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border-bottom: thin dotted red;} + +.pagenum {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 90%; +font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-align: right; +text-indent: 0em;} +table.longtable span.pagenum {font-size: 100%;} + +div.mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em 1em; +margin: 1em 5%;} +p.mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: 1em; +margin: 1em 5%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 90%;} +div.mynote p {font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 90%;} +div.mynote a {text-decoration: none;} + +.contents {font-family: sans-serif; margin-left: 1.5em; text-indent: +-1.5em;} + +</style> +</head> + +<body> + +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Brief History of the English Language and +Literature, Vol. 2 (of 2), by John Miller Dow Meiklejohn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Brief History of the English Language and Literature, Vol. 2 (of 2) + +Author: John Miller Dow Meiklejohn + +Release Date: June 3, 2007 [EBook #21665] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class = "mynote"> +<p> +This e-text includes a few characters that will only display in UTF-8 +(Unicode) file encoding:</p> + +<p class = "inset"> +ā ă ē ŏ ī ĭ ŭ: vowels with “long” or “short” marks (macron and +breve)<br> +œ, ȝ: “oe” ligature; yogh +</p> + +<p> +If any of these characters do not display properly—in particular, +if the diacritic does not appear directly above the letter—or if +the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, +you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable fonts. First, make +sure that the browser’s “character set” or “file encoding” is set to +Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change your browser’s default +font.</p> + +<p>All Greek words were given in transliteration, and have not been +changed.</p> + +<p> +A few typographical errors have been corrected. They have been +marked in the text with <ins class = "correction" title = +"like this">mouse-hover popups</ins>. +</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>A BRIEF HISTORY</h3> + +<h6>OF THE</h6> + +<h2>ENGLISH</h2> + +<h1>LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE</h1> + +<p> </p> + +<h6>BY</h6> + +<h4>J. M. D. MEIKLEJOHN, M.A.</h4> + +<h6 class = "smallcaps">Professor of the Theory, History, and Practice +of Education<br> +in the University of St. Andrews, Scotland</h6> + +<p> </p> + +<hr> + +<p> </p> + +<h4 class = "extended">BOSTON</h4> + +<h5>D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS</h5> + +<h5>1887</h5> + + +<hr class = "mid spacer"> + + +<h6><i>Copyright, 1887,</i><br> +<span class = "smallcaps">By D. C. Heath & Co.</span></h6> + + +<hr class = "mid spacer"> + + +<span class = "pagenum">iii</span> +<!--png 003--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "notice" id = "notice"> +PUBLISHER’S NOTICE.</a></h4> + +<hr> + +<p>The present volume is the second part of the author’s “English +Language—Its Grammar, History, and Literature.” It includes the +History of the English Language and the History of English +Literature.</p> + +<p>The first part comprises the department of Grammar, under which are +included Etymology, Syntax, Analysis, Word Formation, and History, with +a brief outline of Composition and of Prosody. The two may be had +separately or bound together. Each constitutes a good one year’s course +of English study. The first part is suited for high schools; the second, +for high schools and colleges.</p> + +<p>The book, which is worthy of the wide reputation and ripe experience +of the eminent author, is distinguished throughout by clear, brief, and +comprehensive statement and illustration. It is especially suited for +private students or for classes desiring to make a brief and rapid +review, and also for teachers who want only a brief text as a basis for +their own instruction.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">v</span> +<!--png 005--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "preface" id = "preface"> +PREFACE.</a></h4> + +<hr> + +<p>This book provides sufficient matter for the four years of study +required, in England, of a pupil-teacher, and also for the first year at +his training college. An experienced master will easily be able to guide +his pupils in the selection of the proper parts for each year. The ten +pages on the Grammar of Verse ought to be reserved for the fifth year of +study.</p> + +<p>It is hoped that the book will also be useful in Colleges, Ladies’ +Seminaries, High Schools, Academies, Preparatory and Normal Schools, to +candidates for teachers’ examinations and Civil Service examinations, +and to all who wish for any reason to review the leading facts of the +English Language and Literature.</p> + +<p>Only the most salient features of the language have been described, +and minor details have been left for the teacher to fill in. The utmost +clearness and simplicity have been the aim of the writer, and he has +been obliged to sacrifice many interesting details to this aim.</p> + +<p>The study of English Grammar is becoming every day more and more +historical—and necessarily so. There are scores of inflections, +usages, constructions, idioms, which cannot be truly or adequately +explained without a reference +<span class = "pagenum">vi</span> +<!--png 006--> +to the past states of the language—to the time when it was a +synthetic or inflected language, like German or Latin.</p> + +<p>The Syntax of the language has been set forth in the form of <span +class = "smallcaps">Rules</span>. This was thought to be better for +young learners who require firm and clear dogmatic statements of fact +and duty. But the skilful teacher will slowly work up to these rules by +the interesting process of induction, and will—when it is +possible—induce his pupil to draw the general conclusions from the +data given, and thus to make rules for himself. Another convenience that +will be found by both teacher and pupil in this form of <i>rules</i> +will be that they can be compared with the rules of, or general +statements about, a foreign language—such as Latin, French, +or German.</p> + +<p>It is earnestly hoped that the slight sketches of the History of our +Language and of its Literature may not only enable the young student to +pass his examinations with success, but may also throw him into the +attitude of mind of Oliver Twist, and induce him to “ask for more.”</p> + +<p>The Index will be found useful in preparing the parts of each +subject; as all the separate paragraphs about the same subject will be +found there grouped together.</p> + +<p align = "right">J. M. D. M.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">vii</span> +<!--png 007--> + +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "contents" id = "contents"> +CONTENTS.</a></h4> + +<hr> + +<p class = "mynote"> +Italicized items were added by the transcriber. As explained in the +Publisher’s Notice, this text is the second of two volumes; pagination +was continuous, beginning at 193 for this volume.</p> + +<table class = "toc" summary = "table of contents"> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<h5><a href = "#partIII">PART III.</a></h5></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class = "number"><span class = "smallroman">PAGE</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIII_intro"> +<span class = "smallcaps">The English Language, and the Family to which +it belongs</span></a></td> +<td class = "number">193</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIII_chapI"> +<span class = "smallcaps">The Periods of English</span></a></td> +<td class = "number">198</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIII_chapII"> +<span class = "smallcaps">History of the Vocabulary</span></a></td> +<td class = "number">202</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIII_chapIII"> +<span class = "smallcaps">History of the Grammar</span></a></td> +<td class = "number">239</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIII_chapIV"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Specimens of English of Different +Periods</span></a></td> +<td class = "number">250</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIII_chapV"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Modern English</span></a></td> +<td class = "number">258</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIII_landmarks"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Landmarks in the History of the English +Language</span></a></td> +<td class = "number">266</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<h5><a href = "#partIV">PART IV.</a></h5> +<td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIV_chapI"> +<span class = "smallcaps">History of English Literature</span></a></td> +<td class = "number">271</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIV_chapI"> +<i>Our Oldest English Literature</i></a></td> +<td class = "number">271</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIV_chapII"> +<i>The Fourteenth Century</i></a></td> +<td class = "number">280</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIV_chapIII"> +<i>The Fifteenth Century</i></a></td> +<td class = "number">286</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIV_chapIV"> +<i>The Sixteenth Century</i></a></td> +<td class = "number">289</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIV_chapV"> +<i>The Seventeenth Century</i></a></td> +<td class = "number">298</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIV_chapVI"> +<i>The First Half of the Eighteenth Century</i></a></td> +<td class = "number">311</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIV_chapVII"> +<i>The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century</i></a></td> +<td class = "number">323</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIV_chapVIII"> +<i>The First Half of the Nineteenth Century</i></a></td> +<td class = "number">336</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIV_chapIX"> +<i>The Second Half of the Nineteenth Century</i></a></td> +<td class = "number">353</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#partIV_tables"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Tables of English Literature</span></a></td> +<td class = "number">367</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#index"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Index</span></a></td> +<td class = "number">381</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href = "#ads"> +<i>Publisher’s Advertising</i></a></td> +<td class = "number">Ad 1</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class = "spacer mid"> + +<div class = "maintext"> + +<span class = "pagenum">191</span> +<!--png 009--> + +<h4><a name = "partIII" id = "partIII"> +<span class = "extended">PART</span> III.</a></h4> + +<h4>THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE</h4> + +<hr class = "spacer mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">193</span> +<!--png 011--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIII_intro" id = "partIII_intro"> +INTRODUCTION.</a></h4> + + +<p><a name = "partIII_intro_sec1" id = "partIII_intro_sec1">1.</a> +<b>Tongue, Speech, Language.</b>—We speak of the “English tongue” +or of the “French language”; and we say of two nations that they “do not +understand each other’s speech.” The existence of these three +words—<b>speech</b>, <b>tongue</b>, <b>language</b>—proves +to us that a language is something <b>spoken</b>,—that it is a +number of <b>sounds</b>; and that the writing or printing of it upon +paper is a quite secondary matter. Language, rightly considered, then, +is an <b>organised set of sounds</b>. These sounds convey a meaning from +the mind of the speaker to the mind of the hearer, and thus serve to +connect man with man.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_intro_sec2" id = "partIII_intro_sec2">2.</a> +<b>Written Language.</b>—It took many hundreds of +years—perhaps thousands—before human beings were able to +invent a mode of writing upon paper—that is, of representing +<b>sounds</b> by <b>signs</b>. These signs are called <b>letters</b>; +and the whole set of them goes by the name of the +<b>Alphabet</b>—from the two first letters of the Greek alphabet, +which are called <i>alpha</i>, <i>beta</i>. There are languages that +have never been put upon paper at all, such as many of the African +languages, many in the South Sea Islands, and other parts of the globe. +But in all cases, every language that we know anything +about—English, Latin, French, German—existed for hundreds of +years before any one thought of writing it down on paper.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_intro_sec3" id = "partIII_intro_sec3">3.</a> +<b>A Language Grows.</b>—A language is an <b>organism</b> or +<b>organic existence</b>. Now every organism lives; and, if it lives, it +grows; and, if it grows, it also dies. Our language grows; it is growing +still; and it has been growing for many +<span class = "pagenum">194</span> +<!--png 012--> +hundreds of years. As it grows it loses something, and it gains +something else; it alters its appearance; changes take place in this +part of it and in that part,—until at length its appearance in age +is something almost entirely different from what it was in its early +youth. If we had the photograph of a man of forty, and the photograph of +the same person when he was a child of one, we should find, on comparing +them, that it was almost impossible to point to the smallest trace of +likeness in the features of the two photographs. And yet the two +pictures represent the same person. And so it is with the English +language. The oldest English, which is usually called Anglo-Saxon, is as +different from our modern English as if they were two distinct +languages; and yet they are not two languages, but really and +fundamentally one and the same. Modern English differs from the oldest +English as a giant oak does from a small oak sapling, or a broad +stalwart man of forty does from a feeble infant of a few months old.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_intro_sec4" id = "partIII_intro_sec4">4.</a> +<b>The English Language.</b>—The English language is the speech +spoken by the Anglo-Saxon race in England, in most parts of Scotland, in +the larger part of Ireland, in the United States, in Canada, in +Australia and New Zealand, in South Africa, and in many other parts of +the world. In the middle of the <b>fifth</b> century it was spoken by a +few thousand men who had lately landed in England from the Continent: it +is now spoken by more than one hundred millions of people. In the course +of the next sixty years, it will probably be the speech of two hundred +millions.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_intro_sec5" id = "partIII_intro_sec5">5.</a> +<b>English on the Continent.</b>—In the middle of the fifth +century it was spoken in the north-west corner of Europe—between +the mouths of the Rhine, the Weser, and the Elbe; and in Schleswig there +is a small district which is called <b>Angeln</b> to this day. But it +was not then called <b>English</b>; it was more probably called +<b>Teutish</b>, or <b>Teutsch</b>, or <b>Deutsch</b>—all words +connected with a generic word which covers many families and +languages—<b>Teutonic</b>. It was a rough guttural speech of one +or two thousand words; and it was brought over to this country by the +<b>Jutes</b>, <b>Angles</b>, and <b>Saxons</b> in the year 449. These +<span class = "pagenum">195</span> +<!--png 013--> +men left their home on the Continent to find here farms to till and +houses to live in; and they drove the inhabitants of the +island—the <b>Britons</b>—ever farther and farther west, +until they at length left them in peace in the more mountainous parts of +the island—in the southern and western corners, in Cornwall and in +Wales.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_intro_sec6" id = "partIII_intro_sec6">6.</a> +<b>The British Language.</b>—What language did the Teutonic +conquerors, who wrested the lands from the poor Britons, find spoken in +this island when they first set foot on it? Not a Teutonic speech at +all. They found a language not one word of which they could understand. +The island itself was then called <b>Britain</b>; and the tongue spoken +in it belonged to the Keltic group of languages. Languages belonging to +the Keltic group are still spoken in Wales, in Brittany (in France), in +the Highlands of Scotland, in the west of Ireland, and in the Isle of +Man. A few words—very few—from the speech of the +Britons, have come into our own English language; and what these are we +shall see by-and-by.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_intro_sec7" id = "partIII_intro_sec7">7.</a> +<b>The Family to which English belongs.</b>—Our English tongue +belongs to the <b>Aryan</b> or <b>Indo-European Family</b> of languages. +That is to say, the main part or substance of it can be traced back to +the race which inhabited the high table-lands that lie to the back of +the western end of the great range of the Himalaya, or “Abode of Snow.” +This Aryan race grew and increased, and spread to the south and west; +and from it have sprung languages which are now spoken in India, in +Persia, in Greece and Italy, in France and Germany, in Scandinavia, and +in Russia. From this Aryan family we are sprung; out of the oldest Aryan +speech our own language has grown.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_intro_sec8" id = "partIII_intro_sec8">8.</a> +<b>The Group to which English belongs.</b>—The Indo-European +family of languages consists of several groups. One of these is called +the <b>Teutonic Group</b>, because it is spoken by the <b>Teuts</b> (or +the <b>Teutonic race</b>), who are found in Germany, in England and +Scotland, in Holland, in parts of Belgium, in Denmark, in Norway and +Sweden, in Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. The Teutonic group consists +of three branches—<b>High German</b>, <b>Low German</b>, and +<b>Scandinavian</b>. High +<span class = "pagenum">196</span> +<!--png 014--> +German is the name given to the kind of German spoken in Upper +Germany—that is, in the table-land which lies south of the river +Main, and which rises gradually till it runs into the Alps. <b>New High +German</b> is the German of books—the literary language—the +German that is taught and learned in schools. <b>Low German</b> is the +name given to the German dialects spoken in the lowlands—in the +German part of the Great Plain of Europe, and round the mouths of those +German rivers that flow into the Baltic and the North Sea. +<b>Scandinavian</b> is the name given to the languages spoken in Denmark +and in the great Scandinavian Peninsula. Of these three languages, +Danish and Norwegian are practically the same—their literary or +book-language is one; while Swedish is very different. Icelandic is the +oldest and purest form of Scandinavian. The following is a table of +the</p> + +<h6><a name = "teutonic_table" id = "teutonic_table">GROUP OF TEUTONIC +LANGUAGES.</a></h6> + +<table class = "tree" summary = "language family tree"> +<tr> +<td colspan = "8"> </td> +<td colspan = "6">TEUTONIC.</td> +<td colspan = "8"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan = "11"> </td> +<td class = "leftline" colspan = "11"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan = "4"> </td> +<td class = "leftline topline" colspan = "7"> </td> +<td class = "leftline topline" colspan = "7"> </td> +<td class = "leftline" colspan = "4"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan = "8"><span class = "smallcaps">Low German.</span></td> +<td colspan = "6"><span class = "smallcaps">High German.</span></td> +<td colspan = "8"><span class = "smallcaps">Scandinavian.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan = "4"></td> +<td class = "leftline"> </td> +<td colspan = "6"></td> +<td class = "leftline"> </td> +<td colspan = "6"></td> +<td class = "leftline"> </td> +<td colspan = "6"></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td class = "plain"> </td> +<td class = "leftline"> </td> +<td> </td> +<td class = "leftline"> </td> +<td> </td> +<td class = "leftline"> </td> +<td> </td> +<td class = "leftline plain"> </td> + +<td class = "plain"> </td> +<td class = "leftline"> </td> +<td> </td> +<td class = "leftline"> </td> +<td> </td> +<td class = "leftline plain"> </td> + +<td class = "plain"> </td> +<td class = "leftline"> </td> +<td> </td> +<td class = "leftline"> </td> +<td> </td> +<td class = "leftline"> </td> +<td> </td> +<td class = "leftline plain"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan = "2">Dutch.</td> +<td colspan = "2">Flemish.</td> +<td colspan = "2">Frisian.</td> +<td colspan = "2">English.</td> +<td colspan = "2">Old.</td> +<td colspan = "2">Middle.</td> +<td colspan = "2">New.</td> +<td colspan = "2">Icelandic</td> +<td colspan = "2">Dansk<br> +(or Norsk).</td> +<td colspan = "2">Ferroic.</td> +<td colspan = "2">Svensk<br> +(Swedish).</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>It will be observed, on looking at the above table, that High German +is subdivided according to time, but that the other groups are +subdivided according to space.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_intro_sec9" id = "partIII_intro_sec9">9.</a> +<b>English a Low-German Speech.</b>—Our English tongue is the +<b>lowest of all Low-German dialects</b>. Low German is the German +spoken in the lowlands of Germany. As we descend the rivers, we come to +the lowest level of all—the level of the sea. Our English speech, +once a mere dialect, came down to that, crossed the German Ocean, and +settled in Britain, to which it gave in time the name of Angla-land or +England. The Low German spoken in the Netherlands is called +<b>Dutch</b>; the Low German spoken in Friesland—a prosperous +province of Holland—is called <b>Frisian</b>; and the Low German +spoken in Great Britain is called <b>English</b>. These three languages +are extremely like one another; but the Continental language that is +likest +<span class = "pagenum">197</span> +<!--png 015--> +the English is the Dutch or Hollandish dialect called <i>Frisian</i>. We +even possess a couplet, every word of which is both English and Frisian. +It runs thus—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>Good butter and good cheese</p> +<p>Is good English and good Fries.</p> +</div> + +<p><a name = "partIII_intro_sec10" id = "partIII_intro_sec10">10.</a> +<b>Dutch and Welsh—a Contrast.</b>—When the Teuton +conquerors came to this country, they called the Britons foreigners, +just as the Greeks called all other peoples besides themselves +<i>barbarians</i>. By this they did not at first mean that they were +uncivilised, but only that they were <i>not</i> Greeks. Now, the +Teutonic or Saxon or English name for foreigners was <b>Wealhas</b>, +a word afterwards contracted into <b>Welsh</b>. To this day the +modern Teuts or Teutons (or <i>Germans</i>, as <i>we</i> call them) call +all Frenchmen and Italians <i>Welshmen</i>; and, when a German, peasant +crosses the border into France, he says: “I am going into +Welshland.”</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_intro_sec11" id = "partIII_intro_sec11">11.</a> +<b>The Spread of English over Britain.</b>—The Jutes, who came +from Juteland or Jylland—now called Jutland—settled in Kent +and in the Isle of Wight. The Saxons settled in the south and western +parts of England, and gave their names to those kingdoms—now +counties—whose names came to end in <b>sex</b>. There was the +kingdom of the East Saxons, or <b>Essex</b>; the kingdom of the West +Saxons, or <b>Wessex</b>; the kingdom of the Middle Saxons, or +<b>Middlesex</b>; and the kingdom of the South Saxons, or <b>Sussex</b>. +The Angles settled chiefly on the east coast. The kingdom of <b>East +Anglia</b> was divided into the regions of the <b>North Folk</b> and the +<b>South Folk</b>, words which are still perpetuated in the names +<i>Norfolk</i> and <i>Suffolk</i>. These three sets of Teutons all spoke +different dialects of the same Teutonic speech; and these dialects, with +their differences, peculiarities, and odd habits, took root in English +soil, and lived an independent life, apart from each other, uninfluenced +by each other, for several hundreds of years. But, in the slow course of +time, they joined together to make up our beautiful English +language—a language which, however, still bears in itself the +traces of dialectic forms, and is in no respect of one kind or of one +fibre all through.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">198</span> +<!--png 016--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIII_chapI" id = "partIII_chapI"> +CHAPTER I.</a></h4> + +<h6>THE PERIODS OF ENGLISH.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapI_sec1" id = "partIII_chapI_sec1">1.</a> +<b>Dead and Living Languages.</b>—A language is said to be dead +when it is no longer spoken. Such a language we know only in books. +Thus, Latin is a dead language, because no nation anywhere now speaks +it. A dead language can undergo no change; it remains, and must +remain, as we find it written in books. But a living language is always +changing, just like a tree or the human body. The human body has its +periods or stages. There is the period of infancy, the period of +boyhood, the period of manhood, and the period of old age. In the same +way, a language has its periods.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapI_sec2" id = "partIII_chapI_sec2">2.</a> +<b>No Sudden Changes—a Caution.</b>—We divide the English +language into periods, and then mark, with some approach to accuracy, +certain distinct changes in the habits of our language, in the +inflexions of its words, in the kind of words it preferred, or in the +way it liked to put its words together. But we must be carefully on our +guard against fancying that, at any given time or in any given year, the +English people threw aside one set of habits as regards language, and +adopted another set. It is not so, nor can it be so. The changes in +language are as gentle, gradual, and imperceptible as the changes in the +growth of a tree or in the skin of the human body. We renew our skin +slowly and gradually; but we are never conscious of the process, nor can +we say at any given time that we have got a completely new skin.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">199</span> +<!--png 017--> +<p><a name = "partIII_chapI_sec3" id = "partIII_chapI_sec3">3.</a> +<b>The Periods of English.</b>—Bearing this caution in mind, we +can go on to look at the chief periods in our English language. These +are five in number; and they are as follows:—</p> + +<table summary = "periods of English"> +<tr> +<td class = "number">I.</td> +<td>Ancient English or Anglo-Saxon,</td> +<td class = "number">449-1100</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">II.</td> +<td>Early English,</td> +<td class = "number">1100-1250</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">III.</td> +<td>Middle English,</td> +<td class = "number">1250-1485</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">IV.</td> +<td>Tudor English,</td> +<td class = "number">1485-1603</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">V.</td> +<td>Modern English,</td> +<td class = "number">1603-1900</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>These periods merge very slowly, or are shaded off, so to speak, into +each other in the most gradual way. If we take the English of 1250 and +compare it with that of 900, we shall find a great difference; but if we +compare it with the English of 1100 the difference is not so marked. The +difference between the English of the nineteenth and the English of the +fourteenth century is very great, but the difference between the English +of the fourteenth and that of the thirteenth century is very small.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapI_sec4" id = "partIII_chapI_sec4">4.</a> +<b>Ancient English or Anglo-Saxon, 450-1100.</b>—This form of +English differed from modern English in having a much larger number of +inflexions. The noun had five cases, and there were several declensions, +just as in Latin; adjectives were declined, and had three genders; some +pronouns had a dual as well as a plural number; and the verb had a much +larger number of inflexions than it has now. The vocabulary of the +language contained very few foreign elements. The poetry of the language +employed head-rhyme or alliteration, and not end-rhyme, as we do now. +The works of the poet <b>Caedmon</b> and the great prose-writer <b>King +Alfred</b> belong to this Anglo-Saxon period.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapI_sec5" id = "partIII_chapI_sec5">5.</a> +<b>Early English, 1100-1250.</b>—The coming of the Normans in 1066 +made many changes in the land, many changes in the Church and in the +State, and it also introduced many changes into the language. The +inflexions of our speech began to drop off, because they were used less +and less; and though we never adopted new <i>inflexions</i> from French +or from any other language, new French <i>words</i> began to creep in. +In some parts of the country English had ceased to be written in books; +the language existed as a spoken language only; and hence accuracy in +the use of words and the inflexions of words could not be +<span class = "pagenum">200</span> +<!--png 018--> +ensured. Two notable books—written, not printed, for there was no +printing in this island till the year 1474—belong to this period. +These are the <b>Ormulum</b>, by <b>Orm</b> or <b>Ormin</b>, and the +<b>Brut</b>, by a monk called <b>Layamon</b> or <b>Laweman</b>. The +latter tells the story of Brutus, who was believed to have been the son +of Æneas of Troy; to have escaped after the downfall of that city; to +have sailed through the Mediterranean, ever farther and farther to the +west; to have landed in Britain, settled here, and given the country its +name.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapI_sec6" id = "partIII_chapI_sec6">6.</a> +<b>Middle English, 1250-1485.</b>—Most of the inflexions of nouns +and adjectives have in this period—between the middle of the +thirteenth and the end of the fifteenth century—completely +disappeared. The inflexions of verbs are also greatly reduced in number. +The <b>strong</b><a class = "tag" name = "tag1" id = "tag1" href = +"#note1">1</a> mode of inflexion has ceased to be employed for verbs +that are new-comers, and the <b>weak</b> mode has been adopted in its +place. During the earlier part of this period, even country-people tried +to speak French, and in this and other modes many French words found +their way into English. A writer of the thirteenth century, John de +Trevisa, says that country-people “fondeth [that is, try] with great +bysynes for to speke Freynsch for to be more y-told of.” The +country-people did not succeed very well, as the ordinary proverb shows: +“Jack would be a gentleman if he could speak French.” Boys at school +were expected to turn their Latin into French, and in the courts of law +French only was allowed to be spoken. But in 1362 Edward III. gave his +assent to an Act of Parliament allowing English to be used instead of +Norman-French. “The yer of oure Lord,” says John de Trevisa, +“a thousond thre hondred foure score and fyve of the secunde Kyng +Richard after the conquest, in al the gramer scoles of Engelond children +leveth Freynsch, and construeth and turneth an Englysch.” To the first +half of this period belong a <b>Metrical Chronicle</b>, attributed to +<b>Robert of Gloucester</b>; <b>Langtoft’s</b> Metrical Chronicle, +translated by <b>Robert de Brunne</b>; the <b>Agenbite of Inwit</b>, by +Dan Michel of Northgate in Kent; and a few others. But to the second +<span class = "pagenum">201</span> +<!--png 019--> +half belong the rich and varied productions of <b>Geoffrey Chaucer</b>, +our first great poet and always one of our greatest writers; the +alliterative poems of <b>William Langley</b> or <b>Langlande</b>; the +more learned poems of <b>John Gower</b>; and the translation of the +Bible and theological works of the reformer <b>John Wyclif</b>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapI_sec7" id = "partIII_chapI_sec7">7.</a> +<b>Tudor English, 1485-1603.</b>—Before the end of the sixteenth +century almost all our inflexions had disappeared. The great dramatist +Ben Jonson (1574-1637) laments the loss of the plural ending <b>en</b> +for verbs, because <i>wenten</i> and <i>hopen</i> were much more musical +and more useful in verse than <i>went</i> or <i>hope</i>; but its +recovery was already past praying for. This period is remarkable for the +introduction of an enormous number of Latin words, and this was due to +the new interest taken in the literature of the Romans—an interest +produced by what is called the <b>Revival of Letters</b>. But the most +striking, as it is also the most important fact relating to this period, +is the appearance of a group of dramatic writers, the greatest the world +has ever seen. Chief among these was <b>William Shakespeare</b>. Of pure +poetry perhaps the greatest writer was <b>Edmund Spenser</b>. The +greatest prose-writer was <b>Richard Hooker</b>, and the pithiest +<b>Francis Bacon</b>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapI_sec8" id = "partIII_chapI_sec8">8.</a> +<b>Modern English, 1603-1900.</b>—The grammar of the language was +fixed before this period, most of the accidence having entirely +vanished. The vocabulary of the language, however, has gone on +increasing, and is still increasing; for the English language, like the +English people, is always ready to offer hospitality to all peaceful +foreigners—words or human beings—that will land and settle +within her coasts. And the tendency at the present time is not only to +give a hearty welcome to newcomers from other lands, but to call back +old words and old phrases that had been allowed to drop out of +existence. Tennyson has been one of the chief agents in this happy +restoration.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">202</span> +<!--png 020--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIII_chapII" id = "partIII_chapII"> +CHAPTER II.</a></h4> + +<h6>THE HISTORY OF THE VOCABULARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec1" id = "partIII_chapII_sec1">1.</a> +<b>The English Nation.</b>—The English people have for many +centuries been the greatest travellers in the world. It was an +Englishman—Francis Drake—who first went round the globe; and +the English have colonised more foreign lands in every part of the world +than any other people that ever existed. The English in this way have +been influenced by the world without. But they have also been subjected +to manifold influences from within—they have been exposed to +greater political changes, and profounder though quieter political +revolutions, than any other nation. In 1066 they were conquered by the +Norman-French; and for several centuries they had French kings. Seeing +and talking with many different peoples, they learned to adopt foreign +words with ease, and to give them a home among the native-born words of +the language. Trade is always a kindly and useful influence; and the +trade of Great Britain has for many centuries been larger than that of +any other nation. It has spread into every part of the world; it gives +and receives from all tribes and nations, from every speech and +tongue.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec2" id = "partIII_chapII_sec2">2.</a> +<b>The English Element in English.</b>—When the English came to +this island in the fifth century, the number of words in the language +they spoke was probably not over <b>two thousand</b>. Now, however, we +possess a vocabulary of perhaps more than <b>one hundred thousand +words</b>. And so eager and willing +<span class = "pagenum">203</span> +<!--png 021--> +have we been to welcome foreign words, that it may be said with truth +that: <b>The majority of words in the English Tongue are not +English</b>. In fact, if we take the Latin language by itself, there are +in our language more <b>Latin</b> words than <b>English</b>. But the +grammar is distinctly English, and not Latin at all.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec3" id = "partIII_chapII_sec3">3.</a> +<b>The Spoken Language and the Written +Language—a Caution.</b>—We must not forget what has +been said about a language,—that it is not a printed +thing—not a set of black marks upon paper, but that it is in +truest truth a <b>tongue</b> or a <b>speech</b>. Hence we must be +careful to distinguish between the <b>spoken</b> language and the +<b>written</b> or <b>printed</b> language; between the language of the +<b>ear</b> and the language of the <b>eye</b>; between the language of +the <b>mouth</b> and the language of the <b>dictionary</b>; between the +<b>moving</b> vocabulary of the market and the street, and the +<b>fixed</b> vocabulary that has been catalogued and imprisoned in our +dictionaries. If we can only keep this in view, we shall find that, +though there are more Latin words in our vocabulary than English, the +English words we possess are <b>used</b> in speaking a hundred times, or +even a thousand times, oftener than the Latin words. It is the genuine +English words that have life and movement; it is they that fly about in +houses, in streets, and in markets; it is they that express with +greatest force our truest and most usual sentiments—our inmost +thoughts and our deepest feelings. Latin words are found often enough in +books; but, when an English man or woman is deeply moved, he speaks pure +English and nothing else. Words are the coin of human intercourse; and +it is the native coin of pure English with the native stamp that is in +daily circulation.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec4" id = "partIII_chapII_sec4">4.</a> +<b>A Diagram of English.</b>—If we were to try to represent to the +eye the proportions of the different elements in our vocabulary, as it +is found in the dictionary, the diagram would take something like the +following form:—</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">204</span> +<!--png 022--> + +<h5><a name = "english_diagram" id = "english_diagram"> +DIAGRAM OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.</a></h5> + +<table class = "outline middle center" summary = "language diagram"> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<span class = "smallcaps">English Words.</span> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Latin Words</span><br> +(including Norman-French, which are also Latin).</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td width = "33%"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Greek Words.</span></td> +<td>Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindustani, +Persian, Malay, American, etc. etc.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec5" id = "partIII_chapII_sec5">5.</a> +<b>The Foreign Elements in our English Vocabulary.</b>—The +different peoples and the different circumstances with which we have +come in contact, have had many results—one among others, that of +presenting us with contributions to our vocabulary. We found Kelts here; +and hence we have a number of Keltic words in our vocabulary. The Romans +held this island for several hundred years; and when they had to go in +the year 410, they left behind them six Latin words, which we have +inherited. In the seventh century, Augustine and his missionary monks +from Rome brought over to us a larger number of Latin words; and the +Church which they founded introduced ever more and more words from Rome. +The Danes began to come over to this island in the eighth century; we +had for some time a Danish dynasty seated on the throne of England: and +hence we possess many Danish words. The Norman-French invasion in the +eleventh century brought us many hundreds of Latin words; for French is +in reality a branch of the Latin tongue. The Revival of Learning in the +sixteenth century gave us several thousands of Latin words. And wherever +our sailors and merchants have gone, they have brought back with them +foreign words as well as foreign things—Arabic words from Arabia +and Africa, Hindustani words from India, Persian words from Persia, +Chinese words from China, and even Malay words from the peninsula of +Malacca. Let us look a little more closely at these foreign +elements.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec6" id = "partIII_chapII_sec6">6.</a> +<b>The Keltic Element in English.</b>—This element is of +<span class = "pagenum">205</span> +<!--png 023--> +three kinds: (i) Those words which we received direct from the +ancient Britons whom we found in the island; (ii) those which the +Norman-French brought with them from Gaul; (iii) those which have +lately come into the language from the Highlands of Scotland, or from +Ireland, or from the writings of Sir Walter Scott.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec7" id = "partIII_chapII_sec7">7.</a> +<b>The First Keltic Element.</b>—This first contribution contains +the following words: <i>Breeches</i>, <i>clout</i>, <i>crock</i>, +<i>cradle</i>, <i>darn</i>, <i>dainty</i>,<i> mop</i>, <i>pillow</i>; +<i>barrow</i> (a funeral mound), <i>glen</i>, <i>havoc</i>, +<i>kiln</i>, <i>mattock</i>, <i>pool</i>. It is worthy of note that the +first eight in the list are the names of domestic—some even of +kitchen—things and utensils. It may, perhaps, be permitted us to +conjecture that in many cases the Saxon invader married a British wife, +who spoke her own language, taught her children to speak their mother +tongue, and whose words took firm root in the kitchen of the new English +household. The names of most rivers, mountains, lakes, and hills are, of +course, Keltic; for these names would not be likely to be changed by the +English new-comers. There are two names for rivers which are +found—in one form or another—in every part of Great Britain. +These are the names <b>Avon</b> and <b>Ex</b>. The word <b>Avon</b> +means simply <i>water</i>. We can conceive the children on a farm near a +river speaking of it simply as “the water”; and hence we find fourteen +Avons in this island. <b>Ex</b> also means <i>water</i>; and there are +perhaps more than twenty streams in Great Britain with this name. The +word appears as <b>Ex</b> in <b>Exeter</b> (the older and fuller form +being <i>Exanceaster</i>—the camp on the Exe); as <b>Ax</b> in +<b>Axminster</b>; as <b>Ox</b> in <b>Oxford</b>; as <b>Ux</b> in +<b>Uxbridge</b>; and as <b>Ouse</b> in Yorkshire and other eastern +counties. In Wales and Scotland, the hidden <b>k</b> changes its place +and comes at the end. Thus in Wales we find <b>Usk</b>; and in Scotland, +<b>Esk</b>. There are at least eight Esks in the kingdom of Scotland +alone. The commonest Keltic name for a mountain is <b>Pen</b> or +<b>Ben</b> (in Wales it is <i>Pen</i>; in Scotland the flatter form +<i>Ben</i> is used). We find this word in England also under the form of +<b>Pennine</b>; and, in Italy, as <b>Apennine</b>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec8" id = "partIII_chapII_sec8">8.</a> +<b>The Second Keltic Element.</b>—The Normans came from +<span class = "pagenum">206</span> +<!--png 024--> +Scandinavia early in the tenth century, and wrested the valley of the +Seine out of the hands of Charles the Simple, the then king of the +French. The language spoken by the people of France was a broken-down +form of spoken Latin, which is now called French; but in this language +they had retained many Gaulish words out of the old Gaulish language. +Such are the words: <i>Bag</i>, <i>bargain</i>, <i>barter</i>; +<i>barrel</i>, <i>basin</i>, <i>basket</i>, <i>bucket</i>; +<i>bonnet</i>, <i>button</i>, <i>ribbon</i>; <i>car</i>, <i>cart</i>; +<i>dagger</i>, <i>gown</i>; <i>mitten</i>, <i>motley</i>; <i>rogue</i>; +<i>varlet</i>, <i>vassal</i>, <i>wicket</i>. The above words were +brought over to Britain by the Normans; and they gradually took an +acknowledged place among the words of our own language, and have held +that place ever since.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec9" id = "partIII_chapII_sec9">9.</a> +<b>The Third Keltic Element.</b>—This consists of comparatively +few words—such as <i>clan</i>; <i>claymore</i> (a sword); +<i>philabeg</i> (a kind of kilt), <i>kilt</i> itself, <i>brogue</i> +(a kind of shoe), <i>plaid</i>; <i>pibroch</i> (bagpipe war-music), +<i>slogan</i> (a war-cry); and <i>whisky</i>. Ireland has given us +<i>shamrock</i>, <i>gag</i>, <i>log</i>, <i>clog</i>, and +<i>brogue</i>—in the sense of a mode of speech.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec10" id = "partIII_chapII_sec10">10.</a> +<b>The Scandinavian Element in English.</b>—Towards the end of the +eighth century—in the year 787—the Teutons of the North, +called Northmen, Normans, or Norsemen—but more commonly known as +Danes—made their appearance on the eastern coast of Great Britain, +and attacked the peaceful towns and quiet settlements of the English. +These attacks became so frequent, and their occurrence was so much +dreaded, that a prayer was inserted against them in a Litany of the +time—“From the incursions of the Northmen, good Lord, deliver us!” +In spite of the resistance of the English, the Danes had, before the end +of the ninth century, succeeded in obtaining a permanent footing in +England; and, in the eleventh century, a Danish dynasty sat upon +the English throne from the year 1016 to 1042. From the time of King +Alfred, the Danes of the Danelagh were a settled part of the population +of England; and hence we find, especially on the east coast, +a large number of Danish names still in use.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec11" id = "partIII_chapII_sec11">11.</a> +<b>Character of the Scandinavian Element.</b>—The Northmen, as we +have said, were Teutons; and they spoke a dialect +<span class = "pagenum">207</span> +<!--png 025--> +of the great Teutonic (or German) language. The sounds of the +Danish dialect—or language, as it must now be called—are +harder than those of the German. We find a <b>k</b> instead of a +<b>ch</b>; a <b>p</b> preferred to an <b>f</b>. The same is the +case in Scotland, where the hard form <b>kirk</b> is preferred to the +softer <b>church</b>. Where the Germans say <b>Dorf</b>—our +English word <b>Thorpe</b>, a village—the Danes say +<b>Drup</b>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec12" id = "partIII_chapII_sec12">12.</a> +<b>Scandinavian Words</b> (i).—The words contributed to our +language by the Scandinavians are of two kinds: (i) Names of +places; and (ii) ordinary words. (i) The most striking +instance of a Danish place-name is the noun <b>by</b>, a town. +Mr Isaac Taylor<a class = "tag" name = "tag2" id = "tag2" href = +"#note2">2</a> tells us that there are in the east of England more than +six hundred names of towns ending in <b>by</b>. Almost all of these are +found in the Danelagh, within the limits of the great highway made by +the Romans to the north-west, and well-known as <b>Watling Street</b>. +We find, for example, <b>Whitby</b>, or the town on the <i>white</i> +cliffs; <b>Grimsby</b>, or the town of Grim, a great sea-rover, who +obtained for his countrymen the right that all ships from the Baltic +should come into the port of Grimsby free of duty; <b>Tenby</b>, that is +<b>Daneby</b>; <b>by-law</b>, a law for a special town; and a vast +number of others. The following Danish words also exist in our +times—either as separate and individual words, or in +composition—<b>beck</b>, a stream; <b>fell</b>, a hill +or table-land; <b>firth</b> or <b>fiord</b>, an arm of the sea—the +same as the Danish fiord; <b>force</b>, a waterfall; <b>garth</b>, +a yard or enclosure; <b>holm</b>, an island in a river; +<b>kirk</b>, a church; <b>oe</b>, an island; <b>thorpe</b>, +a village; <b>thwaite</b>, a forest clearing; and <b>vik</b> +or <b>wick</b>, a station for ships, or a creek.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec13" id = "partIII_chapII_sec13">13.</a> +<b>Scandinavian Words</b> (ii).—The most useful and the most +frequently employed word that we have received from the Danes is the +word <b>are</b>. The pure English word for this is <b>beoth</b> or +<b>sindon</b>. The Danes gave us also the habit of using <b>to</b> +before an infinitive. Their word for <b>to</b> was <b>at</b>; and +<b>at</b> still survives and is in use in Lincolnshire. We find also the +following Danish words in our language: <b>blunt</b>, <b>bole</b> +(of a tree), <b>bound</b> (on a journey—properly +<b>boun</b>), <b>busk</b> (to dress), <b>cake</b>, +<span class = "pagenum">208</span> +<!--png 026--> +<b>call</b>, <b>crop</b> (to cut), <b>curl</b>, <b>cut</b>, +<b>dairy</b>, <b>daze</b>, <b>din</b>, <b>droop</b>, <b>fellow</b>, +<b>flit</b>, <b>for</b>, <b>froward</b>, <b>hustings</b>, <b>ill</b>, +<b>irk</b>, <b>kid</b>, <b>kindle</b>, <b>loft</b>, <b>odd</b>, +<b>plough</b>, <b>root</b>, <b>scold</b>, <b>sky</b>, <b>tarn</b> +(a small mountain lake), <b>weak</b>, and <b>ugly</b>. It is in +Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Lincoln, Norfolk, and even in the +western counties of Cumberland and Lancashire, that we find the largest +admixture of Scandinavian words.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec14" id = "partIII_chapII_sec14">14.</a> +<b>Influence of the Scandinavian Element.</b>—The introduction of +the Danes and the Danish language into England had the result, in the +east, of unsettling the inflexions of our language, and thus of +preparing the way for their complete disappearance. The declensions of +nouns became unsettled; nouns that used to make their plural in <b>a</b> +or in <b>u</b> took the more striking plural suffix <b>as</b> that +belonged to a quite different declension. The same things happened to +adjectives, verbs, and other parts of language. The causes of this are +not far to seek. Spoken language can never be so accurate as written +language; the mass of the English and Danes never cared or could care +much for grammar; and both parties to a conversation would of course +hold firmly to the <b>root</b> of the word, which was intelligible to +both of them, and let the inflexions slide, or take care of themselves. +The more the English and Danes mixed with each other, the oftener they +met at church, at games, and in the market-place, the more rapidly would +this process of stripping go on,—the smaller care would both +peoples take of the grammatical inflexions which they had brought with +them into this country.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec15" id = "partIII_chapII_sec15">15.</a> +<b>The Latin Element in English.</b>—So far as the number of +words—the vocabulary—of the language is concerned, the Latin +contribution is by far the most important element in our language. Latin +was the language of the Romans; and the Romans at one time were masters +of the whole known world. No wonder, then, that they influenced so many +peoples, and that their language found its way—east and west, and +south and north—into almost all the countries of Europe. There +are, as we have seen, more Latin than English words in our own language; +and it is therefore necessary to make ourselves acquainted with the +<span class = "pagenum">209</span> +<!--png 027--> +character and the uses of the Latin element—an element so +important—in English.<a class = "tag" name = "tag3" id = "tag3" +href = "#note3">3</a> Not only have the Romans made contributions of +large <b>numbers</b> of words to the English language, but they have +added to it a quite new <b>quality</b>, and given to its genius new +<b>powers</b> of expression. So true is this, that we may +say—without any sense of unfairness, or any feeling of +exaggeration—that, until the Latin element was thoroughly mixed, +united with, and transfused into the original English, the writings of +Shakespeare were impossible, the poetry of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries could not have come into existence. This is true of +Shakespeare; and it is still more true of Milton. His most powerful +poetical thoughts are written in lines, the most telling words in which +are almost always Latin. This may be illustrated by the following lines +from “Lycidas”:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“It was that <i>fatal</i> and <i>perfidious</i> bark,</p> +<p>Built in the <i>eclipse</i>, and rigged with curses dark,</p> +<p>That sunk so low that <i>sacred</i> head of thine!”</p> +</div> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec16" id = "partIII_chapII_sec16">16.</a> +<b>The Latin Contributions and their Dates.</b>—The first +contribution of Latin words was made by the Romans—not, however, +to the English, but to the Britons. The Romans held this island from +<span class = "smallroman">A.D.</span> <b>43</b> to <span class = +"smallroman">A.D.</span> <b>410</b>. They left behind them—when +they were obliged to go—a small contribution of six +words—six only, but all of them important. The second +contribution—to a large extent ecclesiastical—was made by +Augustine and his missionary monks from Rome, and their visit took place +in the year <b>596</b>. The third contribution was made through the +medium of the Norman-French, who seized and subdued this island in the +year <b>1066</b> and following years. The fourth contribution came to us +by the aid of the Revival of Learning—rather a process than an +event, the dates of which are vague, but which may be said to have taken +place in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Latin left for us +by the Romans is called <b>Latin of the First Period</b>; that brought +over by the missionaries from Rome, <b>Latin of the</b> +<span class = "pagenum">210</span> +<!--png 028--> +<b>Second Period</b>; that given us by the Norman-French, <b>Latin of +the Third Period</b>; and that which came to us from the Revival of +Learning, <b>Latin of the Fourth Period</b>. The first consists of a few +names handed down to us through the Britons; the second, of a number of +words—mostly relating to ecclesiastical affairs—brought into +the spoken language by the monks; the third, of a large vocabulary, that +came to us by <b>mouth</b> and <b>ear</b>; and the fourth, of a very +large treasure of words, which we received by means of <b>books</b> and +the <b>eye</b>. Let us now look more closely and carefully at them, each +in its turn.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec17" id = "partIII_chapII_sec17">17.</a> +<ins class = "correction" title = "printed as ‘...Period.--(i)’"><b>Latin of the First Period</b> (i).—</ins>The +Romans held Britain for nearly four hundred years; and they succeeded in +teaching the wealthier classes among the Southern Britons to speak +Latin. They also built towns in the island, made splendid roads, formed +camps at important points, framed good laws, and administered the +affairs of the island with considerable justice and uprightness. But, +never having come directly into contact with the Angles or Saxons +themselves, they could not in any way influence their language by oral +communication—by speaking to them. What they left behind them was +only six words, most of which became merely the prefixes or the suffixes +of the names of places. These six words were <b>Castra</b>, a camp; +<b>Strata</b> (<i>via</i>), a paved road; <b>Colonia</b>, +a settlement (generally of soldiers); <b>Fossa</b>, a trench; +<b>Portus</b>, a harbour; and <b>Vallum</b>, a rampart.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec18" id = "partIII_chapII_sec18">18.</a> +<b>Latin of the First Period</b> (ii).—(<i>a</i>) The treatment of +the Latin word <b>castra</b> in this island has been both singular and +significant. It has existed in this country for nearly nineteen hundred +years; and it has always taken the colouring of the locality into whose +soil it struck root. In the north and east of England it is sounded +hard, and takes the form of <b>caster</b>, as in <b>Lancaster</b>, +<b>Doncaster</b>, <b>Tadcaster</b>, and others. In the midland counties, +it takes the softer form of <b>cester</b>, as in <b>Leicester</b>, +<b>Towcester</b>; and in the extreme west and south, it takes the still +softer form of <b>chester</b>, as in <b>Chester</b>, <b>Manchester</b>, +<b>Winchester</b>, and others. It is worthy of notice that there are in +Scotland no words ending in <i>caster</i>. Though +<span class = "pagenum">211</span> +<!--png 029--> +the Romans had camps in Scotland, they do not seem to have been so +important as to become the centres of towns. (<i>b</i>) The word +<b>strata</b> has also taken different forms in different parts of +England. While <b>castra</b> has always been a suffix, <b>strata</b> +shows itself constantly as a prefix. When the Romans came to this +island, the country was impassable by man. There were no roads worthy of +the name,—what paths there were being merely foot-paths or +bridle-tracks. One of the first things the Romans did was to drive a +strongly built military road from <b>Richborough</b>, near Dover, to the +river Dee, on which they formed a standing camp (<b>Castra stativa</b>) +which to this day bears the name of <b>Chester</b>. This great road +became the highway of all travellers from north to south,—was +known as “The Street,” and was called by the Saxons <b>Watling +Street</b>. But this word <b>street</b> also became a much-used prefix, +and took the different forms of <b>strat</b>, <b>strad</b>, +<b>stret</b>, and <b>streat</b>. All towns with such names are to be +found on this or some other great Roman road. Thus we have +<b>Stratford-on-Avon</b>, <b>Stratton</b>, <b>Stradbroke</b>, +<b>Stretton</b>, <b>Stretford</b> (near Manchester), and +<b>Streatham</b> (near London).—Over the other words we need not +dwell so long. <b>Colonia</b> we find in <b>Colne</b>, <b>Lincoln</b>, +and others; <b>fossa</b> in <b>Fossway</b>, <b>Fosbrooke</b>, and +<b>Fosbridge</b>; <b>portus</b>, in <b>Portsmouth</b>, and +<b>Bridport</b>; and <b>vallum</b> in the words <b>wall</b>, +<b>bailey</b>, and <b>bailiff</b>. The Normans called the two courts in +front of their castles the inner and outer baileys; and the officer in +charge of them was called the bailiff.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec19" id = "partIII_chapII_sec19">19.</a> +<b>Latin Element of the Second Period</b> (i).—The story of Pope +Gregory and the Roman mission to England is widely known. Gregory, when +a young man, was crossing the Roman forum one morning, and, when passing +the side where the slave-mart was held, observed, as he walked, some +beautiful boys, with fair hair, blue eyes, and clear bright complexion. +He asked a bystander of what nation the boys were. The answer was, that +they were Angles. “No, not Angles,” he replied; “they are angels.” On +learning further that they were heathens, he registered a silent vow +that he would, if Providence gave him an opportunity, deliver them from +the +<span class = "pagenum">212</span> +<!--png 030--> +darkness of heathendom, and bring them and their relatives into the +light and liberty of the Gospel. Time passed by; and in the long course +of time Gregory became Pope. In his unlooked-for greatness, he did not +forget his vow. In the year 596 he sent over to Kent a missionary, +called Augustine, along with forty monks. They were well received by the +King of Kent, allowed to settle in Canterbury, and to build a small +cathedral there.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec20" id = "partIII_chapII_sec20">20.</a> +<b>Latin Element of the Second Period</b> (ii).—This mission, the +churches that grew out of it, the Christian customs that in time took +root in the country, and the trade that followed in its track, brought +into the language a number of Latin words, most of them the names of +church offices, services, and observances. Thus we find, in our oldest +English, the words, <b>postol</b> from <i>apostolus</i>, a person +sent; <b>biscop</b>, from <i>episcopus</i>, an overseer; <b>calc</b>, +from <i>calix</i>, a cup; <b>clerc</b>, from <i>clericus</i>, an +ordained member of the church; <b>munec</b>, from <i>monăchus</i>, +a solitary person or monk; <b>preost</b>, from <i>presbyter</i>, an +elder; <b>aelmesse</b>, from <i>eleēmosŭnē</i>, alms; <b>predician</b>, +from <i>prædicare</i>, to preach; <b>regol</b>, from <i>regula</i>, +a rule. (<i>Apostle</i>, <i>bishop</i>, <i>clerk</i>, <i>monk</i>, +<i>priest</i>, and <i>alms</i> come to us really from Greek +words—but through the Latin tongue.)</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec21" id = "partIII_chapII_sec21">21.</a> +<b>Latin Element of the Second Period</b> (iii).—The introduction +of the Roman form of Christianity brought with it increased +communication with Rome and with the Continent generally; widened the +experience of Englishmen; gave a stimulus to commerce; and introduced +into this island new things and products, and along with the things and +products new names. To this period belongs the introduction of the +words: <b>Butter</b>, <b>cheese</b>; <b>cedar</b>, <b>fig</b>, +<b>pear</b>, <b>peach</b>; <b>lettuce, lily</b>; <b>pepper</b>, +<b>pease</b>; <b>camel</b>, <b>lion</b>, <b>elephant</b>; <b>oyster</b>, +<b>trout</b>; <b>pound</b>, <b>ounce</b>; <b>candle</b>, <b>table</b>; +<b>marble</b>; <b>mint</b>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec22" id = "partIII_chapII_sec22">22.</a> +<b>Latin of the Third Period</b> (i).—The Latin element of the +Third Period is in reality the French that was brought over to this +island by the Normans in 1066, and is generally called +<b>Norman-French</b>. It differed from the French of Paris both in +spelling and in pronunciation. For example, Norman-French +<span class = "pagenum">213</span> +<!--png 031--> +wrote <b>people</b> for <b>peuple</b>; <b>léal</b> for <b>loyal</b>; +<b>réal</b> for <b>royal</b>; <b>réalm</b> for <b>royaume</b>; and so +on. But both of these dialects (and every dialect of French) are simply +forms of Latin—not of the Latin written and printed in books, but +of the Latin spoken in the camp, the fields, the streets, the village, +and the cottage. The Romans conquered Gaul, where a Keltic tongue was +spoken; and the Gauls gradually adopted Latin as their mother tongue, +and—with the exception of the Brétons of Brittany—left off +their Keltic speech almost entirely. In adopting the Latin tongue, they +had—as in similar cases—taken firm hold of the root of the +word, but changed the pronunciation of it, and had, at the same time, +compressed very much or entirely dropped many of the Latin inflexions. +The French people, an intermixture of Gauls and other tribes (some of +them, like the Franks, German), ceased, in fact, to speak their own +language, and learned the Latin tongue. The Norsemen, led by Duke Rolf +or Rollo or Rou, marched south in large numbers; and, in the year 912, +wrested from King Charles the Simple the fair valley of the Seine, +settled in it, and gave to it the name of Normandy. These Norsemen, now +Normans, were Teutons, and spoke a Teutonic dialect; but, when they +settled in France, they learned in course of time to speak French. The +kind of French they spoke is called Norman-French, and it was this kind +of French that they brought over with them in 1066. But Norman-French +had made its appearance in England before the famous year of ’66; for +Edward the Confessor, who succeeded to the English throne in 1042, had +been educated at the Norman Court; and he not only spoke the language +himself, but insisted on its being spoken by the nobles who lived with +him in his Court.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec23" id = "partIII_chapII_sec23">23.</a> +<b>Latin of the Third Period</b> (ii). <b>Chief Dates</b>.—The +Normans, having utterly beaten down the resistance of the English, +seized the land and all the political power of this country, and filled +all kinds of offices—both spiritual and temporal—with their +Norman brethren. Norman-French became the language of the Court and the +nobility, the language of Parliament and the law courts, of the +universities and the schools, of the Church +<span class = "pagenum">214</span> +<!--png 032--> +and of literature. The English people held fast to their own tongue; but +they picked up many French words in the markets and other places “where +men most do congregate.” But French, being the language of the upper and +ruling classes, was here and there learned by the English or Saxon +country-people who had the ambition to be in the fashion, and were eager +“to speke Frensch, for to be more y-told of,”—to be more highly +considered than their neighbours. It took about three hundred years for +French words and phrases to soak thoroughly into English; and it was not +until England was saturated with French words and French rhythms that +the great poet Chaucer appeared to produce poetic narratives that were +read with delight both by Norman baron and by Saxon yeoman. In the +course of these three hundred years this intermixture of French with +English had been slowly and silently going on. Let us look at a few of +the chief land-marks in the long process. In <b>1042</b> Edward the +Confessor introduces Norman-French into his Court. In <b>1066</b> Duke +William introduces Norman-French into the whole country, and even into +parts of Scotland. The oldest English, or Anglo-Saxon, ceases to be +written, anywhere in the island, in public documents, in the year +<b>1154</b>. In <b>1204</b> we lost Normandy, a loss that had the +effect of bringing the English and the Normans closer together. Robert +of Gloucester writes his chronicle in <b>1272</b>, and uses a large +number of French words. But, as early as the reign of Henry the Third, +in the year <b>1258</b>, the reformed and reforming Government of the +day issued a proclamation in English, as well as in French and Latin. In +<b>1303</b>, Robert of Brunn introduces a large number of French words. +The French wars in Edward the Third’s reign brought about a still closer +union of the Norman and the Saxon elements of the nation. But, about the +middle of the fourteenth century a reaction set in, and it seemed as if +the genius of the English language refused to take in any more French +words. The English silent stubbornness seemed to have prevailed, and +Englishmen had made up their minds to be English in speech, as they were +English to the backbone in everything else. Norman-French had, in fact, +become provincial, and was spoken +<span class = "pagenum">215</span> +<!--png 033--> +only here and there. Before the great Plague—commonly spoken of as +“The Black Death”—of <b>1349</b>, both high and low seemed to be +alike bent on learning French, but the reaction may be said to date from +this year. The culminating point of this reaction may perhaps be seen in +an Act of Parliament passed in <b>1362</b> by Edward III., by which both +French and Latin had to give place to English in our courts of law. The +poems of Chaucer are the literary result—“the bright consummate +flower” of the union of two great powers—the brilliance of the +French language on the one hand and the homely truth and steadfastness +of English on the other. Chaucer was born in <b>1340</b>, and died in +<b>1400</b>; so that we may say that he and his poems—though not +the causes—are the signs and symbols of the great influence that +French obtained and held over our mother tongue. But although we +accepted so many <i>words</i> from our Norman-French visitors and +immigrants, we accepted from them no <i>habit</i> of speech whatever. We +accepted from them no phrase or idiom: the build and nature of the +English language remained the same—unaffected by foreign manners +or by foreign habits. It is true that Chaucer has the ridiculous phrase, +“I n’am but dead” (for “I am quite dead”<a class = "tag" name = +"tag4" id = "tag4" href = "#note4">4</a>)—which is a literal +translation of the well-known French idiom, “Je ne suis que.” But, +though our tongue has always been and is impervious to foreign idiom, it +is probably owing to the great influx of French words which took place +chiefly in the thirteenth century that many people have acquired a habit +of using a long French or Latin word when an English word would do quite +as well—or, indeed, a great deal better. Thus some people are +found to call a <i>good house</i>, a <i>desirable mansion</i>; and, +instead of the quiet old English proverb, “Buy once, buy twice,” we have +the roundabout Latinisms, “A single commission will ensure a +repetition of orders.” An American writer, speaking of the foreign +ambassadors who had been attacked by Japanese soldiers in Yeddo, says +that “they concluded to occupy a location more salubrious.” This is only +a foreign language, instead of the simple and homely English: “They made +up their minds to settle in a healthier spot.”</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">216</span> +<!--png 034--> +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec24" id = "partIII_chapII_sec24">24.</a> +<b>Latin of the Third Period</b> (iii). <b>Norman Words</b> +(<i>a</i>).—The Norman-French words were of several different +kinds. There were words connected with war, with feudalism, and with the +chase. There were new law terms, and words connected with the State, and +the new institutions introduced by the Normans. There were new words +brought in by the Norman churchmen. New titles unknown to the English +were also introduced. A better kind of cooking, a higher and +less homely style of living, was brought into this country by the +Normans; and, along with these, new and unheard-of words.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec25" id = "partIII_chapII_sec25">25.</a> +<b>Norman Words</b> (<i>b</i>).—The following are some of the +Norman-French terms connected with war: <b>Arms</b>, <b>armour</b>; +<b>assault</b>, <b>battle</b>; <b>captain</b>, <b>chivalry</b>; +<b>joust</b>, <b>lance</b>; <b>standard</b>, <b>trumpet</b>; +<b>mail</b>,<b> vizor</b>. The English word for <b>armour</b> was +<b>harness</b>; but the Normans degraded that word into the armour of a +horse. <b>Battle</b> comes from the Fr. <i>battre</i>, to beat: the +corresponding English word is <b>fight</b>. <b>Captain</b> comes from +the Latin <i>caput</i>, a head. <b>Mail</b> comes from the Latin +<i>macula</i>, the mesh of a net; and the first coats of mail were made +of rings or a kind of metal network. <b>Vizor</b> comes from the Fr. +<i>viser</i>, to look. It was the barred part of the helmet which a man +could see through.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec26" id = "partIII_chapII_sec26">26.</a> +<b>Norman Words</b> (<i>c</i>).—Feudalism may be described as the +holding of land on condition of giving or providing service in war. Thus +a knight held land of his baron, under promise to serve him so many +days; a baron of his king, on condition that he brought so many men +into the field for such and such a time at the call of his Overlord. +William the Conqueror made the feudal system universal in every part of +England, and compelled every English baron to swear homage to himself +personally. Words relating to feudalism are, among others: +<b>Homage</b>, <b>fealty</b>; <b>esquire</b>, <b>vassal</b>; +<b>herald</b>, <b>scutcheon</b>, and others. <b>Homage</b> is the +declaration of obedience for life of one man to another—that the +inferior is the <i>man</i> (Fr. <i>homme</i>; L. <i>homo</i>) of +the superior. <b>Fealty</b> is the Norman-French form of the word +<i>fidelity</i>. An <b>esquire</b> is a <b>scutiger</b> (L.), or +<i>shield-bearer</i>; for he carried the shield of the knight, when +<span class = "pagenum">217</span> +<!--png 035--> +they were travelling and no fighting was going on. A <b>vassal</b> +was a “little young man,”—in Low-Latin <b>vassallus</b>, +a diminutive of <i>vassus</i>, from the Keltic word <i>gwâs</i>, +a man. (The form <i>vassaletus</i> is also found, which gives us +our <i>varlet</i> and <i>valet</i>.) <b>Scutcheon</b> comes from the +Lat. <i>scutum</i>, a shield. Then scutcheon or escutcheon came to +mean <i>coat-of-arms</i>—or the marks and signs on his shield by +which the name and family of a man were known, when he himself was +covered from head to foot in iron mail.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec27" id = "partIII_chapII_sec27">27.</a> +<b>Norman Words</b> (<i>d</i>).—The terms connected with the chase +are: <b>Brace</b>, <b>couple</b>; <b>chase</b>, <b>course</b>; +<b>covert</b>, <b>copse</b>, <b>forest</b>; <b>leveret</b>, <b>mews</b>; +<b>quarry</b>, <b>venison</b>. A few remarks about some of these +may be interesting. <b>Brace</b> comes from the Old French <i>brace</i>, +an arm (Mod. French <i>bras</i>); from the Latin <i>brachium</i>. The +root-idea seems to be that which encloses or holds up. Thus +<i>bracing</i> air is that which <i>strings</i> up the nerves and +muscles; and a <i>brace</i> of birds was two birds tied together with a +string.—The word <b>forest</b> contains in itself a good deal of +unwritten Norman history. It comes from the Latin adverb <i>foras</i>, +out of doors. Hence, in Italy, a stranger or foreigner is still +called a <i>forestiere</i>. A forest in Norman-French was not +necessarily a breadth of land covered with trees; it was simply land +<i>out of</i> the jurisdiction of the common law. Hence, when William +the Conqueror created the New Forest, he merely took the land <i>out +of</i> the rule and charge of the common law, and put it under his own +regal power and personal care. In land of this kind—much of which +was kept for hunting in—trees were afterwards planted, partly to +shelter large game, and partly to employ ground otherwise useless in +growing timber.—<b>Mews</b> is a very odd word. It comes from the +Latin verb <i>mutare</i>, to change. When the falcons employed in +hunting were changing their feathers, or <i>moulting</i> (the word +<i>moult</i> is the same as <i>mews</i> in a different dress), the +French shut them in a cage, which they called <b>mue</b>—from +<i>mutare</i>. Then the stables for horses were put in the same place; +and hence a row of stables has come to be called a +<b>mews</b>.—<b>Quarry</b> is quite as strange. The word +<i>quarry</i>, which means a mine of stones, +<span class = "pagenum">218</span> +<!--png 036--> +comes from the Latin <i>quadrāre</i>, to make square. But the hunting +term <i>quarry</i> is of a quite different origin. That comes from the +Latin <i>cor</i> (the heart), which the Old French altered into +<b>quer</b>. When a wild beast was run down and killed, the heart and +entrails were thrown to the dogs as their share of the hunt. Hence +Milton says of the eagle, “He scents his quarry from afar.”—The +word <b>venison</b> comes to us, through French, from the Lat. +<i>venāri</i>, to hunt; and hence it means <i>hunted flesh</i>. The same +word gives us <i>venery</i>—the term that was used in the +fourteenth century, by Chaucer among others, for hunting.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec28" id = "partIII_chapII_sec28">28.</a> +<b>Norman Words</b> (<i>e</i>).—The Normans introduced into +England their own system of law, their own law officers; and hence, into +the English language, came Norman-French law terms. The following are a +few: <b>Assize</b>, <b>attorney</b>; <b>chancellor</b>, <b>court</b>; +<b>judge</b>, <b>justice</b>; <b>plaintiff</b>,<b> sue</b>; +<b>summons</b>, <b>trespass</b>. A few remarks about some of these +may be useful. The <b>chancellor</b> (<i>cancellarius</i>) was the legal +authority who sat behind lattice-work, which was called in Latin +<i>cancelli</i>. This word means, primarily, <i>little crabs</i>; and it +is a diminutive from <i>cancer</i>, a crab. It was so called +because the lattice-work looked like crabs’ claws crossed. Our word +<i>cancel</i> comes from the same root: it means to make cross lines +through anything we wish deleted.—<b>Court</b> comes from the +Latin <i>cors</i> or <i>cohors</i>, a sheep-pen. It afterwards came +to mean an enclosure, and also a body of Roman soldiers.—The +proper English word for a <i>judge</i> is <b>deemster</b> or +<b>demster</b> (which appears as the proper name <i>Dempster</i>); and +this is still the name for a judge in the Isle of Man. The French word +comes from two Latin words, <i>dico</i>, I utter, and <i>jus</i>, +right. The word jus is seen in the other French term which we have +received from the Normans—<b>justice</b>.—<b>Sue</b> comes +from the Old Fr. <i>suir</i>, which appears in Modern Fr. as +<i>suivre</i>. It is derived from the Lat. word <i>sequor</i>, +I follow (which gives our <i>sequel</i>); and we have compounds of +it in <i>ensue</i>, <i>issue</i>, and <i>pursue</i>. +—The <b>tres</b> in <b>trespass</b> is a French form of the Latin +trans, beyond or across. <i>Trespass</i>, therefore, means to cross the +bounds of right.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec29" id = "partIII_chapII_sec29">29.</a> +<b>Norman Words</b> (<i>f</i>).—Some of the church terms +introduced +<span class = "pagenum">219</span> +<!--png 037--> +by the Norman-French are: <b>Altar</b>, <b>Bible</b>; <b>baptism</b>, +<b>ceremony</b>; <b>friar</b>; <b>tonsure</b>; <b>penance</b>, +<b>relic</b>.—The Normans gave us the words <b>title</b> and +<b>dignity</b> themselves, and also the following titles: <b>Duke</b>, +<b>marquis</b>; <b>count</b>, <b>viscount</b>; <b>peer</b>; +<b>mayor</b>, and others. A duke is a <i>leader</i>; from the Latin +<i>dux</i> (= <i>duc-s</i>). A <b>marquis</b> is a lord who +has to ride the <i>marches</i> or borders between one county, or between +one country, and another. A marquis was also called a +<b>Lord-Marcher</b>. The word <b>count</b> never took root in this +island, because its place was already occupied by the Danish name +<i>earl</i>; but we preserve it in the names <b>countess</b> and +<b>viscount</b>—the latter of which means a person <i>in the place +of</i> (L. <i>vice</i>) a count. <b>Peer</b> comes from the Latin +<i>par</i>, an equal. The House of Peers is the House of +Lords—that is, of those who are, at least when in the House, +<i>equal</i> in rank and <i>equal</i> in power of voting. It is a +fundamental doctrine in English law that every man “is to be tried by +his <i>peers</i>.”—It is worthy of note that, in general, the +<b>French</b> names for different kinds of food designated the +<b>cooked</b> meats; while the names for the <b>living</b> animals that +furnish them are <b>English</b>. Thus we have <i>beef</i> and <i>ox</i>; +<i>mutton</i> and <i>sheep</i>; <i>veal</i> and <i>calf</i>; <i>pork</i> +and <i>pig</i>. There is a remarkable passage in Sir Walter Scott’s +‘Ivanhoe,’ which illustrates this fact with great force and +picturesqueness:—</p> + +<p class = "author"> +“‘Gurth, I advise thee to call off Fangs, and leave the herd to their +destiny, which, whether they meet with bands of travelling soldiers, or +of outlaws, or of wandering pilgrims, can be little else than to be +converted into Normans before morning, to thy no small ease and +comfort.’</p> + +<p class = "author"> +“‘The swine turned Normans to my comfort!’ quoth Gurth; ‘expound that to +me, Wamba, for my brain is too dull, and my mind too vexed, to read +riddles.’</p> + +<p class = "author"> +“‘Why, how call you those grunting brutes running about on their four +legs?’ demanded Wamba.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +“‘Swine, fool, swine,’ said the herd; ‘every fool knows that.’</p> + +<p class = "author"> +“‘And swine is good Saxon,’ said the jester; ‘but how call +<span class = "pagenum">220</span> +<!--png 038--> +you the sow when she is flayed, and drawn, and quartered, and hung up by +the heels, like a traitor?’</p> + +<p class = "author"> +“‘Pork,’ answered the swine-herd.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +“‘I am very glad every fool knows that too,’ said Wamba; ‘and pork, +I think, is good Norman-French: and so when the brute lives, and is +in the charge of a Saxon slave, she goes by her Saxon name; but becomes +a Norman, and is called pork, when she is carried to the castle-hall to +feast among the nobles; what dost thou think of this, friend Gurth, +ha?’</p> + +<p class = "author"> +“‘It is but too true doctrine, friend Wamba, however it got into thy +fool’s pate.’</p> + +<p class = "author"> +“‘Nay, I can tell you more,’ said Wamba, in the same tone; ‘there is old +Alderman Ox continues to hold his Saxon epithet, while he is under the +charge of serfs and bondsmen such as thou, but becomes Beef, +a fiery French gallant, when he arrives before the worshipful jaws +that are destined to consume him. <ins class = "correction" title = +"text unchanged: error for ‘Mynheer’?">Myhneer</ins> Calf, too, becomes +Monsieur de Veau in the like manner; he is Saxon when he requires +tendance, and takes a Norman name when he becomes matter of +enjoyment.’”</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec30" id = "partIII_chapII_sec30">30.</a> +<b>General Character of the Norman-French Contributions.</b>—The +Norman-French contributions to our language gave us a number of +<b>general names</b> or <b>class-names</b>; while the names for +<b>individual</b> things are, in general, of purely English origin. The +words <b>animal</b> and <b>beast</b>, for example, are French +(or Latin); but the words <b>fox</b>, <b>hound</b>, <b>whale</b>, +<b>snake</b>, <b>wasp</b>, and <b>fly</b> are purely English.—The +words <b>family</b>, <b>relation</b>, <b>parent</b>, <b>ancestor</b>, +are French; but the names <b>father</b>, <b>mother</b>, <b>son</b>, +<b>daughter</b>, <b>gossip</b>, are English.—The words +<b>title</b> and <b>dignity</b> are French; but the words <b>king</b> +and <b>queen</b>, <b>lord</b> and <b>lady</b>, <b>knight</b> and +<b>sheriff</b>, are English.—Perhaps the most remarkable instance +of this is to be found in the abstract terms employed for the offices +and functions of State. Of these, the English language possesses only +one—the word <b>kingdom</b>. Norman-French, on the other hand, has +given us the words <b>realm</b>, <b>court</b>, <b>state</b>, +<b>constitution</b>, <b>people</b>, <b>treaty</b>, <b>audience</b>, +<b>navy</b>, <b>army</b>, and others—amounting in all to nearly +forty. When, however, we come to terms denoting labour and +work—such as agriculture +<span class = "pagenum">221</span> +<!--png 039--> +and seafaring, we find the proportions entirely reversed. The English +language, in such cases, contributes almost everything; the French +nearly nothing. In agriculture, while <b>plough</b>, <b>rake</b>, +<b>harrow</b>, <b>flail</b>, and many others are English words, not a +single term for an agricultural process or implement has been given us +by the warlike Norman-French.—While the words <b>ship</b> and +<b>boat</b>; <b>hull</b> and <b>fleet</b>; <b>oar</b> and <b>sail</b>, +are all English, the Normans have presented us with only the single word +<b>prow</b>. It is as if all the Norman conqueror had to do was to take +his stand at the prow, gazing upon the land he was going to seize, while +the Low-German sailors worked for him at oar and sail.—Again, +while the names of the various parts of the body—<b>eye</b>, +<b>nose</b>, <b>cheek</b>, <b>tongue</b>, <b>hand</b>, <b>foot</b>, and +more than eighty others—are all English, we have received only +about ten similar words from the French—such as <b>spirit</b> and +<b>corpse</b>; <b>perspiration</b>; <b>face</b> and <b>stature</b>. +Speaking broadly, we may say that all words that express <b>general +notions</b>, or generalisations, are French or Latin; while words that +express <b>specific</b> actions or concrete existences are pure English. +Mr Spalding observes—“We use a foreign term naturalised when +we speak of ‘colour’ universally; but we fall back on our home stores if +we have to tell what the colour is, calling it ‘red’ or ‘yellow,’ +‘white’ or ‘black,’ ‘green’ or ‘brown.’ We are Romans when we speak in a +<i>general</i> way of ‘moving’; but we are Teutons if we ‘leap’ or +‘spring,’ if we ‘slip,’ ‘slide,’ or ‘fall,’ if we ‘walk,’ ‘run,’ ‘swim,’ +or ‘ride,’ if we ‘creep’ or ‘crawl’ or ‘fly.’”</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec31" id = "partIII_chapII_sec31">31.</a> +<b>Gains to English from Norman-French.</b>—The gains from the +Norman-French contribution are large, and are also of very great +importance. Mr Lowell says, that the Norman element came in as +quickening leaven to the rather heavy and lumpy Saxon dough. It stirred +the whole mass, gave new life to the language, a much higher and +wider scope to the thoughts, much greater power and copiousness to the +expression of our thoughts, and a finer and brighter rhythm to our +English sentences. “To Chaucer,” he says, in ‘My Study Windows,’ “French +must have been almost as truly a mother tongue as English. In him we see +the first result of the Norman yeast +<span class = "pagenum">222</span> +<!--png 040--> +upon the home-baked Saxon loaf. The flour had been honest, the paste +well kneaded, but the inspiring leaven was wanting till the Norman +brought it over. Chaucer works still in the solid material of his race, +but with what airy lightness has he not infused it? Without ceasing to +be English, he has escaped from being insular.” Let us look at some of +these gains a little more in detail.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec32" id = "partIII_chapII_sec32">32.</a> +<b>Norman-French Synonyms.</b>—We must not consider a +<b>synonym</b> as a word that means exactly <i>the same thing</i> as the +word of which it is a synonym; because then there would be neither room +nor use for such a word in the language. A synonym is a word of the +same meaning as another, but with a slightly different shade of +meaning,—or it is used under different circumstances and in a +different connection, or it puts the same idea under a new angle. +<b>Begin</b> and <b>commence</b>, <b>will</b> and <b>testament</b>, are +exact equivalents—are complete synonyms; but there are very few +more of this kind in our language. The moment the genius of a language +gets hold of two words of the same meaning, it sets them to do different +kinds of work,—to express different parts or shades of that +meaning. Thus <b>limb</b> and <b>member</b>, <b>luck</b> and +<b>fortune</b>, have the same meaning; but we cannot speak of a +<i>limb</i> of the Royal Society, or of the <i>luck</i> of the +Rothschilds, who made their <i>fortune</i> by hard work and steady +attention to business. We have, by the aid of the Norman-French +contributions, <b>flower</b> as well as <b>bloom</b>; <b>branch</b> and +<b>bough</b>; <b>purchase</b> and <b>buy</b>; <b>amiable</b> and +<b>friendly</b>; <b>cordial</b> and <b>hearty</b>; <b>country</b> and +<b>land</b>; <b>gentle</b> and <b>mild</b>; <b>desire</b> and +<b>wish</b>; <b>labour</b> and <b>work</b>; <b>miserable</b> and +<b>wretched</b>. These pairs of words enable poets and other writers to +use the right word in the right place. And we, preferring our Saxon or +good old English words to any French or Latin importations, prefer to +speak of <b>a hearty welcome</b> instead of <b>a cordial reception</b>; +of <b>a loving wife</b> instead of an <b>amiable consort</b>; of <b>a +wretched man</b> instead of <b>a miserable individual</b>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec33" id = "partIII_chapII_sec33">33.</a> +<b>Bilingualism.</b>—How did these Norman-French words find their +way into the language? What was the road by which +<span class = "pagenum">223</span> +<!--png 041--> +they came? What was the process that enabled them to find a place in and +to strike deep root into our English soil? Did the learned men—the +monks and the clergy—make a selection of words, write them in +their books, and teach them to the English people? Nothing of the sort. +The process was a much ruder one—but at the same time one much +more practical, more effectual, and more lasting in its results. The two +peoples—the Normans and the English—found that they had to +live together. They met at church, in the market-place, in the drilling +field, at the archery butts, in the courtyards of castles; and, on the +battle-fields of France, the Saxon bowman showed that he could fight as +well, as bravely, and even to better purpose than his lord—the +Norman baron. At all these places, under all these circumstances, the +Norman and the Englishman were obliged to speak with each other. Now +arose a striking phenomenon. Every man, as Professor Earle puts it, +turned himself as it were into a walking phrase-book or dictionary. When +a Norman had to use a French word, he tried to put the English word for +it alongside of the French word; when an Englishman used an English +word, he joined with it the French equivalent. Then the language soon +began to swarm with “yokes of words”; our words went in couples; and the +habit then begun has continued down even to the present day. And thus it +is that we possess such couples as <b>will and testament</b>; <b>act and +deed</b>; <b>use and wont</b>; <b>aid and abet</b>. Chaucer’s poems are +full of these pairs. He joins together <b>hunting and venery</b> (though +both words mean exactly the same thing); <b>nature and kind</b>; +<b>cheere and face</b>; <b>pray and beseech</b>; <b>mirth and +jollity</b>. Later on, the Prayer-Book, which was written in the years +1540 to 1559, keeps up the habit: and we find the pairs <b>acknowledge +and confess</b>; <b>assemble and meet together</b>; <b>dissemble and +cloak</b>; <b>humble and lowly</b>. To the more English part of the +congregation the simple Saxon words would come home with kindly +association; to others, the words <i>confess</i>, <i>assemble</i>, +<i>dissemble</i>, and <i>humble</i> would speak with greater force and +clearness.—Such is the phenomenon called by Professor Earle +<b>bilingualism</b>. “It is, in fact,” he says, “a putting of +colloquial formulæ +<span class = "pagenum">224</span> +<!--png 042--> +to do the duty of a French-English and English-French vocabulary.” Even +Hooker, who wrote at the end of the sixteenth century, seems to have +been obliged to use these pairs; and we find in his writings the couples +“cecity and blindness,” “nocive and hurtful,” “sense and meaning.”</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec34" id = "partIII_chapII_sec34">34.</a> +<b>Losses of English from the Incoming of +Norman-French.</b>—(i) Before the coming of the Normans, the +English language was in the habit of forming compounds with ease and +effect. But, after the introduction of the Norman-French language, that +power seems gradually to have disappeared; and ready-made French or +Latin words usurped the place of the home-grown English compound. Thus +<b>despair</b> pushed out <b>wanhope</b>; <b>suspicion</b> dethroned +<b>wantrust</b>; <b>bidding-sale</b> was expelled by <b>auction</b>; +<b>learning-knight</b> by <b>disciple</b>; <b>rime-craft</b> by the +Greek word <b>arithmetic</b>; <b>gold-hoard</b> by <b>treasure</b>; +<b>book-hoard</b> by <b>library</b>; <b>earth-tilth</b> by +<b>agriculture</b>; <b>wonstead</b> by <b>residence</b>; and so with a +large number of others.—Many English words, moreover, had their +meanings depreciated and almost degraded; and the words themselves lost +their ancient rank and dignity. Thus the Norman conquerors put their +foot—literally and metaphorically—on the Saxon +<b>chair</b>,<a class = "tag" name = "tag5" id = "tag5" href = +"#note5">5</a> which thus became a <b>stool</b>, or a <b>footstool</b>. +<b>Thatch</b>, which is a doublet of the word <b>deck</b>, was the name +for any kind of roof; but the coming of the Norman-French lowered it to +indicate a <i>roof of straw</i>. <b>Whine</b> was used for the weeping +or crying of human beings; but it is now restricted to the cry of a dog. +<b>Hide</b> was the generic term for the skin of any animal; it is now +limited in modern English to the skin of a beast.—The most +damaging result upon our language was that it entirely <b>stopped the +growth of English words</b>. We could, for example, make out of the word +<b>burn</b>—the derivatives <b>brunt</b>, <b>brand</b>, +<b>brandy</b>, <b>brown</b>, <b>brimstone</b>, and others; but this +power died out with the coming in of the Norman-French language. After +that, instead of growing our own words, we +<span class = "pagenum">225</span> +<!--png 043--> +adopted them ready-made.—Professor Craik compares the English and +Latin languages to two banks; and says that, when the Normans came over, +the account at the English bank was closed, and we drew only upon the +Latin bank. But the case is worse than this. English lost its power of +growth and expansion from the centre; from this time, it could only add +to its bulk by borrowing and conveying from without—by the +external accretion of foreign words.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec35" id = "partIII_chapII_sec35">35.</a> +<b>Losses of English from the Incoming of +Norman-French.</b>—(ii) The arrestment of growth in the +purely English part of our language, owing to the irruption of +Norman-French, and also to the ease with which we could take a +ready-made word from Latin or from Greek, killed off an old power which +we once possessed, and which was not without its own use and +expressiveness. This was the power of making compound words. The Greeks +in ancient times had, and the Germans in modern times have, this power +in a high degree. Thus a Greek comic poet has a word of fourteen +syllables, which may be thus translated—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Meanly-rising-early-and-hurrying-to-the-tribunal-to-denounce-another-for-an-infraction-of-the-law-concerning-the-exportation-of-figs.”<a +class = "tag" name = "tag6" id = "tag6" href = "#note6">6</a></p> + +<p>And the Germans have a compound like “the-all-to-nothing-crushing +philosopher.” The Germans also say <i>iron-path</i> for <i>railway</i>, +<i>handshoe</i> for <i>glove</i>, and <i>finger-hat</i> for +<i>thimble</i>. We also possessed this power at one time, and employed +it both in proper and in common names. Thus we had and have the names +<i>Brakespear</i>, <i>Shakestaff</i>, <i>Shakespear</i>, +<i>Golightly</i>, <i>Dolittle</i>, <i>Standfast</i>; and the common +nouns <i>want-wit</i>, <i>find-fault</i>, <i>mumble-news</i> (for +<i>tale-bearer</i>), <i>pinch-penny</i> (for <i>miser</i>), +<i>slugabed</i>. In older times we had <i>three-foot-stool</i>, +<i>three-man-beetle</i><a class = "tag" name = "tag7" id = "tag7" href = +"#note7">7</a>; <i>stone-cold</i>, <i>heaven-bright</i>, +<i>honey-sweet</i>, <i>snail-slow</i>, <i>nut-brown</i>, +<i>lily-livered</i> (for <i>cowardly</i>); <i>brand-fire-new</i>; +<i>earth-wandering</i>, <i>wind-dried</i>, <i>thunder-blasted</i>, +<i>death-doomed</i>, and many others. But such words as <i>forbears</i> +or <i>fore-elders</i> have been pushed out by <i>ancestors</i>; +<span class = "pagenum">226</span> +<!--png 044--> +<i>forewit</i> by <i>caution</i> or <i>prudence</i>; and <i>inwit</i> by +<i>conscience</i>. Mr Barnes, the Dorsetshire poet, would like to +see these and similar compounds restored, and thinks that we might well +return to the old clear well-springs of “English undefiled,” and make +our own compounds out of our own words. He even carries his desires into +the region of English grammar, and, for <i>degrees of comparison</i>, +proposes the phrase <i>pitches of suchness</i>. Thus, instead of the +Latin word <i>omnibus</i>, he would have <i>folk-wain</i>; for the Greek +<i>botany</i>, he would substitute <i>wort-lore</i>; for <i>auction</i>, +he would give us <i>bode-sale</i>; <i>globule</i> he would replace with +<i>ballkin</i>; the Greek word <i>horizon</i> must give way to the pure +English <i>sky-edge</i>; and, instead of <i>quadrangle</i>, he would +have us all write and say <i>four-winkle</i>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec36" id = "partIII_chapII_sec36">36.</a> +<b>Losses of English from the Incoming of +Norman-French.</b>—(iii) When once a way was made for the +entrance of French words into our English language, the immigrations +were rapid and numerous. Hence there were many changes both in the +grammar and in the vocabulary of English from the year 1100, the year in +which we may suppose those Englishmen who were living at the date of the +battle of Hastings had died out. These changes were more or less rapid, +according to circumstances. But perhaps the most rapid and remarkable +change took place in the lifetime of William Caxton, the great printer, +who was born in 1410. In his preface to his translation of the ‘Æneid’ +of Virgil, which he published in 1490, when he was eighty years of age, +he says that he cannot understand old books that were written when he +was a boy—that “the olde Englysshe is more lyke to dutche than +englysshe,” and that “our langage now vsed varyeth ferre from that +whiche was vsed and spoken when I was borne. For we Englysshemen ben +borne ynder the domynacyon of the mone [moon], which is neuer stedfaste, +but euer wauerynge, wexynge one season, and waneth and dycreaseth +another season.” This as regards time.—But he has the same +complaint to make as regards place. “Comyn englysshe that is spoken in +one shyre varyeth from another.” And he tells an odd story in +illustration of this fact. He tells about certain merchants who were in +a ship “in Tamyse” (on the +<span class = "pagenum">227</span> +<!--png 045--> +Thames), who were bound for Zealand, but were wind-stayed at the +Foreland, and took it into their heads to go on shore there. One of the +merchants, whose name was Sheffelde, a mercer, entered a house, +“and axed for mete, and specyally he axyd after eggys.” But the +“goode-wyf” replied that she “coude speke no frenshe.” The merchant, who +was a steady Englishman, lost his temper, “for he also coude speke no +frenshe, but wolde have hadde eggys; and she understode hym not.” +Fortunately, a friend happened to join him in the house, and he +acted as interpreter. The friend said that “he wolde have eyren; then +the goode wyf sayde that she understod hym wel.” And then the +simple-minded but much-perplexed Caxton goes on to say: “Loo! what +sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte, eggës or eyren?” Such were the +difficulties that beset printers and writers in the close of the +fifteenth century.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec37" id = "partIII_chapII_sec37">37.</a> +<b>Latin of the Fourth Period.</b>—(i) This contribution +differs very essentially in character from the last. The Norman-French +contribution was a gift from a people to a people—from living +beings to living beings; this new contribution was rather a conveyance +of words from books to books, and it never influenced—in any great +degree—the <b>spoken language</b> of the English people. The ear +and the mouth carried the Norman-French words into our language; the +eye, the pen, and the printing-press were the instruments that brought +in the Latin words of the Fourth Period. The Norman-French words that +came in took and kept their place in the spoken language of the masses +of the people; the Latin words that we received in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries kept their place in the written or printed +language of books, of scholars, and of literary men. These new Latin +words came in with the <b>Revival of Learning</b>, which is also called +the <b>Renascence</b>.</p> + +<p>The Turks attacked and took Constantinople in the year <b>1453</b>; +and the great Greek and Latin scholars who lived in that city hurriedly +packed up their priceless manuscripts and books, and fled to all parts +of Italy, Germany, France, and even into England. The loss of the East +became the gain of the West. These scholars became teachers; they taught +the Greek +<span class = "pagenum">228</span> +<!--png 046--> +and Roman classics to eager and earnest learners; and thus a new impulse +was given to the study of the great masterpieces of human thought and +literary style. And so it came to pass in course of time that every one +who wished to become an educated man studied the literature of Greece +and Rome. Even women took to the study. Lady Jane Grey was a good Greek +and Latin scholar; and so was Queen Elizabeth. From this time began an +enormous importation of Latin words into our language. Being imported by +the eye and the pen, they suffered little or no change; the spirit of +the people did not influence them in the least—neither the organs +of speech nor the ear affected either the pronunciation or the spelling +of them. If we look down the columns of any English dictionary, we shall +find these later Latin words in hundreds. <i>Opinionem</i> became +<b>opinion</b>; <i>factionem</i>, <b>faction</b>; <i>orationem</i>, +<b>oration</b>; <i>pungentem</i> passed over in the form of +<b>pungent</b> (though we had <i>poignant</i> already from the French); +<i>pauperem</i> came in as <b>pauper</b>; and <i>separatum</i> became +<b>separate</b>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec38" id = "partIII_chapII_sec38">38.</a> +<b>Latin of the Fourth Period.</b>—(ii) This went on to such +an extent in the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century, +that one writer says of those who spoke and wrote this Latinised +English, “If some of their mothers were alive, they were not able to +tell what they say.” And Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) remarks: “If +elegancy (= the use of Latin words) still proceedeth, and English +pens maintain that stream we have of late observed to flow from many, we +shall, within a few years, be fain to learn Latin to understand English, +and a work will prove of equal facility in either.” Mr Alexander +Gill, an eminent schoolmaster, and the then head-master of +St Paul’s School, where, among his other pupils, he taught John +Milton, wrote a book in 1619 on the English language; and, among other +remarks, he says: “O harsh lips! I now hear all around me such +words as <i>common</i>, <i>vices</i>, <i>envy</i>, <i>malice</i>; even +<i>virtue</i>, <i>study</i>, <i>justice</i>, <i>pity</i>, <i>mercy</i>, +<i>compassion</i>, <i>profit</i>, <i>commodity</i>, <i>colour</i>, +<i>grace</i>, <i>favour</i>, <i>acceptance</i>. But whither, +I pray, in all the world, have you banished those words which our +forefathers used for these new-fangled ones? +<span class = "pagenum">229</span> +<!--png 047--> +Are our words to be executed like our citizens?” And he calls this +fashion of using Latin words “the new mange in our speaking and +writing.” But the fashion went on growing; and even uneducated people +thought it a clever thing to use a Latin instead of a good English word. +Samuel Rowlands, a writer in the seventeenth century, ridicules +this affectation in a few lines of verse. He pretends that he was out +walking on the highroad, and met a countryman who wanted to know what +o’clock it was, and whether he was on the right way to the town or +village he was making for. The writer saw at once that he was a simple +bumpkin; and, when he heard that he had lost his way, he turned up his +nose at the poor fellow, and ordered him to be off at once. Here are the +lines:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“As on the way I itinerated,</p> +<p>A rural person I obviated,</p> +<p>Interrogating time’s transitation,</p> +<p>And of the passage demonstration.</p> +<p>My apprehension did ingenious scan</p> +<p>That he was merely a simplician;</p> +<p>So, when I saw he was extravagánt,</p> +<p>Unto the óbscure vulgar consonánt,</p> +<p>I bade him vanish most promiscuously,</p> +<p>And not contaminate my company.”</p> +</div> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec39" id = "partIII_chapII_sec39">39.</a> +<b>Latin of the Fourth Period.</b>—(iii) What happened in the +case of the Norman-French contribution, happened also in this. The +language became saturated with these new Latin words, until it became +satiated, then, as it were, disgusted, and would take no more. +Hundreds of</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Long-tailed words in <i>osity</i> and <i>ation</i>”</p> + +<p>crowded into the English language; but many of them were doomed to +speedy expulsion. Thus words like <i>discerptibility</i>, +<i>supervacaneousness</i>, <i>septentrionality</i>, <i>ludibundness</i> +(love of sport), came in in crowds. The verb <i>intenerate</i> tried to +turn out <i>soften</i>; and <i>deturpate</i> to take the place of +<i>defile</i>. But good writers, like Bacon and Raleigh, took care to +avoid the use of such terms, and to employ only those Latin words which +gave them the power to indicate a new idea—a new meaning or a +new shade +<span class = "pagenum">230</span> +<!--png 048--> +of meaning. And when we come to the eighteenth century, we find that a +writer like Addison would have shuddered at the very mention of such +“inkhorn terms.”</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec40" id = "partIII_chapII_sec40">40.</a> +<b>Eye-Latin and Ear-Latin.</b>—(i) One slight influence +produced by this spread of devotion to classical Latin—to the +Latin of Cicero and Livy, of Horace and Virgil—was to alter the +spelling of French words. We had already received—through the +ear—the French words <i>assaute</i>, <i>aventure</i>, +<i>defaut</i>, <i>dette</i>, <i>vitaille</i>, and others. But when our +scholars became accustomed to the book-form of these words in Latin +books, they gradually altered them—for the eye and ear—into +<i>assault</i>, <i>adventure</i>, <i>default</i>, <i>debt</i>, and +<i>victuals</i>. They went further. A large number of Latin words +that already existed in the language in their Norman-French form (for we +must not forget that French is Latin “with the ends bitten +off”—changed by being spoken peculiarly and heard imperfectly) +were reintroduced in their original Latin form. Thus we had +<b>caitiff</b> from the Normans; but we reintroduced it in the shape of +<b>captive</b>, which comes almost unaltered from the Latin +<i>captivum</i>. <b>Feat</b> we had from the Normans; but the Latin +<i>factum</i>, which provided the word, presented us with a second form +of it in the word <b>fact</b>. Such words might be called +<b>Ear-Latin</b> and <b>Eye-Latin</b>; <b>Mouth-Latin</b> and +<b>Book-Latin</b>; <b>Spoken Latin</b> and <b>Written Latin</b>; or +Latin at second-hand and Latin at first-hand.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec41" id = "partIII_chapII_sec41">41.</a> +<b>Eye-Latin and Ear-Latin.</b>—(ii) This coming in of the +same word by two different doors—by the Eye and by the +Ear—has given rise to the phenomenon of <b>Doublets</b>. The +following is a list of <b>Latin Doublets</b>; and it will be noticed +that Latin<sup>1</sup> stands for Latin at first-hand—from books; +and Latin<sup>2</sup> for Latin at second-hand—through the +Norman-French.</p> + +<h5><span class = "smallcaps">Latin Doublets or Duplicates.</span></h5> + +<table summary = "latin words"> +<tr> +<th><span class = "smallcaps">Latin.</span></th> +<th width = "25%"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Latin<sup>1</sup>.</span></th> +<th width = "25%"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Latin<sup>2</sup>.</span></th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Antecessorem</td> +<td>Antecessor</td> +<td>Ancestor.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Benedictionem</td> +<td>Benediction</td> +<td>Benison.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Cadentia (Low Lat. noun)</p></td> +<td>Cadence</td> +<td>Chance.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Captivum</td> +<td>Captive</td> +<td>Caitiff.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">231</span> +<!--png 049--> +Conceptionem</td> +<td>Conception</td> +<td>Conceit.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "middle">Consuetudinem</td> +<td class = "middle">Consuetude</td> +<td class = "leftline">Custom.<br> +Costume.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Cophinum</td> +<td>Coffin</td> +<td>Coffer.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Corpus (a body)</p></td> +<td>Corpse</td> +<td>Corps.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Debitum (something owed)</p></td> +<td>Debit</td> +<td>Debt.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Defectum (something wanting)</p></td> +<td>Defect</td> +<td>Defeat.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Dilatāre</td> +<td>Dilate</td> +<td>Delay.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Exemplum</td> +<td>Example</td> +<td>Sample.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fabrĭca (a workshop)</p></td> +<td>Fabric</td> +<td>Forge.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Factionem</td> +<td>Faction</td> +<td>Fashion.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Factum</td> +<td>Fact</td> +<td>Feat.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Fidelitatem</td> +<td>Fidelity</td> +<td>Fealty.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Fragilem</td> +<td>Fragile</td> +<td>Frail.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gentīlis (belonging to a <i>gens</i> or family)</p></td> +<td>Gentile</td> +<td>Gentle.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Historia</td> +<td>History</td> +<td>Story.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Hospitale</td> +<td>Hospital</td> +<td>Hotel.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Lectionem</td> +<td>Lection</td> +<td>Lesson.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Legalem</td> +<td>Legal</td> +<td>Loyal.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Magister</td> +<td>Master</td> +<td>Mr.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Majorem (greater)</p></td> +<td>Major</td> +<td>Mayor.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Maledictionem</td> +<td>Malediction</td> +<td>Malison.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Moneta</td> +<td>Mint</td> +<td>Money.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Nutrimentum</td> +<td>Nutriment</td> +<td>Nourishment.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Orationem</td> +<td>Oration</td> +<td><p>Orison (a prayer).</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Paganum (a dweller in a <i>pagus</i> or country +district)</p></td> +<td>Pagan</td> +<td><p>Payne (a proper name).</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Particulam (a little part)</p></td> +<td>Particle</td> +<td>Parcel.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Pauperem</td> +<td>Pauper</td> +<td>Poor.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Penitentiam</td> +<td>Penitence</td> +<td>Penance.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Persecutum</td> +<td>Persecute</td> +<td>Pursue.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Potionem (a draught)</p></td> +<td>Potion</td> +<td>Poison.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Pungentem</td> +<td>Pungent</td> +<td>Poignant.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Quietum</td> +<td>Quiet</td> +<td>Coy.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Radius</td> +<td>Radius</td> +<td>Ray.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Regālem</td> +<td>Regal</td> +<td>Royal.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Respectum</td> +<td>Respect</td> +<td>Respite.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Securum</td> +<td>Secure</td> +<td>Sure.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Seniorem</td> +<td>Senior</td> +<td>Sir.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Separatum</td> +<td>Separate</td> +<td>Sever.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Species</td> +<td>Species</td> +<td>Spice.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Statum</td> +<td>State</td> +<td>Estate.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Tractum</td> +<td>Tract</td> +<td>Trait.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Traditionem</td> +<td>Tradition</td> +<td>Treason.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Zelosum</td> +<td>Zealous</td> +<td>Jealous.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<span class = "pagenum">232</span> +<!--png 050--> +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec42" id = "partIII_chapII_sec42">42.</a> +<b>Remarks on the above Table.</b>—The word <b>benison</b>, +a blessing, may be contrasted with its opposite, <b>malison</b>, +a curse.—<b>Cadence</b> is the falling of sounds; +<b>chance</b> the befalling of events.—A <b>caitiff</b> was +at first a <i>captive</i>—then a person who made no proper +defence, but <i>allowed</i> himself to be taken +captive.—A <b>corps</b> is a <i>body</i> of troops.—The +word <b>sample</b> is found, in older English, in the form of +<b>ensample</b>.—A <b>feat</b> of arms is a deed or +<b>fact</b> of arms, <i>par excellence</i>.—To understand how +<b>fragile</b> became <b>frail</b>, we must pronounce the <b>g</b> hard, +and notice how the hard guttural falls easily away—as in our own +native words <i>flail</i> and <i>hail</i>, which formerly contained a +hard <b>g</b>.—A <b>major</b> is a <i>greater</i> captain; +a <b>mayor</b> is a greater +<i>magistrate</i>.—A <b>magister</b> means a <i>bigger +man</i>—as opposed to a <b>minister</b> (from <i>minus</i>), +a smaller man.—<b>Moneta</b> was the name given to a stamped +coin, because these coins were first struck in the temple of Juno +Moneta, Juno the Adviser or the Warner. (From the same +root—<b>mon</b>—come <i>monition</i>, <i>admonition</i>; +<i>monitor</i>; <i>admonish</i>.)—Shakespeare uses the word +<b>orison</b> freely for <i>prayer</i>, as in the address of Hamlet to +Ophelia, where he says, “Nymph, in thy orisons, be all my sins +remembered!”—<b>Poor</b> comes to us from an Old French word +<i>poure</i>; the newer French is <i>pauvre</i>.—To understand the +vanishing of the <b>g</b> sound in <i>poignant</i>, we must remember +that the Romans sounded it always hard.—<b>Sever</b> we get +through <i>separate</i>, because <b>p</b> and <b>v</b> are both labials, +and therefore easily interchangeable.—<b>Treason</b>—with +its <b>s</b> instead of <b>ti</b>—may be compared with +<b>benison</b>, <b>malison</b>, <b>orison</b>, <b>poison</b>, and +<b>reason</b>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec43" id = "partIII_chapII_sec43">43.</a> +<b>Conclusions from the above Table.</b>—If we examine the table +on page 231 with care, we shall come to several undeniable conclusions. +(i) First, the words which come to us direct from Latin are found +more in books than in everyday speech. (ii) Secondly, they are +longer. The reason is that the words that have come through French have +been worn down by the careless pronunciation of many +generations—by that desire for ease in the pronouncing of words +which characterises all languages, and have at last been compelled to +take that form which was least difficult to pronounce. +(iii) Thirdly, the two +<span class = "pagenum">233</span> +<!--png 051--> +sets of words have, in each case, either (<i>a</i>) very different +meanings, or (<i>b</i>) different shades of meaning. There is no +likeness of meaning in <i>cadence</i> and <i>chance</i>, except the +common meaning of <i>fall</i> which belongs to the root from which they +both spring. And the different shades of meaning between <b>history</b> +and <b>story</b>, between <b>regal</b> and <b>royal</b>, between +<b>persecute</b> and <b>pursue</b>, are also quite plainly marked, and +are of the greatest use in composition.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec44" id = "partIII_chapII_sec44">44.</a> +<b>Latin Triplets.</b>—Still more remarkable is the fact that +there are in our language words that have made three +appearances—one through Latin, one through Norman-French, and one +through ordinary French. These seem to live quietly side by side in the +language; and no one asks by what claim they are here. They are useful: +that is enough. These triplets are—<b>regal</b>, <b>royal</b>, and +<b>real</b>; <b>legal</b>, <b>loyal</b>, and <b>leal</b>; +<b>fidelity</b>, <b>faithfulness</b>,<a class = "tag" name = "tag8" id = +"tag8" href = "#note8">8</a> and <b>fealty</b>. The adjective real we no +longer possess in the sense of <i>royal</i>, but Chaucer uses it; and it +still exists in the noun <b>real-m</b>. <b>Leal</b> is most used in +Scotland, where it has a settled abode in the well-known phrase “the +land o’ the leal.”</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec45" id = "partIII_chapII_sec45">45.</a> +<b>Greek Doublets.</b>—The same double introduction, which we +noticed in the case of Latin words, takes place in regard to Greek +words. It seems to have been forgotten that our English forms of them +had been already given us by St Augustine and the Church, and a +newer form of each was reintroduced. The following are a few +examples:—</p> + +<table summary = "greek words"> +<tr> +<th><span class = "smallcaps">Greek.</span></th> +<th><span class = "smallcaps">Older Form.</span></th> +<th><span class = "smallcaps">Later Form.</span></th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p>Adamanta<a class = "tag" name = "tag9" id = "tag9" href = +"#note9">9</a> (the untameable)</p></td> +<td>Diamond</td> +<td>Adamant.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Balsamon</td> +<td>Balm</td> +<td>Balsam.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Blasphēmein (to speak ill of)</p></td> +<td>Blame</td> +<td>Blaspheme.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Cheirourgon<a class = "tag" href = "#note9">9</a> (a worker with +the hand)</p></td> +<td>Chirurgeon</td> +<td>Surgeon.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">234</span> +<!--png 052--> +<p>Dactŭlon (a finger)</p></td> +<td><p>Date (the fruit)</p></td> +<td>Dactyl.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Phantasia</td> +<td>Fancy</td> +<td>Phantasy.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Phantasma (an appearance)</p></td> +<td>Phantom</td> +<td>Phantasm.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Presbuteron (an elder)</p></td> +<td>Priest</td> +<td>Presbyter.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Paralysis</td> +<td>Palsy</td> +<td>Paralysis.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Scandălon</td> +<td>Slander</td> +<td>Scandal.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>It may be remarked of the word <i>fancy</i>, that, in Shakespeare’s +time, it meant <i>love</i> or <i>imagination</i>—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Tell me, where is <i>fancy</i> bred,</p> +<p>Or in the heart, or in the head?”</p> +</div> + +<p>It is now restricted to mean a lighter and less serious kind of +imagination. Thus we say that Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ is a work of +imagination; but that Moore’s ‘Lalla Rookh’ is a product of the poet’s +fancy.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec46" id = "partIII_chapII_sec46">46.</a> +<b>Characteristics of the Two Elements of English.</b>—If we keep +our attention fixed on the two chief elements in our language—the +English element and the Latin element—the Teutonic and the +Romance—we shall find some striking qualities manifest themselves. +We have already said that whole sentences can be made containing only +English words, while it is impossible to do this with Latin or other +foreign words. Let us take two passages—one from a daily +newspaper, and the other from Shakespeare:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +(i) “We find the <i>functions</i> of such an <i>official +defined</i> in the <i>Act</i>. He is to be a <i>legally qualified +medical practitioner</i> of skill and <i>experience</i>, to +<i>inspect</i> and <i>report periodically</i> on the <i>sanitary +condition</i> of town or <i>district</i>; to <i>ascertain</i> the +<i>existence</i> of <i>diseases</i>, more <i>especially epidemics +increasing</i> the <i>rates</i> of <i>mortality</i>, and to <i>point</i> +out the <i>existence</i> of any <i>nuisances</i> or other <i>local +causes</i>, which are likely to <i>originate</i> and <i>maintain</i> +such <i>diseases</i>, and <i>injuriously affect</i> the health of the +<i>inhabitants</i> of such town or <i>district</i>; to take +<i>cognisance</i> of the <i>existence</i> of any <i>contagious +disease</i>, and to point out the most <i>efficacious means</i> for the +<i>ventilation</i> of <i>chapels</i>, <i>schools</i>, <i>registered +lodging</i>-houses, and other <i>public</i> buildings.” +</p> + +<p>In this passage, all the words in italics are either Latin or Greek. +But, if the purely English words were left out, the sentence would fall +into ruins—would become a mere rubbish-heap of words. It is the +small particles that give life and +<span class = "pagenum">235</span> +<!--png 053--> +motion to each sentence. They are the joints and hinges on which the +whole sentence moves.—Let us now look at a passage from +Shakespeare. It is from the speech of Macbeth, after he has made up his +mind to murder Duncan:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>(ii) “Go bid thy <i>mistress</i>, when my drink is ready,</p> +<p class = "three"> +She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed!—</p> +<p class = "three"> +Is this a dagger which I see before me,</p> +<p class = "three"> +The handle toward my hand? Come! let me clutch thee!</p> +<p class = "three"> +—I have thee not; and yet I see thee still.”</p> +</div> + +<p>In this passage there is only one Latin (or French) word—the +word <i>mistress</i>. If Shakespeare had used the word <b>lady</b>, the +passage would have been entirely English.—The passage from the +newspaper deals with large <b>generalisations</b>; that from Shakespeare +with individual <b>acts</b> and <b>feelings</b>—with things that +come <b>home</b> “to the business and bosom” of man as man. Every master +of the English language understands well the art of mingling the two +elements—so as to obtain a fine effect; and none better than +writers like Shakespeare, Milton, Gray, and Tennyson. Shakespeare makes +Antony say of Cleopatra:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Age cannot wither her; nor <i>custom</i> stale</p> +<p>Her infinite <i>variety</i>.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Here the French (or Latin) words <i>custom</i> and <i>variety</i> +form a vivid contrast to the English verb <i>stale</i>, throw up its +meaning and colour, and give it greater prominence.—Milton makes +Eve say:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "halfline"> +“I thither went</p> +<p>With <i>inexperienc’d</i> thought, and laid me down</p> +<p>On the green bank, to look into the <i>clear</i></p> +<p>Smooth <i>lake</i>, that to me seem’d another sky.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Here the words <i>inexperienced</i> and <i>clear</i> give variety to +the sameness of the English words.—Gray, in the Elegy, has this +verse:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“The breezy call of <i>incense</i>-breathing morn,</p> +<p class = "two"> +The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,</p> +<p>The cock’s shrill <i>clarion</i> or the <i>echoing</i> horn,</p> +<p class = "two"> +No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.”</p> +</div> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">236</span> +<!--png 054--> +Here <i>incense</i>, <i>clarion</i>, and <i>echoing</i> give a vivid +colouring to the plainer hues of the homely English +phrases.—Tennyson, in the Lotos-Eaters, vi., writes:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Dear is the <i>memory</i> of our wedded lives,</p> +<p>And dear the last <i>embraces</i> of our wives</p> +<p>And their warm tears: but all hath <i>suffer’d change</i>;</p> +<p>For <i>surely</i> now our household hearths are cold:</p> +<p>Our sons <i>inherit</i> us: our looks are <i>strange</i>:</p> +<p>And we should come like ghosts to <i>trouble joy</i>.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Most powerful is the introduction of the French words <i>suffered +change</i>, <i>inherit</i>, <i>strange</i>, and <i>trouble joy</i>; for +they give with painful force the contrast of the present state of +desolation with the homely rest and happiness of the old abode, the love +of the loving wives, the faithfulness of the stalwart sons.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec47" id = "partIII_chapII_sec47">47.</a> +<b>English and other Doublets.</b>—We have already seen how, by +the presentation of the same word at two different doors—the door +of Latin and the door of French—we are in possession of a +considerable number of doublets. But this phenomenon is not limited to +Latin and French—is not solely due to the contributions we receive +from these languages. We find it also <b>within</b> English itself; and +causes of the most different description bring about the same results. +For various reasons, the English language is very rich in doublets. It +possesses nearly five hundred pairs of such words. The language is all +the richer for having them, as it is thereby enabled to give fuller and +clearer expression to the different shades and delicate varieties of +meaning in the mind.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec48" id = "partIII_chapII_sec48">48.</a> +<b>The sources of doublets</b> are various. But five different causes +seem chiefly to have operated in producing them. They are due to +differences of <b>pronunciation</b>; to differences in <b>spelling</b>; +to <b>contractions</b> for convenience in daily speech; to differences +in <b>dialects</b>; and to the fact that many of them come from +<b>different languages</b>. Let us look at a few examples of each. At +bottom, however, all these differences will be found to resolve +themselves into <b>differences of pronunciation</b>. They are either +differences in the pronunciation of the same word by +<span class = "pagenum">237</span> +<!--png 055--> +different tribes, or by men in different counties, who speak different +dialects; or by men of different nations.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec49" id = "partIII_chapII_sec49">49.</a> +<b>Differences in Pronunciation.</b>—From this source we have +<b>parson</b> and <b>person</b> (the parson being the <i>person</i> or +representative of the Church); <b>sop</b> and <b>soup</b>; <b>task</b> +and <b>tax</b> (the <b>sk</b> has here become <b>ks</b>); <b>thread</b> +and <b>thrid</b>; <b>ticket</b> and <b>etiquette</b>; <b>sauce</b> and +<b>souse</b> (to steep in brine); <b>squall</b> and +<b>squeal</b>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec50" id = "partIII_chapII_sec50">50.</a> +<b>Differences in Spelling.</b>—<b>To</b> and <b>too</b> are the +same word—one being used as a preposition, the other as an adverb; +<b>of</b> and <b>off</b>, <b>from</b> and <b>fro</b>, are only different +spellings, which represent different functions or uses of the same word; +<b>onion</b> and <b>union</b> are the same word. An <b>union</b><a class += "tag" name = "tag10" id = "tag10" href = "#note10">10</a> comes from +the Latin <b>unus</b>, one, and it meant a large single +pearl—a unique jewel; the word was then applied to the plant, +the head of which is of a pearl-shape.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec51" id = "partIII_chapII_sec51">51.</a> +<b>Contractions.</b>—Contraction has been a pretty fruitful source +of doublets in English. A long word has a syllable or two cut off; +or two or three are compressed into one. Thus <b>example</b> has become +<b>sample</b>; <b>alone</b> appears also as <b>lone</b>; <b>amend</b> +has been shortened into <b>mend</b>; <b>defend</b> has been cut down +into <b>fend</b> (as in <b>fender</b>); <b>manœuvre</b> has been +contracted into <b>manure</b> (both meaning originally to work with the +hand); <b>madam</b> becomes <b>’m</b> in <b>yes ’m</b><a class = +"tag" name = "tag11" id = "tag11" href = "#note11">11</a>; and +<b>presbyter</b> has been squeezed down into <b>priest</b>.<a class = +"tag" name = "tag12" id = "tag12" href = "#note12">12</a> Other examples +of contraction are: <b>capital</b> and <b>cattle</b>; <b>chirurgeon</b> +(a worker with the hand) and <b>surgeon</b>; <b>cholera</b> and +<b>choler</b> (from chŏlos, the Greek word for <i>bile</i>); +<b>disport</b> and <b>sport</b>; <b>estate</b> and <b>state</b>; +<b>esquire</b> and <b>squire</b>; <b>Egyptian</b> and +<span class = "pagenum">238</span> +<!--png 056--> +<b>gipsy</b>; <b>emmet</b> and <b>ant</b>; <b>gammon</b> and +<b>game</b>; <b>grandfather</b> and <b>gaffer</b>; <b>grandmother</b> +and <b>gammer</b>; <b>iota</b> (the Greek letter <b>i</b>) and +<b>jot</b>; <b>maximum</b> and <b>maxim</b>; <b>mobile</b> and +<b>mob</b>; <b>mosquito</b> and <b>musket</b>; <b>papa</b> and +<b>pope</b>; <b>periwig</b> and <b>wig</b>; <b>poesy</b> and +<b>posy</b>; <b>procurator</b> and <b>proctor</b>; <b>shallop</b> and +<b>sloop</b>; <b>unity</b> and <b>unit</b>. It is quite evident that the +above pairs of words, although in reality one, have very different +meanings and uses.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapII_sec52" id = "partIII_chapII_sec52">52.</a> +<b>Difference of English Dialects.</b>—Another source of doublets +is to be found in the dialects of the English language. Almost every +county in England has its own dialect; but three main dialects stand out +with great prominence in our older literature, and these are the +<b>Northern</b>, the <b>Midland</b>, and the <b>Southern</b>. The +grammar of these dialects<a class = "tag" name = "tag13" id = "tag13" +href = "#note13">13</a> was different; their pronunciation of words was +different—and this has given rise to a splitting of one word into +two. In the North, we find a hard <b>c</b>, as in the <i>caster</i> of +<b>Lancaster</b>; in the Midlands, a soft <b>c</b>, as in +<b>Leicester</b>; in the South, a <b>ch</b>, as in +<b>Winchester</b>. We shall find similar differences of hardness and +softness in ordinary words. Thus we find <b>kirk</b> and <b>church</b>; +<b>canker</b> and <b>cancer</b>; <b>canal</b> and <b>channel</b>; +<b>deck</b> and <b>thatch</b>; <b>drill</b> and <b>thrill</b>; +<b>fan</b> and <b>van</b> (in a winnowing-machine); <b>fitch</b> +and <b>vetch</b>; <b>hale</b> and <b>whole</b>; <b>mash</b> and +<b>mess</b>; <b>naught</b>, <b>nought</b>, and <b>not</b>; <b>pike</b>, +<b>peak</b>, and <b>beak</b>; <b>poke</b> and <b>pouch</b>; <b>quid</b> +(a piece of tobacco for chewing) and <b>cud</b> (which means the +thing <i>chewed</i>); <b>reave</b> and <b>rob</b>; <b>ridge</b> and +<b>rig</b>; <b>scabby</b> and <b>shabby</b>; <b>scar</b> and +<b>share</b>; <b>screech</b> and <b>shriek</b>; <b>shirt</b> and +<b>skirt</b>; <b>shuffle</b> and <b>scuffle</b>; <b>spray</b> and +<b>sprig</b>; <b>wain</b> and <b>waggon</b>—and other pairs. All +of these are but different modes of pronouncing the same word in +different parts of England; but the genius of the language has taken +advantage of these different <b>ways of pronouncing</b> to make +different <b>words</b> out of them, and to give them different +functions, meanings, and uses.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">239</span> +<!--png 057--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIII_chapIII" id = +"partIII_chapIII"> +CHAPTER III.</a></h4> + +<h6>HISTORY OF THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec1" id = "partIII_chapIII_sec1">1.</a> +<b>The Oldest English Synthetic.</b>—The oldest English, or +Anglo-Saxon, that was brought over here in the fifth century, was a +language that showed the relations of words to each other by adding +different endings to words, or by <b>synthesis</b>. These endings are +called <b>inflexions</b>. Latin and Greek are highly inflected +languages; French and German have many more inflexions than modern +English; and ancient English (or Anglo-Saxon) also possessed a +large number of inflexions.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec2" id = "partIII_chapIII_sec2">2.</a> +<b>Modern English Analytic.</b>—When, instead of inflexions, +a language employs small particles—such as prepositions, +auxiliary verbs, and suchlike words—to express the relations of +words to each other, such a language is called <b>analytic</b> or +<b>non-inflexional</b>. When we say, as we used to say in the oldest +English, “God is ealra cyninga cyning,” we speak a synthetic language. +But when we say, “God is king <i>of</i> all kings,” then we employ an +analytic or uninflected language.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec3" id = "partIII_chapIII_sec3">3.</a> +<b>Short View of the History of English Grammar.</b>—From the time +when the English language came over to this island, it has grown +steadily in the number of its words. On the other hand, it has lost just +as steadily in the number of its inflexions. Put in a broad and somewhat +rough fashion, it may be said that—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +(i) <b>Up to the year 1100—one generation after the Battle of +Senlac—the English language was a</b> <span class = +"smallcaps">Synthetic</span> <b>Language.</b></p> + +<span class = "pagenum">240</span> +<!--png 058--> + +<p class = "quotation"> +(ii) <b>From the year 1100 or thereabouts, English has been losing its +inflexions, and gradually becoming more and more an</b> <span class = +"smallcaps">Analytic</span> <b>Language.</b></p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec4" id = "partIII_chapIII_sec4">4.</a> +<b>Causes of this Change.</b>—Even before the coming of the Danes +and the Normans, the English people had shown a tendency to get rid of +some of their inflexions. A similar tendency can be observed at the +present time among the Germans of the Rhine Province, who often drop an +<b>n</b> at the end of a word, and show in other respects a carelessness +about grammar. But, when a foreign people comes among natives, such a +tendency is naturally encouraged, and often greatly increased. The +natives discover that these inflexions are not so very important, if +only they can get their meaning rightly conveyed to the foreigners. Both +parties, accordingly, come to see that the <b>root</b> of the word is +the most important element; they stick to that, and they come to neglect +the mere inflexions. Moreover, the accent in English words always struck +the root; and hence this part of the word always fell on the ear with +the greater force, and carried the greater weight. When the +Danes—who spoke a cognate language—began to settle in +England, the tendency to drop inflexions increased; but when the +Normans—who spoke an entirely different language—came, the +tendency increased enormously, and the inflexions of Anglo-Saxon began +to “fall as the leaves fall” in the dry wind of a frosty October. Let us +try to trace some of these changes and losses.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec5" id = "partIII_chapIII_sec5">5.</a> +<b>Grammar of the First Period, 450-1100.</b>—The English of this +period is called the <b>Oldest English</b> or <b>Anglo-Saxon</b>. The +gender of nouns was arbitrary, or—it may be—poetical; it did +not, as in modern English it does, follow the sex. Thus <b>nama</b>, +a name, was masculine; <b>tunge</b>, a tongue, feminine; and +<b>eáge</b>, an eye, neuter. Like <i>nama</i>, the proper names of men +ended in <i>a</i>; and we find such names as Isa, Offa, Penda, as the +names of kings. Nouns at this period had five cases, with inflexions for +each; now we possess but one inflexion—that for the +possessive.—Even the definite article was inflected.—The +infinitive of verbs ended in <b>an</b>; and the sign +<i>to</i>—which we received from the +<span class = "pagenum">241</span> +<!--png 059--> +Danes—was not in use, except for the dative of the infinitive. +This dative infinitive is still preserved in such phrases as “a house to +let;” “bread to eat;” “water to drink.”—The present participle +ended in <b>ende</b> (in the North <b>ande</b>). This present +participle may be said still to exist—in spoken, but not in +written speech; for some people regularly say <i>walkin</i>, +<i>goin</i>, for <i>walking</i> and <i>going</i>.—The plural of +the present indicative ended in <b>ath</b> for all three persons. In the +perfect tense, the plural ending was <b>on</b>.—There was no +future tense; the work of the future was done by the present tense. +Fragments of this usage still survive in the language, as when we say, +“He goes up to town next week.”—Prepositions governed various +cases; and not always the objective (or accusative), as they do +now.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec6" id = "partIII_chapIII_sec6">6.</a> +<b>Grammar of the Second Period, 1100-1250.</b>—The English of +this period is called <b>Early English</b>. Even before the coming of +the Normans, the inflexions of our language had—as we have +seen—begun to drop off, and it was slowly on the way to becoming +an analytic language. The same changes—the same simplification of +grammar, has taken place in nearly every Low German language. But the +coming of the Normans hastened these changes, for it made the +inflexional endings of words of much less practical importance to the +English themselves.—Great changes took place in the pronunciation +also. The hard <b>c</b> or <b>k</b> was softened into <b>ch</b>; and the +hard guttural <b>g</b> was refined into a <b>y</b> or even into a silent +<b>w</b>.—A remarkable addition was made to the language. The +Oldest English or Anglo-Saxon had no indefinite article. They said +<i>ofer stán</i> for <i>on</i> a <i>rock</i>. But, as the French have +made the article <b>un</b> out of the Latin <b>unus</b>, so the English +pared down the northern <b>ane</b> (= <b>one</b>) into the article +<b>an</b> or <b>a</b>. The Anglo-Saxon definite article was <b>se</b>, +<b>seo</b>, <b>þaet</b>; and in the grammar of this Second Period it +became <b>þe</b>, <b>þeo</b>, <b>þe</b>.—The French plural in +<b>es</b> took the place of the English plural in <b>en</b>. But +<i>housen</i> and <i>shoon</i> existed for many centuries after the +Norman coming; and Mr Barnes, the Dorsetshire poet, still deplores +the ugly sound of <i>nests</i> and <i>fists</i>, and would like to be +able to say and to write <i>nesten</i> and <i>fisten</i>.—The +dative plural, which ended in <b>um</b>, becomes an <b>e</b> or an +<b>en</b>. The <b>um</b>, +<span class = "pagenum">242</span> +<!--png 060--> +however, still exists in the form of <b>om</b> in <b>seldom</b> +(= at few times) and <b>whilom</b> (= in old times).—The +gender of nouns falls into confusion, and begins to show a tendency to +follow the sex.—Adjectives show a tendency to drop several of +their inflexions, and to become as serviceable and accommodating as they +are now—when they are the same with all numbers, genders, and +cases.—The <b>an</b> of the infinitive becomes <b>en</b>, and +sometimes even the <b>n</b> is dropped.—<b>Shall</b> and +<b>will</b> begin to be used as tense-auxiliaries for the future +tense.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec7" id = "partIII_chapIII_sec7">7.</a> +<b>Grammar of the Third Period, 1250-1350.</b>—The English of this +period is often called <b>Middle English</b>.—The definite article +still preserves a few inflexions.—Nouns that were once masculine +or feminine become neuter, for the sake of convenience.—The +possessive in <b>es</b> becomes general.—Adjectives make their +plural in <b>e</b>.—The infinitive now takes <b>to</b> before +it—except after a few verbs, like <i>bid</i>, <i>see</i>, +<i>hear</i>, etc.—The present participle in <b>inge</b> makes its +appearance about the year 1300.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec8" id = "partIII_chapIII_sec8">8.</a> +<b>Grammar of the Fourth Period, 1350-1485.</b>—This may be called +<b>Later Middle English</b>. An old writer of the fourteenth century +points out that, in his time—and before it—the English +language was “a-deled a thre,” divided into three; that is, that there +were three main dialects, the <b>Northern</b>, the <b>Midland</b>, and +the <b>Southern</b>. There were many differences in the grammar of these +dialects; but the chief of these differences is found in the plural of +the present indicative of the verb. This part of the verb formed its +plurals in the following manner:—</p> + +<table summary = "dialectal forms"> +<tr> +<th><span class = "smallcaps">Northern.</span></th> +<th><span class = "smallcaps">Midland.</span></th> +<th><span class = "smallcaps">Southern.</span></th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>We hopës</td> +<td>We hopen</td> +<td>We hopeth.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>You hopës</td> +<td>You hopen</td> +<td>You hopeth.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>They hopës</td> +<td>They hopen</td> +<td>They hopeth.<a class = "tag" name = "tag14" id = "tag14" href = +"#note14">14</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>In time the Midland dialect conquered; and the East Midland form of +it became predominant all over England. As early as the beginning of the +thirteenth century, this dialect had thrown off most of the old +inflexions, and had become almost as flexionless +<span class = "pagenum">243</span> +<!--png 061--> +as the English of the present day. Let us note a few of the more +prominent changes.—The first personal pronoun <b>Ic</b> or +<b>Ich</b> loses the guttural, and becomes <b>I</b>.—The pronouns +<b>him</b>, <b>them</b>, and <b>whom</b>, which are true datives, are +used either as datives or as objectives.—The imperative plural +ends in <b>eth</b>. “Riseth up,” Chaucer makes one of his characters +say, “and stondeth by me!”—The useful and almost ubiquitous letter +<b>e</b> comes in as a substitute for <b>a</b>, <b>u</b>, and even +<b>an</b>. Thus <b>nama</b> becomes <b>name</b>, <b>sunu</b> (son) +becomes <b>sune</b>, and <b>withutan</b> changes into +<b>withute</b>.—The dative of adjectives is used as an adverb. +Thus we find <b>softë</b>, <b>brightë</b> employed like our +<b>softly</b>, <b>brightly</b>.—The <b>n</b> in the infinitive has +fallen away; but the <b>ë</b> is sounded as a separate syllable. Thus we +find <b>brekë</b>, <b>smitë</b> for <i>breken</i> and <i>smiten</i>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec9" id = "partIII_chapIII_sec9">9.</a> +<b>General View.</b>—In the time of King Alfred, the West-Saxon +speech—the Wessex dialect—took precedence of the rest, and +became the literary dialect of England. But it had not, and could not +have, any influence on the spoken language of other parts of England, +for the simple reason that very few persons were able to travel, and it +took days—and even weeks—for a man to go from Devonshire to +Yorkshire. In course of time the Midland dialect—that spoken +between the Humber and the Thames—became the predominant dialect +of England; and the East Midland variety of this dialect became the +parent of modern standard English. This predominance was probably due to +the fact that it, soonest of all, got rid of its inflexions, and became +most easy, pleasant, and convenient to use. And this disuse of +inflexions was itself probably due to the early Danish settlements in +the east, to the larger number of Normans in that part of England, to +the larger number of thriving towns, and to the greater and more active +communication between the eastern seaports and the Continent. The +inflexions were first confused, then weakened, then forgotten, finally +lost. The result was an extreme simplification, which still benefits all +learners of the English language. Instead of spending a great deal of +time on the learning of a large number of inflexions, which are to them +arbitrary and meaningless, +<span class = "pagenum">244</span> +<!--png 062--> +foreigners have only to fix their attention on the words and phrases +themselves, that is, on the very pith and marrow of the +language—indeed, on the language itself. Hence the great German +grammarian Grimm, and others, predict that English will spread itself +all over the world, and become the universal language of the future. In +addition to this almost complete sweeping away of all +inflexions,—which made Dr Johnson say, “Sir, the English +language has no grammar at all,”—there were other remarkable and +useful results which accrued from the coming in of the Norman-French and +other foreign elements.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec10" id = +"partIII_chapIII_sec10">10.</a> +<b>Monosyllables.</b>—The stripping off of the inflexions of our +language cut a large number of words down to the root. Hundreds, if not +thousands, of our verbs were dissyllables, but, by the gradual loss of +the ending <b>en</b> (which was in Anglo-Saxon <b>an</b>), they became +monosyllables. Thus <b>bindan</b>, <b>drincan</b>, <b>findan</b>, became +<b>bind</b>, <b>drink</b>, <b>find</b>; and this happened with hosts of +other verbs. Again, the expulsion of the guttural, which the Normans +never could or would take to, had the effect of compressing many words +of two syllables into one. Thus <b>haegel</b>, <b>twaegen</b>, and +<b>faegen</b>, became <b>hail</b>, <b>twain</b>, and +<b>fain</b>.—In these and other ways it has come to pass that the +present English is to a very large extent of a monosyllabic character. +So much is this the case, that whole books have been written for +children in monosyllables. It must be confessed that the monosyllabic +style is often dull, but it is always serious and homely. We can find in +our translation of the Bible whole verses that are made up of words of +only one syllable. Many of the most powerful passages in Shakespeare, +too, are written in monosyllables. The same may be said of hundreds of +our proverbs—such as, “Cats hide their claws”; “Fair words please +fools”; “He that has most time has none to lose.” Great poets, like +Tennyson and Matthew Arnold, understand well the fine effect to be +produced from the mingling of short and long words—of the homely +English with the more ornate Romance language. In the following verse +from Matthew Arnold the words are all monosyllables, with the exception +of <i>tired</i> and <i>contention</i> (which is Latin):—</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">245</span> +<!--png 063--> +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Let the long contention cease;</p> +<p>Geese are swans, and swans are geese;</p> +<p>Let them have it how they will,</p> +<p>Thou art tired. Best be still!”</p> +</div> + +<p>In Tennyson’s “Lord of Burleigh,” when the sorrowful husband comes to +look upon his dead wife, the verse runs almost entirely in +monosyllables:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“And he came to look upon her,</p> +<p class = "two"> +And he looked at her, and said:</p> +<p>‘Bring the dress, and put it on her,</p> +<p class = "two"> +That she wore when she was wed.’”</p> +</div> + +<p>An American writer has well indicated the force of the English +monosyllable in the following sonnet:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Think not that strength lies in the big, <i>round</i> word,</p> +<p class = "two"> +Or that the <i>brief</i> and <i>plain</i> must needs be weak.</p> +<p>To whom can this be true who once has heard</p> +<p class = "two"> +The cry for help, the tongue that all men speak,</p> +<p>When want, or fear, or woe, is in the throat,</p> +<p class = "two"> +So that each word gasped out is like a shriek</p> +<p><i>Pressed</i> from the sore heart, or a <i>strange</i>, wild +<i>note</i></p> +<p class = "two"> +Sung by some <i>fay</i> or fiend! There is a strength,</p> +<p>Which dies if stretched too far, or spun too fine,</p> +<p class = "two"> +Which has more height than breadth, more depth than length;</p> +<p>Let but this <i>force</i> of thought and speech be mine,</p> +<p class = "two"> +And he that will may take the sleek fat <i>phrase</i>,</p> +<p>Which glows but burns not, though it beam and shine;</p> +<p class = "two"> +Light, but no heat,—a flash, but not a blaze.”</p> +</div> + +<p>It will be observed that this sonnet consists entirely of +monosyllables, and yet that the style of it shows considerable power and +vigour. The words printed in italics are all derived from Latin, with +the exception of the word <i>phrase</i>, which is Greek.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec11" id = +"partIII_chapIII_sec11">11.</a> +<b>Change in the Order of Words.</b>—The syntax—or order of +words—of the oldest English was very different from that of +Norman-French. The syntax of an Old English sentence was clumsy and +involved; it kept the attention long on the strain; it was rumbling, +rambling, and unpleasant to the ear. It kept the attention on the +strain, because the verb in a subordinate clause was held back, and not +revealed till we had come to the +<span class = "pagenum">246</span> +<!--png 064--> +end of the clause. Thus the Anglo-Saxon wrote (though in different form +and spelling)—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“When Darius saw, that he overcome be would.”</p> + +<p>The newer English, under French influence, wrote—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“When Darius saw that he was going to be overcome.”</p> + +<p>This change has made an English sentence lighter and more easy to +understand, for the reader or hearer is not kept waiting for the verb; +but each word comes just when it is expected, and therefore in its +“natural” place. The Old English sentence—which is very like the +German sentence of the present day—has been compared to a heavy +cart without springs, while the newer English sentence is like a modern +well-hung English carriage. Norman-French, then, gave us a brighter, +lighter, freer rhythm, and therefore a sentence more easy to understand +and to employ, more supple, and better adapted to everyday use.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec12" id = +"partIII_chapIII_sec12">12.</a> +<b>The Expulsion of Gutturals.</b>—(i) Not only did the +Normans help us to an easier and pleasanter kind of sentence, they aided +us in getting rid of the numerous throat-sounds that infested our +language. It is a remarkable fact that there is not now in the French +language a single guttural. There is not an <b>h</b> in the whole +language. The French <i>write</i> an <b>h</b> in several of their words, +but they never sound it. Its use is merely to serve as a fence between +two vowels—to keep two vowels separate, as in <i>la haine</i>, +hatred. No doubt the Normans could utter throat-sounds well enough when +they dwelt in Scandinavia; but, after they had lived in France for +several generations, they acquired a great dislike to all such sounds. +No doubt, too, many, from long disuse, were unable to give utterance to +a guttural. This dislike they communicated to the English; and hence, in +the present day, there are many people—especially in the south of +England—who cannot sound a guttural at all. The muscles in the +throat that help to produce these sounds have become +atrophied—have lost their power for want of practice. The purely +English part of the population, for many centuries after the Norman +invasion, could sound gutturals quite easily—just as the Scotch +<span class = "pagenum">247</span> +<!--png 065--> +and the Germans do now; but it gradually became the fashion in England +to leave them out.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec13" id = +"partIII_chapIII_sec13">13.</a> +<b>The Expulsion of Gutturals.</b>—(ii) In some cases the +guttural disappeared entirely; in others, it was changed into or +represented by other sounds. The <b>ge</b> at the beginning of the +passive (or past) participles of many verbs disappeared entirely. +Thus <b>gebróht</b>, <b>gebóht</b>, <b>geworht</b>, became +<b>brought</b>, <b>bought</b>, and <b>wrought</b>. The <b>g</b> at the +beginning of many words also dropped off. Thus <b>Gyppenswich</b> became +<b>Ipswich</b>; <b>gif</b> became <b>if</b>; <b>genoh</b>, +<b>enough</b>.—The guttural at the end of words—hard +<b>g</b> or <b>c</b>—also disappeared. Thus <b>halig</b> became +<b>holy</b>; <b>eordhlic</b>, <b>earthly</b>; <b>gastlic</b>, +<b>ghastly</b> or <b>ghostly</b>. The same is the case in <b>dough</b>, +<b>through</b>, <b>plough</b>, etc.—the guttural appearing to the +eye but not to the ear.—Again, the guttural was changed into quite +different sounds—into labials, into sibilants, into other sounds +also. The following are a few examples:—</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) The guttural has been softened, through Norman-French +influence, into a <b>sibilant</b>. Thus <b>rigg</b>, <b>egg</b>, and +<b>brigg</b> have become <b>ridge</b>, <b>edge</b>, and +<b>bridge</b>.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) The guttural has become a +<b>labial</b>—<b>f</b>—as in <b>cough</b>, <b>enough</b>, +<b>trough</b>, <b>laugh</b>, <b>draught</b>, etc.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) The guttural has become an additional syllable, and is +represented by a <b>vowel-sound</b>. Thus <b>sorg</b> and <b>mearh</b> +have become <b>sorrow</b> and <b>marrow</b>.</p> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) In some words it has disappeared both to eye and ear. Thus +<b>makëd</b> has become <b>made</b>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec14" id = +"partIII_chapIII_sec14">14.</a> +<b>The Story of the GH.</b>—How is it, then, that we have in so +many words the two strongest gutturals in the language—<b>g</b> +and <b>h</b>—not only separately, in so many of our words, but +combined? The story is an odd one. Our Old English or Saxon scribes +wrote—not <b>light</b>, <b>might</b>, and <b>night</b>, but +<b>liht</b>, <b>miht</b>, and <b>niht</b>. When, however, they found +that the Norman-French gentlemen would not sound the <b>h</b>, and +say—as is still said in Scotland—<i>li</i><b>ch</b><i>t</i>, +&c., they redoubled the guttural, strengthened the <b>h</b> with a +hard <b>g</b>, and again presented the dose to the Norman. But, if the +Norman could not sound the <b>h</b> alone, still less could he sound the +double guttural; and he very coolly let both alone— +<span class = "pagenum">248</span> +<!--png 066--> +ignored both. The Saxon scribe doubled the signs for his guttural, just +as a farmer might put up a strong wooden fence in front of a hedge; but +the Norman cleared both with perfect ease and indifference. And so it +came to pass that we have the symbol <b>gh</b> in more than seventy of +our words, and that in most of these we do not sound it at all. The +<b>gh</b> remains in our language, like a moss-grown boulder, brought +down into the fertile valley in a glacial period, when gutturals were +both spoken and written, and men believed in the truthfulness of +letters—but now passed by in silence and noticed by no one.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec15" id = +"partIII_chapIII_sec15">15.</a> +<b>The Letters that represent Gutturals.</b>—The English guttural +has been quite Protean in the written or printed forms it takes. It +appears as an <b>i</b>, as a <b>y</b>, as a <b>w</b>, as a <b>ch</b>, as +a <b>dge</b>, as a <b>j</b>, and—in its more native forms—as +a <b>g</b>, a <b>k</b>, or a <b>gh</b>. The following words give +all these forms: ha<b>i</b>l, da<b>y</b>, fo<b>w</b>l, tea<b>ch</b>, +e<b>dge</b>, a<b>j</b>ar, dra<b>g</b>, truc<b>k</b>, and trou<b>gh</b>. +Now <i>hail</i> was <i>hagol</i>, <i>day</i> was <i>daeg</i>, +<i>fowl</i> was <i>fugol</i>, <i>teach</i> was <i>taecan</i>, +<i>edge</i> was <i>egg</i>, <i>ajar</i> was <i>achar</i>. In +<b>seek</b>, <b>beseech</b>, <b>sought</b>—which are all different +forms of the same word—we see the guttural appearing in three +different forms—as a hard <b>k</b>, as a soft <b>ch</b>, as an +unnoticed <b>gh</b>. In <b>think</b> and <b>thought</b>, <b>drink</b> +and <b>draught</b>, <b>sly</b> and <b>sleight</b>, <b>dry</b> and +<b>drought</b>, <b>slay</b> and <b>slaughter</b>, it takes two different +forms. In <b>dig</b>, <b>ditch</b>, and <b>dike</b>—which are all +the same word in different shapes—it again takes three forms. In +<b>fly</b>, <b>flew</b>, and <b>flight</b>, it appears as a <b>y</b>, +a <b>w</b>, and a <b>gh</b>. But, indeed, the manners of a +guttural, its ways of appearing and disappearing, are almost beyond +counting.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIII_sec16" id = +"partIII_chapIII_sec16">16.</a> +<b>Grammatical Result of the Loss of Inflexions.</b>—When we look +at a Latin or French or German word, we know whether it is a verb or a +noun or a preposition by its mere appearance—by its face or by its +dress, so to speak. But the loss of inflexions which has taken place in +the English language has resulted in depriving us of this +advantage—if advantage it is. Instead of <b>looking</b> at the +<b>face</b> of a word in English, we are obliged to <b>think</b> of its +<b>function</b>,—that is, of what it does. We have, for example, +a large number of words that are both nouns and verbs—we may +use them as the one or as the other; and, +<span class = "pagenum">249</span> +<!--png 067--> +till we have used them, we cannot tell whether they are the one or the +other. Thus, when we speak of “a <b>cut</b> on the finger,” <b>cut</b> +is a <b>noun</b>, because it is a name; but when we say, “Harry cut his +finger,” then <b>cut</b> is a <b>verb</b>, because it tells something +about Harry. Words like <b>bud</b>, <b>cane</b>, <b>cut</b>, +<b>comb</b>, <b>cap</b>, <b>dust</b>, <b>fall</b>, <b>fish</b>, +<b>heap</b>, <b>mind</b>, <b>name</b>, <b>pen</b>, <b>plaster</b>, +<b>punt</b>, <b>run</b>, <b>rush</b>, <b>stone</b>, and many others, can +be used either as <b>nouns</b> or as <b>verbs</b>. Again, <b>fast</b>, +<b>quick</b>, and <b>hard</b> may be used either as <b>adverbs</b> or as +<b>adjectives</b>; and <b>back</b> may be employed as an <b>adverb</b>, +as a <b>noun</b>, and even as an <b>adjective</b>. Shakespeare is very +daring in the use of this licence. He makes one of his characters say, +“But me no buts!” In this sentence, the first <i>but</i> is a +<b>verb</b> in the imperative mood; the second is a <b>noun</b> in the +objective case. Shakespeare uses also such verbs as <i>to glad</i>, +<i>to mad</i>, such phrases as <i>a seldom pleasure</i>, and <i>the +fairest she</i>. Dr Abbott says, “In Elizabethan English, almost +any part of speech can be used as any other part of speech. An adverb +can be used as a verb, ‘they <i>askance</i> their eyes’; as a noun, ‘the +<i>backward</i> and abysm of time’; or as an adjective, ‘a seldom +pleasure.’ Any noun, adjective, or neuter verb can be used as an active +verb. You can ‘happy’ your friend, ‘malice’ or ‘fool’ your enemy, or +‘fall’ an axe upon his neck.” Even in modern English, almost any noun +can be used as a verb. Thus we can say, “to <i>paper</i> a room”; “to +<i>water</i> the horses”; “to <i>black-ball</i> a candidate”; to +“<i>iron</i> a shirt” or “a prisoner”; “to <i>toe</i> the line.” On the +other hand, verbs may be used as nouns; for we can speak of a +<i>work</i>, of a beautiful <i>print</i>, of a long <i>walk</i>, and +so on.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">250</span> +<!--png 068--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIII_chapIV" id = "partIII_chapIV"> +CHAPTER IV.</a></h4> + +<h6>SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH OF DIFFERENT PERIODS.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec1" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec1">1.</a> +<b>Vocabulary and Grammar.</b>—The oldest English or Anglo-Saxon +differs from modern English both in vocabulary and in grammar—in +the words it uses and in the inflexions it employs. The difference is +often startling. And yet, if we look closely at the words and their +dress, we shall most often find that the words which look so strange are +the very words with which we are most familiar—words that we are +in the habit of using every day; and that it is their dress alone that +is strange and antiquated. The effect is the same as if we were to dress +a modern man in the clothes worn a thousand years ago: the chances are +that we should not be able to recognise even our dearest friend.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec2" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec2">2.</a> +<b>A Specimen from Anglo-Saxon.</b>—Let us take as an example a +verse from the Anglo-Saxon version of one of the Gospels. The well-known +verse, Luke ii. 40, runs thus in our oldest English version:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +Sóþlíce ðaet cild weox, and waes gestrangod, wisdómes full; and Godes +gyfu waes on him.</p> + +<p>Now this looks like an extract from a foreign language; but it is +not: it is our own veritable mother-tongue. Every word is pure ordinary +English; it is the dress—the spelling and the +inflexions—that is quaint and old-fashioned. This will be plain +from a literal translation:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +Soothly that child waxed, and was strengthened, wisdoms full +(= full of wisdom); and God’s gift was on him.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">251</span> +<!--png 069--> +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec3" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec3">3.</a> +<b>A Comparison.</b>—This will become plainer if we compare the +English of the Gospels as it was written in different periods of our +language. The alteration in the meanings of words, the changes in the +application of them, the variation in the use of phrases, the falling +away of the inflexions—all these things become plain to the eye +and to the mind as soon as we thoughtfully compare the different +versions. The following are extracts from the Anglo-Saxon version (995), +the version of Wycliffe (1389) and of Tyndale (1526), of the passage in +Luke ii. 44, 45:—</p> + +<table class = "text" summary = "three forms of English"> +<col> +<col class = "leftline"> +<col class = "leftline"> +<tr> +<th><span class = "smallcaps">Anglo-Saxon.</span></th> +<th><span class = "smallcaps">Wycliffe.</span></th> +<th><span class = "smallcaps">Tyndale.</span></th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Wéndon ðaet he on heora gefére wáere, ðá comon hig ánes daeges faer, and +hine sóhton betweox his magas and his cúðan. +</td> +<td> +Forsothe thei gessinge him to be in the felowschipe, camen the wey of á +day, and souȝten him among his cosyns and knowen. +</td> +<td> +For they supposed he had bene in the company, they cam a days iorney, +and sought hym amonge their kynsfolke and acquayntaunce. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Ða hig hyne ne fúndon, hig gewendon to Hierusalem, hine sécende. +</td> +<td> +And thei not fyndinge, wenten aȝen to Jerusalem, sekynge him. +</td> +<td> +And founde hym not, they went backe agayne to Hierusalem, and sought +hym. +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>The literal translation of the Anglo-Saxon version is as +follows:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +(They) weened that he on their companionship were (= was), when +came they one day’s faring, and him sought betwixt his relations and his +couth (folk = acquaintances).</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +When they him not found, they turned to Jerusalem, him seeking.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec4" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec4">4.</a> +<b>The Lord’s Prayer.</b>—The same plan of comparison may be +applied to the different versions of the Lord’s Prayer that have come +down to us; and it will be seen from this comparison that the greatest +changes have taken place in the grammar, and especially in that part of +the grammar which contains the inflexions.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">252</span> +<!--png 070--> +<h6><a name = "lords_prayer" id = "lords_prayer">THE LORD’S +PRAYER.</a></h6> + +<table class = "text" summary = "three forms of English"> +<col> +<col class = "leftline"> +<col class = "leftline"> +<col class = "leftline" width = "25%"> +<tr> +<th><b>1130.</b></th> +<th><b>1250.</b></th> +<th><b>1380.</b></th> +<th><b>1526.</b></th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "center"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Reign of Stephen.</span> +</td> +<td class = "center"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Reign of Henry III.</span> +</td> +<td class = "center"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Wycliffe’s Version.</span> +</td> +<td class = "center"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Tyndale’s Version.</span> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Fader ure, þe art on heofone.</td> +<td>Fadir ur, that es in hevene,</td> +<td>Our Fadir, that art in hevenys,</td> +<td>Our Father which art in heaven;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Sy gebletsod name þin,</td> +<td>Halud thi nam to nevene;</td> +<td>Halewid be thi name;</td> +<td>Halowed be thy name;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Cume þin rike.</td> +<td>Thou do as thi rich rike;</td> +<td>Thi kingdom come to;</td> +<td>Let thy kingdom come;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Si þin wil swa swa on heofone and on eorþan.</td> +<td>Thi will on erd be wrought, eek as it is wrought in heven ay.</td> +<td>Be thi wil done in erthe, as in hevene.</td> +<td>Thy will be fulfilled as well in earth as it is in heven.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Breod ure degwamlich geof us to daeg.</td> +<td>Ur ilk day brede give us to day.</td> +<td>Give to us this day oure breed ovir othir <i>substaunce</i>,</td> +<td>Geve us this day ur dayly bred,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>And forgeof us ageltes ura swa swa we forgeofen agiltendum +urum.</td> +<td>Forgive thou all us dettes urs, als we forgive till ur detturs.</td> +<td>And forgive to us our <i>dettis</i>, as we forgiven to oure +<i>dettouris</i>.</td> +<td>And forgeve us oure dettes as we forgeve ur detters.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>And ne led us on costunge.</td> +<td>And lede us not into <i>temptacioun</i>;</td> +<td>And ledde us in na fandung.</td> +<td>And leade us not into temptation,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Ac alys us fram yfele. Swa beo hit.</td> +<td>But sculd us fra ivel thing. Amen.</td> +<td>But <i>delyvere</i> us from yvel. Amen.</td> +<td>But delyver us from evyll. For thyne is the kyngdom, and the power, +and the glorye, for ever. Amen.</td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<p>It will be observed that Wycliffe’s version contains five Romance +terms—<i>substaunce</i>, <i>dettis</i>, <i>dettouris</i>, +<i>temptacioun</i>, and <i>delyvere</i>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec5" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec5">5.</a> +<b>Oldest English and Early English.</b>—The following is a short +passage from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under date 1137: first, in the +Anglo-Saxon form; second, in Early English, or—as it has sometimes +been called—Broken Saxon; +<span class = "pagenum">253</span> +<!--png 071--> +third, in modern English. The breaking-down of the grammar becomes still +more strikingly evident from this close juxtaposition.</p> + +<table class = "center" summary = "three forms of English"> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(i)</td> +<td>Hí</td> +<td>swencton</td> +<td>Þá</td> +<td>wreccan</td> +<td>menn</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(ii)</td> +<td>Hí</td> +<td>swencten</td> +<td>the</td> +<td>wrecce</td> +<td>men</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(iii)</td> +<td>They</td> +<td>swinked (harassed)</td> +<td>the</td> +<td>wretched</td> +<td>men</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<table class = "center" summary = "three forms of English"> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(i)</td> +<td>Þaes landes</td> +<td>mid</td> +<td>castel-weorcum.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(ii)</td> +<td>Of-the-land</td> +<td>mid</td> +<td>castel-weorces.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(iii)</td> +<td>Of the land</td> +<td>with</td> +<td>castle-works.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<table class = "center" summary = "three forms of English"> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(i)</td> +<td>Ða</td> +<td>Þá</td> +<td>castelas</td> +<td>waeron</td> +<td>gemacod,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(ii)</td> +<td>Tha</td> +<td>the</td> +<td>castles</td> +<td>waren</td> +<td>maked,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(iii)</td> +<td>When</td> +<td>the</td> +<td>castles</td> +<td>were</td> +<td>made,</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<table class = "center" summary = "three forms of English"> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(i)</td> +<td>Þá</td> +<td>fyldon</td> +<td>hí</td> +<td>hí</td> +<td>mid</td> +<td>yfelum</td> +<td>mannum.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(ii)</td> +<td>thá</td> +<td>fylden</td> +<td>hi</td> +<td>hi</td> +<td>mid</td> +<td>yvele</td> +<td>men.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">(iii)</td> +<td>then</td> +<td>filled</td> +<td>they</td> +<td>them</td> +<td>with</td> +<td>evil</td> +<td>men.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec6" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec6">6.</a> +<b>Comparisons of Words and Inflexions.</b>—Let us take a few of +the most prominent words in our language, and observe the changes that +have fallen upon them since they made their appearance in our island in +the fifth century. These changes will be best seen by displaying them in +columns:—</p> + +<table summary = "four stages of English"> +<tr> +<th> +<span class = "smallcaps">Anglo-Saxon.</span> +</th> +<th> +<span class = "smallcaps">Early English.</span> +</th> +<th> +<span class = "smallcaps">Middle English.</span> +</th> +<th> +<span class = "smallcaps">Modern English.</span> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>heom.</td> +<td>to heom.</td> +<td>to hem.</td> +<td>to them.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>seó.</td> +<td>heó.</td> +<td>ho, scho.</td> +<td>she.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>sweostrum.</td> +<td>to the swestres.</td> +<td>to the swistren.</td> +<td>to the sisters.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>geboren.</td> +<td>gebore.</td> +<td>iboré.</td> +<td>born.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>lufigende.</td> +<td>lufigend.</td> +<td>lovand.</td> +<td>loving.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>weoxon.</td> +<td>woxen.</td> +<td>wexide.</td> +<td>waxed.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec7" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec7">7.</a> +<b>Conclusions from the above Comparisons.</b>—We can now draw +several conclusions from the comparisons we have made of the passages +given from different periods of the language. These conclusions relate +chiefly to verbs and nouns; and they +<span class = "pagenum">254</span> +<!--png 072--> +may become useful as a <a name = "marks_key" id = "marks_key"><span +class = "smallroman">KEY</span></a> to enable us to judge to what period +in the history of our language a passage presented to us must belong. If +we find such and such marks, the language is Anglo-Saxon; if other +marks, it is Early English; and so on.</p> + +<table summary = "grammatical markers"> +<col width = "33%"> +<col class = "leftline"> +<col class = "leftline"> +<tr> +<th abbr = "Anglo-Saxon"> +<span class = "smallroman">I.—MARKS OF ANGLO-SAXON.</span> +</th> +<th abbr = "Early English"> +<span class = "smallroman">II.—MARKS OF EARLY ENGLISH +(1100-1250).</span></th> +<th abbr = "Middle English"> +<span class = "smallroman">III.—MARKS OF MIDDLE ENGLISH +(1250-1485).</span></th> +</tr> +<tr class = "center"> +<td><span class = "smallcaps">Verbs.</span></td> +<td><span class = "smallcaps">Verbs.</span></td> +<td><span class = "smallcaps">Verbs.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p>Infinitive in <b>an</b>.</p> +<p>Pres. part. in <b>ende</b>.</p> +<p>Past part. with <b>ge</b>.</p> +<p>3d plural pres. in <b>ath</b>.</p> +<p>3d plural past in <b>on</b>.</p> +<p>Plural of imperatives in <b>ath</b>.</p> +</td> +<td> +<p>Infin. in <b>en</b> or <b>e</b>.</p> +<p>Pres. part. in <b>ind</b>.</p> +<p><b>ge</b> of past part. turned into <b>i</b> or <b>y</b>.</p> +<p>3d plural in <b>en</b>.</p> +</td> +<td> +<p>Infin. with <b>to</b> (the <b>en</b> was dropped about 1400).</p> +<p>Pres. part. in <b>inge</b>.</p> +<p>3d plural in <b>en</b>.</p> +<p>Imperative in <b>eth</b>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr class = "center"> +<td><span class = "smallcaps">Nouns.</span></td> +<td><span class = "smallcaps">Nouns.</span></td> +<td><span class = "smallcaps">Nouns.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p>Plurals in <b>an</b>, <b>as</b>, or <b>a</b>.</p> +<p>Dative plural in <b>um</b>.</p> +</td> +<td> +<p>Plural in <b>es</b>.</p> +<p>Dative plural in <b>es</b>.</p> +</td> +<td> +<p><ins class = "correction" title = "printed in ‘Verbs’ section"> +Plurals in <b>es</b> (separate syllable).</ins></p> +<p>Possessives in <b>es</b> (separate syllable).</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec8" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec8">8.</a> +<b>The English of the Thirteenth Century.</b>—In this century +there was a great breaking-down and stripping-off of inflexions. This is +seen in the <b>Ormulum</b> of Orm, a canon of the Order of +St Augustine, whose English is nearly as flexionless as that of +Chaucer, although about a century and a half before him. Orm has also +the peculiarity of always doubling a consonant after a short vowel. +Thus, in his introduction, he says:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Þiss boc iss nemmnedd Orrmulum</p> +<p>Forr þi þatt Orrm itt wrohhte.”</p> +</div> + +<p>That is, “This book is named Ormulum, for the (reason) that Orm +wrought it.” The absence of inflexions is probably due to the fact that +the book is written in the East-Midland dialect. But, in a song called +“The Story of Genesis and Exodus,” written about 1250, we find a greater +number of inflexions. Thus we read:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Hunger wex in lond Chanaan;</p> +<p>And his x sunes Jacob for-ðan</p> +<span class = "pagenum">255</span> +<!--png 073--> +<p>Sente in to Egypt to bringen coren;</p> +<p>He bilefe at hom ðe was gungest boren.”</p> +</div> + +<p>That is, “Hunger waxed (increased) in the land of Canaan; and Jacob +for that (reason) sent his ten sons into Egypt to bring corn: he +remained at home that was youngest born.”</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec9" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec9">9.</a> +<b>The English of the Fourteenth Century.</b>—The four greatest +writers of the fourteenth century are—in verse, <b>Chaucer</b> and +<b>Langlande</b>; and in prose, <b>Mandeville</b> and <b>Wycliffe</b>. +The inflexions continue to drop off; and, in Chaucer at least, +a larger number of French words appear. Chaucer also writes in an +elaborate verse-measure that forms a striking contrast to the homely +rhythms of Langlande. Thus, in the “Man of Lawes Tale,” we have the +verse:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“O queenës, lyvynge in prosperitée,</p> +<p>Duchessës, and ladyës everichone,</p> +<p>Haveth som routhe on hir adversitée;</p> +<p>An emperourës doughter stant allone;</p> +<p>She hath no wight to whom to make hir mone.</p> +<p>O blood roial! that stondest in this dredë</p> +<p>Fer ben thy frendës at thy gretë nedë!”</p> +</div> + +<p>Here, with the exception of the imperative in <i>Haveth som +routhe</i> (= have some pity), <i>stant</i>, and <i>ben</i> +(= <i>are</i>), the grammar of Chaucer is very near the grammar of +to-day. How different this is from the simple English of Langlande! He +is speaking of the great storm of wind that blew on January 15, +1362:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Piries and Plomtres weore passchet to þe grounde,</p> +<p>In ensaumple to Men þat we scholde do þe bettre,</p> +<p>Beches and brode okes weore blowen to þe eorþe.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Here it is the spelling of Langlande’s English that differs most from +modern English, and not the grammar.—Much the same may be said of +the style of Wycliffe (1324-1384) and of Mandeville (1300-1372). In +Wycliffe’s version of the Gospel of Mark, v. 26, he speaks of a +woman “that hadde suffride many thingis of ful many lechis (doctors), +and spendid alle hir thingis; and no-thing profitide.” Sir John +Mandeville’s English keeps many old inflexions and spellings; but is, in +other respects, modern enough. Speaking of Mahomet, he says: “And ȝee +<span class = "pagenum">256</span> +<!--png 074--> +schulle understonds that Machamete was born in Arabye, that was first a +pore knave that kept cameles, that wenten with marchantes for +marchandise.” <i>Knave</i> for boy, and <i>wenten</i> for went are the +two chief differences—the one in the use of words, the other in +grammar—that distinguish this piece of Mandeville’s English from +our modern speech.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec10" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec10">10.</a> +<b>The English of the Sixteenth Century.</b>—This, which is also +called Tudor-English, differs as regards grammar hardly at all from the +English of the nineteenth century. This becomes plain from a passage +from one of Latimer’s sermons (1490-1555), “a book which gives a +faithful picture of the manners, thoughts, and events of the period.” +“My father,” he writes, “was a yeoman, and had no lands of his own, only +he had a farm of three or four pound a year at the uttermost, and +hereupon he tilled so much as kept half a dozen men. He had walk for a +hundred sheep; and my mother milked thirty kine.” In this passage, it is +only the old-fashionedness, homeliness, and quaintness of the +English—not its grammar—that makes us feel that it was not +written in our own times. When Ridley, the fellow-martyr of Latimer, +stood at the stake, he said, “I commit our cause to Almighty God, +which shall indifferently judge all.” Here he used <i>indifferently</i> +in the sense of <i>impartially</i>—that is, in the sense of +<i>making no difference between parties</i>; and this is one among a +very large number of instances of Latin words, when they had not been +long in our language, still retaining the older Latin meaning.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec11" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec11">11.</a> +<b>The English of the Bible</b> (i).—The version of the Bible +which we at present use was made in 1611; and we might therefore suppose +that it is written in seventeenth-century English. But this is not the +case. The translators were commanded by James I. to “follow the Bishops’ +Bible”; and the Bishops’ Bible was itself founded on the “Great Bible,” +which was published in 1539. But the Great Bible is itself only a +revision of Tyndale’s, part of which appeared as early as 1526. When we +are reading the Bible, therefore, we are reading English of the +sixteenth century, and, to a large extent, of the early part of that +century. It is true that successive generations of +<span class = "pagenum">257</span> +<!--png 075--> +printers have, of their own accord, altered the spelling, and even, to a +slight extent, modified the grammar. Thus we have <i>fetched</i> for the +older <i>fet</i>, <i>more</i> for <i>moe</i>, <i>sown</i> for +<i>sowen</i>, <i>brittle</i> for <i>brickle</i> (which gives the +connection with <i>break</i>), <i>jaws</i> for <i>chaws</i>, +<i>sixth</i> for <i>sixt</i>, and so on. But we still find such +participles as <i>shined</i> and <i>understanded</i>; and such phrases +as “they can skill to hew timber” (1 Kings v. 6), “abjects” +for <i>abject persons</i>, “three days agone” for <i>ago</i>, the +“captivated Hebrews” for “the captive Hebrews,” and others.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapIV_sec12" id = "partIII_chapIV_sec12">12.</a> +<b>The English of the Bible</b> (ii).—We have, again, old words +retained, or used in the older meaning. Thus we find, in Psalm +v. 6, the phrase “them that speak leasing,” which reminds us of +King Alfred’s expression about “leasum spellum” (lying stories). +<i>Trow</i> and <i>ween</i> are often found; the “champaign over against +Gilgal” (Deut. xi. 30) means the <i>plain</i>; and a publican in +the New Testament is a tax-gatherer, who sent to the Roman Treasury or +Publicum the taxes he had collected from the Jews. An “ill-favoured +person” is an ill-looking person; and “bravery” (Isa. iii. 18) is +used in the sense of finery in dress.—Some of the oldest grammar, +too, remains, as in Esther viii. 8, “Write ye, as it liketh you,” +where the <i>you</i> is a dative. Again, in Ezek. xxx. 2, we find +“Howl ye, Woe worth the day!” where the imperative <i>worth</i> governs +<i>day</i> in the dative case. This idiom is still found in modern +verse, as in the well-known lines in the first canto of the “Lady of the +Lake”:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day</p> +<p>That cost thy life, my gallant grey!”</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">258</span> +<!--png 076--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIII_chapV" id = "partIII_chapV"> +CHAPTER V.</a></h4> + +<h6>MODERN ENGLISH.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapV_sec1" id = "partIII_chapV_sec1">1.</a> +<b>Grammar Fixed.</b>—From the date of 1485—that is, from +the beginning of the reign of Henry VII.—the changes in the +grammar or constitution of our language are so extremely small, that +they are hardly noticeable. Any Englishman of ordinary education can +read a book belonging to the latter part of the fifteenth or to the +sixteenth century without difficulty. Since that time the grammar of our +language has hardly changed at all, though we have altered and enlarged +our vocabulary, and have adopted thousands of new words. The +introduction of Printing, the Revival of Learning, the Translation of +the Bible, the growth and spread of the power to read and +write—these and other influences tended to fix the language and to +keep it as it is to-day. It is true that we have dropped a few +old-fashioned endings, like the <b>n</b> or <b>en</b> in <i>silvern</i> +and <i>golden</i>; but, so far as form or grammar is concerned, the +English of the sixteenth and the English of the nineteenth centuries are +substantially the same.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapV_sec2" id = "partIII_chapV_sec2">2.</a> +<b>New Words.</b>—But, while the grammar of English has remained +the same, the vocabulary of English has been growing, and growing +rapidly, not merely with each century, but with each generation. The +discovery of the New World in 1492 gave an impetus to maritime +enterprise in England, which it never lost, brought us into connection +with the Spaniards, and hence contributed to our language several +Spanish words. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Italian +literature +<span class = "pagenum">259</span> +<!--png 077--> +was largely read; Wyatt and Surrey show its influence in their poems; +and Italian words began to come in in considerable numbers. Commerce, +too, has done much for us in this way; and along with the article +imported, we have in general introduced also the name it bore in its own +native country. In later times, Science has been making rapid +strides—has been bringing to light new discoveries and new +inventions almost every week; and along with these new discoveries, the +language has been enriched with new names and new terms. Let us look a +little more closely at the character of these foreign contributions to +the vocabulary of our tongue.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapV_sec3" id = "partIII_chapV_sec3">3.</a> +<b>Spanish Words.</b>—The words we have received from the Spanish +language are not numerous, but they are important. In addition to the +ill-fated word <b>armada</b>, we have the Spanish for <i>Mr</i>, which +is <b>Don</b> (from Lat. <i>dominus</i>, a lord), with its feminine +<b>Duenna</b>. They gave us also <b>alligator</b>, which is our English +way of writing <i>el lagarto</i>, the lizard. They also presented us +with a large number of words that end in <b>o</b>—such as +<b>buffalo</b>, <b>cargo</b>, <b>desperado</b>, <b>guano</b>, +<b>indigo</b>, <b>mosquito</b>, <b>mulatto</b>, <b>negro</b>, +<b>potato</b>, <b>tornado</b>, and others. The following is a tolerably +full list:—</p> + +<table summary = "words in four columns"> +<tr> +<td> +Alligator.<br> +Armada.<br> +Barricade.<br> +Battledore.<br> +Bravado.<br> +Buffalo.<br> +Cargo.<br> +Cigar.<br> +Cochineal.<br> +</td> +<td> +Cork.<br> +Creole.<br> +Desperado.<br> +Don.<br> +Duenna.<br> +Eldorado.<br> +Embargo.<br> +Filibuster.<br> +Flotilla.<br> +</td> +<td width = "25%"> +Galleon (a ship).<br> +Grandee.<br> +Grenade.<br> +Guerilla.<br> +Indigo.<br> +Jennet.<br> +Matador.<br> +Merino.<br> +Mosquito.<br> +</td> +<td> +Mulatto.<br> +Negro.<br> +Octoroon.<br> +Quadroon.<br> +Renegade.<br> +Savannah.<br> +Sherry (= Xeres).<br> +Tornado.<br> +Vanilla.<br> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapV_sec4" id = "partIII_chapV_sec4">4.</a> +<b>Italian Words.</b>—Italian literature has been read and +cultivated in England since the time of Chaucer—since the +fourteenth century; and the arts and artists of Italy have for many +centuries exerted a great deal of influence on those of England. Hence +it is that we owe to the Italian language a large number of words. These +relate to poetry, such as <b>canto</b>, <b>sonnet</b>, <b>stanza</b>; to +music, as <b>pianoforte</b>, <b>opera</b>, <b>oratorio</b>, +<b>soprano</b>, <b>alto</b>, <b>contralto</b>; to architecture and +sculpture, as +<span class = "pagenum">260</span> +<!--png 078--> +<b>portico</b>, <b>piazza</b>, <b>cupola</b>, <b>torso</b>; and to +painting, as <b>studio</b>, <b>fresco</b> (an open-air painting), +and others. The following is a complete list:—</p> + +<table summary = "words in four columns"> +<tr> +<td> +Alarm.<br> +Alert.<br> +Alto.<br> +Arcade.<br> +Balcony.<br> +Balustrade.<br> +Bandit.<br> +Bankrupt.<br> +Bravo.<br> +Brigade.<br> +Brigand.<br> +Broccoli.<br> +Burlesque.<br> +Bust.<br> +Cameo.<br> +Canteen.<br> +Canto.<br> +Caprice.<br> +Caricature.<br> +Carnival.<br> +Cartoon.<br> +Cascade.<br> +Cavalcade.<br> +</td> +<td width = "25%"> +Charlatan.<br> +Citadel.<br> +Colonnade.<br> +Concert.<br> +Contralto.<br> +Conversazione.<br> +Cornice.<br> +Corridor.<br> +Cupola.<br> +Curvet.<br> +Dilettante.<br> +Ditto.<br> +Doge.<br> +Domino.<br> +Extravaganza.<br> +Fiasco.<br> +Folio.<br> +Fresco.<br> +Gazette.<br> +Gondola.<br> +Granite.<br> +Grotto.<br> +Guitar.<br> +</td> +<td> +Incognito.<br> +Influenza.<br> +Lagoon.<br> +Lava.<br> +Lazaretto.<br> +Macaroni.<br> +Madonna.<br> +Madrigal.<br> +Malaria.<br> +Manifesto.<br> +Motto.<br> +Moustache.<br> +Niche.<br> +Opera.<br> +Oratorio.<br> +Palette.<br> +Pantaloon.<br> +Parapet.<br> +Pedant.<br> +Pianoforte.<br> +Piazza.<br> +Pistol.<br> +Portico.<br> +</td> +<td> +Proviso.<br> +Quarto.<br> +Regatta.<br> +Ruffian.<br> +Serenade.<br> +Sonnet.<br> +Soprano.<br> +Stanza.<br> +Stiletto.<br> +Stucco.<br> +Studio.<br> +Tenor.<br> +Terra-cotta.<br> +Tirade.<br> +Torso.<br> +Trombone.<br> +Umbrella.<br> +Vermilion.<br> +Vertu.<br> +Virtuoso.<br> +Vista.<br> +Volcano.<br> +Zany.<br> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapV_sec5" id = "partIII_chapV_sec5">5.</a> +<b>Dutch Words.</b>—We have had for many centuries commercial +dealings with the Dutch; and as they, like ourselves, are a great +seafaring people, they have given us a number of words relating to the +management of ships. In the fourteenth century, the southern part of the +German Ocean was the most frequented sea in the world; and the chances +of plunder were so great that ships of war had to keep cruising up and +down to protect the trading vessels that sailed between England and the +Low Countries. The following are the words which we owe to the +Netherlands:—</p> + +<table summary = "words in four columns"> +<tr> +<td> +Ballast.<br> +Boom.<br> +Boor.<br> +Burgomaster.<br> +Hoy.<br> +</td> +<td> +Luff.<br> +Reef.<br> +Schiedam (gin).<br> +Skates.<br> +Skipper.<br> +</td> +<td> +Sloop.<br> +Smack.<br> +Smuggle.<br> +Stiver.<br> +Taffrail.<br> +</td> +<td> +Trigger.<br> +<p>Wear (said of a ship).</p> +Yacht.<br> +Yawl.<br> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<span class = "pagenum">261</span> +<!--png 079--> +<p><a name = "partIII_chapV_sec6" id = "partIII_chapV_sec6">6.</a> +<b>French Words.</b>—Besides the large additions to our language +made by the Norman-French, we have from time to time imported direct +from France a number of French words, without change in the spelling, +and with little change in the pronunciation. The French have been for +centuries the most polished nation in Europe; from France the changing +fashions in dress spread over all the countries of the Continent; French +literature has been much read in England since the time of Charles II.; +and for a long time all diplomatic correspondence between foreign +countries and England was carried on in French. Words relating to +manners and customs are common, such as <b>soirée</b>, <b>etiquette</b>, +<b>séance</b>, <b>élite</b>; and we have also the names of things which +were invented in France, such as <b>mitrailleuse</b>, +<b>carte-de-visite</b>, <b>coup d’état</b>, and others. Some of these +words are, in spelling, exactly like English; and advantage of this has +been taken in a well-known epigram:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>The French have taste in all they do,</p> +<p class = "two"> +Which we are quite without;</p> +<p>For Nature, which to them gave goût,<a class = "tag" name = "tag15" +id = "tag15" href = "#note15">15</a></p> +<p class = "two"> +To us gave only gout.</p> +</div> + +<p>The following is a list of French words which have been imported in +comparatively recent times:—</p> + +<table summary = "words in four columns"> +<tr> +<td> +Aide-de-camp.<br> +Belle.<br> +Bivouac.<br> +Blonde.<br> +Bouquet.<br> +Brochure.<br> +Brunette.<br> +Brusque.<br> +</td> +<td> +Carte-de-visite.<br> +Coup-d’état.<br> +Débris.<br> +Début.<br> +Déjeûner.<br> +Depot.<br> +Éclat.<br> +Ennui.<br> +</td> +<td> +Etiquette.<br> +Façade.<br> +Goût.<br> +Naïve.<br> +Naïveté.<br> +Nonchalance.<br> +Outré.<br> +Penchant.<br> +</td> +<td> +Personnel.<br> +Précis.<br> +Programme.<br> +Protégé.<br> +Recherché.<br> +Séance.<br> +Soirée.<br> +Trousseau.<br> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>The Scotch have always had a closer connection with the French nation +than England; and hence we find in the Scottish dialect of English a +number of French words that are not used in South Britain at all. +A leg of mutton is called in Scotland a <b>gigot</b>; the dish on +which it is laid is an <b>ashet</b> (from <i>assiette</i>); a cup +for tea or for wine is a <b>tassie</b> (from <i>tasse</i>); the gate of +a town is +<span class = "pagenum">262</span> +<!--png 080--> +called the <b>port</b>; and a stubborn person is <b>dour</b> (Fr. +<i>dur</i>, from Lat. <i>durus</i>); while a gentle and amiable person +is <b>douce</b> (Fr. <i>douce</i>, Lat. <i>dulcis</i>).</p> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapV_sec7" id = "partIII_chapV_sec7">7.</a> +<b>German Words.</b>—It must not be forgotten that English is a +Low-German dialect, while the German of books is New High-German. We +have never borrowed directly from High-German, because we have never +needed to borrow. Those modern German words that have come into our +language in recent times are chiefly the names of minerals, with a few +striking exceptions, such as <b>loafer</b>, which came to us from the +German immigrants to the United States, and <b>plunder</b>, which seems +to have been brought from Germany by English soldiers who had served +under Gustavus Adolphus. The following are the German words which we +have received in recent times:—</p> + +<table summary = "words in four columns"> +<tr> +<td> +Cobalt.<br> +Felspar.<br> +Hornblende.<br> +</td> +<td> +Landgrave.<br> +Loafer.<br> +Margrave.<br> +</td> +<td> +Meerschaum.<br> +Nickel.<br> +Plunder.<br> +</td> +<td> +Poodle.<br> +Quartz.<br> +Zinc.<br> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapV_sec8" id = "partIII_chapV_sec8">8.</a> +<b>Hebrew Words.</b>—These, with very few exceptions, have come to +us from the translation of the Bible, which is now in use in our homes +and churches. <b>Abbot</b> and <b>abbey</b> come from the Hebrew word +<b>abba</b>, father; and such words as <b>cabal</b> and <b>Talmud</b>, +though not found in the Old Testament, have been contributed by Jewish +literature. The following is a tolerably complete list:—</p> + +<table summary = "words in four columns"> +<tr> +<td> +Abbey.<br> +Abbot.<br> +Amen.<br> +Behemoth.<br> +Cabal.<br> +Cherub.<br> +</td> +<td> +Cinnamon.<br> +Hallelujah.<br> +Hosannah.<br> +Jehovah.<br> +Jubilee.<br> +Gehenna.<br> +</td> +<td> +Leviathan.<br> +Manna.<br> +Paschal.<br> +Pharisee.<br> +Pharisaical.<br> +Rabbi.<br> +</td> +<td> +Sabbath.<br> +Sadducees.<br> +Satan.<br> +Seraph.<br> +Shibboleth.<br> +Talmud.<br> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><a name = "partIII_chapV_sec9" id = "partIII_chapV_sec9">9.</a> +<b>Other Foreign Words.</b>—The English have always been the +greatest travellers in the world; and our sailors always the most +daring, intelligent, and enterprising. There is hardly a port or a +country in the world into which an English ship has not penetrated; and +our commerce has now been maintained for centuries with every people on +the face of the globe. We exchange goods with almost every nation and +tribe under the +<span class = "pagenum">263</span> +<!--png 081--> +sun. When we import articles or produce from abroad, we in general +import the native name along with the thing. Hence it is that we have +<b>guano</b>, <b>maize</b>, and <b>tomato</b> from the two Americas; +<b>coffee</b>, <b>cotton</b>, and <b>tamarind</b> from Arabia; +<b>tea</b>, <b>congou</b>, and <b>nankeen</b> from China; <b>calico</b>, +<b>chintz</b>, and <b>rupee</b> from Hindostan; <b>bamboo</b>, +<b>gamboge</b>, and <b>sago</b> from the Malay Peninsula; <b>lemon</b>, +<b>musk</b>, and <b>orange</b> from Persia; <b>boomerang</b> and +<b>kangaroo</b> from Australia; <b>chibouk</b>, <b>ottoman</b>, and +<b>tulip</b> from Turkey. The following are lists of these foreign +words; and they are worth examining with the greatest +minuteness:—</p> + +<table summary = "words in four columns"> +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_african" id = "other_african"> +<span class = "smallcaps">African Dialects.</span></a></th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td width = "25%"> +Baobab.<br> +Canary.<br> +Chimpanzee.<br> +</td> +<td> +Gnu.<br> +Gorilla.<br> +Guinea.<br> +</td> +<td> +Karoo.<br> +Kraal.<br> +Oasis.<br> +</td> +<td> +Quagga.<br> +Zebra.<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_american" id = "other_american"> +<span class = "smallcaps">American Tongues.</span></a> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Alpaca.<br> +Buccaneer.<br> +Cacique.<br> +Cannibal.<br> +Canoe.<br> +Caoutchouc.<br> +Cayman.<br> +Chocolate.<br> +</td> +<td> +Condor.<br> +Guano.<br> +Hammock.<br> +Jaguar.<br> +Jalap.<br> +Jerked (beef).<br> +Llama.<br> +Mahogany.<br> +</td> +<td> +Maize.<br> +Manioc.<br> +Moccasin.<br> +Mustang.<br> +Opossum.<br> +Pampas.<br> +Pemmican.<br> +Potato.<br> +</td> +<td> +Racoon.<br> +Skunk.<br> +Squaw.<br> +Tapioca.<br> +Tobacco.<br> +Tomahawk.<br> +Tomato.<br> +Wigwam.<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_arabic" id = "other_arabic"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Arabic.</span></a><br> +(The word <i>al</i> means <i>the</i>. Thus <i>alcohol</i> = <i>the +spirit</i>.) +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p>Admiral (Milton writes <i>ammiral</i><ins class = "correction" title += "close parenthesis missing">).</ins></p> +Alcohol.<br> +Alcove.<br> +Alembic.<br> +Algebra.<br> +Alkali.<br> +Amber.<br> +Arrack.<br> +Arsenal.<br> +Artichoke.<br> +Assassin.<br> +Assegai.<br> +Attar.<br> +Azimuth.<br> +</td> +<td> +Azure.<br> +Caliph.<br> +Carat.<br> +Chemistry.<br> +Cipher.<br> +Civet.<br> +Coffee.<br> +Cotton.<br> +Crimson.<br> +Dragoman.<br> +Elixir.<br> +Emir.<br> +Fakir.<br> +Felucca.<br> +Gazelle.<br> +Giraffe.<br> +</td> +<td> +Harem.<br> +Hookah.<br> +Koran (or Alcoran).<br> +Lute.<br> +Magazine.<br> +Mattress.<br> +Minaret.<br> +Mohair.<br> +Monsoon.<br> +Mosque.<br> +Mufti.<br> +Nabob.<br> +Nadir.<br> +Naphtha.<br> +Saffron.<br> +</td> +<td> +Salaam.<br> +Senna.<br> +Sherbet.<br> +Shrub (the drink).<br> +Simoom.<br> +Sirocco.<br> +Sofa.<br> +Sultan.<br> +Syrup.<br> +Talisman.<br> +Tamarind.<br> +Tariff.<br> +Vizier.<br> +Zenith.<br> +Zero.<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<span class = "pagenum">264</span> +<!--png 082--> +<a name = "other_chinese" id = "other_chinese"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Chinese.</span></a> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Bohea.<br> +China.<br> +Congou.<br> +</td> +<td> +Hyson.<br> +Joss.<br> +Junk.<br> +</td> +<td> +Nankeen.<br> +Pekoe.<br> +Silk.<br> +</td> +<td> +Souchong.<br> +Tea.<br> +Typhoon.<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_hindu" id = "other_hindu"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Hindu.</span></a> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Avatar.<br> +Banyan.<br> +Brahmin.<br> +Bungalow.<br> +Calico.<br> +Chintz.<br> +Coolie.<br> +</td> +<td> +Cowrie.<br> +Durbar.<br> +Jungle.<br> +Lac (of rupees).<br> +Loot.<br> +Mulligatawny.<br> +Musk.<br> +</td> +<td> +Pagoda.<br> +Palanquin.<br> +Pariah.<br> +Punch.<br> +Pundit.<br> +Rajah.<br> +Rupee.<br> +</td> +<td> +Ryot.<br> +Sepoy.<br> +Shampoo.<br> +Sugar.<br> +Suttee.<br> +Thug.<br> +Toddy.<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_hungarian" id = "other_hungarian"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Hungarian.</span></a> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Hussar.<br> +</td> +<td> +Sabre.<br> +</td> +<td> +Shako.<br> +</td> +<td> +Tokay.<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_malay" id = "other_malay"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Malay.</span></a> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Amuck.<br> +Bamboo.<br> +Bantam.<br> +Caddy.<br> +</td> +<td> +Cassowary.<br> +Cockatoo.<br> +Dugong.<br> +Gamboge.<br> +</td> +<td> +Gong.<br> +Gutta-percha.<br> +Mandarin.<br> +Mango.<br> +</td> +<td> +Orang-outang.<br> +Rattan.<br> +Sago.<br> +Upas.<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_persian" id = "other_persian"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Persian.</span></a> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Awning.<br> +Bazaar.<br> +Bashaw.<br> +Caravan.<br> +Check.<br> +Checkmate.<br> +Chess.<br> +Curry.<br> +</td> +<td> +Dervish.<br> +Divan.<br> +Firman.<br> +Hazard.<br> +Horde.<br> +Houri.<br> +Jar.<br> +Jackal.<br> +</td> +<td> +Jasmine.<br> +Lac (a gum).<br> +Lemon.<br> +Lilac.<br> +Lime (the fruit).<br> +Musk.<br> +Orange.<br> +Paradise.<br> +</td> +<td> +Pasha.<br> +Rook.<br> +Saraband.<br> +Sash.<br> +Scimitar.<br> +Shawl.<br> +Taffeta.<br> +Turban.<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_polynesian" id = "other_polynesian"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Polynesian Dialects.</span></a> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Boomerang.<br> +</td> +<td> +Kangaroo.<br> +</td> +<td> +Taboo.<br> +</td> +<td> +Tattoo.<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_portuguese" id = "other_portuguese"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Portuguese.</span></a> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Albatross.<br> +Caste.<br> +Cobra.<br> +</td> +<td> +Cocoa-nut.<br> +Commodore.<br> +Fetish.<br> +</td> +<td> +Lasso.<br> +Marmalade.<br> +Moidore.<br> +</td> +<td> +Molasses.<br> +Palaver.<br> +Port (= Oporto).<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_russian" id = "other_russian"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Russian.</span></a> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Czar.<br> +Drosky.<br> +</td> +<td> +Knout.<br> +Morse.<br> +</td> +<td> +Rouble.<br> +Steppe.<br> +</td> +<td> +Ukase.<br> +Verst.<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_tartar" id = "other_tartar"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Tartar.</span></a> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "center" colspan = "4"> +Khan.<br> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<th colspan = "4"> +<a name = "other_turkish" id = "other_turkish"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Turkish.</span></a> +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +Bey.<br> +Caftan.<br> +Chibouk.<br> +</td> +<td> +Chouse.<br> +Dey.<br> +Janissary.<br> +</td> +<td> +Kiosk.<br> +Odalisque.<br> +Ottoman.<br> +</td> +<td> +Tulip.<br> +Yashmak.<br> +Yataghan.<br> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<span class = "pagenum">265</span> +<!--png 083--> +<p><a name = "partIII_chapV_sec10" id = "partIII_chapV_sec10">10.</a> +<b>Scientific Terms.</b>—A very large number of discoveries in +science have been made in this century; and a large number of inventions +have introduced these discoveries to the people, and made them useful in +daily life. Thus we have <i>telegraph</i> and <i>telegram</i>; +<i>photograph</i>; <i>telephone</i> and even +<i>photophone</i>.<!--photophone? when was this written??--> The word +<i>dynamite</i> is also modern; and the unhappy employment of it has +made it too widely known. Then passing fashions have given us such words +as <i>athlete</i> and <i>æsthete</i>. In general, it may be said that, +when we wish to give a name to a new thing—a new discovery, +invention, or fashion—we have recourse not to our own stores of +English, but to the vocabularies of the Latin and Greek languages.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">266</span> +<!--png 084--> +<h5 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIII_landmarks" id = +"partIII_landmarks"> +LANDMARKS IN THE HISTORY OF THE<br> +ENGLISH LANGUAGE.</a></h5> + +<table class = "toc" summary = "events and dates"> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class = "number"><span class = "smallroman">A.D.</span></td> +<tr> +<td><p>1. <b>The Beowulf</b>, an old English epic, “written on the +mainland”</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>450</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>2. <b>Christianity</b> introduced by St Augustine (and with +it many Latin and a few Greek words)</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>597</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>3. <b>Caedmon</b>—‘Paraphrase of the +Scriptures,’—first English poem</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>670</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>4. <b>Baeda</b>—“The Venerable Bede”—translated into +English part of St John’s Gospel</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>735</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>5. <b>King Alfred</b> translated several Latin works into +English, among others, Bede’s ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English +Nation’ +<span class = "offset">(<b>851</b>)</span></p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>901</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>6. <b>Aelfric</b>, Archbishop of York, turned into English most +of the historical books of the Old Testament</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1000</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>7. <b>The Norman Conquest</b>, which introduced Norman French +words</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1066</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>8. <b>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</b>, said to have been begun by King +Alfred, and brought to a close in</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1160</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>9. <b>Orm</b> or <b>Orrmin’s Ormulum</b>, a poem written in the +East Midland dialect, about</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1200</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>10. <b>Normandy</b> lost under King John. Norman-English now have +their only home in England, and use our English speech more and +more</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1204</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>11. <b>Layamon</b> translates the ‘Brut’ from the French of +Robert Wace. This is the first English book (written in <i>Southern +English</i>) after the stoppage of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1205</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>12. <b>The Ancren Riwle</b> (“Rules for Anchorites”) written in +the Dorsetshire dialect. “It is the forerunner of a wondrous change in +our speech.” “It swarms with French words”</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1220</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>13. <b>First Royal Proclamation in English</b>, issued by Henry +III.</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1258</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>14. <b>Robert of Gloucester’s</b> Chronicle (swarms with foreign +terms)</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1300</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> +<span class = "pagenum">267</span> +<!--png 085--> +15. <b>Robert Manning</b>, “Robert of Brunn,” compiles the ‘Handlyng +Synne.’ “It contains a most copious proportion of French words”</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1303</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>16. <b>Ayenbite of Inwit</b> (= “Remorse of +Conscience”)</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1340</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>17. <b>The Great Plague</b>. After this it becomes less and less +the fashion to speak French</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1349</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>18. <b>Sir John Mandeville</b>, first writer of the newer English +Prose—in his ‘Travels,’ which contained a large admixture of +French words. “His English is the speech spoken at Court in the latter +days of King Edward III.”</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1356</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>19. <b>English</b> becomes the language of the Law +Courts</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1362</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>20. <b>Wickliffe’s</b> Bible</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1380</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>21. <b>Geoffrey Chaucer</b>, the first great English poet, author +of the ‘Canterbury Tales’; born in 1340, died</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1400</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>22. <b>William Caxton</b>, the first English printer, brings out +(in the Low Countries) the first English book ever printed, the +‘Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye,’—“not written with pen and +ink, as other books are, to the end that every man may have them at +once”</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1471</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>23. <b>First English Book</b> printed in England (by Caxton) the +‘Game and Playe of the Chesse’</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1474</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>24. <b>Lord Berners’</b> translation of Froissart’s +Chronicle</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1523</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>25. <b>William Tyndale</b>, by his translation of the Bible +“fixed our tongue once for all.” “His New Testament has become the +standard of our tongue: the first ten verses of the Fourth Gospel are a +good sample of his manly Teutonic pith”</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1526-30</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>26. <b>Edmund Spenser</b> publishes his ‘Faerie Queene.’ “Now +began the golden age of England’s literature; and this age was to last +for about fourscore years”</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1590</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>27. <b>Our English Bible</b>, based chiefly on Tyndale’s +translation. “Those who revised the English Bible in 1611 were bidden to +keep as near as they could to the old versions, such as +Tyndale’s”</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1611</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>28. <b>William Shakespeare</b> carried the use of the English +language to the greatest height of which it was capable. He employed +15,000 words. “The last act of ‘Othello’ is a rare specimen of +Shakespeare’s diction: of every five nouns, verbs, and adverbs, four are +Teutonic” +<span class = "offset">(<b>Born 1564</b>)</span></p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1616</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>29. <b>John Milton</b>, “the most learned of English poets,” +publishes his ‘Paradise Lost,’—“a poem in which Latin words +are introduced with great skill”</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1667</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> +<span class = "pagenum">086 + 182</span> +<!--png 086--> +30. <b>The Prayer-Book</b> revised and issued in its final form. +“<i>Are</i> was substituted for <i>be</i> in forty-three places. This +was a great victory of the North over the South”</p> +<!--F2 didn’t know they were fighting ;)--></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1661</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>31. <b>John Bunyan</b> writes his ‘Pilgrim’s +Progress’—a book full of pithy English idiom. “The common +folk had the wit at once to see the worth of Bunyan’s masterpiece, and +the learned long afterwards followed in the wake of the common folk” +<span class = "offset">(<b>Born 1628</b>)</span></p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1688</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>32. <b>Sir Thomas Browne</b>, the author of ‘Urn-Burial’ and +other works written in a highly Latinised diction, such as the ‘Religio +Medici,’ written</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1642</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>33. <b>Dr Samuel Johnson</b> was the chief supporter of the +use of “long-tailed words in osity and ation,” such as his novel called +‘Rasselas,’ published</p></td> +<td class = "number"><b>1759</b></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>34. <b>Tennyson, Poet-Laureate</b>, a writer of the best +English—“a countryman of Robert Manning’s, and a careful +student of old Malory, has done much for the revival of pure English +among us” +<span class = "offset">(<b>Born 1809</b>)</span></p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class = "spacer mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">269</span> +<!--png 087--> + +<h4><a name = "partIV" id = "partIV"> +<span class = "extended">PART</span> IV.</a></h4> + +<h4>OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF<br> +ENGLISH LITERATURE</h4> + +<hr class = "spacer mid"> + +<!--png 088--> + +<span class = "pagenum">271</span> +<!--png 089--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIV_chapI" id = "partIV_chapI"> +CHAPTER I.</a></h4> + +<h6>OUR OLDEST ENGLISH LITERATURE.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapI_sec1" id = "partIV_chapI_sec1">1.</a> +<b>Literature.</b>—The history of English Literature is, in its +external aspect, an account of the best books in prose and in verse that +have been written by English men and English women; and this account +begins with a poem brought over from the Continent by our countrymen in +the fifth century, and comes down to the time in which we live. It +covers, therefore, a period of nearly fourteen hundred years.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapI_sec2" id = "partIV_chapI_sec2">2.</a> +<b>The Distribution of Literature.</b>—We must not suppose that +literature has always existed in the form of printed books. Literature +is a living thing—a living outcome of the living mind; and +there are many ways in which it has been distributed to other human +beings. The oldest way is, of course, by one person repeating a poem or +other literary composition he has made to another; and thus literature +is stored away, not upon book-shelves, but in the memory of living men. +Homer’s poems are said to have been preserved in this way to the Greeks +for five hundred years. Father chanted them to son; the sons to their +sons; and so on from generation to generation. The next way of +distributing literature is by the aid of signs called letters made upon +leaves, flattened reeds, parchment, or the inner bark of trees. The next +is by the help of writing upon paper. The last is by the aid of type +upon paper. This has existed in England for more than four hundred +years—since the year 1474; and thus it is that our libraries +contain many hundreds of thousands of valuable books. +<span class = "pagenum">272</span> +<!--png 090--> +For the same reason is it, most probably, that as our power of retaining +the substance and multiplying the copies of books has grown stronger, +our living memories have grown weaker. This defect can be remedied only +by education—that is, by training the memories of the young. While +we possess so many printed books, it must not be forgotten that many +valuable works exist still in manuscript—written either upon paper +or on parchment.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapI_sec3" id = "partIV_chapI_sec3">3.</a> +<b>Verse, the earliest form of Literature.</b>—It is a remarkable +fact that the earliest kind of composition in all languages is in the +form of <b>Verse</b>. The oldest books, too, are those which are written +in verse. Thus Homer’s poems are the oldest literary work of Greece; the +Sagas are the oldest productions of Scandinavian literature; and the +Beowulf is the oldest piece of literature produced by the Anglo-Saxon +race. It is also from the strong creative power and the lively +inventions of poets that we are even now supplied with new thoughts and +new language—that the most vivid words and phrases come into the +language; just as it is the ranges of high mountains that send down to +the plains the ever fresh soil that gives to them their unending +fertility. And thus it happens that our present English speech is full +of words and phrases that have found their way into the most ordinary +conversation from the writings of our great poets—and especially +from the writings of our greatest poet, Shakespeare. The fact that the +life of prose depends for its supplies on the creative minds of poets +has been well expressed by an American writer:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“I looked upon a plain of green,</p> +<p class = "two"> +Which some one called the Land of Prose,</p> +<p>Where many living things were seen</p> +<p class = "two"> +In movement or repose.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +I looked upon a stately hill</p> +<p class = "two"> +That well was named the Mount of Song,</p> +<p>Where golden shadows dwelt at will,</p> +<p class = "two"> +The woods and streams among.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +But most this fact my wonder bred</p> +<p class = "two"> +(Though known by all the nobly wise),</p> +<p>It was the mountain stream that fed</p> +<p class = "two"> +That fair green plain’s amenities.”</p> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum">273</span> +<!--png 091--> +<p><a name = "partIV_chapI_sec4" id = "partIV_chapI_sec4">4.</a> +<b>Our oldest English Poetry.</b>—The verse written by our old +English writers was very different in form from the verse that appears +now from the hands of Tennyson, or Browning, or Matthew Arnold. The old +English or Anglo-Saxon writers used a kind of rhyme called +<b>head-rhyme</b> or <b>alliteration</b>; while, from the fourteenth +century downwards, our poets have always employed <b>end-rhyme</b> in +their verses.</p> + +<p class = "poem"> +“<i>L</i>ightly down <i>l</i>eaping he <i>l</i>oosened his helmet.” +</p> + +<p>Such was the rough old English form. At least three words in each +long line were alliterative—two in the first half, and one in the +second. Metaphorical phrases were common, such as <i>war-adder</i> for +arrow, <i>war-shirts</i> for armour, <i>whale’s-path</i> or +<i>swan-road</i> for the sea, <i>wave-horse</i> for a ship, +<i>tree-wright</i> for carpenter. Different statements of the same fact, +different phrases for the same thing—what are called +<b>parallelisms</b> in Hebrew poetry—as in the line—</p> + +<p class = "poem"> +“Then saw they the sea head-lands—the windy walls,” +</p> + +<p>were also in common use among our oldest English poets.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapI_sec5" id = "partIV_chapI_sec5">5.</a> +<b>Beowulf.</b>—The <b>Beowulf</b> is the oldest poem in the +English language. It is our “old English epic”; and, like much of our +ancient verse, it is a war poem. The author of it is unknown. It was +probably composed in the fifth century—not in England, but on the +Continent—and brought over to this island—not on paper or on +parchment—but in the memories of the old Jutish or Saxon vikings +or warriors. It was not written down at all, even in England, till the +end of the ninth century, and then, probably, by a monk of Northumbria. +It tells among other things the story of how Beowulf sailed from Sweden +to the help of Hrothgar, a king in Jutland, whose life was made +miserable by a monster—half man, half fiend—named Grendel. +For about twelve years this monster had been in the habit of creeping up +to the banqueting-hall of King Hrothgar, seizing upon his thanes, +carrying them off, and devouring them. Beowulf attacks and overcomes the +dragon, which is mortally wounded, and flees away to die. The +<span class = "pagenum">274</span> +<!--png 092--> +poem belongs both to the German and to the English literature; for it is +written in a Continental English, which is somewhat different from the +English of our own island. But its literary shape is, as has been said, +due to a Christian writer of Northumbria; and therefore its written or +printed form—as it exists at present—is not German, but +English. Parts of this poem were often chanted at the feasts of +warriors, where all sang in turn as they sat after dinner over their +cups of mead round the massive oaken table. The poem consists of 3184 +lines, the rhymes of which are solely alliterative.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapI_sec6" id = "partIV_chapI_sec6">6.</a> +<b>The First Native English Poem.</b>—The Beowulf came to us from +the Continent; the first native English poem was produced in Yorkshire. +On the dark wind-swept cliff which rises above the little land-locked +harbour of <b>Whitby</b>, stand the ruins of an ancient and once famous +abbey. The head of this religious house was the Abbess Hild or Hilda: +and there was a secular priest in it,—a very shy retiring +man, who looked after the cattle of the monks, and whose name was +<b>Caedmon</b>. To this man came the gift of song, but somewhat late in +life. And it came in this wise. One night, after a feast, singing began, +and each of those seated at the table was to sing in his turn. Caedmon +was very nervous—felt he could not sing. Fear overcame his heart, +and he stole quietly away from the table before the turn could come to +him. He crept off to the cowshed, lay down on the straw and fell asleep. +He dreamed a dream; and, in his dream, there came to him a voice: +“Caedmon, sing me a song!” But Caedmon answered: “I cannot sing; it +was for this cause that I had to leave the feast.” “But you must and +shall sing!” “What must I sing, then?” he replied. “Sing the beginning +of created things!” said the vision; and forthwith Caedmon sang some +lines in his sleep, about God and the creation of the world. When he +awoke, he remembered some of the lines that had come to him in sleep, +and, being brought before Hilda, he recited them to her. The Abbess +thought that this wonderful gift, which had come to him so suddenly, +must have come from God, received him into the monastery, made him a +monk, and +<span class = "pagenum">275</span> +<!--png 093--> +had him taught sacred history. “All this Caedmon, by remembering, and, +like a clean animal, ruminating, turned into sweetest verse.” His +poetical works consist of a metrical paraphrase of the Old and the New +Testament. It was written about the year 670; and he died in 680. It was +read and re-read in manuscript for many centuries, but it was not +printed in a book until the year 1655.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapI_sec7" id = "partIV_chapI_sec7">7.</a> +<b>The War-Poetry of England.</b>—There were many poems about +battles, written both in Northumbria and in the south of England; but it +was only in the south that these war-songs were committed to writing; +and of these written songs there are only two that survive up to the +present day. These are the <b>Song of Brunanburg</b>, and the <b>Song of +the Fight at Maldon</b>. The first belongs to the date 938; the second +to 991. The Song of Brunanburg was inscribed in the <span class = +"smallcaps">Saxon Chronicle</span>—a current narrative of +events, written chiefly by monks, from the ninth century to the end of +the reign of Stephen. The song tells the story of the fight of King +Athelstan with Anlaf the Dane. It tells how five young kings and seven +earls of Anlaf’s host fell on the field of battle, and lay there +“quieted by swords,” while their fellow-Northmen fled, and left their +friends and comrades to “the screamers of war—the black raven, the +eagle, the greedy battle-hawk, and the grey wolf in the wood.” The Song +of the Fight at Maldon tells us of the heroic deeds and death of +<b>Byrhtnoth</b>, an ealdorman of Northumbria, in battle against the +Danes at Maldon, in Essex. The speeches of the chiefs are given; the +single combats between heroes described; and, as in Homer, the names and +genealogies of the foremost men are brought into the verse.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapI_sec8" id = "partIV_chapI_sec8">8.</a> +<b>The First English Prose.</b>—The first writer of English prose +was <b>Baeda</b>, or, as he is generally called, the <b>Venerable +Bede</b>. He was born in the year 672 at Monkwearmouth, a small +town at the mouth of the river Wear, and was, like Caedmon, +a native of the kingdom of Northumbria. He spent most of his life +at the famous monastery of Jarrow-on-Tyne. He spent his life in writing. +His works, which were written in Latin, rose to the number of +forty-five; his chief +<span class = "pagenum">276</span> +<!--png 094--> +work being an <b>Ecclesiastical History</b>. But though Latin was the +tongue in which he wrote his books, he wrote one book in English; and he +may therefore be fairly considered the first writer of English prose. +This book was a <b>Translation of the Gospel of +St John</b>—a work which he laboured at until the very +moment of his death. His disciple Cuthbert tells the story of his last +hours. “Write quickly!” said Baeda to his scribe, for he felt that his +end could not be far off. When the last day came, all his scholars stood +around his bed. “There is still one chapter wanting, Master,” said the +scribe; “it is hard for thee to think and to speak.” “It must be done,” +said Baeda; “take thy pen and write quickly.” So through the long day +they wrote—scribe succeeding scribe; and when the shades of +evening were coming on, the young writer looked up from his task and +said, “There is yet one sentence to write, dear Master.” “Write it +quickly!” Presently the writer, looking up with joy, said, “It is +finished!” “Thou sayest truth,” replied the weary old man; “it is +finished: all is finished.” Quietly he sank back upon his pillow, and, +with a psalm of praise upon his lips, gently yielded up to God his +latest breath. It is a great pity that this translation—the first +piece of prose in our language—is utterly lost. No MS. of it is at +present known to be in existence.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapI_sec9" id = "partIV_chapI_sec9">9.</a> +<b>The Father of English Prose.</b>—For several centuries, up to +the year 866, the valleys and shores of Northumbria were the homes of +learning and literature. But a change was not long in coming. Horde +after horde of Danes swept down upon the coasts, ravaged the +monasteries, burnt the books—after stripping the beautiful +bindings of the gold, silver, and precious stones which decorated +them—killed or drove away the monks, and made life, property, and +thought insecure all along that once peaceful and industrious coast. +Literature, then, was forced to desert the monasteries of Northumbria, +and to seek for a home in the south—in Wessex, the kingdom over +which Alfred the Great reigned for more than thirty years. The capital +of Wessex was Winchester; and an able writer says: “As +<span class = "pagenum">277</span> +<!--png 095--> +Whitby is the cradle of English poetry, so is Winchester of English +prose.” King Alfred founded colleges, invited to England men of learning +from abroad, and presided over a school for the sons of his nobles in +his own Court. He himself wrote many books, or rather, he translated the +most famous Latin books of his time into English. He translated into the +English of Wessex, for example, the ‘Ecclesiastical History’ of Baeda; +the ‘History of Orosius,’ into which he inserted geographical chapters +of his own; and the ‘Consolations of Philosophy,’ by the famous Roman +writer, Boëthius. In these books he gave to his people, in their own +tongue, the best existing works on history, geography, and +philosophy.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapI_sec10" id = "partIV_chapI_sec10">10.</a> +<b>The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.</b>—The greatest prose-work of the +oldest English, or purely Saxon, literature, is a work—not by one +person, but by several authors. It is the historical work which is known +as <b>The Saxon Chronicle</b>. It seems to have been begun about the +middle of the ninth century; and it was continued, with breaks now and +then, down to 1154—the year of the death of Stephen and the +accession of Henry II. It was written by a series of successive +writers, all of whom were monks; but Alfred himself is said to have +contributed to it a narrative of his own wars with the Danes. The +Chronicle is found in seven separate forms, each named after the +monastery in which it was written. It was the newspaper, the annals, and +the history of the nation. “It is the first history of any Teutonic +people in their own language; it is the earliest and most venerable +monument of English prose.” This Chronicle possesses for us a twofold +value. It is a valuable storehouse of historical facts; and it is also a +storehouse of specimens of the different states of the English +language—as regards both words and grammar—from the eighth +down to the twelfth century.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapI_sec11" id = "partIV_chapI_sec11">11.</a> +<b>Layamon’s Brut.</b>—Layamon was a native of Worcestershire, and +a priest of Ernley on the Severn. He translated, about the year 1205, +a poem called <b>Brut</b>, from the French of a monkish writer +named Master Wace. Wace’s work itself is +<span class = "pagenum">278</span> +<!--png 096--> +little more than a translation of parts of a famous “Chronicle or +History of the Britons,” written in Latin by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who +was Bishop of St Asaph in 1152. But Geoffrey himself professed only +to have translated from a chronicle in the British or Celtic tongue, +called the “Chronicle of the Kings of Britain,” which was found in +Brittany—long the home of most of the stories, traditions, and +fables about the old British Kings and their great deeds. Layamon’s poem +called the “Brut” is a metrical chronicle of Britain from the landing of +Brutus to the death of King Cadwallader, about the end of the seventh +century. Brutus was supposed to be a great-grandson of Æneas, who sailed +west and west till he came to Great Britain, where he settled with his +followers.—This metrical chronicle is written in the dialect of +the West of England; and it shows everywhere a breaking down of the +grammatical forms of the oldest English, as we find it in the +Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In fact, between the landing of the Normans and +the fourteenth century, two things may be noted: first, that during this +time—that is, for three centuries—the inflections of the +oldest English are gradually and surely stripped off; and, secondly, +that there is little or no original English literature given to the +country, but that by far the greater part consists chiefly of +translations from French or from Latin.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapI_sec12" id = "partIV_chapI_sec12">12.</a> +<b>Orm’s Ormulum.</b>—Less than half a century after Layamon’s +Brut appeared a poem called the <b>Ormulum</b>, by a monk of the name of +Orm or Ormin. It was probably written about the year 1215. Orm was a +monk of the order of St Augustine, and his book consists of a +series of religious poems. It is the oldest, purest, and most valuable +specimen of thirteenth-century English, and it is also remarkable for +its peculiar spelling. It is written in the purest English, and not five +French words are to be found in the whole poem of twenty thousand short +lines. Orm, in his spelling, doubles every consonant that has a short +vowel before it; and he writes <i>pann</i> for <i>pan</i>, but +<i>pan</i> for <i>pane</i>. The following is a specimen of his +poem:—</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">279</span> +<!--png 097--> + +<table class = "poem" summary = "two versions of poem"> +<tr> +<td><p>Ice hafe wennd inntill Ennglissh</p></td> +<td><p>I have wended (turned) into English</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Goddspelless hallghe lare,</p></td> +<td><p>Gospel’s holy lore,</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Affterr thatt little witt tatt me</p></td> +<td><p>After the little wit that me</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Min Drihhtin hafethth lenedd.</p></td> +<td><p>My Lord hath lent.</p></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>Other famous writers of English between this time and the appearance +of Chaucer were <b>Robert of Gloucester</b> and <b>Robert of Brunne</b>, +both of whom wrote Chronicles of England in verse.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">280</span> +<!--png 098--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIV_chapII" id = "partIV_chapII"> +CHAPTER II.</a></h4> + +<h6>THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapII_sec1" id = "partIV_chapII_sec1">1.</a> +The opening of the fourteenth century saw the death of the great and +able king, Edward I., the “Hammer of the Scots,” the “Keeper of his +word.” The century itself—a most eventful +period—witnessed the feeble and disastrous reign of Edward II.; +the long and prosperous rule—for fifty years—of Edward III.; +the troubled times of Richard II., who exhibited almost a repetition of +the faults of Edward II.; and the appearance of a new and powerful +dynasty—the House of Lancaster—in the person of the able and +ambitious Henry IV. This century saw also many striking events, and many +still more striking changes. It beheld the welding of the Saxon and the +Norman elements into one—chiefly through the French wars; the +final triumph of the English language over French in 1362; the frequent +coming of the Black Death; the victories of Crecy and Poitiers; it +learned the universal use of the mariner’s compass; it witnessed two +kings—of France and of Scotland—prisoners in London; great +changes in the condition of labourers; the invention of gunpowder in +1340; the rise of English commerce under Edward III.; and everywhere in +England the rising up of new powers and new ideas.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapII_sec2" id = "partIV_chapII_sec2">2.</a> +The first prose-writer in this century is <b>Sir John Mandeville</b> +(who has been called the “Father of English Prose”). King Alfred has +also been called by this name; but as the English written by Alfred was +very different from that written +<span class = "pagenum">281</span> +<!--png 099--> +by Mandeville,—the latter containing a large admixture of French +and of Latin words, both writers are deserving of the epithet. The most +influential prose-writer was <b>John Wyclif</b>, who was, in fact, the +first English Reformer of the Church. In poetry, two writers stand +opposite each other in striking contrast—<b>Geoffrey Chaucer</b> +and <b>William Langlande</b>, the first writing in courtly “King’s +English” in end-rhyme, and with the fullest inspirations from the +literatures of France and Italy, the latter writing in head-rhyme, +and—though using more French words than Chaucer—with a style +that was always homely, plain, and pedestrian<ins class = "correction" +title = "period invisible">. </ins><b>John Gower</b>, in Kent, and +<b>John Barbour</b>, in Scotland, are also noteworthy poets in this +century. The English language reached a high state of polish, power, and +freedom in this period; and the sweetness and music of Chaucer’s verse +are still unsurpassed by modern poets. The sentences of the +prose-writers of this century are long, clumsy, and somewhat helpless; +but the sweet homely English rhythm exists in many of them, and was +continued, through Wyclif’s version, down into our translation of the +Bible in 1611.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapII_sec3" id = "partIV_chapII_sec3">3.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Sir John Mandeville</span>, +(<b>1300-1372</b>), “the first prose-writer in formed English,” was born +at St Albans, in Hertfordshire, in the year 1300. He was a +physician; but, in the year 1322, he set out on a journey to the East; +was away from home for more than thirty years, and died at Liège, in +Belgium, in 1372. He wrote his travels first in Latin, next in French, +and then turned them into English, “that every man of my nation may +understand it.” The book is a kind of guide-book to the Holy Land; but +the writer himself went much further east—reached Cathay or China, +in fact. He introduced a large number of French words into our speech, +such as <i>cause</i>, <i>contrary</i>, <i>discover</i>, <i>quantity</i>, +and many hundred others. His works were much admired, read, and copied; +indeed, hundreds of manuscript copies of his book were made. There are +nineteen still in the British Museum. The book was not printed till the +year 1499—that is, twenty-five years after printing was introduced +into this country. Many of the Old English inflexions still survive in +his style. Thus he says: “Machamete was born in Arabye, that was a pore +knave (boy) that kepte cameles that went<i>en</i> with marchantes for +marchandise.”</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">282</span> +<!--png 100--> +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapII_sec4" id = "partIV_chapII_sec4">4.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">John Wyclif</span> (his name is spelled in +about forty different ways)—<b>1324-1384</b>—was born at +Hipswell, near Richmond, in Yorkshire, in the year 1324, and died at the +vicarage of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, in 1384. His fame rests on +two bases—his efforts as a reformer of the abuses of the Church, +and his complete translation of the <b>Bible</b>. This work was finished +in 1383, just one year before his death. But the translation was not +done by himself alone; the larger part of the Old Testament version +seems to have been made by Nicholas de Hereford. Though often copied in +manuscript, it was not printed for several centuries. Wyclif’s New +Testament was printed in 1731, and the Old Testament not until the year +1850. But the words and the style of his translation, which was read and +re-read by hundreds of thoughtful men, were of real and permanent +service in fixing the language in the form in which we now +find it.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapII_sec5" id = "partIV_chapII_sec5">5.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">John Gower</span> (<b>1325-1408</b>) was a +country gentleman of Kent. As Mandeville wrote his travels in three +languages, so did Gower his poems. Almost all educated persons in the +fourteenth century could read and write with tolerable and with almost +equal ease, English, French, and Latin. His three poems are the +<b>Speculum Meditantis</b> (“The Mirror of the Thoughtful Man”), in +French; the <b>Vox Clamantis</b> (“Voice of One Crying”), in Latin; and +<b>Confessio Amantis</b> (“The Lover’s Confession”), in English. No +manuscript of the first work is known to exist. He was buried in +St Saviour’s, Southwark, where his effigy is still to be +seen—his head resting on his three works. Chaucer called him “the +moral Gower”; and his books are very dull, heavy, and difficult to +read.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapII_sec6" id = "partIV_chapII_sec6">6.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">William Langlande</span> (<b>1332-1400</b>), a +poet who used the old English head-rhyme, as Chaucer used the foreign +end-rhyme, was born at Cleobury-Mortimer in Shropshire, in the year +1332. The date of his death is doubtful. His poem is called the +<b>Vision of Piers the Plowman</b>; and it is the last long poem in our +literature that was written in Old English alliterative rhyme. From this +period, if rhyme is employed at all, it is the end-rhyme, which we +borrowed from the French and Italians. The poem has an appendix called +<b>Do-well, Do-bet, Do-best</b>—the three stages in the growth of +a Christian. Langlande’s writings remained in manuscript until the reign +of Edward VI.; they were printed then, and went through three editions +in one year. The English used in the <b>Vision</b> is the Midland +dialect—much the same as that used by Chaucer; only, oddly enough, +Langlande admits into his English a +<span class = "pagenum">283</span> +<!--png 101--> +larger amount of French words than Chaucer. The poem is a distinct +landmark in the history of our speech. The following is a specimen of +the lines. There are three alliterative words in each line, with a pause +near the middle—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“A voice <i>l</i>oud in that <i>l</i>ight · to <i>L</i>ucifer +criëd,</p> +<p>‘<i>P</i>rinces of this <i>p</i>alace · <i>p</i>rest<a class = "tag" +name = "tag16" id = "tag16" href = "#note16">16</a> undo the gatës,</p> +<p>For here <i>c</i>ometh with <i>c</i>rown · the <i>k</i>ing of all +glory!’”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapII_sec7" id = "partIV_chapII_sec7">7.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Geoffrey Chaucer</span> (<b>1340-1400</b>), +the “father of English poetry,” and the greatest narrative poet of this +country, was born in London in or about the year 1340. He lived in the +reigns of Edward III., Richard II., and one year in the reign of Henry +IV. His father was a vintner. The name <i>Chaucer</i> is a Norman name, +and is found on the roll of Battle Abbey. He is said to have studied +both at Oxford and Cambridge; served as page in the household of Prince +Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the third son of Edward III.; served also in +the army, and was taken prisoner in one of the French campaigns. In +1367, he was appointed gentleman-in-waiting (<i>valettus</i>) to Edward +III., who sent him on several embassies. In 1374 he married a lady of +the Queen’s chamber; and by this marriage he became connected with John +of Gaunt, who afterwards married a sister of this lady. While on an +embassy to Italy, he is reported to have met the great poet Petrarch, +who told him the story of the Patient Griselda. In 1381, he was made +Comptroller of Customs in the great port of London—an office which +he held till the year 1386. In that year he was elected knight of the +shire—that is, member of Parliament for the county of Kent. In +1389, he was appointed Clerk of the King’s Works at Westminster and +Windsor. From 1381 to 1389 was probably the best and most productive +period of his life; for it was in this period that he wrote the <b>House +of Fame</b>, the <b>Legend of Good Women</b>, and the best of the +<b>Canterbury Tales</b>. From 1390 to 1400 was spent in writing the +other <b>Canterbury Tales</b>, ballads, and some moral poems. He died at +Westminster in the year 1400, and was the first writer who was buried in +the Poets’ Corner of the Abbey. We see from his life—and it was +fortunate for his poetry—that Chaucer had the most varied +experience as student, courtier, soldier, ambassador, official, and +member of Parliament; and was able to mix freely and on equal terms with +all sorts and conditions of men, from the king to the poorest hind in +the fields. He was a stout man, with a small bright face, soft eyes, +<span class = "pagenum">284</span> +<!--png 102--> +dazed by long and hard reading, and with the English passion for +flowers, green fields, and all the sights and sounds of nature.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapII_sec8" id = "partIV_chapII_sec8">8.</a> +<b>Chaucer’s Works.</b>—Chaucer’s greatest work is the +<b>Canterbury Tales</b>. It is a collection of stories written in heroic +metre—that is, in the rhymed couplet of five iambic feet. The +finest part of the Canterbury Tales is the <b>Prologue</b>; the noblest +story is probably the <b>Knightes Tale</b>. It is worthy of note that, +in 1362, when Chaucer was a very young man, the session of the House of +Commons was first opened with a speech in English; and in the same year +an Act of Parliament was passed, substituting the use of English for +French in courts of law, in schools, and in public offices. English had +thus triumphed over French in all parts of the country, while it had at +the same time become saturated with French words. In the year 1383 the +Bible was translated into English by Wyclif. Thus Chaucer, whose +writings were called by Spenser “the well of English undefiled,” wrote +at a time when our English was freshest and newest. The grammar of his +works shows English with a large number of inflexions still remaining. +The Canterbury Tales are a series of stories supposed to be told by a +number of pilgrims who are on their way to the shrine of St Thomas +(Becket) at Canterbury. The pilgrims, thirty-two in number, are fully +described—their dress, look, manners, and character in the +Prologue. It had been agreed, when they met at the Tabard Inn in +Southwark, that each pilgrim should tell four stories—two going +and two returning—as they rode along the grassy lanes, then the +only roads, to the old cathedral city. But only four-and-twenty stories +exist.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapII_sec9" id = "partIV_chapII_sec9">9.</a> +<b>Chaucer’s Style.</b>—Chaucer expresses, in the truest and +liveliest way, “the true and lively of everything which is set before +him;” and he first gave to English poetry that force, vigour, life, and +colour which raised it above the level of mere rhymed prose. All the +best poems and histories in Latin, French, and Italian were well known +to Chaucer; and he borrows from them with the greatest freedom. He +handles, with masterly power, all the characters and events in his +Tales; and he is hence, beyond doubt, the greatest narrative poet that +England ever produced. In the Prologue, his masterpiece, Dryden says, +“we have our forefathers and great-grand-dames all before us, as they +were in Chaucer’s days.” His dramatic power, too, is nearly as great as +his narrative power; and Mr Marsh affirms that he was “a dramatist +before that which is technically known as the existing drama had been +invented.” That is to say, he could set men and women talking as they +would and did talk in real life, but with more point, spirit, +<i>verve</i>, and picturesqueness. As regards the matter of his poems, +it may be sufficient to say that +<span class = "pagenum">285</span> +<!--png 103--> +Dryden calls him “a perpetual fountain of good sense;” and that Hazlitt +makes this remark: “Chaucer was the most practical of all the great +poets,—the most a man of business and of the world. His poetry +reads like history.” Tennyson speaks of him thus in his “Dream of Fair +Women”:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath</p> +<p class = "two"> +Preluded those melodious bursts that fill</p> +<p>The spacious times of great Elizabeth,</p> +<p class = "two"> +With sounds that echo still.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapII_sec10" id = "partIV_chapII_sec10">10.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">John Barbour</span> +(<b>1316-1396</b>).—The earliest Scottish poet of any importance +in the fourteenth century is John Barbour, who rose to be Archdeacon of +Aberdeen. Barbour was of Norman blood, and wrote Northern English, or, +as it is sometimes called, Scotch. He studied both at Oxford and at the +University of Paris. His chief work is a poem called <b>The Bruce</b>. +The English of this poem does not differ very greatly from the English +of Chaucer. Barbour has <i>fechtand</i> for <i>fighting</i>; +<i>pressit</i> for <i>pressëd</i>; <i>theretill</i> for <i>thereto</i>; +but these differences do not make the reading of his poem very +difficult. As a Norman he was proud of the doings of Robert de Bruce, +another Norman; and Barbour must often have heard stories of him in his +boyhood, as he was only thirteen when Bruce died.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">286</span> +<!--png 104--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIV_chapIII" id = "partIV_chapIII"> +CHAPTER III.</a></h4> + +<h6>THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapIII_sec1" id = "partIV_chapIII_sec1">1.</a> +The fifteenth century, a remarkable period in many ways, saw three royal +dynasties established in England—the Houses of Lancaster, York, +and Tudor. Five successful French campaigns of Henry V., and the battle +of Agincourt; and, on the other side, the loss of all our large +possessions in France, with the exception of Calais, under the rule of +the weak Henry VI., were among the chief events of the fifteenth +century. The Wars of the Roses did not contribute anything to the +prosperity of the century, nor could so unsettled and quarrelsome a time +encourage the cultivation of literature. For this among other reasons, +we find no great compositions in prose or verse; but a considerable +activity in the making and distribution of ballads. The best of these +are <b>Sir Patrick Spens</b>, <b>Edom o’ Gordon</b>, <b>The Nut-Brown +Mayde</b>, and some of those written about <b>Robin Hood</b> and his +exploits. The ballad was everywhere popular; and minstrels sang them in +every city and village through the length and breadth of England. The +famous ballad of <b>Chevy Chase</b> is generally placed after the year +1460, though it did not take its present form till the seventeenth +century. It tells the story of the Battle of Otterburn, which was fought +in 1388. This century was also witness to the short struggle of Richard +III., followed by the rise of the House of Tudor. And, in 1498, just at +its close, the wonderful apparition of a new world—of <b>The New +World</b>— +<span class = "pagenum">287</span> +<!--png 105--> +rose on the horizon of the English mind, for England then first heard of +the discovery of America. But, as regards thinking and writing, the +fifteenth century is the most barren in our literature. It is the most +barren in the <b>production</b> of original literature; but, on the +other hand, it is, compared with all the centuries that preceded it, the +most fertile in the dissemination and <b>distribution</b> of the +literature that already existed. For England saw, in the memorable year +of <b>1474</b>, the establishment of the first printing-press in the +Almonry at Westminster, by <b>William Caxton</b>. The first book printed +by him in this country was called ‘The Game and Playe of the Chesse.’ +When Edward IV. and his friends visited Caxton’s house and looked at his +printing-press, they spoke of it as a pretty toy; they could not foresee +that it was destined to be a more powerful engine of good government and +the spread of thought and education than the Crown, Parliaments, and +courts of law all put together. The two greatest names in literature in +the fifteenth century are those of <b>James I.</b> (of Scotland) +and <b>William Caxton</b> himself. Two followers of Chaucer, +<b>Occleve</b> and <b>Lydgate</b> are also generally mentioned. Put +shortly, one might say that the chief poetical productions of this +century were its <b>ballads</b>; and the chief prose productions, +<b>translations</b> from Latin or from foreign works.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIII_sec2" id = "partIV_chapIII_sec2">2.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">James I. of Scotland</span> +(<b>1394-1437</b>), though a Scotchman, owed his education to England. +He was born in 1394. Whilst on his way to France when a boy of eleven, +he was captured, in time of peace, by the order of Henry IV., and kept +prisoner in England for about eighteen years. It was no great +misfortune, for he received from Henry the best education that England +could then give in language, literature, music, and all knightly +accomplishments. He married Lady Jane Beaufort, the grand-daughter of +John of Gaunt, the friend and patron of Chaucer. His best and longest +poem is <b>The Kings Quair</b> (that is, Book), a poem which was +inspired by the subject of it, Lady Jane Beaufort herself. The poem is +written in a stanza of seven lines (called <b>Rime Royal</b>); and the +style is a close copy of the style of Chaucer. After reigning thirteen +years in Scotland, King James was murdered at Perth, in the year 1437. +A Norman by blood, he is the best poet of the fifteenth +century.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">288</span> +<!--png 106--> +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIII_sec3" id = "partIV_chapIII_sec3">3.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">William Caxton</span> (<b>1422-1492</b>) is +the name of greatest importance and significance in the history of our +literature in the fifteenth century. He was born in Kent in the year +1422. He was not merely a printer, he was also a literary man; and, when +he devoted himself to printing, he took to it as an art, and not as a +mere mechanical device. Caxton in early life was a mercer in the city of +London; and in the course of his business, which was a thriving one, he +had to make frequent journeys to the Low Countries. Here he saw the +printing-press for the first time, with the new separate types, was +enchanted with it, and fired by the wonderful future it opened. It had +been introduced into Holland about the year 1450. Caxton’s press was set +up in the Almonry at Westminster, at the sign of the Red Pole. It +produced in all sixty-four books, nearly all of them in English, some of +them written by Caxton himself. One of the most important of them was +Sir Thomas Malory’s <b>History of King Arthur</b>, the storehouse from +which Tennyson drew the stories which form the groundwork of his +<i>Idylls of the King</i>.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">289</span> +<!--png 107--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIV_chapIV" id = "partIV_chapIV"> +CHAPTER IV.</a></h4> + +<h6>THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec1" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec1">1.</a> +The Wars of the Roses ended in 1485, with the victory of Bosworth Field. +A new dynasty—the House of Tudor—sat upon the throne of +England; and with it a new reign of peace and order existed in the +country, for the power of the king was paramount, and the power of the +nobles had been gradually destroyed in the numerous battles of the +fifteenth century. Like the fifteenth, this century also is famous for +its ballads, the authors of which are not known, but which seem to have +been composed “by the people for the people.” They were sung everywhere, +at fairs and feasts, in town and country, at going to and coming home +from work; and many of them were set to popular dance-tunes.</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“When Tom came home from labour,</p> +<p class = "two"> +And Cis from milking rose,</p> +<p>Merrily went the tabor,</p> +<p class = "two"> +And merrily went their toes.”</p> +</div> + +<p>The ballads of <b>King Lear</b> and <b>The Babes in the Wood</b> are +perhaps to be referred to this period.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec2" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec2">2.</a> +The first half of the sixteenth century saw the beginning of a new era +in poetry; and the last half saw the full meridian splendour of this new +era. The beginning of this era was marked by the appearance of <b>Sir +Thomas Wyatt</b> (1503-1542), and of the <b>Earl of Surrey</b> +(1517-1547). These two eminent +<span class = "pagenum">290</span> +<!--png 108--> +writers have been called the “twin-stars of the dawn,” the “founders of +English lyrical poetry”; and it is worthy of especial note, that it is +to Wyatt that we owe the introduction of the <b>Sonnet</b> into our +literature, and to Surrey that is due the introduction of <b>Blank +Verse</b>. The most important prose-writers of the first half of the +century were <b>Sir Thomas More</b>, the great lawyer and statesman, and +<b>William Tyndale</b>, who translated the New Testament into English. +In the latter half of the century, the great poets are <b>Spenser</b> +and <b>Shakespeare</b>; the great prose-writers, <b>Richard Hooker</b> +and <b>Francis Bacon</b>.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec3" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec3">3.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Sir Thomas More’s</span> (<b>1480-1535</b>) +chief work in English is the <b>Life and Reign of Edward V</b>. It is +written in a plain, strong, nervous English style. Hallam calls it “the +first example of good English—pure and perspicuous, well chosen, +without vulgarisms, and without pedantry.” His <b>Utopia</b> +(a description of the country of <i>Nowhere</i>) was written in +Latin.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec4" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec4">4.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">William Tyndale</span> +(<b>1484-1536</b>)—a man of the greatest significance, both +in the history of religion, and in the history of our language and +literature—was a native of Gloucestershire, and was educated at +Magdalen Hall, Oxford. His opinions on religion and the rule of the +Catholic Church, compelled him to leave England, and drove him to the +Continent in the year 1523. He lived in Hamburg for some time. With the +German and Swiss reformers he held that the Bible should be in the hands +of every grown-up person, and not in the exclusive keeping of the +Church. He accordingly set to work to translate the Scriptures into his +native tongue. Two editions of his version of the <b>New Testament</b> +were printed in 1525-34. He next translated the five books of Moses, and +the book of Jonah. In 1535 he was, after many escapes and adventures, +finally tracked and hunted down by an emissary of the Pope’s faction, +and thrown into prison at the castle of Vilvoorde, near Brussels. In +1536 he was brought to Antwerp, tried, condemned, led to the stake, +strangled, and burned.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec5" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec5">5.</a> +<b>The Work of William Tyndale.</b>—Tyndale’s translation has, +since the time of its appearance, formed the basis of all the after +versions of the Bible. It is written in the purest and simplest English; +and very few of the words used in his translation have grown obsolete in +our modern speech. Tyndale’s work is indeed, +<span class = "pagenum">291</span> +<!--png 109--> +one of the most striking landmarks in the history of our language. +Mr Marsh says of it: “Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament is +the most important philological monument of the first half of the +sixteenth century,—perhaps I should say, of the whole period +between Chaucer and Shakespeare.... The best features of the translation +of 1611 are derived from the version of Tyndale.” It may be said without +exaggeration that, in the United Kingdom, America, and the colonies, +about one hundred millions of people now speak the English of Tyndale’s +Bible; nor is there any book that has exerted so great an influence on +English rhythm, English style, the selection of words, and the build of +sentences in our English prose.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec6" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec6">6.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Edmund Spenser</span> (<b>1552-1599</b>), “The +Poet’s Poet,” and one of the greatest poetical writers of his own or of +any age, was born at East Smithfield, near the Tower of London, in the +year 1552, about nine years before the birth of Bacon, and in the reign +of Edward VI. He was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School in London, and +at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. In 1579, we find him settled in his native +city, where his best friend was the gallant Sir Philip Sidney, who +introduced him to his uncle, the Earl of Leicester, then at the height +of his power and influence with Queen Elizabeth. In the same year was +published his first poetical work, <b>The Shepheard’s +Calendar</b>—a set of twelve pastoral poems. In 1580, he went +to Ireland as Secretary to Lord Grey de Wilton, the Viceroy of that +country. For some years he resided at Kilcolman Castle, in county Cork, +on an estate which had been granted him out of the forfeited lands of +the Earl of Desmond. Sir Walter Raleigh had obtained a similar but +larger grant, and was Spenser’s near neighbour. In 1590 Spenser brought +out the first three books of <b>The Faerie Queene</b>. The second three +books of his great poem appeared in 1596. Towards the end of 1598, +a rebellion broke out in Ireland; it spread into Munster; Spenser’s +house was attacked and set on fire; in the fighting and confusion his +only son perished; and Spenser escaped with the greatest difficulty. In +deep distress of body and mind, he made his way to London, where he +died—at an inn in King Street, Westminster, at the age of +forty-six, in the beginning of the year 1599. He was buried in the +Abbey, not far from the grave of Chaucer.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec7" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec7">7.</a> +<b>Spenser’s Style.</b>—His greatest work is <b>The Faerie +Queene</b>; but that in which he shows the most striking command of +language is his <b>Hymn of Heavenly Love</b>. <b>The Faerie Queene</b> +is written in a nine-lined stanza, which has since been called the +<i>Spenserian +<span class = "pagenum">292</span> +<!--png 110--> +Stanza</i>. The first eight lines are of the usual length of five iambic +feet; the last line contains six feet, and is therefore an Alexandrine. +Each stanza contains only three rhymes, which are disposed in this +order: <i>a b a b b c b c c</i>.—The music of the stanza +is long-drawn out, beautiful, involved, and even luxuriant.—The +story of the poem is an allegory, like the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’; and in +it Spenser undertook, he says, “to represent all the moral virtues, +assigning to every virtue a knight to be the patron and defender of the +same.”<a class = "tag" name = "tag17" id = "tag17" href = +"#note17">17</a> Only six books were completed; and these relate the +adventures of the knights who stand for <i>Holiness</i>, +<i>Temperance</i>, <i>Chastity</i>, <i>Friendship</i>, <i>Justice</i>, +and <i>Courtesy</i>. The <b>Faerie Queene</b> herself is called +<b>Gloriana</b>, who represents <i>Glory</i> in his “general intention,” +and Queen Elizabeth in his “particular intention.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec8" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec8">8.</a> +<b>Character of the Faerie Queene.</b>—This poem is the greatest +of the sixteenth century. Spenser has not only been the delight of +nearly ten generations; he was the study of Shakespeare, the poetical +master of Cowley and of Milton, and, in some sense, of Dryden and Pope. +Keats, when a boy, was never tired of reading him. “There is something,” +says Pope, “in Spenser that pleases one as strongly in old age as it did +in one’s youth.” Professor Craik says: “Without calling Spenser the +greatest of all poets, we may still say that his poetry is the most +poetical of all poetry.” The outburst of national feeling after the +defeat of the Armada in 1588; the new lands opened up by our adventurous +Devonshire sailors; the strong and lively loyalty of the nation to the +queen; the great statesmen and writers of the period; the high daring +shown by England against Spain—all these animated and inspired the +glowing genius of Spenser. His rhythm is singularly sweet and beautiful. +Hazlitt says: “His versification is at once the most smooth and the most +sounding in the language. It is a labyrinth of sweet sounds.” Nothing +can exceed the wealth of Spenser’s phrasing and expression; there seems +to be no limit to its flow. He is very fond of the Old-English practice +of alliteration or head-rhyme—“hunting the letter,” as it was +called. Thus he has—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“In woods, in waves, in wars, she wont to dwell.</p> +<p>Gay without good is good heart’s greatest loathing.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec9" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec9">9.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">William Shakespeare</span> (<b>1564-1616</b>), +the greatest dramatist that England ever produced, was born at +Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire, on the 23d of +April—St George’s Day—of the year 1564. His father, +John Shakespeare, was a wool dealer and grower. +<span class = "pagenum">293</span> +<!--png 111--> +William was educated at the grammar-school of the town, where he learned +“small Latin and less Greek”; and this slender stock was his only +scholastic outfit for life. At the early age of eighteen he married Anne +Hathaway, a yeoman’s daughter. In 1586, at the age of twenty-two, +he quitted his native town, and went to London.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec10" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec10">10.</a> +<b>Shakespeare’s Life and Character.</b>—He was employed in some +menial capacity at the Blackfriars Theatre, but gradually rose to be +actor and also adapter of plays. He was connected with the theatre for +about five-and-twenty years; and so diligent and so successful was he, +that he was able to purchase shares both in his own theatre and in the +Globe. As an actor, he was only second-rate: the two parts he is known +to have played are those of the <i>Ghost</i> in <b>Hamlet</b>, and +<i>Adam</i> in <b>As You Like It</b>. In 1597, at the early age of +thirty-three, he was able to purchase New Place, in Stratford, and to +rebuild the house. In 1612, at the age of forty-eight, he left London +altogether, and retired for the rest of his life to New Place, where he +died in the year 1616. His old father and mother spent the last years of +their lives with him, and died under his roof. Shakespeare had three +children—two girls and a boy. The boy, Hamnet, died at the age of +twelve. Shakespeare himself was beloved by every one who knew him; and +“gentle Shakespeare” was the phrase most often upon the lips of his +friends. A placid face, with a sweet, mild expression; a high, +broad, noble, “two-storey” forehead; bright eyes; a most speaking +mouth—though it seldom opened; an open, frank manner, +a kindly, handsome look,—such seems to have been the external +character of the man Shakespeare.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec11" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec11">11.</a> +<b>Shakespeare’s Works.</b>—He has written thirty-seven plays and +many poems. The best of his rhymed poems are his Sonnets, in which he +chronicles many of the various moods of his mind. The plays consist of +tragedies, historical plays, and comedies. The greatest of his tragedies +are probably <b>Hamlet</b> and <b>King Lear</b>; the best of his +historical plays, <b>Richard III.</b> and <b>Julius Cæsar</b>; and his +finest comedies, <b>Midsummer Night’s Dream</b> and <b>As You Like +It</b>. He wrote in the reign of Elizabeth as well as in that of James; +but his greatest works belong to the latter period.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec12" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec12">12.</a> +<b>Shakespeare’s Style.</b>—Every one knows that Shakespeare is +great; but how is the young learner to discover the best way of forming +an adequate idea of his greatness? In the first place, Shakespeare has +very many sides; and, in the second place, he is great on every one of +them. Coleridge says: “In all points, from the most important to the +most minute, the judgment of Shakespeare +<span class = "pagenum">294</span> +<!--png 112--> +is commensurate with his genius—nay, his genius reveals itself in +his judgment, as in its most exalted form.” He has been called +“mellifluous Shakespeare;” “honey-tongued Shakespeare;” “silver-tongued +Shakespeare;” “the thousand-souled Shakespeare;” “the myriad-minded;” +and by many other epithets. He seems to have been master of all human +experience; to have known the human heart in all its phases; to have +been acquainted with all sorts and conditions of men—high and low, +rich and poor; and to have studied the history of past ages, and of +other countries. He also shows a greater and more highly skilled mastery +over language than any other writer that ever lived. The vocabulary +employed by Shakespeare amounts in number of words to twenty-one +thousand. The vocabulary of Milton numbers only seven thousand words. +But it is not sufficient to say that Shakespeare’s power of thought, of +feeling, and of expression required three times the number of words to +express itself; we must also say that Shakespeare’s power of expression +shows infinitely greater skill, subtlety, and cunning than is to be +found in the works of Milton. Shakespeare had also a marvellous power of +making new phrases, most of which have become part and parcel of our +language. Such phrases as <i>every inch a king</i>; <i>witch the +world</i>; <i>the time is out of joint</i>, and hundreds more, show that +modern Englishmen not only speak Shakespeare, but think Shakespeare. His +knowledge of human nature has enabled him to throw into English +literature a larger number of genuine “characters” that will always live +in the thoughts of men, than any other author that ever wrote. And he +has not drawn his characters from England alone and from his own +time—but from Greece and Rome, from other countries, too, and also +from all ages. He has written in a greater variety of styles than any +other writer. “Shakespeare,” says Professor Craik, “has invented twenty +styles.” The knowledge, too, that he shows on every kind of human +endeavour is as accurate as it is varied. Lawyers say that he was a +great lawyer; theologians, that he was an able divine, and unequalled in +his knowledge of the Bible; printers, that he must have been a printer; +and seamen, that he knew every branch of the sailor’s craft.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec13" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec13">13.</a> +<b>Shakespeare’s contemporaries.</b>—But we are not to suppose +that Shakespeare stood alone in the end of the sixteenth and the +beginning of the seventeenth century as a great poet; and that +everything else was flat and low around him. This never is and never can +be the case. Great genius is the possession, not of one man, but of +several in a great age; and we do not find a great writer standing alone +and unsupported, just as we do not find a high mountain rising +<span class = "pagenum">295</span> +<!--png 113--> +from a low plain. The largest group of the highest mountains in the +world, the Himalayas, rise from the highest table-land in the world; and +peaks nearly as high as the highest—Mount Everest—are seen +cleaving the blue sky in the neighbourhood of Mount Everest itself. And +so we find Shakespeare surrounded by dramatists in some respects nearly +as great as himself; for the same great forces welling up within the +heart of England that made <i>him</i> created also the others. +<b>Marlowe</b>, the teacher of Shakespeare, <b>Peele</b>, and +<b>Greene</b>, preceded him; <b>Ben Jonson</b>, <b>Beaumont</b> and +<b>Fletcher</b>, <b>Massinger</b> and <b>Ford</b>, <b>Webster</b>, +<b>Chapman</b>, and many others, were his contemporaries, lived with +him, talked with him; and no doubt each of these men influenced the work +of the others. But the works of these men belong chiefly to the +seventeenth century. We must not, however, forget that the reign of +Queen Elizabeth—called in literature the <b>Elizabethan +Period</b>—was the greatest that England ever saw,—greatest +in poetry and in prose, greatest in thought and in action, perhaps also +greatest in external events.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec14" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec14">14.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Christopher Marlowe</span> (<b>1564-1593</b>), +the first great English dramatist, was born at Canterbury in the year +1564, two months before the birth of Shakespeare himself. He studied at +Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and took the degree of Master of Arts +in 1587. After leaving the university, he came up to London and wrote +for the stage. He seems to have led a wild and reckless life, and was +stabbed in a tavern brawl on the 1st of June 1593. “As he may be said to +have invented and made the verse of the drama, so he created the English +drama.” His chief plays are <b>Dr Faustus</b> and <b>Edward the +Second</b>. His style is one of the greatest vigour and power: it is +often coarse, but it is always strong. Ben Jonson spoke of “Marlowe’s +mighty line”; and Lord Jeffrey says of him: “In felicity of thought and +strength of expression, he is second only to Shakespeare himself.”</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec15" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec15">15.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Ben Jonson</span> (<b>1574-1637</b>), the +greatest dramatist of England after Shakespeare, was born in Westminster +in the year 1574, just nine years after Shakespeare’s birth. He received +his education at Westminster School. It is said that, after leaving +school, he was obliged to assist his stepfather as a bricklayer; that he +did not like the work; and that he ran off to the Low Countries, and +there enlisted as a soldier. On his return to London, he began to write +for +<span class = "pagenum">296</span> +<!--png 114--> +the stage. Jonson was a friend and companion of Shakespeare’s; and at +the Mermaid, in Fleet Street, they had, in presence of men like Raleigh, +Marlowe, Greene, Peele, and other distinguished Englishmen, many +“wit-combats” together. Jonson’s greatest plays are <b>Volpone</b> or +the Fox, and the <b>Alchemist</b>—both comedies. In 1616 he was +created Poet-Laureate. For many years he was in receipt of a pension +from James I. and from Charles I.; but so careless and profuse +were his habits, that he died in poverty in the year 1637. He was buried +in an upright position in Westminster Abbey; and the stone over his +grave still bears the inscription, “O rare Ben Jonson!” He has been +called a “robust, surly, and observing dramatist.”</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec16" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec16">16.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Richard Hooker</span> (<b>1553-1600</b>), one +of the greatest of Elizabethan prose-writers, was born at Heavitree, +a village near the city of Exeter, in the year 1553. By the kind +aid of Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, he was sent to Oxford, where he +distinguished himself as a hard-working student, and especially for his +knowledge of Hebrew. In 1581 he entered the Church. In the same year he +made an imprudent marriage with an ignorant, coarse, vulgar, and +domineering woman. He was appointed Master of the Temple in 1585; but, +by his own request, he was removed from that office, and chose the +quieter living of Boscombe, near Salisbury. Here he wrote the first four +books of his famous work, <b>The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity</b>, +which were published in the year 1594. In 1595 he was translated to the +living of Bishopsborne, near Canterbury. His death took place in the +year 1600. The complete work, which consisted of eight books, was not +published till 1662.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec17" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec17">17.</a> +<b>Hooker’s Style.</b>—His writings are said to “mark an era in +English prose.” His sentences are generally very long, very elaborate, +but full of “an extraordinary musical richness of language.” The order +is often more like that of a Latin than of an English sentence; and he +is fond of Latin inversions. Thus he writes: “That which by wisdom he +saw to be requisite for that people, was by as great wisdom compassed.” +The following sentences give us a good example of his sweet and musical +rhythm. “Of law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is +the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world. All things in +heaven and earth do her homage; the very least as feeling her care, and +the greatest as not exempted from her power: both angels and men, and +creatures of what condition soever, though each in different sort and +manner, yet all, with uniform consent, admiring her as the mother of +their peace and joy.”</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">297</span> +<!--png 115--> +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec18" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec18">18.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Sir Philip Sidney</span> (<b>1554-1586</b>), a +noble knight, a statesman, and one of the best prose-writers of the +Elizabethan age, was born at Penshurst, in Kent, in the year 1554. He +was educated at Shrewsbury School, and then at Christ Church, Oxford. At +the age of seventeen he went abroad for three years’ travel on the +Continent; and, while in Paris, witnessed, from the windows of the +English Embassy, the horrible Massacre of St Bartholomew in the +year 1572. At the early age of twenty-two he was sent as ambassador to +the Emperor of Germany; and while on that embassy, he met William of +Orange—“William the Silent”—who pronounced him one of the +ripest statesmen in Europe. This was said of a young man “who seems to +have been the type of what was noblest in the youth of England during +times that could produce a statesman.” In 1580 he wrote the +<b>Arcadia</b>, a romance, and dedicated it to his sister, the +Countess of Pembroke. The year after, he produced his <b>Apologie for +Poetrie</b>. His policy as a statesman was to side with Protestant +rulers, and to break the power of the strongest Catholic kingdom on the +Continent—the power of Spain. In 1585 the Queen sent him to the +Netherlands as governor of the important fortress of Flushing. He was +mortally wounded in a skirmish at Zutphen; and as he was being carried +off the field, handed to a private the cup of cold water that had been +brought to quench his raging thirst. He died of his wounds on the 17th +of October 1586. One of his friends wrote of him:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Death, courage, honour, make thy soul to live!—</p> +<p>Thy soul in heaven, thy name in tongues of men!”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIV_sec19" id = "partIV_chapIV_sec19">19.</a> +<b>Sidney’s Poetry.</b>—In addition to the <b>Arcadia</b> and the +<b>Apologie for Poetrie</b>, Sidney wrote a number of beautiful poems. +The best of these are a series of sonnets called <b>Astrophel</b> and +<b>Stella</b>, of which his latest critic says: “As a series of sonnets, +the <b>Astrophel</b> and <b>Stella</b> poems are second only to +Shakespeare’s; as a series of love-poems, they are perhaps unsurpassed.” +Spenser wrote an elegy upon Sidney himself, under the title of +<b>Astrophel</b>. Sidney’s prose is among the best of the sixteenth +century. “He reads more modern than any other author of that century.” +He does not use “ink-horn terms,” or cram his sentences with Latin or +French or Italian words; but both his words and his idioms are of pure +English. He is fond of using personifications. Such phrases as, “About +the time that the candles began to inherit the sun’s office;” “Seeing +the day begin to disclose her comfortable beauties,” are not uncommon. +The rhythm of his sentences is always melodious, and each of them has a +very pleasant close.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">298</span> +<!--png 116--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIV_chapV" id = "partIV_chapV"> +CHAPTER V.</a></h4> + +<h6>THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapV_sec1" id = "partIV_chapV_sec1">1.</a> +<b>The First Half.</b>—Under the wise and able rule of Queen +Elizabeth, this country had enjoyed a long term of peace. The Spanish +Armada had been defeated in 1588; the Spanish power had gradually waned +before the growing might of England; and it could be said with perfect +truth, in the words of Shakespeare:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“In her days every man doth eat in safety</p> +<p>Under his own vine what he plants, and sing</p> +<p>The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours.”</p> +</div> + +<p>The country was at peace; and every peaceful art and pursuit +prospered. As one sign of the great prosperity and outstretching +enterprise of commerce, we should note the foundation of the East India +Company on the last day of the year 1600. The reign of James I. +(1603-1625) was also peaceful; and the country made steady progress in +industries, in commerce, and in the arts and sciences. The two greatest +prose-writers of the first half of the seventeenth century were +<b>Raleigh</b> and <b>Bacon</b>; the two greatest poets were +<b>Shakespeare</b> and <b>Ben Jonson</b>.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec2" id = "partIV_chapV_sec2">2.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Sir Walter Raleigh</span> +(<b>1552-1618</b>).—<b>Walter Raleigh</b>, soldier, statesman, +coloniser, historian, and poet, was born in Devonshire, in the year +1552. He was sent to Oriel College, Oxford; but he left at the early age +of seventeen to fight on the side of the Protestants in France. From +that time his life is one long series of schemes, plots, +<span class = "pagenum">299</span> +<!--png 117--> +adventures, and misfortunes—culminating in his execution at +Westminster in the year 1618. He spent “the evening of a tempestuous +life” in the Tower, where he lay for thirteen years; and during this +imprisonment he wrote his greatest work, the <b>History of the +World</b>, which was never finished. His life and adventures belong to +the sixteenth; his works to the seventeenth century. Raleigh was +probably the most dazzling figure of his time; and is “in a singular +degree the representative of the vigorous versatility of the Elizabethan +period.” Spenser, whose neighbour he was for some time in Ireland, +thought highly of his poetry, calls him “the summer’s nightingale,” and +says of him—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Yet æmuling<a class = "tag" name = "tag18" id = "tag18" href = +"#note18">18</a> my song, he took in hand</p> +<p class = "two"> +My pipe, before that æmulëd of many,</p> +<p>And played thereon (for well that skill he conn’d),</p> +<p class = "two"> +Himself as skilful in that art as any.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +Raleigh is the author of the celebrated verses, “Go, soul, the body’s +guest;” “Give me my scallop-shell of quiet;” and of the lines which were +written and left in his Bible on the night before he was +beheaded:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Even such is time, that takes in trust</p> +<p>Our youth, our joys, our all we have,</p> +<p>And pays us but with age and dust;</p> +<p>Who, in the dark and silent grave,</p> +<p>When we have wandered all our ways,</p> +<p>Shuts up the story of our days:</p> +<p>But from this earth, this grave, this dust,</p> +<p>The Lord shall raise me up, I trust!”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +Raleigh’s prose has been described as “some of the most flowing and +modern-looking prose of the period;” and there can be no doubt that, if +he had given himself entirely to literature, he would have been one of +the greatest poets and prose-writers of his time. His style is calm, +noble, and melodious. The following is the last sentence of the +<b>History of the World</b>:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could advise, thou hast +persuaded; what none hath dared, thou hast done; and whom all the world +hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised; thou +hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, +cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two +narrow words <i>Hic jacet</i>.”</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec3" id = "partIV_chapV_sec3">3.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Francis Bacon</span> (<b>1561-1626</b>), one +of the greatest of English thinkers, and one of our best prose-writers, +was born at York House, +<span class = "pagenum">300</span> +<!--png 118--> +in the Strand, London, in the year 1561. He was a grave and precocious +child; and Queen Elizabeth, who knew him and liked him, used to pat him +and call him her “young Lord Keeper”—his father being Lord Keeper +of the Seals in her reign. At the early age of twelve he was sent to +Trinity College, Cambridge, and remained there for three years. In 1582 +he was called to the bar; in 1593 he was M.P. for Middlesex. But his +greatest rise in fortune did not take place till the reign of +James I.; when, in the year 1618, he had risen to be Lord High +Chancellor of England. The title which he took on this +occasion—for the Lord High Chancellor is chairman of the House of +Lords—was <b>Baron Verulam</b>; and a few years after he was +created <b>Viscount St Albans</b>. His eloquence was famous in +England; and Ben Jonson said of him: “The fear of every man that heard +him was lest he should make an end.” In the year 1621 he was accused of +taking bribes, and of giving unjust decisions as a judge. He had not +really been unconscientious, but he had been careless; was obliged to +plead guilty; and he was sentenced to pay a fine of £40,000, and to be +imprisoned in the Tower during the king’s pleasure. The fine was +remitted; Bacon was set free in two days; a pension was allowed +him; but he never afterwards held office of any kind. He died on +Easter-day of the year 1626, of a chill which he caught while +experimenting on the preservative properties of snow.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec4" id = "partIV_chapV_sec4">4.</a> +His chief prose-works in English—for he wrote many in +Latin—are the <b>Essays</b>, and the <b>Advancement of +Learning</b>. His <b>Essays</b> make one of the wisest books ever +written; and a great number of English thinkers owe to them the best of +what they have had to say. They are written in a clear, forcible, pithy, +and picturesque style, with short sentences, and a good many +illustrations, drawn from history, politics, and science. It is true +that the style is sometimes stiff, and even rigid; but the stiffness is +the stiffness of a richly embroidered cloth, into which threads of gold +and silver have been worked. Bacon kept what he called a <b>Promus</b> +or Commonplace-Book; and in this he entered striking thoughts, +sentences, and phrases that he met with in the course of his reading, or +that occurred to him during the day. He calls these sentences +“salt-pits, that you may extract salt out of, and sprinkle as you will.” +The following are a few examples:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“That that is Forced is not Forcible.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“No Man loveth his Fetters though they be of Gold.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Clear and Round Dealing is the Honour of Man’s Nature.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“The Arch-flatterer, with whom all the petty Flatterers have +intelligence, is a Man’s Self.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +<span class = "pagenum">301</span> +<!--png 119--> +“If Things be not tossed upon the Arguments of Counsell, they will be +tossed upon the Waves of Fortune.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +The following are a few striking sentences from his +<b>Essays</b>:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“A man’s nature runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore, let him +seasonably water the one, and destroy the other.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“A crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and +talk but a tinkling cymbal, when there is no love.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +No man could say wiser things in pithier words; and we may well say of +his thoughts, in the words of Tennyson, that they are—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "four"> +“Jewels, five words long,</p> +<p>That on the stretched forefinger of all time</p> +<p>Sparkle for ever.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec5" id = "partIV_chapV_sec5">5.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">William Shakespeare</span> (<b>1564-1616</b>) +has been already treated of in the chapter on the sixteenth century. But +it may be noted here that his first two periods—as they are +called—fall within the sixteenth, and his last two periods within +the seventeenth century. His first period lies between 1591 and 1596; +and to it are ascribed his early poems, his play of <b>Richard II.</b>, +and some other historical plays. His second period, which stretches from +1596 to 1601 holds the Sonnets, the <b>Merchant of Venice</b>, the +<b>Merry Wives of Windsor</b>, and a few historical dramas. But his +third and fourth periods were richer in production, and in greater +productions. The third period, which belongs to the years 1601 to 1608, +produced the play of <b>Julius Cæsar</b>, the great tragedies of +<b>Hamlet</b>, <b>Othello</b>, <b>Lear</b>, <b>Macbeth</b>, and some +others. To the fourth period, which lies between 1608 and 1613, belong +the calmer and wiser dramas,—<b>Winter’s Tale</b>, <b>The +Tempest</b>, and <b>Henry VIII.</b> Three years after—in +1616—he died.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec6" id = "partIV_chapV_sec6">6.</a> +<b>The Second Half.</b>—The second half of the great and unique +seventeenth century was of a character very different indeed from that +of the first half. The Englishmen born into it had to face a new world! +New thoughts in religion, new forces in politics, new powers in social +matters had been slowly, steadily, and irresistibly rising into +supremacy ever since the Scottish King James came to take his seat upon +the throne of England in 1603. These new forces had, in fact, become so +<span class = "pagenum">302</span> +<!--png 120--> +strong that they led a king to the scaffold, and handed over the +government of England to a section of Republicans. Charles I. was +executed in 1649; and, though his son came back to the throne in 1660, +the face, the manners, the thoughts of England and of Englishmen had +undergone a complete internal and external change. The Puritan party was +everywhere the ruling party; and its views and convictions, in religion, +in politics, and in literature, held unquestioned sway in almost every +part of England. In the Puritan party, the strongest section was formed +by the Independents—the “root and branch men”—as they were +called; and the greatest man among the Independents was Oliver Cromwell, +in whose government <b>John Milton</b> was Foreign Secretary. Milton was +certainly by far the greatest and most powerful writer, both in prose +and in verse, on the side of the Puritan party. The ablest verse-writer +on the Royalist or Court side was <b>Samuel Butler</b>, the unrivalled +satirist—the Hogarth of language,—the author of +<b>Hudibras</b>. The greatest prose-writer on the Royalist and Church +side was <b>Jeremy Taylor</b>, Bishop of Down, in Ireland, and the +author of <b>Holy Living</b>, <b>Holy Dying</b>, and many other works +written with a wonderful eloquence. The greatest philosophical writer +was <b>Thomas Hobbes</b>, the author of the <b>Leviathan</b>. The most +powerful writer for the people was <b>John Bunyan</b>, the immortal +author of <b>The Pilgrim’s Progress</b>. When, however, we come to the +reigns of Charles II. and James II., and the new influences which their +rule and presence imparted, we find the greatest poet to be <b>John +Dryden</b>, and the most important prose-writer, <b>John Locke</b>.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapV_sec7" id = "partIV_chapV_sec7">7.</a> +<b>The Poetry of the Second Half.</b>—The poetry of the second +half of the seventeenth century was not an outgrowth or lineal +descendant of the poetry of the first half. No trace of the strong +Elizabethan poetical emotion remained; no writer of this half-century +can claim kinship with the great authors of the Elizabethan period. The +three most remarkable poets in the latter half of this century are +<b>John Milton</b>, <b>Samuel Butler</b>, and <b>John Dryden</b>. But +Milton’s culture was derived chiefly from the great Greek and Latin +writers; and his poems show +<span class = "pagenum">303</span> +<!--png 121--> +few or no signs of belonging to any age or generation in particular of +English literature. Butler’s poem, the <b>Hudibras</b>, is the only one +of its kind; and if its author owes anything to other writers, it is to +France and not to England that we must look for its sources. Dryden, +again, shows no sign of being related to Shakespeare or the dramatic +writers of the early part of the century; he is separated from them by a +great gulf; he owes most, when he owes anything, to the French school of +poetry.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec8" id = "partIV_chapV_sec8">8.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">John Milton</span> (<b>1608-1674</b>), the +second greatest name in English poetry, and the greatest of all our epic +poets, was born in Bread Street, Cheapside, London, in the year +1608—five years after the accession of James I. to the +throne, and eight years before the death of Shakespeare. He was educated +at St Paul’s School, and then at Christ’s College, Cambridge. He +was so handsome—with a delicate complexion, clear blue eyes, and +light-brown hair flowing down his shoulders—that he was known as +the “Lady of Christ’s.” He was destined for the Church; but, being early +seized with a strong desire to compose a great poetical work which +should bring honour to his country and to the English tongue, he gave up +all idea of becoming a clergyman. Filled with his secret purpose, he +retired to Horton, in Buckinghamshire, where his father had bought a +small country seat. Between the years 1632 and 1638 he studied all the +best Greek and Latin authors, mathematics, and science; and he also +wrote <b>L’Allegro</b> and <b>Il Penseroso</b>, <b>Comus</b>, +<b>Lycidas</b>, and some shorter poems. These were preludes, or +exercises, towards the great poetical work which it was the mission of +his life to produce. In 1638-39 he took a journey to the Continent. Most +of his time was spent in Italy; and, when in Florence, he paid a visit +to Galileo in prison. It had been his intention to go on to Greece; but +the troubled state of politics at home brought him back sooner than he +wished. The next ten years of his life were engaged in teaching and in +writing his prose works. His ideas on teaching are to be found in his +<b>Tractate on Education</b>. The most eloquent of his prose-works is +his <b>Areopagitica, a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed +Printing</b> (1644)—a plea for the freedom of the press, for +relieving all writings from the criticism of censors. In 1649—the +year of the execution of Charles I.—Milton was appointed +Latin or Foreign Secretary to the Government of Oliver Cromwell; and for +the next ten years his time was taken up with official work, and with +writing prose-volumes in defence of the action of the +<span class = "pagenum">304</span> +<!--png 122--> +Republic. In 1660 the Restoration took place; and Milton was at length +free, in his fifty-third year, to carry out his long-cherished scheme of +writing a great Epic poem. He chose the subject of the fall and the +restoration of man. <b>Paradise Lost</b> was completed in 1665; but, +owing to the Plague and the Fire of London, it was not published till +the year 1667. Milton’s young Quaker friend, Ellwood, said to him one +day: “Thou hast said much of Paradise Lost, what hast thou to say of +Paradise Found?” <b>Paradise Regained</b> was the +result—a work which was written in 1666, and appeared, along +with <b>Samson Agonistes</b>, in the year 1671. Milton died in the year +1674—about the middle of the reign of Charles II. He had been +three times married.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec9" id = "partIV_chapV_sec9">9.</a> +<b>L’Allegro</b> (or “The Cheerful Man”) is a companion poem to <b>Il +Penseroso</b> (or “The Meditative Man”). The poems present two +contrasted views of the life of the student. They are written in an +irregular kind of octosyllabic verse. The <b>Comus</b>—mostly in +blank verse—is a lyrical drama; and Milton’s work was accompanied +by a musical composition by the then famous musician Henry Lawes. +<b>Lycidas</b>—a poem in irregular rhymed verse—is a +threnody on the death of Milton’s young friend, Edward King, who was +drowned in sailing from Chester to Dublin. This poem has been called +“the touchstone of taste;” the man who cannot admire it has no feeling +for true poetry. The <b>Paradise Lost</b> is the story of how Satan was +allowed to plot against the happiness of man; and how Adam and Eve fell +through his designs. The style is the noblest in the English language; +the music of the rhythm is lofty, involved, sustained, and sublime. “In +reading ‘Paradise Lost,’” says Mr Lowell, “one has a feeling of +spaciousness such as no other poet gives.” <b>Paradise Regained</b> is, +in fact, the story of the Temptation, and of Christ’s triumph over the +wiles of Satan. Wordsworth says: “‘Paradise Regained’ is most perfect in +execution of any written by Milton;” and Coleridge remarks that “it is +in its kind the most perfect poem extant, though its kind may be +inferior in interest.” <b>Samson Agonistes</b> (“Samson in Struggle”) is +a drama, in highly irregular unrhymed verse, in which the poet sets +forth his own unhappy fate—</p> + +<p class = "poem"> +“Eyeless, in Gaza, at the mill with slaves.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +It is, indeed, an autobiographical poem—it is the story of the +last years of the poet’s life.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec10" id = "partIV_chapV_sec10">10.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Samuel Butler</span> (<b>1612-1680</b>), the +wittiest of English poets, was born at Strensham, in Worcestershire, in +the year 1612, four years +<span class = "pagenum">305</span> +<!--png 123--> +after the birth of Milton, and four years before the death of +Shakespeare. He was educated at the grammar-school of Worcester, and +afterwards at Cambridge—but only for a short time. At the +Restoration he was made secretary to the Earl of Carbery, who was then +President of the Principality of Wales, and steward of Ludlow Castle. +The first part of his long poem called <b>Hudibras</b> appeared in 1662; +the second part in 1663; the third in 1678. Two years after, Butler died +in the greatest poverty in London. He was buried in St Paul’s, +Covent Garden; but a monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey. +Upon this fact Wesley wrote the following epigram:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“While Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive,</p> +<p>No generous patron would a dinner give;</p> +<p>See him, when starved to death, and turned to dust,</p> +<p>Presented with a monumental bust.</p> +<p>The poet’s fate is here in emblem shown,—</p> +<p>He asked for bread, and he received a stone.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec11" id = "partIV_chapV_sec11">11.</a> +The <b>Hudibras</b> is a burlesque poem,—a long lampoon, +a laboured caricature,—in mockery of the weaker side of the +great Puritan party. It is an imaginary account of the adventures of a +Puritan knight and his squire in the Civil Wars. It is choke-full of all +kinds of learning, of the most pungent remarks—a very hoard +of sentences and saws, “of vigorous locutions and picturesque phrases, +of strong, sound sense, and robust English.” It has been more quoted +from than almost any book in our language. Charles II. was never tired +of reading it and quoting from it—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“He never ate, nor drank, nor slept,</p> +<p>But Hudibras still near him kept”—</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +says Butler himself.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +The following are some of his best known lines:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“And, like a lobster boil’d, the morn</p> +<p>From black to red began to turn.”</p> +</div> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“For loyalty is still the same,</p> +<p>Whether it win or lose the game:</p> +<p>True as the dial to the sun,</p> +<p>Altho’ it be not shin’d upon.”</p> +</div> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“He that complies against his will,</p> +<p>Is of his own opinion still.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec12" id = "partIV_chapV_sec12">12.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">John Dryden</span> (<b>1631-1700</b>), the +greatest of our poets in the second rank, was born at Aldwincle, in +Northamptonshire, in the +<span class = "pagenum">306</span> +<!--png 124--> +year 1631. He was descended from Puritan ancestors on both sides of his +house. He was educated at Westminster School, and at Trinity College, +Cambridge. London became his settled abode in the year 1657. At the +Restoration, in 1660, he became an ardent Royalist; and, in the year +1663, he married the daughter of a Royalist nobleman, the Earl of +Berkshire. It was not a happy marriage; the lady, on the one hand, had a +violent temper, and, on the other, did not care a straw for the literary +pursuits of her husband. In 1666 he wrote his first long poem, the +<b>Annus Mirabilis</b> (“The Wonderful Year”), in which he paints the +war with Holland, and the Fire of London; and from this date his life is +“one long literary labour.” In 1670, he received the double appointment +of Historiographer-Royal and Poet-Laureate. Up to the year 1681, his +work lay chiefly in writing plays for the theatre; and these plays were +written in rhymed verse, in imitation of the French plays; for, from the +date of the Restoration, French influence was paramount both in +literature and in fashion. But in this year he published the first part +of <b>Absalom and Achitophel</b>—one of the most powerful satires +in the language. In the year 1683 he was appointed Collector of Customs +in the port of London—a post which Chaucer had held before +him. (It is worthy of note that Dryden “translated” the Tales of +Chaucer into modern English.) At the accession of James II., in +1685, Dryden became a Roman Catholic; most certainly neither for gain +nor out of gratitude, but from conviction. In 1687, appeared his poem of +<b>The Hind and the Panther</b>, in which he defends his new creed. He +had, a few years before, brought out another poem called <b>Religio +Laici</b> (“A Layman’s Faith”), which was a defence of the Church +of England and of her position in religion. In <b>The Hind and the +Panther</b>, the Hind represents the Roman Catholic Church, +“a milk-white hind, unspotted and unchanged,” the Panther the +Church of England; and the two beasts reply to each other in all the +arguments used by controversialists on these two sides. When the +Revolution of 1688 took place, and James II. had to flee the +kingdom, Dryden lost both his offices and the pension he had from the +Crown. Nothing daunted, he set to work once more. Again he wrote for the +stage; but the last years of his life were spent chiefly in translation. +He translated passages from Homer, Ovid, and from some Italian writers; +but his most important work was the translation of the whole of Virgil’s +<b>Æneid</b>. To the last he retained his fire and vigour, action and +rush of verse; and some of his greatest lyric poems belong to his later +years. His ode called <b>Alexander’s Feast</b> was written at the age of +sixty-six; and it was written at one sitting. At the age of sixty-nine +he was meditating a +<span class = "pagenum">307</span> +<!--png 125--> +translation of the whole of Homer—both the Iliad and the Odyssey. +He died at his house in London, on May-day of 1700, and was buried with +great pomp and splendour in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec13" id = "partIV_chapV_sec13">13.</a> +His best satire is the <b>Absalom and Achitophel</b>; his best specimen +of reasoning in verse is <b>The Hind and the Panther</b>. His best ode +is his <b>Ode to the Memory of Mrs Anne Killigrew</b>. Dryden’s +style is distinguished by its power, sweep, vigour, and “long majestic +march.” No one has handled the heroic couplet—and it was this form +of verse that he chiefly used—with more vigour than Dryden; Pope +was more correct, more sparkling, more finished, but he had not Dryden’s +magnificent march or sweeping impulsiveness. “The fire and spirit of the +‘Annus Mirabilis,’” says his latest critic, “are nothing short of +amazing, when the difficulties which beset the author are remembered. +The glorious dash of the performance is his own.” His prose, though full +of faults, is also very vigorous. It has “something of the lightning +zigzag vigour and splendour of his verse.” He always writes clear, +homely, and pure English,—full of force and point.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +Many of his most pithy lines are often quoted:—</p> + +<p class = "poem"> +“Men are but children of a larger growth.”</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p><ins class = "correction" title = "open quote missing">“Errors,</ins> +like straws, upon the surface flow;</p> +<p>He that would search for pearls must dive below.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "poem"> +“The greatest argument for love is love.”</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“The secret pleasure of the generous act,</p> +<p>Is the great mind’s great bribe.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +The great American critic and poet, Mr Lowell, compares him to “an +ostrich, to be classed with flying things, and capable, what with leap +and flap together, of leaving the earth for a longer or a shorter space, +but loving the open plain, where wing and foot help each other to +something that is both flight and run at once.”</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec14" id = "partIV_chapV_sec14">14.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Jeremy Taylor</span> (<b>1613-1667</b>), the +greatest master of ornate and musical English prose in his own day, was +born at Cambridge in the year 1613—just three years before +Shakespeare died. His father was a barber. After attending the free +grammar-school of Cambridge, he proceeded to the University. He took +holy orders and removed to London. When he was lecturing one day at +St Paul’s, Archbishop Laud was so taken by his “youthful beauty, +pleasant air,” fresh eloquence, and exuberant style, that he had him +created +<span class = "pagenum">308</span> +<!--png 126--> +a Fellow of All Souls’ College, Oxford. When the Civil War broke out, he +was taken prisoner by the Parliamentary forces; and, indeed, suffered +imprisonment more than once. After the Restoration, he was presented +with a bishopric in Ireland, where he died in 1667.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec15" id = "partIV_chapV_sec15">15.</a> +Perhaps his best works are his <b>Holy Living</b> and <b>Holy Dying</b>. +His style is rich, even to luxury, full of the most imaginative +illustrations, and often overloaded with ornament. He has been called +“the Shakespeare of English prose,” “the Spenser of divinity,” and by +other appellations. The latter title is a very happy description; for he +has the same wealth of style, phrase, and description that Spenser has, +and the same boundless delight in setting forth his thoughts in a +thousand different ways. The following is a specimen of his writing. He +is speaking of a shipwreck:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“These are the thoughts of mortals, this is the end and sum of all their +designs. A dark night and an ill guide, a boisterous sea and a +broken cable, a hard rock and a rough wind, dash in pieces the +fortune of a whole family; and they that shall weep loudest for the +accident are not yet entered into the storm, and yet have suffered +shipwreck.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +His writings contain many pithy statements. The following are a few of +them:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“No man is poor that does not think himself so.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“He that spends his time in sport and calls it recreation, is like him +whose garment is all made of fringe, and his meat nothing but sauce.<ins +class = "correction" title = "missing close quote">.”</ins></p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“A good man is as much in awe of himself as of a whole assembly<ins +class = "correction" title = "missing close quote">.”</ins></p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec16" id = "partIV_chapV_sec16">16.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Thomas Hobbes</span> (<b>1588-1679</b>), a +great philosopher, was born at Malmesbury in the year 1588. He is hence +called “the philosopher of Malmesbury.” He lived during the reigns of +four English sovereigns—Elizabeth, James I., Charles I., +and Charles II.; and he was twenty-eight years of age when +Shakespeare died. He is in many respects the type of the hard-working, +long-lived, persistent Englishman. He was for many years tutor in the +Devonshire family—to the first Earl of Devonshire, and to the +third Earl of Devonshire—and lived for several years at the family +seat of Chatsworth. In his youth he was acquainted with Bacon and Ben +Jonson; in his middle age he knew Galileo in Italy; and as he lived to +the age of ninety-two, he might have conversed with John Locke or with +Daniel Defoe. His greatest work is the <b>Leviathan</b>; or, <b>The +Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth</b>. His style is clear, +manly, and vigorous. He tried to write poetry too. At +<span class = "pagenum">309</span> +<!--png 127--> +the advanced age of eighty-five, he wrote a translation of the whole of +Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey into rhymed English verse, using the same +quatrain and the same measure that Dryden employed in his ‘Annus +Mirabilis.’ Two lines are still remembered of this translation: speaking +of a child and his mother, he says—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“And like a star upon her bosom lay</p> +<p>His beautiful and shining golden head.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec17" id = "partIV_chapV_sec17">17.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">John Bunyan</span> (<b>1628-1688</b>), one of +the most popular of our prose-writers, was born at Elstow, in +Bedfordshire, in the year 1628—just three years before the birth +of Dryden. He served, when a young man, with the Parliamentary forces, +and was present at the siege of Leicester. At the Restoration, he was +apprehended for preaching, in disobedience to the Conventicle Act, “was +had home to prison, and there lay complete twelve years.” Here he +supported himself and his family by making tagged laces and other +small-wares; and here, too, he wrote the immortal <b>Pilgrim’s +Progress</b>. After his release, he became pastor of the Baptist +congregation at Bedford. He had a great power of bringing persons who +had quarrelled together again; and he was so popular among those who +knew him, that he was generally spoken of as “Bishop Bunyan.” On a +journey, undertaken to reconcile an estranged father and a rebellious +son, he caught a severe cold, and died of fever in London, in the year +<ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘1698’">1688</ins>. Every +one has read, or will read, the <b>Pilgrim’s Progress</b>; and it may be +said, without exaggeration, that to him who has not read the book, +a large part of English life and history is dumb and +unintelligible. Bunyan has been called the “Spenser of the people,” and +“the greatest master of allegory that ever lived.” His power of +imagination is something wonderful; and his simple, homely, and vigorous +style makes everything so real, that we seem to be reading a narrative +of everyday events and conversations. His vocabulary is not, as Macaulay +said, “the vocabulary of the common people;” rather should we say that +his English is the English of the Bible and of the best religious +writers. His style is, almost everywhere, simple, homely, earnest, and +vernacular—without being vulgar. Bunyan’s books have, along with +Shakespeare and Tyndale’s works, been among the chief supports of an +idiomatic, nervous, and simple English.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapV_sec18" id = "partIV_chapV_sec18">18.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">John Locke</span> (<b>1632-1704</b>), a great +English philosopher, was born at Wrington, near Bristol, in the year +1632. He was educated +<span class = "pagenum">310</span> +<!--png 128--> +at Oxford; but he took little interest in the Greek and Latin classics, +his chief studies lying in medicine and the physical sciences. He became +attached to the famous Lord Shaftesbury, under whom he filled several +public offices—among others, that of Commissioner of Trade. When +Shaftesbury was obliged to flee to Holland, Locke followed him, and +spent several years in exile in that country. All his life a very +delicate man, he yet, by dint of great care and thoughtfulness, +contrived to live to the age of seventy-two. His two most famous works +are <b>Some Thoughts concerning Education</b>, and the celebrated +<b>Essay on the Human Understanding</b>. The latter, which is his great +work, occupied his time and thoughts for eighteen years. In both these +books, Locke exhibits the very genius of common-sense. The purpose of +education is, in his opinion, not to make learned men, but to maintain +“a sound mind in a sound body;” and he begins the education of the +future man even from his cradle. In his philosophical writings, he is +always simple; but, as he is loose and vacillating in his use of terms, +this simplicity is often purchased at the expense of exactness and +self-consistency.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">311</span> +<!--png 129--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIV_chapVI" id = "partIV_chapVI"> +CHAPTER VI.</a></h4> + +<h6>THE FIRST HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec1" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec1">1.</a> +<b>The Age of Prose.</b>—The eighteenth century was an age of +prose in two senses. In the first place, it was a prosaic age; and, in +the second place, better prose than poetry was produced by its writers. +One remarkable fact may also be noted about the chief prose-writers of +this century—and that is, that they were, most of them, not merely +able writers, not merely distinguished literary men, but also men of +affairs—men well versed in the world and in matters of the highest +practical moment, while some were also statesmen holding high office. +Thus, in the first half of the century, we find Addison, Swift, and +Defoe either holding office or influencing and guiding those who held +office; while, in the latter half, we have men like Burke, Hume, and +Gibbon, of whom the same, or nearly the same, can be said. The poets, on +the contrary, of this eighteenth century, are all of them—with the +very slightest exceptions—men who devoted most of their lives to +poetry, and had little or nothing to do with practical matters. It may +also be noted here that the character of the eighteenth century becomes +more and more prosaic as it goes on—less and less under the +influence of the spirit of poetry, until, about the close, a great +reaction makes itself felt in the persons of Cowper, Chatterton, and +Burns, of Crabbe and Wordsworth.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec2" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec2">2.</a> +<b>The First Half.</b>—The great prose-writers of the first half +of the eighteenth century are <b>Addison</b> and <b>Steele</b>, +<b>Swift</b> and +<span class = "pagenum">312</span> +<!--png 130--> +<b>Defoe</b>. All of these men had some more or less close connection +with the rise of journalism in England; and one of them, Defoe, was +indeed the founder of the modern newspaper. By far the most powerful +intellect of these four was Swift. The greatest poets of the first half +of the eighteenth century were <b>Pope</b>, <b>Thomson</b>, +<b>Collins</b>, and <b>Gray</b>. Pope towers above all of them by a head +and shoulders, because he was much more fertile than any, and because he +worked so hard and so untiringly at the labour of the file—at the +task of polishing and improving his verses. But the vein of poetry in +the three others—and more especially in Collins—was much +more pure and genuine than it was in Pope at any time of his +life—at any period of his writing. Let us look at each of these +writers a little more closely.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec3" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec3">3.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Daniel Defoe</span> (<b>1661-1731</b>), one of +the most fertile writers that England ever saw, and one who has been the +delight of many generations of readers, was born in the city of London +in the year 1661. He was educated to be a Dissenting minister; but he +turned from that profession to the pursuit of trade. He attempted +several trades,—was a hosier, a hatter, a printer; and +he is said also to have been a brick and tile maker. In 1692 he failed +in business; but, in no long time after, he paid every one of his +creditors to the uttermost farthing. Through all his labours and +misfortunes he was always a hard and careful reader,—an omnivorous +reader, too, for he was in the habit of reading almost every book that +came in his way. He made his first reputation by writing political +pamphlets. One of his pamphlets brought him into high favour with King +William; another had the effect of placing him in the pillory and +lodging him in prison. But while in Newgate, he did not idle away his +time or “languish”; he set to work, wrote hard, and started a newspaper, +<b>The Review</b>,—the earliest genuine newspaper England had seen +up to his time. This paper he brought out two or three times a-week; and +every word of it he wrote himself. He continued to carry it on +single-handed for eight years. In 1706, he was made a member of the +Commission for bringing about the union between England and Scotland; +and his great knowledge of commerce and commercial affairs were of +singular value to this Commission. In 1715 he had a dangerous illness, +brought on by political excitement; and, on his recovery, he gave up +most of his political +<span class = "pagenum">313</span> +<!--png 131--> +writing, and took to the composition of stories and romances. Although +now a man of fifty-four, he wrote with the vigour and ease of a young +man of thirty. His greatest imaginative work was written in +1719—when he was nearly sixty—<b>The Life and Strange +Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner,... written +by Himself</b>. Within six years he had produced twelve works of a +similar kind. He is said to have written in all two hundred and fifty +books in the course of his lifetime. He died in 1731.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec4" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec4">4.</a> +His best known—and it is also his greatest—work is +<b>Robinson Crusoe</b>; and this book, which every one has read, may be +compared with ‘Gulliver’s Travels,’ for the purpose of observing how +imaginative effects are produced by different means and in different +ways. Another vigorous work of imagination by Defoe is the <b>Journal of +the Plague</b>, which appeared in 1722. There are three chief things to +be noted regarding Defoe and his writings. These are: first, that Defoe +possessed an unparalleled knowledge—a knowledge wider than +even Shakespeare’s—of the circumstances and details of human life +among all sorts, ranks, and conditions of men; secondly, that he gains +his wonderful realistic effects by the freest and most copious use of +this detailed knowledge in his works of imagination; and thirdly, that +he possessed a vocabulary of the most wonderful wealth. His style is +strong, homely, and vigorous, but the sentences are long, loose, clumsy, +and sometimes ungrammatical. Like Sir Walter Scott, he was too eager to +produce large and broad effects to take time to balance his clauses or +to polish his sentences. Like Sir Walter Scott, again, he possesses in +the highest degree the art of <i>particularising</i>.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec5" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec5">5.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Jonathan Swift</span> (<b>1667-1745</b>), the +greatest prose-writer, in his own kind, of the eighteenth century, and +the opposite in most respects—especially in style—of +Addison, was born in Dublin in the year 1667. Though born in Ireland, he +was of purely English descent—his father belonging to a Yorkshire +family, and his mother being a Leicestershire lady. His father died +before he was born; and he was educated by the kindness of an uncle. +After being at a private school at Kilkenny, he was sent to Trinity +College, Dublin, where he was plucked for his degree at his first +examination, and, on a second trial, only obtained his B.A. “by special +favour.” He next came to England, and for eleven years acted as private +secretary to Sir William Temple, a retired statesman and +ambassador, who lived at Moor Park, near Richmond-on-Thames. +<span class = "pagenum">314</span> +<!--png 132--> +In 1692 he paid a visit to Oxford, and there obtained the degree of M.A. +In 1700 he went to Ireland with Lord Berkeley as his chaplain, and while +in that country was presented with several livings. He at first attached +himself to the Whig party, but stung by this party’s neglect of his +labours and merits, he joined the Tories, who raised him to the Deanery +of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. But, though nominally resident +in Dublin, he spent a large part of his time in London. Here he knew and +met everybody who was worth knowing, and for some time he was the most +imposing figure, and wielded the greatest influence in all the best +social, political, and literary circles of the capital. In 1714, on the +death of Queen Anne, Swift’s hopes of further advancement died out; and +he returned to his Deanery, settled in Dublin, and “commenced Irishman +for life.” A man of strong passions, he usually spent his birthday +in reading that chapter of the Book of Job which contains the verse, +“Let the day perish in which I was born.” He died insane in 1745, and +left his fortune to found a lunatic asylum in Dublin. One day, when +taking a walk with a friend, he saw a blasted elm, and, pointing to it, +he said: “I shall be like that tree, and die first at the top.” For +the last three years of his life he never spoke one word.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec6" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec6">6.</a> +Swift has written verse; but it is his prose-works that give him his +high and unrivalled place in English literature. His most powerful work, +published in 1704, is the <b>Tale of a Tub</b>—a satire on +the disputes between the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Presbyterian +Churches. His best known prose-work is the <b>Gulliver’s Travels</b>, +which appeared in 1726. This work is also a satire; but it is a satire +on men and women,—on humanity. “The power of Swift’s prose,” it +has been said by an able critic, “was the terror of his own, and remains +the wonder of after times.” His style is strong, simple, +straightforward; he uses the plainest words and the homeliest English, +and every blow tells. Swift’s style—as every genuine style +does—reflects the author’s character. He was an ardent lover and a +good hater. Sir Walter Scott describes him as “tall, strong, and well +made, dark in complexion, but with bright blue eyes (Pope said they were +“as azure as the heavens”), black and bushy eyebrows, aquiline nose, and +features which expressed the stern, haughty, and dauntless turn of his +mind.” He grew savage under the slightest contradiction; and dukes and +great lords were obliged to pay court to him. His prose was as trenchant +and powerful as were his manners: it has been compared to “cold steel.” +His own definition of a good style is “proper words in proper +places.”</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">315</span> +<!--png 133--> +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec7" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec7">7.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Joseph Addison</span> (<b>1672-1719</b>), the +most elegant prose-writer—as Pope was the <ins class = +"correction" title = "text reads ‘mose’">most</ins> polished +verse-writer—of the eighteenth century, was born at Milston, in +Wiltshire, in the year 1672. He was educated at Charterhouse School, in +London, where one of his friends and companions was the celebrated Dick +Steele—afterwards Sir Richard Steele. He then went to Oxford, +where he made a name for himself by his beautiful compositions in Latin +verse. In 1695 he addressed a poem to King William; and this poem +brought him into notice with the Government of the day. Not long after, +he received a pension of £300 a-year, to enable him to travel; and he +spent some time in France and Italy. The chief result of this tour was a +poem entitled <b>A Letter from Italy</b> to Lord Halifax. In 1704, when +Lord Godolphin was in search of a poet who should celebrate in an +adequate style the striking victory of Blenheim, Addison was introduced +to him by Lord Halifax. His poem called <b>The Campaign</b> was the +result; and one simile in it took and held the attention of all English +readers, and of “the town.” A violent storm had passed over +England; and Addison compared the calm genius of Marlborough, who was as +cool and serene amid shot and shell as in a drawing-room or at the +dinner-table, to the Angel of the Storm. The lines are these:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“So when an Angel by divine command</p> +<p>With rising tempests shakes a guilty land,</p> +<p>Such as of late o’er pale Britannia passed,</p> +<p>Calm and serene he drives the furious blast;</p> +<p>And, pleased the Almighty’s orders to perform,</p> +<p>Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +For this poem Addison was rewarded with the post of Commissioner of +Appeals. He rose, successively, to be Under Secretary of State; +Secretary for Ireland; and, finally, Secretary of State for +England—an office which would correspond to that of our present +Home Secretary. He married the Countess of Warwick, to whose son he had +been tutor; but it was not a happy marriage. Pope says of him in regard +to it, that—</p> + +<p class = "poem"> +“He married discord in a noble wife.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +He died at Holland House, Kensington, London, in the year 1719, at the +age of forty-seven.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec8" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec8">8.</a> +But it is not at all as a poet, but as a prose-writer, that Addison is +famous in the history of literature. While he was in Ireland, his friend +Steele started <b>The Tatler</b>, in 1709; and Addison sent numerous +contributions to this little paper. In 1711, Steele began a still more +famous paper, which he called <b>The Spectator</b>; and +<span class = "pagenum">316</span> +<!--png 134--> +Addison’s writings in this morning journal made its reputation. His +contributions are distinguishable by being signed with some one of the +letters of the name <i>Clio</i>—the Muse of History. A third +paper, <b>The Guardian</b>, appeared a few years after; and Addison’s +contributions to it are designated by a hand (-->) at the foot +of each. In addition to his numerous prose-writings, Addison brought out +the tragedy of <b>Cato</b> in 1713. It was very successful; but it is +now neither read nor acted. Some of his hymns, however, are beautiful, +and are well known. Such are the hymn beginning, “The spacious firmament +on high;” and his version of the 23d Psalm, “The Lord my pasture shall +prepare.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec9" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec9">9.</a> +Addison’s prose style is inimitable, easy, graceful, full of +humour—full of good humour, delicate, with a sweet and kindly +rhythm, and always musical to the ear. He is the most graceful of social +satirists; and his genial creation of the character of <b>Sir Roger de +Coverley</b> will live for ever. While his work in verse is never more +than second-rate, his writings in prose are always first-rate. +Dr Johnson said of his prose: “Whoever wishes to attain an English +style—familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not +ostentatious,—must give his days and nights to the study of +Addison.” Lord Lytton also remarks: “His style has that nameless +urbanity in which we recognise the perfection of manner; courteous, but +not courtier-like; so dignified, yet so kindly; so easy, yet high-bred. +It is the most perfect form of English.” His style, however, must be +acknowledged to want force—to be easy rather than vigorous; and it +has not the splendid march of Jeremy Taylor, or the noble power of +Savage Landor.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec10" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec10">10.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Richard Steele</span> (<b>1671-1729</b>), +commonly called “Dick Steele,” the friend and colleague of Addison, was +born in Dublin, but of English parents, in the year 1671. The two +friends were educated at Charterhouse and at Oxford together; and they +remained friends, with some slight breaks and breezes, to the close of +life. Steele was a writer of plays, essays, and pamphlets—for one +of which he was expelled from the House of Commons; but his chief fame +was earned in connection with the Society Journals, which he founded. He +started many—such as <b>Town-Talk</b>, <b>The Tea-Table</b>, +<b>Chit-Chat</b>; but only the <b>Tatler</b> and the <b>Spectator</b> +rose to success and to fame. The strongest quality in his writing is his +pathos: the source of tears is always at his command; and, although +himself of a gay and even rollicking temperament, he seems to have +preferred this vein. The literary skill of Addison—his happy art +in +<span class = "pagenum">317</span> +<!--png 135--> +the choosing of words—did not fall to the lot of Steele; but he is +more hearty and more human in his description of character. He died in +1729, ten years after the departure of his friend Addison.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec11" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec11">11.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Alexander Pope</span> (<b>1688-1744</b>), the +greatest poet of the eighteenth century, was born in Lombard Street, +London, in the year of the Revolution, 1688. His father was a wholesale +linendraper, who, having amassed a fortune, retired to Binfield, on the +borders of Windsor Forest. In the heart of this beautiful country young +Pope’s youth was spent. On the death of his father, Pope left Windsor +and took up his residence at Twickenham, on the banks of the Thames, +where he remained till his death in 1744. His parents being Roman +Catholics, it was impossible for young Pope to go either to a public +school or to one of the universities; and hence he was educated +privately. At the early age of eight, he met with a translation of Homer +in verse; and this volume became his companion night and day. At the age +of ten, he turned some of the events described in Homer into a play. The +poems of Spenser, the poets’ poet, were his next favourites; but the +writer who made the deepest and most lasting impression upon his mind +was Dryden. Little Pope began to write verse very early. He says of +himself—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame,</p> +<p>I lisped in numbers, for the numbers came.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +His <b>Ode to Solitude</b> was written at the age of twelve; his +<b>Pastorals</b> when he was fifteen. His <b>Essay on Criticism</b>, +which was composed in his twentieth year, though not published till +1711, established his reputation as a writer of neat, clear, sparkling, +and elegant verse. The <b>Rape of the Lock</b> raised his reputation +still higher. Macaulay pronounced it his best poem. De Quincey declared +it to be “the most exquisite monument of playful fancy that universal +literature offers.” Another critic has called it the “perfection of the +mock-heroic.” Pope’s most successful poem—if we measure it by the +fame and the money it brought him—was his translation of the +<b>Iliad</b> of Homer. A great scholar said of this translation +that it was “a very pretty poem, but not Homer.” The fact is that Pope +did not translate directly from the Greek, but from a French or a Latin +version which he kept beside him. Whatever its faults, and however great +its deficiency as a representation of the powerful and deep simplicity +of the original Greek, no one can deny the charm and finish of its +versification, or the rapidity, facility, and melody of the flow of the +verse. These qualities make this work unique in English poetry.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">318</span> +<!--png 136--> +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec12" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec12">12.</a> +After finishing the <b>Iliad</b>, Pope undertook a translation of the +<b>Odyssey</b> of Homer. This was not so successful; nor was it so well +done. In fact, Pope translated only half of it himself; the other half +was written by two scholars called Broome and Fenton. His next great +poem was the <b>Dunciad</b>,—a satire upon those petty +writers, carping critics, and hired defamers who had tried to write down +the reputation of Pope’s Homeric work. “The composition of the ‘Dunciad’ +revealed to Pope where his true strength lay, in blending personalities +with moral reflections.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec13" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec13">13.</a> +Pope’s greatest works were written between 1730 and 1740; and they +consist of the <b>Moral Essays</b>, the <b>Essay on Man</b>, and the +<b>Epistles and Satires</b>. These poems are full of the finest +thoughts, expressed in the most perfect form. Mr Ruskin quotes the +couplet—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Never elated, while one man’s oppressed;</p> +<p>Never dejected, whilst another’s blessed,”—</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +as “the most complete, concise, and lofty expression of moral temper +existing in English words.” The poem of Pope which shows his best and +most striking qualities in their most characteristic form, is probably +the <b>Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot</b> or <b>Prologue to the +Satires</b>. In this poem occur the celebrated lines about +Addison—which make a perfect portrait, although it is far from +being a true likeness.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +His pithy lines and couplets have obtained a permanent place in +literature. Thus we have:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“True wit is nature to advantage dressed,</p> +<p>What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed.”</p> +</div> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Good-nature and good-sense must ever join.</p> +<p>To err is human, to forgive divine.”</p> +</div> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“All seems infected that the infected spy,</p> +<p>As all looks yellow to the jaundic’d eye.”</p> +</div> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Fear not the anger of the wise to raise;</p> +<p>Those best can bear reproof who merit praise.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +The greatest conciseness is visible in his epigrams and in his +compliments:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“A vile encomium doubly ridicules:</p> +<p>There’s nothing blackens like the ink of fools.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "poem"> +“And not a vanity is given in vain.”</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Would ye be blest? despise low joys, low gains,</p> +<p>Disdain whatever Cornbury disdains,</p> +<p>Be virtuous, and be happy for your pains.”</p> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum">319</span> +<!--png 137--> +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec14" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec14">14.</a> +Pope is the foremost literary figure of his age and century; and he is +also the head of a school. He brought to perfection a style of writing +verse which was followed by hundreds of clever writers. Cowper says of +him:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“But Pope—his musical finesse was such,</p> +<p>So nice his ear, so delicate his touch,—</p> +<p>Made poetry a mere mechanic art,</p> +<p>And every warbler has his tune by heart.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +Pope was not the poet of nature or of humanity; he was the poet of “the +town,” and of the Court. He was greatly influenced by the neatness and +polish of French verse; and, from his boyhood, his great ambition was to +be “a correct poet.” He worked and worked, polished and polished, until +each idea had received at his hands its very neatest and most +epigrammatic expression. In the art of condensed, compact, pointed, and +yet harmonious and flowing verse, Pope has no equal. But, as a vehicle +for poetry—for the love and sympathy with nature and man which +every true poet must feel, Pope’s verse is artificial; and its style of +expression has now died out. It was one of the chief missions of +Wordsworth to drive the Popian second-hand vocabulary out of +existence.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec15" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec15">15.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">James Thomson</span> (<b>1700-1748</b>), the +poet of <b>The Seasons</b>, was born at Ednam in Roxburghshire, +Scotland, in the year 1700. He was educated at the grammar-school of +Jedburgh, and then at the University of Edinburgh. It was intended that +he should enter the ministry of the Church of Scotland; but, before his +college course was finished, he had given up this idea: poetry proved +for him too strong a magnet. While yet a young man, he had written his +poem of <b>Winter</b>; and, with that in his pocket, he resolved to try +his fortune in London. While walking about the streets, looking at the +shops, and gazing at the new wonders of the vast metropolis, his pocket +was picked of his pocket-handkerchief and his letters of introduction; +and he found himself alone in London—thrown entirely on his own +resources. A publisher was, however, in time found for +<b>Winter</b>; and the poem slowly rose into appreciation and +popularity. This was in 1726. Next year, <b>Summer</b>; two years after, +<b>Spring</b> appeared; while <b>Autumn</b>, in 1730, completed the +<b>Seasons</b>. The <b>Castle of Indolence</b>—a poem in the +Spenserian stanza—appeared in 1748. In the same year he was +appointed Surveyor-General of the Leeward Islands, though he never +visited the scene of his duty, but had his work done by deputy. He died +at Kew in the year 1748.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">320</span> +<!--png 138--> +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec16" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec16">16.</a> +Thomson’s place as a poet is high in the second rank. His <b>Seasons</b> +have always been popular; and, when Coleridge found a well-thumbed and +thickly dog’s-eared copy lying on the window-sill of a country inn, he +exclaimed “This is true fame!” His <b>Castle of Indolence</b> is, +however, a finer piece of poetical work than any of his other +writings. The first canto is the best. But the <b>Seasons</b> have been +much more widely read; and a modern critic says: “No poet has given the +special pleasure which poetry is capable of giving to so large a number +of persons in so large a measure as Thomson.” Thomson is very unequal in +his style. Sometimes he rises to a great height of inspired expression; +at other times he sinks to a dull dead level of pedestrian prose. His +power of describing scenery is often very remarkable. Professor Craik +says: “There is no other poet who surrounds us with so much of the truth +of nature;” and he calls the <b>Castle of Indolence</b> “one of the gems +of the language.”</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec17" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec17">17.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Thomas Gray</span> (<b>1716-1771</b>), the +greatest elegiac poet of the century, was born in London in 1716. His +father was a “money-scrivener,” as it was called; in other words, he was +a stock-broker. His mother’s brother was an assistant-master at Eton; +and at Eton, under the care of this uncle, Gray was brought up. One of +his schoolfellows was the famous Horace Walpole. After leaving school, +Gray proceeded to Cambridge; but, instead of reading mathematics, he +studied classical literature, history, and modern languages, and never +took his degree. After some years spent at Cambridge, he entered himself +<ins class = "correction" title = "text unchanged">of</ins> the Inner +Temple; but he never gave much time to the study of law. His father died +in 1741; and Gray, soon after, gave up the law and went to live entirely +at Cambridge. The first published of his poems was the <b>Ode on a +Distant Prospect of Eton College</b>. The <b>Elegy written in a Country +Churchyard</b> was handed about in manuscript before its publication in +1750; and it made his reputation at once. In 1755 the <b>Progress of +Poesy</b> was published; and the ode entitled <b>The Bard</b> was begun. +In 1768 he was appointed Professor of Modern History at Cambridge; but, +though he studied hard, he never lectured. He died at Cambridge, at the +age of fifty-four, in the year 1771. Gray was never married. He was said +by those who knew him to be the most learned man of his time in Europe. +Literature, history, and several sciences—all were thoroughly +known to him. He had read everything in the world that was best worth +reading; while his knowledge of botany, zoology, and entomology was both +wide and exact.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">321</span> +<!--png 139--> +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec18" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec18">18.</a> +Gray’s <b>Elegy</b> took him seven years to write; it contains +thirty-two stanzas; and Mr Palgrave says “they are perhaps the +noblest stanzas in the language.” General Wolfe, when sailing down to +attack Quebec, recited the Elegy to his officers, and declared, “Now, +gentlemen, I would rather be the author of that poem than take +Quebec.” Lord Byron called the Elegy “the corner-stone of Gray’s +poetry.” Gray ranks with Milton as the most finished workman in English +verse; and certainly he spared no pains. Gray said himself that “the +style he aimed at was extreme conciseness of expression, yet pure, +perspicuous, and musical;” and this style, at which he aimed, he +succeeded fully in achieving. One of the finest stanzas in the whole +Elegy is the last, which the writer omitted in all the later +editions:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“There scattered oft, the earliest of the year,</p> +<p class = "two"> +By hands unseen, are showers of violets found;</p> +<p>The red-breast loves to build and warble there,</p> +<p class = "two"> +And little footsteps lightly print the ground.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec19" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec19">19.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">William Collins</span> (<b>1721-1759</b>), one +of the truest lyrical poets of the century, was born at Chichester on +Christmas-day, 1721. He was educated at Winchester School; afterwards at +Queen’s, and also at Magdalen College, Oxford. Before he left school he +had written a set of poems called <b>Persian Eclogues</b>. He left the +university with a reputation for ability and for indolence; went to +London “with many projects in his head and little money in his pocket;” +and there found a kind and fast friend in Dr Johnson. His +<b>Odes</b> appeared in 1747. The volume fell stillborn from the press: +not a single copy was sold; no one bought, read, or noticed it. In a fit +of furious despair, the unhappy author called in the whole edition and +burnt every copy with his own hands. And yet it was, with the single +exception of the songs of Burns, the truest poetry that had appeared in +the whole of the eighteenth century. A great critic says: “In the +little book there was hardly a single false note: there was, above all +things, a purity of music, a clarity of style, to which I know +of no parallel in English verse from the death of Andrew Marvell to the +birth of William Blake.” Soon after this great disappointment he went to +live at Richmond, where he formed a friendship with Thomson and other +poets. In 1749 he wrote the <b>Ode on the Death of Thomson</b>, +beginning—</p> + +<p class = "poem"> +“In yonder grave a Druid lies”—</p> + +<p class = "author"> +one of the finest of his poems. Not long after, he was attacked by a +<span class = "pagenum">322</span> +<!--png 140--> +disease of the brain, from which he suffered, at intervals, during the +remainder of his short life. He died at Chichester in 1759, at the age +of thirty-eight.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVI_sec20" id = "partIV_chapVI_sec20">20.</a> +Collins’s best poem is the <b>Ode to Evening</b>; his most elaborate, +the <b>Ode on the Passions</b>; and his best known, the <b>Ode</b> +beginning—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“How sleep the brave, who sink to rest</p> +<p>By all their country’s wishes blessed!”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +His latest and best critic says of his poems: “His range of flight was +perhaps the narrowest, but assuredly the highest, of his generation. He +could not be taught singing like a finch, but he struck straight upward +for the sun like a lark.... The direct sincerity and purity of their +positive and straightforward inspiration will always keep his poems +fresh and sweet in the senses of all men. He was a solitary song-bird +among many more or less excellent pipers and pianists. He could put more +spirit of colour into a single stroke, more breath of music into a +single note, than could all the rest of his generation into all the +labours of their lives.”</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">323</span> +<!--png 141--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIV_chapVII" id = "partIV_chapVII"> +CHAPTER VII.</a></h4> + +<h6>THE SECOND HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec1" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec1">1.</a> +<b>Prose-Writers.</b>—The four greatest prose-writers of the +latter half of the eighteenth century are <b>Johnson</b>, +<b>Goldsmith</b>, <b>Burke</b>, and <b>Gibbon</b>. Dr Johnson was +the most prominent literary figure in London at this period; and filled +in his own time much the same position that Carlyle lately held in +literary circles. He wrote on many subjects—but chiefly on +literature and morals; and hence he was called “The Great Moralist.” +Goldsmith stands out clearly as the writer of the most pleasant and easy +prose; his pen was ready for any subject; and it has been said of him +with perfect truth, that he touched nothing that he did not adorn. Burke +was the most eloquent writer of his time, and by far the greatest +political thinker that England has ever produced. He is known by an +essay he wrote when a very young man—on “The Sublime and +Beautiful”; but it is to his speeches and political writings that we +must look for his noblest thoughts and most eloquent language. Gibbon is +one of the greatest historians and most powerful writers the world has +ever seen.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec2" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec2">2.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Samuel Johnson</span> (<b>1709-1784</b>), the +great essayist and lexicographer, was born at Lichfield in the year +1709. His father was a bookseller; and it was in his father’s shop that +Johnson acquired his habit of omnivorous reading, or rather devouring of +books. The mistress of the dame’s school, to which he first went, +declared him +<span class = "pagenum">324</span> +<!--png 142--> +to be the best scholar she ever had. After a few years at the free +grammar-school of Lichfield, and one year at Stourbridge, he went to +Pembroke College, Oxford, at the age of nineteen. Here he did not +confine himself to the studies of the place, but indulged in a wide +range of miscellaneous reading. He was too poor to take a degree, and +accordingly left Oxford without graduating. After acting for some time +as a bookseller’s hack, he married a Mrs Porter of +Birmingham—a widow with £800. With this money he opened a +boarding-school, or “academy” as he called it; but he had never more +than three scholars—the most famous of whom was the celebrated +player, David Garrick. In 1737 he went up to London, and for the next +quarter of a century struggled for a living by the aid of his pen. +During the first ten years of his London life he wrote chiefly for the +‘Gentleman’s Magazine.’ In 1738 his <b>London</b>—a poem in +heroic metre—appeared. In 1747 he began his famous +<b>Dictionary</b>; it was completed in 1755; and the University of +Oxford conferred on him the honorary degree of M.A. In 1749 he wrote +another poem—also in heroic metre—the ‘Vanity of Human +Wishes.’ In 1750 he had begun the periodical that raised his fame to its +full height—a periodical to which he gave the name of <b>The +Rambler</b>. It appeared twice a-week; and Dr Johnson wrote every +article in it for two years. In 1759 he published the short novel called +<b>Rasselas</b>: it was written to defray the expenses of his mother’s +funeral; and he wrote it “in the evenings of a week.” The year 1762 saw +him with a pension from the Government of £300 a-year; and henceforth he +was free from heavy hack-work and literary drudgery, and could give +himself up to the largest enjoyment of that for which he cared +most—social conversation. He was the best talker of his time; and +he knew everybody worth knowing—Burke, Goldsmith, Gibbon, the +great painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, and many other able men. In 1764 he +founded the “Literary Club,” which still exists and meets in London. +Oddly enough, although a prolific writer, it is to another +person—to Mr James Boswell, who first met him in +1763—that he owes his greatest and most lasting fame. A much +larger number of persons read <b>Boswell’s Life of Johnson</b>—one +of the most entertaining books in all literature—than Johnson’s +own works. Between the years 1779 and 1781 appeared his last and ablest +work, <b>The Lives of the Poets</b>, which were written as prefaces to a +collective edition of the English Poets, published by several London +booksellers. He died in 1784.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec3" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec3">3.</a> +Johnson’s earlier style was full of Latin words; his later style is more +purely English than most of the journalistic writing of the present day. +His Rambler is full of “long-tailed words in <i>osity</i> and +<span class = "pagenum">325</span> +<!--png 143--> +<i>ation</i>;” but his ‘Lives of the Poets’ is written in manly, +vigorous, and idiomatic English. In verse, he occupies a place between +Pope and Goldsmith, and is one of the masters in the “didactic school” +of English poetry. His rhythm and periods are swelling and sonorous; and +here and there he equals Pope in the terseness and condensation of his +language. The following is a fair specimen:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Of all the griefs that harass the distressed,</p> +<p>Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest;</p> +<p>Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart,</p> +<p>Than when a blockhead’s insult points the dart.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec4" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec4">4.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Oliver Goldsmith</span> (<b>1728-1774</b>), +poet, essayist, historian, and dramatist, was born at Pallas, in the +county of Longford, Ireland, in the year 1728. His father was an Irish +clergyman, careless, good-hearted, and the original of the famous +Dr Primrose, in <b>The Vicar of Wakefield</b>. He was also the +original of the “village preacher” in <b>The Deserted Village</b>.</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“A man he was to all the country dear,</p> +<p>And passing rich with forty pounds a-year.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +Oliver was educated at Trinity College, Dublin; but he left it with no +fixed aim. He thought of law, and set off for London, but spent all his +money in Dublin. He thought of medicine, and resided two years in +Edinburgh. He started for Leyden, in Holland, to continue what he called +his medical studies; but he had a thirst to see the world—and so, +with a guinea in his pocket, one shirt, and a flute, he set out on his +travels through the continent of Europe. At length, on the 1st of +February 1756, he landed at Dover, after an absence of two years, +without a farthing in his pocket. London reached, he tried many ways of +making a living, as assistant to an apothecary, physician, reader for +the press, usher in a school, writer in journals. His first work was ‘An +Inquiry into the State of Polite Learning in Europe,’ in 1759; but it +appeared without his name. From that date he wrote books of all kinds, +poems, and plays. He died in his chambers in Brick Court, Temple, +London, in 1774.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec5" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec5">5.</a> +Goldsmith’s best poems are <b>The Traveller</b> and <b>The Deserted +Village</b>,—both written in the Popian couplet. His best play is +<b>She Stoops to Conquer</b>. His best prose work is <b>The Vicar of +Wakefield</b>, “the first genuine novel of domestic life.” He also wrote +histories of England, of Rome, of Animated Nature. All this was done as +professional, nay, almost as hack work; but +<span class = "pagenum">326</span> +<!--png 144--> +always in a very pleasant, lively, and readable style. Ease, grace, +charm, naturalness, pleasant rhythm, purity of diction—these were +the chief characteristics of his writings. “Almost to all things could +he turn his hand”—poem, essay, play, story, history, natural +science. Even when satirical, he was good-natured; and his +<b>Retaliation</b> is the friendliest and pleasantest of satires. In his +poetry, his words seem artless, but are indeed delicately chosen with +that consummate art which conceals and effaces itself: where he seems +most simple and easy, there he has taken most pains and given most +labour.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec6" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec6">6.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Edmund Burke</span> (<b>1730-1797</b>) was +born at Dublin in the year 1730. He was educated at Trinity College, +Dublin; and in 1747 was entered of the Middle Temple, with the purpose +of reading for the Bar. In 1766 he was so fortunate as to enter +Parliament as member for Wendover, in Buckinghamshire; and he sat in the +House of Commons for nearly thirty years. While in Parliament, he worked +hard to obtain justice for the colonists of North America, and to avert +the separation of them from the mother country; and also to secure good +government for India. At the close of his life, it was his intention to +take his seat in the House of Peers as Earl Beaconsfield—the title +afterwards assumed by Mr Disraeli; but the death of his son, and +only child—for whom the honour was really meant and +wished—quite broke his heart, and he never carried out his +purpose. He died at Beaconsfield in the year 1797. The lines of +Goldsmith on Burke, in his poem of “Retaliation,” are well +known:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such</p> +<p>We scarcely can praise it or blame it too much;</p> +<p>Who, born for the universe, narrowed his mind,</p> +<p>And to party gave up what was meant for mankind;</p> +<p>Who, too deep for his hearers, still went on refining,</p> +<p>And thought of convincing while they thought of dining.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec7" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec7">7.</a> +Burke’s most famous writings are <b>Thoughts on the Cause of the present +Discontents</b>, published in 1773; <b>Reflections on the Trench +Revolution</b> (1790); and the <b>Letters on a Regicide Peace</b> +(1797). His “Thoughts” is perhaps the best of his works in point of +style; his “Reflections,” are full of passages of the highest and most +noble eloquence. Burke has been described by a great critic as “the +supreme writer of the century;” and Macaulay says, that “in richness of +imagination, he is superior to every orator ancient and modern.” In the +power of expressing thought in the strongest, fullest, and most vivid +manner, he must be classed with Shakespeare +<span class = "pagenum">327</span> +<!--png 145--> +and Bacon—and with these writers when at their best. He indulges +in repetitions; but the repetitions are never monotonous; they serve to +place the subject in every possible point of view, and to enable us to +see all sides of it. He possessed an enormous vocabulary, and had the +fullest power over it; “never was a man under whose hands language was +more plastic and ductile.” He is very fond of metaphor, and is described +by an able critic as “the greatest master of metaphor that the world has +ever seen.”</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec8" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec8">8.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Edward Gibbon</span> (<b>1737-1794</b>), the +second great prose-writer of the second half of the eighteenth century, +was born at Putney, London, in 1737. His father was a wealthy landowner. +Young Gibbon was a very sickly child—the only survivor of a +delicate family of seven; he was left to pass his time as he pleased, +and for the most part to educate himself. But he had the run of several +good libraries; and he was an eager and never satiated reader. He was +sent to Oxford at the early age of fifteen; and so full was his +knowledge in some directions, and so defective in others, that he went +there, he tells us himself, “with a stock of knowledge that might have +puzzled a doctor, and a degree of ignorance of which a schoolboy would +have been ashamed.” He was very fond of disputation while at Oxford; and +the Dons of the University were astonished to see the pathetic “thin +little figure, with a large head, disputing and arguing with the +greatest ability.” In the course of his reading, he lighted on some +French and English books that convinced him for the time of the truth of +the Roman Catholic faith; he openly professed his change of belief; and +this obliged him to leave the University. His father sent him to +Lausanne, and placed him under the care of a Swiss clergyman there, +whose arguments were at length successful in bringing him back to a +belief in Protestantism. On his return to England in 1758, he lived in +his father’s house in Hampshire; read largely, as usual; but also joined +the Hampshire militia as captain of a company, and the exercises and +manœuvres of his regiment gave him an insight into military matters +which was afterwards useful to him when he came to write history. He +published his first work in 1761. It was an essay on the study of +literature, and was written in French. In 1770 his father died; he came +into a fortune, entered Parliament, where he sat for eight years, but +never spoke; and, in 1776, he began his history of the <b>Decline and +Fall of the Roman Empire</b>. This, by far the greatest of his works, +was not completed till 1787, and was published in 1788, on his +fifty-first birthday. His +<span class = "pagenum">328</span> +<!--png 146--> +account of the completion of the work—it was finished at Lausanne, +where he had lived for six years—is full of beauty: “It was on the +day, or rather night, of June 27, 1787, between the hours of eleven and +twelve, that I wrote the last lines of the last page in a summer-house +in my garden. After laying down my pen, I took several turns in a +covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the +lake, and the mountains. The air was temperate, the sky was serene. The +silver orb of the moon was reflected from the waters, and all nature was +silent. I will not describe the first emotion of joy on the +recovery of my freedom, and perhaps the establishment of my fame. But my +pride was soon humbled, and a sober melancholy was spread over my mind +by the idea that I had taken an everlasting leave of an old and +agreeable companion, and that, whatever might be the future fate of my +history, the life of the historian must be short and precarious.” Gibbon +died in 1794, about one year before the birth of another great +historian, Grote, the author of the ‘History of Greece.’</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec9" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec9">9.</a> +Gibbon’s book is one of the great historical works of the world. It +covers a space of about thirteen centuries, from the reign of Trajan +(98), to the fall of the Eastern Empire in 1453; and the amount of +reading and study required to write it, must have been almost beyond the +power of our conceiving. The skill in arranging and disposing the +enormous mass of matter in his history is also unparalleled. His style +is said by a critic to be “copious, splendid, elegantly rounded, +distinguished by supreme artificial skill.” It is remarkable for the +proportion of Latin words employed. While some parts of our translation +of the Bible contain as much as 96 per cent of pure English words, +Gibbon has only 58 per cent: the rest, or 42 per cent, are words of +Latin origin. In fact, of all our great English writers, Gibbon stands +lowest in his use of pure English words; and the two writers who come +nearest him in this respect are Johnson and Swift. The great Greek +scholar, Professor Porson, said of Gibbon’s style, that “there could not +be a better exercise for a schoolboy than to turn a page of it into +English.”</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec10" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec10">10.</a> +<b>Poets.</b>—The chief poets of the latter half of the eighteenth +century belong to a new world, and show very little trace in their +writings of eighteenth-century culture, ideas, or prejudices. Most of +the best poets who were born in this half of the eighteenth century and +began to write in it—such as Crabbe and Wordsworth—are true +denizens, in the character of their minds and feelings, of the +nineteenth. The greatest poets of the +<span class = "pagenum">329</span> +<!--png 147--> +period are <b>Cowper</b>, <b>Crabbe</b>, and <b>Burns</b>; and along +with these may be mentioned as little inferior, <b>Chatterton</b> and +<b>Blake</b>, two of the most original poets that have appeared in any +literature.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec11" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec11">11.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">William Cowper</span> (<b>1731-1800</b>), one +of the truest, purest, and sweetest of English poets, was born at Great +Berkhampstead, in Hertfordshire, in 1731. His father, Dr Cowper, +who was a nephew of Lord Chancellor Cowper, was rector of the parish, +and chaplain to George II. Young Cowper was educated at Westminster +School; and “the great proconsul of India,” Warren Hastings, was one of +his schoolfellows. After leaving Westminster, he was entered of the +Middle Temple, and was also articled to a solicitor. At the age of +thirty-one he was appointed one of the Clerks to the House of Lords; but +he was so terribly nervous and timid, that he threw up the appointment. +He was next appointed Clerk of the Journals—a post which even +the shyest man might hold; but, when he found that he would have to +appear at the bar of the House of Lords, he went home and attempted to +commit suicide. When at school, he had been terribly and persistently +bullied; and, about this time, his mind had been somewhat affected by a +disappointment in love. The form of his insanity was melancholia; and he +had several long and severe attacks of the same disease in the +after-course of his life. He had to be placed in the keeping of a +physician; and it was only after fifteen months’ seclusion that he was +able to face the world. Giving up all idea of professional or of public +life, he went to live at Huntingdon with the Unwins; and, after the +death of Mr Unwin, he removed with Mrs Unwin to Olney, in +Buckinghamshire. Here, in 1773, another attack of melancholia came upon +him. In 1779, Cowper joined with Mr Newton, the curate of the +parish, in publishing the <b>Olney Hymns</b>, of which he wrote +sixty-eight. But it was not till he was past fifty years of age that he +betook himself seriously to the writing of poetry. His first volume, +which contained <b>Table-Talk</b>, <b>Conversation</b>, +<b>Retirement</b>, and other poems in heroic metre, appeared in 1782. +His second volume, which included <b>The Task</b> and <b>John +Gilpin</b>, was published in 1785. His translation of the <b>Iliad</b> +and <b>Odyssey</b> of Homer—a translation into blank verse, +which he wrote at the regular rate of forty lines a-day—was +published in 1791. Mrs Unwin now had a shock of paralysis; Cowper +himself was again seized with mental illness; and from 1791 till his +death in 1800, his condition was one of extreme misery, depression, and +despair. He thought himself an outcast from the mercy of God. +“I seem to +<span class = "pagenum">330</span> +<!--png 148--> +myself,” he wrote to a friend, “to be scrambling always in the dark, +among rocks and precipices, without a guide, but with an enemy ever at +my heels, prepared to push me headlong.” The cloud never lifted; gloom +and dejection enshrouded all his later years; a pension of £300 +a-year from George III. brought him no pleasure; and he died insane, at +East Dereham, in Norfolk, in the year 1800. In the poem of <b>The +Castaway</b> he compares himself to a drowning sailor:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“No voice divine the storm allayed,</p> +<p class = "two"> +No light propitious shone,</p> +<p>When, far from all effectual aid,</p> +<p class = "two"> +We perished—each alone—</p> +<p>But I beneath a rougher sea,</p> +<p>And whelmed in blacker gulfs than he.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec12" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec12">12.</a> +His greatest work is <b>The Task</b>; and the best poem in it is +probably “The Winter Evening.” His best-known poem is <b>John +Gilpin</b>, which, like “The Task,” he wrote at the request of his +friend, Lady Austen. His most powerful poem is <b>The Castaway</b>. He +always writes in clear, crisp, pleasant, and manly English. He himself +says, in a letter to a friend: “Perspicuity is always more than half the +battle... A meaning that does not stare you in the face is as bad +as no meaning;” and this direction he himself always carried out. +Cowper’s poems mark a new era in poetry; his style is new, and his ideas +are new. He is no follower of Pope; Southey compared Pope and Cowper as +“formal gardens in comparison with woodland scenery.” He is always +original, always true—true to his own feeling, and true to the +object he is describing. “My descriptions,” he writes of “The Task,” +“are all from nature; not one of them second-handed. My delineations of +the heart are from my own experience.” Everywhere in his poems we find a +genuine love of nature; humour and pathos in his description of persons; +and a purity and honesty of style that have never been surpassed. Many +of his well-put lines have passed into our common stock of everyday +quotations. Such are—</p> + +<p class = "poem"> +“God made the country, and man made the town.”</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "four"> +“Variety’s the very spice of life</p> +<p>That gives it all its flavour.”</p> +</div> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "halfline"> +“The heart</p> +<p>May give a useful lesson to the head,</p> +<p>And Learning wiser grow without his books.”</p> +</div> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day,</p> +<p>Live till to-morrow, will have passed away.”</p> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum">331</span> +<!--png 149--> +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec13" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec13">13.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">George Crabbe</span> (<b>1754-1832</b>), the +poet of the poor, was born at Aldborough, in Suffolk, on Christmas Eve +of the year 1754. He stands thus midway between Goldsmith and +Wordsworth—midway between the old and the new school of poetry. +His father was salt-master—or collector of salt duties—at +the little seaport. After being taught a little at several schools, it +was agreed that George should be made a surgeon. He was accordingly +apprenticed; but he was fonder of writing verses than of attending +cases. His memory for poetry was astonishing; he had begun to write +verses at the age of fourteen; and he filled the drawers of the surgery +with his poetical attempts. After a time he set up for himself in +practice at Aldborough; but most of his patients were poor people and +poor relations, who paid him neither for his physic nor his advice. In +1779 he resolved “to go to London and venture all.” Accordingly, he took +a berth on board of a sailing-packet, carrying with him a little money +and a number of manuscript poems. But nothing succeeded with him; he was +reduced to his last eightpence. In this strait, he wrote to the great +statesman, Edmund Burke; and, while the answer was coming, he walked all +night up and down Westminster Bridge. Burke took him in to his own house +and found a publisher for his poems.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec14" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec14">14.</a> +In 1781 <b>The Library</b> appeared; and in the same year Crabbe entered +the Church. In 1783 he published <b>The Village</b>—a poem +which Dr Johnson revised for him. This work won for him an +established reputation; but, for twenty-four years after, Crabbe gave +himself up entirely to the care of his parish, and published only one +poem—<b>The Newspaper</b>. In 1807 appeared <b>The Parish +Register</b>; in 1810, <b>The Borough</b>; in 1812, <b>Tales in +Verse</b>; and, in 1819, his last poetical work, <b>Tales of the +Hall</b>. From this time, till his death in 1832—thirteen years +after—he produced no other poem. Personally, he was one of the +noblest and kindest of men; he was known as “the gentleman with the sour +name and the sweet countenance;” and he spent most of his income on the +wants of others.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec15" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec15">15.</a> +Crabbe’s poetical work forms a prominent landmark in English literature. +His style is the style of the eighteenth century—with a strong +admixture of his own; his way of thinking, and the objects he selects +for description, belong to the nineteenth. While Pope depicted “the +town,” politics, and abstract moralities, Crabbe describes the country +and the country poor, social matters, real life—the lowest and +poorest life, and more especially, the intense misery of the village +population of his time in the eastern counties—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "halfline"> +“the wild amphibious race</p> +<p>With sullen woe displayed in every face.”</p> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum">332</span> +<!--png 150--> +<p class = "author"> +He does not paint the lot of the poor with the rose-coloured tints used +by Goldsmith; he boldly denies the existence of such a village as +Auburn; he groups such places with Eden, and says—</p> + +<p class = "poem"> +“Auburn and Eden can be found no more;”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +he shows the gloomy, hard, despairing side of English country life. He +has been called a “Pope in worsted stockings,” and “the Hogarth, of +song.” Byron describes him as</p> + +<p class = "poem"> +“Nature’s sternest painter, yet the best.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +Now and then his style is flat, and even coarse; but there is everywhere +a genuine power of strong and bold painting. He is also an excellent +master of easy dialogue.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +All of his poems are written in the Popian couplet of two ten-syllabled +lines.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec16" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec16">16.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Robert Burns</span> (<b>1759-1796</b>), the +greatest poet of Scotland, was born in Ayrshire, two miles from the town +of Ayr, in 1759. The only education he received from his father was the +schooling of a few months; but the family were fond of reading, and +Robert was the most enthusiastic reader of them all. Every spare moment +he could find—and they were not many—he gave to reading; he +sat at meals “with a book in one hand and a spoon in the other;” and in +this way he read most of the great English poets and prose-writers. This +was an excellent education—one a great deal better than most +people receive; and some of our greatest men have had no better. But, up +to the age of sixteen, he had to toil on his father’s farm from early +morning till late at night. In the intervals of his work he contrived, +by dint of thrift and industry, to learn French, mathematics, and a +little Latin. On the death of his father, he took a small farm, but did +not succeed. He was on the point of embarking for Jamaica, where a post +had been found for him, when the news of the successful sale of a small +volume of his poems reached him; and he at once changed his mind, and +gave up all idea of emigrating. His friends obtained for him a post as +exciseman, in which his duty was to gauge the quantity and quality of +ardent spirits—a post full of dangers to a man of his +excitable and emotional temperament. He went a great deal into what was +called society, formed the acquaintance of many boon companions, +acquired habits of intemperance that he could not shake off, and died at +Dumfries in 1796, in his thirty-seventh year.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec17" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec17">17.</a> +His best poems are lyrical, and he is himself one of the foremost +<span class = "pagenum">333</span> +<!--png 151--> +lyrical poets in the world. His songs have probably been more sung, and +in more parts of the globe, than the songs of any other writer that ever +lived. They are of every kind—songs of love, war, mirth, sorrow, +labour, and social gatherings. Professor Craik says: “One characteristic +that belongs to whatever Burns has written is that, of its kind and in +its own way, it is a perfect production. His poetry is, throughout, real +emotion melodiously uttered, instinct with passion, but not less so with +power of thought,—full of light as well as of fire.” Most of his +poems are written in the North-English, or Lowland-Scottish, dialect. +The most elevated of his poems is <b>The Vision</b>, in which he relates +how the Scottish Muse found him at the plough, and crowned him with a +wreath of holly. One of his longest, as well as finest poems, is <b>The +Cottar’s Saturday Night</b>, which is written in the Spenserian stanza. +Perhaps his most pathetic poem is that entitled <b>To Mary in +Heaven</b>. It is of a singular eloquence, elevation, and sweetness. The +first verse runs thus—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Thou lingering star, with lessening ray,</p> +<p class = "two"> +That lov’st to greet the early morn,</p> +<p>Again thou usher’st in the day</p> +<p class = "two"> +My Mary from my soul was torn.</p> +<p>O Mary! dear departed shade!</p> +<p class = "two"> +Where is thy place of blissful rest?</p> +<p>See’st thou thy lover lowly laid?</p> +<p class = "two"> +Hear’st thou the groans that rend his breast?”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +He is, as his latest critic says, “the poet of homely human nature;” and +his genius shows the beautiful elements in this homeliness; and that +what is homely need not therefore be dull and prosaic.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec18" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec18">18.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Thomas Chatterton</span> and <span class = +"smallcaps">William Blake</span> are two minor poets, of whom little is +known and less said, but whose work is of the most poetical and genuine +kind.—Chatterton was born at Bristol in the year 1752. He was the +son of a schoolmaster, who died before he was born. He was educated at +Colston’s Blue-Coat School in Bristol; and, while at school, read his +way steadily through every book in three circulating libraries. He began +to write verses at the age of fifteen, and in two years had produced a +large number of poems—some of them of the highest value. In 1770, +he came up to London, with something under five pounds in his pocket, +and his mind made up to try his fortune as a literary man, resolved, +though he was only a boy of seventeen, to live by literature or to die. +Accordingly, he set to work and wrote every kind of +productions—poems, +<span class = "pagenum">334</span> +<!--png 152--> +essays, stories, political articles, songs for public singers; and all +the time he was half starving. A loaf of bread lasted him a week; +and it was “bought stale to make it last longer.” He had made a friend +of the Lord Mayor, Beckford; but before he had time to hold out a hand +to the struggling boy, Beckford died. The struggle became harder and +harder—more and more hopeless; his neighbours offered a little +help—a small coin or a meal—he rejected all; and at +length, on the evening of the 24th August 1770, he went up to his +garret, locked himself in, tore up all his manuscripts, took poison, and +died. He was only seventeen.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec19" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec19">19.</a> +Wordsworth and Coleridge spoke with awe of his genius; Keats dedicated +one of his poems to his memory; and Coleridge copied some of his +rhythms. One of his best poems is the <b>Minstrel’s +Roundelay</b>—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“O sing unto my roundelay,</p> +<p class = "two"> +O drop the briny tear with me,</p> +<p>Dance no more on holy-day,</p> +<p class = "two"> +Like a running river be.</p> +<p class = "four"> +My love is dead,</p> +<p class = "four"> +Gone to his death-bed</p> +<p class = "five"> +All under the willow-tree.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +“Black his hair as the winter night,</p> +<p class = "two"> +White his skin as the summer snow,</p> +<p>Red his face as the morning light,</p> +<p class = "two"> +Cold he lies in the grave below.</p> +<p class = "four"> +My love is dead,</p> +<p class = "four"> +Gone to his death-bed</p> +<p class = "five"> +All under the willow-tree.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec20" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec20">20.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">William Blake</span> (<b>1757-1827</b>), one +of the most original poets that ever lived, was born in London in the +year 1757. He was brought up as an engraver; worked steadily at his +business, and did a great deal of beautiful work in that capacity. He in +fact illustrated his own poems—each page being set in a fantastic +design of his own invention, which he himself engraved. He was also his +own printer and publisher. The first volume of his poems was published +in 1783; the <b>Songs of Innocence</b>, probably his best, appeared in +1787. He died in Fountain Court, Strand, London, in the year 1827.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVII_sec21" id = "partIV_chapVII_sec21">21.</a> +His latest critic says of Blake: “His detachment from the ordinary +currents of practical thought left to his mind an unspoiled and +delightful simplicity which has perhaps never been matched in English +poetry.” Simplicity—the perfect simplicity of a child— +<span class = "pagenum">335</span> +<!--png 153--> +beautiful simplicity—simple and childlike beauty,—such is +the chief note of the poetry of Blake. “Where he is successful, his work +has the fresh perfume and perfect grace of a flower.” The most +remarkable point about Blake is that, while living in an age when the +poetry of Pope—and that alone—was everywhere paramount, his +poems show not the smallest trace of Pope’s influence, but are +absolutely original. His work, in fact, seems to be the first bright +streak of the golden dawn that heralded the approach of the full and +splendid daylight of the poetry of Wordsworth and Coleridge, of Shelley +and Byron. His best-known poems are those from the ‘Songs of +Innocence’—such as <b>Piping down the valleys wild</b>; <b>The +Lamb</b>; <b>The Tiger</b>, and others. Perhaps the most remarkable +element in Blake’s poetry is the sweetness and naturalness of the +rhythm. It seems careless, but it is always beautiful; it grows, it is +not made; it is like a wild field-flower thrown up by Nature in a +pleasant green field. Such are the rhythms in the poem entitled +<b>Night</b>:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“The sun descending in the west,</p> +<p>The evening star does shine;</p> +<p>The birds are silent in their nest,</p> +<p>And I must seek for mine.</p> +<p>The moon, like a flower</p> +<p>In heaven’s high bower,</p> +<p>With silent delight</p> +<p>Sits and smiles on the night.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +“Farewell, green fields and happy grove,</p> +<p>Where flocks have ta’en delight;</p> +<p>Where lambs have nibbled, silent move</p> +<p>The feet of angels bright:</p> +<p>Unseen they pour blessing,</p> +<p>And joy without ceasing,</p> +<p>On each bud and blossom,</p> +<p>On each sleeping bosom.”</p> +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">336</span> +<!--png 154--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIV_chapVIII" id = +"partIV_chapVIII"> +CHAPTER VIII.</a></h4> + +<h6>THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec1" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec1">1.</a> +<b>New Ideas.</b>—The end of the eighteenth and the beginning of +the nineteenth century are alike remarkable for the new powers, new +ideas, and new life thrown into society. The coming up of a high +flood-tide of new forces seems to coincide with the beginning of the +French Revolution in 1789, when the overthrow of the Bastille marked the +downfall of the old ways of thinking and acting, and announced to the +world of Europe and America that the old <i>régime</i>—the ancient +mode of governing—was over. Wordsworth, then a lad of nineteen, +was excited by the event almost beyond the bounds of self-control. He +says in his “Excursion”—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,</p> +<p>But to be young was very Heaven!”</p> +</div> + +<p>It was, indeed, the dawn of a new day for the peoples of Europe. The +ideas of freedom and equality—of respect for man as man—were +thrown into popular form by France; they became living powers in Europe; +and in England they animated and inspired the best minds of the +time—Burns, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, and Byron. Along with +this high tide of hope and emotion, there was such an outburst of talent +and genius in every kind of human endeavour in England, as was never +seen before except in the Elizabethan period. Great events produced +great powers; and great powers in their turn +<span class = "pagenum">337</span> +<!--png 155--> +brought about great events. The war with America, the long struggle with +Napoleon, the new political ideas, great victories by sea and +land,—all these were to be found in the beginning of the +nineteenth century. The English race produced great men in +numbers—almost, it might be said, in groups. We had great leaders, +like Nelson and Wellington; brilliant generals, like Sir Charles Napier +and Sir John Moore; great statesmen, like Fox and Pitt, like Washington +and Franklin; great engineers, like Stephenson and Brunel; and great +poets, like Wordsworth and Byron. And as regards literature, an able +critic remarks: “We have recovered in this century the Elizabethan magic +and passion, a more than Elizabethan sense of the beauty and +complexity of nature, the Elizabethan music of language.”</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec2" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec2">2.</a> +<b>Great Poets.</b>—The greatest poets of the first half of the +nineteenth century may be best arranged in groups. There were +<b>Wordsworth</b>, <b>Coleridge</b>, and <b>Southey</b>—commonly, +but unnecessarily, described as the Lake Poets. In their poetic thought +and expression they had little in common; and the fact that two of them +lived most of their lives in the Lake country, is not a sufficient +justification for the use of the term. There were <b>Scott</b> and +<b>Campbell</b>—both of them Scotchmen. There were <b>Byron</b> +and <b>Shelley</b>—both Englishmen, both brought up at the great +public schools and the universities, but both carried away by the +influence of the new revolutionary ideas. Lastly, there were +<b>Moore</b>, an Irishman, and young <b>Keats</b>, the splendid promise +of whose youth went out in an early death. Let us learn a little more +about each, and in the order of the dates of their birth.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec3" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec3">3.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">William Wordsworth</span> (<b>1770-1850</b>) +was born at Cockermouth, a town in Cumberland, which stands at the +confluence of the Cocker and the Derwent. His father, John Wordsworth, +was law agent to Sir James Lowther, who afterwards became Earl of +Lonsdale. William was a boy of a stiff, moody, and violent temper; and +as his mother died when he was a very little boy, and his father when he +was fourteen, he grew up with very little care from his +<span class = "pagenum">338</span> +<!--png 156--> +parents and guardians. He was sent to school at Hawkshead, in the Vale +of Esthwaite, in Lancashire; and, at the age of seventeen, proceeded to +St John’s College, Cambridge. After taking his degree of B.A. in +1791, he resided for a year in France. He took sides with one of the +parties in the Reign of Terror, and left the country only in time to +save his head. He was designed by his uncles for the Church; but a +friend, Raisley Calvert, dying, left him £900; and he now resolved to +live a plain and frugal life, to join no profession, but to give himself +wholly up to the writing of poetry. In 1798, he published, along with +his friend, S. T. Coleridge, the <b>Lyrical Ballads</b>. The only +work of Coleridge’s in this volume was the “Ancient Mariner.” In 1802 he +married Mary Hutchinson, of whom he speaks in the well-known +lines—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair,</p> +<p>Like Twilight’s, too, her dusky hair;</p> +<p>But all things else about her drawn</p> +<p>From May-time and the cheerful dawn.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +He obtained the post of Distributor of Stamps for the county of +Westmoreland; and, after the death of Southey, he was created +<b>Poet-Laureate</b> by the Queen.—He settled with his wife in the +Lake country; and, in 1813, took up his abode at Rydal Mount, where he +lived till his death in 1850. He died on the 23d of April—the +death-day of Shakespeare.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec4" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec4">4.</a> +His longest works are the <b>Excursion</b> and the +<b>Prelude</b>—both being parts of a longer and greater work which +he intended to write on the growth of his own mind. His best poems are +his shorter pieces, such as the poems on <b>Lucy</b>, <b>The Cuckoo</b>, +the <b>Ode to Duty</b>, the <b>Intimations of Immortality</b>, and +several of his <b>Sonnets</b>. He says of his own poetry that his +purpose in writing it was “to console the afflicted; to add sunshine to +daylight by making the happy happier; to teach the young and the +gracious of every age to see, to think, and feel, and therefore to +become more actively and securely virtuous.” His poetical work is the +noble landmark of a great transition—both in thought and in style. +He drew aside poetry from questions and interests of mere society and +the town to the scenes of Nature and the deepest feelings of man as man. +In style, he refused to employ the old artificial vocabulary which Pope +and his followers revelled in; he used the simplest words he could find; +and, when he hits the mark in his simplest form of expression, his style +is as forcible as it is true. He says of his own verse—</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">339</span> +<!--png 157--> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“The moving accident is not my trade,</p> +<p>To freeze the blood I have no ready arts;</p> +<p>’Tis my delight, alone, in summer shade,</p> +<p>To pipe a simple song for <i>thinking hearts</i>.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +If one were asked what four lines of his poetry best convey the feeling +of the whole, the reply must be that these are to be found in his “Song +at the Feast of Brougham Castle,”—lines written about “the good +Lord Clifford.”</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Love had he found in huts where poor men lie,</p> +<p>His daily teachers had been woods and rills,—</p> +<p>The silence that is in the starry sky,</p> +<p>The sleep that is among the lonely hills.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec5" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec5">5.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Walter Scott</span> (<b>1771-1832</b>), poet +and novelist, the son of a Scotch attorney (called in Edinburgh a W.S. +or Writer to H.M.’s Signet), was born there in the year 1771. He was +educated at the High School, and then at the College—now called +the University—of Edinburgh. In 1792 he was called to the Scottish +Bar, or became an “advocate.” During his boyhood, he had had several +illnesses, one of which left him lame for life. Through those long +periods of sickness and of convalescence, he read Percy’s ‘Reliques of +Ancient Poetry,’ and almost all the romances, old plays, and epic poems +that have been published in the English language. This gave his mind and +imagination a set which they never lost all through life.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec6" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec6">6.</a> +His first publications were translations of German poems. In the year +1805, however, an original poem, the <b>Lay of the Last Minstrel</b>, +appeared; and Scott became at one bound the foremost poet of the day. +<b>Marmion</b>, the <b>Lady of the Lake</b>, and other poems, followed +with great rapidity. But, in 1814, Scott took it into his head that his +poetical vein was worked out; the star of Byron was rising upon the +literary horizon; and he now gave himself up to novel-writing. His first +novel, <b>Waverley</b>, appeared anonymously in 1814. <b>Guy +Mannering</b>, <b>Old Mortality</b>, <b>Rob Roy</b>, and others, quickly +followed; and, though the secret of the authorship was well kept both by +printer and publisher, Walter Scott was generally believed to be the +writer of these works, and he was frequently spoken of as “the Great +Unknown.” He was made a baronet by George IV. in 1820.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec7" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec7">7.</a> +His expenses in building Abbotsford, and his desire to acquire land, +induced him to go into partnership with Ballantyne, his printer, and +with Constable, his publisher. Both firms failed in the dark +<span class = "pagenum">340</span> +<!--png 158--> +year of 1826; and Scott found himself unexpectedly liable for the large +sum of £147,000. Such a load of debt would have utterly crushed most +men; but Scott stood clear and undaunted in front of it. “Gentlemen,” he +said to his creditors, “time and I against any two. Let me take this +good ally into my company, and I believe I shall be able to pay you +every farthing.” He left his beautiful country house at Abbotsford; he +gave up all his country pleasures; he surrendered all his property to +his creditors; he took a small house in Edinburgh; and, in the short +space of five years, he had paid off £130,000. But the task was too +terrible; the pace had been too hard; and he was struck down by +paralysis. But even this disaster did not daunt him. Again he went to +work, and again he had a paralytic stroke. At last, however, he was +obliged to give up; the Government of the day placed a royal frigate at +his disposal; he went to Italy; but his health had utterly broken down, +he felt he could get no good from the air of the south, and he turned +his face towards home to die. He breathed his last breath at Abbotsford, +in sight of his beloved Tweed, with his family around him, on the 21st +of September 1832.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec8" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec8">8.</a> +His poetry is the poetry of action. In imaginative power he ranks below +no other poet, except Homer and Shakespeare. He delighted in war, in its +movement, its pageantry, and its events; and, though lame, he was +quartermaster of a volunteer corps of cavalry. On one occasion he rode +to muster one hundred miles in twenty-four hours, composing verses by +the way. Much of “<b>Marmion</b>” was composed on horseback. “I had +many a grand gallop,” he says, “when I was thinking of +‘<b>Marmion</b>.’” His two chief powers in verse are his narrative and +his pictorial power. His boyhood was passed in the Borderland of +Scotland—“a district in which every field has its battle and +every rivulet its song;” and he was at home in every part of the +Highlands and the Lowlands, the Islands and the Borders, of his native +country. But, both in his novels and his poems, he was a painter of +action rather than of character.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec9" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec9">9.</a> +His prose works are now much more read than his poems; but both are full +of life, power, literary skill, knowledge of men and women, and strong +sympathy with all past ages. He wrote so fast that his sentences are +often loose and ungrammatical; but they are never unidiomatic or stiff. +The rush of a strong and large life goes through them, and carries the +reader along, forgetful of all minor blemishes. His best novels are +<b>Old Mortality</b> and <b>Kenilworth</b>; his greatest romance is +<b>Ivanhoe</b>.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec10" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec10">10.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Samuel Taylor Coleridge</span> +(<b>1772-1834</b>), a true poet, and +<span class = "pagenum">341</span> +<!--png 159--> +a writer of noble prose, was born at Ottery St Mary, in Devonshire, +in 1772. His father, who was vicar of the parish, and master of the +grammar-school, died when the boy was only nine years of age. He was +educated at Christ’s Hospital, in London, where his most famous +schoolfellow was Charles Lamb; and from there he went to Jesus College, +Cambridge. In 1793 he had fallen into debt at College; and, in despair, +left Cambridge, and enlisted in the 15th Light Dragoons, under the name +of Silas Tomkins Comberbatch. He was quickly discovered, and his +discharge soon obtained. While on a visit to his friend Robert Southey, +at Bristol, the plan of emigrating to the banks of the Susquehanna, in +Pennsylvania, was entered on; but, when all the friends and +fellow-emigrants were ready to start, it was discovered that no one of +them had any money.—Coleridge finally became a literary man and +journalist. His real power, however, lay in poetry; but by poetry he +could not make a living. His first volume of poems was published at +Bristol, in the year 1796; but it was not till 1798 that the <b>Rime of +the Ancient Mariner</b> appeared in the ‘Lyrical Ballads.’ His next +greatest poem, <b>Christabel</b>, though written in 1797, was not +published till the year 1816. His other best poems are <b>Love</b>; +<b>Dejection—an Ode</b>; and some of his shorter pieces. His best +poetry was written about the close of the century: “Coleridge,” said +Wordsworth, “was in blossom from 1796 to 1800.”—As a critic and +prose-writer, he is one of the greatest men of his time. His best works +in prose are <b>The Friend</b> and the <b>Aids to Reflection</b>. He +died at Highgate, near London, in the year 1834.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec11" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec11">11.</a> +His style, both in prose and in verse, marks the beginning of the modern +era. His prose style is noble, elaborate, eloquent, and full of subtle +and involved thought; his style in verse is always musical, and abounds +in rhythms of the most startling and novel—yet always +genuine—kind. <b>Christabel</b> is the poem that is most full of +these fine musical rhythms.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec12" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec12">12.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Robert Southey</span> (<b>1774-1843</b>), +poet, reviewer, historian, but, above all, man of letters,—the +friend of Coleridge and Wordsworth,—was born at Bristol in 1774. +He was educated at Westminster School and at Balliol College, Oxford. +After his marriage with Miss Edith Fricker—a sister of Sara, +the wife of Coleridge—he settled at Greta Hall, near Keswick, in +1803; and resided there until his death in 1843. In 1813 he was created +<b>Poet-Laureate</b> by George III.—He was the most +indefatigable of writers. He wrote poetry before breakfast; history +between breakfast and +<span class = "pagenum">342</span> +<!--png 160--> +dinner; reviews between dinner and supper; and, even when taking a +constitutional, he had always a book in his hand, and walked along the +road reading. He began to write and to publish at the age of nineteen; +he never ceased writing till the year 1837, when his brain softened from +the effects of perpetual labour.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec13" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec13">13.</a> +Southey wrote a great deal of verse, but much more prose. His prose +works amount to more than one hundred volumes; but his poetry, such as +it is, will probably live longer than his prose. His best-known poems +are <b>Joan of Arc</b>, written when he was nineteen; <b>Thalaba the +Destroyer</b>, a poem in irregular and unrhymed verse; <b>The Curse +of Kehama</b>, in verse rhymed, but irregular; and <b>Roderick, the last +of the Goths</b>, written in blank verse. He will, however, always be +best remembered by his shorter pieces, such as <b>The Holly Tree</b>, +<b>Stanzas written in My Library</b>, and others.—His most famous +prose work is the <b>Life of Nelson</b>. His prose style is always firm, +clear, compact, and sensible.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec14" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec14">14.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Thomas Campbell</span> (<b>1777-1844</b>), a +noble poet and brilliant reviewer, was born in Glasgow in the year 1777. +He was educated at the High School and the University of Glasgow. At the +age of twenty-two, he published his <b>Pleasures of Hope</b>, which at +once gave him a place high among the poets of the day. In 1803 he +removed to London, and followed literature as his profession; and, in +1806, he received a pension of £200 a-year from the Government, which +enabled him to devote the whole of his time to his favourite study of +poetry. His best long poem is the <b>Gertrude of Wyoming</b>, +a tale written in the Spenserian stanza, which he handles with +great ease and power. But he is best known, and will be longest +remembered, for his short lyrics—which glow with passionate and +fiery eloquence—such as <b>The Battle of the Baltic</b>, <b>Ye +Mariners of England</b>, <b>Hohenlinden</b>, and others. He was twice +Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. He died at Boulogne in 1844, +and was buried in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec15" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec15">15.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Thomas Moore</span> (<b>1779-1852</b>), poet, +biographer, and historian—but most of all poet—was born in +Dublin in the year 1779. He began to print verses at the age of +thirteen, and may be said, like Pope, to have “lisped in numbers, for +the numbers came.” He came to London in 1799, and was quickly received +into fashionable society. In 1803 he was made Admiralty Registrar +<span class = "pagenum">343</span> +<!--png 161--> +at Bermuda; but he soon gave up the post, leaving a deputy in his place, +who, some years after, embezzled the Government funds, and brought +financial ruin upon Moore. The poet’s friends offered to help him out of +his money difficulties; but he most honourably declined all such help, +and, like Sir W. Scott, resolved to clear off all claims against +him by the aid of his pen alone. For the next twenty years of his life +he laboured incessantly; and volumes of poetry, history, and biography +came steadily from his pen. His best poems are his <b>Irish +Melodies</b>, some fifteen or sixteen of which are perfect and +imperishable; and it is as a writer of songs that Moore will live in the +literature of this country. He boasted, and with truth, that it was he +who awakened for this century the long-silent harp of his native +land—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Dear Harp of my Country! in darkness I found thee,</p> +<p class = "two"> +The cold chain of silence had hung o’er thee long,</p> +<p>When proudly, my own Island Harp, I unbound thee,</p> +<p class = "two"> +And gave all thy chords to light, freedom, and song.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +His best long poem is <b>Lalla Rookh</b>.—His prose works are +little read nowadays. The chief among them are his <b>Life of +Sheridan</b>, and his <b>Life of Lord Byron</b>.—He died at +Sloperton, in Wiltshire, in 1852, two years after the death of +Wordsworth.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec16" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec16">16.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">George Gordon, Lord Byron</span> +(<b>1788-1824</b>), a great English poet, was born in London in the +year 1788. He was the only child of a reckless and unprincipled father +and a passionate mother. He was educated at Harrow School, and +afterwards at Trinity College, Cambridge. His first +volume—<b>Hours of Idleness</b>—was published in 1807, +before he was nineteen. A critique of this juvenile work which +appeared in the ‘Edinburgh Review’ stung him to passion; and he produced +a very vigorous poetical reply in <b>English Bards and Scotch +Reviewers</b>. After the publication of this book, Byron travelled in +Germany, Spain, Greece, and Turkey for two years; and the first two +cantos of the poem entitled <b>Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage</b> were the +outcome of these travels. This poem at once placed him at the head of +English poets; “he woke one morning,” he said, “and found himself +famous.” He was married in the year 1815, but left his wife in the +following year; left his native country also, never to return. First of +all he settled at Geneva, where he made the acquaintance of the poet +Shelley, and where he wrote, among other poems, the third canto of +<b>Childe Harold</b> and the <b>Prisoner of Chillon</b>. In 1817 he +removed to Venice, where he +<span class = "pagenum">344</span> +<!--png 162--> +composed the fourth canto of <b>Childe Harold</b> and the <b>Lament of +Tasso</b>; his next resting-place was Ravenna, where he wrote several +plays. Pisa saw him next; and at this place he spent a great deal of his +time in close intimacy with Shelley. In 1821 the Greek nation rose in +revolt against the cruelties and oppression of the Turkish rule; and +Byron’s sympathies were strongly enlisted on the side of the Greeks. He +helped the struggling little country with contributions of money; and, +in 1823, sailed from Geneva to take a personal share in the war of +liberation. He died, however, of fever, at Missolonghi, on the 19th of +April 1824, at the age of thirty-six.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec17" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec17">17.</a> +His best-known work is <b>Childe Harold</b>, which is written in the +Spenserian stanza. His plays, the best of which are <b>Manfred</b> and +<b>Sardanapālus</b>, are written in blank verse.—His style is +remarkable for its strength and elasticity, for its immensely powerful +sweep, tireless energy, and brilliant illustrations.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec18" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec18">18.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Percy Bysshe Shelley</span> +(<b>1792-1822</b>),—who has, like Spenser, been called “the poet’s +poet,”—was born at Field Place, near Horsham, in Sussex, in the +year 1792. He was educated at Eton, and then at University College, +Oxford. A shy, diffident, retiring boy, with sweet, gentle looks +and manners—like those of a girl—but with a spirit of the +greatest fearlessness and the noblest independence, he took little share +in the sports and pursuits of his schoolfellows. Obliged to leave +Oxford, in consequence of having written a tract of which the +authorities did not approve, he married at the very early age of +nineteen. The young lady whom he married died in 1816; and he soon after +married Mary, daughter of William Godwin, the eminent author of +‘Political Justice.’ In 1818 he left England for Italy,—like his +friend, Lord Byron, for ever. It was at Naples, Leghorn, and Pisa that +he chiefly resided. In 1822 he bought a little +boat—“a perfect plaything for the summer,” he calls it; and +he used often to make short voyages in it, and wrote many of his poems +on these occasions. When Leigh Hunt was lying ill at Leghorn, Shelley +and his friend Williams resolved on a coasting trip to that city. They +reached Leghorn in safety; but, on the return journey, the boat sank in +a sudden squall. Captain Roberts was watching the vessel with his glass +from the top of the Leghorn lighthouse, as it crossed the Bay of +Spezzia: a black cloud arose; a storm came down; the vessels +sailing with Shelley’s boat were wrapped in darkness; the cloud passed; +the sun shone out, and all was clear again; the larger vessels rode on; +but Shelley’s boat had disappeared. The poet’s body was cast on +<span class = "pagenum">345</span> +<!--png 163--> +shore, but the quarantine laws of Italy required that everything thrown +up on the coast should be burned: no representations could alter the +law; and Shelley’s ashes were placed in a box and buried in the +Protestant cemetery at Rome.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec19" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec19">19.</a> +Shelley’s best long poem is the <b>Adonaïs</b>, an elegy on the death of +John Keats. It is written in the Spenserian stanza. But this true poet +will be best remembered by his short lyrical poems, such as <b>The +Cloud</b>, <b>Ode to a Skylark</b>, <b>Ode to the West Wind</b>, +<b>Stanzas written in Dejection</b>, and others.—Shelley has been +called “the poet’s poet,” because his style is so thoroughly transfused +by pure imagination. He has also been called “the master-singer of our +modern race and age; for his thoughts, his words, and his deeds all sang +together.” He is probably the greatest lyric poet of this century.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec20" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec20">20.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">John Keats</span> (<b>1795-1821</b>), one of +our truest poets, was born in Moorfields, London, in the year 1795. He +was educated at a private school at Enfield. His desire for the +pleasures of the intellect and the imagination showed itself very early +at school; and he spent many a half-holiday in writing translations from +the Roman and the French poets. On leaving school, he was apprenticed to +a surgeon at Edmonton—the scene of one of John Gilpin’s +adventures; but, in 1817, he gave up the practice of surgery, devoted +himself entirely to poetry, and brought out his first volume. In 1818 +appeared his <b>Endymion</b>. The ‘Quarterly Review’ handled it without +mercy. Keats’s health gave way; the seeds of consumption were in his +frame; and he was ordered to Italy in 1820, as the last chance of saving +his life. But it was too late. The air of Italy could not restore him. +He settled at Rome with his friend Severn; but, in spite of all the +care, thought, devotion, and watching of his friend, he died in 1821, at +the age of twenty-five. He was buried in the Protestant cemetery at +Rome; and the inscription on his tomb, composed by himself, is, “<i>Here +lies one whose name was writ in water</i>.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec21" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec21">21.</a> +His greatest poem is <b>Hyperion</b>, written, in blank verse, on the +overthrow of the “early gods” of Greece. But he will most probably be +best remembered by his marvellous odes, such as the <b>Ode to a +Nightingale</b>, <b>Ode on a Grecian Urn</b>, <b>To Autumn</b>, and +others. His style is clear, sensuous, and beautiful; and he has added to +our literature lines that will always live. Such are the +following:—</p> + +<p class = "poem"> +“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.”</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">346</span> +<!--png 164--> +<p class = "poem"> +“Silent, upon a peak in Darien.”</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Then felt I like some watcher of the skies</p> +<p>When a new planet swims into his ken.”</p> +</div> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Perhaps the self-same song that found a path</p> +<p>Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,</p> +<p>She stood in tears amid the alien corn.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec22" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec22">22.</a> +<b>Prose-Writers.</b>—We have now to consider the greatest +prose-writers of the first half of the nineteenth century. First comes +<b>Walter Scott</b>, one of the greatest novelists that ever lived, and +who won the name of “The Wizard of the North” from the marvellous power +he possessed of enchaining the attention and fascinating the minds of +his readers. Two other great writers of prose were <b>Charles Lamb</b> +and <b>Walter Savage Landor</b>, each in styles essentially different. +<b>Jane Austen</b>, a young English lady, has become a classic in +prose, because her work is true and perfect within its own sphere. <b>De +Quincey</b> is perhaps the writer of the most ornate and elaborate +English prose of this period. <b>Thomas Carlyle</b>, a great +Scotsman, with a style of overwhelming power, but of occasional +grotesqueness, like a great prophet and teacher of the nation, compelled +statesmen and philanthropists to think, while he also gained for himself +a high place in the rank of historians. <b>Macaulay</b>, also of +Scottish descent, was one of the greatest essayists and ablest writers +on history that Great Britain has produced. A short survey of each +of these great men may be useful. Scott has been already +treated of.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec23" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec23">23.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Charles Lamb</span> (<b>1775-1834</b>), a +perfect English essayist, was born in the Inner Temple, in London, in +the year 1775. His father was clerk to a barrister of that Inn of Court. +Charles was educated at Christ’s Hospital, where his most famous +schoolfellow was S. T. Coleridge. Brought up in the very heart of +London, he had always a strong feeling for the greatness of the +metropolis of the world. “I often shed tears,” he said, “in the +motley Strand, for fulness of joy at so much life.” He was, indeed, +a thorough Cockney and lover of London, as were also Chaucer, +<span class = "pagenum">347</span> +<!--png 165--> +Spenser, Milton, and Lamb’s friend Leigh Hunt. Entering the India House +as a clerk in the year 1792, he remained there thirty-three years; and +it was one of his odd sayings that, if any one wanted to see his +“works,” he would find them on the shelves of the India House.—He +is greatest as a writer of prose; and his prose is, in its way, +unequalled for sweetness, grace, humour, and quaint terms, among the +writings of this century. His best prose work is the <b>Essays of +Elia</b>, which show on every page the most whimsical and humorous +subtleties, a quick play of intellect, and a deep sympathy with the +sorrows and the joys of men. Very little verse came from his pen. +“Charles Lamb’s nosegay of verse,” says Professor Dowden, “may be held +by the small hand of a maiden, and there is not in it one flaunting +flower.” Perhaps the best of his poems are the short pieces entitled +<b>Hester</b> and <b>The Old Familiar Faces</b>.—He retired from +the India House, on a pension, in 1825, and died at Edmonton, near +London, in 1834. His character was as sweet and refined as his style; +Wordsworth spoke of him as “Lamb the frolic and the gentle;” and these +and other fine qualities endeared him to a large circle of friends.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec24" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec24">24.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Walter Savage Landor</span> +(<b>1775-1864</b>), the greatest prose-writer in his own style of the +nineteenth century, was born at Ipsley Court, in Warwickshire, on the +30th of January 1775—the anniversary of the execution of +Charles I. He was educated at Rugby School and at Oxford; but his +fierce and insubordinate temper—which remained with him, and +injured him all his life—procured his expulsion from both of these +places. As heir to a large estate, he resolved to give himself up +entirely to literature; and he accordingly declined to adopt any +profession. Living an almost purely intellectual life, he wrote a great +deal of prose and some poetry; and his first volume of poems appeared +before the close of the eighteenth century. His life, which began in the +reign of George III., stretched through the reigns of George IV. and +William IV., into the twenty-seventh year of Queen Victoria; and, in the +course of this long life, he had manifold experiences, many loves and +hates, friendships and acquaintanceships, with persons of every sort and +rank. He joined the Spanish army to fight Napoleon, and presented the +Spanish Government with large sums of money. He spent about thirty years +of his life in Florence, where he wrote many of his works. He died at +Florence in the year 1864. His greatest prose work is the <b>Imaginary +Conversations</b>; his best poem is <b>Count Julian</b>; and the +character of Count Julian has been +<span class = "pagenum">348</span> +<!--png 166--> +ranked by De Quincey with the Satan of Milton. Some of his smaller +poetic pieces are perfect; and there is one, <b>Rose Aylmer</b>, written +about a dear young friend, that Lamb was never tired of +repeating:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Ah! what avails the sceptred race!</p> +<p class = "two"> +Ah! what the form divine!</p> +<p>What every virtue, every grace!</p> +<p class = "two"> +Rose Aylmer, all were thine!</p> +<p class = "stanza"> +“Rose Aylmer, whom these wakeful eyes</p> +<p class = "two"> +Shall weep, but never see!</p> +<p>A night of memories and sighs</p> +<p class = "two"> +I consecrate to thee.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec25" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec25">25.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Jane Austen</span> (<b>1775-1817</b>), the +most delicate and faithful painter of English social life, was born at +Steventon, in Hampshire, in 1775—in the same year as Landor and +Lamb. She wrote a small number of novels, most of which are almost +perfect in their minute and true painting of character. Sir Walter +Scott, Macaulay, and other great writers, are among her fervent +admirers. Scott says of her writing: “The big bow-wow strain I can do +myself, like any now going; but the exquisite touch which renders +ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting, from the truth +of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me.” She works out +her characters by making them reveal themselves in their talk, and by an +infinite series of minute touches. Her two best novels are <b>Emma</b> +and <b>Pride and Prejudice</b>. The interest of them depends on the +truth of the painting; and many thoughtful persons read through the +whole of her novels every year.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec26" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec26">26.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Thomas De Quincey</span> (<b>1785-1859</b>), +one of our most brilliant essayists, was born at Greenhays, Manchester, +in the year 1785. He was educated at the Manchester grammar-school and +at Worcester College, Oxford. While at Oxford he took little share in +the regular studies of his college, but read enormous numbers of Greek, +Latin, and English books, as his taste or whim suggested. He knew no +one; he hardly knew his own tutor. “For the first two years of my +residence in Oxford,” he says, “I compute that I did not utter one +hundred words.” After leaving Oxford, he lived for about twenty years in +the Lake country; and there he became acquainted with Wordsworth, +Hartley Coleridge (the son of S. T. Coleridge), and John Wilson +(afterwards known as +<span class = "pagenum">349</span> +<!--png 167--> +Professor Wilson, and also as the “Christopher North” of ‘Blackwood’s +Magazine’). Suffering from repeated attacks of neuralgia, he gradually +formed the habit of taking laudanum; and by the time he had reached the +age of thirty, he drank about 8000 drops a-day. This unfortunate habit +injured his powers of work and weakened his will. In spite of it, +however, he wrote many hundreds of essays and articles in reviews and +magazines. In the latter part of his life, he lived either near or in +Edinburgh, and was always employed in dreaming (the opium increased his +power both of dreaming and of musing), or in studying or writing. He +died in Edinburgh in the year 1859.—Many of his essays were +written under the signature of “The English Opium-Eater.” Probably his +best works are <b>The Confessions of an Opium-Eater</b> and <b>The +Vision of Sudden Death</b>. The chief characteristics of his style are +majestic rhythm and elaborate eloquence. Some of his sentences are +almost as long and as sustained as those of Jeremy Taylor; while, in +many passages of reasoning that glows and brightens with strong passion +and emotion, he is not inferior to Burke. He possessed an enormous +vocabulary—in wealth of words and phrases he surpasses both +Macaulay and Carlyle; and he makes a very large—perhaps even an +excessive—use of Latin words. He is also very fond of using +metaphors, personifications, and other figures of speech. It may be said +without exaggeration that, next to Carlyle’s, De Quincey’s style is the +most stimulating and inspiriting that a young reader can find among +modern writers.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec27" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec27">27.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Thomas Carlyle</span> (<b>1795-1881</b>), a +great thinker, essayist, and historian, was born at Ecclefechan, in +Dumfriesshire, in the year 1795. He was educated at the burgh school of +Annan, and afterwards at the University of Edinburgh. Classics and the +higher mathematics were his favourite studies; and he was more +especially fond of astronomy. He was a teacher for some years after +leaving the University. For a few years after this he was engaged in +minor literary work; and translating from the German occupied a good +deal of his time. In 1826 he married Jane Welsh, a woman of +abilities only inferior to his own. His first original work was +<b>Sartor Resartus</b> (“The Tailor Repatched”), which appeared in 1834, +and excited a great deal of attention—a book which has proved +to many the electric spark which first woke into life their powers of +thought and reflection. From 1837 to 1840 he gave courses of lectures in +London; and these lectures were listened to by the best and most +thoughtful of the London people. The most striking series afterwards +appeared in the form of a book, under the title of <b>Heroes +<span class = "pagenum">350</span> +<!--png 168--> +and Hero-Worship</b>. Perhaps his most remarkable book—a book +that is unique in all English literature—is <b>The French +Revolution</b>, which appeared in 1837. In the year 1845, his +<b>Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches</b> were published, and drew after +them a large number of eager readers. In 1865 he completed the hardest +piece of work he had ever undertaken, his <b>History of +Frederick II., commonly called the Great</b>. This work is so +highly regarded in Germany as a truthful and painstaking history that +officers in the Prussian army are obliged to study it, as containing the +best account of the great battles of the Continent, the fields on which +they were fought, and the strategy that went to win them. One of the +crowning external honours of Carlyle’s life was his appointment as Lord +Rector of the University of Edinburgh in 1866; but at the very time that +he was delivering his famous and remarkable Installation Address, his +wife lay dying in London. This stroke brought terrible sorrow on the old +man; he never ceased to mourn for his loss, and to recall the virtues +and the beauties of character in his dead wife; “the light of his life,” +he said, “was quite gone out;” and he wrote very little after her death. +He himself died in London on the 5th of February 1881.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec28" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec28">28.</a> +<b>Carlyle’s Style.</b>—Carlyle was an author by profession, +a teacher of and prophet to his countrymen by his mission, and a +student of history by the deep interest he took in the life of man. He +was always more or less severe in his judgments—he has been called +“The Censor of the Age,”—because of the high ideal which he set up +for his own conduct and the conduct of others.—He shows in his +historic writings a splendour of imagery and a power of dramatic +grouping second only to Shakespeare’s. In command of words he is second +to no modern English writer. His style has been highly praised and also +energetically blamed. It is rugged, gnarled, disjointed, full of +irregular force—shot across by sudden lurid lights of +imagination—full of the most striking and indeed astonishing +epithets, and inspired by a certain grim Titanic force. His sentences +are often clumsily built. He himself said of them: “Perhaps not more +than nine-tenths stand straight on their legs; the remainder are in +quite angular attitudes; a few even sprawl out helplessly on all +sides, quite broken-backed and dismembered.” There is no modern writer +who possesses so large a profusion of figurative language. His works are +also full of the pithiest and most memorable sayings, such as the +following:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Genius is an immense capacity for taking pains.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Do the duty which lies nearest thee! Thy second duty will already have +become clearer.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +<span class = "pagenum">351</span> +<!--png 169--> +“History is a mighty drama, enacted upon the theatre of time, with suns +for lamps, and eternity for a background.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“All true work is sacred. In all true work, were it but true +hand-labour, there is something of divineness. Labour, wide as the +earth, has its summit in heaven.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Remember now and always that Life is no idle dream, but a solemn +reality based upon Eternity, and encompassed by Eternity. Find out your +task: stand to it: the night cometh when no man can work.”</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec29" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec29">29.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Thomas Babington Macaulay</span> +(<b>1800-1859</b>), the most popular of modern historians,—an +essayist, poet, statesman, and orator,—was born at Rothley Temple, +in Leicestershire, in the year 1800. His father was one of the greatest +advocates for the abolition of slavery; and received, after his death, +the honour of a monument in Westminster Abbey. Young Macaulay was +educated privately, and then at Trinity College, Cambridge. He studied +classics with great diligence and success, but detested +mathematics—a dislike the consequences of which he afterwards +deeply regretted. In 1824 he was elected Fellow of his college. His +first literary work was done for Knight’s ‘Quarterly Magazine’; but the +earliest piece of writing that brought him into notice was his famous +essay on <b>Milton</b>, written for the ‘Edinburgh Review’ in 1825. +Several years of his life were spent in India, as Member of the Supreme +Council; and, on his return, he entered Parliament, where he sat as M.P. +for Edinburgh. Several offices were filled by him, among others that of +Paymaster-General of the Forces, with a seat in the Cabinet of Lord John +Russell. In 1842 appeared his <b>Lays of Ancient Rome</b>, poems which +have found a very large number of readers. His greatest work is his +<b>History of England from the Accession of James II</b>. To enable +himself to write this history he read hundreds of books, Acts of +Parliament, thousands of pamphlets, tracts, broadsheets, ballads, and +other flying fragments of literature; and he never seems to have +forgotten anything he ever read. In. 1849 he was elected Lord Rector of +the University of Glasgow; and in 1857 was raised to the peerage with +the title of Baron Macaulay of Rothley—the first literary man who +was ever called to the House of Lords. He died at Holly Lodge, +Kensington, in the year 1859.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapVIII_sec30" id = "partIV_chapVIII_sec30">30.</a> +<b>Macaulay’s Style.</b>—One of the most remarkable qualities in +his style is the copiousness of expression, and the remarkable power of +putting the same statement in a large number of different ways. This +enormous command of expression corresponded with the extraordinary power +of his memory. At the age of eight he could repeat +<span class = "pagenum">352</span> +<!--png 170--> +the whole of Scott’s poem of “Marmion.” He was fond, at this early age, +of big words and learned English; and once, when he was asked by a lady +if his toothache was better, he replied, “Madam, the agony is abated!” +He knew the whole of Homer and of Milton by heart; and it was said with +perfect truth that, if Milton’s poetical works could have been lost, +Macaulay would have restored every line with complete exactness. Sydney +Smith said of him: “There are no limits to his knowledge, on small +subjects as on great; he is like a book in breeches.” His style has been +called “abrupt, pointed, and oratorical.” He is fond of the arts of +surprise—of antithesis—and of epigram. Sentences like these +are of frequent occurrence:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Cranmer could vindicate himself from the charge of being a heretic only +by arguments which made him out to be a murderer.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, +but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +Besides these elements of epigram and antithesis, there is a vast wealth +of illustration, brought from the stores of a memory which never seemed +to forget anything. He studied every sentence with the greatest care and +minuteness, and would often rewrite paragraphs and even whole chapters, +until he was satisfied with the variety and clearness of the expression. +“He could not rest,” it was said, “until the punctuation was correct to +a comma; until every paragraph concluded with a telling sentence, and +every sentence flowed like clear running water.” But, above all things, +he strove to make his style perfectly lucid and immediately +intelligible. He is fond of countless details; but he so masters and +marshals these details that each only serves to throw more light upon +the main statement. His prose may be described as pictorial prose. The +character of his mind was, like Burke’s, combative and oratorical; and +he writes with the greatest vigour and animation when he is attacking a +policy or an opinion.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">353</span> +<!--png 171--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "partIV_chapIX" id = "partIV_chapIX"> +CHAPTER IX.</a></h4> + +<h6>THE SECOND HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.</h6> + + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec1" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec1">1.</a> +<b>Science.</b>—The second half of the nineteenth century is +distinguished by the enormous advance made in science, and in the +application of science to the industries and occupations of the people. +Chemistry and electricity have more especially made enormous strides. +Within the last twenty years, chemistry has remade itself into a new +science; and electricity has taken a very large part of the labour of +mankind upon itself. It carries our messages round the world—under +the deepest seas, over the highest mountains, to every continent, and to +every great city; it lights up our streets and public halls; it drives +our engines and propels our trains. But the powers of imagination, the +great literary powers of poetry, and of eloquent prose,—especially +in the domain of fiction,—have not decreased because science has +grown. They have rather shown stronger developments. We must, at the +same time, remember that a great deal of the literary work published by +the writers who lived, or are still living, in the latter half of this +century, was written in the former half. Thus, Longfellow was a man of +forty-three, and Tennyson was forty-one, in the year 1850; and both had +by that time done a great deal of their best work. The same is true of +the prose-writers, Thackeray, Dickens, and Ruskin.</p> + +<p><a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec2" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec2">2.</a> +<b>Poets and Prose-Writers.</b>—The six greatest poets of the +latter half of this century are <b>Longfellow</b>, a distinguished +American poet, <b>Tennyson</b>, <b>Mrs Browning</b>, <b>Robert +Browning</b>, +<span class = "pagenum">354</span> +<!--png 172--> +<b>William Morris</b>, and <b>Matthew Arnold</b>. Of these, +Mrs Browning and Longfellow are dead—Mrs Browning having +died in 1861, and Longfellow in 1882.—The four greatest writers of +prose are <b>Thackeray</b>, <b>Dickens</b>, <b>George Eliot</b>, and +<b>Ruskin</b>. Of these, only Ruskin is alive.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec3" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec3">3.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Henry Wadsworth Longfellow</span> +(<b>1807-1882</b>), the most popular of American poets, and as popular +in Great Britain as he is in the United States, was born at Portland, +Maine, in the year 1807. He was educated at Bowdoin College, and took +his degree there in the year 1825. His profession was to have been the +law; but, from the first, the whole bent of his talents and character +was literary. At the extraordinary age of eighteen the professorship of +modern languages in his own college was offered to him; it was eagerly +accepted, and in order to qualify himself for his duties, he spent the +next four years in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. His first +important prose work was <b>Outre-Mer</b>, or a <b>Pilgrimage beyond the +Sea</b>. In 1837 he was offered the Chair of Modern Languages and +Literature in Harvard University, and he again paid a visit to +Europe—this time giving his thoughts and study chiefly to Germany, +Denmark, and Scandinavia. In 1839 he published the prose romance called +<b>Hyperion</b>. But it was not as a prose-writer that Longfellow gained +the secure place he has in the hearts of the English-speaking peoples; +it was as a poet. His first volume of poems was called <b>Voices of the +Night</b>, and appeared in 1841; Evangeline was published in 1848; and +<b>Hiawatha</b>, on which his poetical reputation is perhaps most firmly +based, in 1855. Many other volumes of poetry—both original and +translations—have also come from his pen; but these are the best. +The University of Oxford created him Doctor of Civil Law in 1869. He +died at Harvard in the year 1882. A man of singularly mild and +gentle character, of sweet and charming manners, his own lines may be +applied to him with perfect appropriateness—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“His gracious presence upon earth</p> +<p>Was as a fire upon a hearth;</p> +<p>As pleasant songs, at morning sung,</p> +<p>The words that dropped from his sweet tongue</p> +<p>Strengthened our hearts, or—heard at night—</p> +<p>Made all our slumbers soft and light.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec4" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec4">4.</a> +<b>Longfellow’s Style.</b>—In one of his prose works, Longfellow +himself says, “In character, in manners, in style, in all things, the +<span class = "pagenum">355</span> +<!--png 173--> +supreme excellence is simplicity.” This simplicity he steadily aimed at, +and in almost all his writings reached; and the result is the sweet +lucidity which is manifest in his best poems. His verse has been +characterised as “simple, musical, sincere, sympathetic, clear as +crystal, and pure as snow.” He has written in a great variety of +measures—in more, perhaps, than have been employed by Tennyson +himself. His “Evangeline” is written in a kind of dactylic hexameter, +which does not always scan, but which is almost always musical and +impressive—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Fair was she and young, when in hope began the long journey;</p> +<p>Faded was she and old, when in disappointment it ended.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +The “Hiawatha,” again, is written in a trochaic measure—each verse +containing four trochees—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“‘Farewell!’ said he,<ins class = "correction" +title = "text has double quote for single"> ‘</ins>Minnehaha,</p> +<p>Farewell, O my laughing water!</p> +<p>All my heart is buried with you,</p> +<p>All´ my | thou´ghts go | on´ward | wi´th you!’”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +He is always careful and painstaking with his rhythm and with the +cadence of his verse. It may be said with truth that Longfellow has +taught more people to love poetry than any other English writer, however +great.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec5" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec5">5.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Alfred Tennyson</span>, a great English poet, +who has written beautiful poetry for more than fifty years, was born at +Somersby, in Lincolnshire, in the year 1809. He is the youngest of three +brothers, all of whom are poets. He was educated at Cambridge, and some +of his poems have shown, in a striking light, the forgotten beauty of +the fens and flats of Cambridge and Lincolnshire. In 1829 he obtained +the Chancellor’s medal for a poem on “Timbuctoo.” In 1830 he published +his first volume, with the title of <b>Poems chiefly +Lyrical</b>—a volume which contained, among other beautiful +verses, the “Recollections of the Arabian Nights” and “The Dying Swan.” +In 1833 he issued another volume, called simply <b>Poems</b>; and this +contained the exquisite poems entitled “The Miller’s Daughter” and “The +Lotos-Eaters.” <b>The Princess</b>, a poem as remarkable for its +striking thoughts as for its perfection of language, appeared in 1847. +The <b>In Memoriam</b>, a long series of short poems in memory of +his dear friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, the son of Hallam the historian, +was published in the year 1850. When Wordsworth died in 1850, Tennyson +was appointed to the office of Poet-Laureate. This office, from the time +when Dryden was forced to resign it in 1689, to the +<span class = "pagenum">356</span> +<!--png 174--> +time when Southey accepted it in 1813, had always been held by third or +fourth rate writers; in the present day it is held by the man who has +done the largest amount of the best poetical work. <b>The Idylls of the +King</b> appeared in 1859. This series of poems—perhaps his +greatest—contains the stories of “Arthur and the Knights of the +Round Table.” Many other volumes of poems have been given by him to the +world. In his old age he has taken to the writing of ballads and dramas. +His ballad of <b>The Revenge</b> is one of the noblest and most vigorous +poems that England has ever seen. The dramas of <b>Harold</b>, <b>Queen +Mary</b>, and <b>Becket</b>, are perhaps his best; and the last was +written when the poet had reached the age of seventy-four. In the year +1882 he was created Baron Tennyson, and called to the House of +Peers.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec6" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec6">6.</a> +<b>Tennyson’s Style.</b>—Tennyson has been to the last two +generations of Englishmen the national teacher of poetry. He has tried +many new measures; he has ventured on many new rhythms; and he has +succeeded in them all. He is at home equally in the slowest, most +tranquil, and most meditative of rhythms, and in the rapidest and most +impulsive. Let us look at the following lines as an example of the +first. The poem is written on a woman who is dying of a lingering +disease—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Fair is her cottage in its place,</p> +<p class = "two"> +Where yon broad water sweetly slowly glides:</p> +<p>It sees itself from thatch to base</p> +<p class = "two"> +Dream in the sliding tides.</p> +<p class = "stanza"> +“And fairer she: but, ah! how soon to die!</p> +<p class = "two"> +Her quiet dream of life this hour may cease:</p> +<p>Her peaceful being slowly passes by</p> +<p class = "two"> +To some more perfect peace.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +The very next poem, “The Sailor Boy,” in the same volume, +is—though written in exactly the same measure—driven on with +the most rapid march and vigorous rhythm—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“He rose at dawn and, fired with hope,</p> +<p class = "two"> +Shot o’er the seething harbour-bar,</p> +<p>And reached the ship and caught the rope</p> +<p class = "two"> +And whistled to the morning-star.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +And this is a striking and prominent characteristic of all Tennyson’s +poetry. Everywhere the sound is made to be “an echo to the sense”; the +style is in perfect keeping with the matter. In the “Lotos-Eaters,” we +have the sense of complete indolence and deep repose in—</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">357</span> +<!--png 175--> +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“A land of streams! Some, like a downward smoke,</p> +<p>Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +In the “Boädicea,” we have the rush and the shock of battle, the closing +of legions, the hurtle of arms and the clash of armed men—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Phantom sound of blows descending, moan of an enemy massacred,</p> +<p>Phantom wail of women and children, multitudinous agonies.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +Many of Tennyson’s sweetest and most pathetic lines have gone right into +the heart of the nation, such as—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“But oh for the touch of a vanished hand,</p> +<p>And the sound of a voice that is still!”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +All his language is highly polished, ornate, rich—sometimes +Spenserian in luxuriant imagery and sweet music, sometimes even Homeric +in massiveness and severe simplicity. Thus, in the “Morte d’Arthur,” he +speaks of the knight walking to the lake as—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Clothed with his breath, and looking as he walked,</p> +<p>Larger than human on the frozen hills.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +Many of his pithy lines have taken root in the memory of the English +people, such as these—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Tis better to have loved and lost,</p> +<p>Than never to have loved at all.”</p> +</div> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“For words, like Nature, half reveal,</p> +<p>And half conceal, the soul within.”</p> +</div> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Kind hearts are more than coronets,</p> +<p>And simple faith than Norman blood.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec7" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec7">7.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Elizabeth Barrett Barrett</span>, afterwards +<span class = "smallcaps">Mrs Browning</span>, the greatest poetess +of this century, was born in London in the year 1809. She wrote verses +“at the age of eight—and earlier,” she says; and her first volume +of poems was published when she was seventeen. When still a girl, she +broke a blood-vessel upon the lungs, was ordered to a warmer climate +than that of London; and her brother, whom she loved very dearly, took +her down to Torquay. There a terrible tragedy was enacted before her +eyes. One day the weather and the water looked very tempting; her +brother took a sailing-boat for a short cruise in Torbay; the boat went +down in front of the house, and in view of his sister; the body was +never recovered. This sad event completely destroyed her already weak +health; she returned to London, and spent several years in a darkened +room. Here she “read almost every book worth reading in +<span class = "pagenum">358</span> +<!--png 176--> +almost every language, and gave herself heart and soul to that poetry of +which she seemed born to be the priestess.” This way of life lasted for +many years: and, in the course of it, she published several volumes of +noble verse. In 1846 she married Robert Browning, also a great poet. In +1856 she brought out <b>Aurora Leigh</b>, her longest, and probably also +her greatest, poem. Mr Ruskin called it “the greatest poem which +the century has produced in any language;” but this is going too +far.—Mrs Browning will probably be longest remembered by her +incomparable sonnets and by her lyrics, which are full of pathos and +passion. Perhaps her two finest poems in this kind are the <b>Cry of the +Children</b> and <b>Cowper’s Grave</b>. All her poems show an enormous +power of eloquent, penetrating, and picturesque language; and many of +them are melodious with a rich and wonderful music. She died in +1861.</p> + +<p class = "mynote"> +Transcriber’s Note:<br> +The above paragraph is given as printed. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was +born Elizabeth Barrett Moulton, later Moulton-Barrett, in 1806. Her year +of birth was universally given as 1809 until some time after Robert +Browning’s death. Her brother’s fatal accident took place in 1840. +</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec8" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec8">8.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Robert Browning</span>, the most daring and +original poet of the century, was born in Camberwell, a southern +suburb of London, in the year 1812. He was privately educated. In 1836 +he published his first poem <b>Paracelsus</b>, which many wondered at, +but few read. It was the story of a man who had lost his way in the +mazes of thought about life,—about its why and +wherefore,—about this world and the next,—about himself and +his relations to God and his fellow-men. Mr Browning has written +many plays, but they are more fit for reading in the study than for +acting on the stage. His greatest work is <b>The Ring and the Book</b>; +and it is most probably by this that his name will live in future ages. +Of his minor poems, the best known and most popular is <b>The Pied Piper +of Hamelin</b>—a poem which is a great favourite with all +young people, from the picturesqueness and vigour of the verse. The most +deeply pathetic of his minor poems is <b>Evelyn Hope</b>:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“So, hush,—I will give you this leaf to keep—</p> +<p class = "two"> +See, I shut it inside the sweet cold hand,</p> +<p>There! that is our secret! go to sleep;</p> +<p class = "two"> +You will wake, and remember, and understand.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec9" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec9">9.</a> +<b>Browning’s Style.</b>—Browning’s language is almost always very +hard to understand; but the meaning, when we have got at it, is well +worth all the trouble that may have been taken to reach it. His poems +are more full of thought and more rich in experience than those of any +other English writer except Shakspeare. The thoughts and emotions which +throng his mind at the same moment so crowd upon and jostle each other, +become so inextricably intermingled, that it is very often extremely +difficult for us to make out +<span class = "pagenum">359</span> +<!--png 177--> +any meaning at all. Then many of his thoughts are so subtle and so +profound that they cannot easily be drawn up from the depths in which +they lie. No man can write with greater directness, greater lyric +vigour, fire, and impulse, than Browning when he chooses—write +more clearly and forcibly about such subjects as love and war; but it is +very seldom that he does choose. The infinite complexity of human life +and its manifold experiences have seized and imprisoned his imagination; +and it is not often that he speaks in a clear, free voice.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec10" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec10">10.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Matthew Arnold</span>, one of the finest poets +and noblest stylists of the age, was born at Laleham, near Staines, on +the Thames, in the year 1822. He is the eldest son of the great +Dr Arnold, the famous Head-master of Rugby. He was educated at +Winchester and Rugby, from which latter school he proceeded to Balliol +College, Oxford. The Newdigate prize for English verse was won by him in +1843—the subject of his poem being <b>Cromwell</b>. His first +volume of poems was published in 1848. In the year 1851 he was appointed +one of H.M. Inspectors of Schools; and he held that office up to the +year 1885. In 1857 he was elected Professor of Poetry in the University +of Oxford. In 1868 appeared a new volume with the simple title of <b>New +Poems</b>; and, since then, he has produced a large number of books, +mostly in prose. He is no less famous as a critic than as a poet; and +his prose is singularly beautiful and musical.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec11" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec11">11.</a> +<b>Arnold’s Style.</b>—The chief qualities of his verse are +clearness, simplicity, strong directness, noble and musical rhythm, and +a certain intense calm. His lines on <b>Morality</b> give a good idea of +his style:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“We cannot kindle when we will</p> +<p>The fire that in the heart resides:</p> +<p>The spirit bloweth and is still</p> +<p>In mystery our soul abides:</p> +<p class = "three"> +But tasks in hours of insight willed</p> +<p class = "three"> +Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.</p> +<p class = "stanza"> +With aching hands and bleeding feet</p> +<p>We dig and heap, lay stone on stone;</p> +<p>We bear the burden and the heat</p> +<p>Of the long day, and wish ’twere done.</p> +<p class = "three"> +Not till the hours of light return,</p> +<p class = "three"> +All we have built do we discern.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +His finest poem in blank verse is his <b>Sohrab and +Rustum</b>—a tale +<span class = "pagenum">360</span> +<!--png 178--> +of the Tartar wastes. One of his noblest poems, called <b>Rugby +Chapel</b>, describes the strong and elevated character of his father, +the Head-master of Rugby.—His prose is remarkable for its +lucidity, its pleasant and almost conversational rhythm, and its +perfection of language.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec12" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec12">12.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">William Morris</span>, a great narrative poet, +was born near London in the year 1834. He was educated at Marlborough +and at Exeter College, Oxford. In 1858 appeared his first volume of +poems. In 1863 he began a business for the production of artistic +wall-paper, stained glass, and furniture; he has a shop for the sale of +these works of art in Oxford Street, London; and he devotes most of his +time to drawing and designing for artistic manufacturers. His first +poem, <b>The Life and Death of Jason</b>, appeared in 1867; and his +magnificent series of narrative poems—<b>The Earthly +Paradise</b>—was published in the years from 1868 and 1870. ‘The +Earthly Paradise’ consists of twenty-four tales in verse, set in a +framework much like that of Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales.’ The poetic +power in these tales is second only to that of Chaucer; and Morris has +always acknowledged himself to be a pupil of Chaucer’s—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "halfline"> +“Thou, my Master still,</p> +<p>Whatever feet have climbed Parnassus’ hill.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +Mr Morris has also translated the Æneid of Virgil, and several +works from the Icelandic.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec13" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec13">13.</a> +<b>Morris’s Style.</b>—Clearness, strength, music, +picturesqueness, and easy flow, are the chief characteristics of +Morris’s style. Of the month of April he says:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“O fair midspring, besung so oft and oft,</p> +<p>How can I praise thy loveliness enow?</p> +<p>Thy sun that burns not, and thy breezes soft</p> +<p>That o’er the blossoms of the orchard blow,</p> +<p>The thousand things that ’neath the young leaves grow</p> +<p>The hopes and chances of the growing year,</p> +<p>Winter forgotten long, and summer near.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +His pictorial power—the power of bringing a person or a scene +fully and adequately before one’s eyes by the aid of words +alone—is as great as that of Chaucer. The following is his picture +of Edward III. in middle age:—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“Broad-browed he was, hook-nosed, with wide grey eyes</p> +<p>No longer eager for the coming prize,</p> +<span class = "pagenum">361</span> +<!--png 179--> +<p>But keen and steadfast: many an ageing line,</p> +<p>Half-hidden by his sweeping beard and fine,</p> +<p>Ploughed his thin cheeks; his hair was more than grey,</p> +<p>And like to one he seemed whose better day</p> +<p>Is over to himself, though foolish fame</p> +<p>Shouts louder year by year his empty name.</p> +<p>Unarmed he was, nor clad upon that morn</p> +<p>Much like a king: an ivory hunting-horn</p> +<p>Was slung about him, rich with gems and gold,</p> +<p>And a great white ger-falcon did he hold</p> +<p>Upon his fist; before his feet there sat</p> +<p>A scrivener making notes of this and that</p> +<p>As the King bade him, and behind his chair</p> +<p>His captains stood in armour rich and fair.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "author"> +Morris’s stores of language are as rich as Spenser’s; and he has much +the same copious and musical flow of poetic words and phrases.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec14" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec14">14.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">William Makepeace Thackeray</span> +(<b>1811-1863</b>), one of the most original of English novelists, was +born at Calcutta in the year 1811. The son of a gentleman high in the +civil service of the East India Company, he was sent to England to be +educated, and was some years at Charterhouse School, where one of his +schoolfellows was Alfred Tennyson. He then went on to the University of +Cambridge, which he left without taking a degree. Painting was the +profession that he at first chose; and he studied art both in France and +Germany. At the age of twenty-nine, however, he discovered that he was +on a false tack, gave up painting, and took to literary work as his true +field. He contributed many pleasant articles to ‘Fraser’s Magazine,’ +under the name of <b>Michael Angelo Titmarsh</b>; and one of his most +beautiful and most pathetic stories, <b>The Great Hoggarty Diamond</b>, +was also written under this name. He did not, however, take his true +place as an English novelist of the first rank until the year 1847, when +he published his first serial novel, <b>Vanity Fair</b>. Readers now +began everywhere to class him with Charles Dickens, and even above him. +His most beautiful work is perhaps <b>The Newcomes</b>; but the work +which exhibits most fully the wonderful power of his art and his +intimate knowledge of the spirit and the details of our older English +life is <b>The History of Henry Esmond</b>—a work written in +the style and language of the days of Queen Anne, and as beautiful as +anything ever done by Addison himself. He died in the year 1863.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec15" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec15">15.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Charles Dickens</span> (<b>1812-1870</b>), the +most popular writer of +<span class = "pagenum">362</span> +<!--png 180--> +this century, was born at Landport, Portsmouth, in the year 1812. His +delicate constitution debarred him from mixing in boyish sports, and +very early made him a great reader. There was a little garret in his +father’s house where a small collection of books was kept; and, hidden +away in this room, young Charles devoured such books as the ‘Vicar of +Wakefield,’ ‘Robinson Crusoe,’ and many other famous English books. This +was in Chatham. The family next removed to London, where the father was +thrown into prison for debt. The little boy, weakly and sensitive, was +now sent to work in a blacking manufactory at six shillings a-week, his +duty being to cover the blacking-pots with paper. “No words can +express,” he says, “the secret agony of my soul, as I compared these my +everyday associates with those of my happier childhood, and felt my +early hopes of growing up to be a learned and distinguished man crushed +in my breast.... The misery it was to my young heart to believe that, +day by day, what I had learned, and thought, and delighted in, and +raised my fancy and my emulation up by, was passing away from me, never +to be brought back any more, cannot be written.” When his father’s +affairs took a turn for the better, he was sent to school; but it was to +a school where “the boys trained white mice much better than the master +trained the boys.” In fact, his true education consisted in his eager +perusal of a large number of miscellaneous books. When he came to think +of what he should do in the world, the profession of reporter took his +fancy; and, by the time he was nineteen, he had made himself the +quickest and most accurate—that is, the best reporter in the +Gallery of the House of Commons. His first work, <b>Sketches by Boz</b>, +was published in 1836. In 1837 appeared the <b>Pickwick Papers</b>; and +this work at once lifted Dickens into the foremost rank as a popular +writer of fiction. From this time he was almost constantly engaged in +writing novels. His <b>Oliver Twist</b> and <b>David Copperfield</b> +contain reminiscences of his own life; and perhaps the latter is his +most powerful work. “Like many fond parents,” he wrote, “I have in +my heart of hearts a favourite child; and his name is <i>David +Copperfield</i>.” He lived with all the strength of his heart and soul +in the creations of his imagination and fancy while he was writing about +them; he says himself, “No one can ever believe this narrative, in the +reading, more than I believed it in the writing;” and each novel, as he +wrote it, made him older and leaner. Great knowledge of the lives of the +poor, and great sympathy with them, were among his most striking gifts; +and Sir Arthur Helps goes so far as to say, “I doubt much whether +there has ever been a writer of fiction who took such a real and living +<span class = "pagenum">363</span> +<!--png 181--> +interest in the world about him.” He died in the year 1870, and was +buried in Westminster Abbey.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec16" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec16">16.</a> +<b>Dickens’s Style.</b>—His style is easy, flowing, vigorous, +picturesque, and humorous; his power of language is very great; and, +when he is writing under the influence of strong passion, it rises into +a pure and noble eloquence. The scenery—the external circumstances +of his characters, are steeped in the same colours as the characters +themselves; everything he touches seems to be filled with life and to +speak—to look happy or sorrowful,—to reflect the feelings of +the persons. His comic and humorous powers are very great; but his +tragic power is also enormous—his power of depicting the fiercest +passions that tear the human breast,—avarice, hate, fear, revenge, +remorse. The great American statesman, Daniel Webster, said that Dickens +had done more to better the condition of the English poor than all the +statesmen Great Britain had ever sent into the English Parliament.</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec17" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec17">17.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">John Ruskin</span>, the greatest living master +of English prose, an art-critic and thinker, was born in London in the +year 1819. In his father’s house he was accustomed “to no other prospect +than that of the brick walls over the way; he had no brothers, nor +sisters, nor companions.” To his London birth he ascribes the great +charm that the beauties of nature had for him from his boyhood: he felt +the contrast between town and country, and saw what no country-bred +child could have seen in sights that were usual to him from his infancy. +He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and gained the Newdigate prize +for poetry in 1839. He at first devoted himself to painting; but his +true and strongest genius lay in the direction of literature. In 1843 +appeared the first volume of his <b>Modern Painters</b>, which is +perhaps his greatest work; and the four other volumes were published +between that date and the year 1860. In this work he discusses the +qualities and the merits of the greatest painters of the English, the +Italian, and other schools. In 1851 he produced a charming fairy tale, +‘The King of the Golden River, or the Black Brothers.’ He has written on +architecture also, on political economy, and on many other social +subjects. He is the founder of a society called “The St George’s +Guild,” the purpose of which is to spread abroad sound notions of what +true life and true art are, and especially to make the life of the poor +more endurable and better worth living.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec18" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec18">18.</a> +<b>Ruskin’s Style.</b>—A glowing eloquence, a splendid and +full-flowing +<span class = "pagenum">364</span> +<!--png 182--> +music, wealth of phrase, aptness of epithet, opulence of ideas—all +these qualities characterise the prose style of Mr Ruskin. His +similes are daring, but always true. Speaking of the countless statues +that fill the innumerable niches of the cathedral of Milan, he says that +“it is as though a flight of angels had alighted there and been struck +to marble.” His writings are full of the wisest sayings put into the +most musical and beautiful language. Here are a few:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Every act, every impulse, of virtue and vice, affects in any creature, +face, voice, nervous power, and vigour and harmony of invention, at +once. Perseverance in rightness of human conduct renders, after a +certain number of generations, human art possible; every sin clouds it, +be it ever so little a one; and persistent vicious living and following +of pleasure render, after a certain number of generations, all art +impossible.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“In mortals, there is a care for trifles, which proceeds from love and +conscience, and is most holy; and a care for trifles, which comes of +idleness and frivolity, and is most base. And so, also, there is a +gravity proceeding from dulness and mere incapability of enjoyment, +which is most base.”</p> + +<p class = "author"> +His power of painting in words is incomparably greater than that of any +other English author: he almost infuses colour into his words and +phrases, so full are they of pictorial power. It would be impossible to +give any adequate idea of this power here; but a few lines may suffice +for the present:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“The noonday sun came slanting down the rocky slopes of La Riccia, and +its masses of enlarged and tall foliage, whose autumnal tints were mixed +with the wet verdure of a thousand evergreens, were penetrated with it +as with rain. I cannot call it colour; it was conflagration. +Purple, and crimson, and scarlet, like the curtains of God’s tabernacle, +the rejoicing trees sank into the valley in showers of light, every +separate leaf quivered with buoyant and burning life; each, as it turned +to reflect or to transmit the sunbeam, first a torch and then an +emerald.”</p> + +<p class = "author space"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec19" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec19">19.</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">George Eliot</span> (the literary name for +<b>Marian Evans, 1819-1880</b>), one of our greatest writers, was born +in Warwickshire in the year 1819. She was well and carefully educated; +and her own serious and studious character made her a careful thinker +and a most diligent reader. For some time the famous Herbert Spencer was +her tutor; and under his care her mind developed with surprising +rapidity. She taught herself German, French, Italian—studied the +best works in the literature of these languages; and she was also fairly +mistress of Greek and Latin. Besides all these, she was an accomplished +musician.—She was for some time assistant-editor of the +‘Westminster Review.’ The first of her works which called the +<span class = "pagenum">365</span> +<!--png 183--> +attention of the public to her astonishing skill and power as a novelist +was her <b>Scenes of Clerical Life</b>. Her most popular novel, <b>Adam +Bede</b>, appeared in 1859; <b>Romola</b> in 1863; and +<b>Middlemarch</b> in 1872. She has also written a good deal of poetry, +among other volumes that entitled <b>The Legend of Jubal, and other +Poems</b>. One of her best poems is <b>The Spanish Gypsy</b>. She died +in the year 1880.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<a name = "partIV_chapIX_sec20" id = "partIV_chapIX_sec20">20.</a> +<b>George Eliot’s Style.</b>—Her style is everywhere pure and +strong, of the best and most vigorous English, not only broad in its +power, but often intense in its description of character and situation, +and always singularly adequate to the thought. Probably no novelist knew +the English character—especially in the Midlands—so well as +she, or could analyse it with so much subtlety and truth. She is +entirely mistress of the country dialects. In humour, pathos, knowledge +of character, power of putting a portrait firmly upon the canvas, no +writer surpasses her, and few come near her. Her power is sometimes +almost Shakespearian. Like Shakespeare, she gives us a large number of +wise sayings, expressed in the pithiest language. The following are a +few:—</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“It is easy finding reasons why other people should be patient.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Genius, at first, is little more than a great capacity for receiving +discipline.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, half +owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in +unvisited tombs.”</p> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“Nature never makes men who are at once energetically sympathetic and +minutely calculating.”</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“To the far woods he wandered, listening,</p> +<p>And heard the birds their little stories sing</p> +<p>In notes whose rise and fall seem melted speech—</p> +<p>Melted with tears, smiles, glances—that can reach</p> +<p>More quickly through our frame’s deep-winding night,</p> +<p>And without thought raise thought’s best fruit, delight.”</p> +</div> + +</div> <!--end div maintext--> + +<!--png 184--> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<span class = "pagenum">367</span> +<!--png 185--> + +<h3><a name = "partIV_tables" id = "partIV_tables"> +TABLES OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.</a></h3> + +<p class = "mynote"> +In the printed book, this table covered 14 (fourteen) pages, with the +header repeated at the top of each page. The column headed “Years” was +labeled “Centuries” on the earlier pages, changing to “Decades” on the +page beginning 1560.</p> + +<table class = "longtable" summary = "table of authors and dates"> +<col> +<col class = "leftline" width = "35%"> +<col class = "leftline"> +<col class = "leftline"> +<tr class = "topline"> +<th> +<span class = "smallcaps">Writers.</span> +</th> +<th> +<span class = "smallcaps">Works.</span> +</th> +<th abbr = "events"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Contemporary Events.</span> +</th> +<th> +<span class = "smallcaps">Years.</span> +</th> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td><p class = "name">(<i>Author unknown.</i>)</p></td> +<td><p><b>Beowulf</b> (brought over by Saxons and Angles from the +Continent).</p></td> +<td></td> +<td class = "headline"> +500</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">CAEDMON.</p> +<p>A secular monk of Whitby.</p> +<p>Died about <b>680</b>.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Poems</b> on the Creation and other subjects taken from the +Old and the New Testament.</p></td> +<td><p>Edwin (of Deira), King of the Angles, baptised 627.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +600</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">BAEDA.</p> +<p class = "dates">672-735.</p> +<p>“The Venerable Bede,” a monk of Jarrow-on-Tyne.</p></td> +<td><p>An <b>Ecclesiastical History</b> in Latin. A translation of +<b>St John’s Gospel</b> into English (lost).</p></td> +<td><p>First landing of the Danes, 787.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +700</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">ALFRED THE GREAT.</p> +<p class = "dates">849-901.</p> +<p>King; translator; prose-writer.</p></td> +<td><p>Translated into the English of Wessex, Bede’s Ecclesiastical +History and other Latin works. Is said to have begun the +<b>Anglo-Saxon</b> <b>Chronicle</b>.</p></td> +<td><p>The University of Oxford is said to have been founded in this +reign.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +800</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p>Compiled by monks in various monasteries.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</b>, 875-1154</p></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">ASSER.</p> +<p>Bishop of Sherborne. Died <b>910</b>.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Life of King Alfred</b>.</p></td> +<td></td> +<td class = "headline"> +900</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">(<i>Author unknown.</i>)</p></td> +<td><p>A poem entitled <b>The Grave</b>.</p></td> +<td></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1000</td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "topline"> +<td><p class = "name">LAYAMON.</p> +<p class = "dates">1150-1210.</p> +<p>A priest of Ernley-on-Severn.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Brut</b> (1205), a poem on Brutus, the supposed first +settler in Britain.</p></td> +<td><p>John ascended the throne in 1199.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1100</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">368</span> +<!--png 186--> +<p class = "name">ORM <span class = "smallroman">OR</span> ORMIN.</p> +<p class = "dates">1187-1237.</p> +<p>A canon of the Order of St Augustine.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Ormulum</b> (1215), a set of religious services in +metre.</p></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER.</p> +<p class = "dates">1255-1307.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Chronicle of England</b> in rhyme (1297).</p></td> +<td><p>Magna Charta, 1215.</p> +<p>Henry III. ascends the throne, 1216.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1200</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">ROBERT OF BRUNNE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1272-1340.</p> +<p>(Robert Manning of Brun.)</p></td> +<td><p><b>Chronicle of England</b> in rhyme; <i>Handlyng Sinne</i> +(1303).</p></td> +<td><p>University of Cambridge founded, 1231.</p> +<p>Edward I. ascends the throne, 1272.</p> +<p>Conquest of Wales, 1284.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1300-1372.</p> +<p>Physician; traveller; prose-writer.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Voyaige and Travaile</b>. Travels to Jerusalem, India, and +other countries, written in Latin French and English (1356). The first +writer “in formed English.”</p></td> +<td><p>Edward II ascends the throne, 1307.</p> +<p>Battle of Bannockburn, 1314.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1300</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">JOHN BARBOUR.</p> +<p class = "dates">1316-1396.</p> +<p>Archdeacon of Aberdeen.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Bruce</b> (1377), a poem written in the Northern English +or “Scottish” dialect.</p></td> +<td><p>Edward III. ascends the throne, 1327.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">JOHN WYCLIF.</p> +<p class = "dates">1324-1384.</p> +<p>Vicar of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire.</p></td> +<td><p>Translation of the <b>Bible</b> from the Latin version; and many +tracts and pamphlets on Church reform.</p></td> +<td><p>Hundred Years’ War begins, 1338.</p> +<p>Battle of Crecy, 1346.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1350</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">JOHN GOWER.</p> +<p class = "dates">1325-1408.</p> +<p>A country gentleman of Kent; probably also a lawyer.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Vox Clamantis</b>, <b>Confessio</b> <b>Amantis</b>, +<b>Speculum Meditantis</b> (1393); and poems in French and +Latin.</p></td> +<td> +<!--begin embedded table--> +<table summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "middle">The Black Death.</td> +<td class = "leftline">1349.<br> +1361.<br> +1369.</td> +</tr> +</table> +<!--end embedded table--> +</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">WILLIAM LANGLANDE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1332-1400.</p> +<p>Born in Shropshire.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Vision concerning Piers the</b> <b>Plowman</b>—three +editions (1362-78).</p></td> +<td><p>Battle of Poitiers, 1356.</p> +<p>First law-pleadings in English, 1362.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">369</span> +<!--png 187--> +<p class = "name">GEOFFREY CHAUCER.</p> +<p class = "dates">1340-1400.</p> +<p>Poet; courtier; soldier; diplomatist; Comptroller of the Customs: +Clerk of the King’s Works; M.P.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Canterbury Tales</b> (1384-98), of which the best is the +<b>Knightes Tale</b>. Dryden called him “a perpetual fountain of good +sense.”</p></td> +<td><p>Richard II. ascends the throne, 1377.</p> +<p>Wat Tyler’s insurrection, 1381.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">JAMES I. OF SCOTLAND.</p> +<p class = "dates">1394-1437.</p> +<p>Prisoner in England, and educated there, in 1405.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The King’s Quair</b> (= <i>Book</i>), a poem in the style +of Chaucer.</p></td> +<td><p>Henry IV. ascends the throne, 1399.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">WILLIAM CAXTON.</p> +<p class = "dates">1422-1492.</p> +<p>Mercer; printer; translator; prose-writer.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Game and Playe of the Chesse</b> (1474)—the first +book printed in England; <b>Lives of the Fathers</b>, “finished on the +last day of his life;” and many other works.</p></td> +<td><p>Henry V. ascends the throne, 1415.</p> +<p>Battle of Agincourt, 1415.</p> +<p>Henry VI. ascends the throne, 1422.</p> +<p>Invention of Printing, 1438-45.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1400</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">WILLIAM DUNBAR.</p> +<p class = "dates">1450-1530.</p> +<p>Franciscan or Grey Friar; Secretary to a Scotch embassy to +France.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Golden Terge</b> (1501); the <b>Dance of the Seven Deadly +Sins</b> (1507); and other poems. He has been called “the Chaucer of +Scotland.”</p></td> +<td><p>Jack Cade’s insurrection, 1450.</p> +<p>End of the Hundred Years’ War, 1453.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1450</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">GAWAIN DOUGLAS.</p> +<p class = "dates">1474-1522.</p> +<p>Bishop of Dunkeld, in Perthshire.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Palace of Honour</b> (1501); translation of <b>Virgil’s +Æneid</b> (1513)—the first translation of any Latin author into +verse. Douglas wrote in Northern English.</p></td> +<td><p>Wars of the Roses, 1455-86.</p> +<p>Edward IV. ascends the throne, 1461.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">WILLIAM TYNDALE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1477-1536.</p> +<p>Student of theology; translator. Burnt at Antwerp for +heresy.</p></td> +<td><p><b>New Testament</b> translated (1525-34); the <b>Five Books of +Moses</b> translated (1530). This translation is the basis of the +Authorised Version.</p></td> +<td><p>Edward V. king, 1483.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">370</span> +<!--png 188--> +<p class = "name">SIR THOMAS MORE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1480-1535.</p> +<p>Lord High Chancellor; writer on social topics; historian.</p></td> +<td><p><b>History of King Edward V., and of his brother, and of Richard +III.</b> (1513); <b>Utopia</b> (= “The Land of Nowhere”), written +in Latin; and other prose works.</p></td> +<td><p>Richard III. ascends the throne, 1483.</p> +<p>Battle of Bosworth, 1485.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">SIR DAVID LYNDESAY.</p> +<p class = "dates">1490-1556.</p> +<p>Tutor of Prince James of Scotland (James V.); “Lord Lyon +King-at-Arms;” poet.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Lyndesay’s Dream</b> (1528); <b>The</b> <b>Complaint</b> +(1529); <b>A Satire</b> <b>of the Three Estates</b> (1535)—a +“morality-play.”</p></td> +<td><p>Henry VII. ascends the throne, 1485.</p> +<p>Greek began to be taught in England about 1497.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">ROGER ASCHAM.</p> +<p class = "dates">1515-1568.</p> +<p>Lecturer on Greek at Cambridge; tutor to Edward VI., Queen Elizabeth, +and Lady Jane Grey.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Toxophilus</b> (1544), a treatise on shooting with the +bow; <b>The Scholemastre</b> (1570). “Ascham is plain and strong in his +style, but without grace or warmth.”</p></td> +<td><p>Henry VIII. ascends the throne, 1509.</p> +<p>Battle of Flodden, 1513.</p> +<p>Wolsey Cardinal and Lord High Chancellor, 1515.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1500</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">JOHN FOXE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1517-1587.</p> +<p>An English clergyman. Corrector for the press at Basle; Prebendary of +Salisbury Cathedral; prose-writer.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Book of Martyrs</b> (1563), an account of the chief +Protestant martyrs.</p></td> +<td><p>Sir Thomas More first layman who was Lord High Chancellor, +1529.</p> +<p>Reformation in England begins about 1534.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">EDMUND SPENSER.</p> +<p class = "dates">1552-1599.</p> +<p>Secretary to Viceroy of Ireland; political writer; poet.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Shepheard’s Calendar</b> (1579): <b>Faerie Queene</b>, in six +books (1590-96).</p></td> +<td><p>Edward VI. ascends the throne, 1547.</p> +<p>Mary Tudor ascends the throne, 1553.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">SIR WALTER RALEIGH.</p> +<p class = "dates">1552-1618.</p> +<p>Courtier; statesman; sailor; coloniser; historian.</p></td> +<td><p><b>History of the World</b> (1614), written during the author’s +imprisonment in the Tower of London.</p></td> +<td><p>Cranmer burnt 1556.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1550</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">RICHARD HOOKER.</p> +<p class = "dates">1553-1600.</p> +<p>English clergyman; Master of the Temple; Rector of Boscombe, in the +diocese of Salisbury.</p> +</td> +<td><p><b>Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity</b> (1594). This book is an +eloquent defence of the Church of England. The writer, from his +excellent judgment, is generally called “the judicious Hooker.”</p></td> +<td><p>Elizabeth ascends the throne, 1558.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">371</span> +<!--png 189--> +<p class = "name">SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.</p> +<p class = "dates">1554-1586.</p> +<p>Courtier; general; romance-writer.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Arcadia</b>, a romance (1580). <b>Defence of Poesie</b>, +published after his death (in 1595). <b>Sonnets.</b></p></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">FRANCIS BACON.</p> +<p class = "dates">1561-1626.</p> +<p>Viscount St Albans; Lord High Chancellor of England; lawyer; +philosopher; essayist.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Essays</b> (1597); <b>Advancement of Learning</b> (1605); +<b>Novum Organum</b> (1620); and other works on methods of inquiry into +nature.</p></td> +<td><p>Hawkins begins slave trade in 1562.</p> +<p>Rizzio murdered, 1566.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1560</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1564-1616.</p> +<p>Actor; owner of theatre; play-writer; poet. Born and died at +Stratford-on-Avon.</p></td> +<td><p>Thirty-seven plays. His greatest <b>tragedies</b> are +<i>Hamlet</i>, <i>Lear</i>, and <i>Othello</i>. His best <b>comedies</b> +are <i>Midsummer Night’s Dream</i>, <i>The Merchant of Venice</i>, and +<i>As You Like It</i>. His best <b>historical plays</b> are <i>Julius +Cæsar</i> and <i>Richard III</i>. Many <i>minor poems</i>— chiefly +<b>sonnets</b>. He wrote no prose.</p></td> +<td><p>Marlowe, Dekker, Chapman, Beaumont and Fletcher, Ford, Webster, +Ben Johnson, and other dramatists, were contemporaries of +Shakspeare.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">BEN JONSON.</p> +<p class = "dates">1574-1637.</p> +<p>Dramatist; poet; prose-writer.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Tragedies</b> and <b>comedies.</b> Best plays: <i>Volpone or +the Fox</i>; <i>Every Man in his Humour</i>.</p></td> +<td><p>Drake sails round the world, 1577.</p> +<p>Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, 1578.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1570</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">WILLIAM DRUMMOND (“<span class = "smallcaps">of +Hawthornden</span>”).</p> +<p class = "dates">1585-1649.</p> +<p>Scottish poet; friend of Ben Jonson.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Sonnets</b> and <b>poems</b>.</p></td> +<td><p>Raleigh in Virginia, 1584.</p> +<p>Babington’s Plot, 1586.</p> +<p>Spanish Armada, 1588.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1580</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">THOMAS HOBBES.</p> +<p class = "dates">1588-1679.</p> +<p>Philosopher; prose-writer; translator of Homer.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Leviathan</b> (1651), a work on politics and moral +philosophy.</p></td> +<td><p>Battle of Ivry, 1590.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1590</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">372</span> +<!--png 190--> +<p class = "name">SIR THOMAS BROWNE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1605-1682.</p> +<p>Physician at Norwich.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Religio Medici</b> (= “The Religion of a Physician”); +<b>Urn-Burial</b>; and other prose works.</p></td> +<td><p>Australia discovered, 1601.</p> +<p>James I. ascends the throne in 1603.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1600</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">JOHN MILTON.</p> +<p class = "dates">1608-1674.</p> +<p>Student; political writer; poet; Foreign (or “Latin”) Secretary to +Cromwell. Became blind from over-work in <b>1654</b>.</p></td> +<td><p><i>Minor Poems</i>; <b>Paradise Lost</b>; <b>Paradise +Regained</b>; <b>Samson Agonistes</b>. Many prose works, the best being +<b>Areopagitica</b>, a speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed +Printing.</p></td> +<td><p>Hampton Court Conference for translation of Bible, 1604-11.</p> +<p>Gunpowder Plot, 1605.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">SAMUEL BUTLER.</p> +<p class = "dates">1612-1680.</p> +<p>Literary man; secretary to the Earl of Carbery.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Hudibras</b>, a mock-heroic poem, written to ridicule the +Puritan and Parliamentarian party.</p></td> +<td><p>Execution of Raleigh, 1618.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1610</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">JEREMY TAYLOR.</p> +<p class = "dates">1613-1667.</p> +<p>English clergyman; Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Holy Living</b> and <b>Holy Dying</b> (1649); and a number of +other religious books.</p></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">JOHN BUNYAN.</p> +<p class = "dates">1628-1688.</p> +<p>Tinker and traveling preacher.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Pilgrim’s Progress</b> (1678); the <b>Holy War</b>; and +other religious works.</p></td> +<td><p>Charles I. ascends the throne in 1625.</p> +<p>Petition of Right, 1628.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1620</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan = "2"><p class = "name">JOHN DRYDEN.</p> +<p class = "dates">1631-1700.</p> +<p>Poet-Laureate and Historiographer-Royal; playwright; poet; +prose-writer.</p></td> +<td rowspan = "2"><p><b>Annus Mirabilis</b> (= “The Wonderful +Year,” 1665-66, on the Plague and the Fire of London); <b>Absalom and +Achitophel</b> (1681), a poem on political parties; <b>Hind and +Panther</b> (1687), a religious poem. He also wrote many plays, +some odes and a translation of Virgil’s <b>Æneid</b>. His prose consists +chiefly of prefaces and introductions to his poems.</p></td> +<td> +<p>No Parliament from 1629-40.</p> +<p>Scottish National Covenant, 1638.</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1630</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<p>Long Parliament, 1640-53.</p> +<p>Marston Moor, 1644.</p> +<p>Execution of Charles I., 1649</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1640</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">373</span> +<!--png 191--> +<p class = "name">JOHN LOCKE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1632-1704.</p> +<p>Diplomatist; Secretary to the Board of Trade; philosopher; +prose-writer.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Essay concerning the Human Understanding</b> (1690); +<b>Thoughts on Education</b>; and other prose works.</p></td> +<td> +<p>The Commonwealth, 1649-60.</p> +<p>Cromwell Lord Protector, 1653-58.</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1650</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">DANIEL DEFOE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1661-1731.</p> +<p>Literary man; pamphleteer; journalist; member of Commission on Union +with Scotland.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The True-born Englishman</b> (1701); <b>Robinson Crusoe</b> +(1719); <b>Journal of the Plague</b> (1722); and more than a hundred +books in all.</p></td> +<td> +<p>Restoration, 1660.</p> +<p>First standing army, 1661.</p> +<p>First newspaper in England, 1663.</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1660</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">JONATHAN SWIFT.</p> +<p class = "dates">1667-1745.</p> +<p>English clergyman; literary man; satirist; prose-writer; poet; Dean +of St Patrick’s, in Dublin.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Battle of the Books</b>; <b>Tale of a Tub</b> (1704), an +allegory on the Churches of Rome, England, and Scotland; <b>Gulliver’s +Travels</b> (1726); a few poems; and a number of very vigorous political +pamphlets.</p></td> +<td><p>Plague of London, 1665.</p> +<p>Fire of London, 1666.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">SIR RICHARD STEELE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1671-1729.</p> +<p>Soldier; literary man; courtier; journalist; M.P.</p></td> +<td><p>Steele founded the ‘Tatler,’ ‘Spectator,’ ‘Guardian,’ and other +small journals. He also wrote some plays.</p></td> +<td><p>Charles II. pensioned by Louis XIV. of France, 1674.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1670</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">JOSEPH ADDISON.</p> +<p class = "dates">1672-1719.</p> +<p>Essayist; poet; Secretary of State for the Home Department.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Essays</b> in the ‘Tatler,’ ‘Spectator,’ and ‘Guardian.’ Cato, +a Tragedy (1713). Several <i>Poems</i> and <i>Hymns</i>.</p></td> +<td><p>The Habeas Corpus Act, 1679.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan = "2"><p class = "name">ALEXANDER POPE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1688-1744.</p> +<p>Poet.</p></td> +<td rowspan = "2"><p><b>Essay on Criticism</b> (1711); <b>Rape of the +Lock</b> (1714); Translation of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, finished in +1726; <b>Dunciad</b> (1729); <b>Essay on Man</b> (1739). A few +prose <i>Essays</i>, and a volume of <i>Letters</i>.</p></td> +<td><p>James II. ascends the throne in 1685.</p> +<p>Revolution of 1688.</p> +<p>William III. and Mary II. ascend the throne, 1689.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1680</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Battle of the Boyne, 1690.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1690</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<span class = "pagenum">374</span> +<!--png 192--> +<p class = "name">JAMES THOMSON.</p> +<p class = "dates">1700-1748.</p> +<p>Poet.</p></td> +<td rowspan = "2"><p><b>The Seasons</b>; a poem in blank verse (1730): +<b>The Castle of Indolence</b>; a mock-heroic poem in the Spenserian +stanza (1748).</p></td> +<td><p>Censorship of the Press abolished, 1695.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Queen Anne ascends the throne in 1702.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1700</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">HENRY FIELDING.</p> +<p class = "dates">1707-1754.</p> +<p>Police-magistrate, journalist; novelist.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Joseph Andrews</b> (1742); <b>Amelia</b> (1751). He was “the +first great English novelist.”</p></td> +<td><p>Battle of Blenheim, 1704.</p> +<p>Gibraltar taken, 1704.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">DR SAMUEL JOHNSON.</p> +<p class = "dates">1709-1784.</p> +<p>Schoolmaster; literary man; essayist; poet; +dictionary-maker.</p></td> +<td><p><b>London</b> (1738); <b>The Vanity of Human Wishes</b> (1749); +<b>Dictionary of the English Language</b> (1755); <b>Rasselas</b> +(1759); <b>Lives of the Poets</b> (1781). He also wrote <b>The +Idler</b>, <b>The Rambler</b>, and a play called <b>Irene</b>.</p></td> +<td> +<p>Union of England and Scotland, 1707.</p> +</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "name">DAVID HUME.</p> +<p class = "dates">1711-1776.</p> +<p>Librarian; Secretary to the French Embassy; philosopher; literary +man.</p> +</td> +<td><p><b>History of England</b> (1754-1762); and a number of +philosophical <i>Essays</i>. His prose is singularly clear, easy, and +pleasant.</p></td> +<td><p>George I. ascends the throne in 1714.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1710</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "name">THOMAS GRAY.</p> +<p class = "dates">1716-1771.</p> +<p>Student; poet; letter-writer; Professor of Modern History in the +University of Cambridge.</p> +</td> +<td><p><b>Odes</b>; <b>Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard</b> +(1750)—one of the most perfect poems in our language. He was a +great stylist, and an extremely careful workman.</p></td> +<td><p>Rebellion in Scotland in 1715.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "name">TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT.</p> +<p class = "dates">1721-1771.</p> +<p>Doctor; pamphleteer; literary hack; novelist.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Roderick Random</b> (1748); <b>Humphrey Clinker</b> (1771). He +also continued <b>Hume’s History of England</b>. He published also some +<i>Plays</i> and <i>Poems</i>.</p></td> +<td><p>South-Sea Bubble bursts, 1720.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1720</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "name">OLIVER GOLDSMITH.</p> +<p class = "dates">1728-1774.</p> +<p>Literary man; play-writer; poet.</p> +</td> +<td><p><b>The Traveller</b> (1764); <b>The Vicar of Wakefield</b> +(1766); <b>The Deserted Village</b> (1770); <b>She Stoops to +Conquer</b>—a Play (1773); and a large number of books, pamphlets, +and compilations.</p></td> +<td><p>George II. ascends the throne, 1727.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">375</span> +<!--png 193--> +<p class = "name">ADAM SMITH.</p> +<p class = "dates">1723-1790.</p> +<p>Professor in the University of Glasgow.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Theory of Moral Sentiments</b> (1759); <b>Inquiry into the +Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations</b> (1776). He was the +founder of the science of political economy.</p></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">EDMUND BURKE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1730-1797.</p> +<p>M.P.; statesman; “the first man in the House of Commons;” orator; +writer on political philosophy.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful</b> (1757); <b>Reflections +on the Revolution of France</b> (1790); <b>Letters on a Regicide +Peace</b> (1797); and many other works. “The greatest philosopher in +practice the world ever saw.”</p></td> +<td></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1730</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">WILLIAM COWPER.</p> +<p class = "dates">1731-1800.</p> +<p>Commissioner in Bankruptcy; Clerk of the Journals of the House of +Lords; poet.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Table Talk</b> (1782); <b>John Gilpin</b> (1785); <b>A +Translation of Homer</b> (1791); and many other <i>Poems</i>. His +Letters, like Gray’s, are among the best in the language.</p></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">EDWARD GIBBON.</p> +<p class = "dates">1737-1794.</p> +<p>Historian; M.P.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire</b> (1776-87). “Heavily +laden style and monotonous balance of every sentence.”</p></td> +<td><p>Rebellion in Scotland, 1745, commonly called “The +’Forty-five.”</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1740</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">ROBERT BURNS.</p> +<p class = "dates">1759-1796.</p> +<p>Farm-labourer; ploughman; farmer; excise-officer; lyrical +poet.</p></td> +<td><p><i>Poems and Songs</i> (1786-96). His prose consists chiefly of +Letters. “His pictures of social life, of quaint humour, come up to +nature; and they cannot go beyond it.”</p></td> +<td><p>Clive in India, 1750-60. Earthquake at Lisbon, 1755.</p> +<p>Black Hole of Calcutta, 1756.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1750</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">376</span> +<!--png 194--> +<p class = "name">WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.</p> +<p class = "dates">1770-1850</p> +<p>Distributor of Stamps for the county of Westmoreland; poet; +poet-laureate.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Lyrical Ballads</b> (with Coleridge, 1798); <b>The +Excursion</b> (1814); <b>Yarrow Revisited</b> (1835), and many poems. +<b>The Prelude</b> was published after his death. His prose, which is +very good, consists chiefly of Prefaces and Introductions.</p></td> +<td><p>George III. ascends the throne in 1760.</p> +<p>Napoleon and Wellington born, 1769.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1760</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">SIR WALTER SCOTT.</p> +<p class = "dates">1771-1832.</p> +<p>Clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh; Scottish barrister; poet; +novelist.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Lay of the Last Minstrel</b> (1805); <b>Marmion</b> (1808); +<b>Lady of the Lake</b> (1810); <b>Waverley</b>—the first of the +“Waverley Novels”—was published in 1814. The “Homer of Scotland.” +His prose is bright and fluent, but very inaccurate.</p></td> +<td><p>Warren Hastings in India, 1772-85.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1770</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "name">SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1772-1834.</p> +<p>Private soldier; journalist; literary man; philosopher; +poet.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Ancient Mariner</b> (1798); <b>Christabel</b> (1816); +<b>The Friend</b>—a Collection of Essays (1812); <b>Aids to +Reflection</b> (1825). His prose is very full both of thought and +emotion.</p></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "name">ROBERT SOUTHEY.</p> +<p class = "dates">1774-1843.</p> +<p>Literary man; Quarterly Reviewer; historian; poet-laureate.</p> +</td> +<td><p><b>Joan of Arc</b> (1796); <b>Thalaba the Destroyer</b> (1801); +<b>The Curse of Kehama</b> (1810); <b>A History of Brazil</b>; <b>The +Doctor</b>—a Collection of Essays; <b>Life of Nelson</b>. He wrote +more than a hundred volumes. He was “the most ambitious and and most +voluminous author of his age.”</p></td> +<td><p>American Declaration of Independence, 1776.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "name">CHARLES LAMB.</p> +<p class = "dates">1775-1834.</p> +<p>Clerk in the East India House; poet; prose-writer.</p></td> +<td><p><i>Poems</i> (1797); <b>Tales from Shakespeare</b> (1806); <b>The +Essays of Elia</b> (1823-1833). One of the finest writers of writers of +prose in the English language.</p></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "name">WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.</p> +<p class = "dates">1775-1864.</p> +<p>Poet; prose-writer.</p> +</td> +<td><p><b>Gebir</b> (1798); <b>Count</b> <b>Julian</b> (1812); +<b>Imaginary Conversations</b> (1824-1846); <b>Dry Sticks Faggoted</b> +(1858). He wrote books for more than sixty years. His style is full of +vigour and sustained eloquence.</td> +<td><p>Alliance of France and America, 1778.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">377</span> +<!--png 195--> +<p class = "name">THOMAS CAMPBELL.</p> +<p class = "dates">1777-1844.</p> +<p>Poet; literary man; editor.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Pleasures of Hope</b> (1799); <b>Poems</b> (1803); +<b>Gertrude of Wyoming</b>, <b>Battle of the Baltic</b>, +<b>Hohenlinden</b>, etc. (1809). He also wrote some <i>Historical +Works</i>.</p></td> +<td><p>Encyclopædia Britannica founded in 1778.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">HENRY HALLAM.</p> +<p class = "dates">1778-1859.</p> +<p>Historian.</p></td> +<td><p><b>View of Europe during the Middle Ages</b> (1818); +<b>Constitutional History of England</b> (1827); <b>Introduction to the +Literature of Europe</b> (1839).</p></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">THOMAS MOORE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1779-1852.</p> +<p>Poet; prose-writer.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Odes and Epistles</b> (1806); <b>Lalla Rookh</b> (1817); +<b>History of Ireland</b> (1827); <b>Life of Byron</b> (1830); <b>Irish +Melodies</b> (1834); and many prose works.</p></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">THOMAS DE QUINCEY.</p> +<p class = "dates">1785-1859.</p> +<p>Essayist.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Confessions of an English Opium-Eater</b> (1821). He wrote +also on many subjects—philosophy, poetry, classics, history, +politics. His writings fill twenty volumes. He was one of the finest +prose-writers of this century.</p></td> +<td><p>French Revolution begun in 1789.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1780</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">LORD BYRON (<span class = "smallcaps">George +Gordon</span>).</p> +<p class = "dates">1788-1824.</p> +<p>Peer; poet; volunteer to Greece.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Hours of Idleness</b> (1807); <b>English Bards and Scotch +Reviewers</b> (1809); <b>Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage</b> (1812-1818); +<b>Hebrew Melodies</b> (1815); and many <i>Plays</i>. His prose, which +is full of vigour and animal spirits, is to be found chiefly in his +Letters.</p></td> +<td><p>Bastille overthrown, 1789.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">378</span> +<!--png 196--> +<p class = "name">PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.</p> +<p class = "dates">1792-1822.</p> +<p>Poet.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Queen Mab</b> (1810); <b>Prometheus Unbound</b>—a +Tragedy (1819); <b>Ode to the Skylark</b>, <b>The Cloud</b> (1820); +<b>Adonaïs</b> (1821), and many other poems; and several prose +works.</p></td> +<td> +<p>Cape of Good Hope Hope taken, 1795.</p> +<p>Bonaparte in Italy, 1796.</p> +<p>Battle of the Nile, 1798.</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1790</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "name">JOHN KEATS.</p> +<p class = "dates">1795-1821.</p> +<p>Poet.</p></td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<p><b>Poems</b> (1817); <b>Endymion</b> (1818); <b>Hyperion</b> (1820). +“Had Keats lived to the ordinary age of man, he would have been one of +the greatest of all poets.”</p></td> +<td> +<p>Union of Great Britain and Ireland, 1801.</p> +<p>Trafalgar and Nelson, 1805.</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1800</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!-- <td></td> --> +<!-- <td></td> --> +<td> +<p>Peninsular War, 1808-14.</p> +<p>Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia; Moscow burnt, 1812.</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1810</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "name">THOMAS CARLYLE.</p> +<p class = "dates">1795-1881.</p> +<p>Literary man; poet; translator; essayist; reviewer; political writer; +historian.</p></td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<p><b>German Romances</b>—a set of Translations (1827); <b>Sartor +Resartus</b>—“The Tailor Repatched” (1834); <b>The French +Revolution</b> (1837); <b>Heroes and Hero-Worship</b> (1840); <b>Past +and Present</b> (1843); <b>Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches</b> (1845); +<b>Life of Frederick the Great</b> (1858-65). “With the gift of song, +Carlyle would have been the greatest of epic poets since +Homer.”</p></td> +<td><p>War with United States, 1812-14. Battle of Waterloo,1815.</p> +</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<p>George IV. ascends the throne, 1820.</p> +<p>Greek War of Freedom, 1822-29.</p> +<p>Byron in Greece, 1823-24.</p> +<p>Catholic Emancipation, 1829.</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1820</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">LORD MACAULAY (<span class = "smallcaps">Thomas +Babington</span>).</p> +<p class = "dates">1800-1859.</p> +<p>Barrister; Edinburgh Reviewer; M.P.; Member of the Supreme Council of +India; Cabinet Minister; poet; essayist; historian; peer.</p> +</td> +<td><p><b>Milton</b> (in the ‘Edinburgh Review,’ 1825); <b>Lays of +Ancient Rome</b> (1842); <b>History of England</b>—unfinished +(1849-59). “His pictorial faculty is amazing.”</p></td> +<td> +<p>William IV. ascends the throne, 1830.</p> +<p>The Reform Bill, 1832.</p> +<p>Total Abolition of Slavery, 1834.</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1830</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<span class = "pagenum">379</span> +<!--png 197--> +<p class = "name">LORD LYTTON (<span class = "smallcaps">Edward +Bulwer</span>).</p> +<p class = "dates">1805-1873.</p> +<p>Novelist; poet; dramatist; M.P.; Cabinet Minister; peer.</p></td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<p><b>Ismael and Other Poems</b> (1825); <b>Eugene Aram</b> (1831); +<b>Last Days of Pompeii</b> (1834); <b>The Caxtons</b> (1849); <b>My +Novel</b> (1853); <b>Poems</b> (1865).</p></td> +<td><p>Queen Victoria ascends the throne, 1837.</p> +</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Irish Famine, 1845.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1840</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "name">JOHN STUART MILL.</p> +<p class = "dates">1806-1873.</p> +<p>Clerk in the East India House; philospher; political writer; M.P.; +Lord Rector of the University of St Andrews.</p></td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<p><b>System of Logic</b> (1843); <b>Principles of Political Economy</b> +(1848); <b>Essay on Liberty</b> (1858); <b>Autobiography</b> (1873); +“For judicial calmness, elevation of tone, and freedom from personality, +Mill is unrivalled among the writers of his time.”</p></td> +<td><p>Repeal of the Corn Laws, 1846.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td> +<p>Revolution in Paris, 1851.</p> +<p>Death of Wellington, 1852.</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1850</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.</p> +<p class = "dates">1807-1882.</p> +<p>Professor of Modern Languages and Literature in Harvard University, +U.S.; poet; prose-writer.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Outre-Mer</b>—a Story (1835); <b>Hyperion</b>—a +Story (1839); <b>Voices of the Night</b> (1841); <b>Evangeline</b> +(1848) <b>Hiawatha</b> (1855); <b>Aftermath</b> (1873). “His tact in the +use of language is probably the chief cause of his success.”</p></td> +<td> +<p>Napoleon III. Emperor of the French, 1852.</p> +<p>Russian War, 1854-56.</p> +</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "name">LORD TENNYSON (<span class = "smallcaps">Alfred +Tennyson</span>).</p> +<p class = "dates">1809——.</p> +<p>Poet; poet-laureate; peer.</p></td> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<p><b>Poems</b> (1830) <b>In Memoriam</b> (1850); <b>Maud</b> (1855); +<b>Idylls of the King</b> (1859-73); <b>Queen Mary</b>—a +Drama (1875); <b>Becket</b>—a Drama (1884). He is at present +our greatest living poet.</p></td> +<td><p>Franco-Austrian War, 1859.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<!--<td></td>--> +<!--<td></td>--> +<td><p>Emancipation of Russian serfs, 1861.</p></td> +<td class = "headline"> +1860</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">ELIZABETH B. BARRETT (afterwards <span class = +"smallcaps">Mrs Browning</span>).</p> +<p class = "dates">1809-1861.</p> +<p>Poet; prose-writer; translator.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Prometheus Bound</b>—translated from the Greek of +Æschylus (1833); <b>Poems</b> (1844); <b>Aurora Leigh</b> (1856); and +<i>Essays</i> contributed to various magazines.</p></td> +<td> +<p>Austro-Prussian “Seven Weeks’ War”, 1866.</p> +<p>Suez canal finished, 1869.</p> +</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">380</span> +<!--png 198--> +<p class = "name">WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY.</p> +<p class = "dates">1811-1863.</p> +<p>Novelist; writer in ‘Punch’; artist.</p></td> +<td><p><b>The Paris Sketch-Book</b> (1840); <b>Vanity Fair</b> (1847); +<b>Esmond</b> (1852); <b>The Newcomes</b>(1855); <b>The</b> +<b>Virginians</b> (1857). The greatest novelist and one of the most +perfect stylists of this century. “The classical English humorist and +satirist of the reign of Queen Victoria.”</p></td> +<td> +<p>Franco-Prussian War 1870-71.</p> +<p>Third French Republic, 1870.</p> +<p>William I. of Prussia made Emperor of the Germans at Versailles, +1871.</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1870</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">CHARLES DICKENS.</p> +<p class = "dates">1812-1870.</p> +<p>Novelist.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Sketches by Boz</b> (1836); <b>The Pickwick Papers</b> (1837); +<b>Oliver Twist</b> (1838); <b>Nicholas Nickleby</b> (1838); and many +other novels and works; <b>Great Expectations</b> (1868). The most +popular writer that ever lived.</p></td> +<td> +<p>Rome the new capital of Italy, 1871.</p> +<p>Russo-Turkish War 1877-78.</p> +</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">ROBERT BROWNING.</p> +<p class = "dates">1812——.</p> +<p>Poet.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Pauline</b> (1833); <b>Paracelsus</b> (1836); <i>Poems</i> +(1865); <b>The Ring and the</b> <b>Book</b> (1869); and many other +volumes of poetry.</p></td> +<td> +<p>Berlin Congress and Treaty, 1878.</p> +<p>Leo XIII. made Pope in 1878.</p> +</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">JOHN RUSKIN.</p> +<p class = "dates">1819——.</p> +<p>Art-critic; essayist; teacher; literary man.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Modern Painters</b> (1843-60); <b>The Stones of Venice</b> +(1851-53); <b>The Queen of the Air</b> (1869); <b>An Autobiography</b> +(1885); and very many other works. “He has a deep, serious, and almost +fanatical reverence for art.”</p></td> +<td> +<p>Assassination of Alexander II., 1881</p> +<p>Arabi Pasha’s Rebellion 1882-83.</p> +<p>War in the Soudan, 1884.</p> +</td> +<td class = "headline"> +1880</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p class = "name">GEORGE ELIOT.</p> +<p class = "dates">1819-1880.</p> +<p>Novelist; poet; essayist.</p></td> +<td><p><b>Scenes of Clerical Life</b> (1858); <b>Adam Bede</b> (1859); +and many other novels down to <b>Daniel Deronda</b> (1876); <b>Spanish +Gypsy</b> (1868); <b>Legend of Jubal</b> (1874).</p></td> +<td><p>Murder of Gordon, 1884.</p> +<p>New Reform Bill, 1885.</p></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "notes" id = "notes"> +Footnotes</a></h4> + +<div class = "footnote"> + +<p> +<a name = "note1" id = "note1" href = "#tag1">1.</a> +See p. 43.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note2" id = "note2" href = "#tag2">2.</a> +Words and Places, p. 158.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note3" id = "note3" href = "#tag3">3.</a> +In the last half of this sentence, all the essential +words—<i>necessary</i>, <i>acquainted</i>, <i>character</i>, +<i>uses</i>, <i>element</i>, <i>important</i>, are Latin (except +<i>character</i>, which is Greek).</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note4" id = "note4" href = "#tag4">4.</a> +Or, as an Irishman would say, “I am kilt entirely.”</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note5" id = "note5" href = "#tag5">5.</a> +<i>Chair</i> is the Norman-French form of the French <i>chaise</i>. The +Germans still call a chair a <i>stuhl</i>; and among the English, +<i>stool</i> was the universal name till the twelfth century.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note6" id = "note6" href = "#tag6">6.</a> +In two words, a <i>fig-shower</i> or <i>sycophant</i>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note7" id = "note7" href = "#tag7">7.</a> +A club for beating clothes, that could be handled only by three men.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note8" id = "note8" href = "#tag8">8.</a> +The word <i>faith</i> is a true French word with an English +ending—the ending <b>th</b>. Hence it is a hybrid. The old French +word was <i>fei</i>—from the Latin <i>fidem</i>; and the ending +<b>th</b> was added to make it look more like <i>truth</i>, +<i>wealth</i>, <i>health</i>, and other purely English words.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note9" id = "note9" href = "#tag9">9.</a> +The accusative or objective case is given in all these words.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note10" id = "note10" href = "#tag10">10.</a> +In Hamlet v. 2. 283, Shakespeare makes the King say—</p> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p>“The King shall drink to Hamlet’s better breath;</p> +<p>And in the cup an union shall he throw.”</p> +</div> + +<p> +<a name = "note11" id = "note11" href = "#tag11">11.</a> +Professor Max Müller gives this as the most remarkable instance of +cutting down. The Latin <i>mea domina</i> became in French +<i>madame</i>; in English <i>ma’am</i>; and, in the language of +servants, <i>’m</i>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note12" id = "note12" href = "#tag12">12.</a> +Milton says, in one of his sonnets—</p> + +<p class = "poem"> +“New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large.”</p> + +<p>From the etymological point of view, the truth is just the other way +about. <i>Priest</i> is old <i>Presbyter</i> writ small.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note13" id = "note13" href = "#tag13">13.</a> +See p. 242.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note14" id = "note14" href = "#tag14">14.</a> +This plural we still find in the famous Winchester motto, “Manners +maketh man.”</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note15" id = "note15" href = "#tag15">15.</a> +<i>Goût</i> (goo) from Latin <i>gustus</i>, taste.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note16" id = "note16" href = "#tag16">16.</a> +Quickly.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note17" id = "note17" href = "#tag17">17.</a> +This use of the phrase “the same” is antiquated English.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note18" id = "note18" href = "#tag18">18.</a> +Emulating.</p> + +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum">381</span> +<!--png 199--> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "index" id = "index"> +INDEX.</a></h4> + +<hr> + +<p class = "mynote"> +Spellings in the Index are sometimes different from those used in the +main text, as with the names “Shakespeare” and “Wycliffe”, or the use of +ligatures in names such as “Bæda” and “Cædmon”. Page references are +linked to the nearest paragraph.</p> + +<table class = "index" summary = "index"> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<h6>PART III.</h6> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "space"> +<b>African</b> words in English, <a href = "#other_african">263</a>.</p> +<p><b>American</b> words in English, +<a href ="#other_american">263</a>.</p> +<p><b>Analytic</b> English (= modern), +<a href ="#partIII_chapIII_sec2">239</a>.</p> +<p><b>Ancient</b> English, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec4">199</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +synthetic, <a href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec1">239</a>.</p> +<p><b>Anglo-Saxon</b>, specimen from, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIV_sec2">250</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +contrasted with English of Wyclif and Tyndale, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIV_sec3">251</a>.</p> +<p><b>Arabic</b> words in English, +<a href ="#other_arabic">263</a>.</p> +<p><b>Aryan</b> family of languages, +<a href ="#partIII_intro_sec7">195</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Bible</b>, English of the, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIV_sec11">256</a>.</p> +<p><b>Bilingualism</b>, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec33">222</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Changes</b> of language, never sudden, +<a href ="#partIII_chapI_sec2">198</a>.</p> +<p><b>Chinese</b> words in English, +<a href ="#other_chinese">264</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Dead</b> and living languages, +<a href ="#partIII_chapI_sec1">198</a>.</p> +<p><b>Dialects</b> of English, +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec52">238</a>.</p> +<p><b>Doublets</b>, English and other, +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec47">236</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec51">238</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +Greek, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec45">233</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +Latin, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec41">230</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec43">233</a>.</p> +<p><b>Dutch</b> and Welsh contrasted, +<a href ="#partIII_intro_sec10">197</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +words in English, <a href = "#partIII_chapV_sec5">260</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>English</b>, <a href = "#partIII_intro_sec4">194</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +a Low-German tongue, <a href = "#partIII_intro_sec9">196</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +diagram of, <a href = "#english_diagram">203</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +dialects of, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec52">238</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +early and oldest, compared, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIV_sec5">252</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +elements of, characteristics of the two, +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec46">234</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec47">236</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +English element in, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec2">202</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +foreign elements in, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec5">204</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +grammar of, its history, <a href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec1">239</a>-<a +href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec16">249</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +its spread over Britain, <a href = "#partIII_intro_sec11">197</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +modern, <a href = "#partIII_chapV_sec1">258</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapV_sec10">265</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +nation, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec1">202</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +of the Bible, <a href = "#partIII_chapIV_sec11">256</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +of the thirteenth century, <a href = "#partIII_chapIV_sec8">254</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +of the fourteenth century, <a href = "#partIII_chapIV_sec9">255</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +of the sixteenth century, <a href = "#partIII_chapIV_sec10">256</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +on the Continent, <a href = "#partIII_intro_sec5">194</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +periods of, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec3">198</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapI_sec8">201</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset2"> +marks which distinguish, <a href = "#marks_key">254</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +syntax of, changed, <a href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec11">245</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +the family to which it belongs, +<a href ="#partIII_intro_sec7">195</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +the group to which it belongs, <a href = "#partIII_intro_sec8">195</a>, +<a href = "#teutonic_table">196</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +vocabulary of, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec1">202</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec52">238</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Foreign</b> elements in English, +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec5">204</a>.</p> +<p><b>French</b> (new) words in English, +<a href ="#partIII_chapV_sec6">261</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +(Norman), see Norman-French.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>German</b> words in English, +<a href ="#partIII_chapV_sec7">262</a>.</p> +<p><b>Grammar</b> of English, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIII_sec1">239</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapIII_sec16">249</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +comparatively fixed (since 1485), +<a href ="#partIII_chapV_sec1">258</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +First Period, <a href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec5">240</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +<ins class = "correction" title = "indented as if a subentry to preceding line">general view</ins> of its history, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIII_sec9">243</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +Second Period, <a href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec6">241</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +<ins class = "correction" title = "indented as if a subentry to preceding line">short view</ins> of its history, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIII_sec3">239</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapIII_sec8">243</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +Third Period, <a href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec7">242</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +Fourth Period, <a href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec8">242</a>.</p> +<p><b>Greek</b> doublets, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec45">233</a>.</p> +<p><b>Gutturals</b>, expulsion of, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIII_sec12">246</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapIII_sec14">248</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Hebrew</b> words in English, +<a href ="#partIII_chapV_sec8">262</a>.</p> +<p><b>Hindu</b> words in English, <a href = "#other_hindu">264</a>.</p> +<p><b>History</b> of English, landmarks in, +<a href ="#partIII_landmarks">266</a>.</p> +<p><b>Hungarian</b> words in English, +<a href ="#other_hungarian">264</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Indo-European</b> family, +<a href ="#partIII_intro_sec7">195</a>.</p> +<p><b>Inflexions</b> in different periods, compared, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIV_sec6">253</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +loss of, <a href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec3">239</a>, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIII_sec4">240</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +grammatical result of loss, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIII_sec16">248</a>.</p> +<p><b>Italian</b> words in English, +<a href ="#partIII_chapV_sec4">259</a>.</p> + +</td> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">382</span> +<!--png 200--> +<p class = "space"> +<b>Keltic</b> element in English, +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec6">204</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec9">206</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Landmarks</b> in the history of English, +<a href ="#partIII_landmarks">266</a>.</p> +<p><b>Language</b>, <a href = "#partIII_intro_sec1">193</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +changes of, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec2">198</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +growth of, <a href = "#partIII_intro_sec3">193</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +living and dead, <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘168’"><a +href = "#partIII_chapI_sec1">198</a></ins>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +spoken and written, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec3">203</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +written, <a href = "#partIII_intro_sec2">193</a>.</p> +<p><b>Latin</b> contributions and their dates, +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec16">209</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +doublets, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec41">230</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec43">233</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +element in English, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec15">208</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec44">233</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +of the eye and ear, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec41">230</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +of the First Period, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec17">210</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset2"> +Second Period, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec19">211</a>, +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec21">212</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset2"> +Third Period, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec22">212</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec36">227</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset2"> +Fourth Period, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec37">227</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec39">230</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +triplets, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec44">233</a>.</p> +<p><b>Lord’s Prayer</b>, in four versions, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIV_sec4">251</a>, <a href = "#lords_prayer">252</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Malay</b> words in English, <a href = "#other_malay">264</a>.</p> +<p><b>Middle</b> English, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec6">200</a>.</p> +<p><b>Modern</b> English, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec8">201</a>, +<a href = "#partIII_chapV_sec1">258</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapV_sec10">265</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +analytic, <a href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec2">239</a>.</p> +<p><b>Monosyllables</b>, <a href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec10">244</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>New words</b> in English, <a href = "#partIII_chapV_sec2">258</a>-<a +href = "#partIII_chapV_sec10">265</a>.</p> +<p><b>Norman-French</b>, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec22">212</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +bilingualism caused by, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec33">222</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +contributions, general character of, +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec30">220</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +dates of, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec23">213</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec24">215</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +element in English, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec22">212</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec36">227</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +gains to English from, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec31">221</a>-<a href += "#partIII_chapII_sec33">224</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +losses to English from, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec34">225</a>-<a +href = "#partIII_chapII_sec36">227</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +synonyms, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec32">222</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +words, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec24">216</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec29">220</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Oldest</b> and early English compared, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIV_sec5">252</a>.</p> +<p><b>Order</b> of words in English, changed, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIII_sec11">245</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Periods</b> of English, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec3">198</a>-<a +href = "#partIII_chapI_sec8">201</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset2"> +Ancient, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec4">199</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset2"> +Early, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec5">199</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset2"> +Middle, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec6">200</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset2"> +Tudor, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec7">201</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset2"> +Modern, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec8">201</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +grammar of the different, <a href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec1">239</a>-<a +href = "#partIII_chapIII_sec16">249</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +marks indicating different, <a href = "#marks_key">254</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +specimens of different, <a href = "#partIII_chapIV_sec1">250</a>-<a href += "#partIII_chapIV_sec12">257</a>.</p> +<p><b>Persian</b> words in English, +<a href ="#other_persian">264</a>.</p> +<p><b>Polynesian</b> words in English, +<a href ="#other_polynesian">264</a>.</p> +<p><b>Portuguese</b> words in English, +<a href ="#other_portuguese">264</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Renascence</b> (Revival of Learning), +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec37">227</a>.</p> +<p><b>Russian</b> words in English, +<a href ="#other_russian">264</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Scandinavian</b> element in English, +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec10">206</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec14">208</a>.</p> +<p><b>Scientific</b> terms in English, +<a href ="#partIII_chapV_sec10">265</a>.</p> +<p><b>Spanish</b> words in English, +<a href ="#partIII_chapV_sec3">259</a>.</p> +<p><b>Specimens</b> of English of different periods, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIV_sec1">250</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapIV_sec12">257</a>.</p> +<p><b>Spoken</b> and written language, +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec3">203</a>.</p> +<p><b>Syntax</b> of English, change in, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIII_sec11">245</a>.</p> +<p><b>Synthetic</b> English (= ancient), +<a href ="#partIII_chapIII_sec1">239</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Tartar </b>words in English, <a href = "#other_tartar">264</a>.</p> +<p><b>Teutonic</b> group, <a href = "#partIII_intro_sec8">195</a>.</p> +<p><b>Tudor</b> English, <a href = "#partIII_chapI_sec7">201</a>.</p> +<p><b>Turkish</b> words in English, +<a href ="#other_turkish">264</a>.</p> +<p><b>Tyndale’s</b> English, compared with Anglo-Saxon and Wyclif, +<a href = "#partIII_chapIV_sec3">251</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Vocabulary</b> of the English language, +<a href ="#partIII_chapII_sec1">202</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapII_sec52">238</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Welsh</b> and Dutch contrasted, +<a href ="#partIII_intro_sec10">197</a>.</p> +<p><b>Words</b> and inflexions in different periods, compared, +<a href ="#partIII_chapIV_sec6">253</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +new, in English, <a href = "#partIII_chapV_sec2">258</a>-<a href = +"#partIII_chapV_sec10">265</a>.</p> +<p><b>Written</b> language, <a href = "#partIII_intro_sec2">193</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +and spoken, <a href = "#partIII_chapII_sec3">203</a>.</p> +<p><b>Wyclif’s</b> English, compared with Tyndale’s and Anglo-Saxon, +<a href = "#partIII_chapIV_sec3">251</a>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<span class = "pagenum">383</span> +<!--png 201--> +<h6>PART IV.</h6> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "space"> +<b>Addison</b>, Joseph, <a href = "#partIV_chapVI_sec7">315</a>.</p> +<p><b>Alfred</b>, <a href = "#partIV_chapI_sec9">276</a>.</p> +<p><i>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</i>, +<a href ="#partIV_chapI_sec10">276</a>.</p> +<p><b>Arnold</b>, Matthew, <a href = "#partIV_chapIX_sec10">359</a>.</p> +<p><b>Austen</b>, Jane, <a href = "#partIV_chapVIII_sec25">348</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Bacon</b>, Francis, <a href = "#partIV_chapV_sec3">299</a>.</p> +<p><b>Bæda</b> (Venerable Bede), +<a href ="#partIV_chapI_sec8">275</a>.</p> +<p><b>Barbour</b>, John, <a href = "#partIV_chapII_sec10">285</a>.</p> +<p><i>Beowulf</i>, <a href = "#partIV_chapI_sec5">273</a>.</p> +<p><b>Blake</b>, William, <a href = "#partIV_chapVII_sec20">334</a>.</p> +<p><b>Browning</b>, Robert, <a href = "#partIV_chapIX_sec8">358</a>.</p> +<p><b>Browning</b>, Mrs., <a href = "#partIV_chapIX_sec7">357</a>.</p> +<p><i>Brunanburg, Song of</i>, +<a href ="#partIV_chapI_sec7">275</a>.</p> +<p><b>Brunne</b>, Robert of, +<a href ="#partIV_chapI_sec12">279</a>.</p> +<p><i>Brut</i>, <a href = "#partIV_chapI_sec11">277</a>.</p> +<p><b>Bunyan</b>, John, <a href = "#partIV_chapV_sec17">309</a>.</p> +<p><b>Burke</b>, Edmund, <a href = "#partIV_chapVII_sec6">326</a>.</p> +<p><b>Burns</b>, Robert, <a href = "#partIV_chapVII_sec16">332</a>.</p> +<p><b>Butler</b>, Samuel, <a href = "#partIV_chapV_sec10">304</a>.</p> +<p><b>Byron</b>, George Gordon, Lord, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVIII_sec16">343</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Cædmon</b>, <a href = "#partIV_chapI_sec6">274</a>.</p> +<p><b>Campbell</b>, Thomas, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVIII_sec14">342</a>.</p> +<p><b>Carlyle</b>, Thomas, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVIII_sec27">349</a>.</p> +<p><b>Caxton</b>, William, <a href = "#partIV_chapIII_sec3">288</a>.</p> +<p><b>Chatterton</b>, Thomas, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVII_sec18">333</a>.</p> +<p><b>Chaucer</b>, Geoffrey, <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘383’"><a href = "#partIV_chapII_sec7">283</a></ins>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +followers of, <a href = "#partIV_chapIII_sec1">287</a>.</p> +<p><b>Coleridge</b>, Samuel Taylor, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVIII_sec10">340</a>.</p> +<p><b>Collins</b>, William, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVI_sec19">321</a>.</p> +<p><b>Cowper</b>, William, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVII_sec11">329</a>.</p> +<p><b>Crabbe</b>, George, <a href = "#partIV_chapVII_sec13">331</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Defoe</b>, Daniel, <a href = "#partIV_chapVI_sec3">312</a>.</p> +<p><b>De Quincey</b>, Thomas, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVIII_sec26">348</a>.</p> +<p><b>Dickens</b>, Charles, +<a href ="#partIV_chapIX_sec15">361</a>.</p> +<p><b>Dryden</b>, John, <a href = "#partIV_chapV_sec12">305</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Eliot</b>, George, <a href = "#partIV_chapIX_sec19">364</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Gibbon</b>, Edward, <a href = "#partIV_chapVII_sec8">327</a>.</p> +<p><b>Gloucester</b>, Robert of, +<a href ="#partIV_chapI_sec12">279</a>.</p> +<p><b>Goldsmith</b>, Oliver, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVII_sec4">325</a>.</p> +<p><b>Gower</b>, John, <a href = "#partIV_chapII_sec5">282</a>.</p> +<p><b>Gray</b>, Thomas, <a href = "#partIV_chapVI_sec17">320</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Hobbes</b>, Thomas, <a href = "#partIV_chapV_sec16">308</a>.</p> +<p><b>Hooker</b>, Richard, <a href = "#partIV_chapIV_sec16">296</a>.</p> + +</td> +<td> +<p class = "space"> +<b>James I.</b> (of Scotland), +<a href ="#partIV_chapIII_sec2">287</a>.</p> +<p><b>Johnson</b>, Samuel, <a href = "#partIV_chapVII_sec2">323</a>.</p> +<p><b>Jonson</b>, Ben, <a href = "#partIV_chapIV_sec15">295</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Keats</b>, John, <a href = "#partIV_chapVIII_sec20">345</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Lamb</b>, Charles, <a href = "#partIV_chapVIII_sec23">346</a>.</p> +<p><b>Landor</b>, Walter Savage, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVIII_sec24">347</a>.</p> +<p><b>Langlande</b>, William, +<a href ="#partIV_chapII_sec6">282</a>.</p> +<p><b>Layamon</b>, <a href = "#partIV_chapI_sec11">277</a>.</p> +<p><b>Locke</b>, John, <a href = "#partIV_chapV_sec18">309</a>.</p> +<p><b>Longfellow</b>, Henry Wadsworth, +<a href ="#partIV_chapIX_sec3">354</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Macaulay</b>, Thomas Babington, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVIII_sec29">351</a>.</p> +<p><i>Maldon</i>, Song of the Fight at, +<a href ="#partIV_chapI_sec7">275</a>.</p> +<p><b>Mandeville</b>, Sir John, +<a href ="#partIV_chapII_sec3">281</a>.</p> +<p><b>Marlowe</b>, Christopher, +<a href ="#partIV_chapIV_sec14">295</a>.</p> +<p><b>Milton</b>, John, <a href = "#partIV_chapV_sec8">303</a>.</p> +<p><b>Moore</b>, Thomas, <a href = "#partIV_chapVIII_sec15">342</a>.</p> +<p><b>More</b>, Sir Thomas, <a href = "#partIV_chapIV_sec3">290</a>.</p> +<p><b>Morris</b>, William, <a href = "#partIV_chapIX_sec12">360</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Orm’s</b> <i>Ormulum</i>, +<a href ="#partIV_chapI_sec12">278</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Pope</b>, Alexander, <a href = "#partIV_chapVI_sec11">317</a>, +<a href = "#partIV_chapVI_sec14">319</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Raleigh</b>, Sir Walter, <a href = "#partIV_chapV_sec2">298</a>.</p> +<p><b>Ruskin</b>, John, <a href = "#partIV_chapIX_sec17">363</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Scott</b>, Sir Walter, <a href = "#partIV_chapVIII_sec5">339</a>.</p> +<p><b>Shakespeare</b>, William, <a href = "#partIV_chapIV_sec9">292</a>, +<a href = "#partIV_chapV_sec5">301</a>.</p> +<p class = "inset1"> +contemporaries of, <a href = "#partIV_chapIV_sec13">294</a>.</p> +<p><b>Shelley</b>, Percy Bysshe, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVIII_sec18">344</a>.</p> +<p><b>Sidney</b>, Sir Philip, +<a href ="#partIV_chapIV_sec18">297</a>.</p> +<p><b>Southey</b>, Robert, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVIII_sec12">341</a>.</p> +<p><b>Spenser</b>, Edmund, <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘261’"><a href = "#partIV_chapIV_sec6">291</a></ins>.</p> +<p><b>Steele</b>, Richard, <a href = "#partIV_chapVI_sec10">316</a>.</p> +<p><b>Surrey</b>, Earl of, <a href = "#partIV_chapIV_sec2">289</a>.</p> +<p><b>Swift</b>, Jonathan, <a href = "#partIV_chapVI_sec5">313</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Taylor</b>, Jeremy, <a href = "#partIV_chapV_sec14">307</a>.</p> +<p><b>Tennyson</b>, Alfred, <a href = "#partIV_chapIX_sec5">355</a>.</p> +<p><b>Thackeray</b>, William Makepeace, +<a href ="#partIV_chapIX_sec14">361</a>.</p> +<p><b>Thomson</b>, James, <a href = "#partIV_chapVI_sec15">319</a>, +<a href = "#partIV_chapVI_sec16">320</a>.</p> +<p><b>Tyndale</b>, William, <a href = "#partIV_chapIV_sec4">290</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<b>Wordsworth</b>, William, +<a href ="#partIV_chapVIII_sec3">337</a>.</p> +<p><b>Wyatt</b>, Sir Thomas, +<a href ="#partIV_chapIV_sec2">289</a>.</p> +<p><b>Wyclif</b>, John, <a href = "#partIV_chapII_sec4">282</a>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<!--png 202--> + + +<div class = "advert"> + +<hr> + +<a name = "ads" id = "ads"> </a> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 1</span> +<!--png 203--> + +<h3>English Literature.</h3> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h5>“<b><i>The chief glory of every people arises from its +authors.</i></b>”</h5> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<p class = "book"> +An Introduction to the Study of Robert Browning’s Poetry. By <span class += "smallcaps">Hiram Corson</span>, LL.D., Professor of Rhetoric and +English Literature in the Cornell University. 5¼ by 7½ inches. × + 338 +pages. Cloth. Price by mail, $1.50; Introduction price, $1.40.</p> + + +<p>The purpose of this volume is to afford some aid and guidance to the +study of Robert Browning’s Poetry, which being the most complexly +subjective of all English poetry, is, for that reason alone, the most +difficult. And then the poet’s favorite art form, the dramatic, or +rather psychologic, monologue, which is quite original with himself, and +peculiarly adapted to the constitution of his genius, and to the +revelation of themselves by the several “dramatis personæ,” presents +certain structural difficulties, but difficulties which, with an +increased familiarity, grew less and less. The exposition presented in +the Introduction, of its constitution and skilful management, and the +Arguments given to the several poems included in the volume, will, it is +hoped, reduce, if not altogether remove, the difficulties of this kind. +In the same section of the Introduction certain peculiarities of the +poet’s diction, which sometimes give a check to the reader’s +understanding of a passage, are presented and illustrated.</p> + +<p>It is believed that the notes to the poems will be found to cover all +points and features of the texts which require explanation and +elucidation. At any rate, no real difficulties have been wittingly +passed by.</p> + +<p>The following Table of Contents will give a good idea of the plan and +scope of the work:—</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +I. The Spiritual Ebb and Flow exhibited in English Poetry from Chaucer +to Tennyson and Browning.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +II. The Idea of Personality and of Art as an intermediate agency of +Personality, as embodied in Browning’s Poetry. (Read before the Browning +Society of London in 1882.)</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 2</span> +<!--png 204--> + +<p class = "hanging"> +III. Browning’s Obscurity.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +IV. Browning’s Verse.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +V. Arguments of the Poems.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +VI. Poems. (Under this head are thirty-three representative poems, the +Arguments of which are given in the preceding section.)</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +VII. List of criticisms of Browning’s works, selected from Dr. +Furnivall’s “Bibliography of Robert Browning” contained in the Browning +Society’s Papers.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<i>From</i> <b>Albert S. Cook</b>, <i>Professor of English Literature in +the University of California</i>:—</p> + +<p>Among American expositors of Browning, Professor Corson is easily +first. He has not only satisfied the English organization which devotes +itself to the study of the poet, but, what is perhaps a severer test, he +attracts the reader to whom Browning is only a name, and, in the compass +of one small volume, educates him into the love and appreciation of the +poet. If Browning is to be read in only a single volume, this, in my +opinion, is the best; if he is to be studied zealously and exhaustively, +Professor Corson’s book is an excellent introduction to the complete +series of his works.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<i>From</i> <b>The Critic</b>:—</p> + +<p>Ruskin, Browning, and Carlyle all have something in common: +a vast message to deliver, a striking way of delivering it, +and an over-mastering spirituality. In none of them is there mere +smooth, smuck surface: all are filled with the fine wrinkles of thought +wreaking itself on expression with many a Delphic writhing. +A priest with a message cares little for the vocal vehicle; and yet +the utterances of all three men are beautifully melodious. Chiefest of +them all in his special poetic sphere appears to be Browning, and to him +Professor Corson thinks our special studies should be directed. This +book is a valuable contribution to Browning lore, and will doubtless be +welcomed by the Browning clubs of this country and England. It is easy +to see that Professor Corson is more than an annotator: he is a poet +himself, and on this account he is able to interpret Browning so +sympathetically.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<i>From</i> <b>The Unitarian Review</b>, <i>Boston, March, +1887</i>:—</p> + +<p>More than almost any other poet, Browning—at least, his +reader—needs the help of a believing, cheery, and enthusiastic +guide, to beguile the weary pilgrimage.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 3</span> +<!--png 205--> + +<p>There is, as we have intimated, a fast-growing esoteric literature of +exposition and comment,—part of it simply the expression of the +disciple’s loyal homage, part of it designed to win and educate the +reluctant Philistine intellect to the comforts of a true faith. In the +latter class we reckon the excellent work of Professor Corson, of +Cornell University. More than half of it is, as it should be, made up of +a selection from the shorter poems, giving each complete; while these +include what is perhaps the most readable and one of the most +characteristic of the narrative pieces, “The Flight of the Duchess,” +with which a beginner may well make his first attempt.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<i>From</i> <b>The Christian Union</b>, <i>New York</i>:—</p> + +<p>Browning, like every other great original artist, has been compelled +to wait upon the slow processes by which his own public has been +educated.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful if any other single work on Browning deserves to rank +with this, with the exception of Professor Dowden’s striking comparative +study of Browning and Tennyson. Professor Corson’s elucidation of the +idea of personality in art as embodied in Mr. Browning’s poetry is the +most luminous, the most adequate, and the most thoroughly helpful +article that has ever been written on Browning’s poetry. Those who study +it carefully will discern in it a rare insight into the workings of one +of the most subtle of modern minds, and a singularly clear and complete +statement of the philosophy of life at which that mind has arrived. The +chapters on Browning’s obscurity and on his use of the dramatic +monologue are also extremely suggestive and helpful; the selections from +Browning’s poems are admirably chosen, and, with the notes, make the +best of all possible introductions to the study of Browning.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<i>From</i> <b>Rev. Francis Tiffany</b>, <i>in “The Boston Herald,” Nov. +30, 1886</i>:—</p> + +<p>The volume is well worthy the serious study of thinking men and +women, for it embodies the results of years, not only of thorough +investigation, but of the finest poetical appreciation. From beginning +to end, it is pervaded with a fervid feeling that not to know Robert +Browning is to lose something.</p> + +<p>Professor Corson, in his chapter on “Browning’s Obscurity,” has done +his best to smooth the path of the reader by explaining, and +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 4</span> +<!--png 206--> +so removing from his way, those grammatical obstructions, habits of word +inversion and baffling ellipses that stand as a lion in the path to so +many of the poet’s untried readers. This chapter is exceedingly well +wrought out, and, once carefully studied, with the illustrations given, +can hardly fail to banish many a perplexity.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<i>From</i> <b>The American</b>, <i>Philadelphia</i>:—</p> + +<p>Can Browning be made intelligible to the common mind? Ten years ago +it was assumed that he could not. But of late years a different view has +begun to prevail. And as all those who have addressed themselves +seriously to the study of Browning report themselves as having found him +repay the trouble he gave them, there has arisen very naturally an +ambition to share in their fruitful experience. Hence the rise of +Browning Societies on both sides of the Atlantic, and in the publication +of analyses and discussions of his poems, and the preparation of such +manuals as this of Professor Hiram Corson’s.</p> + +<p>Professor Corson is a Browningite of the first era. He owes nothing +but encouragement to the new enthusiasm which has gathered around the +writings of the Master, whom he recognized as such long before he had +begun to attain any general recognition of his masterfulness. Browning +has helped him to a deeper sense of the spiritual life present in the +older current of English poetry. He finds in him the “subtlest assertor +of the soul in song,” and the noblest example of the spiritual element +in our modern verse. He thinks that no greater mistake has been made +with regard to him, than to treat him merely as the most intellectual of +our poets. He is that, but far more; he is the most spiritual of our +poets also.</p> + +<p>All or nearly all his poems are character-studies of the deeper sort, +and hence the naturalness with which they fall into the form of dramatic +monologues. It is true, as Mr. Corson says, that the liberties our poet +takes in the collocation of words, the complexity of constructions, and +some of his verbal liberties, are of a nature to increase the difficulty +the careless reader finds. But there are poems and passages of his which +present none of these minor stumbling-blocks, but of which no reader +will make anything until he has acquired the poet’s interest in +personality, its God-given mission as a force for the world’s +regeneration, and its innate intimacy with divine forces. But we believe +that with Mr. Corson’s aids—notes as well as preliminary +analyses—they can be mastered by any earnest student; and +certainly few things in literature so well repay the trouble.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 5</span> +<!--png 207--> + +<table summary = "text in two columns"> +<tr> +<td width = "50%"> + +<p><b>F. A. March</b>, <i>Prof. in Lafayette Coll</i>.: Let me +congratulate you on having brought out so eloquent a book, and acute, as +Professor Corson’s Browning. I hope it pays as well in money as it +must in good name.</p> + +<p><b>Rev. Joseph Cook</b>, <i>Boston</i>: Professor Corson’s +Introduction to Robert Browning’s Poetry appears to me to be admirably +adapted to its purposes. It forms an attractive porch to a great and +intricate cathedral. +<span class = "gap">(<i>Feb. 21, 1887.</i>)</span></p> + +<p><b>Louise M. Hodgkins</b>, <i>Prof. of English Literature, Wellesley +Coll.</i>: I consider it the most illuminating textbook which has +yet been published on Browning’s poems. +<span class = "gap">(<i>March 12, 1887.</i>)</span></p> + +<p><b>F. H. Giddings</b>, in <i>“The Paper World,” Springfield, +Mass.</i>: It is a stimulating, wisely helpful book. The arguments of +the poems are explained in luminous prose paragraphs that take the +reader directly into the heart of the poet’s meaning. Chapters on +Browning’s obscurity and Browning’s verse clear away, or rather show the +reader how to overcome by his own efforts, the admitted difficulties +presented by Browning’s style. These chapters bear the true test; they +enable the attentive reader to see, as Professor Corson sees, that such +features of Browning’s diction are seldom to be condemned, but often +impart a peculiar crispness to the expressions in which they occur.</p> + +<p>The opening chapter of the book is the finest, truest introduction to +the study of English literature, as a whole, that any American writer +has yet produced.</p> + +<p>This chapter leads naturally to a profound and noble essay, of which +it would be impossible to convey any adequate conception in a paragraph. +It prepares the reader for an appreciation of Browning’s loftiest work. +<span class = "gap">(<i>March, 1887.</i>)</span></p> +</td> + +<td> +<p><b>Melville B. Anderson</b>, <i>Prof. of English Literature, Purdue +Univ., in “The Dial,” Chicago</i>: The arguments to the poems are made +with rare judgment. Many mature readers have hitherto been repelled from +Browning by real difficulties such as obstruct the way to the inner +sanctuary of every great poet’s thought. Such readers may well be glad +of some sort of a path up the rude steeps the poet has climbed and +whither he beckons all who can to follow him. +<span class = "gap">(<i>January, 1887.</i>)</span></p> + +<p><b>Queries</b>, <i>Buffalo, N.Y.</i>: It is the most noteworthy +treatise on the poetry of Browning yet published. Professor Corson is +well informed upon the poetic literature of the age, is an admirably +clear writer, and brings to the subject he has in hand ample knowledge +and due—we had almost said undue—reverence. It has been a +labor of love, and he has performed it well. The book will be a popular +one, as readers who are not familiar with or do not understand +Browning’s poetry either from incompetency, indolence, or lack of time, +can here gain a fair idea of Browning’s poetical aims, influence, and +works without much effort, or the expense of intellectual effort. +Persons who have made a study of Browning’s poetry will welcome it as a +matter of course. +<span class = "gap">(<i>December, 1886.</i>)</span></p> + +<p><b>Education</b>, <i>Boston</i>: Any effort to aid and guide the +young in the study of Robert Browning’s poetry is to be commended. But +when the editor is able to grasp the hidden meaning and make conspicuous +the poetic beauties of so famous an author, and, withal, give such +clever hints, directions, and guidance to the understanding and the +enjoyment of the poems, he lays us all under unusual obligations. It is +to be hoped that this book will come into general use in the high +schools, academies, and colleges of America. It is beautifully printed, +in clear type, on good paper, and is well bound. +<span class = "gap">(<i>February, 1887.</i>)</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 6</span> +<!--png 208--> +<h3>The Study of English.</h3> + +<hr> + +<p class = "book"> +Practical Lessons in the Use of English.<br> +For Primary and Grammar Schools. By <span class = "smallcaps">Mary F. +Hyde</span>, Teacher of Composition in the State Normal School, Albany, +N.Y.</p> + +<p>This work consists of a series of <i>Practical Lessons</i>, designed +to aid the pupil in his own use of English, and to assist him in +understanding its use by others. No topic is introduced for study that +does not have some practical bearing upon one or the other of these two +points.</p> + +<p>The pupil is first led to observe certain facts about the language, +and then he is required to apply those facts in various exercises. At +every step in his work he is compelled to think.</p> + +<p>The Written Exercises are a distinctive feature of this work. These +exercises not only give the pupil daily practice in using the knowledge +acquired, but lead him to form the habit of independent work.</p> + +<p>Simple exercises in composition are given from the first. In these +exercises the aim is not to train the pupil to use any set form of +words, but so to interest him in his subject, that, when writing, he +will think simply of what he is trying to say.</p> + +<p>Special prominence is given to letter-writing and to written forms +relating to the ordinary business of life.</p> + +<p>The work will aid teachers as well as pupils. It is so arranged that +even the inexperienced teacher will have no difficulty in awakening an +interest in the subjects presented.</p> + +<p>This series consists of three parts (in two volumes), the lessons +being carefully graded throughout:—</p> + +<table class = "sanstitle" summary = "list of books"> +<tr> +<td class = "sans">Part First.</td> +<td class = "sans">For Primary Schools.—Third Grade.</td> +<td class = "number">[<i>Ready.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "sans">Part Second.</td> +<td class = "sans">For Primary Schools.—Fourth Grade.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<span class = "gap"> +(Part Second will be bound with Part First.)</span></td> +<td class = "number">[<i>Ready soon.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "sans">Part Third.</td> +<td class = "sans">For Grammar Schools.</td> +<td class = "number">[<i>Ready in September.</i></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class = "book"> +The English Language; Its Grammar, History, and Literature.<br> +By Prof. +<span class = "smallcaps">J. M. D. Meiklejohn</span>, of the +University of St. Andrews, Scotland. One volume. viii + 388 pages. +Introduction price, $1.30. Price by mail, $1.40. Also bound in two +parts.</p> + +<p>Readable in style. Omits insignificant details. Treats all salient +features with a master’s skill, and with the utmost clearness and +simplicity. Contains:—</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 7</span> +<!--png 209--> +<p class = "hanging"> +I. A concise and accurate <i>resumé</i> of the principles and rules of +<i>English Grammar</i>, with some interesting chapters on +<i>Word-Building and Derivation</i>, including an historical dictionary +of <i>Roots and Branches</i>, of <i>Words Derived from Names of Persons +or of Places</i>, and of <i>Words Disguised in Form</i>, and <i>Words +Greatly Changed in Meaning</i>.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +II. Thirty pages of practical instruction in <i>Composition</i>, +<i>Paraphrasing</i>, <i>Versification</i>, and <i>Punctuation</i>.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +III. A <i>History of the English Language</i>, giving the sources of its +vocabulary and the story of its grammatical changes, with a table of the +<i>Landmarks</i> in the history, from the Beowulf to Tennyson.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +IV. An <i>Outline of the History of English Literature</i>, embracing +<i>Tabular Views</i> which give in parallel columns, (<i>a</i>) the name +of an author; (<i>b</i>) his chief works; (<i>c</i>) notable +contemporary events; (<i>d</i>) the century, or decade.</p> + +<p>The Index is complete, and is in the most helpful form for the +student or the general reader.</p> + +<p>The book will prove invaluable to the teacher as a basis for his +course of lectures, and to the student as a compact and reliable +statement of all the essentials of the subject. +<span class = "floatgap">[<i>Ready August 15th.</i></span> </p> + + +<p class = "book"> +Wordsworth’s Prelude; an Autobiographical Poem.<br> +Annotated by <span class = "smallcaps">A. J. George</span>, Acting +Professor of English Literature in Boston University, and Teacher of +English Literature, Newton (Mass.) High School. +<span class = "floatgap">[<i>Text ready in September. Notes +later.</i></span> </p> + +<p>This work is prepared as an introduction to the life and poetry of +Wordsworth, and although never before published apart from the author’s +complete works, has long been considered as containing the key to that +poetic philosophy which was the characteristic of the “New +Brotherhood.”</p> + + +<p class = "book"> +The Disciplinary Value of the Study of English.<br> +By <span class = "smallcaps">F. C. Woodward</span>, Professor of English +and Latin, Wofford College, Spartanburg, S.C.</p> + +<p>The author restricts himself to the examination of the arguments for +the study of English as a means of discipline, and shows that such +study, both in schools and in colleges, can be made the medium of as +sound training as the ancient languages or the other +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 8</span> +<!--png 210--> +modern languages would give; and that the study of English forms, +idioms, historical grammar, etc., is the only linguistic discipline +possible to the great masses of our pupils, and that it is entirely +adequate to the results required of it as such. He dwells especially on +the disciplinary value of the analytical method as applied to the +elucidation of English syntax, and the striking adaptation of English +constructions to the exact methods of logical analysis. This Monograph +discusses English teaching in the entire range of its disciplinary uses +from primary school to high collegiate work. +<span class = "floatgap">[<i>Ready in August.</i></span> </p> + + +<p class = "book"> +English in the Preparatory Schools.<br> +By <span class = "smallcaps">Ernest W. Huffcut</span>, Instructor in +Rhetoric in the Cornell University.</p> + +<p>The aim of this Monograph is to present as simply and practically as +possible some of the advanced methods of teaching English grammar and +English composition in the secondary schools. The author has kept +constantly in mind the needs of those teachers who, while not giving +undivided attention to the teaching of English, are required to take +charge of that subject in the common schools. The defects in existing +methods and the advantages of fresher methods are pointed out, and the +plainest directions given for arousing and maintaining an interest in +the work and raising it to its true place in the school curriculum. +<span class = "floatgap">[<i>Ready in August.</i></span> </p> + + +<p class = "book"> +The Study of Rhetoric in the College Course.<br> +By <span class = "smallcaps">J. F. Genung</span>, Professor of Rhetoric +in Amherst College.</p> + +<p>This book is the outcome of the author’s close and continued inquiry +into the scope and limits of rhetorical study as pursued by +undergraduates, and of his application of his ideas to the organization +of a progressive rhetorical course. The first part defines the place of +rhetoric among the college studies, and the more liberal estimate of its +scope required by the present state of learning and literature. This is +followed by a discussion of what may and should be done, as the most +effective practical discipline of students toward the making of +literature. Finally, a systematized and progressive course in +rhetoric is sketched, being mainly the course already tried and approved +in the author’s own classes. +<span class = "floatgap">[<i>Ready.</i></span> </p> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 9</span> +<!--png 211--> +<p class = "book"> +Methods of Teaching and Studying History.<br> +Edited by <span class = "smallcaps">G. Stanley Hall</span>, Professor of +Psychology and Pedagogy in Johns Hopkins University. 12mo. 400 pages. +Mailing price, $1.40; Introduction price, $1.30.</p> + +<p>This book gathers together, in the form most likely to be of direct +practical utility to teachers, and especially students and readers of +history, generally, the opinions and modes of instruction, actual or +ideal, of eminent and representative specialists in each department. The +following Table of Contents will give a good idea of the plan and scope +of this valuable book:—</p> + +<table summary = "list of books"> +<tr> +<td width = "50%"> +<p><b>Introduction.</b> By the Editor.</p> + +<p><b>Methods of Teaching American History.</b> By Dr. A. B. Hart, +Harvard University.</p> + +<p><b>The Practical Method in Higher Historical Instruction.</b> By +Professor Ephraim Emerton, of Harvard University.</p> + +<p><b>On Methods of Teaching Political Economy.</b> By Dr. Richard T. +Ely, Johns Hopkins University.</p> + +<p><b>Historical Instruction in the Course of History and Political +Science at Cornell University.</b> By President Andrew D. White, Cornell +University.</p> + +<p><b>Advice to an Inexperienced Teacher of History.</b> By W. C. +Collar, A.M., Head Master of Roxbury Latin School.</p> + +<p><b>A Plea for Archæological Instruction.</b> By Joseph Thacher +Clarke, Director of the Assos Expedition.</p> + +<p><b>The Use of a Public Library in the Study of History.</b> By +William E. Foster, Librarian of the Providence Public Library.</p> + +<p><b>Special Methods of Historical Study.</b> By Professor Herbert B. +Adams, Johns Hopkins University.</p> + +</td> +<td> +<p><b>The Philosophy of the State and of History.</b> By Professor +George S. Morris, Michigan and Johns Hopkins Universities.</p> + +<p><b>The Courses of Study in History, Roman Law, and Political Economy +at Harvard University.</b> By Dr. Henry E. Scott, Harvard +University.</p> + +<p><b>The Teaching of History.</b> By Professor J. R. Seeley, +Cambridge University, England.</p> + +<p><b>On Methods of Teaching History</b>. By Professor C. K. Adams, +Michigan University.</p> + +<p><b>On Methods of Historical Study and Research in Columbia +University.</b> By Professor John W. Burgess, Columbia University.</p> + +<p><b>Physical Geography and History.</b></p> + +<p><b>Why do Children Dislike History?</b> By Thomas Wentworth +Higginson.</p> + +<p><b>Gradation and the Topical Method of Historical Study; Historical +Literature and Authorities; Books for Collateral Reading.</b> By +Professor W. F. Allen, Wisconsin University.</p> + +<p><b>Bibliography of Church History.</b> By Rev. John Alonzo Fisher, +Johns Hopkins University.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h5><b>D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,</b></h5> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">Boston, New York, and Chicago.</h5> + +<hr> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 10</span> +<!--png 212--> +<h4>THE STUDENT’S OUTLINE HISTORICAL</h4> +<h1>MAP OF ENGLAND.</h1> +<h5>By T. C. RONEY, Instructor in History, Denison University, +Granville, Ohio.</h5> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h5><b>INTRODUCTION PRICE, 25 CENTS.</b></h5> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<p><i>The attention of teachers is invited to the following features of +this Map:</i></p> + +<p>1. It emphasizes the vital connection (too often neglected) between +History and Geography.</p> + +<p>2. It leads the student through “the eye gate” into the fair fields +of English History.</p> + +<p>3. It gives a local habitation to his often vague ideas of time and +place.</p> + +<p>4. It serves as an historical laboratory, in which he makes practical +application of acquired facts, in accordance with the most approved +method of teaching History.</p> + +<p>5. It presents a <i>few</i> prominent facts, to which he is to add +others <i>singly</i> and <i>consecutively</i>.</p> + +<p><i>In particular:</i></p> + +<p>1. The exhibition, side by side, of different periods illustrates by +the approximate identity of boundaries a real historical unity of +development.</p> + +<p>2. The student’s attention is called to the culmination of Saxon +England, and the overweening power and disintegrating tendencies of the +great earldoms just before the Norman conquest, as marking the +turning-point of English History.</p> + +<p>3. The water-shed has been sufficiently indicated by the insertion of +a few rivers.</p> + +<p>4. As an aid to the memory, the modern counties are grouped under the +divisions of Saxon England.</p> + +<p>5. Special attention is called to the insertion of Cathedral towns, +as touching upon the ecclesiastical history of England.</p> + +<p>6. This Map can be used effectively with a class in English +Literature, to record an author’s birthplace, the scene of a story, +poem, or drama, etc.</p> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h5><b>D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,</b></h5> + +<h6><span class = "smallroman"> +BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND CHICAGO.</span></h6> + +<hr> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 11</span> +<!--png 213--> +<h3>Science.</h3> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Organic Chemistry:<br> +<i>An Introduction to the Study of the Compounds of Carbon.</i> By <span +class = "smallcaps">Ira Remsen</span>, Professor of Chemistry, Johns +Hopkins University, Baltimore. x + 364 pages. Cloth. Price by mail, +$1.30; Introduction price, $1.20.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +The Elements of Inorganic Chemistry:<br> +<i>Descriptive and Qualitative.</i> By <span class = "smallcaps">James +H. Shepard</span>, Instructor in Chemistry in the Ypsilanti High School, +Michigan. xxii + 377 pages. Cloth. Price by mail, $1.25; Introduction +price, $1.12.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +The Elements of Chemical Arithmetic:<br> +<i>With a Short System of Elementary Qualitative Analysis</i>. By <span +class = "smallcaps">J. Milnor Coit</span>, M.A., Ph.D., Instructor in +Chemistry, St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H. iv + 89 pages. Cloth. Price +by mail, 55 cts.; Introduction price, 50 cts.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +The Laboratory Note-Book.<br> +<i>For Students using any Chemistry.</i> Giving printed forms for +“taking notes” and working out formulæ. Board covers. Cloth back. 192 +pages. Price by mail, 40 cts.; Introduction price, 35 cts.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Elementary Course in Practical Zoölogy.<br> +By <span class = "smallcaps">B. P. Colton</span>, A.M., Instructor in +Biology, Ottawa High School.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +First Book of Geology.<br> +By <span class = "smallcaps">N. S. Shaler</span>, Professor of +Palæontology, Harvard University. 272 pages, with 130 figures in the +text. 74 pages additional in Teachers’ Edition. Price by mail, $1.10; +Introduction price, $1.00.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Guides for Science-Teaching.<br> +Published under the auspices of the <b>Boston Society of Natural +History</b>. For teachers who desire to practically instruct classes in +Natural History, and designed to supply such information as they are not +likely to get from any other source. 26 to 200 pages each. Paper.</p> + +<table summary = "list of books"> +<tr> +<td width = "50%"> +<p class = "hanging"> +I. <span class = "smallcaps">Hyatt’s About Pebbles</span>, +10 cts.</p> +<p class = "hanging"> +II. <span class = "smallcaps">Goodale’s Few Common Plants</span>, +15 cts.</p> +<p class = "hanging"> +III. <span class = "smallcaps">Hyatt’s Commercial and Other +Sponges</span>, 20 cts.</p> +<p class = "hanging"> +IV. <span class = "smallcaps">Agassiz’s First Lesson in Natural +History</span>, 20 cts.</p> +<p class = "hanging"> +V. <span class = "smallcaps">Hyatt’s Corals and Echinoderms</span>, +20 cts.</p> +</td> +<td class = "leftline"> +<p class = "hanging"> +VI. <span class = "smallcaps">Hyatt’s Mollusca</span>, 25 cts.</p> +<p class = "hanging"> +VII. <span class = "smallcaps">Hyatt’s Worms and Crustacea</span>, +25 cts.</p> +<p class = "hanging"> +XII. <span class = "smallcaps">Crosby’s Common Minerals and +Rocks</span>, 40 cts. Cloth, 60 cts.</p> +<p class = "hanging"> +XIII. <span class = "smallcaps">Richards’ First Lessons in +Minerals</span>, 10 cts.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +The Astronomical Lantern.<br> +By <span class = "smallcaps">Rev. James Freeman Clarke</span>. Intended +to familiarize students with the constellations by comparing them with +fac-similes on the lantern face. Price of the Lantern, in improved form, +with seventeen slides and a copy of “<span class = "smallcaps">How to +Find the Stars</span>,” $4.50.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +How to Find the Stars.<br> +By <span class = "smallcaps">Rev. James Freeman Clarke</span>. Designed +to aid the beginner in becoming better acquainted, in the easiest way, +with the visible starry heavens.</p> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h5><b>D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,</b></h5> + +<h6 class = "smallcaps">3 Tremont Place, Boston.</h6> + +<hr> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 12</span> +<!--png 214--> +<h3>Modern Languages.</h3> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Sheldon’s Short German Grammar.<br> +<b>Irving J. Manatt</b>, <i>Prof. of Modern Languages, Marietta College, +Ohio</i>: I can say, after going over every page of it carefully in +the class-room, that it is admirably adapted to its purpose.<br> +<b>Oscar Howes</b>, <i>Prof. of German, Chicago University</i>: For +beginners, it is superior to any grammar with which I am acquainted.<br> +<b>Joseph Milliken</b>, <i>formerly Prof. of Modern Languages, Ohio +State University</i>: There is nothing in English equal to it.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Deutsch’s Select German Reader.<br> +<b>Frederick Lutz</b>, <i>recent Prof. of German, Harvard +University</i>: After having used it for nearly one year, I can +<i>conscientiously</i> say that it is an <i>excellent</i> book, and well +adapted to beginners.<br> +<b>H. C. G. Brandt</b>, <i>Prof. of German, Hamilton College</i>: +I think it an excellent book. I shall use it for a beginner’s +reader.<br> +<b>Henry Johnson</b>, <i>Prof. of Modern Languages, Bowdoin College, +Brunswick, Me.</i>: Use in the class-room has proved to me the +excellence of the book.<br> +<b>Sylvester Primer</b>, <i>Prof. of Modern Languages, College of +Charleston, S.C.</i>: I beg leave to say that I consider it an +excellent little book for beginners.</p> + + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Boisen’s Preparatory German Prose.<br> +<b>Hermann Huss</b>, <i>Prof. of German, Princeton College</i>: +I have been using it, and it gives me a great deal of +satisfaction.<br> +<b>A. H. Mixer</b>, <i>Prof. of Modern Languages, University of +Rochester, N.Y.</i>: It answers to my idea of an elementary reader +better than any I have yet seen.<br> +<b>C. Woodward Hutson</b>, <i>Prof. of Modern Languages, University of +Mississippi</i>: I have been using it. I have never met with +so good a first reading-book in any language.<br> +<b>Oscar Faulhaber</b>, <i>Prof. of Modern Languages, Phillips Exeter +Academy, N.H.</i>: A professional teacher and an intelligent mind +will regard the Reader as unexcelled.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Grimm’s Märchen.<br> +<b>Henry Johnson</b>, <i>Prof. of Mod. Lang., Bowdoin Coll.</i>: It has +excellent work in it.<br> +<b>Boston Advertiser</b>: Teachers and students of German owe a debt of +thanks to the editor.<br> +<b>The Beacon</b>, <i>Boston</i>: A capital book for beginners. The +editor has done his work remarkably well.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Hauff’s Märchen: Das Kalte Herz.<br> +<b>G. H. Horswell</b>, <i>Prof. of Modern Languages, Northwestern Univ. +Prep. School, Evanston, Ill.</i>: It is prepared with critical +scholarship and judicious annotation. I shall use it in my classes +next term.<br> +<b>The Academy</b>, <i>Syracuse, N.Y.</i>: The notes seem unusually well +prepared.<br> +<b>Unity</b>, <i>Chicago</i>: It is decidedly better than anything we +have previously seen. Any book so well made must soon have many friends +among teachers and students.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Hodge’s Course in Scientific German.<br> +<b>Albert C. Hale</b>, <i>recent President of School of Mines, Golden, +Col.</i>: We have never been better pleased with any book we have +used.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Ybarra’s Practical Spanish Method.<br> +<b>B. H. Nash</b>, <i>Prof. of the Spanish and Italian Languages, +Harvard Univ.</i>: The work has some very marked merits. The author +evidently had a well-defined plan, which he carries out with admirable +consistency.<br> +<b>Alf. Hennequin</b>, <i>Dept. of Mod. Langs., University of +Michigan</i>: The method is thoroughly practical, and quite original. +The book will be used by me in the University.</p> + +<p><b><i>For Terms for Introduction apply to</i></b></p> + +<h5><b>D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,</b></h5> + +<h6 class = "smallcaps">Boston, New York, and Chicago.</h6> + +<hr> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 13</span> +<!--png 215--> +<h3>HISTORY.</h3> + +<h5 class = "sans">Students and Teachers of History will find the +following to be invaluable aids:—</h5> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Studies in General History.<br> +(1000 B.C. to 1880 A.D.) <i>An Application of the Scientific Method to +the Teaching of History.</i> <span class = "smallcaps">By Mary D. +Sheldon</span>, formerly Professor of History in Wellesley College. This +book has been prepared in order that the general student may share in +the advantages of the Seminary Method of Instruction. It is a collection +of historic material, interspersed with problems whose answers the +student must work out for himself from original historical data. In this +way he is trained to deal with the original historical data of his own +time. In short, it may be termed <i>an exercise book in history and +politics</i>. Price by mail, $1.75.<br> +<b>THE TEACHER’S MANUAL</b> contains the continuous statement of the +results which should be gained from the History, and embodies the +teacher’s part of the work, being made up of summaries, explanations, +and suggestions for essays and examinations. Price by mail, 85 +cents.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Sheldon’s Studies in Greek and Roman History.<br> +Meets the needs of students preparing for college, of schools in which +Ancient History takes the place of General History, and of students who +have used an ordinary manual, and wish to make a spirited and helpful +review. Price by mail, $1.10.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Methods of Teaching and Studying History.<br> +Edited by <span class = "smallcaps">G. Stanley Hall</span>, Professor of +Psychology and Pedagogy in Johns Hopkins University. Contains, in the +form most likely to be of direct practical utility to teachers, as well +as to students and readers of history, the opinions and modes of +instruction, actual or ideal, of eminent and representative specialists +in leading American and English universities. Price by mail, $1.40.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Select Bibliography of Church History.<br> +By <span class = "smallcaps">J. A. Fisher</span>, Johns Hopkins +University. Price by mail, 20 cents.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +History Topics for High Schools and Colleges.<br> +<i>With an Introduction upon the Topical Method of Instruction in +History.</i> By <span class = "smallcaps">William Francis Allen</span>, +Professor in the University of Wisconsin. Price by mail, 30 cents.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Large Outline Map of the United States.<br> +Edited by <span class = "smallcaps">Edward Channing, Ph.D.</span>, and +<span class = "smallcaps">Albert B. Hart, Ph.D</span>., Instructors in +History in Harvard University. For the use of Classes in History, in +Geography, and in Geology. Price by mail, 60 cents.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Small Outline Map of the United States.<br> +<i>For the Desk of the Pupil.</i> Prepared by <span class = +"smallcaps">Edward Channing, Ph.D.</span>, and <span class = +"smallcaps">Albert B. Hart, Ph.D.</span>, Instructors in Harvard +University. Price, 2 cents each, or $1.50 per hundred.<br> +We publish also small Outline Maps of North America, South America, +Europe, Central and Western Europe, Asia, Africa, Great Britain, and the +World on Mercator’s Projection. These maps will be found invaluable to +classes in history, for use in locating prominent historical points, and +for indicating physical features, political boundaries, and the progress +of historical growth. Price, 2 cents each, or $1.50 per +hundred.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Political and Physical Wall Maps.<br> +We handle both the <span class = "smallcaps">Johnston</span> and <span +class = "smallcaps">Stanford</span> series, and can always supply +teachers and schools at the lowest rates. Correspondence solicited.</p> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h5><b>D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,</b></h5> + +<h6><span class = "smallroman">BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND +CHICAGO.</span></h6> + +<hr> + +<span class = "pagenum">Ad 14</span> +<!--png 216--> +<h3>New Books on Education.</h3> + +<h5 class = "sans">I do not think that you have ever printed a book on +education that is not worthy to go on any “Teacher’s Reading List,” and +<u>the best</u> list.—<span class = "smallcaps">Dr. William T. +Harris.</span></h5> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Compayré’s History of Pedagogy.<br> +Translated by Professor <span class = "smallcaps">W. H. Payne</span>, +University of Michigan. Price by mail, $1.75. The best and most +comprehensive history of education in English.—Dr. <span class = +"smallcaps">G. S. Hall</span>.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Gill’s Systems of Education.<br> +An account of the systems advocated by eminent educationists. Price by +mail, $1.10.<br> +I can say truly that I think it eminently worthy of a place on the +Chautauqua Reading List, because it treats ably of the Lancaster and +Bell movement in Education,—a <i>very important</i> +phase.—Dr. <span class = "smallcaps">William T. Harris</span>.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Radestock’s Habit in Education.<br> +With an Introduction by Dr. <span class = "smallcaps">G. Stanley +Hall</span>. Price by mail, 65 cents.<br> +It will prove a rare “find” to teachers who are seeking to ground +themselves in philosophy of their art.—<span class = +"smallcaps">E. H. Russell</span>, Prin. of Normal School, +Worcester, Mass.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Rousseau’s Émile.<br> +Price by mail, 85 cents.<br> +There are fifty pages of Émile that should be bound in velvet and +gold.—<span class = "smallcaps">Voltaire</span>.<br> +Perhaps the most influential book ever written on the subject of +education.—<span class = "smallcaps">R. H. Quick</span>.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Pestalozzi’s Leonard and Gertrude.<br> +With an Introduction by Dr. <span class = "smallcaps">G. Stanley +Hall</span>. Price by mail, 85 cents.<br> +If we except Rousseau’s “Émile” only, no more important educational book +has appeared for a century and a half than Pestalozzi’s “Leonard and +Gertrude.”—<i>The Nation.</i></p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Richter’s Levana; The Doctrine of Education.<br> +A book that will tend to build up that department of education which is +most neglected, and yet needs most care—home training. Price by +mail, $1.35.<br> +A spirited and scholarly book.—Prof. W. H. <span class = +"smallcaps">Payne</span>, University of Michigan.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Rosmini’s Method in Education.<br> +Price by mail, $1.75.<br> +The best of the Italian books on education.—<i>Editor London +Journal of Education.</i></p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Hall’s Methods of Teaching History.<br> +A symposium of eminent teachers of history. Price by mail, $1.40.<br> +Its excellence and helpfulness ought to secure it many +readers.—<i>The Nation.</i></p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Bibliography of Pedagogical Literature.<br> +Carefully selected and annotated by Dr. <span class = "smallcaps">G. +Stanley Hall</span>. Price by mail, $1.75.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Lectures to Kindergartners.<br> +By <span class = "smallcaps">Elizabeth P. Peabody</span>. Price by mail, +$1.10.</p> + +<p class = "book smaller"> +Monographs on Education.<br> +(25 cents each.)</p> + + +<h5><b>D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,</b></h5> + +<h6><span class = "smallroman">BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND +CHICAGO.</span></h6> + +</div> <!-- end div advert --> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Brief History of the English +Language and Literature, Vol. , by John Miller Dow Meiklejohn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE *** + +***** This file should be named 21665-h.htm or 21665-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/6/6/21665/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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