440 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



priest and poet; and so on. It should be added that one of the 

 functions of the clergyman has been the writing of laudatory 

 hymns hymns composed now by ordained ecclesiastics, now by 

 dissenting ministers. These facts, joined with facts of recent 

 times, make it clear that as in pagan societies, so in Christian 

 societies, the priest-poet, appointed eulogizer of the deity he 

 serves, is the first poet; and that the poets we distinguish as 

 secular have gradually arisen by differentiation from him. 



Along with the divergence of secular poets from sacred poets 

 there have arisen divergences within the assemblage of secular 

 poets themselves. There have come the mainly epic, as Milton ; 

 the didactic, as Pope ; the satiric, as Butler ; the descriptive, as 

 Wordsworth ; the comic, as Hood. 



From those official praisers of the hero or god whose lauda- 

 tions take the form of speech, non-rhythmical or rhythmical, we 

 pass to those whose laudations take the form of mimetic actions 

 who express the triumphs of the deified ruler by imitations of 

 his deeds. United as the two originally were, they diverge and 

 develop along their respective lines. 



Existing savages yield illustrations of the primitive union of 

 vocal laudation and mimetic laudation. Concerning the Point 

 Barrow Eskimo we read : 



" The most important festivals are apparently semi-religious in character 

 and partake strongly of the nature of dramatic representations. . . . All 

 festivals are accompanied by singing 1 , drumming', and daucing." 



More detailed evidence is supplied by an official account of the 

 Navajo Indians, from which here are relevant passages : 



" Hasjelti Dailjis, in the Navajo tongue, signifies the dance of Hasjelti, 

 who is the chief or rather the most important and conspicuous of the gods. 

 The word dance does not well designate the ceremonies, as they are in gen- 

 eral more histrionic than saltatory. . . . The personation of the various gods 

 and their attendants and the acted drama of their mythical adventures and 

 displayed powers exhibit features of peculiar interest. . . . Yet, from what 

 is known of isolated and fragmentary parts of the dramatized myths, it is to 

 he inferred that every one of the strictly regulated and prescribed actions 

 has or has had a special significance, and it is obvious that they are all 

 maintained with strict religious scrupulosity." 



And it is added that each of these observances " clearly offers a 

 bribe or proposes the terms of a bargain to the divinities." 



Noting next the evidence furnished by Ancient India, we are 

 led to infer that there, as elsewhere, the triumphal reception of a 

 conqueror was the observance from which sprang the dramatic 

 art, along with the arts we have thus far contemplated. Weber 

 writes 



" Next to the epic, as the second phase in the development of Sanskrit 

 poetry, comes the Drama. The name for it is Ndtaka, and the player is 



