house of Hanover. During these times, which include a space of scarcely sixty years, a series of events rapidly present themselves, not to be exceeded in variety by the patterns of the kaleidoscope. The profligate court of Charles the Second; the unprincipled and impolitic conduct of his brother in attempting to force down the throats of the nation a religion already sufficiently unpopular in the country; the manly resistance opposed to his tyrannical measures by a whole united nation, terminated by the ever-memorable and glorious Revolution of 1688; the wars of King William; the able policy of Marlborough; which, for the first time, placed the kingdom of Great Britain in its true position with regard to the politics of the European Continent, appear in continued succession before the curious eye of the historical inquirer. But we must not forget that the task we have undertaken is one of a literary, and not of a political character; that the period in question is now under our consideration, not because it produced such statesmen as Or mond and Shaftesbury, Marlborough and Godolphin; but because it has enriched the history of our literature with the names of Dryden, Pope, Addison, Swift, and a host of others. It may seem, at first, paradoxical to affirm that any benefits whatever can have accrued to this country from the contemptible reign of Charles the Second; but it is on that account not the less true, that our language has derived some advantages, if not considerable improvement, from the study of French literature introduced and encouraged by that monarch. The tendency of the preceding age had been, in deference to the gloomy and engrossing fanaticism which at that time prevailed, to reject all manner of ornaments as superfluous. To this strange and barbarous habit the familiarity with the style, language, and fashions of France, acted as an admirable corrective; though it must be confessed, that many of the writers who immediately succeeded the Restoration carried the refinements and conceits which they had borrowed from the worst parts of the French language to such an excess, that they may justly be said to have erred as much as their puritanical predecessors, though in a very different manner. But the erroneous taste prevalent at court during this reign was too glaring to be of long continuance, and accordingly we find it the precursor of a brilliant epoch in our literature. The reign of Queen Anne is usually considered as the Augustan age of English literature: it was in her time that a rival worthy of Boileau was found in Pope; that Swift immortalized the most trivial topics of a trivial time; and Addison founded a style unequalled down to the present day. Now, for the first time, England stood forth equally pre-eminent in the arts of war, and in civilized life; and began that double career which she has hitherto maintained with unabated credit and undiminished glory. Before we continue upon the plan before laid down, to quote from the most distinguished authors of this age a few of those passages which appear to us to have been most indebted to the English translation of the Holy Bible; it will be expedient to say a few words on a class of writers, upon whom it was natural to expect that a much greater effect would have been produced, than upon any other body of men-the divines. It will be in the recollection of every person, that there flourished in the latter half of the 17th century three churchmen, whose works are still regarded as models of style and mines of learning and thought-Taylor, Tillotson, and Barrow; * whose writings, if they have ever been equalled, have certainly never been surpassed. The familiarity with the pages of Holy Writ which these illustrious men must infallibly have acquired during the course of that severe education which made them what they were, could not but have exercised a very great influence upon their works. To any one, however, who is interested in this part of the sub *These three persons, though here joined together, can hardly, perhaps, be called contemporaries. Taylor was born between A.D. 1600 and 1610, and died in 1677; Barrow was born 1630, and died 1677; while Tillotson, born in the same year as Barrow, survived till 1694. Bp. Burnet is more known as a politician, or historian, than as a divine; he is, on that account, not mentioned in the text. ject, a perusal of the principal works of these divines, which can hardly fail to convince him of the truth of our position, will prove infinitely more satisfactory than any isolated passages, or garbled extracts, which could be brought within the limits of this Essay. There are many allusions to Sacred Writ in the works of Dryden, particularly in his polemical poems, where he treats of subjects easily illustrated from that book. The following passages will be sufficient to give an idea of those that remain scattered through his writings. In the "Hind and Panther" there Occurs Thy throne is darkness in the abyss of light, Which is probably taken from one of the descriptions in the Bible of the dwelling-place of the Almighty. Again, in the same poem,— 'Tis light as chaff that flies before the wind. Which is taken from Job xxi. 18.-" They are as stubble before the wind, and chaff that the storm driveth away."-Compare Psalm i. 4. |