ancestors that such delineations should not only have been tolerated upon the stage, but have become so popular as, even till the close of the century, to have been more highly valued than the deep philosophy of Hamlet," or the pure, devoted love of "Romeo and Juliet." And it seems more marvellous still, that stern moralists and pious divines should have so highly lauded them as the perfection of all that was morally excellent as being, in the words of Bishop Earle, productions too "pure," and "chaste," and "sainted," to be called plays! It is enough to add, that not one of them could be read aloud in the present day, and that the modern process of "castigating" would absolutely tear it to pieces. With all that love of literary resuscitation which prevails among us, we suspect that no one would be so enthusiastic as to republish an entire edition of the works of Beaumont and Fletcher. Contemporaneous with these illustrious four, who reigned supreme in the realms of dramatic poetry, were a whole host of inferior writers, each of whom was fitted to obtain no mean distinction had he but appeared alone, or been born in an earlier or later period. The best of these, however, we can only briefly particularize. And first in excellence was Philip Massinger, well known even at this late period by his "New Way to Pay Old Debts," and "The City Madam," which still keep possession of the stage, and are justly admired for their excellence of construction, and forceful delineation of character. Of the thirtyeight plays he wrote, only eighteen have been preserved; and from these, he appears to have possessed more imitative than creative power, and to have excelled in profound thought and correct vigorous description rather than high poetical imagination. Another dramatic poet was George Chapman, who began to write for the stage in 1595, produced twenty-three plays, of which sixteen have survived, and who has been character. ized as the most descriptive and didactic of all the contemporaries or successors of Shakspeare. Besides these plays, of which the best known are "Eastward Hoe," and "Bussy d'Ambois," he translated the Iliad and Odyssey into English verse, and in these fully evinced that his forte was as strong in epic as in dramatic poetry. Next in order may be mentioned John Webster, tailor, and parish clerk of St. Andrews, Holborn, who, in spite of his humble position and mechanical calling, won for himself a high place among the dramatic poets of England. He was known to posterity chiefly as the author of the "White Devil" and the "Duchess of Malfy," in which the deepest notes of horror and anguish are touched with a vigorous and discriminating hand. Only four dramatic pieces were his sole production, for unlike his brethren, he wrote slowly and with care and study: the other four which sometimes bear his name, were joint productions which he wrote in partnership with Dekker and Morley. Such, indeed, as we have already observed, was a common fashion in the play-writing of the day: to sketch the plot, to fill up the characters, and give the whole a regular continuity, were often the result of a combination of labour; and hence the irregularity or absence of an individual character throughout, by which a single play of the olden time is so often distinguished. Such a play-writer or play-wright was Thomas Middleton, who was the author of some score and a half of tragedies and comedies, in several of which he was assisted by Ben Jonson, Dekker, Fletcher, Rowley, and Massinger; and Dekker himself, who stands sponsor to the same amount. in which the aid he so liberally imparted to others was fairly reciprocated. Middleton's bestknown production is a tragi-comedy, called "The Witch," in which he has shown such power in delineations of the supernatural, that Shakspeare has been by many supposed to have drawn from them the ideas which he so magnificently embodied in the witch-scenes of "Macbeth." But of all the dramatic artificers of the day, what shall we think of the labours of Thomas Heywood, scholar, translator, poet, actor, historian, and theologian, who, besides several folios aud quartos in prose of which he was sole author, one of these being his Hierarchy of the Blessed An Fields, London, placed against the south wall of the church. It was erected by Inigo Jones at his own expense. This monument is in the churchyard of St. Giles in the gels, which is still to be found on many a street book-stall, had large literary investments in 220 plays, wherein he tells us, he "had either an entire hand, or, at the least, a main finger?" We hasten to close the list of dramatic authors, that would otherwise be too voluminous, with the names of John Ford and James Shirley. The first of these wrote eleven plays, besides assisting in several others, and was chiefly distinguished by grave tranquil dignity in his expressions of sentiment, with winning tenderness in his lovescenes. Shirley, who began to write for the stage in 1629, and who produced forty plays, may be considered as the last of the great Shakspearian era. Never had the dramatic spirit been so greatly accumulated, or so fully and eloquently expressed, either in ancient or modern times, as in England, and during the first portion of the seventeenth century; and when the Long Parliament, in 1642, commanded the theatres to be closed, the inspiration that had made the stage so alluring was exhausted, so that the mandate was of little consequence. After an interval, in which real strife, and havoc, and suffering were to take the place of their poetical representatives, the stage was again to be opened, and with a more imposing aspect than ever; but no new Shakspeare or Jonson was to animate it, or even a Marlow or a Massinger. thusiasm and excellence of these writers, sufficiently redeem the era of the Commonwealth, and the character it matured, from the charges of narrowness and poverty that have been so unreflectingly heaped upon it. While these poets were poetical impersonations of the religious character of the age, there were others also who, in contrast to these, may be called the heralds of the Restoration, and the new literary character it introduced. These were Thomas Carew, Sir John Suckling, and Colonel Richard Lovelace, noble types of the Cavalier party to which they belonged, and who exhibited its chivalrous spirit and talent without its selfishness and sensuality. Independently of these poets of the two great antagonistic classes of the period, there were several who cultivated their poetic tendencies, independent of the political or ecclesiastical divisions by which society was rent asunder, and whose excellence insured them a reputation that has outlasted their own day. These were William Warner, Michael Drayton, author of the Polyolbion, and Samuel Daniel, all of whom were chiefly poetical chroniclers or historians; Edward Fairfax, the translator of Tasso; Sir Richard Fanshawe, the translator of the Lusiad of Camoens; Sir John Davies, author of " Nosce Teipsum" and the "Orchestra;" Sir John Denham, whose chief poem of "Cooper's Hill" was published within the present period; and Robert Herrick, author of the “Hesperides." While Puritanism thus sternly silenced the dramatic muse with the declaration, that "public sports do not well agree with public calamities, The taste of Charles I., and his inclination to nor public stage-plays with the seasons of humi-patronize distinguished artists, might have made liation, this being an exercise of sad and pious this age of poetry also illustrious as one of paintsolemnity, and the other being spectacles of plea-ing; but political troubles and the Civil war postsure too commonly expressing lascivious mirth poned this event to a later season. The comand levity"—and while the license of the stage mencement, however, was fully effected by the arbut too often justified this condemnation-we are rival of Vandyke in England, and the enthusiasm naturally anxious to know whether this religious which his numerous productions created among spirit could produce true and good poets, as well the noble families of the country for rich picture as wise statesmen and gallant warriors. Such, galleries and family portraits. A native of Anthowever, was the case; and under the name of werp, and already in high reputation on the Conthe Puritan poets, by which title they are some- tinent, Anthony Vandyke was invited by Charles times known in the history of our national litera- I. to England in 1629, where his splendid porture, they occupy an honoured place among the traits of the king and principal courtiers grew distinguished characters of this stirring period. into such request, that all were eager to employ Among these may be named Francis Quarles, his pencil. The high value attached to these George Wither, Andrew Marvel; and John Mil-numerous productions, and the undiminished ton, who had already given earnest to the world of the great epic which he was to produce when the commencement of the ensuing period had freed him from controversy and political turmoil. With these, also, may be classed, as religious poets of the age, although they were not Puritans according to the sectarian meaning of the term Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, Giles and Phineas Fletcher, John Donne, George Herbert, and Richard Crashaw. The classical spirit, talent, and refinement, combined with the poetical en admiration they still excite, make further description unnecessary. In the meantime, the fortunate artist reaped such a harvest of success in profit as well as fame, that he had little cause to regret his expatriation: he was knighted and pensioned, while the rich returns of his professional occupations enabled him to live in a style of magnificence which rivalled that of the highest nobles. The greatest work which he proposed to accomplish was to paint the walls of the Banqueting House, of which his master, Rubens, had already painted the ceiling; but the proposed tance, may be named Sir Thomas Browne, aucost of this undertaking (£8000), and the break-thor of the Religio Medici; Robert Burton, well ing out of the war, compelled it to be aban- known for his Anatomy of Melancholy; and Lord doned. Vandyke died in England in 1641, and Herbert of Cherbury. In physical science, Harwas buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, and although he had done so much, he had only reached the age of forty-two. While poetry of every kind, and poets of every variety of excellence were in such abundance, the other departments of intellect were by no means unproductive; and the eminent literary and scientific characters of this period need merely be named, to call up to memory their mental achievements and their greatness. Foremost of these may be placed Lord Bacon, "the greatest, wisest, meanest of mankind," who, if he deserved the last epithet as a politician, fully merited the other two as a philosopher and universal instructor. Enough of his political career has been given in another part of this work, and it is grateful to turn from his character as a statesman and the flatterer of Buckingham, to that by which he will be best remembered-his being the author of Novum Organum, by which the Aristotelian form of reasoning was superseded, and the philosophy of reason, truth, and nature restored to its proper pre-eminence. The fruits of this mighty revolution have been manifested in the history of English intellect from that period onward-and may be traced in the inventions and discoveries by which physical science WILLIAM HARVEY.-After Cornelius Janssen, vey was distinguished during this period by his discovery of the circulation of the blood, a discovery which has revolutionized and benefited the healing art more than any that had yet been made. Dr. William Harvey, for whom this high distinction was reserved, after a life of study in France, Germany, and Italy, settled in London as lecturer on anatomy and surgery in the College of Physicians; and it was in his course of lecturing, that he disclosed his discovery of the circulation of the blood, which he afterwards gave to the world at large in his work entitled Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis. He was physician to James I. and Charles I.; and after a long life in which his gentleness, modesty, and piety were as conspicuous as his great talents and compelled the esteem of all parties, he died in 1657, at the age of eighty-eight. Among the political writers whom this stirring age produced, the best was John Milton, who would have been renowned as the ablest of political controversialists, if he had not secured the more enduring character of the best of poets. Another eminent political writer was John Barchanges became that of the Archbishops of York, in the reign of Queen Mary. The latter appear to have let it to Sir Nicholas Bacon, the philosopher's father, as keeper of the great seal. It YORK HOUSE, LONDON. The birthplace of Bacon.2-From a print by Hollar. has so greatly ameliorated the ills and enlarged the powers and comforts of humanity. Conpared with this, what were the heroic deeds of this warring age, or even the political changes they effected? After Bacon, but at a long dis 1 See vol. ii. p 330, for a portrait of Bacon. 2 The house in which Bacon first saw the light was originally the town residence of the Bishops of Norwich, and after some clay, author of Argenis. In history, this period | tioned, whose Church History of Britain, from the was prolific not only of voluminous chroniclers Birth of Jesus Christ until the Year 1648, and his and learned laborious antiquaries, through whom History of the Worthies of England, are still read our knowledge of English history has been com- with profit and delight. pleted, but also of regular historians, at the head of whom may be placed Lord Bacon; Thomas May, the historian of the Long Parliament; Richard Knolles, author of a History of the Turks, which is still a valuable standard authority; and Sir Walter Raleigh, who after having acquired distinction as a scholar, soldier, courtier, navigator, poet, and chemist, sat down in his imprisonment in the Tower to write the History of the World, as if to console himself for being no longer able to explore its still undiscovered regions, or to take a part in its exciting movements. In passing from England to Scotland during the present period, its condition may be mentioned in a very few words. As yet, the change that was finally to be accomplished upon its character by union, and ultimately by incorporation with England, had not visibly begun to operate; and therefore the manners and customs of the people were still as simple and rude as they had been during the preceding stage. In learning, also, the nation had rather retrograded than advanced, owing to that struggle in defence of its beloved church, by which its whole time and energies were fully occupied. The distinguished Scottish characters of this period were therefore men of action rather than contemplation; and they are to be found in the public arena where great events were at issue, rather than the closet or the college. From this general criterion, however, two illustrious exceptions occurred in the cases of Drummond of Hawthornden and Napier of Merchiston. Sir William Drummond was born on the 13th of December, 1585. His family seat of Hawthornden, now a place of pilgrimage to admiring tourists, was a fitting birth-place and home for a poet; while his studies, which were chiefly devo As the present was a religious age, and as the Civil war partook as much of a religious as a political character, it is in theology, still more than in general science, that the master-spirits of the day are to be found. Next to the stage, therefore-although the transition is a strange one— it is to the pulpit that we must look for the highest manifestations of intellectual excellence during the first part of the seventeenth century. And here the name of Jeremy Taylor at once suggests itself as the Milton of preachers; of Joseph Hall, Bishop of Exeter and Norwich, who was not only a poet, but one of the most eloquent of preachers, and whose vigorous, sententious mode of illustrated to the writings of the great authors of Greece tion obtained for him the title of the "Christian Seneca;" of John Donne, dean of St. Paul's, a poet like Hall, and who, like him, also threw his whole poetical fervour into his ministrations as a teacher of righteousness. With these may be classed John Howe, the learned and eloquent chaplain of Cromwell, and whose sermons, independently of their sound Christian truthfulness, breathe the purest and most elevated spirit of Platonism. As the danger to which the English church was exposed by the growing power of the Puritans became daily more imminent, the necessity called forth learned and able controversialists in its behalf, the chief of whom were Dr. Lancelot Andrews, Bishop of Winchester, and the primitive Archbishop Usher. The same necessity existed of defending the common Protestantism against the attacks of Popery, and in this department of theological controversy John Hales and William Chillingworth are still unrivalled. In ecclesiastical history, Thomas Fuller may be menwas afterwards occupied by Bacon himself on his attaining the dignity of lord-chancellor, and it was here that he was deprived of the great seal on his degradation. York House then passed into the hands of the crown, and was bestowed by James I. on his favourite, the Duke of Buckingham, who altered it to the form represented in the woodcut. Nothing now remains of the building but the beautiful water gate on the Thames, one of the finest works of Inigo Jones, at the end of Buckingham Street, and a portion of the old ceiling which is still preserved in a house at the corner of Villiers Street. and Rome, elevated his taste, and refined his language beyond those of his contemporaries, not merely in Scotland but of England also. His sonnets, especially, were the admiration of the age, on account of their purity of style and melody of versification, so that he has been justly compared to the best of his Italian models. Instead of betaking himself to the profession of the law, for which, like the other jurisconsults of his country, he had studied four years in France, he retired, on the death of his father, to Hawthornden. His reputation as a poet, by the publication of several of his verses, and especially of "A Cypress Grove," which was printed at Edinburgh in 1616, so widely diffused his poetical reputation, that, only two or three years after, Ben Jonson resolved to pay a visit to their author; and this he accomplished in his own rough bold fashion, by a journey on foot of 400 miles over moor and mountain, and among a people still dreaded as barbarians. The chief poetical works of Drummond were sonnets, madrigals, and religious poems, which, during his lifetime, were printed upon loose sheets, and were not collected until 1650, six years after his death, when they were published in one volume. The other distinguished Scot of this period— John Napier of Merchiston, inventor of the logarithms-has secured for himself a name as imperishable as the invention upon which it is founded. He was born in 1550, and although | ecclesiastical controversy. Another excellent wriaggrandized with the title of baron, which in ter, as well as accomplished scholar, was Robert England was one of nobility, in Scotland it indi- Baillie, principal of the university of Glasgow, who cated nothing more than a laird, whose ancestors understood thirteen languages, and wrote in Latin had held the power of fossa et furca within their with classical purity. His chief works were Opus own small domain. Little is known of the ear- Historicum et Chronologicum, published in folio at lier part of his life, except that he studied in the Amsterdam, and his Journal and Letters, which university of St. Andrews, and afterwards tra- contain a full and graphic account of Scottish velled on the Continent. On returning to Scot- affairs during the Civil war and the Commonland, his life was so studious and recluse, and his wealth, but which remained unpublished till 1775. evening walks so lonely, that the country people Among the other distinguished Scottish churcheyed him at a distance, and with fear, as a magi- men of the period, may be mentioned Alexander cian, or at least as something "not canny;" and to Henderson, who, after John Knox and Andrew this he afforded some grounds by the nature of Melvil, is reckoned the third Scottish Reformer, his studies, several of which bordered on the mi-as under his able leading the prelacy imposed upon raculous. The chief of these were the discovery of concealed treasures by the divining rod, and the invention of a warlike machine for the defence of Christendom, that would destroy 30,000 Turks by a single volley. The same love of the wonderful incited him to the study of the future, but in this he wisely confined himself to the Revelations of St. John, upon which he published a Commentary in 1593. It was not, however, till 1614 that he burst upon the world in his true scientific character, by the publication of his Book of Logarithms; and in a short time this useful discovery, by which the most laborious and abstruse calculations were simplified into short easy processes, was hailed as one of the most valuable benefits that had ever been rendered to science. Still prosecuting these important investigations, he published, in 1617, directions for the processes of multiplication and division by small graduated rods, which, from their inventor, were afterwards called "Napier's Bones." In the same year he died at Merchiston Castle. his country by James I. and Charles I. was overthrown;-and George Gillespie, one of the four Scottish ministers deputed to attend the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and whose scholarship as well as dialectic talent was so complete as, in one of the assembly's discussions, to have completely nonplussed the learned Selden himself, although he came fully armed with preparation, while Gillespie entered booted and spurred from his journey, and with the purpose of being only a spectator. Equal to any of these was Hugh Binning, whose early proficiency in scholarship was so remarkable, that at the age of nineteen he stood candidate for the chair of philosophy on the resignation of Mr. James Dalrymple, afterwards Lord Stair, and gained it against every competitor. From the university, where he was distinguished as one of the first emancipators of philosophy from the pedantry with which it was overlaid, he entered the church, and became one of its most eloquent divines, and died while as yet only in the twenty-sixth year of his age. His While the literary and scientific annals of Scot-works were a treatise on Christian Love, a lesson land could thus supply not more than two names of which the day was greatly in need, and many of distinguished mark, its ecclesiastical history miscellaneous tracts and sermons, which have was scarcely more productive. During the reign been collected into a large quarto volume. So of James the church was almost trodden under superior is the style of Binning to that of his confoot, and in the Civil wars even the best of its temporaries, that while most of the productions divines were employed as political negotiators or of the latter have fallen out of sight, his sermons military chaplains. In spite of these disadvan-are still read with high relish even by the most tages, however, so unfavourable to literary re- critical and fastidious. search, and the cultivation of taste and eloquence, this period produced David Calderwood, whose voluminous History of the Kirk of Scotland is a valuable record of Scottish events during the six teenth and seventeenth centuries, while his Altare Damascenum places him in the highest rank of Such were the few eminent men whom Scot land at this period produced. A twilight had already commenced, and a dark and stormy night was to follow, before the land was fitted for that high intellectual position which she was destined finally to occupy. |