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The Study of English Literature.

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contemporaries, how far he availed himself of what they had done, how far he influenced them, and how far he was influenced by them, and to trace the whole course of the Elizabethan drama from its first dim dawnings to its melancholy but not inglorious close. When one has made oneself at home in the literature of any period, so as to be able to conjure up before the mind's eye its more important writers, even its minutest details, which in themselves seem trifling and tedious, acquire an interest and importance, every fresh particular adding a new shade of colour to the mental picture we form of the epoch.

In the pages which follow, considerable space has been devoted to the literature of the last hundred years, while our earlier writers have been dealt with briefly, many of considerable importance having been altogether omitted. To this arrangement not a few may possibly be inclined to object; nevertheless, I believe that, for a work like the present, intended mainly for young readers and others whose time is limited, it is the best arrangement. Literary history becomes much more interesting to most people the nearer it approaches to our own time; and very few are likely to acquire a taste for reading by having their attention directed mainly to our older authors. Now, what every writer of a book like the present and every teacher of English literature ought to aim at is, to give his readers or his pupils a taste for literature. If the teacher of English literature fails in this, his labours are almost in vain. The amount of knowledge which he is able to communicate is comparatively small; but if he manages to impress on his pupils a sense of the greatness and importance of literature, and of the countless benefits and pleasures which may be derived from its study, he has sown the seeds of what will yet produce a very abundant harvest. The remark is very often made that young people are of their own accord likely to peruse writers of the day, while leaving the classical writers of former generations neglected. No doubt there is a good deal of truth in this; but I am disposed to question very much whether the practice of using mainly our older writers

for educational purposes has any appreciable effect whatever in extending their general perusal; and when one considers how literature-even literature of the day-is neglected by numbers of educated people, one is inclined to have some doubt as to the wisdom of leaving recent writers out of the educational curriculum. Few will be disposed to deny that the most important section of political history is that which relates to recent times. To a large extent, the same is true of literature. Nothing is more likely to quicken one's interest in books, and to serve as an incentive to further research, than an acquaintance with the various literary modes that have been prevalent in recent times or which are still in vogue. Moreover, if the study of English literature is pursued partly as a means of acquiring a correct style, there can be no doubt whatever that the prose writers of the last two centuries will prove much more useful guides than their predecessors. The following interesting remarks on this subject, quoted from a lecture "On Teaching English," recently delivered by Dr. Alexander Bain before the Birmingham Teachers' Association, appear to me to have much force, though the views expressed are perhaps rather extreme. "Irrespective of any question as to the superiority of Shakespeare and Milton, it must from necessity be the case that the recent classics possess the greatest amount of unexhausted interest. Their authors have studied and been guided by the greatest works of the past, have reproduced many of their effects, as well as added new strokes of genius; and thus our reading is naturally directed to them by preference. A canto of 'Childe Harold' has not the genius of Macbeth' or of the second book of 'Paradise Lost,' but it has more freshness of interest. This is as regards the reader of mature years, but it must be taken into account in the case of the youthful reader also.

"So with regard to the older prose. The 'Essays' of Bacon cannot interest this generation in any proportion to the author's transcendent genius. They have passed into subsequent literature until their interest is exhausted, except from the occasional quaint felicity of the phrases. Bacon's maxims

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on the conduct of business are completely superseded by Sir Arthur Helps's essay on that subject, simply because Sir Arthur absorbed all that was in Bacon, and augmented it by subsequent wisdom and experience. To make Bacon's original a text-book of the present day, whether for thought or for style, is to abolish the three intervening centuries.

"Of Richard Hooker's 'Ecclesiastical Polity,' another literary monument of the Elizabethan age, while I give it every credit as a work suited to its own time, I am obliged to concur in the judgment of an authority great both in jurisprudence and in English style-the late John Austin-who denounced its language as 'fustian.'

"So much as regards the decay of interest in the old classics. Next as to their use in teaching style or in exercising pupils in the practice of good composition. Here, too, I think, they labour under incurable defects. Their language is not our language; their best expressions are valuable as having the stamp of genius, and are quotable to all time, but we cannot work them into the tissue of our own familiar discourse."

The concluding chapter of this book, dealing with Periodicals, Reviews, and Encyclopædias, gives a brief account of the more remarkable papers of the Spectator class, which form a noticeable feature of the literature of the eighteenth century; of the origin of the two great Quarterlies, which exercised an almost fabulous influence over criticism in the beginning of their career; of some of the more prominent new departures in periodical literature made during the present century; and of the various great English Encyclopædias. A good deal of our best literature, especially of a critical kind, has appeared in serial publications; and Encyclopædias, besides having been in recent times adorned by contributions from the ablest pens of the day, have, as digests of knowledge, afforded immense aid to all sorts of literary workers. No apology accordingly is required for devoting a chapter to the origin and history of publications belonging to the classes mentioned.

Much difference of opinion will naturally prevail as to the

writers selected for notice in this work. Some will think that names are included which would have been better omitted; others, that names are omitted which ought to have been included. I can only say that I have endeavoured to make as representative and catholic a selection as possible; and that, in choosing writers for brief notice, I have tried to fix on such as are especially remarkable, not only on account of their intrinsic merit, but as showing the literary tendencies of their time. It is with great regret that many authors of high merit and interest have been altogether left unnoticed; but more names could not have been inserted without destroying the distinctive character of the work.

As strict chronological order has not been adopted in dealing with the various authors mentioned, chronological tables giving the leading dates belonging to each chapter have been given in the Contents. These will, it is hoped, be useful for reference.

LANDMARKS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.

I.

THE DAWN of englISH LITERATURE.

Chaucer; James I. of Scotland, Dunbar, Cawain Douglas, Sir David Lyndsay; Mandeville; Wiclif, Tyndale, Coverdale, Rogers (translations of the Bible); Sir Thomas Malory, More, Latimer, Foxe.

"Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath
Preluded those melodious bursts, that fill

The spacious times of great Elizabeth

With sounds that echo still."-TENNYSON.

F this book were a history of the English language, or if it dealt with such writers as have an interest only to those who have made them the subjects of

special study, not a few names would have to be mentioned ere we came to deal with our first really great poet. Literature is a plant of slow and gradual growth: its beginnings, like the source of some great river, are obscure and difficult to trace: it is not till many influences have been at work, and many busy pens employed in moulding and forming the language, that the appearance of a writer who deserves to be ranked as a classic is possible. The authors before Chaucer (be it said with reverence to those zealous antiquaries whose enthusiasm has done so much to make the study of our old literature attractive and profitable) are interesting only for

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