104 



of the realm, were suspected of favouring the doctrines of 

 Wickliff". John of Gaunt, and many of the ablest and 

 Jnost skilful courtiers, avowed themselves his aljettors. 

 Every pen was engaged in the dispute: the satirical and 

 descriptive powers of poetry were called out, in this war- 

 fare: the followejs of the old and new professions had 

 their respective ballad-makers. Dr. Pcr<;y adverts to two 

 ancient polemic dramas. Even/ Man, and Lusty Juventus. 

 Many passages, in the Inforno of Dante Alighieri, as the 

 reader will find, breathe the same spirit of lx>ld invective, 

 which prevails in that ancient English satyrical poem, 

 Avhich is entitled The Visions of Piers Plowman, by Lan- 

 gcland.* The genius of free enquiry, which emancipated 

 the mind from papal tyranny, gradually extended itself to 

 the abuses of civil govennucnt, and created a general spi- 

 rit of resistance to tyranny and oppression. This produced 

 a general revolution in favour of freedom, and highly aus- 

 picious to the progress of knowledge and the Jiiie arts. A 

 more correct taste, a more acute and critical judgment, a 

 more steady and regular march to learning, began to pre- 

 vail. Eloquence, and the ai'ts of composition, were now 

 rendered necessary, by the frequency of attack and de- 

 fence, among the polemical writers; and this, in time, 

 produced a classical taste, and love of learning,-f- which 



became 



* See Inferno, Canto XV. sta. xix. and xx. ; and particularly the circle of 

 Malebolgc and gnlf of Simony, Canto XIX. and Canto XXlIf. 



t Brunetto Latino, a Florentine, the preceptor of Dante, composed a Te- 

 soro or Encyclopedia. There is a passage in it, relative to the magnetic 



^ needle. 



