turn his porteus and piel readily.' Which I speak not to reprove any order either of apparel, or other duty, that may be well and indifferently used; but to note the misery of that time, when the benefits provided for learning were so foully misused. And what was the fruit of this seed? Verily, judgment in doctrine was wholly altered; order in discipline very sore changed; the love of good learning began suddenly to wax cold; the knowledge of the tongues (in spite of some that therein had flourished) was manifestly contemned: and so, the way of right study purposely perverted; the choice of good authors, of malice confounded; old sophistry, I say not well, not old, but that new rotten sophistry, began to beard, and shoulder logic in her own tongue: yea, I know that heads were cast together, and counsel devised, that Duns, with all the rabble of barbarous questionists, should have dispossessed of their place and room, Aristotle, Plato, Tully, and Demosthenes, whom good M. Redman, and those two worthy stars of that university, M. Cheke and M. Smith, with their scholars, had brought to flourish as notably in Cambridge, as ever they did in Greece and in Italy; and for the doctrine of those four, the four pillars of learning, Cambridge then giving no place to no university, neither in France, Spain, Germany, nor Italy. Also, in outward behaviour, then began simplicity in apparel to be laid aside, courtly gallantness to be taken up; frugality in diet was privately misliked, town going to good cheer openly used; honest pastimes, joined with labour, left off in the fields; unthrifty and idle games haunted corners, and occupied the nights: contention in youth nowhere for learning; factions in the elders everywhere for trifles. All which miseries at length, by God's providence, had their end 16th November 1558.* Since which time, the young spring hath shot up so fair as now there be in Cambridge again many good plants. [Qualifications of an Historian.] member), after some reasoning we concluded both what was in our opinion to be looked for at his hand, that would well and advisedly write an history. First point was, to write nothing false; next, to be bold to say any truth: whereby is avoided two great faultsflattery and hatred. For which two points, Cæsar is read to his great praise; and Jovius the Italian to his just reproach. Then to mark diligently the causes, counsels, acts, and issues, in all great attempts: and in causes, what is just or unjust; in counsels, what is purposed wisely or rashly; in acts, what is done courageously or faintly; and of every issue, to note some general lesson of wisdom and wariness for like matters in time to come, wherein Polybius in Greek, and Philip Comines in French, have done the duties of wise and worthy writers. Diligence also must be used in keeping truly the order of time, and describing lively both the site of places and nature of persons, not only for the outward shape of the body, but also for the inward disposition of the mind, as Thucydides doth in many places very trimly; and Homer everywhere, and that always most excellently; which observation is chiefly to be marked in him. And our Chaucer doth the same, very praiseworthily: mark him well, and confer him with any other that writeth in our time in their proudest tongue, whosoever list. The style must be always plain and open; yet some time higher and lower, as matters do rise and fall. For if proper and natural words, in well-joined sentences, do lively express the matter, be it troublesome, quiet, angry, or pleasant, a man shall think not to be reading, but present in doing of the same. And herein Livy of all other in any tongue, by mine opinion, carrieth away the praise. After the publication of Ascham's works, it became more usual for learned men to compose in English, more particularly when they aimed at influencing public opinion. But as religious controversy was what then chiefly agitated the the English works of that age are now of little [From the Discourse on the Affairs of Germany. The writer minds of men, it follows that the great bulk of is addressing his friend John Astely.] When you and I read Livy together (if you do re-interest. Third Period. THE REIGNS OF ELIZABETH, JAMES I., AND CHARLES I. [1558 TO 1649.] POETS. study of classical literature, the invention or printing, the freedom with which religion was disN the preced-cussed, together with the general substitution of ing sections, the the philosophy of Plato for that of Aristotle, had history of Eng- everywhere given activity and strength to the lish literature is minds of men. The immediate effects of these nobrought to a pe- velties upon English literature, were the enrichriod when its in- ment of the language, as already mentioned, by fancy may be said a great variety of words from the classic tongues, to cease, and its the establishment of better models of thought and manhood to com- style, and the allowance of greater freedom to the mence. In the fancy and powers of observation in the exercise earlier half of of the literary calling. Not only the Greek and the sixteenth cen-Roman writers, but those of modern Italy and tury, it was sen- France, where letters experienced an earlier revival, sibly affected by were now translated into English, and being libea variety of in- rally diffused by the press, served to excite a taste fluences, which, for elegant reading in lower branches of society for an age be- than had ever before felt the genial influence of fore, had operated letters. The dissemination of the Scriptures in powerfully in ex- the vulgar tongue, while it greatly affected the panding the intellect of European nations. The language and ideas of the people, was also of no * The date of the accession of Queen Elizabeth. small avail in giving new direction to the thoughts 1 Breviary. of literary men, to whom these antique Oriental compositions presented numberless incidents, images, and sentiments, unknown before, and of the richest and most interesting kind. Among other circumstances favourable to literature at this period, must be reckoned the encouragement given to it by Queen Elizabeth, who was herself very learned and addicted to poetical composition, and had the art of filling her court with men qualified to shine in almost every department of intellectual exertion. Her successors, James and Charles, resembled her in some of these respects, and during their reigns, the impulse which she had given to literature experienced rather an increase than a decline. There was, indeed, something in the policy, as well as in the personal character of all these sovereigns, which proved favourable to literature. The study of the belles lettres was in some measure identified with the courtly and arbitrary principles of the time, not perhaps so much from any enlightened spirit in those who supported such principles, as from a desire of opposing the puritans, and other malcontents, whose religious doctrines taught them to despise some departments of elegant literature, and utterly to condemn others. There can be no doubt that the drama, for instance, chiefly owed that encouragement which it received under Elizabeth and her successors, to a spirit of hostility to the puritans, who, not unjustly, repudiated it for its immorality. We must at the same time allow much to the influence which such a court as that of England, during these three reigns, was calculated to have among men of literary tendencies. Almost all the poets, and many of the other writers, were either courtiers themselves, or under the immediate protection of courtiers, and were constantly experiencing the smiles, and occasionally the solid benefactions, of royalty. Whatever, then, was refined, or gay, or sentimental, in this country and at this time, came with its full influence upon literature. The works brought forth under these circumstances have been very aptly compared to the productions of a soil for the first time broken up, when 'all indigenous plants spring up at once with a rank and irrepressible fertility, and display whatever is peculiar and excellent in their nature, on a scale the most conspicuous and magnificent." The ability to write having been, as it were, suddenly created, the whole world of character, imagery, and sentiment, as well as of information and philosophy, lay ready for the use of those who possessed the gift, and was appropriated accordingly. As might be expected, where there was less rule of art than opulence of materials, the productions of these writers are often deficient in taste, and contain much that is totally aside from the purpose. To pursue the simile above quoted, the crops are not so clean as if they had been reared under systematic cultivation. On this account, the refined taste of the eighteenth century condemned most of the productions of the sixteenth and seventeenth to oblivion, and it is only of late that they have once more obtained their deserved reputation. After every proper deduction has been made, enough remains to fix this era as by far the mightiest in the history of English literature, or indeed of human intellect and capacity. There never was anything,' says the writer above quoted, like the sixty or seventy years that elapsed from the middle of Elizabeth's reign, to the period of the Restoration. In point of real force and origi- | nality of genius, neither the age of Pericles, nor the age of Augustus, nor the times of Leo X., nor of Louis XIV., can come at all into comparison; for in Edinburgh Review, xviii. 275. that short period, we shall find the names of almost all the very great men that this nation has ever produced, the names of Shakspeare, and Bacon, and Spenser, and Sydney, and Hooker, and Taylor, and Barrow, and Raleigh, and Napier, and Hobbes, and many others; men, all of them, not merely of great talents and accomplishments, but of vast compass and reach of understanding, and of minds truly creative and original; not perfecting art by the delicacy of their taste, or digesting knowledge by the justness of their reasonings, but making vast and substantial additions to the materials upon which taste and reason must hereafter be employed, and enlarging to an incredible and unparalleled extent both the stores and the resources of the human faculties.' THOMAS SACKVILLE. In the reign of Elizabeth, some poetical names of importance precede that of Spenser. The first is THOMAS SACKVILLE (1536-1608), ultimately Earl Thomas Sackville. of Dorset and Lord High Treasurer of England, and [Allegorical characters from the Mirrour for Magistrates.] With thoughtful care; as she that, all in vain, Whose wretched state when we had well beheld, And next in order sad, Old-Age we found: There heard we him with broke and hollow plaint But, an the cruel fates so fixed be And not so soon descend into the pit; The gladsome light, but, in the ground ylain, But who had seen him sobbing how he stood But, oh, the doleful sight that then we see! And that, alas, was gnawen every where, Great was her force, whom stone-wall could not stay: Where you may count each sinew, bone, and vein. 81 On her while we thus firmly fix'd our eyes, And, by and by, a dumb dead corpse we saw, He razed towns and threw down towers and all: [Henry Duke of Buckingham in the Infernal Regions.] [The description of the Duke of Buckingham-the Buckingham, it must be recollected, of Richard III.-has been much admired, as an impersonation of extreme wretchedness.] Then first came Henry Duke of Buckingham, His cloak of black all piled, and quite forlorn, Wringing his hands, and Fortune oft doth blame, Which of a duke had made him now her scorn; With ghastly looks, as one in manner lorn, Oft spread his arms, stretched hands he joins as fast, His cloak he rent, his manly breast he beat; Thrice he began to tell his doleful tale, JOHN HARRINGTON. Some pleasing amatory verses (exhibiting a remarkable polish for the time in which they were written) by JOHN HARRINGTON (1534-1582) have been published in the Nuga Antiquæ. This poet was imprisoned in the Tower by Queen Mary for holding correspondence with Elizabeth, and the latter, on her accession to the throne, rewarded him with many favours. He must have been a man of taste and refined feelings, as the following specimen of his poetry will suffice to show : Sonnet made on Isabella Markham, when I first thought her fair, as she stood at the princess's window, in goodly attire, and talked to divers in the court-yard. 1564. Whence comes my love? Oh heart, disclose; SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (1554-1586) takes his rank in English literary history rather as a prose writer than as a poet. His poetry, indeed, has long been laid aside on account of the cold and affected style in which he wrote. It has been justly remarked, that, if he had looked into his own noble heart, and written directly from that, instead of from his somewhat too metaphysico-philosophical head, his poetry would have been excellent.' Yet in some pieces he has fortunately failed in extinguishing the natural sentiment which inspired him. The following are admired specimens of his sonnets : [Sonnets of Sir Philip Sidney.] Because I oft in dark abstracted guise Come, Sleep, O Sleep, the certain knot of peace, Having this day my horse, my hand, my lance In martial sports I had my cunning tried, When Cupid, having me (his slave) descried Of all the kings that ever here did reign, 1 Press, throng. SIR WALTER RALEIGH-TIMOTHY KENDAL NICHOLAS BRETON-HENRY CONSTABLE. SIR WALTER RALEIGH, to whose merits as a prose writer justice is done in the sequel, deserves to be ranked amongst the minor poets of Elizabeth's reign. TIMOTHY KENDAL is only known for having published, in 1577, a volume entitled Hours of Epigrams. NICHOLAS BRETON (1555-1624) wrote some pastoral poems, and a volume called the Works of a Young Wit. HENRY CONSTABLE was a popular writer of sonnets, though strangely conceited and unnatural in his style. In most of the works of these inferior poets, happy thoughts and imagery may be found, mixed up with affectations, forced analogies, and conceits. It is worthy of remark, that this was the age when collections of fugitive and miscellaneous poems first became common. Several volumes of this kind, published in the reign of Elizabeth, contain poetry of high merit, without any author's name. The Country's Recreations. [From a poem by Raleigh, bearing the above title, the following verses are extracted.] Heart-tearing cares and quiv'ring fears, Fly, fly to courts, Fly to fond worldling's sports; Where strained sardonic smiles are glozing still, And sorrows only real be. Fly from our country pastimes, fly, Come, serene looks, Clear as the crystal brooks, Or the pure azur'd heaven that smiles to see Peace and a secure mind, Which all men seek, we only find. Abused mortals, did you know Where joy, heart's ease, and comforts grow, And seek them in these bowers; Where winds perhaps our woods may sometimes shake, But blustering care could never tempest make, Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us, Saving of fountains that glide by us. * * |