164 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



The Rap6 of Lucrece, a lyric called The Pas- 

 sionate Pilgrim, and a great number of son- 

 nets, some of which are the finest in the 

 language, lie died in 1616. Ben Jonson 

 was born in 1574, and published his first 

 dramatic work, the comedy of Every M<ui In 

 His Humor, in 1596. In addition to other 

 comedies, the best of which are Volpone, the 

 Fox, and The Alchemist, he wrote many exquis- 

 ite songs and madrigals. Sir Walter Raleigh 

 is more distinguished as a gallant knight and 

 daring adventurer than as an author, yet his 

 lyrics and his History of the World', written 

 during twelve years' imprisonment in the 

 Tower, give him full claim to the latter title. 

 He was born in 1552, and was beheaded by 

 order of James I. in 1617. Beaumont and 

 Fletcher, contemporaries and in some degree 

 imitators of Shakespeare, deserve the next 

 place after him among the dramatists of that 

 period. Beaumont is supposed to have been 

 the inventive genius of their plays, and 

 Fletcher to have supplied the wit and fancy. 

 The Faithful Shepherdess is the work of 

 Fletcher alone. Many dramatists flourished 

 during this and the succeeding generation, 

 whose works are now but little read, but who 

 would have attained eminence but for the 

 greater lights, with which they are eclipsed. 

 The most noted of them are Marlowe, Mars- 

 ton, Chapman, Decker, Webster, Ford, and 

 Massinger. 



Between Shakespeare and Milton, the only 

 name which appears in. English literature is 

 Cowley, the author of the Dai-ideis, a for- 

 gotten epic. Milton was born in 1608, and 

 in his early boyhood exhibited the genius 

 which afterwards made him the first Eng- 

 lish poet and one of the great masters of 

 English prose. His hymn on the Nativity 

 was written in his twenty-first, and his mask 

 of ( 'nmus in his twenty-third year.. L' Allegro, 

 II Penseroso, and Lycidas soon afterward 

 appeared. After his return from Italy, he 

 devoted his attention to theology and poli- 

 tics. His treatise on Marriage was published 

 in 1643, his Areopnr/itica in 1644, and his 

 famous reply to Salmasius in 1651. In the 

 following year he lost his sight,* and was 

 obliged to retire from public service. His 

 I'nmiHsi- Lost appeared in 1665, and was fol- 

 lowed by Paradise Re<i<i/nl in 1671, and Sam- 

 son Agonistes. He died in 1674. Dryden, 

 who, born in 1631, was known as a poet dur- 

 ing Milton's life, introduced a new school of 

 poetry the narrative and didactic. His first 

 noted poem, the Annus Mirabilis, was produced 

 in 1666, his satire of Absalom and Achitophel 

 in 1681, and shortly afterwards his Hind and 

 Panther, a religious satire. He also wrote sev- 



eral rhymed tragedies and an essay on Dra- 

 matic Poesy. Defoe, born in 1663, wrote the 

 world-renowned narrative of Robinson C'/v/.w, 

 which was first published in 1719. The seven- 

 teenth century was also an important epoch 

 for English philosophical literature. Lord 

 Bacon, born in 1561, published his I >< diyni- 

 tate et augmentis Scientarum in 1G05, and his 

 celebrated Novum Organum in 1620. These, 

 although written in Latin, are the most impor- 

 tant philosophical works which have ever 

 emanated from an English author. Hobbes, a 

 writer on politics, jurisprudence, and moral 

 philosophy, died in 1679. Locke, born in 

 1632, first published his Essay on the Hitman 

 Understanding in 1690. 



The commencement of the last century 

 brings us to a group of authors of very differ- 

 ent character. The influence of French liter- 

 ature began to be felt, and the characteristics 

 of the English writers of this period are ele- 

 gance and grace. This is properly the age of 

 English prose, which was enriched successively 

 by Addison, Horace Walpole, Swift, Sterne, 

 Richardson, Smollett, Fielding, Hume, Gib- 

 bon, Chesterfield, and Robertson. The first 

 poet who rose to eminence in the last century 

 was Pope, who was born in 1688, and pub- 

 lished his Essay on < Y///V /.>/// in 1711. His 

 most celebrated poetical works are the R<ti><- <>j' 

 the Lock, the Essa// </n M<m and The Dnm-nn/. 

 Thomson, author of The Seasons and the 

 Castle of Indolence, lived and died in the first 

 half of the century. Gay, a contemporary 

 poet, is distinguished for his Fables. Gray 

 ranks as one of the finest lyric poets of Eng- 

 land. The few odes he has left, and his Elegy 

 in a Country Churchyard, belong to the classics 

 of the language. Goldsmith was born in 1728 

 and died in 1774. His poems of The Traveller 

 and The Deserted Village, and his romance of 

 the Vicar of Wakejield, will live as long as his 

 native tongue. Cowper closes the list of the 

 poets of the last century. He died in 1800, 

 after a life darkened by religious melancholy. 

 His Task; Table-Tall; and ballad of John Gil- 

 pin, are his best poetical works. Returning 

 to the prose writers, Addison is first in point 

 of time, having been born in 1672. His best 

 works are his essays, contributed to The Spec- 

 tator, which he established in 1711, in con- 

 junction with his friend Steele. His English 

 has rarely been excelled for purity and ele- 

 gance. Chesterfield, Lady Montague, and 

 Horace Walpole are distinguished as episto- 

 lary writers. Dean Swift, born in 1667, \vas 

 a politician and satirist, but is now best known 

 by his Tale of a Tub, published in 1704, and 

 Gulliver's Travels, in 1726. Sterne in his 

 Tristram Shandy and The Sentimental Journey, 



