have been honoured and obeyed in their lives, and after their deaths bewailed and adored.

"The greatness of their wisdom appeared in the excellency of their inventions; and these, by the goodness of their nature, were turned and exercised upon such subjects as were of general good to mankind, in the common uses of life, or to their own countries in the institutions of such laws, orders, and governments, as were of most ease, safety, and advantage, to civil society. Their valour was employed in defending their own countries from the violence of ill men at home, or enemies abroad; in reducing their barbarous neighbours to the same forms and orders of civil lives and institutions, or in relieving others from the cruelties and oppressions of tyranny and violence.

"I have said, that this excellency of genius must be native, be cause it can never grow to any great height, if it be only acquired or affected; but it must be ennobled by birth, to give it more lustre, esteem, and authority: it must be cultivated by education and instruction, to improve its growth, and direct its end and application; and it must be assisted by fortune, to preserve it to maturity; because the noblest spirit or genius in the world, if it falls, though never so bravely, in its first enterprizes, cannot deserve enough of mankind, to pretend to so great a reward as the esteem of heroic virtue. And yet, perhaps, many a person has died in the first battle or adventure he achieved, and lies buried in silence and oblivion, who, had he outlived as many dangers as Alexander did, might have shined as bright in honour and fame. Now since so many stars go to the making up of this constellation, 'tis no wonder it has so seldom appeared in the world; nor that, when it does, it is received and followed with so much gazing and veneration."

I close the specimens of prose writers of this reign, with two short extracts from Dryden's "Essay on Dramatic Poetry." The prose, of this celebrated poet, is characterized by originality and freshness of thought and language. We at once perceive his intellectual superiority in his style. He did much for the improvement of the language, and justly ranks high among the prose writers of English literature.

"To begin with Shakspeare. He is the man, who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. All the images of nature were still present to him, and he

drew them not laboriously, but luckily when he describes any thing you more than see it—you feel it. Those who accuse him to have wanted learning, give him the greater commendation: he was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacles of books to read nature; he looked inwards and found her there. I cannot say he is every where alike; were he so, I should do him injury to compare him with the greatest of mankind. He is many times flat, insipid; his comic wit degenerating into clenches, his serious swelling into bombast. But he is always great, when some great occasion is presented to him; no man can say he ever had a fit subject for wit, and did not raise himself as high above the rest of poets,

'Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi'

"The consideration of this made Mr. Hales of Eton say, that there was no subject of which any poet ever writ, but he would produce it much better done in Shakspeare; and however others are now generally preferred before him, yet the age wherein he lived, which had contemporaries with him, Fletcher and Jonson, never equalled them to him in their esteem.

"Of Chaucer, he says, as he is the father of English poetry, so I hold him in the same degree of veneration as the Grecians held Homer, or the Romans Virgil. He is a perpetual fountain of good sense; learned in all sciences; and therefore speaks properly on all subjects. As he knew what to say, so he knows also where to leave off; a continence which is practised by few writers, and scarcely by any of the ancients, excepting Homer and Virgil.

"Chaucer followed nature every where; but was never so bold to go beyond her: and there is a great difference of being poeta, and nimis poeta, if we may believe Catullus, as much as betwixt a modest behaviour and affectation. The verse of Chaucer, I confess is not harmonious to us; but it is like the eloquence of one whom Tacitus comiends-it was auribus istius temporis accommodata. They who lived with him, and sometime after, thought it musical; and it continues so even in our judgment, if compared with the numbers of Lydgate and Gower, his contemporaries: there is a rude sweetness of the Scotch tune in it, which is natural and pleasing, though not perfect * * * We can only say, that he lived in the infancy of our poetry, and that nothing is brought to perfection at the first. We must be children before we can grow men. There was an Ennius, and in process of time a Lucilius, and a Lucretius, before Virgil and Horace."

My limits will not permit me to continue this outline

of the history of English style through later periods. Neither is it necessary, since the productions of more modern writers of eminence are well known, and the peculiar traits of their styles have often been pointed out. In looking back upon the specimens that have been given, we are able to trace the progress of English style from its early and rude state, towards the refinement and perfection it has since attained. At successive periods, writers have appeared, whose influence has been felt, and who have individually contributed something to the improvement of their native language and style. Perhaps their excellences have been united with many faults, but while the beneficial tendencies of the former have been felt, and become incorporated with the language and literature of the country, the latter have disappeared before the improvements of succeeding ages. There have also been periods, when from the influence of some unpropitious causes, taste has become corrupt, and the progress of style has been retarded; but even in these periods, individuals have appeared, who have risen above the prevailing faults of their times, and exerted an influence, which, if not felt by their own age, has been powerful on the age which has followed.

To present a more connected and condensed view of the influence of different writers upon the progress of English style I shall attempt a classification of them, founded upon the different qualities, by which they were characterized, and which they may have contributed to impart to the style of their age.

I. The first class consists of those, to whom English style is indebted for its copiousness and dignity; copiousness, as they introduced many new words and forms of expression; and dignity, as the words and phrases, thus introduced by them, were more elevated than those in common conversational use. In this class are to be

enumerated those, who flourished about the time of the Revival of Letters. Such are Wilson, Ascham, Cheke, More, and others of this date. In some of the succeeding reigns also, especially in that of James I. there were writers, who were devoted to classical pursuits, and whose influence was of the same nature. In some of these writers, however, are found gross defects of styleharshness, obscurity, and what, at the present day, would be accounted downright pedantry.

2. The next class of writers is composed of those, whose style is in a considerable degree, easy and idiomatic. These are either classical scholars of more than usual purity of taste, or self-taught men, of strong common sense and practical views. These are the writers, who have given perspicuity, ease and naturalness to English style, and their productions continue to this day to have a charm, both with the learned and with common readers. It is pure English undefiled, flowing in its own native channel, and reflecting home objects and scenes. In this rank may be placed Raleigh, Cowley, and in later days, Swift and Paley, and also the writers of the Bunyan school, who alike contributed to preserve the vestal flame of piety in the church, and the purity of their native language and style.

3. Nearly allied to this class is a third, consisting of those who have helped to give simplicity and purity to style. Such are the writers of Chronicles and of Essays, and Treatises on common-place subjects-matter of fact men, who by the simple narrative, or the plain practical exhibition of common truths, have sought to inform and improve those around them. Hollinshed, Stow, and Bishop Hall are of this class.

4. I would next refer to those, who have given precision and definiteness to style. They are writers of accurate, discriminating minds-the philosophers of their day-close thinkers and able reasoners-those whose

favourite occupation it was, to search after truth, and either to invent or investigate the different theories which have been advanced from time to time. The direct tendency of this class of writers, to promote the attainment of the valuable traits of style just mentioned, is readily seen. Such writers are Herbert, Hobbes, Boyle, and especially Locke, to whom, perhaps, more than to any other author, English style is indebted for precision and accuracy.

5. Another class of writers embraces those who were men of poetical minds-those who possessed an active, playful fancy, and who were, in no ordinary degree, susceptible of emotions of taste. Their writings abound in a rich profusion of illustration and imagery, and their well modulated periods, shew that they were not insensible to the harmony of numbers. It is from this source, that style derives its richness, its melody and beauty; and when such writers have appeared at periods in which these traits were peculiarly needed, their influence has been highly advantageous. The writings of Sir Philip Sydney, of Bishop Taylor, of Cowley, and of Temple, have enriched and adorned English style.

6. Liveliness of fancy, where it has existed without the guidance of a chaste and correct taste, has sometimes taken a different direction. It has manifested itself in quaintness, in wit and amusing conceits. Writers of this kind, though they abound in faults, have, without doubt, contributed something to the advancement of style. Their sentences are usually short, and their forms of expression striking and sententious. Thus they helped to break up the long, involved, intricate periods, which formerly prevailed, and to give to style vivacity and sprightliness. Lilly, Bacon in his Essays, Donne, Ben Jonson, Burton, and other writers of the reign of James be ranked in this class. may

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7. There have appeared at different periods those,