higher scale of song." The idyl is a picturesque rather than an imaginative form of art, and calls for po great amount of invention. It invariably has the method of a busy, anxious age seeking rest rather than excitement; but when this has been found and the age has been soothed and refreshed, it begins to wish for something more stirring and animated. Music to please must not always be soft and harmonious, but must have besides its breaks and discords; and the most gently flowing river to be complete must have in the end its wild cascade or impetuous torrent. To meet the present wants and coming period, many minor rising poets in England have latterly been assuming many different kinds of verse, with more or less appreciation by the public. In the idyllic method Rossetti and William Morris, for instance, followers of Tennyson, have tried, with fine effect, to unite the PreRaphaelite realism still more closely with the spirit of beauty and refined culture of the present; but, finally, all have agreed in attempting to infuse with more dramatic passion the over-cultured method of the day. "Even Tennyson in the mellow ripeness of his fame," as it is remarked by Mr. Stedham, "perceives that the mission of the idyllist is ended," and by his entering latterly on dramatic writing "is extending to the latest movement his adherence and practical aid." W. M. N. How charming is divine Philosophy! And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets, -Milton. 24-Italy during the Renaissance, 25-Painting and the Renaissance, 33-The Heptarchy in the Sixth Century, 34-The Conversion of Northumbria, 35-The Conversion of the Kingdoms South of the Humber, 80-The New Learning in England-1485-1509, 81-Sir Thomas More-1478-1535, . 83-Catharine of Aragon-1485-1536, 85-The Divorce and Wolsey's Fall, 88-English Translations of the Bible, 89-Archbishop Cranmer-1489-1566, 91-Edward the Sixth-1537-1547, 97-The Elizabethan Era-1559-1603, 98-Edmund Spenser-1552-1599, · 101-His Romantism and Classicism, |