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II.

IV.

Formation and character of Feudalism.

The Norman invasion; character of the Normans-Contrast with the Saxons-
The Normans are French-How they became so-Their taste and architecture
-Their spirit of inquiry and their literature-Chivalry and amusements-
Their tactics and their success....
III. Bent of the French genius-Two principal characteristics; clear and consecutive
ideas-Psychological form of French genius-Prosaic histories; lack of
color and passion, ease and discursiveness-Natural logic and clearness,
soberness, grace and delicacy, refinement and cynicism-Order and charm-The
nature of the beauty and of the ideas which the French have introduced....
The Normans in England-Their position and their tyranny-They implant their
literature and language-They forget the same-Learn English by degrees
-Gradually English becomes gallicised..
They translate French works into English-Opinion of Sir John Mandeville-
Layamon, Robert of Gloucester, Robert de Brunne-They imitate in English
the French literature-Moral manuals, chansons, fabliaux, Gestes-Brightness,
frivolity, and futility of this French literature-Barbarity and ignorance of
the feudal civilization-Geste of Richard Cœur de Lion, and voyages of Sir
John Mandeville-Poorness of the literature introduced and implanted in
England-Why it has not endured on the Continent or in England...

The Saxons in England-Endurance of the Saxon nation, and formation of the

English constitution-Endurance of the Saxon character, and formation of the

English character.

V.

199

IV.

V.

Wherein Chaucer belongs to the middle age-Romantic and ornamental poems-

Le Roman de la Rose - Troilus and Cressida - Canterbury Tales-

Order of description and events-The House of Fame-Fantastic dreams

and visions-Love poems-Troilus and Cressida-Exaggerated development

of love in the middle age--Why the mind took this path-Mystic love-The

Flower and the Leaf-Sensual love-Troilus and Cressida..

Wherein Chaucer is French-Satirical and jovial poems-Canterbury Tales-The
Wife of Bath and marriage-The mendicant friar and religion-Buffoorery,
waggery, and coarseness in the middle age...
Wherein Chaucer was English and original-Idea of character and individual-Van
Eyck and Chaucer contemporary-Prologue to Canterbury Tales-Portraits
of the franklin, monk, miller, citizen, knight, squire, prioress, the good clerk-
Connection of events and characters--General idea-Importance of the same
-Chaucer a precursor of the Reformation-He halts by the way-Tediousness
and Childishness-Causes of this feebleness-His prose, and scholastic notion
-How he is isolated in his age....

Connection of philosophy and poetry-How general notions failed under the
scholastic philosophy-Why poetry failed-Comparison of civilization and
decadence in the middle age, and in Spain-Extinction of the English literature
-Translators-Rhyming chroniclers-Didactic poets-Compilers of moralities
-Gower-Occleve-Lydgate-Analogy of taste in costumes, buildings, and
literature-Sad notion of fate, and human misery-Hawes-Barclay-Skelton
-Elements of the Reformation and of the Renaissance.....

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The English Renaissance is the Renaissance of the Saxon genius..

The forerunners-The Earl of Surrey-His feudal and chivalrous life-His English

individual character-His serious and melancholy poems-His conception of

inward love............

III. His style-His masters, Petrach and Virgil-His progress, power, precocious

perfection-Birth of art-Weaknesses, imitation, research-Art incomplete.... 118

IV. Growth and completion of art-Euphues and fashion-Style and spirit of the Re-
naissance-Copiousness and irregularity-How manners, style, and spirit corres-
pond-Sir Philip Sydney-His education, life, character-His learning, gravity,
generosity, forcible expression-The Arcadia-Exaggeration and mannerism of
sentiments and style-Defence of Poesie-Eloquence and energy-His sonnets
-Wherein the body and the passions of the Renaissance differ from those of
the moderns-Sensual love-Mystical love..

VI

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Limit of the poetry-Changes in society and manners-How the return to nature
becomes an appeal to the senses-Corresponding changes in poetry-How agree-
ablenesss replaces energy-How prettiness replaces the beautiful-Refinements
-Carew, Suckling, Herrick -Affectation-Quarles, Herbert, Babington,
Donne, Cowley-Begininng of the classic style and drawing-room life..
Hew poetry passed into prose-Connection of science and art-In Italy-In
England-How the triumph of nature develops the exercise of the natural reason
-Scholars, historians, speakers, compilers, politicians, antiquaries, philoso-
phers, theologians-The abundance of talent, and the rarity of fine works-
Superfluousness, punctiliousness, and pedantry of the style-Originality, preci-
sion, energy, and richness of the style-How, unlike the classical writers, they
represent the individual, not the idea..

130

143

147

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Robert Burton-His life and character-Vastness and confusion of his acquirements
-His subject, the Anatomy of Melancholy-Scholastic divisions-Medley of
moral and medical science.

IV

Sir Thomas Browne-His talent-His imagination is that of a North-man-

149

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Hydriotaphia, Religio Medici-His ideas, curiosity, and doubts belong to the
age of the Renaissance-Pseudodoxia-Effects of this activity and this direction
of the public mind.
Francis Bacon-His talent-His originality-Concentration and brightness of his
style-Comparisons and aphorisms-The Essays-His style not argumentative,
but intuitive-His practical goed sense-Turning-point of his philosophy-The
object of science is the amelioration of the condition of man-New Atlantis-
The idea is in accordance with the state of affairs and the spirit of the timer
-It completes the Renaissance-It introduces a new method-The Organum
-Where Bacon stopped-Limits of the spirit of the age-How the conception
of the world, which had been poetic, became mechanical-How the Renaissance
ended in the establishment of positive science..

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III. Manners-Familiar intercourse-Violent bearing-Harsh language-Conversation
and action-Agreement of manners and style..

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The dramatis persona-All of the same family-Brutes and idiots-Caliban, Ajax,

Cloten, Polonius, the Nurse-How the mechanical imagination can precede

or survive reason.......

Men of wit-Difference between the wit of reasoners and of artists-Mercutio,
Beatrice, Rosalind, Benedict, the clowns-Falstaff..
Women-Desdemona, Virginia, Juliet, Miranda, Imogen, Cordelia, Ophelia,
Volumnia-How Shakspeare represents love-Why he bases virtue on
instinct or passion....

VII. Villains-Iago, Richard III.-How excessive lusts and the lack of conscience are
the natural province of the impassioned imagination....
VIII. Principal characters-Excess and disease of the imagination-Lear, Othello, Cleo-
patra, Coriolanus, Macbeth, Hamlet-Comparison of Shakspeare's psychol.
ogy with that of the French tragic authors.....

234

Vices of the pagan Renaissance-Decay of the Southern civilizations..
The Reformation-Aptitude of the Germanic races, and suitability of Northern
climates-Albert Durer's bodies and souls-His martyrdoms and last judg-
ments-Luther-His idea of justice-Construction of Protestantism-Crisis
of the conscience-Renewal of heart-Suppression of ceremonies-Transfor-
mation of the clergy
III. Reformation in England-Tyranny of the ecclesiastical courts-Disorders of the
clergy-Irritation of the people-The interior of a diocese-Persecutions and
convulsions-The translation of the Bible-How biblical events and Hebraic
sentiments are in accordance with contemporary manners and with the English
character The Prayer Book-Moral and manly feeling of the prayers and
church service-Preaching-Latimer-His education-Character-Familiar and
persuasive eloquence-Death-The martyrs under Mary-England thenceforth
Protestant......

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of genuine epic-They are not to be met with in the age cri: he poet-Com-
parison of Adam and Eve with an English family-Comparison of God and the
gels to a monarch's court-The rest of the poem-Comparison between the
sentiments of Satan and the republican passions-Lyrical and moral character
of the scenery-Loftiness and sense of the moral ideas-Situation of the post
and the poem between two ages-Composition of his genius and his work......

BOOK III.-THE CLASSIC AGE.

The excesses of Puritanism-How they induce excesses of sensuality...
Picture of these manners by a stranger-The Mémoires de Grammont-Difference
of debauchery in France and England...

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314

Philosophy consonant with these manners-Hobbes, his spirit and his style-His

curtailments and his discoveries-His mathematical method-In how much he

resembles Descartes-His morality, æsthetics, politics, logic, psychology,

metaphysics-Spirit and aim of his philosophy..

The theatre-Alteration in taste, and in the public-Audiences before and after

the Restoration..

VII. Dryden-Disparity of his comedies-Unskilfulness of his indecencies-How he
translates Molière's Amphitryon.....
Wycherley-Life-Character-Melancholy, greed, immodesty-Love in a Wood,
Country Wife, Dancing Master-Licentious pictures, and repugnant details
-His energy and realism-Parts of Olivia and Manly in his Plain Dealer-
Certain words of Milton's Paradise Lost..

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Sir William Temple-His life, character, spirit, and style.
Writers of fashion-Their correct language and gallant bearing-Sir Charles Sed-
ley, the Earl of Dorset, Edmund Waller-His opinions and style-Wherein
consists his polish-Wherein he is not sufficiently polished-Culture of style-
Lack of poetry-Character of monarchical and classic style.....
Sir John Denham-His poem of Cooper's Hill-Oratorical swell of his verse-
English seriousness of his moral preoccupations-How people of fashion and
literary men followed then the fashions of France....
The comic-authors-Comparison of this theatre with that of Molière-Arrange-
ment of ideas in Molière-General ideas in Molière-How in Molière the odious
is concealed, while the truth is depicted-How in Molière the honest man is
still the man of the world-How the respectable man of Molière is a French
type..

VII. Action-Complication of intrigues-Frivolity of purpose-Crudeness of the charac-

ters-Grossness of manners-Wherein consists the talent of Wycherley, Con.

greve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar-Kind of characters they are able to produce. 344

VIII. Natural characters-Sir John Brute, the husband; Squire Šullen-Sir Tunbelly,

the father-Miss Hoyden, the young lady-Squire Humphry, the young

gentleman-Idea of nature according to this theatre

346

Artificial characters-Women of the world-Miss Prue, Lady Wishfort, Lady
Pliant, Mrs. Millamant-Men of the world-Mirabell-Idea of society ac
cording to this theatre-Why this culture and this literature have not produced
durable works-Wherein they are opposed to the English character-Transfor-
mation of taste and manners..

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