NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL: DEVOTED-TO-THE BEST- INTERESTS-OFTHENORTHSHORE 
Vol. I. No. 39 
BEVERLY, MASS., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 
1 
1, 1905 
Three Cents 
MASTERS OF 
ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
Richard Hooker, 1553— 1600. 
BY D2 FF) LAMSON: PS 
In contrast with the gay and chival- 
rous Sidney, the next name on the 
bead-roll of great masters of English 
literature is that of a grave ecclesiastic, 
an unambitious scholar, a philosophic 
divine — Richard Hooker, a man of 
profound reasoning powers, but little 
fitted to shine in courts and destitute 
of those qualities which win popular 
admiration. 
Hooker was a poor boy, but rose to 
be an influential churchman as well as 
an eminent scholar, in an age of great 
churchmen and scholars. He was 
simple in his tastes and habits, and of 
a healthy and cheerful mind and dis- 
position; he seems to have had a 
special love for the country and for 
country life; it was his delight ‘to 
see God’s blessing spring out of his 
mother earth.’ Hedeclined flattering 
offers of preferment in the church, 
choosing to pursue his grave and 
laborious studies in his quiet parson- 
age; he said ‘God and nature did 
not intend me for contentions, but for 
peace and quietness,” and high office 
in church and state in Hooker’s time 
was an arena for strife and turmoil. 
To Hooker belongs the honor of 
being the first to develop the power 
and majesty of English prose. He 
belongs to the royal breed of authors. 
His massive eloquenceand vast stores 
of learning make his style worthy of 
study, deformed as it sometimes is by 
long and intricate sentences and many 
Latinisms. He is distinguished by 
his stateliness and elevation, his force 
of reasoning and his grave, judicial 
tone, which has given him the name 
of “the judicious Hooker.” It has 
been said ‘he searches all the depths 
and rises to all the heights of his sub- 
ject.” The great critic, Taine, says 
of him: “ The learned and excellent 
Hooker, one of the sweetest and most 
-N | 
conciliatory of men, the most solid 
and persuasive of logicians . . . a 
methodical writer, correct and always 
ample, worthy of being regarded as 
the Father of English Prose.”  Hal- 
lam describes him as “the finest as 
well as the most philosophical writer 
of the Elizabethan period.”’ 
Hooker’s greatest work is his “ Ec- 
clesiastical Polity,’’ a work undertaken 
with the purpose of strengthening the 
English church of the Reformation, 
both against Prelacy on the one hand 
and Puritanism and Independency on 
the other. Admitting the soundness 
of its premises, it is difficult to avoid 
its conclusions. But for Hooker and 
his fellow-churchmen, the day of tol- 
erance was not yet risen ; not to them 
was given all light forall coming days. 
For its time, however, the work was 
a noble plea for what its author and 
many other good men of his age 
deemed indispensable to the very ex- 
PULSIFER’S BLOCK, MANCHESTER. 
The above picture is of Pulsifer’s 
block, Manchester-by-the-sea, and is a 
fair sample of the enterprise which is 
making Manchester,— historic, old and 
conservative though it may be — thor- 
oughly up-to-date. The building was 
constructed two years ago and is 
owned by James K. Pulisifer, formerly 
engaged in the wood and coal business 
in Manchester. It is Jocated on the cor- 
ner of Beach and Union streets on the 
spot where stood the old Kinsman 
house, until a few years ago one of 
the land marks for a century or more. 
In the building is located the Post 
Office, and almost a dozen of the lead- 
Photo by Cheever. 
ing business concerns of the town, in- 
cluding Bullock Bros., grocers; Smith’s 
Express Co.; Semons & Campbell, 
provision dealers; Harry S. Tappan, 
dry goods; Joseph Pink & Co., har- 
ness makers; M. G. Reveles, fruit 
dealer and the Manchester tonsorial 
parlors. On the second floor is lo- 
cated the New England Telephone 
Company, who are now installing an 
office; the Red Men’s club, George 
E. Willmonton, insurance; and the 
North Shore BREEZE office. Isaac 
M. Marshall, editor of the Manchester 
Cricket will also soon occupy part of 
an office on this floor. 
