[N HTTN 



I 



issue were questions which concerned every man. The theo- 

 logians and philosopher* of the Reformation period had to 

 address themselves not to tho learned class, but to the nation ; 

 ami they aimed not merely at compelling the assent of men's 

 jii.L'im-nt <, but at engaging their sympathies and rousing them 

 to action. For this purpose they ncded an instrument of a 

 oompaaa and variety unknown before. Tho formation of English 

 prose style therefore dates from this period. 



A very judicious critic, HaDam, pronounces Sir Thomas 

 More to have been the first who wrote good English prose. 

 More was unquestionably tho firxt in learning, in genius, and in 

 integrity among Englishmen of hia day. He was known and 

 pooled among scholars throughout all Europe ; filled the 

 highest offices in the state with equal uprightness and ability ; 

 and at lost died on the scaffold for his fidelity to tho Roman 

 Catholic faith. Among his works, the one which is beet known 

 in tho present day is hia "Utopia," in which he develops his 

 views of government and political systems by depicting an ideal 

 r. public. Tho "Utopia" was written in Latin, but Mora's 



(English writings are numerous, most of them being tracts bear- 

 ing upon various phases of tho great controversies of the day. 

 Hia English work of most permanent interest ia " The Life and 

 Reign of King Richard III." 

 Among tho leaders of the English Reformation were many 

 copious and fluent writers, Cranmer and Latimor perhaps stand- 

 ing first among them. Less serious in purpose, but of not leaa 

 interest in the present day, are the translation by Lotd Berners 

 of the great chronicle of Froissart, and the works of Roger 

 Ascham. The learned Ascham was tutor to both Queen Eliza- 

 beth and Lady Jane Grey. He left behind him two works, 

 " The Schoolmaster," a treatise on education, and " Toxophilna," 

 the object of which is to explain and encourage the use of the 

 bow. 



But there can be no doubt that by far the most important 

 prose works of the reigns of Henry VIII. and his successor 

 most important in the history of literature, no less than from 

 other and higher points of view were the several translations 

 of the Bible into the English tongue, and the compilation of the 

 Book of Common Prayer. It must be remembered that each of 

 the long series of versions, beginning with that of Tyndale and 

 Coverdale in Henry VIII.'s reign and ending with our present 

 authorised version in James I.'s, was not a separate, indepen- 

 dent translation, but, speaking generally, each was founded upon 

 and largely influenced by its predecessor. And each of the 

 various forms in whichthe Book of Common Prayer was from 

 time to time issued was only a comparatively slight modification 

 of tho book previously in use. And if this be borne in mind, 

 and it be further remembered how many thousands of men and 

 women must in successive generations have derived all their 

 literary enjoyment and formed their literary taste from little 

 else than the English Bible and Prayer-Book, it will not be 

 difficult to realise how great and lasting the influence even of 

 the earliest translators and compilers must have been in de- 

 veloping the faculty of literary enjoyment, cultivating the 

 national taste, and establishing and maintaining a high stan- 

 dard of tone and style in English prose-writing. 



Wo have reserved to the close of this lesson the works of the 

 two poets who adorned the latter portion of the reign of Henry 

 VIII. The Earl of Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt were little re- 

 moved in actual date from Barclay, Skelton, and others whom 

 we have already mentioned, but in the style and character of 

 their poetry there is the widest gulf between them. The one 

 batch of poets connect the age of Henry VIII. with tho darker 

 period that preceded ; the other are the harbingers of the Eliza- 

 bethan day. 



Sir Thomas Wyatt was the elder by some years of these illus- 

 trious friends, having been born in 1503, and having died in 

 1542. From his wit and accomplishments, he waa one of the 

 most brilliant ornaments of the court of Henry VIII., and his 

 public career was c.i-t mgaished, but he died in the very prime 

 of life. His character, as painted by Lord Surrey and Lord 

 Surrey's sketch is in harmony with all we learn of Wyatt from 

 other sources ia singularly attractive. 



Lord Surrey was born in 1517. He was heir-apparent to tho 

 dukedom of Norfolk, and the leading representative of the 

 ancient and noble house of Howard. His rare mental gift* 

 and noble and generous character made him, during hia short 

 career, the very ideal of the chivalrous noble. At the very 



of Henry VIII.'s reign, terwy. 



With hi* 



treason. There does not 



the Dak* of Norfolk, was thrown into prim am * 



. to have been the etifjajeji pre- 

 text for any such charge, and probably it U to be ascribed to 



the jealowy and ill-will of the reigning faronrtU. Hertford, 

 Sumy was, however, found guilty after tew mockery of a Walt 

 and one of the last aoU of the king 1 . We the laet of hie looff 

 series of crime* was to order his execution. 



The poetry of Wyatt and Surrey is very similar ia iu geoe- 

 ral character, though Surrey was decidedly the greater poet of 

 the two. The poems of both are generally short, and for the 

 mot part on amatory subjects. They are eleiriy fotmsd opt 

 Italian models; and they show a smnothnees and MM of ' 



cation, and a delicacy and refinement both of thought and ex. 

 preesion, quite unknown to any poet since Chaooer. Borrey 

 deserves to be remembered, also, as the first to inbrodnot blank 

 verse into England. This metre he derived. BO doubt, from the 

 Italian, and he used it in bis translation of two hooks of 

 the " JEneid " of Virgil- 



A single specimen of one short poem of Surrey ia ail that 

 oar space allows as to give. It is a fair specimen of his atyle t 



Give place, ye lovers, bete before 



That (pent your bouU sad brass ia vela ; 



Mr lady's beauty passetb move 



The beat of yours. I dare well eareo, 



Thau doth the sun the candle light. 



Or brightest day the darkest night. 



And thereto hath a troth aa just 



As had Penelope the fair; 

 For what the aaith ye may it trust, 



As it by writing coaled were ; 

 And virtues hath she many mo* 

 Than I with pen have skill to show. 



I could rehearse, if that I would. 



The whole effect of Nature's plaint. 

 When she had lost the perfect mould. 



The like to whom she could not paint ; 

 With wringing hands, how she did cry, 

 And what she said, I know it, aye. 



I know she swore, with raging mind. 



Her kingdom only set apart, 

 There waa no lose by law of kind 



That could have gone so near her heartt 

 And thU was chiefly all her pain. 

 " She could not make the like again.'* 



Sith Nature thu* gave her the praise. 



To be the chiefest work she wrought. 

 In faith, methiuk, some better ways 



On your behalf might well be sought. 

 Than to compare, aa ye have done, 

 To match the candle with the sun. 



READINGS IN LATIN. VI. 



CICERO. 



THE perfection of the literature of Rome culminates in Marcus 

 Tnlliua Cicero, who lived from B.C. 106 to B.C. 43. Both as an 

 orator and a philosopher Cicero attained to the highest point of 

 excellence, and aa a writer of letters he is without a rival 

 hia achievements aa a statesman we have little to do in this 

 place, but it may be at least noticed that he took an active part 

 in political affair*, and at least on one occasion the conspiracy 

 of Catiline, the merit of the discovery and suppression of which 

 fairly rests with him alone was in a literal sense the " aariont 

 of hia country." The part which he subsequently played in the 

 civil wars between Pompey and Cseear doee not greatly redound 

 to his credit, and he showed himself weak and vacillating. Pro- 

 bably he was too much of a philosopher to be a man of energetic 

 action when the right path was difficult to discover, and in each 

 of the great political parties Cicero must hare Men much that 

 was revolting. Still, one forgete much of his weakness; in hie 

 tragical end, and his murder, which was an act of stupid, un- 

 reasoning cruelty, must remain for ever as a dark blot on tho 

 policy of those who dictated it Bat it is by his writings that 

 Cicero will beet be remembered. Treatises on philosophy, 

 speeches forensic and judicial, and letters innumejihln flowed 

 from his pen, and happily the greater part of then have been 

 preserved to oar own times. He loft to others the writing of 

 history, bat his short eesay. " De Republic*," shows that he had 



