as far from elegance as from truth; they had often the absurdities of the Arabian tales without any considerable share of their genius or character. But they were, no doubt, illegitimate descendants of that stock of literature. These tales have an Arabic physiognomy about them, but sufficient only to show the family likeness.

It is clear to every mind, from looking at the early. history of every civilized country, that ballads and tales, and chronicles, in the nature of ballads and tales, were the first specimens of literature; and that these rose to the dignity of poems and histories as the mass of the people made progress in intelligence; and if any writer was in advance of his age, that his works were neglected until the great body of the people reached his standard. When the taste for these compositions grew too rapidly for the supply of native works, a disposition for translation was cultivated, so that the spirit of one nation was virtually infused into another; hence the similarity of thoughts and expressions of passion which are found in different languages, and, perhaps, after a lapse of years, it was difficult to say whence this or that sentiment originated.

Soon as printing had quickened the appetite of the people, the supply of letters was equal to the demand; this is the law of every market. The expulsion of the Greek scholars from Constantinople, then the most learned men of the world, gave lecturers and schoolmasters to all Europe. At this moment the convents gave up their classical treasures, and learned commentaries followed each other in rapid succession; all pouring from the press under the fostering care of the nobility, who began to have a taste for learning. The

universities were agitated to their very foundation ; particularly the university of Oxford. This seminary, conspicuous in all the ages of English literature, had its factions. The reformers took the appellation of Greeks, and the supporters of the old system that of Trojans. All these discussions, and excitements, and quarrels, were productive of great good. In this collision of minds are found the scintillations of genius; unfortunately, however, the niceties and subtleties of scholastic divinity retarded the progress of taste and letters, for the fierce contentions of angry polemics have seldom but little to do with expansion or refinement.

Sir Thomas More, the author of the Eutopia, was one of the very great men of that age. He was born in 1480. He was educated in the best manner of the times. He was a man of first rate talents, and was called to discharge many high and important duties as a public functionary. He was undoubtedly pre-eminent even among the great scholars of his time. Sir Thomas invited Erasmus to visit England, and conferred on this great scholar and wit, many signal marks of his favor and friendship.

From his exalted genius and official stations, he might be considered as the first literary character of his time, not only in England, but in Europe. He was skilled in all classical learning; but what is more to our purpose, his English was the most copious, correct, and elegant, of all the literati of the age. He had drank deeply of the wells of knowledge, and his vernacular had the benefit of his draughts. He was, in writing English, rather making, than looking for a standard. It is well for the world when such men as Sir Thomas

More are found to direct, and, in a measure, fix the taste of an age. If he labored for the beau ideal in politics, and our experience has never found his republic, yet he left thoughts that are imperishable, embalmed in words of taste and beauty.

Wilson, the rhetorician, deserves to be remembered among the sturdy advocates of English literature. He lived in several reigns, but was most conspicuous in that of Elizabeth. He printed his work on rhetoric in the first year of Mary's reign, 1553. It was entitled “The Art of Rhetoric, for the use of all such as are studious of eloquence-set forth in English, by Thomas Wilson." This work, says Burnett, in his specimens of English prose writers, may justly be considered as the first system of criticism in our language. He describes the four parts of elocution—plainness, aptness, composition, and examination. He is a sturdy champion for the free, bold, good use of our mother tongue. Wilson is a philosopher who reasons and feels rightly. He read nature and the poets with a true spirit of criticism. His rules for declamation are admirable, and such as every great orator has followed-that is, in making a speech for a departed great man, to summon up the soul and character of the deceased, and make them speak out. His defence of figurative language deserves to be held in remembrance. "Some time (says he) it is good to make God, the country, or some one town, to speak; and look what we would say in our own person, to frame the whole tale to them. Such variety doeth much good to avoid tediousness; for he who speaketh all things in one sort, though he speak things ever so wittily, shall soon weary his hearers. Figures, therefore, were invented to avoid satiety and

cause delight; to refresh with pleasure and quicken with grace the dullness of man's brain. Who will look on a white wall an hour together, where no workmanship is at all? Or who will eat one kind of meat and never desire a change?"

Wilson's rules for composition are good and sound. He abhors all affectation in composition. He calls on writers to take every thing, old and new, for the purposes of excitement, illustration, and effect, and work them to the best advantage. This was not all; he translated much of Greek literature, and particularly from Demosthenes. His rules contain, in fact, all the great principles incorporated in the best and boldest modern compositions.

The lettered men of the age seem not to have been confined to courts or college halls. William Fullward,. a merchant in 1555, or somewhere thereabouts, wrote a work he called the "Enemy of Idleness, teaching the manner and style how to endite and write all sorts of epistles and letters." This was partly in verse.

The reign of Edward was full of polemic discussions, and the muses slept on the dull and ponderous tomes of laborious ecclesiastics. The reign of his successor, Mary, was still more unpropitious to literature. The just, in her time, were persecuted, and the learned silenced. Some of the brightest geniuses of the nation were made immortal at the stake. The stake was fixed and the faggot dried in every part of the land for the service of God alone, an avenging God, as he was taught to the people. The English Bible was proscribed, and it was treason and death to be found drinking at the well of eternal life. Those who were not prepared for martyrdom fled. "To turn or burn," was

the fate of every Protestant. It may be said of her reign, that every sun rose and set in blood. At matins and vespers the crimson torrent flowed, and with the curfew's knell were mingled the groans of expiring saints.

In 1558, Elizabeth came to the throne. The reign of terror had indeed at her accession passed away, but the elements of society were still in no small confusion. The exiled clergy returned from Holland, which had been their asylum during the lifetime of Mary. They came home deeply imbued with the doctrines of the great reformer, Calvin, and fierce discussions were held by the Protestants and those of the Church of England. These very discussions had in the end a beneficial effect, although very troublesome at the time. The minds of men grew robust by these wars of intellect, when they went no farther than fiery altercations. The scriptures were now read by all classes of the people. It has been the good fortune of reading communities at all times to find a love of inquiry, and a taste for knowledge, growing out of the reading of the scriptures.

The love of learning was not confined to the clergy alone, but was found extending to all ranks of society, particularly among the higher orders. The ladies caught the enthusiasm, and became admirable proficients in classical learning. Lady Jane Grey, as well as the queen, were illustrious examples of female taste and acquirements of that day. They were all acquainted with household affairs, while celebrated schoolmasters were learning them to construe Greek. The learned men were busy, at the same time, in translating the most valuable works in other languages for the English reader.