siasm, it has been said, is more pardonable than the want of it; for our admiration cannot easily surpass his genius." It was reserved for the German critic, Schlegel, and our own Coleridge, to give the best criticisms upon the plays of Shakspeare that had appeared. Mrs. Jameson has since thrown a new and brilliant light upon his heroines.

"Never, perhaps, was there so comprehensive a talent for the delineation of character, as Shakspeare's. It not only grasps the diversities of rank, sex, and age, down to the dawnings of infancy; not only do the king and the beggar, the hero and the pickpocket, the sage and the idiot, speak and act with equal truth; but it opens the gates of the magical world of spirits, calls up the midnight ghost, exhibits before us his witches amidst their unhallowed mysteries, peoples the air with sportive fairies and sylphs. We are lost in astonishment at seeing the extraordinary, the wonderful, and the unheard-of, in such intimate nearness."

"He gives a living picture of all the most minute and secret artifices by which a feeling steals into our souls; of all the imperceptible advantages which it there gains; of all the stratagems by which every other passion is made subservient to it, till it becomes the sole tyrant of our desires and our aversions. He has never varnished over wild and bloodthirsty passions with a pleasing exteriornever clothed crime and want of principle with a false show of greatness of soul.”

The next name of note in English literature is Ben Jonson. His plays are far inferior to Shakspeare's, and his miscellaneous poems are now little known; the same may also be said of Massinger, and Beaumont and Fletcher, the other great dramatists of the Elizabethan age; yet of all these, specimens will continue to hold their places in collections of English poetry.

Jeremy Taylor may be considered as having added much to the literature of his country. He was born about the year 1600, and on the accession of Charles the Second was promoted to a bishopric. His "Holy Living," "Holy Dying," and many of his sermons, still hold their place as

favourites with the intelligent and serious. His works possess much originality, brilliant imagery, and all the vivid and glowing conceptions of poetry.

Like Sirius among the ever-during stars of night, shines the next name in England's coronet of genius. A critic, analyzing the character of Milton, says: "He has sublimity in the highest degree; beauty in an equal degree; pathos next to the highest; perfect character in the conception of Satan, Adam, and Eve; fancy, learning, vividness of description, stateliness, decorum. His style is elaborate and powerful; and his versification, with occasional harshness and affectation, is superior in harmony and variety to all other blank verse; it has the effect of a piece of fine music."

Next to Milton, in time, comes Dryden. His "Alexander's Feast" is still read as a lesson in elocution; but, generally, his works contain glaring defects, that render them unsuitable for young ladies. A poet of a later day has thus contrasted Milton and Dryden :

"He that rode sublime

Upon the seraph wings of ecstasy,
The secrets of the abyss to spy.

:

He passed the flaming bounds of space and time;

The living throne, the sapphire blaze,

Where angels tremble while they gaze,

He saw, but, blasted with excess of light,

Closed his eyes in endless night.

Behold where Dryden's less presumptuous car

Wide o'er the fields of glory bear

Two coursers of ethereal race,

With necks in thunder clothed, and long resounding pace.

Hark! his hands the lyre explore!

Bright-eyed Fancy, hovering o'er,

Scatters from her pictured urn

Thoughts that breathe and words that burn.'

Sir William Temple, Locke, Stillingfleet, and Tillotson, are among the elegant prose writers of the same period.

The old English writers, both in prose and verse, have been called from their retreats, and presented to modern eyes adorned with all the graces of elegant typography and splendid binding. No excuse can now be found for ignorance. Many names of lesser note also appear, mingled with

D

those of the first order, whose works will gratify curiosity and give abundant pleasure.

Another luminous period in English literature is adorned with the names of Pope, Addison, Steele, Swift, and a host of other writers: poets, philosophers, and statesmen, distinguished for genius, and still more for elegance of style. At this time the English language appears to have received its most perfect polish. Though it wanted the strength and spirit which characterized it at a former period, it was now adorned with all the grace and beauty of which it is perhaps susceptible.

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Then follow Thomson, Collins, Shenstone, Akenside, Gray, Goldsmith, Johnson, Mrs. Chapone, Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Burke, &c., differing as one star differs from another in glory,” while uniting to shed a benign influence on every succeeding age.

Since then a new and higher race of poets has succeeded; including Cowper, Burns, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, Scott, Byron, Shelley, Campbell, Moore, and others. Prose writers no less remarkable, have sustained the character of the age in every department of literature. In this later era of intellectual development Scotland has borne an honourable part, nor has America failed to contribute her share to the literature of the common language. The present century thus far has been a lustrous period, and will doubtless in subsequent times be called another golden age in literature, another era of genius and invention.

CHAPTER IX.

COMPOSITION.

"Books, paper, pencil, pen, and slate,
And columned scrolls of ancient date,
Before her lie, on which she looks

With searching glance, and gladly brooks
An irksome task."

JOANNA BAILLIE.

A LABOURED defence of woman's rights might do for the meridian of Constantinople. All the rights which she ought to claim are allowed in this free and happy country. Nor is there, it is to be hoped, much danger that she should overstep the bounds which modesty and delicacy prescribe, and come forward upon that arena of strife which ought to belong exclusively to man. All such encroachments should be frowned upon by an enlightened community, for "they foster that masculine boldness or restless independence, which alarms by its sallies or wounds by its inconsistencies." The bold and fearless spirit with which men enter on public discussion and controversy well becomes them, but it should excite our admiration without provoking to emulation. The paths that are open to us are many, but they lie along "the cool, sequestered vale." Such are the vicissitudes of life, that we need all the resources which can be accumulated. Few of you, my young friends, probably either expect or wish to become authoresses; but you all wish to enjoy the pleasures of literature, and will not deny the utility of being able to write a perspicuous and pleasing style. Were it only for the sake of those "winged messengers of love" despatched to absent friends, you need an agreeable vehicle of thought. Letters should never be carelessly written; the style may be easy and graceful, and at the same time show that care and attention which is a mark of respect to the person addressed. Even the folding and superscription of a letter tell something of the character of the writer, and the deference she deems due to her cor

respondents. In early life we are not aware what insight to the character and feelings these trifles give, to those who have knowledge and experience. Far be it from you to cultivate the exterior graces alone; the respect and regard should be felt, of course, as well as the careful expression of it exhibited. A letter ought to be written in legible, neat, and, if possible, elegant handwriting; not that delicate cobweb scribble, which costs more to read than it is generally worth. When a letter is sent by a private conveyance, it should be folded in an envelope as neatly as possible. Fashion regulates the mode of sealing; sometimes a wafer is deemed almost an insult; the fastidious Chesterfield thought it so. The recent ingenious device of self-sealing envelopes happily combines most of the advantages of both. Sufficient attention should be paid, even in these seeming trifles, to know what is the custom of the day, and to follow it.

Many fine examples of the epistolary style are to be found in the English language. Miss More could lay aside her elaborate style, and all the pomp of diction which she could use on occasion, for the simple, playful language of confiding friendship. Some of her letters are delightful, and many of her learned correspondents have given fine specimens of easy, sprightly, and graceful letters. Charles Lamb's letters, for vivacity, warmth, and colloquial simplicity, are unrivalled, unless by those of the poet Cowper, wherein happy humour is so gracefully blended with fine Christian feeling and reflection. Sir Walter Scott's letters to Miss Baillie and other friends, are charming, though they deal less than we would wish in the domestic details which he could render so amusing. The letters of Franklin are so characteristic of the man as to be very amusing. They are written in the same concise and spirited style as his other writings, and ornamented with occasional flashes of wit and humour. Modern memoirs furnish many excellent examples of this kind of composition; so many, indeed, that it would be impossible here to name them. None of them however, should be imitated, as models; a letter, to be