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 640 ENGLAND (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) herd " of the Scotch poet Allan Ramsay. The names of Prior, Tickell, Garth, Blackmore, Ambrose Philips, Somerville, and Anne, count- ess of Winchelsea, also belong here. It is re- marked by Wordsworth that between the pub- lication of "Paradise Lost" (1667) and of the " Seasons " (1730) of James Thomson, with the exception of the " Windsor Forest " of Pope and a passage in the " Nocturnal Reverie " of the countess of Winchelsea, not a single new image of external nature was produced in po- etry. "The Seasons" is almost the only me- morial which the age has left of poetical sym- pathy with natural scenery. It was original as well in style as in substance, for its blank verse has an easy flow peculiar to itself. Thom- son's " Castle of Indolence " is a successful imi- tation of the manner of Spenser, and has great and peculiar beauty. The " Night Thoughts " of Edward Young (died in 1765) is also in effec- tive blank verse, dissertational rather than sim- ply poetical, in a sustained imaginative and epigrammatic style. The "Grave" of Robert Blair and the hymns of Watts are serious and devotional compositions of the same time. Through the "Bastard" of Richard Savage, the "London" and "Vanity of Human Wish- es " of Dr. Johnson, the eclogues and odes of William Collins, the "Pleasures of Imagina- tion" of Mark Akenside, the odes and the "Elegy" of Thomas Gray, the "Deserted Vil- lage" and the "Traveller" of Oliver Gold- smith, the "Minstrel" of James Beattie, the "Botanic Garden" of Erasmus Darwin, and the "Task" of William Cowper, the line of English poetry was continued almost to the commencement of the present century. John- son and Goldsmith both belonged to the school of Pope ; but their poetry has distinctive char- acteristics, that of Johnson being marked espe- cially by vigor and strong sense, and that of Goldsmith by sweetness and grace. The " Ode on the Passions " and several other pieces of Collins are masterpieces in their kind, and especially remarkable for the pictorial effects produced by the personification of abstract qualities. Collins and Gray were the two finest lyric poets of the century, and Gray's " Elegy written in a Country Churchyard" and his Pindaric ode of " The Bard " are exquisite ex- amples of finished art and poetical vigor. Cow- per was the precursor of the regeneration of poetry, and, abandoning the stock images and metrical sing-song with which art and fashion had been described, he produced pictures of English life and scenery marked by a simplicity, freedom, and freshness which anticipated the dawn of a new period. Among the produc- tions of minor poets of the 18th century are the " Grongar Hill " of John Dyer, the " School- mistress " of Shenstone, the " Collin and Lucy " of Tickell, the "William and Margaret" of Mallet, the Scotch songs of Ross, the " Mary's Dream" of Lowe, the "Auld Robin Gray" of Lady Anne Barnard, the " Tullochgorum " of Skinner, the " Tweedside " of Crawford, the various poems of Ferguson, the odes and the epitaph on his wife of Mason, the odes of Smollett, the "Art of Preserving Health" of Armstrong, the " Cumnor Hall " and the trans- lation of the "Lusiad" of Mickle, the "Braes of Yarrow " of Hamilton, the elegies of Ham- mond, the "Careless Content" of Byrom, the "Country Justice" of Langhorne, the "Law- yer's Farewell to his Muse" of Blackstone, the " Shipwreck " of Falconer, the "Actor" of Robert Lloyd, the "Rosciad" and other satires of Charles Churchill, the brief poems of Thomas and Joseph Warton, the " Leonidas " and "Athenais" of Glover, the short lyrics and translations of Sir William Jones, the "Chameleon" of Merrick, the pastorals of John Cunningham, the "New Bath Guide" of Anstey, and the " Triumphs of Temper " and other works of Hay ley. In the latter half of the 18th century also Macpherson pro- duced the pieces which he ascribed to Ossian, Chatterton wrote the poems which he ascribed to Rowley, and Percy collected many old songs and ballads in his " Reliques of English Poetry." The English drama of the 18th century bore to a considerable extent the impress of the neo-classical school reigning in France, and presented a complete separation of tragedy and comedy. The "Cato" of Addison, the "El- frida" of Mason, and the "Irene" of Johnson are rather dramatic poems than plays. The "Sophonisba" and four other tragedies of Thomson are the undramatic attempts of a de- scriptive poet. More successful tragedies were the "Revenge" of Young, the " Barbarossa " of Brown, the " Gamester " of Moore, the " El- vira" of Mallet, and the "Douglas" of Home. In this period were produced the finest exam- ples of English comedy, written usually in prose, and exhibiting refinement of sentiment and wit. The forerunners of the comedies of Goldsmith and Sheridan were the " Conscious Lovers "of Steele, the "Suspicious Husband" of Hoadley, the "Jealous Wife" of the elder Colman, the " Clandestine Marriage " of Col- man and Garrick, the "Way to Keep Him" of Murphy, the "False Delicacy" of Kelly, and the " West Indian " of Cumberland. Gold- smith's " She Stoops to Conquer " has every requisite for making an audience merry. The "School for Scandal," the "Rivals," and the u Critic " of Sheridan are distinguished for epi- grammatic witticisms, insight into social weak- nesses, and ingeniously contrived whimsical sit- uations ; and the first is in many respects su- perior to any other comedy of modern times. The "Lying Valet" and "Miss in her Teens" of Garrick, the "Belle's Stratagem" of Mrs. Cowley, the "Tom Thumb " of Fielding, the "Man of the World" of Macklin, the "High Life Below Stairs" of Townley, the "Devil to Pay " of Coflfey, and especially the score of farcical plays of Foote, were the best and most popular comic productions of this epoch. The prose authors of the 18th century may nearly all be classed as essayists, philosophers, histo-