same name. Also otiier poems. Melmoth, -William, 1710-1799 Translator. (George II., George III.) p Pliny's Letters, 1746; Cicero's Letters, 1753; and other works. [Warton actually places the trans, of Pliny above the origiiKiL] Melville, Sir James, 1535-1617. Autobiographer. (Edward VI. to Elizabeth.) p Memoirs of his own Life, 1549-1593, first pr. 1683. Latest cd. 1827, Bannalync Club, reissued 1833 for Maitland Clnh. [Valuable fjr contemporary history.] Melville (Melvill), James, 1556-1614. Eeformer. (Emza- liETU, James I.) 'The Diary of James Melville (1556-1601), pr. 1829 for Bannatyno Club : repr. 1844 for Woodrow Soc. with a con- HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LlTERATUllE. 343 tiniiation, 1596-1610. Very valuable for contemporary ecclesiastical history. Several otlier works. IVXennes, Sir John, 1599-1G71. Admiral. (Chakles I. to Charles II.) m Wits Becreation, 1640; Musarum DeUcice ; or, the Mv.ses' Becnation, 1655; Wit Bestored, 1658. Eeprinted together 1817 and 1874. [These are re.ally anthologies, and M.'s name appears with that of Dr. Jas. Smith, 1605-1CG7.] Meres, Trancis, 1565-1647. Clergyman, transhitor, prose writer. (Elizabeth, James I.) p Pal/adis Tamia ; Wits Treasury : being a second part of Wits Commonwealth, 1598 {see J. Bodenham; and pp. 63 and 251 note). The passages rehiting to Elizabethan literature are repr. in /S/m^'. Allusion SJiS., Pt. I., 151-167 (Xew Shak. Soc, 1874), and in Prof. Arber's English Garner, ii. p. 94 &••. Also Gods Arithmeticke, & SQVTaon, 1597, and two devotional translations from Spanish. Merrick, James, 1720-1769. Poet and scholar. (George II.) Some 13 works, m Poems on Sacred Suhjccts, 1763 (9th ed. 1807). His bright little poem The Chameleon is best known, though a number of his psalms and hymns are still retained in our hymu books. Meteyard, Eliza, 1816-1879. Miscellaneous writer. (Vic- toria.) p Life of Josiah Wedgwood, 1865-1866; Handbook of Wedgwood Ware, 1875, and other works connected with W. : also novels. Mlckle, -William Julius, 1735-1788. Poet. (George III.) m Trans, of Camoens' Lnsiad, 1771-5. Tliis superseded that by Fanshawo, q.v. Ballads and poems, e.g. Cumnor Hall, quoted by Scott (Introd. to Kenihvorth). There's nac Luck about the House is attributed to him (see Jean Adams). The poems are in Chalmers xvii. IVIiller, Thomas, 1807-1874. Poet and novelist. (Victoria.) p m Over 45 works, novels and poems. [M. was called the * Basket-maker ' poet, that having been his trade early in life. His first success was due to verses sent in fancy baskets to the Countess of Blessington.] Monboddo, James Burnett, }bord, 1714-1799. Scottish judge. (George III.) p Essays on the Origin and Progress of Language, 1773-1792; Ancient Metaphysics, 1779-1799 (a defence of Greek philosophy). In many of his views M. was in advance of his day. IVXontgomery, Alexander, 155G?-1610? Scottish poet. (Elizabeth.) m The Cherrie and the Slac, 1597, in 14-linc stanzas. 31 i IIAXOnOOK OP ENGLISH LlTERATUKfi. Pt. I., a love piece ; Pt. II. is a moral allegory, in -which the Cherry = Virtue, and the Sloe, Vice. Flyiing betwixt Montgomery and Pohvarf, 1621. [In 1887 the Scottish Text Soc. repr. the poems with introduction, bibliograpliy and notes.] nXontgromeryiRev. Robert, 1807-1855. Poetaster. (GEonoE IV. to VicToniA.) m Omnipresence of the Deity, 1828 (8 ed. in 8 months; 28th ed. 18.")8) ; Satan, or Intellect xvithoiit God, 1830 (very popular) ; TJic Messiah, 1832, and other poems. [Macaulay's famous 'review' appeared in the 'Edinburgh' of April 1830, after the second ed. of Satan and the 11th of the Omnipresence.'] nSontrose, Jauies Crabam, IMarquls of, 1612-1 650. Poet. (Chari.es I.) m Lyrics, the best known of which is tliat beginning ' My dear and only Love, I lyray.' AEoore, Sdward, 1712-1757. Fabulist, dramatist and editor. (Geouge II.) d The Gff;«es^cr, a successful prose domestic tragedy, 1753 ; and a comedy. The Foiindlivy. He edited The World, 1753- 1766, and wrote 01 out of 210 numbers. His Fables for the Female Sex, I'lii, are in Anderson x. and Chalmers xiv. »:orc, Beury, D.D., 1614-1G87. Platonist, theologian. (Chaulks I. to Charles II.) m Philosophicall Poems, 1647 (including an enlarged revision of his first poem, the Song of the Soul, 1642). Rcpr. by Grosart, 1878. p Mystery of Godliness, 1660; Mystery of Liiqnily, 1G64. VLorevin, Sydney, Iiady, 1783 ?-l 859. Novelist. (George III. to Victoria.) p The Wild Irish Girl, 1806. Sentimental, but shows real power ; her best work. 7 ed. in two years. Other tales and verse. ['Life,' by S. Owenson, I860.] Morris, Cbarles, 1745-1838. Captain in the Life Guards and song writer. (Gkokge III., George IV.) la. Lyra Urbanica ; or, the Social Efusions of Cap. Morris, 1840. Some of these had appeared, 1786. [Many of his best songs were first sung by himself at club dinners.] Motberwell, William, 1797-1835. Scottish poet. (Georob IV. to Victoria.) p m Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern, 1827. m Poems, Narrative and Lyrical, 1S32. His famous ballad, Jeannie Morison,vras sketched when 14, and printed in 1832 in a periodical. [Last ed. of ' Poems,' 1881.] Moultrie, Rev. 7obn, 1799-1874, Poet. (Victoria.) m My Brother s Grave, and other Poems, 1837; The Dream of Life, and other Poems, 1843 (autobiographical, witli interesting reforence.s to his contemporaries, Macaul.iy and others) ; Altars, Hearths, and Graves, 1854. ['Poems,' 1870, with memoir by Derwent Coleridge.] IIAXBROOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. 345 Mulcaster, Xticbard, 1530?-1611. Teacher. (Elizabeth.) p Positions . . .for the Training up of Children, 1581 ; repr. with a good account of M.'s life and writings by R. H. Quick, 1888. [^Lehen und Werke, Bich. Mulcasiers, pp. 68, by Theodor Klaehr ; Dresden, 1893.] nxulgrave, John Sbeflield, Earl of, 1649-1721. Poet, statesman. (Charles II.) m Essay on Satire, 1675; Essay on Poetry. [In 1703 M. became Duke of Buckingham.] IMCunday, Antliony, 1.553-1633. Dramatist, poet and trans- lator. (Elizabeth, James I.) d John a Kent and John a Cumher, 1595 ; repr. 1851 for Shak. Soe. M. was concerned in the Downfall and the Death of Eohert, Earl of Huntingdon {see Chettle) ; and with Sir John Old-castle {see Hathway). Henslowe mentions 14 other plays: all are lost. From 1605-23 M. produced 8 civic: p.ageants. p Seven translations of Romances. Atnadis de Gaule, 1595; Palmerin of England, 1602, &c., and 24 miscellaneous works (list in Diet, of Nat. Biography), m numerous ballads. XTabbes, Tbomas, tl. 1638. Dramatist. (Chables I.) d Three comedies, Covent Garden, 1638; Totenham Court, 1638; The Bride, 1640. Two tragedies, Hannibal and Scipio, 1637 ; The Unfortunate Mother, 1640. Several masques, among them MicrO' cosmus, a Morall MasJce, 1637 ; said to have been the first masque exhibited on a public s^tage. ['Works,' ed. A. H. BuUen, 1887.] Nairne, Carolina, Baroness, 1763-1845. Scottish ballad writer. (George III. to Victoria.) m Humorous, sentimental and pathetic ballads, and Jacobite songs : The Land o' the Leal, The Laird o' Co:^Jcpen, Caller Herrin', Charlie is my Darling, &e. No collected ed. till 1846, after her death; lasted. 1886, by Dr. Chas. Rogers. ITapler, Sir "William Francis Patrick, 1785-1 860. General and historian. (George IV. to Victoria.) p History of the Penin- sular War (1807-14), 1828-40; last ed. 1877-82. Many contro- versial pamphlets, &c. ['Life,' 1864, by Lord Aberdaro.] Waunton, Sir Robert, 1563-1635. Politician. (Charles I.) p Fragmcnta regalia, 1641 (posthumous) ; a valuable account of the chief courtiers of Queen Elizabeth's days, with interesting reminis- cences, completed about 1630. [Often repr, 'Pvo^.ArhGv,Iieprints, 1870, reproduced the 1G53 od.] Zfeodbam (.^I'edbam), IVTarchamont, 1620-1678. Journal- ist. (Charles I.) p Ho conducted various newspapers, e.g. Mercurius Britanicus {sic), 1643-6, against royalists; Mercuriua V)iG HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATUUi:. Pragmaticus, 1647-1649, in defence of King Charles I. ; Mercurlus Polificiis, 1650-1659, championing tho Commonwealth; and some 20 other works, [Ho was the chief journalist of tho time; see Bourne's English Newspapers, 1887, I. 12-29.] Neville, Henry, 1620-1694. Political and miscellaneous writer. (Chaules II.) p Plato Redivivus, or a Dialogue con- cerning Government, 1681, a sclieme for governing by means of councils responsible to parliament. Also other works, including lampoons. Ifewcastle, XtXargaret Cavendish, Dacbess of, 1624?- 1674. Miscellaneous writer. (Commonwe.vlth, Charles II.) p m d ' If there be a type of chaos, or a chaos of type in literature, it is in these thirteen folios ' of poems and fancies, letters, philo- Bophical opinions, tales in prose and verse, plays, &c. Of her Life of the Duke of Newcastle (her husband) Lamb said ' no casket is rich enough, no casing sufficiently durable, to honour and keep safe such a jewel.' [The 'Golden Troasuvy' series, under the title of The Cavalier and his Lady, has some excellent prose and verse selections, including a brief autobiography.] Wewton, Thomas, c/rca 1512-1607. Tran.slator. (Ei.iz.'oUo Solditr, 1637, repr. in A. H. BuUeus Old Plays, i. 1882. Rowley, Vl^llllam, xvii. cent. Dramatist. (James I.) d Four plays written alone. A New Wonder, a Womaii never vext, 1632 ; A Match at Midnight, 1033 (both in Hazlitt's Bodslcy, xii., xiii.), and one other comedy; All's lost by hist, a tragedy, 1633. [Hazlitt's Bodslcy xii. pp. 94-5 gives a list of 12 others.] Roy, "William, xvi. century. Eeformer. (IIenhy VIII.) m Rede me and he nott wrotke, For I saye no thyngc but Trothe, a satire, with Jerome Barlowe, sometimes called The burying of the Mass in Rhyme, 1528, repr. in Arber's Reprints, 1871. [Roy was a Minorite Friar, and helped Tyndalo with his trans, of the New Icsta- ment, 1525.] Rugr&le, Georgre, 1575-1622. Latin dramatist. (James I.) d Ignoramus, 1630, a Latin comedy acted at Cambridge before James I., 1614. Nine Latin editions, Englished by E(obcrt) C(odrington), 1662. Russell, John, Earl, 1792-1878. Statesman. (George IV. to VicTOKiA.) p Life of Lord William Russell, 1819; Life and Times of C. J. Fox, 1859-66 (R. had pr. Fox's Memorials and Cor- respondence, 1853) ; Memoirs of Thos. Moore, 1853-1856, &c. Russell, Rachel, X,ady, 1636-1723. (Cuahles II. to Annk.) p Letters, 1773 (i.e. 50 years after her death), often repr. [Slio was tlie wife of Lord Wm. Eussell, executed 1683. Tlmt sweet saint who sate by Russell's side Under the judgment seat. fee f!ui/,i)t's Miuii'd Life if Raclnl, Lwhj Ru.'t-ll, 1855.] Russell, 'William, LL.D., 1741-1793. Historian. (Georgb III.) p History of Modern Europe, 1779, often repr. and continued. A compilation, but useful. Rymcr, Thomas, 1011-1713. Historiographer royal. (Chahi.eo HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 353 II. to Anne.) p Fadera, Conveniioncs, Liiera, et cujuscunque generis Acta Publica, 1704-1735; a collection of documents respecting our relations with foreign powers from the year 1101. [Rymer in vols. i. to XV. carried on the work to 1586 ; Robert Sanderson in vols, xvi. to XX. to A.D. 1654. Best information in Sir T. D. Hardy's Syllabus to the ' Foedera.' 3 vols. 1869-1886.] Sale, Georg-e, 1680-1736. Lawyer and Orientalist. (George II.) p Trans, of the Koran or Alcoran of Mahomed, 1734, still repr. [Gibbon calls him ' our honest and learned translator.'] Sandys, Oeorgre, 1577-1644. Traveller and translator. (James I., Chaeles L) p .4 Relation of a Journey begun j.d. 1610 (to Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, Italy, &c.), 1615; m Ovid's Metamor- j>hosis Englished, 1626. This was completed in Virginia, U.S.A., and is the first important poetical work produced in America. [Dryden speaks of 'the ingenious and learned Sandys, the best versifier of the former age,' and Gibbon calls him ' that judicious traveller.'] Settle, Elkanali, 1648-1724. Dramatist and verse writer. (Chaeles II. to Geoegb I.) m See p. 105. d The Empress of Morocco, 1673, and other plays. [Dryden in Absalom and Achitophel, Pt. II., speaks of him as Doeg though without knowing how or why Maile still a blundering land of melody.] Seward, Anna, 1747-1809. Poetess. (George III.) m Louisa, a poetical novel, 1782; original Somicts, 1799. Scott edited her Poetical Works, 1810. Her Letters, 1811, fill 6 vols. Sheridan, Frances, 1724-1766. Novelist and dramatist. (Geoege II., Geoege III.) m Memoirs of Miss Sidney Biddulph, 1761, a novel of the Richardson school. C. J. Tos thought it tha best of the ago; History of Hourjahad, 1767 (posthumous), a romance, d The Discovery, a successful comedy, 1763 ; The Dupe, a comedy, 1764. [Memoirs, 1824, by her granddaughter, Alicia Lefanu. F. S. was the mother of Richard Brinsley Sheridan.] Smart, Cbrlstopber, 1722-1770. Poet and translator. (Geobge II., GEtiKcii III.) m Forms, 1752; Tho Hi! Had, -du epic, 1753, a serere odtire ou oir John Hill.phybicidU and dramatist, who replied in the Smardad; Trans, oi Horctxc, 1756 ; A Song (o Dai^id, 1763, said to have been written with a key on the wall iu a mad- house. [Poom.s, Anderson xi. ; Chalmers xvi.] Smith, Cliarlotte, 1749-1806. Novelist. (Geouge III.) p A A 354 HAN-DBOOK OP ENGLISH LITEllATURE. The Old Manor House, 1793. 'The chef-cCauvre of Mrs. Smith' (Sir Walter Scott). Other novels and verso. Smltb, Captain John, 1579-1631. Traveller and colonist. (James I., Charles I.) p Trve Travels and Adventures, 1620 (interesting), and several works relating to the early colonisation of Virginia, &c. ['Works,' collected by Prof. Arber, 1884.] Sotheby, William, 1757-1833. Poet and translator. (George III. to Victoria.) Trans, of Wieland's Obcron, 1798, of the Iliad and Odt/ssei/, 1830, &c. Soutbwell, Robert, 1562-1595. Poet and Jesuit. (Elizabeth.) p Mart/ Magdalens Funerall Tearcs, 1594, and other works. in Saint Peters Complaint with other Poemcs, 1595; Mcsonim, 1595. [Grosart's edition of the Poems, 1872, supersedes the earlier reprints. It has 100 pp. of Introduction.] Spelman, Sir Henry, 1562-1641. Antiquary. (Charles I.) p Glossarium Archaiologicum. Letters A-L wero pr. by Spelman, 1626; a 'completion' was issued from his MS. 1664; the complete work, 1687 ; Concilia, Decreta, Leges, Const itutio7ies in Be Ecclesiartim Orbis Britannid, 1639-1664. Also other works. Spencer, Hon. ixrilllani Robert, 1770-1834. Poet. (George III., George IV.) m Poems, 1811 ; 1835 ed. has a memoir. His Pethgelcrt at the grave of the greyhound is well known, and his verse was once fashionable. lie translated Biirger's ballad, Leonora, 1796, and was one of those early influenced by German literature. Stanbope, PblUp Henry, Earl, 1805-75. Historian. (WiLLi.vM IV., Victoria.) p History of the War of Succession in Spain (1702-14), 1832; History of England (1717-83), 1836-1853 ; Life of Pitt, 1861-1862. [Up to the death of his father, 1855, he was known as Lord Mahon. | Stanley, Tbomas, 162.J-1U78. Poet ami translator. (Common- wKALTir, Charles II.) m Poems and translatvms, 1G47, rcpr. 1811-1815. p History of Philosophy, \Goi)-16Gl. His edition of Aeschylus is still circulated ; Ilallaui calls it ' a great monument of critical learning.' Stanyburst, Rlcbard, 1547-1618. Translator, divine, his- torian. (Elizabeth., Jaiies I.) p A Description of Irelnnd, and a History cf Ireland (1509-1547), for Holinshed's Chronicle, 1677; Latin religious works, includiug a Life of St, Patrick, 1587. m Thee first foire Booles of Virgil, his Acneis, translated into English heroical verse, 1582, repr. by Prof. Arber, 1880. This is in hexameter verse, S. being one of the advocates of such metrical (^xperimefnts. See A. Fraunce. HAM)BOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 355 Steevens, Georgre, 1736-1800. Shakespeare editor. (George III.) p Shakespeare Commentaries, 1773-1793. Sterling:, Jobn, 1806-1844. Miscellaneous writer. (William IV., VicTOEiA.) p Arthur Coningsby, a novel, 1833; m Poems, 1839; The Election, a poem in seven books, 1841. d Strafford, a tragedy, 1843. [Sterling is chiefly remembered for his biographers, J. C. Hare, q.v., and Carlyle.] Storer, Tbomas, circa 1570-1604. Poet. (Elizabeth.) m Life and Death of Thomas Wolsey, Cardinall, 1590, repr. 1815 and 1826. Some of his 'Pastoral Aires and Madrigals' were pr. in England's Parjiassus. Strickland, Agones, 1801-1874. Historical writer. (William IV., Victoria.) p Lives of the Queens of England (1066- 1714), 1840-1848; assisted by her sister Elizabeth. Also other works. Strode, V^llIIam, LL.D., 1600-1644. Poet and dramatist. (Charles I.) d T/te Floating Island, a tragi-comedy, 1655. Sermons : and poems not yet collected. Strype, Tobn, 1643-1737. Historical biographer. (Charles II. to George II.) p Lives of Cranmer, 1694 ; Sir Thos. Smith, 1698; John Ai/hner, 1701; Sir John ChcJce, 1705; Grindal, 1710; Par/icr, 1711; Whitgift, 1718; Annals of the Eeformation, 1709- 1731. [The Clarendon Press repr. all these valuable, if dry, works in 27 vols., 1820-1840.] Stuart, Cilbert, LL.D., 1742-1786. Historian. (George III.) p History of the Establishment of the lieformation in Scotland, (1517-1561), 3780; History of Scotland, 1782. Stubbes, Pbillp.fl. 1580-1593. Miscellaneous writer. (Eliza- beth.) p The Anatoinie of Abuses, 1583 ; Pt. II. also 1583. Both pts. repr. by Dr. Furnivall for the Kevj ShaJcspere Soc. 1877-1882. The 116 pp. of Introduction give an account of his six other works, and three lost ones. Studley, JTobn, fl. 1566-1581. Translator. (Elizabeth.) m Translations from Seneca of the Medea and Agamemnon, 1566 : Hippolitus and Hcrcidcs Furens, 1581. p The Pageant of Popes (Lives of Popes to 1556), trans, from Bishop Bale, 1574. Swain, Charles, 1803-1874. Poet. (William IV., Victoria.) m Beauties of the Mind, 1831 ; repr. as The Mind and other poems, 1832 ; 5th ed. 1870. Also other vols. His verse was much admired by AVordsworth, Southey, and otiiers. .Sylvester, yosbua, 1563-1618. Poet and translator. (Er.Tz.\- BETH, JambJs I.) m Trans, of Du Bnrt.is' Divine IVerl'es and lforX:es, 4 A 2 356 nANDBOOK OF ENGLISn LITEKATURE. 1598. Other trans, and original verse, e.g. Tobacco battered ; andthe Pipes shattered, 1615. TannablU, Robert, 1774-1810. Scottish song -writer. (G-eorgb III.) in Poems and Songs, clmjly in the Scottish dialect, 1807. Works with 'Life,' 1838, last ed. 1870. [Jessie, the Flower of Dunblane, is one of T.'s songs.] Tate, ITabum, 1652-1715. Poet laureate. (Ch.-vrlks II. to Anne.) m Poems, 1687, and various other vols, d Ten dramatic pieces, 1677-1707. [He was laureate after Shadwell, 1690-1715.] Taylor, JTohn, 1580-1653. 'The Water Poet.' (James I. to Co-MMONWEAXTH.) ThsSpenset Soc. in 1869 repr. the 1630 folio called All the Wcrkes of John Taylor, pp. 630. This contained 63 pieces, two-thirds being verse. After 1630 T. produced many other works. Hazlitt's //a?i£^ioo^- mentions in all 123 ; Lowndes gives 140. 'Their value lies chiefly in the vivid and interesting description of English and Scottish life and custom.' His Verbuyn Scmpiternum or 'Thumb Bible,' 1616, has often been repr. ' Early prose and poetical works' — 14 piece.s, pp. 318 — were repr. 1888. Taylor, Robert, xvii. cent. Dramatist. (James I.) d The Hoggc hath lost his pearle, a comedy, 1614. Eepr. Hazlitt's Dodsley, xi. Taylor, 'William (of Norwich), 1705-1836. Translator. (Geobge III., Geoeue IV.) Trans, of Lessing's Nathan the Wise, 1791, and other German works. He was one of the predecessors of Spencer, q.v., and Scott in introducing German poetry ; his trans, of Biirger's Leonora was the first of several renderings. His History of German Poitrij appeared 1828-1830. | Memoir, 1843.] Tennant, -William, LL.D., 1784-1818. Professor of Oriental languages and poet. (Geokob IU. to Vktobia.) m Anster Fair, his best poem, in six cantos of otiava rime, 1812. J'oems, 1838 and 1871. p Life of Allan liamsoy. Tbrale, Hester Xyncb (afterwards Mrs. Piozzi), 1740-1821. (Geoeue III.) p Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson (her friend from 1765), 1786. m 'Ihe Three Warnings, Tlghe, Mary, 1773-1810. Poctrs«. (Geoh(;e III.) m Psyche: ur Ihe Jjtgcnd if Love, 1805; repr. 1811, after her dealli, with other poems. It h^is 6 cantos in Spenserian stanza. Tlndal, Matthew, LL.D., ctrca 1057-1733. Deist. (George II., George III.) p Christianity as old as Creation, 1730; a deistical work, 'the culminating point of the whole deist con- troversy' of the last century. (Leslie Stephen's Hist, of Enj. i HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 357 Thoiiglit in the xviii. cent.) It excited much controversy. Butler in liis Analog// has it continually in mind. Toland, John, 1669-1722. Deist. (William III. to Geoege I.) p Christiatuti/ not mysterious, 1696. By 1760 over 50 replies had appeared. See Leslie Stephen, Hist, of Eng. Thought in xviii. cent. i. 93-119. Tomkis [Tobnt], xvii, cent. Dramatist. (James I.) d Albumazar the Astrologer, a comedy, 1615 ; repr. Hazlitt's Dodsley, xi. Dryden wrote a prologue for a revival of the play, 1668. Tooke, John norne, 1736-1812. (Geohge III.) p EHEA nXEPOENTA; or, the Diversions of Furley, 1786-1805. [These dialogues upon language were stimulating, but preceded the days of scientific philology. They are full of inevitable inaccuracies.] Tourneur, Cyril, 11. 1600-1613. Dramatist. (James I.) d The Eciiengers Tragcedie, 1608; The Atheisms Tragedie, 1611. m The Transformed Mela?norphosis, 88 stanzas of 7 lines, with pro- logue and epilogue. [' Plays and Poems,' 2 vols., 1878, ed. J. Chur- ton Collins, with a good introduction. The two plays are in the jMermaid series.l "Zownsbend, Aurelian, fl. temp. Ciiables I. Dramatist, d Tempe restored and Albions Triumph, msisquea 1651. Not reprinted. Trivet, XVlcbolas, circa 1258-1328. Dominican monk. (Edwaed I., Edward II.) p Annates sex regum Anglia (1136- 1307), pr. 1719-1722, repr. for Eng. Hist. Soc. 1845. [T. is of interest on account of Chaucer's use of him, see Appendix B. No. V.] Tucker, Abraham^ 1705-1774. Naval philosopher. (George II., George III.) p The Light of Nature pursued 'by Edward Search, Esq.,' 1768. Often repr. Hazlitt abridged it, 1807, and said, ' I do not know any work in the shape of a philosophical treatise that contains so much good sense, so agreeably expressed.' Paley admired T.'s ' original thinking and observation,' and freely borrowed from him. Sec Leslie Stephen's Hist, of Eng. Thought, ii. 109-121. Tuke, Sir Samuel, d. 1673. Dramatist. (Charles II.) d The Adventures of Five Hours, 1663. A tragi-comedy, adapted from Calderon's El Escondito y la Tapada at the suggestion of Charles II. Repr. Hazlitt's Bodsley, xv. Langbaine called it 'one of tho best plays now extant.' Pepys (Diary, Jan. 5, 1662-1663) c.ills it 'tlirt famous new play,' and says it is 'the best ... I ever saw, or think ever shall ; ' while Othello in comparison ' seems a mean thing' (Diary, Aug. 20, 1666). Turberville, George, \b^O-post 1594. Poet and translator. 358 HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. (Elizadet!!.) m Epi/aphes, Epigrams, Sonffs and Sonets \^anie 1567]; trans, of tho Eg loqs of Miintuau, 1567; Ovid's Heroycall Epistles, 15G8; 10 Tragical Talcs from. Italian, 1576. p Two works on Hawking and Hunting. [The 'Tales' and 'Epitaphs' ■were repr. 1837.] Turner, Sharon, 17C8-1847. Historian. (Gforgf. III. to Victoria.) p History of the Anglo-Saxons, 1799-1805 ; History of £'/)r//a«(/ (1066-1509), 1814-1823, &c. Tusser, Thomas, circa 1625-1580. Versifier. (Elizabeth.) m A hundreth good pointes of Husbandrie, 1557 ; enlarged in 1573 to Five hundreth pointes of good Husbandry, 16 ed. up to 1672. The best reprint is that of the Eng. Dialect Soc. 1878. Twyne, Thomas, fl. 1570-1590. Translator. (Elizabeth.) m The whole XII. Bookes of the 2Eneidos of Virgill ' by Th. Phacr and Thomas Twine.' Tw. completed Phaer's work, begun 1558 with 7 books; 1562,9 books and part of the tenth. Also other translations &c. in prose. Tyrwhltt, Thomas, 1730-1786. Critic. (Geobgb II., Georgb III.) p Observations and conjectures on some passages in Shake- spcare, 1766. His edition of Chaucer, 1775-1778 (still repr.), was our first critical ed. Also editions of Spenser and Chatterton. Tytler, Alexander Fraser, Lord Woodhousclee, 1747-1813. Historian. (George III.) p Elements of General History, Ancient and Modern, 1801. [He was Prof, of History at Edinburgh 1786- 1800, and afterwards Judge and Lord Justiciary.] Tytler, Patrick Fraser, 1791-1849. Historian. (George IV., William IV.) p Histo)-y of Scotland (1149-1003), 1828-1813, and other works, [lie was son of the above.] Tytler, 'William, 1711-1792. Historian. (Georok II.) p Historical and Critical Enquiry into the Evidence against Mary of Scots, 1760. [Ho was fathor of A. P. Tytler.] TTrquhart, orThrch'ard, Sir Thomas (of Cromarty), 160.3?- 1660. Translator &c. (Charles I., Commonwealth.) p His great work was his trans, of Rabelais, History of Garganlua and Pantagruel, Bks. I. and II., 1653 ; Bk. III., 1693, with a reissue of I. and 11. by Motteux, who, in 1708, added Bks. IV. and V. Very often repr., elaborately in 1892 (2 vols, witli Introduction), Bks. I. and II. are in Jlorley's Universal Library. His EK2KYBAAATON or The Discovery of a Most Exquisite Jewel, 1652, is an interesting vindication of the honour of Scotland. His works were repr. 1834 by the Maiilaud Club, including his confused mathematical work i HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. 359 Trissotelms, 164-5 ; and his Logopaudccteison, ou uuiversal language. Vaue:taan, Henry, 1621-1695. Poet, 'The Silurist.* (Cosi- MONWEALTn.) m Olor Iscanus, 1650; Silex Scinii/lans, 1650 (repr. in facsimile 1885) ; The Motcnt of Olives, 1652; Flores Soli- tudiiiis, 1654, &c, [Works, prose and verse, collected by Grosart in 4 vols. 1871.] Vauz, Tbomas, Xiord, 1511-1562. Poet. (Heney VIU. to Elizabeth.) Grosart, in 1872, collected his 15 poems ia a vol. ■with those of three others. (See Vere.) Vere, Sdward de, Earl of Oxford, circa 1545-1604. Poet and courtier. (Elizabeth.) Grosart in the Fuller's Worthies Mis- cellanies, 1872, collected the poems. Ho mentions 23 and prints 22. {See Vaux.) "Wade, Thomas, 1805-1875. Poet. (William IV., Victobia.) xaMundiet Cordis Cariniiia, 1835; Prothanasia, 1839. Wakefield, Rev. Gilbert, 1756-1801. (George III.) p Enquiry etc. concerning the person of Jesus Christ, 1784 ; theologlc.il and other works. "Walsh, -William, 1603-1708. Critic. (James II., William III.) p Dialogue concerning Women, being a Defence of the Sex, Kjyi; Letters and poems, 1692. [Walsh "was the friend and adviser of Pope (see p. 114), who terms him in his Essay on Criti' dim Walsh — the Muses' judge and frieud, Who justly knew to blame or to commcud. Dryden (postscript to his Virgil) called him ' the Lest critic of our nation ' ! The poems arc in Anderson vi., Chalmers viii.] "Walsingham, Thomas, il. circa 1440. Chronicler. (IIenhy A"I.) p Historia Anglicana brcvis (Edw. I. to Henry Y.), first pr. 1574 ; Ypodigma h'eustricB (Normandy from the invasion of the Northmen to 1419), 1574. [lie was a monk of St. Albans, taught history thei'e, and produced a chronicle of the monastery.] "Ward, Edward ('Ned Ward'), circa 1G60-173L Miscel- laneous writer. (George I., George II.) p The London Spij, 1698-1700; Iludibras Ecdivivus, 1705-1707, and other works. For the Iludibras ho was fined 40 marks and pilloried. [Campbell says his works are ' worth preserving as delineations of the manners of the times,' though he had the ' mind of a vulgar cockney.'] "Ward, R. Plumer, 1765-1846. Novelist and legal writer. oGO HANDBOOK OP EXGLISH LITERATUIIE. (Geoege III. to Victoria.) p Trcmahie ; or, the Man of liefinmient, 1825 (1,500 copies sold in 6 weeks) ; De Vere ; or, ihc Man of Indc' licndcncc, 1827, and other novels and law books. "Warner, ^Vllliam, 1558-1609. Poet and lawyer. (Eliza- beth.) m Alhions Englancl, Pt. I. 158G ; Pts. I. and II. 1589 ; in 1602 the lu-st comploto cd. in 13 Lks., while in 1606 appeared .a ' Continvance.' p iV« his Syrinx [1584], an incorrect ed., called in 1597 Sijrin.r ; or, A keiienfold Historie, &c. [The ' Albion's Eng- land ' is in Chalmers iv.] IVarren, Hon. J. B. Xi., Lord de Tabley, 1835-1895. Poet. (Victohia.) d PMloctetes, a metrical drama, 1866 ; The Soldier of Fortune, a tragedy, 1876. m Rehearsals, 1870, and Searching the Net, 1873 ; Poems and dramatic pieces, 1893. [The Contemporary, Jan. 1896, has an article by Edmund Gosse.] "Warren, Samuel, D.C.L., 1807 1877. Novelist. (Victoria.) p Passages from the Diary of a Late Physician, 1837 (still repr.) ; Ten thousand a year, 1841, the first ed. sold in 2 or 3 weeks (still repr.) ; liow and then, 1847 (1st ed. sold in 2 days) ; The Lily and the Bee, an Apologue of the Crystal Palace, 1851. ['Works,' 1854- 1855.] -Watson, Klcbard, D.D., 1737-1816. Bishop of Llandaff. (George III.) p An Apology for Christianity, 1776. A series of letters to Gibbon, who terms him the 'most candid of my adver- s.aries,' and praises his ' keen and well-tempered 'weapon.' Also other works, theological and chemical. MtTatson, Thomas, 1557-1592. English and Latin poet. (Elizabeth.) m The 'E-Karo^nraBia, or, a Passionate Centurie of Loue, 1582 ; The Tears of Fancie (60 Sonnets), 1593. Both these, and two others, were repr. in Arber's Reprints, 1870. Amyntas, 1585, a L.itin poem, trans, by A. Fraunce, q.v. "Watts, Alarlc Alexander, 1799-1864. Poet and journalist. (George IV. to Victoria.) m Lyrics of the Heart, 1851, illustrated with line engravings. He edited several papers. ['Life,' with portraits, 1884.] VTatts, Isaac, D.D., 1674-1748. Nonconformist divine and liymn writer. (Anne to Geoiuje U.) p Logic, 1725 ; Improvement of the Mind, or Sujtplement to the Art of Logic (' Few books have been perused by me with greater pleasure,' Dr. Johnson), &c. &c. m Horce Lyricw, 1706; Hymns and Psalms, 1707-1719. These were the most popular publications of the last century. [' Poems,' Anderson ix., Chalmers xili. 'Works' often repr. from 1753 to 1824, 6 vols.] HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. oGl Webbe, 'William, fl. 1568-1586. Critic. (Elizabeth.) p A Discourse of English Poetrie, 1586. Eepr. in Arber's Eeprints, 1870. "Wells, Charles Teremlab, 1800 ?-1879. Poet. (George IV.) p Stories after Nature, 1822. d Joseph and his Brethren, ' by H. L. Howard,' 1824, a scriptural drama in 4 acts, repr. 1876 with an introduction by Swinburne. [See Afhe'namn, Apr. 18, 1876, and March 8, 1879 (Theodore Watts); the Academy, April 1879 (E. Gosse and others) ; and Swinburne's article in the Fortnightly, xxiii.] "Wesley, 7ohn, 1703-1781. Founder of the Methodists. (George II., George III.) p A Plain Account of the Peoide called Methodists, 1749; A Survey of the Wisdom of God in the Creation, 1763, &c. m Psalms and Hymns, with his brother Charles, 1738. "West, Gilbert, LL.D., 1705?-1756. Poet. (George II.) p Observations en the Uesurrection, 1747, often repr. and trans, m Trans, of the Odes of Pindar, 1749, with what Gibbon called a 'learned and judicious discourse on the Olympic games ' prefixed, [Poems in Anderson ix., Chalmers xiii. Reissued 1881.] "Wlietstone, Georgre, fl. 1576-1587. Poet and miscellaneous writer. (Elizabeth.) p An Heptameron of Civill Discourses, 1582, and four other works, m The EocJce of Eegard, 1576 (some prose), and six metrical 'Lives,' e.g. of Geo. Gaskoigne, Sir Phillip Sidney, &c., four of which were repr. in 1816. d History e of Promos and Cassandra, 1578, often repr. on account of its relation to Shakespeare. >S£ep. 251,No. W. "Wblston, -William, 1667-1752. Theologian, translator, &c. (William UI. to George II.) p A New Theory of the Earth, 1696 ; Essay on the Revelation of St. John, 1706; Primitive Christianity revived, 1712 (this excited much comment). His Trans. ofJosephus, 1737, is still circulated. Memoirs (by himself), 1749-1750. [Gibbon called him an 'honest, pious visionary,' and Macaulay said that ' he believed in everything but the Trinity.'] White, Rev. Gilbert, 1720-1793. Naturalist. (George III.) p Natural History of Sclborne, 1789, a fascinating work, continually repr. -White, Henry Xirke, 1785-1806. Poet. (George III.) m Clif- ton Grove, and other poems, 1803. Southey edited White's Remains, 1807, with a ' Life ; ' a ' Life and Correspondence ' appeared 1856. -Wbltefield, Ceorgre, 1714-1770. Founder of the Calvinistic Methodists. (George II., George IH.) JF^rAs, 1771-72, including sermons, letters, and memoir. [Southey said, 'powerful preacher as he was . . . his written compositions are nearly worthk-ss.'] -Whitehead, -William, 1715-1785. Poet laureate. (GeorgeIL, 3G2 HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE. George III.) m Poems, given in Chalmers xvii. and Anderson xi, d The Romcui Father, 1750, a tragedy, often rcpr. ; Creuga, a suc- cessful tragedy, founded on tlie Ion of Euripides, 1734 ; a successful comedy, The School for Lovers, 1762, &c. ; Tlai/s and Poems, 1774. [He succeeded Colley Gibber as Laureate.] IVbltelock, Bulstrode, 1G05-167C. Historical writer, &c, (CoMMONWK.vLTii, CiiAELKS II.) p Mciuorials of EnfiUih Affairs (1625-1G60), pr. posthumously 1682, no complete ed. till 1732; repr. Oxford, 1853. [IIo was Cromwell's ambassador to Sweden, and published an account of his visit. He was Speaker in 1556.] "Whitgrift, Tobn, 1533?-1604. Archbishop of Canterbury. (EuzAUETii.) p Works, collected by the Parker Soc, 3 vols., 1851- 1853. 'Life' by John Strype, 1718, repr. 1822. Dean Hook's Lives of the Archbishops of Cantcrbwi-y, x. The Atheiice Cantabri- gicnses ii. 369-79 gives a list of 91 works. 'Wllbcrfoi'ce, William, M.P. Slavery abolitionist. (George III. to William IV.) p Practical View of Christianitif, 1795, 5 ed. in six months ; trans, into most European languages. Burko read it on his deathbed. Repr. in Ancient and Modern Lib. of Theolog. Lit. 1888. [' Life,' by his sons, 1838.] Wilklns, Georere, fl. 1608. (James I.) p The Painfull Ad ven- tures of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1608, founded on the play of Pericles. Repr. by Prof Moiiimsen, 1857. This Wjlkins is usually called 'the Younger;' and lo another (?), said to have died 1C03, are assigned: d The Miseries of Ivforst Mariage. 1C07, repr. Hazlitt's Dodslnj; and The Trarailes of the three Evglish Brothers, 1607, an liistorical play \vr. wiili W. Rowley and .T. Day {q.v.). "Williams, Sir Charles Banbury, 1709-1759. Diplomatist and poet. (George II.) m Poems, 1763; Odes, 1775. 'Works,' with notes by H. Walpole, 1822. [He wrote lively lampoons and political squibs in support of Sir R. Walpole, and was Minister at Rerlin and St. Petersburg.] r "Willobie ("Willoueliby), Henry, 1575-1596? Poet. (Elizauktii.) m Willuhic his Aviso, 1594, repr. by Grosart, 1880. There is much doubt as to the existence of any real Willobio. ■VWlimot, Robert, fl. 1568-1619. Dramatist and clergyman. (Er.izAitKTH.) d The Tragedie of Tailored and Gisvnnid, 1591. Repr. Hazlitt's Podalnj, vii. R. W. wrote act v. and ' polished ' the whole. Sec Hazlitt's preface. "Wilson, Arthur, 159G-1652. Historian and dramatist. (James I. to Co.mmii.nwe.\itii.) p Ilistvri/ of Great Britain (i.e. of i HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 363 the reign of James I.), 1653. d The Iiiconstant Lady, pr, in 1814: by Dr. Ph. Bliss. Two plays are still unpublished. VTlIson, Jobn, d. circa 1696. Dramatist. (Chaeles II.) d Androiii'.its Covmcnius, a tragedy, 1664 ; The Cheats, a comedy, 1664 (wr. 1662); The Frojeciors, a comedy, 1668; Belphegor, a tragi-comedy, 1691. All repr. in Dramatic Worlcs, 1874, with alisfc of other works in the Introduction. "Wilson, Robert, fl. 1584 ?-1600. Dramatist. (Elizabeth.) d The CoblersTrophesie, 1594; The three Ladies of London, 1584; Three Lords and Three Ladies of London, both ' by E, \V.,' repr. in Hazlitt's Bodsley vi. and attributed by him to E. Wilinot. 'Wilson, Sir Tbomas, 1520?-1581. Muster of St, Catharine's Hospital. (Ed^waed VI. to Elizabeth.) p The Hide of Reason, conteining the Arte of Logique, 1551, one of the earliest works of the kind. It alludes to Ralph Roister Leister (see p. 48) fifteen years before it was published. The Arte of Rhetoi-ique, 1553, our earliest work on criticism. V^inifred. See Boniface. V^ireker, Nigel, xii. cent. Satirist. (Heney II., Eiciiajid I.) m Speculian Stultorum. A satire on the schoolmen, churclimen, and monastic orders of the day. The hero, Brunellus (a diminutive of Broun) is an Ass, and the 3,800 lines of Latin elegiacs are often referred to under that name, e.g. in Chaucer's Konne Preesfes Tale, 1. 492. The author is said to have been Precentor in the Benedictine Monastery at Canterbury about 1200. The work was primed 1473. VTolcott, John, M.D. ('Peter Pindar'), 1738-1819. Satirist. (Geoege III.) About 70 publications, m Poems, 1778. Collected editions, 1789-1792, «S:c. [Scott calls him 'the most unsparing calumniator of his time ; ' with Burns he was a favourite and ' a glorious follow.'] "Wolfe, Rev. Charles, 1791-1823. Poet. (George III.) m Burial of Sir Jnhn Moore, which, with fifteen sermons, letters, poems, and memoir, appeared in his Remains, 1825. Wollstonecraft, SSary (Mrs. Godwin), 1759-1797. (Geoege III.) p Thoughts on the Education of Daughters, 1787 ; Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792 (latest ed. 1892); Original Stories, 1791, often repr. Her Letters to Lnlagwevc repr. and cdittd, 1878, by C. Kegan Paul, author of a Life of Godwin. 'Life ' in the Eminent Womc7i Series. "Wood, Anthony a, 1632-1695. Antiquary. (Chaeles II.) p Hisioria et Antiquitates Universiiatis Oxotiiensis, 1674 ; Athens Oxonicnses, 1691-1692, a very valuable account of eminent Oxford oG4 HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERAIURE. students. The 1813-1820 ed. in 4 vols. (ed. Ph. Bliss) contains over 2,200 lives. 'Worsley, Philip Stanbope, d. 18G6. Translator. (Victoria,) m Pocyjis and Translations, 1863; Trans, of the Odysseij, 1861-62, repr. 189o; the Iliad, 1865. [Matthew Arnold said the Odyssey ■was ' delightful to read,' and ' the most pleasing of those hitherto produced.'] "Wotton, Rev. ■William, 1666-1726. Savant. (^V'^^lliam III.) p Ecflectio7is on Aiicient and Modem Learning (Boyle and Bentley controversy), 1694. [At five years he could translate from Hebrew, Greek, and Latin into English. He was B.A. at Cambridge at twelve years five months, and then knew twelve languages.] Toungr, Bartholomew, d. 1621. Translator. (Elizabeth.) p Trans, of book iv. of Guazzo's Cluile Conversation, 1586 {see Pettie, who did i.-iii.) ; Montemayor's Diana, from Spanish, 1598 {see p, 295, No. II.) GENERAL INDEX. [This ludex contains the names of all the Authors mentioned in the Handbook and Appendices (pp. 1-364). It contains also most of the titles of the principal works of those Authors who are mentioned in the Handbook (pp. 1-264).] ABO A B.C., The 35 Absalom and Achilophel, 105 Absentee, The, 183 Abuses Stript and Whipt, 79 Achilophel Transprosed, 105 Adam, Jean, 300 Adam Scrivener, 35 Adams, Sarah Flower, 306 Adams, Thomas, 306 Addison, Joseph, 135 Adonnis, 177, 178 Adventurer, Tlie, 130 Adventures of an Atom, The, 111 iElfric, 14 A^neid, Bishop Douglas's, 45 — Dryden's, 106 A'jathos,ihi Aidsto li-fle.ction, 170 Aikiii, Lu-y, 306 Ainsworth, William Uanisou, 21G, 3U6 Ainl, Thomas, oU7 Akciitide, Murk, 1;G Alnstor, 177 Alciphron, 133 Alcuiu, 9 AMliolm, 9 AMrcd, the glotiiutur, :!u7 Alexander, AVilliHUi, 3 >7 Alexander's I'cnsI, lOtJ AU'ord, Hcury, 1!16, 307 Ali'iol of Beverley, 30" . — Traublutious of King, 12 Alison, Archibald, .^07 — Sir Archibald, 212 ART AUiugham, WDliam, 240 Alliteration, 5 Allott, Robert, 307 Alma, 122 Amelia, 140 America, History of, Robertson's, 150 Amory, Thomas, 307 Analogy of Religion, The, 152 Anatomy of Melancholy, The, 74 Ancient and Modern Learning, Jiscny on, 08 Ancient Mariner, Rime of T/te, 169 A7icren Riicle, The, 27 Andrewes, Lancelot, 307 Anelida and Arcite, 35 Anglo-Norman Romances, 2S Anglo-Saxon, 2 — or .'ia.ron Chronicle, The, 14, 270 Annals of the Parish, The, 139 Annus Jlirubilif, 103 Ausclm, 21 Austcy, Christoplior, 12i; Apologiefor Poelri<:, The, 63 Apparition of Mrs. Veal, Th', 129 Arbuthuot, Dr. John, 131 Arcadia, The, 52 Archbishop l'arl;er's Ijihle, 75 Arenpagitica, 85 Armin, Robert, 308 Armstrou?, Johu, 30^ Arnold, Matthew, 23'), 2G'J — Thomas, 210 Arthur, King, and the Round Table, ^7-^ Arthurian Ronl!lnoe^■, Tli'\ 20 366 INDEX. ASC Aschara, Koger, 60, 284 Ashmole, Elias, 3G8 Asser, Bishop, 13 Astraa lieduj; 103 Aitrophel and Stella, 62 Atherstoue, Edwin, 308 Attcrbury, Francis, 152 ^ubrey, Jolin, 308 Aungerville, Kichard, 308 Aurora LHjh, 196 Austen, Jane, 184 Austin, Uenry, 308 — Sarah, 308 Authorised Version of the Scriptures, The, 75 Avesbury, Robert of, 308 Ayenhiteof Inicyt, The, 27 Aylmer, John, 308 Ayrshire Legatees, The, 180 Aj-ton (or Aj-toun), Sir Robert, 3o3 Aytoun, William Edmonstoue, 196 TiABBLER, 77i<', 130 Bacon, Francis, 71 —Roger, 22 Ba;da, 9 — ' Death Song ' of, 4 Bage, Robert, 309 Bagehot, Walter, 258, 309 Baillie, Joanna, 192 Bain, Alexander, 252 Baker, Sir Richard, 309 Baldwin, William, 62, 3mO Bale, John, 309 Ballenden, or Ballantyne, John, 311 Banim, John, 309 Barbauld, Anna Latitia, 309 Barbour, John, 32 Barclay, John, 309 — Robert, 98, 310 Bard, The, 124 Barham, Richard Harris, 310 Barklay, Alexander, 4 1 Barnahy Rtidgr, sni Barnaril, Laily Anne, 310 Barnes, Barnabc, 310 — William, 23d Barnfield, Richard, 310 Barrow, Isaac, 98 Ba'rlbn, Bernard, 310 EOR Bastard, Thomas, 310 Battle of Brmianburh, 77i», 12, 267 — of Mai don, Tlie,V2 — of the Books, The, 1;;0 Bai-iad, The, 160 Baxter, Richard, 9!^ Beattic, James, 126 Beaumont, Francis, G8 — Sir John, 311 Beckford, William, 143 Becou, Thomas, 311 Beddoes, Thomas Lovell, 311 Bees, Fable of th'. The, 1 34 Beggar's Opera, The, 123 Behemoth, 92 Behn, Aphra, or Afra, oil Bellendeu, John, 311 Bentham, Jeremy, 189 Bentley, Richard, 311 Beowulf, 6, 10, 266 Beppo, 175 Berkeley, Tteorge, 133 Bemers, Juliana, 311 — Lord, 46 Bcveridge, William, 312 Beverley, Peter, 312 Bevis of Hampton, 28 Bible, Translations of the, 45 Biographia Literaria, 170 Birch, Dr. Tliomas, 312 Bishopi' Bill,; Th,\ 75 Blacklock, Thomas, 312 Blackmoro, Sir Richard, 120 Blackstoiie, Sir William, 151 Blackwood's Mdgaziiie, 192 Blair, Dr. Hugli, 312 — Robert, 126 Blake, William, 312 Bleak House, 200 Blenerhassct, Thomas, 313 Blcssington, Lady, 312 Blind Harry, 312 Bloomficld, Robert, 172 Bodenham, John, 313 Boethius, o6 Bolingbrokc, Viscount, 131 Boniface, St. (Winifred), 313 Book of Snobs, The, 203 — of the Duchetsp, The, 35 Borough, Th'\ 159 Borron, H(?Iio de, 21 — Robert, or Roble'rs, d^, 20, 26 i INDEX. 367 BOB Borrow, George, 259 Boston, Thomas, 313 Boswell, James, 148 Boswortli, Joseph, 260 Botanic Garden, The, 160 Bolhie of Toher-na-Vuolkh, The, 197 Boucicault, Dion, 263 Bourne, Vincent, 158 BoTvles, Caroline, 168 — "William Lisle, 164 Boyle and Bentley Coutrovcr.iy, The, 130 Boyle, Charles, 313 — Robert, 9D — Roger, 313 Bravo of Venice, The, 183 Breton, Nicholas, 313 Brewer, John Sherreu, 251 Bre'^vster, Sir David, 216 Bride of Abydos, The, 174 Bridges, Dr. John, 314 Brimley, George, 314 Britannia, 74 Britons, History of thf, 19 Broke (Brooke), Arthur, 314 Brome, Alexander, 314 Bronte, Ann, 206 — Charlotte, 206 — Emily, 206 Brooke, or Broke, Arthur, 314 — Henry, 1 13 Broome, or Brome, Richard, 314 — William, Ufi Brougham, Henry, Lord, lyi Brown, Oliver Madox, 314 — Thomas (irumourist), 314 — Thomas (rhilosophor), 180 Browne, Isaac Hawkins, 314 — Pir Thomas, 93 — William, 314 Browning, ElinabctU Barrett, lUj — Robert, 231 Bruce, Michael, 314 Brnnanhurh, Battle of, Th", 12, 267 Bruuue, Robert of, 26, 273 Bruutou, Mary, 315 Brim (Bruce) Tlie, 32 Brut (Brutus), Tlie, of L.iyaiuou, 25 Bryant, Jacob, 315 Buchanan, George, 315 Btfcklngham, Dukfe of (JIulgraYe), 345 CAS Buckle, Henry Thomas, 213 Budgell, Eustace, 315 Bull, George, 315 Bullein, William, 315 Bunyan, John, 95 Burke, Edmund, 149 Burnet, Gilbert, 315 Burnet, Thomas, 99 Biu-ney, Fanny, 143 BuruB, Robert, 161 Burton, Robert, 74 Bury, Richard, 315 Butler, Joseph, 153 — Samuel, S9 Byrom, John, 315 Byron, Henry James, 263 — Lord, 174 C^DMON, 10 Csdmon's ' Hymn,' 4 Calamy, Edmund, 315 Calderwood, David, 315 C'aleh Williams, 183 Citll to the Unconverted, 9S Calverley, Charles Stuart, 239, 316 Oamdeu, William, 74 Campaign, The, 135 Campbell, Dr. George, 316 — Thomas, 171 Campion, Edmund, 316 — Thomas, 310 Candidate, Tho, 159 Canterbury Tales, Tl,f, CI, 36 Capgravc, John, 310 Captain Simjleton, 128 Oarew, or Carey, Lady IClizabeth, 316 — Richard, 316 — Thomas, 80 Carey, Heury, 310 Carleton, William, 317 Carlyle, Thomas, 247, 251, 259 Carruthers, Robert, 317 Carte, Thomas, 317 Carter, Elizabeth, 317 Cartwright, Thomas, 317 — William, 101 Gary, Henry Francis, 317 Casa Oiiidi Windoics, 193 Castara, 80 Cdttte Sf ir(dolerite. The, 124 368 INDEX. CAS Castle of Olranto, The, 143 — Raekrent, 183 Caudle Lectures, The, 219 Cn\ise and Effect, ligation of. The, 189 Cavalier, Memoirs of a, 128 Cavendish, George, 317 Caxton, William, 43 CoJiotis, Tlie, 197 Cecilia, 143 Cetici, The, 177 Centlivre, Susaima, :il7 Chace, The, 12 'J CbalkliiU, Jobu, SI7 Chalmers, Thomas, 100 Cliambcrlayne, 'William, 318 Chamber-;, Robert, 262, 318 — William, 262 Chamier.Capt. F., 189 Chapman, George, 57, 67 Characteristics, 134 Characters (Butler's), 90 — (Overbury's), 74 Charles V., 150 Charles O'Afalley, 20G Cliatterton, Tliomas, 125 Chancer, Geoffre}', 32 Chaucer Societti, The, 32 Chcke, Sir Jolui, 47 Cherry, Andrew, 318 Clicster, Robert, 318 Chester Series of Plays, 58 Chesterfield, Lord, 318 Chettle, Henry, 318 Child, Sir Josiah, 318 Childc Harold's I'iUjrimage, 174 rhilliugworth, William, 98 Chivalrouii Romances, The, 19 Ohrestieu de Troycs, 21 Christifin Hero, The, 135 Christianity, History of. The, 213 — Latin, History of, The, 213 Christmas Carol in t'rose, 4, 201 Christ's Victory and Triumph, 66 Chronicles of Lnjland, Ireland, and Scotland, 74 fhrymU H3 Churchill, Charles, 125 Church l/istoru nf Urilaui, '.i3 Churchyard, Thomas, 62, 319 Chute, Anthony, :!1 9 Cibber, Colley, 152 Citizen of the World, The, U\ CON City of the Plague, The, 193 City Poems, 196 Cirili:ntion, History of. Vie, 213 Clare, John, 181 Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of, 93 Clarissa, 138 Clarke, Charles Cowdcn, 261 — Dr. Samuel, 319 rievelaud, John, 81 Clifford, William Kingdon, 253 Clough, Arthur Hugh, 197 Oobbett, William, 191 Cocletis ill Search of a Wife, 183 Cokaiii, or Cokayue, Sir Aston, 319 Colasterion, 85 Colenso, Bishop John William, 254 Coleridge, Hartley, 170, 181 — Samuel Taylor, 169 — Sara, 170 Colin Clout's come home again, 55 Collier, Jeremy, 111 — John Payne, 261 Collins, William, 124 — William Wilkie, 247 Colniau, George, 136, 163 Colonel Jack, 128 Colton, Charles Caleb, 319 Columbn, St., 319 Combe, George, 319 Comedy, the first (Palfh Roister Poister), 59 Comic Dramatists of the Restoration, The, 109 Coming Race, The, 198 Complaint, The; or, Night Thoughts, 123 Complaynt of the King's Papingo, 45 Complcat Angler, The, 94 Complint to his Lady, 35 Complete English Tradesman, The, 128 C mpltytit of Mars, The, 3fi — of fen us. The, 35 CompUynte unto Pile, So (■««)/ >/s, 82, 87 Conduct of the i'ndersiandtiig, The, 97 Confesiio Amovtif, 31 Cougrcve, William, 110 Conington, John, 319 Connoisseur, The, 136 Constable, ITenry, 319 Constitutional History of England, ' Hanam'f, 190 INDEX. 369 Cooper, Antliouy Ashley, Earl of Shaftesbury, 134 Cooper, Bishop Thomas, 320 Cooper's Hill, 80 Corbet, Richard, 320 Corsair, The, 174 Coryat, Thomas, 320 Colter's Saturday Night, The, 163 Cotton, Charles, 94 — Nathaniel, 320 Count Julian, 180 Country Mouse and City Mouse, The, 106 Course of Time, The, 181 Coventry Series of Plays, 58 Coverdale, Miles, 46, 320 Cowley, Abraham, 78 — Hannah, 192 Cowper, William, 156 Coxe, William, 320 Crabbe, George, 159 Craik, George LiUie, 219 — Mrs., 246 Cranmer, Archbishop, 320 Cranmer's Sible, 75 Crashaw, Eichard, 79 Crawford, Robert, 320 Creation, The, 126 Creech, Rev. Thomas, 320 Creed, Exposition of the, 93 Criticism, Essay on, 114 Croker, John Wilson, 321 — Thomas Crofton, 321 Croly, Rev. George, 321 Crowne, John, 321 Cruise of the Midge, The, 189 Cudworth, Ralph, 90 Cumberland, Richard, 152, 321 Cunningham, Allan, 321 — Peter, 321 Curse of Kehama, Tfie, 1C8 Cursor Mundi, 27 Cyder, 126 Cynewulf, 10 •^ Dance of the Seiii) Deidhj Syiinis, Tlie, 45 Danes, 16 Daniel, Samuel, 6G DIS Dan Michel of Northgate, 27 D'Arblay, Madame, 143 Dark Lady, 169 Darley, George, 321 Darnley, 189 Darwin, Charles, 255 — Erasmus, ICO Davenant, Sir William, 101 Davenport, Robert, 32X David CopperfMd, 200 Davideis, The, 78 David Simple, 143 Davies, John, of Hereford, 821 — Sir John, 56 Davison, Francis, 322 Day, John, 322 — Tliomas, 322 De Cive, 92 Defensio pro Populo Anglicano,8i — Secunda, 85 De Foe, Daniel, 127 Dekker, Thomas, 67 De laude Virginitatis, 8 Della-Cruscans, The, 160 De Lolme, John Louis de, 323 Denham, Sir John, 80 Dennis, John, 322 De Quiucey, Thomas, 217 De Uegimine Principum, 41 De Iteligione Gentilium, 74 Descriptive Sketches, 163 De Tabley, Baron, 322 Dethe of Blaunche, The, 35 Deutsch, Emmanuel, 322 De Veritate, 74 Devil, History of the. The, 128 Dialogue between the Body and the Soul, 27 the Ctrl and the Nighiingale, 27 Dialogues, Platonic, 215 Dibdin, Charles, 323 Dickens, Charles, 199 Novels of, 199 Dickenson, John, 323 Dictionary of the English Language, Johnson's, 117 Directions to Servants, 132 Discussions on Philosophy and Ziterih lure, 21_ Dispensary, The, 126 Disraeli, Bcnjamlii, Hail of JBcacou* field, 2H) BB 370 INDEX. DI3 Disraeli, Isaac, 323 Disserlalions and Discussions, 214 Divine Legation of ^foses, The, 152 'Divorce ' Tracts, Milton's, 85 Doboll, Sydney Thompson, 323 Doctor, The, 168 Doddridge, Dr. Philip, 323 Dodsley, Robert, 323 Dombey and Son, 200 Don Juan, 175 Donne, John, 56 Dorset, Charles Sackville, Earl of, 91 — Thomas Sackville, Earl of, 51 Douglas, Gavin, 45 Dramatic I'ocsy, Essaij of, 103 Dramatic Writers, The Early, 43 Drant, Thomas, 323 Drapier's Letters, Tlie, 131 Drayton, Michael, 56 Dreme, The, 45 Drummond, William, 57 Dryden, John, 102 Dugdale, Sir William, 323 Du Maurier, George, 246 Dunbar, William, 45 Duncan Cam2>hell, 128 Dunciarl, Tlie, 118 Duns Scotus, 22 D'Urfey, Thomas, 324 Dyer, John, 128 — Sir Edward, 324 EADMER, 23 Earle, John, 99 Early English, 3 Ecclesiastica, JHstoria, 9 Ecclesiastical I'olity, Laws of, The, 70 — Sonnets, 16S Eddius Stophanns, 13 Edgeworth, Maria, 183 Edinburgh /.'-i //•«•. The, 191 Kdirard V., Life of, 4C Edwards, Illclmrd, 32 1 — Thomas, 324 Eikon liasUiki, 85 Eikonoclasles, 85 Elegy in aCouyitry Churcliyard, 7^<',124 Elephant in the Moon, The, 90 Elia, Essays of, 171 Eliot, George, 241 EUB Elizabethan Theatre, The, 69 Elliot, Jane or Jean, 324 Elliott, Ebenezer, 324 Ellwood, Thomas, 324 Eloisa to Abelard, 118 Elyot, Sir Thomas, 47 Emma, 184 Endymion, 178 England, History of (Hume's), 150 (Macaulay's), 209 England's Helicon (Bodeuham), 266 English, The Coming of the, 1 — Periods of, 3 n English Dards and Scotch Jtevietcers, 174 English Humourists (xviii. cent.). The, 206 English Language, Dictionary of the, Johnson'.s, 147 Kiiglish language. Progress of the, 17, 29,50 Englishman, Tlie, 136 English Poetry, Essay on, Campbell's, 172 Warton's, 124 Entail, The, 189 Enthusiasm, History of, 216 Envoy to Scogan, 3C — to Button, 36 ICpicurean, The, 173 Epipsychidion, 177 EpistoUv Ho-Eliance, 99 Erceldoune, Stomas of, 325 Erigcna, John Scotus, 9 Erskine, Ebenezer, 325 — Ralph, 325 Esmond, 204 Essayists, The, 134 Essay on Human Under stantling, Tha, 97 — on ifan. The, 119, 120, 152 — on Translated Verse, 91 Essays (Bacon's), 73 — (Cowley's), 78, 91 — (Macaulay's), 208 — iforal and Political, 150 Etliehvard, 13 Etlierege, Sir George, 109 Eucharistiea, 216 Eujhiies, C9 Euphuism, 69 Euroi>e, History of, 21 J INDEX. 371 ECR Europe durhifj the Middle Ayes, 190 £ve of fit. Arjnes, The, 179 Evelina, 143 Evelyn, John, 95 Ecergiene, The, 12G Evidences of C'hrisliani/ II, The, 190 Examiner, The, 136 Excursion, The, 160 ExTOACTS, List of, X J^ABER, Frederick William, 325 - FaUes (Gay's), 122 — The (Drydeu's), lOG Fohliaux, 19 Fabyan, Robert, 325 Faery Queene, The, 53, 5 1 Fairfax, Edward, 57, 326 Falconer, Robert, 126 Fall of Robespierre, The, 1C9 Falls of Princes, The, 41 Family Instructor, The, 128 Fanaticism, History of, 216 Fansbawe, Sir lliohard, 325 Farmer, Dr. Ricbard, 326 Farmer's Boy, The, 172 Farqubar, George, 111 Fawcett, Henry, 257 Feltham, Owen, 99 Fen ton, Elijab, 116 Ferdinand Count Fathom, 141 Ferguson, Adam, 326 — Eobert, 127 Ferrers, George, 52 Ferrex and I'orrex (Gorhoduc), 59, CI Ferrier, Susan Edmonstone, 320 Field, Natlianiel, 320 Fielding, Henry, 139 — Sarab, 143 Fight at Finneshurg, The, 4, 8 Filmer, Sir Robert, 326 Fisber, Edward, 326 — Jobn, 326 FitzGcffrey, Cbarlcs, 326 Fitzgerald, Edward, 238 Flecknoc, R., 105 Fleece, The, 126 Fletcher, Andrew, of Saltomi, 320 — Giles, 56, 328 — Jobn, 03 m- Fliiucas, 58 GEM Florence of Worcester, 327 Florio, Jobn, 75 Floris and Blanchefleur, 23 Flytiiig, 45 Foe, De, Daniel, 127 Folios, Shakespeare's, 64, 05 Fool of Quality, The, 143 Foote, Samuel, 152 Footprints of the Creator, The, 216 Ford, Jobn, 68 Fordun, John, 327 Forster, John, 253 Fortescue, Sir John, 42 Foster, John, 327 Four Georges, The, 205 Fox, George, 98 Fox and the Wolf, The, 27 Foxe, John, 327 Francis, Sir Philip, lol Frankenstein, 183 Fraunce, Abraham, 327 Freeholder, The, 137 Freeman, Edward A., 250 Freirs of Dericick, The, 45 French Metrical Romances, English versions of, 27 Frere, John Hookham, 181 Friend, The, 170 Frisians, The, 2 Froude, James Anthony, 250 — Richard Hurrell, 253 Fuller, Thomas, 93 GAGER, WiUiam, 327 Gaimar, Geffirai, 24 Gale, Theophilus, 327 Gait, Jobn, 189 Gammer Gurto)i's Needle, 01 Garrick, David, 152 Garth, Samuel, 126 Gascoigiie, George, 51, 01 Gaskfll, Elizabeth, 207 Gast, Luces du, 20, 25 Gauden, Bishop, 85 Onicain, Sir, and the Oreen Knight, 28 Gay, John, 122 Gehir, 180 Genesis and Exo his, 27 Geneva Bible, The, 283 G^ntU Shei'herd, The, 128 IS C S 372 INDEX, GEO rcofTrcy of Monmoutli, 23 — lie Vinsauf, 23 — the Grammarian, ":?S Ceralil de Barri, 2 J (I'fftnulepf Wijomiiii/, ITI Gervase of Tilbury, -'•"> Geste, or Gbcaste, Kdmuuil, S29 (tiaoiir, The, 174 Gibbou, Edward, . ■ Giflord, Humphre 328 — William, 161, 19i Gilbert, Sir Humplirey, 328 Gildoii, Cliarles, 328 Gillies, Dr. Jolin, 328 Giraldus Cambreiisis, 23 Clanville, RanaU do, 333 Glapthorne, Henry, 328 Glover, Richard, 328 Ood save the King, 317 Godwin, Bishop FraiK-is, 329 — William, 183 Golden age of English history, 51 Golding, Arthur, 57 Goldsmith, Oliver, 143 GolJitn Targe, The, 45 Gondibert, 101 Googe, Barnabe, 329 Gorhoduc {Ferrex and Porrex), 59, CI Gosse, Philip Henry, 257 Gossou, Steplicn, 62 Goulbuni, Edward Meyrick, 255 Gmemmeiit, Dixcuunes on, 100 Oooernor, The, 47 Gower, John, 31 Grace Abounding, 95 Grafton, Richard, 74 Grahame, James, 329 Grainger, James, 126 Granger, James, 329 Grave, The, 12, 209 — (Blair's), 12l3 Gray, David, 329 — Thomas, 124 Great JCxemplar, The, 98 Greece, J/istory of, Grote's, 211 Mitford's, 190 Green, John Richard, 250 — Matthew, 12C — Thomas Hill, 252 Greene, Robert, CI Grey, Arthur, 329 GriflRn, Bartholomew, 329 IT An Grimald, Nicholas, 43 Grongar Uill, 120 Grosstete, Robert, 25 Grote, George, 211 Gnivo, Matthew, 329 Giiiirdian, The, 130 Guest, Gheaste, or Gcate, Edmund, 329 — Edwin, 260 Guiana, Discovery of, 70 Ouilpin, Edward, 329 Gulliver's Travels, 131 Guthrie, Dr. Thomas, 329 Gup of Waricick, 28 Gijron le Courlois, 21 H ABINGDON, William, 80 Hailes, David Dalrymple, Lord, 330 Hake, Edward, 330 Hakluyt, Richard, 75, 330 Hale, Sir Matthew, 330 Hales, Alexander, 22 — John, 98 Halifa.x, Charles Montague, Earl of, 106 — George Saville, Marquis of, 330 Hall, Arthur, 330 — Edward, 330 — Joseph, 84, 98, 330 — Robert, 190 Hallam, Henry, 190 — Arthur Henry, 190, 223 Halli well-Phillips, James Orchard, S63 Halyburton, Thomas, 330 Hamilton, Anthony, 330 — Elizabeth, 331 — Janet, 331 — William (of Bangour), 331 — William (of Gilbtrtneld), 331 — Sir William, 216 llandeful of Pleasant Delitcs, 351 Ilandlyng Sijnne, 27 Handy Andy, 207 Hannay, James, 208 Hardyng, John, 331 Hare, Augustus William, 331 — Julius Charles, 331 Harington, Sir John, 331 Harman, Thomas, 331 llaruhl, 197 JIairiugtou, Jamci, lOQ INDEX. 373 HAR Harrington, Sir John, 57 Harris, James, 331 Harrison, William, 332 Harry Lorrequer, 206 Hartley, David, 332 Hathway, Richard, 332 Harvey, Gabriel, 53, 62 — William, 99 HavelocJc, 23 Hawes, Stephen, 43 Hawker, Robert Stephen, 332 Hawkesworth, Dr. John, 136, 332 Hayley, William, 332 Hayward, Abraham, 259 — Sir John, 332 Hazlitt, WiUiam, 191 Heber, Reginald, 181 Helps, Sir Arthur, 259 Hemans, Telicia Dorothea, 181 Henry and Emma, 122 Henry, Matthew, 332 — of Huntingdon, 23 Henryson, Robert, 45 Henry the Minstrel, 42 Herbert, George, 79 — Hon. and Rev. William, 332 — of Oherbury, Lord, 74 Hereford, Nicholas, 40 Here Prophecy, The, 25 Hermit, The, 126 Hero and Leander, 57 Herrick, Robert, 80 Herschel, Sir John, 21 Hervey, James, 332 — John, Lord, 3^3 J/experides, 80 Heyliu, Peter, 333 Heywood, John, 4H, 61 — Dr. Jasper, 333 — Thomas, 67 Higden, Ralph, 41 Higgius, John, 333 Hill, Aaron, 333 Hind and the Panther, Th", 105 Hisloria ccclesiaslica ijetUis Awjlovuin, 9 Historie of the Tuifi, The, 74 History of British India, The, 190 — Christianity, The, 213 — Civilisation, The, 213 — England, The (Hume'..), 150 (.Macaulaj's), 209 nuR History of Europe, The, 212 — Great Britain, Tlie, 74 — Greece, The (Crete's), 211 (Mitford's\ 190 — Squire Mcldrum, The, 45 — the Grand Rebellion, Tlie, 92 — the Jeus, The, 213 — the World, The, 70 Histrio-ilastix, 350 Hoadley, Dr. Benjamin, 393 Hobbes, Thomas, 92 Hofland, Barbara, 333 Hogg, James, 172 Holcroft, Thomas, 333 Holinshed, Raphael, 74 Holyday, Bartcu, 331 Holy Dying, 68 — Living, 98 — War, The, 9S Home, John, 152 Hood, Thomas, 194 Hook, Theodore, 189 — Walter Farquhar, 334 Hooker, Richard, 70 Hope, Thomas, 334 Horce Paulince, 190 Home, Dr. George, 334 Horsley, Bishop Samuel, 334 Houghton, Lord, 238 Hours of Idleness, 174 Hous of Fame, The, 35 Howard, Lt. Edward, 334 Howe, John, 334 Howell, James, 99 — Thomas, 334 Howitt, Mary, 334 — WiUiam, 334 Howson, John Saul, 235, 331 I/udibras, 89 Hugh of Rutland, 25 Hughes, John, 335 — Thomas, 246 Human Knowledge, Principles of, 13 — Life, 163 — Nature, Treatise on, 150 — Understanding, Essay on th", 97 Hume, or Home, Alexander, 335 — David, 150 Humphry Clinker, 141 Ilunnis, William, 335 Hunt, James Henry Leigh, ISO Ihird, Dr. Richard, 335 374 Hun Hurl of Sedition, The, 47 Hutcheson, Dr. Francis, 3D3 Hutchinson, Lucy, 335 Huxley, Thomas Henry, 252, So? INDEX. JDl UER, The, 136 Idylls of the King, The, 20 niad (Translations), 116, 158 n Penseioso, 83 Imaginary Conversations, 180 Inchbald, Elizabeth, 335 India, Ancient, Disquisition on, 150 Inductive Method, 72 — Sciences, History of the, 215 Philosophy of the, 215 Inn Yards, The Stage in, 59 Instauratio Magna, 72 Instructions for Forreine Travel, 99 Interludes, 48, 61 Ireland, William Henry, 335 Irish Melodies, 173 Isabella, 173 Isle of Palms, The, 193 Italy, 163 JACOB FAITHFUL, 189 ^ James I., 336 — of Scotland, 41 — G. P. R.,189 Jameson, Anna, 218 Jane Eyre, 206 Jeffrey, Francis, Lord, 191 Jerrold, Douglas, 219 — William Blanchard, 263 Jevons, William Stanley, 258 Jewell, John, 336 Jeus, History of the, The, 215 Joan of Arc, 1C3 John Dull, History of, 13t John Gilpin, Ballad of, 15Z John of^alisbury, 22 Johnson, Richard, 336 — Smnuel, 146 Johnston, Dr. Arthur, n:iO Johnstone, diaries, Mli Jolly Beggars, The, 163 Jonathan Wild, 140 Jones, Ebeu'^zcr, 836 LAU Jongleurs, 19 Jonson, Ben, 66 Jortin, Dr. John, 336 Joscclin de Brakelonda, 2t Joseph Andreirs, 139 Joseph d'Ariniathie, Itoman dc, 20 Joseph of Exeter, 23 Journal to Stella, 131, 133 Jowett, Benjamin, 260 Judith, 6 Julia de Rouhigni', 143 ' Junius,' 150 Jutes, The, 1 Juvenal (Drydeu's), 106 KAMES, Henry Home, Lord, 330 Kavanagh, Julia, 3:'.6 Kaye, Sir John William, 337 Keats, John, 178 Keble, Rev. John, 253, 337 Ken, or Kenn, Bishop Tlioni:is, 337 Kenclm Chillingly, 198 Killigrew, Thomas, 102, 337 King, Henry, 337 King Hart, 45 King Horn, 28 Kinglake, Alexander William, 250 Kingsley, Rev. Charles, 246 — Henr}-, 246 King's Oun, The, 189 King's Quhair, The, 11 Kitto, John, 215 Knight, Charles, 21S KnoUcs, Richard, 71 Knowles, Sheridau, 193 Knox, John, 337 Kj-d, Thomas, 61 TAD}' of the Late, The, 186 •" Laing, Malcolm, 337 « Lake School," The, 164 Lalla Rookh, 173 " -y,,. L' Allegro, 82 ,^, -^ .» Lamb, Cliavlos, 170,'. , ■ * Lambarde, William, 337 Lament for the Maiaris, 45 — ofDeor, 11 Lamia, 179 TXDEX. 375 LAX Lancelot du Lac, Roman de, 20 Land of Cockayne, The, 27 Lane, Edward William, 337 Landon, Letitia Elizabeth, 181 Landor, Walter Savage, 180 Lanfranc, 21 Langbaine, Gerrard, 338 Langliorue, Dr. John, 338 Langland, WUliam, 30 Laiigtoft, Peter Dc, 24 Language, English, Progress of the, 17, 20, 50 The old, 2 Langue d"Oc, 17 — d'Oyl, 17 Lara, 174 Lardner, Dr. Nathaniel, 338 Last Days of Pompeii, The, 197 Last of the Barons, The, 197 Latimer, Bishop Ilugh, 47 Law, Rev. William, 333 Laics of England, 151 La3amon, 25 Lay of the Last Minstrel, Tlie, 18G Lays of Ancient Rome, The, 210 — of the Scottish Cavaliers, 196 Lee, Harriet, 338 — Nathaniel, 108 — Sophia, 338 Lc Fanu, Joseph Sheridan, 203 Jjcgcnd of Florence, The, 180 — of Good l\''omeii, Thi\ 35 Legends and Lyrics, 196 — of the Madonna, 218 — of the Monastic Orders, ilS Lcighton, Robert, 338 Lclaud, John, 338 Lemon, Mark, 2o8 Lenno.x, Charlotte, 333 Leonine verse, 23 Leslie, Charles, 339 L'Estraugc, Sir Roger, ICO Letter to a Noble Lord, 143 Letters of Junius, 151 — on a Regicide Peaa; 149 Lever, Charles, 206 Novels of, 206 Levi, Leone, 253 Leviathan, 92 — Survey of the, 93 Lewes, George Henry, 252 • Lewis, Maltliew Ore^'ory, 183 MAC Lewis, Sir George Coraewall, 210 Leyden, John, 339 Liberty of Propfiesying, Discourse of the, 98 Liberty, On, 214 Library, The, 159 Liddon, Henry Parry, 255 Lightfoot, Bishop Joseph Barber, 254 Lillo, George, 339 Lines to his Purse, 36 Lingard, Dr. John, 339 Lister, Thomas Henry, 339 Literature of Europe, 190 Little, Thomas, Poems cf, 173 Lives (Walton's), 04 Lloyd, Robert, 339 Locke, John, 96 Locker- Lampson, Prederiek, "39 Loekhart, John Gibson, 192 Lodge, Thomas, 339 Lofft, Capel, 340 Logan, Rev. John, 340 Logic, Elements of, 215 — Systevi of, 214 London, 146 Lord of the Isles, The, 186 Lounger, The, 136 Lovelace, Richard, 81 Love of Fame, 123 Lover, Samuel, 207 Loves of the Angels, The, 173 Lucasla, 81 Lucrece, 63 Luttrell, Henry, 173 Lycidas, 83 Lydgate, Johu, 41 LycU, Sir Charles, 256 Lyly,John, 61, 69 Lyndsay, Sir David, 45 Lyrical Ballads, 165 Lytteltou, Lord, 340 Lytton, Lord, 197, 220 Novels of, 197 Plays of, 220 — (son, ' Owcu Meredith ') 240 lirAB/XOaWX, The, 21 ■^'-^ Macaulay, Mrs. Catharine, 310 Jlacauhiy, Lord, 208 Essiiys of, 208 376 INDEX. MAO M'CuUoch, John Ramsay, 310 MacFlecHiioe, 105 Mackay, Dr. Cliaries, 3 10 Mackeuzie, Henry, 143 — Sir George, 340 Mackintosh, Sir James, 190 Macklin, Cliarlcs, 152 Macpherson, James, 12C Madoc, 168 Mceviad, The, 160 Maginn, Dr. William, 311 Magnificence, 60 Mallet, or Mallocli, DaviJ, 341 Maloue, Edmund, 341 Jlalory, Sir Thomas, 21, 43, 281 Malthus, T. R., 190 JFandevill, Bernard dc, 134 — Sir John, 40, 275 Manfred, 175 Manley, Mary, 341 Mannyng, Robert, or Robert of Bninue, 26, 273 Man of Feeling, The, 143 — oflhe World, The, 143 Mansfield Park, 184 Map, or Mapes, Walter, 20, 22, 25 Markham, Gervase, 341 Marlowe, Cliristopher, 62 Marmion, 186 Marmion, Shackerley, 311 Slarryat, Fi-cdcriek, 189 Marston, John, 67 Martin Chuzzleuit, 200 Martineau, Harriet, 246, 252 Marvel, Andrew, 90 Mary Barton, 207 Masque, The first (Microcosmitt), 345 Massinger, Philip, 68 Maturin, Rev. Charles Robert, 311 Maurice, Frederick Denison, 216 Maxwell, William Hamiltou, 343 — Sir William Stirling, 342 May. Thomas, 312 — Sir Thomas Erskine, 251 Mayiic, Jasper, 342 — John, 342 Mazarin liiblc. The, 43 Mazeppa, 175 Medal, The, ino M'-liheii.i, 36 Mclmoth, William, 34 Melville, Sir James, 312 MOO Melville (MelvillJ, 348 Menestrels, 19 Mennes, Sir John, 313 Meres, Francis, 63, 343 Merivale, Charles, 250 Merlin, Uoman de, 20 Men-ick, James, 343 Merry, Robert, 160 Messiah, The, 116 Metaphysical Poets, 77 MeteyarJ, Eliza, 343 Micklc, William Julius, 363 Microcosmographie, 90 Middle English, 3, 30 Middle, Thomas, 67 Midshipman Easy, Mr., 189 Mill, James, 190 — John Stuart, 214 Miller, Hugh, 216 — Thomas, 343 Milman, Henry Hart, 213 Milues, Richard Monckton, Lord Houghton, 238 Milton, John, 82 Minot, Laurence, 27 Minstrel, The, 126 2\finstrelsy of the ScoUith Border, The, 185 Minto, William, 262 Minute Philosopher, The, 133 Miracle Plays, or Mysteries, 57 Mirror, The, 136 Mistress of Philarete, The, 80 Mistress, The, 78 Mitford, Mary Russell, 183 — William, 190 Modem English, 3, 50 Modest Proposal, A (Swift's), 133 Moir, David Macbeth, 196 Moll Flanders, 128 Monarchie, The, 45 Monboddo, James Bumct, Lord, 343 Monk, The, 182 Montagu, La