of the singing of the choir, especially toward the end. Are they chosen for their descriptive power? XXIII. THE CHRISTMAS DINNER. Contrast with the Coverley Papers. The interest in medieval life and manners, the love of legend and superstition, are characteristic of the early nineteenth century. (See the chapter on The Romantic Movement in Part II.) XXIV. LONDON ANTIQUITIES AND LITTLE BRITAIN. Consult Baedeker's London and its Environs for a detail map of London and for information about the Inns of the Temple and Charterhouse. The Hall of the Middle Temple is preserved in practically the same condition as it was when Shakespeare's Twelfth Night was produced there in Shakespeare's lifetime. What famous literary men were educated at Charterhouse? XXV. STRATFORD-ON-AVON. Explain the nature of Irving's interest in Stratford. Does it furnish any argument on the advantages of culture? XXVI. TRAITS OF INDIAN CHARACTER AND PHILIP OF POKANOKET. Is this defense of the Indian prevailingly intellectual or emotional? What passages are distinctly logical? What passages emotional? Does the verdict of history support Irving's judgment? XXVII. JOHN BULL. To what extent is this a description not so much of an Englishman as of the English nation, its form of government, the relation of the established church to the government, the question of reform, the foreign policy, etc.? Does Irving practice, here, what he preached in English Writers on America? Is this essay satirical or humorous? Make an outline for a similar essay on "Uncle Sam." XXVIII. THE PRIDE OF THE VILLAGE. What is the difference between sentiment and sentimentality? Which is illustrated by this essay? XXIX. THE ANGLER. Is there any excuse for the rambling method? XXX. THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. What makes the short descriptions of Ichabod so effective? Is there any principle of selection evident in the details of the picture of the Van Tassel farm? Explain. Write similar descriptions, avoiding words which have no descriptive value and keeping in mind "point of view" and "unity of impression." How is the plot interest developed? Cite passages which prepare for future events. Explain Irving's attitude toward mystery and superstition. Compare the attitude of Hawthorne. XXXI. L'ENVOY. What parts of Irving's work are the more interesting, the narrative or the descriptive; the humorous or the pathetic? Give reasons. TOPICS FOR ESSAYS 1. A Character Sketch of Irving. 2. Irving's Attitude toward Mystery and Superstition. 4. Uncle Sam. 5. The Art of Fishing. 6. Old Christmas Sports and Pastimes. 7. Differences between Addison and Irving. 8. Sunday in America. 9. Ichabod Crane, A Portrait. 10. Rip Van Winkle's Wife. (b) THE FORMAL ESSAY By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the popularity and influence of the discursive essay had largely passed over to essays of a more formal kind. Such weekly periodicals as The Tatler and The Spectator had gradually developed into the great reviews, of which the most influential were The Edin burgh, The Quarterly, and Blackwood's. Francis Jeffrey and Christopher North (Professor John Wilson), the most influential contributors, cultivated more ambitious and systematic discussions in history, biography, and criticism. Macaulay's famous essays on Milton, Addison, Clive, and Warren Hastings appeared first in The Edinburgh Review. For this magazine also Macaulay wrote his essay on Croker's edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson (1831), to which Carlyle replied a few months later (1832) in an essay on the same subject written for Frazer's Magazine. Carlyle's Essay on Burns also appeared first in The Edinburgh Review. Most of these essays were ostensibly book-reviews; but in reality they were independent treatises; not exhaustive perhaps, but systematic and comprehensive. Naturally, they lacked the personal confidential note which was the principal charm of Addison and Irving. Their aim was different. They were not intended to be read at the breakfast table or to while away an idle moment at night. The purpose was to give reliable information to active-minded readers on important subjects in history, biography, and literature. The interest lies largely in the importance of the ideas and in the clearness and force with which they are expressed. Such essays furnish us serious studies in narration and exposition. THE LIFE OF JOHNSON Macaulay's Life of Johnson belongs to the same type of essay as his articles for The Edinburgh Review, though it was written, not for a magazine, but as a special article for The Encyclopædia Britannica. As a piece of biographical writing it has a double interest: first, as a picture of Johnson and his time; second, as an example of Macaulay's literary methods. It pictures Dr. Johnson as the most conspicuous literary figure of the middle of the eighteenth century, a period of transition from reason to faith, from satire to romance, from downright fact to the imaginative and mysterious, from the intellectual to the emotional, from a literature supported by patronage to a literature supported by a wide reading public. Dr. Johnson was the last of the old school, a conservative who fought the new tendencies with great consistency. In religion he was orthodox, in politics he was high Tory. In literature, he defended the doctrines of Pope and the classical school. He came to London at a time the least promising for literary men. Government pensions and sinecure offices were no longer to be had for the asking. Less reliance, too, was now to be placed upon the patronage of great names. On the other hand, the reading public was not yet large enough for an author to depend for a livelihood upon the sale of his books. Upon Johnson fell all the hardships of the transition; but he fought his way manfully and became, in the end, the literary dictator of his age. He succeeded in checking for a time the rising spirit of romanticism, which, after his death (1784), passed rapidly to its climax in Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and their followers. Macaulay's Life of Johnson gives a graphic picture of the man and his relation to the times. It may well be supplemented, however, by the essays of Macaulay and Carlyle on Boswell's Life of Johnson (Macmillan's Pocket Series) and by selections from Boswell's work itself. A separate study may well be made of Macaulay's methods in structure and style. The Life of Johnson illustrates most of them his power to classify and group his ideas into logical divisions even when the narrative method is employed; the unity, coherence, and emphasis of the paragraphs; the clear sentence structure, brilliant in balance and antithesis; the tendency to exaggerate in order to make an idea more impressive; the wealth of specific detail, of historical and literary allusion, of apt illustration and comparison. It is never necessary to puzzle over what Macaulay means. No student should leave his essay without learning the secret of clearness in composition. NOTES ON THE SUBJECT MATTER PARAGRAPH 1. Compare the books which Johnson read at eighteen with books read nowadays by boys of that age. Would his method of reading be successful with most young men? PARAGRAPH 3. In regard to the tradition that Johnson was "a gay and frolicsome fellow," he himself said long afterwards: "Ah, Sir, I was mad and violent. It was bitterness which they mistook for frolic. I was miserably poor, and I thought to fight my way by my literature and my wit; so I disregarded all power and authority." Does poverty and distress usually make people servile? PARAGRAPH 10. This account of literature as a profession in Johnson's time and the more extended account in Macaulay's review of Boswell's Life of Johnson should be compared with Carlyle's account of the same subject. (See Schuyler's edition of Macaulay's Life of Johnson in Macmillan's Pocket Series, Appendix, pp. 126 ff. and 157 ff.) Which treatment is the more objective and historical? Which the more analytical, philosophical, and moralizing? As regards style, which writer has clearness and ease? Which has abruptness and strength? Give reasons for your answers. PARAGRAPH 12. Is the description of Johnson's gluttony and rudeness amusing, revolting, or pitiful? Do you excuse him? Why, or why not? PARAGRAPH 15. This account of Pope's treatment of |