X. PAPER FOR 1862.

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

Examiner: KNIGHT WATSON.

1. Mention examples of the influence for good or for ill of the events of English history on English literature.

2. Give a list of English prose-writers before 1550, and compare the progress generally of English prose with that of English poetry.

3. Give a general account of the ballad literature of Great Britain.

4. Give an outline of one of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Explain the metre in which they are written. Why has it been called riding rhyme, and what is the earliest instance of its use in English? Enumerate the personages who composed the pilgrim party.

5. Dryden speaks of 'the noble poem of Palamon and Arcite, which is of the epic kind, and perhaps not much inferior to the Ilias and neis.' How does Dryden, and how far would you, justify this praise ? How old was Chaucer when he wrote and Dryden when he paraphrased the Knight's Tale? From whom did Chaucer borrow it?

6. Name, with dates, the principal versions of the Bible in English, and trace the effect of the authorised version on the literature of the country.

7. Trace fully, with dates, the rise and progress of the drama in England down to the time of Shakspere; and point out features in some of Shakspere's plays which recall earlier efforts at scenic represen

tation.

8. How far is Shakspere's account of Prince Arthur's death historical? Are any of the dramatis persona of Cymbeline' historical ?

9. Whence did Shakspere derive the story of King Lear, and by what other English authors has it been dramatised? What is your conception of the character of Lear as depicted by Shakspere? What internal evidence is afforded of the date of the play?

10. Of what English king was Macbeth the contemporary ? and what mention is made of him in the play?

11. What place in English literature do you assign to Richard Hooker? Quote any remarkable passages.

12. Over what period does Raleigh's 'History of the World' extend? What reason does he give for not completing it?

13. How has Knolles' 'History of the Turks' been estimated? When did the writer live?

14. Give a general account of Bacon's 'Advancement of Learning.'

15. Name the principal English satirists of the 16th and 17th centuries.

16. What faults do Addison and Dr. Samuel Johnson find in Milton's great epic? Have later critics

concurred in their judgment? Are there any passages in the earlier books of Paradise Lost' which seem to show Milton's early predilections for books of chivalry? What does he say elsewhere about his neglect of rhyme in Paradise Lost ?'

17. Name Cowley's prose writings, and give your opinion as to their merits.

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18. By whom, and under what circumstances, was Pilgrim's Progress' composed? What are the merits of its style, and how will it bear comparison as an allegory with Spenser's Fairy Queen ?'

19. What is your opinion of Dryden as a poet and dramatist? What political intrigue gave occasion to the poem of Absalom and Achitophel? Who are intended by Achitophel, Zimri, Barzillai, Shimei, Nadab ?

20. What are the merits of De Foe as a writer, and whence is he supposed to have borrowed the idea of 'Robinson Crusoe?' Was he an eye-witness of the Plague of London he has so graphically described?

21. Name the authors, and state the nature, of the following works respectively:-Leviathan, Golden Grove, Religio Medici, Cato, Sylva, Beggars' Opera, Dissertation on Phalaris, Tale of a Tub, Oceana, Fable of the Bees, Saint's Everlasting Rest, Splendid Shilling, Drapier's Letters, The Task.

22. Mention some of the names which are remarkable as having been omitted in Dr. Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets.' Comment on the canons of criticism as laid down in that book.

23. What is your estimate of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poetical criticism?

24. Mention the principal translations of Homer into English. Which do you consider to be the best? Who is believed to have been the first composer of English hexameters ? Point out some of the causes which have contributed to their failure.

25. What do you consider to be the greatest historical work in the English language published during the last hundred and twenty years? Give your

reasons.

26. Who is to be considered the greatest living poet? and why?

XI. PAPER FOR 1861.

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

Examiner: KNIGHT WATSON.

1. Name the most eminent writers in the English language who flourished during the 14th, 15th, and first half of the 16th centuries. In what branches of literature were they respectively distinguished?

2. What is the title of Chaucer's principal poem, and why was it so called? Which of his poems have been paraphrased by two celebrated poets of a later age? By whom has he been called a 'well of English undefiled?' Warton compares Chaucer to a premature day in spring: what is the fact which Warton intended to illustrate, and how do you account for it?

3. Which poet of the period is considered to rank next to Chaucer ? Name the titles of his poems.

4. What are the titles of the poems written by the author known as 'Piers Plowman,' and what are their peculiarities ?

5. Which is the most remarkable work in English prose during the 14th century? State the name of the author, and the subject of the work.

6. To what monastery did the principal poet of the early part of the 15th century belong, and

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