46 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



the " Apology for Poesy" will give some idea of Sidney's style 

 of treatment and expression : 



" I speak to show that it is not rhyming and versing that maketh a 

 poet, no more than a long gown maketh an advocate, who, though he 

 pleaded in armour, should be an advocate and no soldier. But it is 

 that feigning notable images of virtues, vices, or what else, with that 

 delightful teaching which must be the right describing note to know 

 a poet by ; although, indeed, the senate of poets have chosen verse as 

 their fittest raiment, meaning, as in matter they passed all in all, 

 so in manner to go beyond them all ; not speaking (table-talk fashion, 

 or like men in a dream) words as they chanceably fall from the mouth, 

 but peising each syllable of each word in just proportion, according to 

 the dignity of the subject." 



" Certainly even our Saviour could as well have given the moral 

 common-places of uncharitableness and humbleness, as the divine 

 narration of Dives and Lazarus ; or of disobedience and mercy, as 

 that heavenly discourse of the lost child and the gracious father ; but 

 that his through-searching wisdom knew the estate of Dives burning 

 in hell, and of Lazarus being in Abraham's bosom, would more con- 

 stantly (as it were) inhabit both the memory and the judgment. Truly, 

 for myself, meseems I see before my eyes the lost child's disdainful 

 prodigality turned to envy a swine's dinner; which by the learned 

 divines are thought not historical acts, but instructing parables. For 

 conclusion, I say the philosopher teacheth, but he teacheth obscurely, 

 so as the learned only can understand him, that is to say, he teacheth 

 them that are already taught ; but the poet is the food for the ten- 

 derest stomachs, the poet is indeed the right popular philosopher, 

 whereof JEsop's fables give good proof; whose pretty allegories, 

 stealing under the formal tales of beasts, make many more beastly 

 than beasts begin to hear the sound of virtue from these dumb 

 speakers." 



In a later part of the treatise, having gone through the various 

 classes of poetry, and spoken eloquently on the value of each, 

 he comes to the subject of lyric poetry : 



" Is it the lyric that most displeaseth, who, with his tuned lyre and 

 well-accorded voice, giveth praise, the reward of virtue, to virtuous 

 acts, who gives moral precepts and natural problems, who sometimes 

 raiseth up his voice to the height of the heavens in singing the lauds 

 of the immortal God ? Certainly I must confess my own barbarous- 

 ness. I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas that I found 

 not my heart moved more than with a trumpet ; and yet it is sung 

 but by some blind crowder, with no rougher voice than rude style ; 

 which being so evil apparelled in the dust and cobwebs of that 

 uncivil age, what would it work trimmed in the gorgeous eloquence 

 of Pindar?" 



Sir Walter Raleigh resembled Sidney in the universality of 

 his accomplishments, and in the brilliancy of his reputation. 

 His adventures and successes as a courtier, tin explorer, and a 

 colonist, his long imprisonment, and his tragic end, belong 

 rather to general history than to the history of literature. But 

 in the history of literature Raleigh deserves a place, not only by 

 his poems, which, though short and not very numerous, ought 

 by no means to be forgotten ; but far more, by his remarkable 

 prose work, " A History of the World." The part of the work 

 actually executed only carries the history down to the Second 

 Macedonian War, and of course, even for the period of which it 

 does treat, Ealeigh' s history has long ceased to be used as a 

 text-book, or cited as an authority, as must be the case with 

 any general history so early in date ; but as an example of 

 English prose writing it holds a very important place in our 

 literature. 



In remarkable contrast with the work of Raleigh stand the 

 works of the laborious but prosaic chroniclers, a series of whom 

 wrote during the period of which we are now treating. To this 

 class belong Stow, Holinshed, and Speed, of whom the former 

 two wrote in the reign of Elizabeth, and the third in that of 

 James I. Stow devoted himself mainly to the illustration of 

 the history of the city of London; Holinshed and Speed to 

 that of England generally. 



Theology occupied a large space in the prose literature ,of 

 this as well as of the preceding period ; but the points mainly 

 in controversy now were different from what they had been. 

 The war between Protestantism and Catholicism was as keen as 

 ever ; but in the days of Elizabeth its battles were fought 

 more often with the sword than with the pen. The contro- 

 versies about which English theologians mainly employed 

 themselves, in those works at least which have been proved to 

 have a lasting interest, were those between Anglicans of various 

 shades and the Puritan Nonconformists. Many of the theo- 

 logians of this period were powerful writers ; Bishop Andrews 



in particular was equally distinguished for learning and 

 eloquence, and his sermons and treatises are still largely read 

 and highly valued, especially among the High Church school in 

 the Church of England. But far the greatest writer in this 

 department of literature was Hooker. Richard Hooker was 

 born of very humble parentage, and educated at Oxford, where 

 i he early acquired an immense reputation for learning and 

 ability. He was ultimately appointed Master of the Temple. 

 His great work is the treatise on " The Laws of Ecclesiastical 

 Polity," which is an elaborate defence of the position of the 

 Church of England. The merits of the work, from a theo- 

 logical point of view, or the soundness of its philosophical and 

 political doctrines, it would be quite beside the purpose of these 

 lessons to discuss. But however men's estimates of the value 

 of the "Ecclesiastical Polity" as a philosophical treatise may 

 vary according to the changing phases of theological contro- 

 versy from age to age, or the various stand-points of indi- 

 vidual thinkers, this great work must always remain one of the 

 most perfect examples of English prose style the most per- 

 fect, perhaps, that could be selected from among controversial 

 treatises. 



But the most important publication of this era, in its in- 

 fluence upon the literary taste of the people, as well as in other 

 and higher aspects, was that of the present authorised version 

 of the Bible in 1611. We have already explained that the 

 various versions, from that of Tyndall down to that of which we 

 are now speaking, were not so many wholly independent ver- 

 sions, but that each was founded upon and borrowed largely 

 from its predecessors, though at the same time each was 

 something much more than a mere revision of that which went 

 before. The consequence is that the language of James's Bible 

 is not exactly the language commonly written or spoken in 

 James's day, but rather that of a somewhat earlier period, and 

 must, even in James's time, have had a slight air of antiquity 

 in the ears of those who listened to it. Probably the very air 

 of antiquity, not enough to obscure the meaning or grate 

 harshly upon the ear, but enough to vary the tone of the lan- 

 guage from that of every-day life, may have contributed then, 

 as we think it undoubtedly does now, to give to the very words 

 of the English Bible that power of reaching the mind and the 

 affections, and imprinting themselves upon the memory of men 

 and women of all ages and all classes, which they share with 

 no other English book, and which, according to general testi- 

 mony, no other version of the Bible possesses in an equal 

 degree. 



Among the writers of this age there is one who stands so 

 completely alone, that it is impossible to group him with any 

 other. Robert Burton was a clergyman, and held benefices in 

 several parts of England, as well as a vicarage in Oxford ; but 

 he spent the greater part of his life in Oxford, living a studious 

 and laborious life among his books. His remarkable work, 

 " The Anatomy of Melancholy," was published in 1621. This 

 singular book is a collection of the most extensive and out-of- 

 the-way learning, combined with much originality and humour. 

 It was long one of the most popular of books, and furnished 

 materials or suggestions to many subsequent writers, though it 

 is now but little read. 



We have reserved to the last the consideration of by far the 

 greatest prose writer of this period, the greatest philosophical 

 writer that England has ever produced. Francis Bacon was 

 born in 1561. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, who held 

 the office of Lord Keeper of the Great Seals under Queen Eliza- 

 beth. The future Chancellor was also nephew of the Lord 

 Treasurer Burleigh. He therefore started in life under circum- 

 stances apparently very favourable to his advancement in the 

 public service ; but it is doubtful whether he derived much 

 assistance from his relationship to Burleigh, the Lord Treasurer 

 having, apparently, for some reason which we cannot, perhaps. 

 now clearly determine, no very cordial feeling towards his 

 nephew. He received his university education at Cambridge, 

 and was afterwards sent abroad to gain the benefit of foreign 

 travel. On his return from abroad, and after the death of his 

 father, he selected the law as his profession. He was called to 

 the bar at Gray's Inn, and entered upon the active exercise of 

 his profession. He soon acquired a great reputation as a pro- 

 found lawyer and a consummate advocate, and his professional 

 practice became very large. Nor was his political career less 

 successful. He was a partisan of the Earl of Essex, and received 



