, 1874-04-04
thoir caro-. Tho settlement Of tho question Of
tho odlcnt!on Of womon 1ostB with themselves.
To their intelligence md reason 1t may safely bo
E4n5


committed. :.
Philosophy OF EnF1asl. E.itornturcs
PHILOSOPHY or ENGLISH LITERATURE: 4
CounsE or LEorunrs DELIVERED ~ T1K
"rrjnciplea Of raycholoay,S Bcisneo, ph!loBophy,
v1, sna nol,s9np eso: 1anmo pp. als' sl''' NOW
The student and roadcr Of English literature
will find this little volume choice contribution
to his library OF textbooks md manuals. Ono
may DO thoroughly familiar with tho multitude
Of succogsivo authors whose productions form
tho vast treasury Of English literature and got
wholly lack m understanding Of tho conditions
which surrounded thcm, tho influences which
directed them, and tho relations which
they hold 10 ono anothor. L. knowledge
Of forces, AZ woll as Of facts, Is essential
to our comprehension Of any phenomenon. Wo
must know tho principles which undorllo events
before wo can grasp tho full oxtcnt Of thor
moaning and Importance. We must apprehond
tho Bcionoe OF litoraturo, tho samo as of biology,
In order to receive m organic and living i'm
preaaion Of its genesis progress, value, and
results.
It is this which Mr.. DaBcom helps lis to do.
From the high vantage-ground OF Philosophy hs
survoya tho eutiro line pursued by Englisl,
literature during tho five centuries since 1t had
Its birth; aul notes with sweeping vision Its
variouH changes and fluctuations, ita alternate
rise md decline, advance aud rotrogression,
cu!minntton and Bubsidonco, together with tho
cauaoa and circumstances which occaaioned and
| controlled these numerous mud interesting mu-
tations. It IL curious study Of the intellectual
| evolution Of tho English race.
| Mr.. DaBcom divides English literature into
| eight periods, aH foilowa: First, the Initiative
Period, covering the last half Of tho fourteenth
century, IN Which the proao-wrlsora Sir John
| 10
tlourished; second, tho Retrogrcssive Period,
including tho flrteenth and tho first half OF tho
sixteenth century; third the First Creative
Period, which covorea the last portion Of tho six-
teenth century, and is popularity known MS thu
Period, extending oycr tho last part Of tic
| seventeenth century; fifth, tho First Critical
Of the eighteenth century; sixth, tho Second
Transition Period, comprising the Inst portion
Of the;eighteeuth contury; seventh, the Second
| Croative Period, or first part Of the nineteonth
century; and, eighth, the Period Of Diffusion,
In discussing these various periods, hlr. Bas-
com does not enter into detail Of tho literary
facts which distinguished them. uo Assumes
pies himaelf With the attempt to trace thoir in
Independence. Ho atarta With tho oar1iost
works Of pronounced merit, and speaks only OF
those following which wera distinct forcos and
gavo character to tho periods under consider
alton.
| Literature ia defined Is tho embodiment Of
that which is moBt nrtistic and complete in life
and thought. II Is beauty Of form, excoonco
in execution, rather than valuo Of matter, which
gives it's creations distinction and perpotuity.
Tho litoratnro Of nation may bo styled its art
gallery In letters.
Tie early literature OF England WIS almost
exclusively literature Of poetry. Nor ia it
strange that in the intellectual history OF poo-
| mir NG nrc
Tho first may live o1: the lips but the last pro-
serves it's existence in writing. The ono ia the
speech Of impulse. Of emotion, Of Imagination; !;
tho othor is tho language of patient thought, a
try belongs to tho period Of childhood, whom lifo
oxpcnds itsolf In feoling and action but prose
attaches itself to TINT mature and sober time
whom tho probloma Of tho universe demand go
rious aid faithful investigation.
The chiof reasons for tho decline Of literature
In the fifteenth and tho eRrlier portion of tho
sixteenth century woro the storm repression Of
that froe religious inquiry which tho writings OF
were prolonged until tho feudal might of tho
mobiles was destroyed, and tho succession Of
Henry VII. vas firmly established. These re-
htraining forcea hold intellectual activity in
brilliant epoch In English letters the First Gro
atiyo Period, Whose inspiring aud qu1ckoning
influences still continue to act upon modern civ.
| ilization and literary history.
| The agencies which lod to the unwontcd energy
OF mind oharacterizing this era were tho renewed
freedom Of religious thought, thu revival Of
classical learning, tho, incipient growth Of
science tho geographical discoveries Of the age,
and, finally, the invention OF tho printing press
md OF gunpowder. Subsidiary to these groat
first causes woro the Influences Of forogu
scholarship, especially ITALIAN tue peacofu1 reign
Of Elizabetb and the ohlyalrous spirit OF her
day-apring Of this poriod, Shakespeare tte
merlian, and Milton itB evontide.
Aftor this cano timo Of revolution and con-
tlict, whom society was brolson up, and literature
was the First Transition Period in English lot.
ters, aud extended over tho last years of the
seventeenth century. Hero began tho degener-
acy Of tho drama, which has continued, IN q
pressed during tic commonweaItb, it was ro.
vived ut tho Restoration, but under corrupting
influences that destroyed it's constructive power,
and severed it almost wholly. from literature.
Drydon is tho exponent Of this aSo. Lacking
7irilo and moral strength, he conformcd to the
proAgate spirit Of Tho times, aud WIS content
to reflect, instead of cnnobing it.
Noxt succeeded period OF pro-ominont art,
which has long boon regarded as tho Augusta1i
ago OF England It's spirit rulod the whole OF
tho eighteenth century, slowly expiring at itA
close. Pope, u man OF great and disciplined tal.
apt An artist mud diplo1natiBt in letters, was ta
best embodin1ont In tho latter part Of this
than poetry which had lost its ygor and powo,
of invention. Swift, Steele, Addison, aud John
son were tho great leaders in this branch Of
literature.
passlng through SECOND brof, transitory
state, during which thore waa no poot Of the
first, and scarcely ono undoniahly Of tho second
rank, English literature opens into Second
Creative Period in tho carly years Of tho nino'
tcenth century,-tho years OF Scott, Byron, Cole
ridge aul Wordsworth. This Cru docs not quite
rcnch tho elevation Of tho Ezabothan ago, but
fully equals 1t In fruitfulnesB. Poetry, as in
notwithstanding that prose is constantly incrcas:
ing in volume aud in artistic merit Tic luBtre
Of one or two great names belonging to tho rival
period surpassos the brightness Of my lightE
That shine In tho beginning Of tho present cen.
tury yet if the nasterful genius Of Coleridge
had suffered no unnatural eclipse, it Is probablt
he would have ranked amoug tue few great poctt
OF all time.
Tho orcatiyo energy which marked tho first
thirty years Of this century has gently Bubsidod
aud wa cannot yot predict what tho present Time