PREFACE. THIS work originated in a desire, on the part of the Publishers, to supply what they considered a deficiency in the Literature addressed at the present time to the great body of the People. In the late efforts for the improvement of the popular mind, the removal of mere ignorance has been the chief object held in view: attention has been mainly given to what might be expected to impart technical knowledge; and in the cultivation of what is certainly but a branch of the intellectual powers, it has been thought that the great end was gained. It is not necessary here to present arguments establishing that there are faculties for cognising the beautiful in art, thought, and feeling, as well as for perceiving and enjoying the truths of physical science and of fact. Nor is it needful to show how elegant and reflective literature, especially, tends to moralise, to soften, and to adorn the soul and life of man. Assuming this as granted, we were anxious to take the aid of the press-or rather of the Printing Machine, for by it alone could the object be accomplished-to bring the belles lettres into the list of those agencies which are now operating for the mental advancement of the middle and humbler portions of society. It appeared that, for a first effort, nothing could be more suitable than a systematised series of extracts from our national authors; "a concentration"-to quote the language of the prospectus-" of the best productions of English intellect, from Anglo-Saxon to the present times, in the various departments headed by Chaucer, Shakspeare, Milton-by More, Bacon, Locke-by Hooker, Taylor, Barrowby Addison, Johnson, Goldsmith-by Hume, Robertson, Gibbon-set in a biographical and critical history of the literature itself." By this a double end might, it seemed, be served; as the idea of the work in cluded the embodiment of a distinct and valuable portion of knowledge, as well as that mass of polite literature which was looked to for the effect above described. In the knowledge of what has been done by English literary genius in all ages, it cannot be doubted that we have a branch of the national history, not only in itself important, as well as interesting, but which reflects a light upon other departments of history-for is not the Elizabethan Drama, for example, an exponent, to some extent, of the state of the national mind at the time, and is it not equally one of the influences which may be presumed to have modified that mind in the age which followed? Nor is it to be overlooked, how important an end is to be attained by training the entire people to venerate the thoughtful and eloquent of past and present times. These gifted beings may be said to have endeared our language and institutions-our national character, and the very scenery and artificial objects which mark our soil-to all who are acquainted with, and can appreciate their writings. A regard for our national authors enters into and forms part of the most sacred feelings of every educated man, and it would not be easy to estimate in what degree it is to this sentiment that we are indebted for all of good and great that centres in the name of England. Assuredly, in our common reverence for a Shakspeare, a Milton, a Scott, we have a social and uniting sentiment, which not only contains in itself part of our happiness as a people, but much that counteracts influences that tend to set us in division. A more special utility is contemplated for this work, in its serving to introduce the young to the Pantheon of English authors. The "Elegant Extracts" of Dr Knox, after long enjoying popularity as a selection of polite literature for youths between school and college, has of late years sunk out of notice, in consequence of a change in public taste. It was almost exclusively devoted to the rhetorical literature, elegant but artificial, which flourished during the earlier half of the eighteenth century, overlooking even the great names of Chaucer and Spenser, as well as nearly the whole range of rich, though not faultless productions extending between the times of Shakspeare and Dryden. The time seemed to have come for a substitute work, in which at once the revived taste for our early literature should be gratified, and due attention be given to the authors who have lived since the time of Knox. Such a work it has been the humble aim of the editor to produce in that which is now laid before the public. He takes this opportunity of acknowledging that very important assistance has been rendered throughout the Cyclopædia of English Literature, and particularly in the poetical department, by Mr Robert Carruthers of Inverness. Illumination-Monk writing, Chair of Bede, - Portrait of Chaucer, Chaucer's Tomb, Tabard Inn, Southwark, Portrait of Gower, Cathedral of Aberdeen, LIST Portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh, View of Lochleven, View of Hayes Farm, the Birthplace Portrait of Wickliffe, 35 36 Portrait of James I. of Scotland, 44 Portrait of William Camden, 46 49 Portrait of Thomas May, 55 Portrait of Thomas Hobbes, 59 Portrait of Robert Burton, 59 Portrait of Howard, Earl of Surrey, 69 Portrait of John Selden, 73 Autograph of Selden, 74 76 View of Falkland Palace, View of the House of the Earl of Stirling, Portrait of Drummond of Hawthornden, View of Hawthornden, the seat of Drummond, Prison, Portrait of Sir Philip Sidney, . Portrait of Buchanan, View of the Birthplace of Shak Tavern, View of Falcon Tavern, . Page 1 3 8 159 161 · 161 164 165 176 176 OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 177 178 Autograph of Sir Philip Sidney, Portrait of Richard Hooker, Portrait of Lord Bacon, 190 191 191 193 203 217 232 232 87 View of the Birthplace of Knox, 99 Portrait of Archbishop Spottiswood, Illumination-Milton Dictating to 104 View of the House of Selden, Portrait of Sir Thomas Browne, View of the House of Cowley, View of the Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, Portrait of Edmund Waller, View of Milton's Cottage at Chal- View of the Remains of Milton's Portrait of Andrew Marvell, Autograph of John Dryden, View of Rose Street, London, in which Butler died, Portrait of John Dryden, venteenth Century, Portrait of Algernon Sidney, View of Old St Bride's Church, Page 235 View of St Lawrence Church, 239 Portrait of Richard Baxter, 244 249 255 256 Portrait of John Locke, View of the Birthplace of Bunyan, Portrait of Lord Clarendon, Portrait of Gilbert Burnet, Portrait of Sir William Temple, 262 Autograph of Locke, 262 View of the Birthplace of Locke, 264 Seal of Locke, 266 View of Dunkirk House, the London residence of Lord Clarendon, Portrait of the Honourable Robert 272 516 Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton, 274 521 521 527 283 Portrait of Sir George Mackenzie, 530 285 Monument of Sir George Mackenzie, 285 290 298 303 Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh, 530 Illumination-Rape of the Lock, 534 Portrait of Matthew Prior, 535 Autograph of Prior, 535 303 540 Portrait of Joseph Addison, 306 540 View of Addison's Walk, Magdalen View of Holland House, View of the Tomb of Swift in Dublin Cathedral, Autograph of Gay, Portrait of Thomas Parnell, 330 Urn erected by Shenstone to Somerville, 335 345 Portrait of Allan Ramsay, 343 Autograph of Ramsay, View of Ramsay Lodge, Portrait of Nicholas Rowe, 346 Autograph and Seal of Vanbrugh, Illumination-Steele Writing the Tatler in a Coffee-Room, Portrait of Sir Richard Steele, View of Steele's House at Llangunnor, 360 360 361 386 Portrait of Daniel Defoe, 396 405 View of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, 407 411 Autograph of Lord Bolingbroke, 412 Bolingbroke's Monument in Batter415 sea Church, 415 Portrait of Lady Mary Wortley 419 Montagu, Portrait of the Earl of Shaftesbury, Portrait of Charles Leslie, View of Pope's Villa, Twickenham, Portrait of John Gay, Page 434 441 441 454 461 466 467 475 476 486 501 508 508 509 510 541 542 545 545 547 554 554 555 570 570 576 580 581 582 582 583 590 597 602 602 605 617 638 646 647 650 655 660 667 Apostrophe to Freedom, Death of Sir Henry De Bohun, ANDREW WYNTOUN, Episode of Rosiphele, The Envious Man and the Miser, JOHN BARBOUR, On Riches, JOHN WICKLIFFE, Extract from the Squire of Low Degree, IMMEDIATE PREDECESSORS OF CHAUCER, Select Characters from the Canterbury Pilgrimage, PROSE WRITERS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. A Mohamedan's Lecture on Christian Vices, Moral Reflections on the Wind, A Carman's Account of a Law-suit, 34 SIR JOHN FORTESCUE, 34 35 36 Page 36 · A Praise of his (the Poet's) Lady, Amantium Iræ Amoris Redintegratio est. By Richard To the Memory of my Beloved Master, William Shak- speare, and what he hath left us, 121 121 121 121 121 122 122 123 123 124 125 125 126 126 127 127 128 128 128 Song-('Tis now, since I sat down before), Song-(I prithee send me back my heart), |
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