received the hearty praise of Dr. Johnson, for its spirit and its fidelity to the original, although the modern school of criticism would scarcely agree fully with the Doctor. In addition to these labors, Rowe is the author of a number of plays, chiefly tragedies. The more successful were: The Ambitious Stepmother; Tamerlane; The Fair Penitent; Jane Shore; and Lady Jane Grey. The best known is undoubtedly Jane Shore, which was very popular in its day and was retained on the stage until the early part of this century. Mrs. Siddons acted in it with great success. Rowe's style, an attempted imitation of Shakespeare's, was rather florid and declamatory than genial, and the dramatist's insight into character was anything but profound.

James Thomson, 1700-1748, is the best of the descriptive. poets of this period. His Seasons, and Castle of Indolence, have taken a permanent place in literature.

His Career. Thomson studied divinity at the University of Dublin, but abandoned theology for letters. Thomson's life was an uneventful one, diversified only by a tour on the continent, as companion to Charles Talbot. Through the influence of friends, chiefly Lord Lyttleton, he obtained the sinecure of Surveyor-General of the Leeward Isles.

Works. - Thomson is one of the chief pastoral poets of England. His dramatic works-Sophonisbe, Agamemnon, and Edward and Eleanor and his didactic poem on Liberty were never successful. His Seasons appeared first as detached poems, but were collected and published by subscription in 1730. In 1748, the year of his death, appeared the Castle of Indolence. This last is an allegory suggested by Spenser and Tasso.

Rank as a Poet.-Thomson is one of those minor poets who are read by each successive generation with about equal favor. His fame is as high now as it was during his lifetime, perhaps higher. His descriptions of English scenery, because of their faithfulness to nature, are much read by foreigners, especially by Germans.

"Thomson is the best of our descriptive poets; for he gives most of the poetry of natural description. Others have been quite equal to him, or have surpassed him, as Cowper for instance, in the picturesque part of his art, in marking the peculiar features and curious details of objects; no one has yet come up to him in giving the sum total of their effects, their varying influences on the mind." — Hazlitt.

"Thomson's genius does not so often delight us by exquisite minute touches in the description of nature as that of Cowper. It loves to paint on a great scale, and to dash objects off sweepingly by bold strokes. Cowper sets nature before your eyes,— Thomson, before your imagination."— Professor Wilson.

Sir Richard Blackmore, 1650-1729, was a writer of considerable note in the early part of the last century. He was warmly applauded by Addison and Johnson, but ridiculed as a dunce by Pope and other distinguished wits of his day.

Blackmore's first work was Prince Arthur, an Heroic Poem, which was immediately popular. His principal and best work was Creation, a Philosophical Poem. Besides these he published Paraphrases on various parts of the Old Testament; Essays upon several subjects; and numerous medical works.

THOMAS TICKELL, 1686-1740, was one of the minor poets of this period.

Tickell was educated at Oxford, and gained Addison's favor by his verses in praise of the latter's Rosamond. He became Addison's Under-Secretary, and was afterwards appointed Secretary to the Lords Justices of Ireland.

The Iliad.-Tickell's translation of the first book of the Iliad was supposed for some time to be the work of Addison, written to injure Pope's translation. It is now generally believed, however, that Addison only corrected Tickell's lines. Public opinion has finally settled in favor of Pope, although Tickell's version is in parts superior.

Other Works. His other well-known poems are Kensington Garden and the ballad of Colin and Lucy, and especially the Elegy on Addison. Although some critics have passed unfavorable opinions upon this poem, it has been extolled by many others, among them Macaulay, who asserts that it unites "the energy and magnificence of Dryden to the tenderness and purity of Cowper." Dr. Johnson even declares that there is not "a more sublime or more elegant funeral poem in the whole compass of English literature."

RICHARD SAVAGE, 1696–1743, the reputed illegitimate son of the Countess of Macclesfield, was quite as famous for his life of adventures as for his poetical abilities.

Savage's life was written by Dr. Johnson and incorporated in the Lives of the English Poets. This same sketch was afterwards prefixed to Evans's collective edition of Savage's works. Cunningham, in his edition of Johnson's Lives, has amplified and corrected the story by his notes.

Works.-The most conspicuous of Savage's works are The Tragedy of Sir Thomas Overbury, The Bastard (a pasquil against his reputed mother), and The Wanderer. Many of his works were dedicated to prominent persons among the gentry and nobility. Savage forfeited his life by killing a man in a drunken quarrel, but was pardoned. He died while in prison for debt.

"Such were the life and death of Richard Savage, a man equally distinguished by his virtues and vices, and at once remarkable for his weaknesses and abilities. ... On a bulk, in a cellar or in a glass-house, among thieves and beggars, was to be found the author of The Wanderer, the man of exalted sentiments, extensive views, and curious observations; the man whose remarks on life might have assisted the statesman, whose ideas of virtue might have enlightened the moralist, whose eloquence might have influenced senates, and whose delicacy might have polished courts.”— Dr. Johnson.

REV. ROBERT Blair, 1699–1747, was a Scotch poet and clergyman, distantly related to Dr. Hugh Blair, and the author of a poem of some note, called The Grave.

"The Grave is a complete and powerful poem, of limited design, but masterly exeention. The subject precluded much originality of conception, but, at the same time, is recommended by its awful importance and its universal application.”— Chambers, "The Grave is remarkable for its masculine vigor of thought and expression, and for the imaginative solemnity with which it invests the most familiar truths; and it has always been one of our most popular religious poems."- Craik. Blair's Grave was once much read, but later and better works have pretty much crowded it aside. It is now rarely found except on the upper shelves consecrated to forgotten worthies. JOHN HUGHES, 1677-1720, was the author of a number of poems and miscellaneous pieces, and translator of some French works. The Siege of Damascus is the only one of Hughes's original works now known to the general public. He contributed several pieces to The Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian.

"Of this drama (Siege of Damascus), which is still acted, the sentiments and morality are pure and correct, the imagery frequently beautiful, and the diction and versification for the most part clear and melodious. It is defective, notwithstanding, in the most essential quality of dramatic composition, the power of affecting the passions. . . . Hughes has more merit as a translator of poetry than as an original poet. On the prose of Hughes I am inclined to bestow more praise than on his poetry. All the periodical essays of Hughes are written in a style which is, in general, easy, correct, and elegant," etc.- Drake's Essays.

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GEORGE GRANVILLE, Viscount Lansdowne, 1667-1735, was educated at Cambridge, and displayed such precocity of merit that he received the degree of A. M. at the age of thirteen. He wrote a number of poems, dramas, and other pieces, of no great merit. He was an imitator of Waller, and was, according to Horace Walpole, "a faint copy of a faint master." His name figures a good deal in the literature of the day to which he belonged.

WILLIAM WALSH, 1663-1707, was one of the minor poets of the reign of Queen Anne. He was educated at Oxford; was a member of Parliament; and Gentleman of the Horse to the Queen. He wrote A Dialogue Concerning Women, being a defence of the sex; Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant. All his poetical pieces were included in The Works of the Minor Poets, published in 1749. "He has more elegance than vigor, and seldom rises higher than to be pretty." - Johnson. Walsh befriended both Dryden and Pope, when they were just rising into notice, and had his reward in the good words which they gave him when their own star was in the ascendant. "William Walsh, of Abberley, Esq., who has so long honored me with his friendship, and who, without flattery, is the best critic of our nation."— Dryden.

"Such late was Walsh, the muse's judge and friend,

Who justly knew to blame, or to commend.”— Pope.

But for his connection with these great names, Walsh would long since have passed into oblivion.

ELIJAH FENTON, 1683-1730, was one of those employed by Pope to assist him in translating the Odyssey. Fenton translated Books 1, 4, 19, and 20, in what is known as Pope's Homer. He wrote also Marianne, a Tragedy; Poems on Several Occasions; and Notes on Waller's Poems. He was a classical teacher, and a man of considerable

literary ability. He undertook to revise the punctuation of Milton's poems, on the ground that Milton being blind, and writing by dictation, did not see, and was not responsible for, the punctuation.

SIR SAMUEL GARTH, -1719, was an eminent practising physician. On the occa. sion of a quarrel between two physicians and two apothecaries, about the plan for furnishing the poor with medical advice gratis, and with medicines at cost, a project which originated with the physicians and was opposed by the apothecaries, Garth, who had some poetical ability, published a satirical poem, The Dispensary, in which the apothecaries were held up to ridicule. The poem passed through numerous editions, and in each edition received finishing touches from the author. The poem was famous in its day, but it has not been able to hold its place in the permanent literature of the nation. "The wit of this slight performance may have somewhat evaporated with age, but it cannot at any time have been very pungent."- Craik,

GILBERT WEST, LL. D., 1705-1756, a nephew of Sir Richard Temple, and a relative of William Pitt and of Lord George Lyttleton, attracted considerable attention among his contemporaries by his writings. He wrote A Canto of the Fairy Queen, in imitation of Spenser; The Order of the Garter, a drama; The Odes of Pindar, translated in verse; The History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Christ, prose.

WILLIAM BROOME, 1745, was a poet of ability, employed by Pope to translate certain portions of Homer. Pope assigned eight books of the Odyssey to be translated by Broome, and four to be done by Fenton, and translated the remaining twelve himself. The whole passes as "Pope's Homer." Broome was dissatisfied with the amount of money allowed him for his share of the work, and charged Pope with avarice. Pope repaid the charge by putting Broome in the Dunciad.

"Pope came off clean with Homer; but they say

Broome went before, and kindly 'swept the way."— Henley.

"Of Broome, though it cannot be said that he was a great poet, it would be unjust to deny that he was an excellent versifier; his lines are smooth and sonorous, and his diction is select and elegant." - Johnson.

ISAAC HAWKINS BROWNE, 1705–1760, was a poet of some celebrity. The work of his which is supposed to display most genius is a poem in Latin, On the Immortality of the Soul. His most successful hit was The Pipe of Tobacco, in which he imitates with great effect the peculiarities of Pope, Swift, Young, Thomson, Cibber, and Ambrose Philips. He wrote also a poem on Design and Beauty. He was elected to Parliament, but took no part in its debates. "We must not estimate a man's power by his not being able to deliver his sentiments in public. Isaac Hawkins Browne, one of the first writers of this country, got into Parliament, and never opened his mouth." - Dr. Johnson.

THOMAS COOKE, 1702-1756, was one of the poets ridiculed by Pope in the Dunciad. Standing on that pillory, however, is ro evidence of ill-desert, as Pope wrote for revenge rather than in the exercise of a judicial spirit. Cooke was undoubtedly a poet and a man of learning, and his chief offence was that he published a translation of certain passages in the Iliad, showing the errors in Pope's translation. The following are some of Cooke's publications: The Knights of the Bath; The Triumph of Love and Honor; The Eunuch, a Farce; The Mournful Nuptials; Translations from Hesiod, Plautus and Cicero; Life and Writings of Andrew Marvell.

II. THE DRAMATISTS.

A school of dramatists prevailed in the period now under consideration, who were equally distinguished by their abilities and their licentiousness. The writers of this class belong partly to the previous century, as they began their career during the life of Dryden, and took their character from the general corruption of manners which prevailed after the restoration of the Stuart dynasty. The four most conspicuous of these writers were Congreve, Wycherley, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar, of whom Wycherley was the earliest, and Congreve was, by general consent, the greatest. With these writers is indissolubly connected the name of Jeremy Collier, the man who, almost single-handed, undertook to stem this general torrent of licentiousness, and who so effectually exposed the enormous immoralities of the stage as to arouse the nation to a sense of shame, and to bring back dramatic literature once more within the decencies and proprieties of life.

Wycherley.

William Wycherley, 1640-1715, was a prominent dramatist of the age of the Restoration, and the founder of the school of licentious and immoral plays which then prevailed.

Career. - Much of Wycherley's early life was passed on the continent, where, by the influence of Madame Rambouillet, he was induced to embrace the Catholic religion. Having returned to England, he entered Oxford and rejoined the Anglican communion, but under James II. turned back again to the Catholic Church.

Wycherley's career was a chequered one. At the age of forty, having already produced his most celebrated plays, he married a wealthy countess, whose jealousy kept him away from Court, and lost him the royal favor. After his wife's death, her fortune was consumed in a heavy lawsuit, and the property which he inherited from his father was mortgaged and entailed. He was kept in prison for debt seven years. In his seventy-sixth year, eleven days before his death, he married a young girl, merely to defeat the inheritance of his nephew, whom he disliked.

Character. Wycherley as a man and as a writer is a fit representative of the age in which he lived. Handsome, shiftless, prodigal, dissolute, he was the object of envy, and yet dragged out an uncomfortable, if not an unhappy existence. There seems to have been no real substance in his character, although we cannot call him a bad man at heart.