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My Widowed Sister,

WHO, FOR THE SAKE OF THE LIVING, HAS NOBLY BORNE HER SORROW FOR THE DEAD,

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.....

............Page XV

LECTURE I.-INTRODUCTORY.

PRINCIPLES OF LITERATURE.

Object, to assist and guide students-Necessity of systematic study

-Judicious criticism-True aims and principles of literature-

Choice of books-Its difficulties-Aim of this course of lectures

to remove them-All books not literature-Accurate definition

of literature-Its universality-Izaak Walton-Addison —

Charles Lamb-Lord Bacon-Clarendon-Arnold-Spenser and

Shakspeare-Southey and Wordsworth-Belles-lettres not li-

terature-Literature not an easy, patrician pleasure-Its danger

as to practical life-Its influence on character-De Quincey's

definition-Knowledge and power-Influence on female charac-

ter-True position of woman-'
-Tennyson's Princess-Novel-

reading-Taste, an incorrect term-Henry Taylor-Cowper-

Miss Wordsworth-Coleridge's philosophy..........

LECTURE II.

APPLICATION OF LITERARY PRINCIPLES.

Narrow and exclusive lines of reading to be avoided-Catholicity

of taste-Charles Lamb's idea of books-Ruskin-Habits of

reading comprehensive-Ancient Literature- Foreign Lan-

guages-Different eras of letters-English essay-writing-

Macaulay-Southey-Scott and Washington Irving-Archdea-

con Hare-Lord Bacon's Essays-Poetic taste-Influence of

25

individual pursuits-Friends in Council-Serious and gay books

-English humour-Southey's ballad-Necessity of intellectual

discipline Disadvantage of courses of reading-Books not

insulated things--Authors who guide-Southey's Doctor-Elia

-Coleridge-Divisions of Prose and Poetry-Henry Taylor's

Notes from Books-Poetry not a mere luxury of the mind-

Arnold's habits of study and taste-The practical and poetical

element of Anglo-Saxon character-The Bible-Mosaic Poetry

-Inadequacy of language-Lockhart's character of Scott-Ar-

nold's character of Scipio-Tragic poetry-Poetry for children

-Robinson Crusoe and the Arabian Nights-Wordsworth's Odo

o Duty-Character of Washington.......... ............................................... Page 54

LECTURE III.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

Medium of ideas often forgotten-Witchery of English words—

Analysis of good style difficult-The power of words-Our duty

to the English language-Lord Bacon's idea of Latin-Milton-

Hume's expostulation with Gibbon-Daniel's Lament-Exten

sion of English language-French dominion in America-Lan-

dor's Penn and Peterborough-Duty of protecting and guarding

language-Degeneracy of language and morals-Age of Charles

II.-Language part of character-Arnold's Lectures on Modern

History-Use of disproportionate words-Origin of the English

language in the North-Classical and romantic languages-

Saxon element of our language-Its superiority-The Bible

idiom-Structure of sentences-Prepositions at the end of most

vigorous sentences-Composite sentences, and the Latin element

-Alliteration-Grandeur of sentences in old writers-Modern

short sentences-Junius-Macaulay-No peculiar poetic diction

-Doctor Franklin's rules-Shakspeare's matchless words-

Wordsworth's sonnet-Byron-Landor-Coleridge's Christabel

"The Song in the Mind"-Hood-The Bridge of Sighs....... 85

LECTURE IV.

EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE.

Early English prose and poetry-Sir John Mandeville-Sir Tho-

mas More's Life of Edward the Fifth-Chaucer's Tales-At-

tempted paraphrases-Chaucer Modernized-Conflict of Nor-

man and Saxon elements-Gower-Reign of Edward the Third-

Continental wars-Petrarch-Boccacio-Froissart-The church

-Wyclif-Arts and Architecture-Statutes in English-Chau-

cer resumed-His humour and pathos-Sense of natural beauty

-The Temple of Fame-Chaucer and Mr. Babbage-The flower

and the leaf-Canterbury Tales-Chaucer's high moral tone-

Wordsworth's stanza-Poet's corner and Chaucer's tomb-The

death of a Language-English minstrelsy-Percy's Reliques

-Sir Walter Scott-Wilson-Christian hymns and chaunts—

Conversion of King Edwin-Martial ballads-Lockhart-

Spanish ballads-Ticknor's great work-Edom of Gordon-

Dramatic power of the ballad-The Two Brothers-Contrast of

early and late English poetry....................

LECTURE V.

LITERATURE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

...Page 121

Pawn of letters a false illustration-Intellectual gloom from Ed-

ward III. to Henry VIII.-Chaucer to Spenser-Caxton and

the art of printing-Civil wars-Wyatt and Surrey-The son-

net naturalized in English poetry-Blank verse-Henry VIII.

-Edward VI.-Landor's Sonnet-Sternhold and Hopkins-

Bishop Latimer-Goodwin Sands and Tenterden Steeple-

"Bloody Mary "-Sackville-" The Mirror of Magistrates "-

His career-Age of Elizabeth-Contrasts of her life-The

Church as an independent English power-Shakspeare-His

journey to London-Final formation of the English language

"The well of English undefiled"-The Reformation-Sir

Philip Sydney-The Bishop's Bible-Richard Hooker-Spen-

ser and Shakspeare-Wilson's Criticism - Sir Walter Raleigh

-Shakspeare's Prose.........

LECTURE VI.

LITERATURE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, WITH INCIDENTAL

SUGGESTIONS ON SUNDAY READING.

Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity-Progress of English literature-

Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World-Bacon's Essays--~

Milton-Comus-Hymn on the Nativity-Suggestions as to