Acquisitions in
Clive and War-

tions which the American rebellion, the French revolution, and British - India affairs gave rise to. Also, from 1771 parliamentary debates were regularly published in the daily journals, and the desire to meet popular approval stimulated statesmen to greater oratorical eloquence. As a natural result of these conditions a group of orators arose whose discourse surpassed, in able argument and classical finish, anything which had yet appeared in modern history. The speeches of Chatham, Fox, Pitt, Sheridan, and the letters of "Junius" are familiar through frequent quotation. But the Demosthenes of the group-the prince of British orators-was the celebrated Irishman, Edmund Burke (17301797), concerning whom Dr. Johnson said, "Take up whatever topic you please, he is ready to meet you." Burke's political career began in 1765, when he was admitted to Parliament as a member of the Whig party. At the outbreak of the American war he espoused the cause of the Colonists, and on April 19, 1774, in the debate with reference to the duty on tea which had been imposed on the American people, delivered a speech that electrified Parliament. In the celebrated trial of Warren Hastings (1788), Burke acted the most prominent part as one of the managers of the impeachment. On the third day of the trial (which was of ten years' duration) he delivered, in the House of Commons, one of the grandest philippics ever known, and which, continuing nine days, filled all Britain with amazement. Sheridan's "Begum" speech alone can be said to have approached it in sublimity. Disgusted with the excesses of the Reign of Terror, Burke became family. It was in his defence of Marie Antoinette that he uttered the famous exclamation, "The age of chivalry is past-'tis gone!" His most celebrated political works were, "On the Present State of the Nation" (1769) and "Reflections on the Revolution of France"-an essay which produced in England and on the Continent (through translations) an unparalleled effect in quelling the revolutionary spirit of the time. Burke's earlier writings, "The Vindication of Natural Society" and "Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful" (1756) were of a philosophical nature, and gained him his first literary reputation.

CLOSE OF THE ENGLISH STAGE DRAMA WITH RICHARD

BRINSLEY SHERIDAN.

The dramatic dulness of the eighteenth century was relieved by a brilliant outburst of classic comedy during the years 1767-1778. Goldsmith's "Good-natured Man" (1767) and Sheridan's "Rivals" (1775) were received with considerable applause; but the two famous comedies of intrigue, "She Stoops to Conquer" (1773) and "The School for Scandal" (1778), of these respective writers fairly took London by storm. They were the finest dramatic productions of the century, and still hold their places on the stage. Of the two, Sheridan's "School for Scandal" is perhaps the superior. In it humorous and characteristic dialogue are added to the polish and wit of the comic dramatists of the Restoration. ron pronounced it "the best drama ceived or heard in this country." English drama may be said to have closed with Sheridan. To be sure, Byron, Coleridge, and Joanna Baillie produced tragedies of literary merit in the early part of the next century, and

Lord By

ever con-
Genuine

Reformation in dresse velvet

gentleman's

suits and buckles gave way to pantaloons and shoe

strings.

Charles Fox and his clique "first threw a

discredit on

dress. From

the House of

Commons and

the clubs in St. the contagion

semblies of London." But Wraxall goes on to say in his "Memoirs:" "Dress never totally fell till the era of Jacobinism and of Equality, in 1793 and 1794."

at the present time there is evidence of rising dramatic genius in England, but none of their productions have been successful as theatrical performances. From the time of Sheridan, English drama disappeared from the stage, and for the most part is to be found only in books. [See "Age of Revolution"- Lord Byron: Friends.]

GROWTH OF ROMANTIC POETRY. COLLINS, GRAY, AND OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

Prevalence of club-life. Ex

The reaction against classical taste, begun unconsciously by Thomson, was continued by

cessive gaming. the poets of the Johnsonian Age, in their avoid

Pitt, Fox, and Wilberforce displayed great taste for gambling in the early part of their careers, and the last has recorded

ance of the polished artificiality of Pope and his school, and in their more attentive study of man and nature. Foremost among these poets were, William Collins (1721-1759), who culti

his club-experi- vated the ode with great success; Thomas Gray (1716-1771), a man of great learning, whose "Elegy written in a Country Church-yard" is a masterpiece of design and execution; and Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), the distinguished novelist and dramatist, who was the most charming writer of the eighteenth century, and, next to Dr. Johnson, the most popular author of the age. Their poetic interest was not confined, like that of Pope, to the aristocratic and cultured Englishman, but extended to the ignorant laborer and the foreigner. Gray introduced into his "Elegy" the ploughman and the solitary; rural life was depicted in Goldsmith's "Village," while his "Traveller" treated of peoples and countries remote from England. "The impulse given by Thomson to the study of Nature," writes Stopford Brooke, "went on increasing. Gray established a standard of careful accuracy in natural description which has never left our poetry, and in the great writers of our century nothing is more delightful than the min-fice, called out

to me, What,

Wilberforce, is

that you?" Selwyn quite resented the in

terference, and, turning to him, said in his most

expressive
tone, 'Oh, Sir,
don't interrupt
Mr. Wilber-
force; he could
not be better

gling of imagination and emotion with a close and minute truthfulness in their work on Nature. We find the same exquisite choice and care in Collins. But in neither Gray nor Collins is Nature, I do not say first, but on an equality with man in interest. Nothing is distinctively written for her and her alone. On the contrary, man is always the centre-the landscape employed." clusters round him; it is used as a means of pleasure for him, or as echoing his feelings, or as an illustration of moral lessons useful to him. It is never the first thing in the poetry. The next step in this poetry of Nature is a curious one. Both Gray and Collins, in the midst of natural scenery, speak of man and not of themselves. But the Wartons and Logan, and others of that time, when they retire to the woods or hills, speak of themselves alone. They see only Clubs-literary their own feelings in Nature, and use her as the mirror to reflect their melancholy and morbid moods. They are without any joy or gratitude for her brightness and life. We find, then, the poets bringing to Nature that personal element which we traced in the devotional poetry; and though they only saw themselves in Nature, a kind of personal affection for her could not but begin to grow in poetry. The next step in the order of growth in the poetry of Nature is made by Goldsmith. We possess from him clear descriptions of natural scenery, uninfluenced by natural feeling, untroubled by moralizing thought. Thus the poetic movement which was to develop a passionate poetry of man and nature was begun. Thomson, Collins, Gray, and Goldsmith were the pioneers of that literary revolution which took place in the next age.

Blue-Stocking gatherings, so called from the circumstance of one of the members, Mr.

Stillingfleet,

wearing blue

stockings. The ladies who attended them were called "Blue Stockings," whence the origin of

the modern the phrase.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONTEMPORARY LITERATURES OF FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY, AND SPAIN,

WITH HISTORICAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND ART NOTES.

I. France.-House of Bourbon: LOUIS XV., -1774. LOUIS XVI., 1774

Death of Louis XV. and accession of his grandson, Louis XVI., a pious, clever young man of twenty years, married to Marie Antoi

Reign of Voltaire over Literature. -Though the last thirty years of Voltaire's life were passed for the most part in Germany and in retirement at Ferney, his spirit still brooded over France. He was a literary sovereign, and all Europe paid obeisance to him. At the age of eighty-four he revisited Paris. "What an outburst!" writes Thomas Carlyle, "sneer

ing Paris has suddenly grown reverent; devotional

nette, daughter with hero-worship. Nobles have disguised them

of Maria Theresa of Austria.

Administration of Turgot as Minister of Finances, 17741776. He was an able statesman, but his reforms alarmed the courtiers, who procured his dismissal.

selves as tavern-waiters to obtain sight of him; the loveliest of France would lay their hair beneath his feet." But Voltaire was the centre of a more dangerous throng than sentimental hero-worshippers. In his train followed that band of brilliant, diseased intellects, the Encyclopædists, whose philosophy-a gross exaggeration of their leader's doctrines-constituted a potent influence in bringing on the French Revolution.

War of the Encyclopædists. Rousseau.- A band of bold free-thinkers, claiming Voltaire as their chief, often met at the sumptuous suppers provided them by the wealthy philosopher Helvetius, or the materialistic Baron d'Holbach, called by his guests the maître d'hôtel of philosophy. At these meetings luxury and license prevailed; the freest utterance of most extreme opinions and impious jokes were mingled with the clashing of the drinking-cups. Among the company were Diderot (1713-1784), the "most