ENGLISH LITERATURE. 



beauty of isolated passage*, an in the sustained eloquence of 



tin- wliol. , few great writers suffer more in quotation than 

 T;iyl"i-. Hut a few passages may giro some idea of hu style. 

 AVo sehyjt tlu-m I'r..m tint ' Liberty of Prophesying." Speaking 

 of tlui strength of early habits and education, and the conso- 

 nu.-iit tonduriiess with which oarly-loarncd errors ought to be 

 1, he writes : 



icution is so gnat and so Invincible a prejudice, that he who 

 masters the inconvenience of it is more to be commended, than he con 

 Lu juxtly bUmo.l that ooiuplies with it. For men do not alwys 

 call tin-in |.niifi|'lf* which are thu prime fuuuUins of reason, from 

 whence such cousequonts naturally flow as an to guide the actions 

 and discourses of men ; but they are principles which thus are first 

 taught, which they sucked in next to their milk, and by a . 

 tion to those first principles they usually take their estimate of pro- 

 ... I 1 ,. i- whatsoever is taught to them at first they believe 

 infinitely, for they know nothing to thu contrary. They have had 

 no other masters whose theorems mi-jht abate the strength of their 

 first persuasions ; and it is a great advantage in those oases to 

 get possession; and before their first principles con be dissolved, 

 they are made habitual and complexional. It is in their nature 

 then to believe them ; and this is helped forward very much 

 by the advantage of love ami veneration which we have for the 

 first parents of our persuasions. . . . Now this prejudice works by 

 many principles ; but how strongly they do possess the understanding 

 JM visil.lo iu that great instance of the affection and perfect persuasion 

 the weaker sort of people have to that which they call the religion of 

 r. -fathers. You may as well charm a fever asleep with the 

 noise of bells, as make any pretence of reason against that religion 

 whii-h old men have entailed upon their heirs male so many generations 

 till they cau prescribe. And the apostles found this to be most true 

 in the extromost difficulty they met with, to contest against the rites 

 of Moses, and the long superstition of the Oeutilos, which they thuro- 

 foro thought fit to bo retained because they had done so formerly, 

 fergentea turn quo euiulum est ted quo ttur ; and all the blessings of 

 this lifo which God gave them they had iu conjunction with their 

 religion, aud therefore they believed it was for their religion. And this 

 persuasion was fast bound in them with ribs of iron. The apostles 

 were forced to unloose the whole conjuncture of parts and principles 

 in their understandings, before they could make them malleable aud 

 receptive of any impresses. But the observation and experience o* 

 all wise men cau justify this truth. All that I shall say to the present 

 purpose is this, that consideration is to be had to the weakness of 

 persons when they are prevailed upon by so innocent a prejudice ; 

 and when there cannot be arguments strong enough to overmaster 

 an habitual persuasion bred with a man, nourished up with him, that 

 always eat at his table, and lay in his bosom, he is not easily to b3 

 called heretic ; for if he keeps the foundation of faith, other articles 

 are not so clearly demonstrated on either side but that a man may 

 innocently be abused to the contrary ; and therefore, in this cose, to 

 handle him charitably is but to do him justice. And when an opinion 

 in minoribus urlioults is entertained upon the title and stock of educa- 

 tion, it may bo the better permitted to him, since upon no better stock 

 nor stronger arguments most men entertain their whole religion even 

 Christianity itself." 



Again ho thus argues against any attempt to control convic- 

 tions by force : 



" Force in. matters of opinion can do no good, but is very apt to 

 do hurt : for no man can change his opinion when ho will, or be 

 satisfied in his reason that his opinion is false because discoun- 

 tenanced. If a man could change his opinion when he lists, he 

 might cure many inconveniences of his life ; all his fears aud 

 his sorrows would soon disband, if he could but alter his opinion 

 whereby he is persuaded that such an accident that afflicts him is 

 an evil, and such an object formidable : let him but believe himself 

 impregnable, or that ho receives a benefit when he is plundered, dis- 

 graced, imprisoned, condemned, and afflicted, neither his steps need 

 to be disturbed nor his quietness discomposed. But if a man cannot 

 change his opinion when he lists, nor ever does heartily or resolutely 

 but when he cannot do otherwise, then to use force may make him a 

 hypocrite, but never to be a right believer ; and so, instead of erecting 

 a trophy to God and true religion, we build a monument for the devil.'* 



Very characteristic of the writer ia the beautiful story with 

 which the book concludes : 



" I end with a story which I find in the Jews' books. When Abraham 

 sat at his tent door, according to his custom, waiting to entertain 

 strangers, he espied an old man stooping and leaning on his staff, 

 weary with age and travel, coming towards him, who woe an hundred 

 years of age. He received him kindly, washed his foot, provided supper, 

 caused him to sit down; but observing that the old man eat and 

 prayed not, nor begged for a blessing on bis meat, he asked him 

 why he did cot worship the God of hraven. The old man told him 

 that he worshipped the fire only, and acknowledged no other god ; 

 at which answer Abraham grew so zealously angry that he thrust 

 the old man out of his tent, and exposed him to all the evils of 



the night and an unguarded condition. Whea the old maa 

 Ood called to Abraham, and asked him when the strsafsr was. He 

 replied, ' I thnist him sway bMMse be did not worship thss/ Ood 

 answered him, I have esftrsd hist these hundred yean, although 



wbea he gave tbee BO trouble f Upoa this, ssita the story, 



wise instruction. Go thoa sad do likewise, sad thy charity win 

 rewarded by the Ood of Abraham." 



Sir Thomas Browne was a phyaidaa of eminence who 

 Used at Norwich ; he lived throughout toe whole of the' 

 contest*, and survived the Restoration by away years. His 

 works are many and various, bo* they are all nhefinterlsert by 

 the same qualities, great and abstruse learning, extraordinary 

 freshness and originality of thought, richness and gnsintases 

 of illustration, and great eloquence of language. They breathe 

 a spirit of the profoundest piety, combined with the largest 

 charity and tolerance. The tone of Browne's writings in this 

 respect, as well as his peculiar style, may be well illustrated by 

 a single passage from his most popular work, the "Religio 

 Medici," a physician's religion. Speaking of Christians who 

 differ from him, and especially of Roman Catholics, be says t 



" I am not scrupulous to converse and live with them, to ester 

 their churches in defect of ours, and pray either with them or for them. 

 I could never perceive any rational eoassaasaos from those msay 

 texts which prohibit the children of Israel to pollute themselves with 

 the temples of the heathens ; we being all Christians, and not divided 

 by such detested impieties as might profane our prayers, or the plsee 

 wherein we moke them; or that a resolved conscience may not 

 adoro her Creator anywhere, especially in place* devoted to his 

 service ; where, if their devotions offend him, mine may please him t 

 if theirs profane it, mine may hallow it. Holy water sad crucifix 

 dangerous to the common people deceive not my judgment, nor 

 abuse my devotion at all. I am, I confess, naturally inclined to that 

 which misguided zeal terms superstition; my common conversation 

 I do acknowledge austere ; my behaviour full of rigour, sometimes not 

 without morosity ; yet, at my devotions, I love to use the civility of 

 my knee, my bat, and my hand, with all those sensible motions which 

 may express or promote my invisible devotion. I should violate my 

 own arm rather than a church ; nor willingly deface the name of 

 saint or martyr. At the sight of a cross or a crucifix I can dispense 

 with my hat, but scarce with the thought or memory of my Saviour ; 

 I cannot laugh at, but rather pity, the fruitless journeys of pilgrims. 

 or contemn the miserable condition of friars ; for, though misplaced 

 in circumstances, there is something in it of devotion. I could 

 never hear the Avo-Mnry bell without an elevation, or think it a 

 sufficient warrant, because they erred in one circumstance, for me to 

 err in all that is, iu silence and dumb contempt. Whilst, therefore, 

 they directed their devotions to her, I offered mine to God, and rec- 

 tified the errors of their prayers by rightly ordering mine own. At 

 a solemn procession I have wept abundantly, while my consorts, blind 

 with opposition and prejudice, have fallen into an excess of scorn and 

 laughter. There ore, questionless, both in Greek, Roman, and 

 African churches, solemnities aud ceremonies whereof the wiser seals 

 do moke a Christian use ; aod which stand condemned by us, not as 

 evil in themselves, but as allurements and baits of superstition to 

 those vulgar heads which look asquint on the face of truth, and 

 those unstable judgments that cannot consist in the narrow point 

 and centre 01 virtue without a reel or stagger to the circumference.'* 



Next to the " Religio Medici," the most popular of Sir Thomas 

 Browne's works are his " Pseudodoxia Epidcmica," or Inquiries 

 into Vulgar and Common Errors, and his " Hydriotaphia," or 

 Treatise of Urn Burial. 



Thomas Fuller was a clergyman, and followed the fortunes 

 of the Royalist party and the Royalist army during the civil 

 war, in which he served as a chaplain. He died immediately 

 after the Restoration. Of his many works, the most generally 

 known are his " Worthies of England and Wales," his "Church 

 History," and his "Holy War," a history of the Crusades. 

 They are all full of the most varied learning, and the most 

 striking originality, both of thought and expression, and 

 sparkling with a quaint humour peculiar to the author. 



Of all the great writers of the ago of which we are now 

 speaking, probably none produced so wide or so lasting an im- 

 pression on the thoughts of men as Hobbes. Thomas Hobbes 

 was born at Malmeebury, in Wiltshire, in 1588, being the son 

 of r clergyman of that place. Having completed his uni- 

 versity career at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, he became tutor in 

 the family of the Earl of Devonshire ; and for many years he 

 remained, in various capacities, a member of that nobleman's 

 household. He associated on terms ef friendship with most of 

 the leading men of the Royalist party, and was well known 



