Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/653

 ENGLAND (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) 641 rians, divines, and novelists. A new and ex- cellent field for essayists was found in the "Tatler," planned by Richard Steele. Peri- odical papers containing news had existed in England from the time of the civil war, but this was the first periodical designed to have literary merit and to discuss the features and "smaller morals" of society. It appeared three times a week, extended to 271 numbers from April 12, 1709, to Jan. 2, 1711, and each number contained some lively sketch, anecdote, or humorous discussion, and was sold for a penny. It was succeeded by the " Spectator," which appeared every week-day morning in the shape of a single leaf from March 1, 1711, to December, 1712 ; after a suspension it reap- peared three times a week in 1714, and ex- tended to 635 numbers. The " Guardian " was begun in 1713, but became political, and ceased after the 176th number. Steele was the prin- cipal contributor to the "Tatler" and "Guar- dian," and Addison to the " Spectator," but papers were also furnished by Swift, Pope, Berkeley, Budgell, Tickell, and Hughes. The essays, especially those of Addison, were often models of grace, delicacy, and amenity, and were highly influential in correcting and re- fining the tone of society. Numerous works similar in form and purpose appeared later in the century, of which the only ones that have retained their place in literature are the " Ram- bler," written almost wholly by Johnson ; the " Adventurer," by Hawkes worth, Johnson, and Warton; the "Idler," chiefly by Johnson; the " World," by Moore, Horace Walpole, Lyttel- ton, and the earl of Chesterfield ; the " Con- noisseur," by Colman and Thornton, which received also a few essays from Cowper ; and the "Mirror "and the "Lounger," both pub- lished in Scotland, and supported by a band of literary lawyers, among whom were Mac- kenzie, Craig, Cullen, Bannatyne, Hailes, Aber- crombie, and Tytler. The letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu are models of an easy and elegant epistolary style. The two chief phi- losophical writers of the early part of the century were Bishop Berkeley and the earl of Shaftesbury, and the " Minute Philosopher " of the former is the happiest imitation in English of the dialogues of Plato. The style of his other metaphysical treatises is sin- gularly animated and imaginative. In his "Theory of Vision" he advanced novel and ingenious views on optics, which are now universally adopted. His doctrine of ideal- ism, the object of which was to prove that nothing exists but God and ideas in the mind, marked an era in English philosophy. The "Characteristics" of the earl of Shaftes- bury, once greatly admired for their moral and religious sentiments, and their elegant though affected diction, are now little read. He sug- gested the theory of a "moral sense," which was adopted and illustrated by subsequent Scottish philosophers. The levity with which he sometimes alluded to Christian doctrines great- ly impaired his influence. A similar levity is even more apparent in the letters of Lord Bo- lingbroke, who was long considered a master of written eloquence. A notable work of this period was Warburton's "Divine Legation of Moses" (1738-'41), which, though written to support an absurd theory, is a monument of erudition, and contains passages of great eloquence. The cur- rent philosophy of the 18th century was strong- ly affected by skeptical tendencies, whose influ- ence pervaded the literature of England as of nearly every European country. Bishop But- ler, in the preface of his "Analogy," declared that many persons then took it for granted that Christianity was no longer a subject of inquiry, but had at length been discovered to be ficti- tious. This spirit of skepticism especially per- vaded the department of historical composition, which at this time received a great impulse. Unfriendliness toward Christianity is the chief fault of " The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," by Edward Gibbon (1737-'94), one of the greatest historical works in the English language, drawn from a wide variety of sources, and written at once with erudition and genius. The history of England by David Hume, and of Scotland and of the reign of Charles V. by William Robertson, have retained their reputa- tion for ease and elegance, though later re- searches have shown their neglect of accuracy. Less important historical and biographical writers were Echard, Strype, Smollett, Tytler, Ferguson, Middleton, Watson, Lyttelton, Rus- sell, and Jortin. The principal philosophical and critical works after those of Berkeley and Shaftesbury were Hutcheson's "Inquiry into Beauty and Virtue " and " System of Moral Philosophy," Hume's "Essays" and "Treatise on Human Nature," Adam Smith's "Theory of Moral Sentiments," Reid's " Inquiry into the Human Mind " and " Essays on the Intellec- tual Powers," Beattie's " Dissertations, Moral and Critical," Hartley's " Observations on Man, his Frame, his Duty, and his Expectations," Price's " Review of the Principal Questions and Difficulties in Morals," Ferguson's "History of Civil Society " and " Institutes of Moral Phi- losophy," Tucker's "Light of Nature Pursued," Priestley's " Matter and Spirit," Lord Kames's "Essays on the Principles of Morality and Nat- ural Religion " and " Elements of Criticism," HughBlair's "Rhetorical Lectures," andGeorge Campbell's " Philosophy of Rhetoric." The critical and controversial writings of Bentley and Atterbury belong to the early part of this period. The theological writers of greatest in- fluence were Clarke, Lowth, Hoadley, Leslie, Whiston, Doddridge, Butler, Warburton, Wes- ley, Lardner, Farmer, and Leland. Johnson, Goldsmith, and Burke surpassed all others as miscellaneous writers, and probably Johnson exerted by his conversation and his pen a greater influence upon the literature and tone of thought of his age than any other individual. His wit and learning first stemmed the tide of infidelity, and turned the literary current in favor of re-