Chapter I: Front Matter

#THE WORLD'S# GREAT CLASSICS

LIBRARY COMMITTEE

TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D.D. LLD. RICHARD HENRY STODDARD ARTHUR RICHMOND MARSH. A.B. PAVL VAN DYKE, D.D. ALBERT ELLERY BERGH

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CLARENCE COOK--ART EDITOR

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•NEW•YORK•MDCCCXCIX•

_After an etching by Edwin Edwards._

The artist has chosen for his masterly work the moment when the sun, long before toiling London is awake, rises amid vapors from the eastern horizon. The river reflects the dawn,

"All bright and glittering in the smokeless air."

In the placid stream are mirrored the shadows of the bridge; to the west of which appear the façades of Fishmonger's Hall, and Billingsgate market, radiant with morning. To appreciate the full charm and fidelity to nature of this etching one should read Wordsworth's sonnet written on Westminster bridge, beginning "Earth has not anything to show more fair," and ending with the words

"The river glideth at his own sweet will: Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still."

HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

HIPPOLYTE ADOLPHE TAINE

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY HENRY VAN LAUN

WITH A SPECIAL INTRODUCTION BY

J. SCOTT CLARK, A. M.

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

REVISED EDITION

VOLUME II

CONTENTS

BOOK II--THE RENAISSANCE (_CONTINUED_)

CHAPTER FIFTH The Christian Renaissance

SECTION I.--Decay of The Southern Civilizations SECTION II.--Luther and the Reformation in Germany SECTION III.--The Reformation in England SECTION IV.--The Anglicans SECTION V.--The Puritans SECTION VI.--John Bunyan

CHAPTER SIXTH Milton

SECTION I.--Milton's Family and Education SECTION II.--Milton's Unhappy Domestic Life SECTION III.--Milton's Combative Energy SECTION IV.--Milton's Personal Appearance SECTION V.--Milton as a Prose Writer SECTION VI.--Milton as a Poet

BOOK III.--THE CLASSIC AGE

CHAPTER FIRST The Restoration

_Part I.--The Roisterers_

SECTION I.--The Excesses of Puritanism SECTION II.--A Frenchman's View of the Manners of the Time SECTION III.--Butler's Hudibras SECTION IV.--Morals of the Court SECTION V.--Method and Style of Hobbes SECTION VI.--The Theatre SECTION VII.--Dryden and the Drama SECTION VIII.--Wycherley

_PART II.--The Worldlings_

SECTION I.--Court Life in Europe SECTION II.--Dawn of the Classic Spirit SECTION III.--Sir William Temple SECTION IV.--Writers à la Mode SECTION V.--Sir John Denham SECTION VI.--Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar SECTION VII.--Superficiality of English Comedy SECTION VIII.--Natural Characters SECTION IX.--Artificial Characters SECTION X.--Sheridan.--Decadence of the Theatre

CHAPTER SECOND Dryden

SECTION I.--Dryden's Début SECTION II.--Dryden's Family and Education SECTION III.--Dramatic Theories of Dryden SECTION IV.--The Style of Dryden's Plays SECTION V.--His Merit as a Dramatist SECTION VI.--His Prose Style SECTION VII.--How Literature in England is Occupied with Politics and Religion SECTION VIII.--Development of the Art of Writing SECTION IX.--Dryden's Translations and Adaptations.--His Occasional Soul--Stirring Verses SECTION X.--Misfortunes of Dryden's Old Age

CHAPTER THIRD The Revolution

SECTION I.--The Moral Revolution SECTION II.--Brutality of The People.--Private Morals.--Chesterfield and Gay SECTION III.--Principles of Civilization in France and England SECTION IV.--Religion SECTION V.--The Pulpit SECTION VI.--Theology SECTION VII.--The Constitution.--Locke's Theory of Government SECTION VIII.--Parliamentary Orators SECTION IX.--Doctrines of the French Revolution Contrasted with the Conservative Tendencies of the English People

CHAPTER FOURTH Addison

SECTION I.--The Significance of the Writings of Addison and Swift SECTION II.--Addison's Character and Education SECTION III.--Addison's Seriousness.--His Nobility of Character SECTION IV.--The Morality of Addison's Essays SECTION V.--How Addison made Morality Fashionable.--Characteristics of his Style SECTION VI.--Addison's Gallantry.--His Humor.--Sir Roger de Coverley.--The Vision of Mirza

CHAPTER FIFTH Swift

SECTION I.--Concerning Swift's Life and Character SECTION II.--Swift's Prosaic and Positive Mind SECTION III.--Swift as a Political Pamphleteer SECTION IV.--Swift as a Humorist.--As a Poet SECTION V.--Swift as a Narrator and Philosopher

CHAPTER SIXTH The Novelists

SECTION I.--The Anti-Romantic Novel SECTION II.--Daniel De Foe SECTION III.--The Evolution of the Eighteenth Century Novel SECTION IV.--Samuel Richardson SECTION V.--Henry Fielding SECTION VI.--Tobias Smollett SECTION VII.--Laurence Sterne SECTION VIII.--Oliver Goldsmith SECTION IX.--Samuel Johnson SECTION X.--William Hogarth

INDEX

ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON BRIDGE Etching from an original by Edwin Edwards

JOHN MILTON Photogravure from an etching

INITIAL LETTER FROM THE GIFFORD PSALTER Fac-simile Book Illumination of the Thirteenth Century

PRINTER'S MARK OF PHILIPPE LE NOIR Fac-simile example of Printing and Engraving in the Fifteenth Century

PAGE FROM THE CHRONICLES OF HUNGARY Fac-simile example of Printing and Engraving in the Fifteenth Century