the dead. Look up the nature of the pastoral and the elegy, and their history in English and in classical literature. Find derivation and exact meaning of elegy. 'Elegiac poems may be distinguished as objective or subjective, according as their tenor and general aim may be either simply to occupy themselves with the fortunes, character, and acts of the departed, or to found a train of musings having reference to self, or at least strongly colored by the writer's personality, upon the fact of bereavement" (Arnold's English Literature, pp. 445-446). Give examples of elegies in each of these classes. To which group does Lycidas belong? Who was the subject of Lycidas? When and under what circumstances was it written? Does the poem seem to you to express a deep and genuine grief, or to be merely formal and conventional in tone? If the latter, do you consider this a fault? Can you name any elegy which seems to you to express a more genuine personal grief? Cf. Shelley's Adonais, and latter part of Theocritus' first ode, Thyrsis. Note description of Welsh coast under classic names. See notes in Masson's edition of Milton, and Hale's Longer English Poems; Brooke's Milton, pp. 25-27; Garnett's Milton, p. 48 et seq.: Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies; and for the elegy, Arnold's History of English Literature, p. 445 et seq.

3. PARADISE LOST, bks. i.-iii. Look up, as preliminary study, history and nature of the epic; its place in the development of poetry as an art, etc., etc. Note Theodore Watts' division of this form of poetry into epics of growth and epics of art; see article on “Poetry” in Encyclopædia Britannica. For the epic in general, v. Gummere's Handbook of Poetry for Students of English Verse, a most convenient book for general use. For interesting instance of a survival of the "epic of growth" in modern times, v. Introduction to Hapgood's Epic Songs of Russia. For Paradise Lost, see general reference given in Section 5.

4. SAMSON AGONISTES has been well edited by J. Churton Collins, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

5. BIOGRAPHY AND CRITICISM. Lives: Garnett's, in Great Writers Series; Pattison's, in English Men of Letters Series; Milton, in Johnson's Lives of the Poets; Masson's Three Devils,

Luther's, Milton's, Goethe's, and other Essays. The essay in same volume on the "Youth of Milton" contains interesting comparison between Milton and Shakespeare. Essay on "Milton" in Seeley's Lectures and Essays; Stopford Brooke's Milton, in Student's Literary Series. Macaulay's Essay on Milton; M. Arnold's Essay on Milton.

History: S. R. Gardiner's series of histories cover this period. Masson's Life and Times of Milton; Macaulay's History of England, from accession of James II.

PART III

THE FRENCH INFLUENCE. 1660-cir. 1750

THE ENGLAND OF THE RESTORATION

tion.

THE Restoration is one of the great landmarks in the history of England. It means more than a change in government; it means the Changes at beginning of a new England, in life, in the Restorathought, and in literature. On every side we find outward signs of the nation's different mood. The theaters were reopened, and frivolous crowds applauded a new kind of drama, light, witty, and immoral. The Maypoles were set up again, bearbaiting revived, the Puritan Sabbath disregarded. The king had come to enjoy his own again, and thousands who had grown restive under Puritanic restraints flung aside all decency to recklessly enjoy it with him. Those whom the Puritan had overthrown were again uppermost, and they knew no moderation in the hour of their triumph. The cause and faith of Cromwell and of Milton were loaded with insult and contempt, and the snuffling Puritan was baited and ridiculed, as in the clever but vulgar doggerel of Butler's Hudibras. Had Cromwell lived, or had England remained a Puritan Commonwealth, the spirit which produced Wither, Milton, and Bunyan, might

have continued to enrich the literature; but with the return of Charles II. we pass abruptly into a new literary period expressive of the nation's altered mood.

The French influence.

During the two centuries preceding the Restoration, the genius of England had been inspired and directed by Italy, but about the time of that event English writers began to turn for guidance to the brilliant and polished literature of France. This seems to have been due to a combination of causes. Throughout the whole of Europe the literary influence of Italy had sensibly declined, and at this time was being partially replaced by that of France. Politically, France had gained great ascendency through the ability of her famous statesmen, Richelieu and Mazarin, and Louis XIV. (1643-1715), the most splendid living embodiment of despotic kingship, had gathered about his court a brilliant group of writers. Theological eloquence was represented by Bossuet and Fénelon, meditative prose by Pascal, tragedy by Corneille and Racine, and comedy by Molière, with the single exception of Shakespeare the greatest dramatist of the modern world. It was but natural that England, in common with other nations, should respond to the example of this rising literature; but her readiness to learn from France seems to have been heightened by other causes. Charles II. had brought with him from his exile on the Continent a fondness for things French, and, in particular, a liking for the French style of tragedy. France was powerful in the very heart of Charles' court, and his reign shows us the shameful