Chapter XXV

Influence of authors on society, and of society on authors. --National tastes a source of literary prejudices.--True genius always the organ of its nation.--Master-writers preserve the distinct national character.--Genius the organ of the state of the age.--Causes of its suppression in a people.--Often invented, but neglected.--The natural gradations of genius.--Men of genius produce their usefulness in privacy--The public mind is now the creation of the public writer.--Politicians affect to deny this principle.--Authors stand between the governors and the governed.--A view of the solitary author in his study.--They create an epoch in history.--Influence of popular authors.--The immortality of thought.--The family of genius illustrated by their genealogy. 258

LITERARY MISCELLANIES.

Miscellanists 281

Prefaces 286

Style 291

Goldsmith and Johnson 294

Self-characters 295

On reading 298

On habituating ourselves to an individual pursuit 302

On novelty in literature 305

Vers de Société 308

The genius of Molière 310

The sensibility of Racine 325

Of Sterne 332

Hume, Robertson, and Birch 340

Of voluminous works incomplete by the deaths of the authors 350

Of domestic novelties at first condemned 355

Domesticity; or a dissertation on servants 364

Printed letters in the vernacular idiom 375

CHARACTER OF JAMES THE FIRST.

Advertisement 383

Of the first modern assailants of the character of James I., Burnet, Bolingbroke and Pope, Harris, Macaulay, and Walpole 386

His pedantry 388

His polemical studies 389

--how these were political 392

The Hampton Court conference 393

Of some of his writings 398

Popular superstitions of the age 400

The King's habits of life those of a man of letters 402

Of the facility and copiousness of his composition 404

Of his eloquence 405

Of his wit 406

Specimens of his humour, and observations on human life 407

Some evidences of his sagacity in the discovery of truth 410

Of his "Basilicon Doron" 413

Of his idea of a tyrant and a king 414

Advice to Prince Henry in the choice of his servants and associates 415

Describes the Revolutionists of his time 416

Of the nobility of Scotland 417

Of colonising _ib._

Of merchants 418

Regulations for the prince's manners and habits _ib._

Of his idea of the royal prerogative 421

The lawyers' idea of the same _ib._

Of his elevated conception of the kingly character 425

His design in issuing "The Book of Sports" for the Sabbath-day 426

The Sabbatarian controversy 428

The motives of his aversion to war 430

James acknowledges his dependence on the Commons; their conduct 431

Of certain scandalous chronicles 434

A picture of the age from a manuscript of the times 437

Anecdotes of the manners of the age 441

James I. discovers the disorders and discontents of a peace of more than twenty years 449

The King's private life in his occasional retirements 450

A detection of the discrepancies of opinion among the decriers of James I 451

Summary of his character 455

TO

ROBERT SOUTHEY, LL.D.,

&c. &c. &c.

In dedicating this Work to one of the most eminent literary characters of the age, I am experiencing a peculiar gratification, in which few, perhaps none, of my contemporaries can participate; for I am addressing him, whose earliest effusions attracted my regard, near half a century past; and during that awful interval of time--for fifty years is a trial of life of whatever may be good in us--you have multiplied your talents, and have never lost a virtue.

When I turn from the uninterrupted studies of your domestic solitude to our metropolitan authors, the contrast, if not encouraging, is at least extraordinary. You are not unaware that the revolutions of Society have operated on our literature, and that new classes of readers have called forth new classes of writers. The causes and the consequences of the present state of this fugitive literature might form an inquiry which would include some of the important topics which concern the PUBLIC MIND, --but an inquiry which might be invidious shall not disturb a page consecrated to the record of excellence. They who draw their inspiration from the hour must not, however, complain if with that hour they pass away.

I. DISRAELI.