For they are not the cold fancies of plebeian poets, but the golden dreams of Ariosto, the celestial visions of Tasso, that are thus derided.

But now, as to the extravagance of these fictions, it is frequently, I believe, much less than these laughers apprehend.

To give an instance or two, of this sort.

One of the strangest circumstances in those books, is that of the women-warriors, with which they all abound. Butler, in his Hudibras, who saw it only in the light of a poetical invention, ridicules it, as a most unnatural idea, with great spirit. Yet in this representation, they did but copy from the manners of the times. Anna Comnena tells us, in the life of her father, that the wife of Robert the Norman fought side by side with her husband, in his battles; that she would rally the flying soldiers, and lead them back to the charge: and Nicetas observes, that, in the time of Manuel Comnena, there were in one Crusade many women, armed like men, on horseback.

What think you now of Tasso’s Clarinda, whose prodigies of valour I dare say you have often laughed at? Or, rather, what think you of that constant pair,

Again: what can be more absurd and incredible, it is often said, than the vast armies we read of in Romance? a circumstance, to which Milton scruples not to allude in those lines of his Paradise Regained—

The classical reader is much scandalized on these occasions, and never fails to cry out on the impudence of these lying fablers. Yet if he did but reflect on the prodigious swarms which Europe sent out in the Crusades, and that the transactions of those days furnished the Romance-writers with their ideas and images, he would see that the marvellous in such stories was modest enough, and did not very much exceed the strict bounds of historical representation.

The first army, for instance, that marched for the Holy Land, even after all the losses it had sustained by the way, amounted, we are told, when it came to be mustered in the plains of Asia, to no less than seven hundred thousand fighting men: a number, which would almost have satisfied the Romancer’s keenest appetite for wonder and amplification.

A third instance may be thought still more remarkable.

“We read perpetually of walls of fire raised by magical art to stop the progress of knights-errant. In Tasso, the wizard Ismeno guards the inchanted forest with walls of fire. In the Orlando Inamorato, L. III. c. i. Mandricardo is endeavoured to be stopped by enchanted flames; but he makes his way through all.”

Thus far the learned editor of the Fairy Queen [Notes on B. III. C. xi. s. 25.] who contents himself, like a good Romance-critic, with observing the fact, without the irreverence of presuming to account for it. But if the profane will not be kept within this decent reserve, we may give them to understand, that this fancy, as wild as it appears, had some foundation in truth. For I make no question but these fires, raised by magical art, to stop the progress of assailants, were only the flames of FEUGREGEOIS, as it was called, that is of WILDFIRE, which appeared so strange, on its first invention and application, in the barbarous ages.

We hear much of its wonders in the history of the Crusades; and even so late as Spenser’s own time they were not forgotten. Davila, speaking of the siege of Poitiers in 1569, tells us——Abbondavano nella citta le provisioni da guerra; tra le quali, quantita inestimabile di FUOCHI ARTIFICIATI, lavorati in diverse maniere, ne’quali avenano i defensori posta grandissima speranza di respingere gli assalti de’nemici. Lib. v.

Hence, without doubt, the magical flames and fiery walls, of the Gothic Romancers53; and who will say, that the specious miracles of Homer himself had a better foundation?

But, after all, this is not the sort of defence I mean chiefly to insist upon. Let others explain away these wonders, so offensive to certain philosophical critics. They are welcome to me in their own proper form, and with all the extravagance commonly imputed to them.

It is true, the only criticism, worth regarding, is that which these critics lay claim to, the philosophical. But there is a sort which looks like philosophy, and is not. May not that be the case here?

This criticism, whatever name it deserves, supposes that the poets, who are lyars by profession, expect to have their lyes believed. Surely they are not so unreasonable. They think it enough, if they can but bring you to imagine the possibility of them.

And how small a matter will serve for this? A legend, a tale, a tradition, a rumour, a superstition; in short, any thing is enough to be the basis of their air-formed visions. Does any capable reader trouble himself about the truth, or even the credibility of their fancies? Alas, no; he is best pleased when he is made to conceive (he minds not by what magic) the existence of such things as his reason tells him did not, and were never likely to, exist.

But here, to prevent mistakes, an explanation will be necessary. We must distinguish between the popular belief, and that of the reader. The fictions of poetry do, in some degree at least, require the first (they would, otherwise, deservedly pass for dreams indeed): but when the poet has this advantage on his side, and his fancies have, or may be supposed to have, a countenance from the current superstitions of the age in which he writes, he dispenses with the last, and gives his reader leave to be as sceptical, and as incredulous, as he pleases.

A fashionable French critic diverts himself with imagining “what a person, who comes fresh from reading Mr. Addison and Mr. Locke, would be apt to think of Tasso’s Enchantments54.”

The English reader will, perhaps, smile at seeing these two writers so coupled together: and, with the critic’s leave, we will put Mr. Locke out of the question. But if he be desirous to know what a reader of Mr. Addison would pronounce in the case, I can undertake to give him satisfaction.

Speaking of what Mr. Dryden calls, the Fairy way of writing, “Men of cold fancies and philosophical dispositions, says he, object to this kind of poetry, that it has not probability enough to affect the imagination. But—many are prepossest with such false opinions, as dispose them to believe these particular delusions: at least, we have all heard so many pleasing relations in favour of them, that we do not care for seeing through the falsehood, and willingly give ourselves up to so agreeable an imposture.” [Spect. N^o 419.]

Apply, now, this sage judgment of Mr. Addison to Tasso’s Enchantments; and you see that a falsehood convict is not to be pleaded against a supposed belief, or even the slightest hear-say.

So little account does this wicked poetry make of philosophical or historical truth: all she allows us to look for, is poetical truth; a very slender thing indeed, and which the poet’s eye, when rolling in a fine frenzy, can but just lay hold of. To speak in the philosophic language of Mr. Hobbes, it is something much beyond the actual bounds, and only within the conceived possibility of nature.

But the source of bad criticism, as universally of bad philosophy, is the abuse of terms. A poet, they say, must follow nature; and by nature we are to suppose can only be meant the known and experienced course of affairs in this world. Whereas the poet has a world of his own, where experience has less to do, than consistent imagination.

He has, besides, a supernatural world to range in. He has Gods, and Fairies, and Witches, at his command: and,

Thus, in the poet’s world, all is marvellous and extraordinary; yet not unnatural in one sense, as it agrees to the conceptions that are readily entertained of these magical and wonder-working natures.

This trite maxim of following Nature is further mistaken, in applying it indiscriminately to all sorts of poetry.

In those species which have men and manners professedly for their theme, a strict conformity with human nature is reasonably demanded.

is a proper motto to a book of epigrams; but would make a poor figure at the head of an epic poem.

Still further in those species that address themselves to the heart, and would obtain their end, not through the imagination, but through the passions, there the liberty of transgressing nature, I mean the real powers and properties of human nature, is infinitely restrained; and poetical truth is, under these circumstances, almost as severe a thing as historical.

The reason is, we must first believe before we can be affected.

But the case is different with the more sublime and creative poetry. This species, addressing itself solely or principally to the Imagination; a young and credulous faculty, which loves to admire and to be deceived; has no need to observe those cautious rules of credibility, so necessary to be followed by him who would touch the affections and interest the heart.

This difference, you will say, is obvious enough: How came it then to be overlooked? From another mistake, in extending a particular precept of the drama into a general maxim.

The incredulus odi of Horace ran in the heads of these critics, though his own words confine the observation singly to the stage:

That, which passes in representation, and challenges, as it were, the scrutiny of the eye, must be truth itself, or something very nearly approaching to it. But what passes in narration, even on the stage, is admitted without much difficulty—

In the epic narration, which may be called absens facundia, the reason of the thing shews this indulgence to be still greater. It appeals neither to the eye nor the ear, but simply to the imagination, and so allows the poet a liberty of multiplying and enlarging his impostures at pleasure, in proportion to the easiness and comprehension of that faculty55.

These general reflexions hardly require an application to the present subject. The tales of Fairy are exploded, as fantastic and incredible. They would merit this contempt, if presented on the stage; I mean, if they were given as the proper subject of dramatic imitation, and the interest of the poet’s plot were to be wrought out of the adventures of these marvellous persons. But the epic muse runs no risque in giving way to such fanciful exhibitions.

You may call them, as one does, “extraordinary dreams, such as excellent poets and painters, by being over-studious, may have in the beginning of fevers56.”

The epic poet would acknowledge the charge, and even value himself upon it. He would say, “I leave to the sage dramatist the merit of being always broad awake, and always in his senses. The divine dream57, and delirious fancy, are among the noblest of my prerogatives.”

But the injustice done the Italian poets does not stop here. The cry is, “Magic and enchantments are senseless things. Therefore the Italian poets are not worth the reading.” As if, because the superstitions of Homer and Virgil are no longer believed, their poems, which abound in them, are good for nothing.

Yes, you will say, their fine pictures of life and manners—

And may not I say the same, in behalf of Ariosto and Tasso? For it is not true that all is unnatural and monstrous in their poems, because of this mixture of the wonderful. Admit, for example, Armida’s marvellous conveyance to the happy Island; and all the rest of the love-story is as natural, that is, as suitable to our common notions of that passion, as any thing in Virgil or (if you will) Voltaire.

Thus, you see, the apology of the Italian poets is easily made on every supposition. But I stick to my point, and maintain that the Fairy tales of Tasso do him more honour than what are called the more natural, that is, the classical parts of his poem. His imitations of the ancients have indeed their merit; for he was a genius in every thing. But they are faint and cold, and almost insipid, when compared with his Gothic fictions. We make a shift to run over the passages he has copied from Virgil. We are all on fire amidst the magical feats of Ismen, and the enchantments of Armida.

I speak at least for myself; and must freely own, if it were not for these lyes of Gothic invention, I should scarcely be disposed to give the Gierusalem Liberata a second reading.

I readily agree to the lively observation, “That impenetrable armour, inchanted castles, invulnerable bodies, iron men, flying horses, and other such things, are easily feigned by them that dare58.” But, with the observer’s leave, not so feigned as we find them in the Italian poets, unless the writer have another quality, besides that of courage.

One thing is true, that the success of these fictions will not be great, when they have no longer any footing in the popular belief: and the reason is, that readers do not usually do as they ought, put themselves in the circumstances of the poet, or rather of those of whom the poet writes. But this only shews, that some ages are not so fit to write epic poems in, as others; not, that they should be otherwise written.

It is also true, that writers do not succeed so well in painting what they have heard, as what they believe, themselves, or at least observe in others a facility of believing. And on this account I would advise no modern poet to revive these Fairy tales in an epic poem. But still this is nothing to the case in hand, where we are considering the merit of epic poems, written under other circumstances.

The Pagan Gods and Gothic Fairies were equally out of credit when Milton wrote. He did well therefore to supply their room with Angels and Devils. If these too should wear out of the popular creed (and they seem in a hopeful way, from the liberty some late critics have taken with them) I know not what other expedients the epic poet might have recourse to; but this I know, the pomp of verse, the energy of description, and even the finest moral paintings, would stand him in no stead. Without admiration (which cannot be affected but by the marvellous of celestial intervention, I mean, the agency of superior natures really existing, or by the illusion of the fancy taken to be so) no epic poem can be long-lived.

I am not afraid to instance in the Henriade itself; which, notwithstanding the elegance of the composition, will in a short time be no more read than the Gondibert of Sir W. Davenant, and for the same reason.

Critics may talk what they will of Truth and Nature, and abuse the Italian poets as they will, for transgressing both in their incredible fictions. But, believe it, my friend, these fictions with which they have studied to delude the world, are of that kind of creditable deceits, of which a wise ancient pronounces with assurance, “That they, who deceive, are honester than they who do not deceive; and they, who are deceived, wiser than they who are not deceived.”

LETTER XI.

But you are weary of hearing so much of these exploded fancies; and are ready to ask, if there be any truth in this representation, “Whence it has come to pass, that the classical manners are still admired and imitated by the poets, when the Gothic have long since fallen into disuse?”

The answer to this question will furnish all that is now wanting to a proper discussion of the present subject.

One great reason of this difference certainly was, that the ablest writers of Greece ennobled the system of heroic manners, while it was fresh and flourishing; and their works, being master-pieces of composition, so fixed the credit of it in the opinion of the world, that no revolutions of time and taste could afterwards shake it.

Whereas the Gothic having been disgraced in their infancy by bad writers, and a new set of manners springing up before there were any better to do them justice, they could never be brought into vogue by the attempts of later poets; who yet, in spite of prejudice, and for the genuine charm of these highly poetical manners, did their utmost to recommend them.

But, FURTHER, the Gothic system was not only forced to wait long for real genius to do it honour; real genius was even very early employed against it.

There were two causes of this mishap. The old Romancers had even outraged the truth in their extravagant pictures of Chivalry; and Chivalry itself, such as it once had been, was greatly abated.

So that men of sense were doubly disgusted to find a representation of things unlike to what they observed in real life, and beyond what it was ever possible should have existed. However, with these disadvantages, there was still so much of the old spirit left, and the fascination of these wondrous tales was so prevalent, that a more than common degree of sagacity and good sense was required to penetrate the illusion.

It was one of this character, I suppose, that put the famous question to Ariosto, which has been so often repeated that I shall spare you the disgust of hearing it. Yet long before his time an immortal genius of our own (so superior is the sense of some men to the age they live in) saw as far into this matter, as Ariosto’s examiner.

You will, perhaps, be as much surprised, as I was (when, many years ago, the observation was, first, made to me) to understand, that this sagacious person was Dan Chaucer; who in a reign that almost realized the wonders of Romantic Chivalry, not only discerned the absurdity of the old Romances, but has even ridiculed them with incomparable spirit.

“His Rime of Sir Topaz in the Canterbury Tales (said the curious observer, on whose authority I am now building) is a manifest banter on these books, and may be considered as a sort of prelude to the adventures of Don Quixote. I call it a manifest banter: for we are to observe that this was Chaucer’s own tale; and that, when in the progress of it the good sense of the Host is made to break in upon him, and interrupt him, Chaucer approves his disgust, and, changing his note, tells the simple instructive tale of Meliboeus; a moral tale virtuous, as he terms it; to shew, what sort of fictions were most expressive of real life, and most proper to be put into the hands of the people.

It is, further, to be noted, that the tale of the Giant Olyphant and Chylde Topaz was not a fiction of his own, but a story of antique fame, and very celebrated in the days of Chivalry: so that nothing could better suit the poet’s design of discrediting the old Romances, than the choice of this venerable legend for the vehicle of his ridicule upon them.

But what puts the satyric purpose of the Rime of Sir Topaz out of all question, is, that this short poem is so managed as, with infinite humour, to expose the leading impertinencies of books of Chivalry; the very same, which Cervantes afterwards drew out, and exposed at large, in his famous history.

Indeed Sir Topaz is all Don Quixote in little; as you will easily see from comparing the two knights together; who are drawn with the same features, are characterized by the same strokes, and differ from each other but as a sketch in miniature from a finished and full-sized picture.

1. Cervantes is very particular in describing the person and habit of his Hero, agreeably to the known practice of the old Romancers. Chaucer does the same by his knight, and in a manner that almost equals the arch-gravity of the Spanish author:

2. Cervantes tells us how Don Quixote passed his time in the country, before he turned Knight-errant. Chaucer, in the same spirit, celebrates his knight’s country diversions of hunting, hawking, shooting, and wrestling, those known prolusions to feats of arms:

3. The Knights of Romance were used to dedicate their services to some paragon of beauty, such as was only conceived to exist in the land of Fairy, and could no where be found in this vulgar disenchanted world. Hence one of the strongest features in Don Quixote’s character is the sublime passion he had conceived for an imaginary or fairy mistress. Sir Topaz is not behind him in this extravagance:

4. Don Quixote’s passion for this idol of his fancy was so violent, that, after all the bangs and bruises of the day, instead of suffering his weary limbs to take any rest, it occupied him all night with incessant dreams and reveries of his mistress. Sir Topaz is in the same woful plight:

5. As the chastity of the hero of La Mancha is well known, from a variety of trying temptations, so Sir Topaz distinguishes himself by this knightly virtue:

6. The fight of Sir Topaz with the Giant of three heads, in honour of his mistress,

together with his arming, and the whole ridiculous preparation for the combat, described at large in several stanzas, is exactly in the style and taste of Cervantes, on similar occasions.

7. Cervantes gives us to understand that it was familiar with his knight to sleep in the open air, to endure all hardships that befell, and to let his horse graze by him. Chaucer, in like manner, of his knight, with much humour:

8. And, lastly, as Cervantes, after the example of the Romance-writers, will have it, that his knight surpasses all others of ancient fame, so Dan Chaucer is careful to vindicate this high prerogative, to his hero:

Thus far, at least to this effect, the concealed author (for the dispensers of these fairy favours would not be inquired after) of this new interpretation of the Rime of Sir Topaz. Other circumstances of resemblance might be added (for when a well-grounded hint of this sort is once given, and opened in some instances, it is not difficult to pursue it), but one needs go no further to be certain that the general scope of this poem is, Burlesque.

Only, I would observe, that though, in this ridiculous ballad, the poet clearly intended to expose the Romances of the time, as they were commonly written, he did not mean, absolutely and under every form, to condemn the kind of writing itself: as, I think, we must conclude from the serious air, and very different conduct, of the Squire’s tale; which Spenser and Milton were so particularly pleased with.

We learn too, from the same tale, that, though Chaucer could be as pleasant on the other fooleries of Romance, as any modern critic, he let the marvellous of it escape his ridicule, or rather esteemed this character of the Gothic Romance, no foolery. For the tale of Cambuscan is all over Marvellous; and Milton, by specifying the virtuous ring and glass, and the wondrous horse of brass, as the circumstances that charmed him most, shews very plainly, that, in his opinion, these amusing fictions were well placed, and of principal consideration, as they surely are, in this Fairy way of writing.

But, whatever our old Bard would insinuate by his management of this enchanting tale, and whatever conclusions have, in fact, been drawn from it by such superior and congenial spirits as our two epic poets, the half-told story of Cambuscan could never atone for the mischiefs done to the cause of Romance, by the pointed ridicule of the Rime of Sir Topaz. Common readers would be naturally induced by it to reject the old Romances, in the gross: and thus it happened, according to the observation I set out with, “that these phantoms of Chivalry had the misfortune to be laughed out of countenance by men of sense, before the substance of it had been fairly and truly represented by any capable writer.”

Still, the principal cause of all, which brought disgrace on the Gothic manners of Chivalry, no doubt, was, That these manners, which sprang out of the feudal system, were as singular, as that system itself: so that when that political constitution vanished out of Europe, the manners, that belonged to it, were no longer seen or understood. There was no example of any such manners remaining on the face of the earth: and as they never did subsist but once, and are never likely to subsist again, people would be led of course to think and speak of them, as romantic, and unnatural. The consequence of which was a total contempt and rejection of them; while the classic manners, as arising out of the customary and usual situations of humanity, would have many archetypes, and appear natural even to those who saw nothing similar to them actually subsisting before their eyes.

Thus, though the manners of Homer are perhaps as different from ours, as those of Chivalry itself, yet as we know that such manners always belong to rude and simple ages, such as Homer paints; and actually subsist at this day in countries that are under the like circumstances of barbarity; we readily agree to call them natural, and even take a fond pleasure in the survey of them.

Your question then is easily answered, without any obligation upon me to give up the Gothic manners as visionary and fantastic. And the reason appears, why the Fairy Queen, one of the noblest productions of modern poetry, is fallen into so general a neglect, that all the zeal of its commentators is esteemed officious and impertinent, and will never restore it to those honours which it has, once for all, irrecoverably lost.

In effect, what way of persuading the generality of readers that the romantic manners are to be accounted natural, when not one in ten-thousand knows enough of the barbarous ages, in which they arose, to believe they ever really existed?

Poor Spenser then,

must, for aught I can see, be left to the admiration of a few lettered and curious men: while the many are sworn together to give no quarter to the marvellous, or, which may seem still harder, to the moral of his song.

However, this great revolution in modern taste was brought about by degrees; and the steps, that led to it, may be worth the tracing in a distinct Letter.

LETTER XII.

The wonders of Chivalry were still in the memory of men, were still existing, in some measure, in real life, when Chaucer undertook to expose the barbarous relaters of them.

This ridicule, we may suppose, hastened the fall both of Chivalry and Romance. At least from that time the spirit of both declined very fast, and at length fell into such discredit, that when now Spenser arose, and with a genius singularly fitted to immortalize the land of Fairy, he met with every difficulty and disadvantage to obstruct his design.

The age would no longer bear the naked letter of these amusing stories; and the poet was so sensible of the misfortune, that we find him apologizing for it on a hundred occasions.

But apologies, in such circumstances, rarely do any good. Perhaps, they only served to betray the weakness of the poet’s cause, and to confirm the prejudices of his reader.

However, he did more than this. He gave an air of mystery to his subject, and pretended that his stories of knights and giants were but the cover to abundance of profound wisdom.

In short, to keep off the eyes of the prophane from prying too nearly into his subject, he threw about it the mist of allegory: he moralized his song: and the virtues and vices lay hid under his warriors and enchanters. A contrivance which he had learned indeed from his Italian masters: for Tasso had condescended to allegorise his own work; and the commentators of Ariosto had even converted the extravagances of the Orlando Furioso, into moral lessons.

And this, it must be owned, was a sober attempt in comparison of some projects that were made about the same time to serve the cause of the old, and now-expiring Romances. For it is to be observed, that the idolizers of those Romances did by them, what the votaries of Homer had done by him. As the times improved and would less bear his strange tales, they moralized what they could, and turned the rest into mysteries of natural science. And as this last contrivance was principally designed to cover the monstrous stories of the Pagan Gods, so it served the lovers of Romance to palliate the no less monstrous stories of magic enchantments.

The editor or translator of the 24th book of Amadis de Gaule, printed at Lyons in 1577, has a preface explaining the whole secret, which concludes with these words, “Voyla, lecteur, le FRUIT, qui se peut recueiller du sens mystique des Romans antiques par les ESPRITS ESLEUS, le commun peuple soy contentant de la SIMPLE FLEUR DE LA LECTURE LITERALE.”

But to return to Spenser; who, as we have seen, had no better way to take in his distress, than to hide his fairy fancies under the mystic cover of moral allegory. The only favourable circumstance that attended him (and this no doubt encouraged, if it did not produce, his untimely project) was, that he was somewhat befriended in these fictions, even when interpreted according to the Letter, by the Romantic Spirit of his age; much countenanced, and for a time brought into fresh credit, by the Romantic Elizabeth. Her inclination for the fancies of Chivalry is well known; and obsequious wits and courtiers would not be wanting, to feed and flatter it. In short, tilts and tournaments were in vogue: the Arcadia and the Fairy Queen were written.

With these helps the new spirit of Chivalry made a shift to support itself for a time, when reason was but dawning, as we may say, and just about to gain the ascendant over the portentous spectres of the imagination. Its growing splendour, in the end, put them all to flight, and allowed them no quarter even among the poets. So that Milton, as fond as we have seen he was of the Gothic fictions, durst only admit them on the bye, and in the way of simile and illustration only.

And this, no doubt, was the main reason of his relinquishing his long-projected design of Prince Arthur, at last, for that of the Paradise Lost; where, instead of Giants and Magicians, he had Angels and Devils to supply him with the marvellous, with greater probability. Yet, though he dropped the tales, he still kept to the allegories of Spenser. And even this liberty was thought too much, as appears from the censure passed on his Sin and Death by the severer critics.

Thus at length the magic of the old Romances was perfectly dissolved. They began with reflecting an image indeed of the feudal manners, but an image magnified and distorted by unskilful designers. Common sense being offended with these perversions of truth and nature (still accounted the more monstrous, as the antient manners, they pretended to copy after, were now disused, and of most men forgotten), the next step was to have recourse to allegories. Under this disguise they walked the world a while; the excellence of the moral and the ingenuity of the contrivance making some amends, and being accepted as a sort of apology, for the absurdity of the literal story.

Under this form the tales of Fairy kept their ground, and even made their fortune at court; where they became, for two or three reigns, the ordinary entertainment of our princes. But reason, in the end (assisted however by party, and religious prejudices), drove them off the scene, and would endure these lying wonders, neither in their own proper shape, nor as masked in figures.

Henceforth, the taste of wit and poetry took a new turn: and the Muse, who had wantoned it so long in the world of fiction, was now constrained, against her will,

as Sir John Denham somewhere expresses her present enforced state, not unhappily.

What we have gotten by this revolution, you will say, is a great deal of good sense. What we have lost, is a world of fine fabling; the illusion of which is so grateful to the charmed Spirit, that, in spite of philosophy and fashion, Fairy Spenser still ranks highest among the poets; I mean, with all those who are either come of that house, or have any kindness for it.

Earth-born critics, my friend, may blaspheme:

THE END OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.

Nichols and Son, Printers,
Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London.

INDEX
TO
VOLUMES III. AND IV.

• A.
• Academy, the ancient, compared with a modern university, iv. 214.
• Accommodation, of one’s-self, a great art, in public life, iii. 82.
• Addison, Mr., his contemplation in the ruins of Kenelworth Castle, iii. 172.
• his political character exhibited in his Whig Examiner, 177. n.
• calls in question the praises bestowed on Queen Elizabeth, 178.
• his strictures on the manners of that age, 186.
• character of his treatise on medals, 24.
• his remark on the use of popular superstitions in poetry, iv. 289.
• his observation on the fairy way of writing, 323.
• Admiralty Court, the imperial law still obtains there, iii. 375.
• Allodial estates, in France, what, iii. 318.
• Amadis de Gaule, remarkable passage in a preface to, iv. 347.
• Arbuthnot, Dr. discourses with Mr. Addison and Mr. Digby on the age of Queen Elizabeth, iii. 168.
• his veneration for the manners of those times, 180.
• his opinion on the influence of the nobility, 184.
• on the pageants at Kenelworth, 203.
• See Elizabeth.
• Ariosto, why considered inferior to Tasso by the French critics, iv. 310.
• his work admirable for its pictures of life and manners, 328.
• Arthur, a subject to the writers of romance, iv. 241.
• the superior character in the Fairy Queen, 303.
• Ascham, his remark on the pernicious tendency of books of chivalry, iii. 192. n.
• Atheism, imported by our travelling gentry, iv. 99.
• Athens, its manly character corrupted by Asiatic manners, iv. 201.
• B.
• Bacchus, a knight errant, iv. 266.
• Bacon, Lord, his remark on retirement, iii. 137.
• why he was neglected by Queen Elizabeth, iii. 243. n.
• his excuse for bribery, 269.
• his remark on depression of nobility, iv. 27. n.
• Bacon, Nat. character of his discourses on government, iii. 307.
• his observation on the state of the law in Henry V’s reign, 378.
• his character of Henry VIII. iv. 29. n.
• Barons, their contests with the king, whence arising, iii. 332.
• how reduced by Henry VII. 334.
• they originally formed the great council of the kingdom, ib.
• their opposition to a law for legitimating bastards, 363.
• their castles courts, as well as fortresses, iv. 247.
• described in romances as giants, 264.
• Bashfulness in young persons, whence arising, iv. 161.
• a wise provision of nature, 162.
• Bastards, how legitimated by the imperial and canon laws, iii. 362.
• Bear-baiting practised in the reign of Elizabeth, iii. 186. n.
• Beneficiary Estates, in France, what, iii. 318.
• Berkeley, Bishop, his “Minute Philosopher” excellent as a specimen of modern dialogue, iii. 24.
• Boileau, a word of his overturned the reputation of the Italian poetry, iv. 314.
• Bracton, his notion of a free government, iii. 370.
• Breeding, forms of, a primary concern in foreign travel, iv. 147.
• Bribery, common in Elizabeth’s reign, iii. 267.
• Burghley, Lord, practised on the fears of Queen Elizabeth, iii. 257.
• Burnet, Bishop, his notion of the danger to be apprehended from the Pretender, iii. 293.
• Augurs favourably of the Revolution, iv. 9, 10.
• his inquiry into the increase of Prerogative under the Tudors, 19.
• and after the ecclesiastical supremacy was transferred, 46.
• his apology for the clergy, 58 to 64.
• his opinion on resistance, 66. n.
• Butler, ridicules the circumstance of women warriors in romance, iv. 317.
• C.
• Cæsar, tribute to, misapplication of that precept by our reformers, iv. 74.
• Camden, Mr. his opinion of the Irish rebellion in the reign of Elizabeth, iii. 232. n.
• Canon law, introduction of, discountenanced by our Kings, iii. 355, 358.
• retained in the church after the Reformation, iv. 67.
• its doctrine convenient for the maintenance of absolute supremacy, 69.
• Capet, Hugh, the nobles had become independent on his accession, iii. 321.
• Cervantes, his ridicule destroyed the remains of Spanish prowess, iii. 199.
• keenly satirizes the Grecian epics, iv. 272.
• Chace, the favourite passion of our home-bred gentry, iv. 116.
• Challenge, accepted, through deference to the opinion of the ladies, iv. 168.
• Charlemagne, a subject to the writers of romance, iv. 241.
• Charles I. arguments of the lawyers in his time, for divine right, iv. 78. n.
• Charles II. how far his court benefited by foreign travel, iv. 100.
• his restoration introduced the French manners and prejudices among us, 311.
• Charms, in romance, often metaphorical, iv. 268.
• Charters, Great, by some considered as usurpations on the Prince, iii. 298.
• Chaucer, has left an unfinished story on the Gothic model, iv. 294.
• his Rime of Sir Topaz a banter on books of romances, 335.
• compared with the work of Cervantes, 336.
• his tale of Cambuscan a proof that he did not intend to ridicule the marvellous, 342.
• Chivalry, its tendency to refine the manners, iii. 189.
• its ill effects, 192. n.
• contributed to the revival of letters, 195.
• had its origin in a barbarous age, iv. 238.
• sprung out of the feudal constitution, 242.
• its characteristics accounted for, 245.
• passion for arms, ib.
• romantic ideas of justice, 246.
• courtesy and gallantry, 247.
• love of God and of the Ladies, 250.
• its genuine character displayed in the Crusades, 252, 254.
• two distinct periods in deducing its rise and progress, 258.
• agreement between heroic and Gothic manners, 262.
• their differences noted, 272.
• custom which prevailed at festivals, 297.
• women-warriors, 317.
• Greek fire, 320.
• Church, its revenues dilapidated by queen Elizabeth, iii. 273.
• more immediately subjected to the feudal system than the civil power, iii. 326.
• struggles between the ecclesiastics and the monarchs, thence arising, 331.
• distinction between ecclesiastical and temporal courts by William I. 352.
• canon law discountenanced by our Kings, 359.
• Cicero, introduced the writing of Dialogue among the Romans, iii. 20.
• his remark on the advantage of applying it to real personages, 26.
• his rule respecting the appropriate style and expression, 36.
• character of his dialogue defined, 40.
• Citizens and Burgesses, whence originating, iii. 338.
• Clarendon, Lord, his character of Lord Falkland, iii. 67. n.
• of Waller, 69. n.
• his eulogium on Ben Jonson and Cowley, 140. n.
• Clergy, justified in attending the courts of princes, iii. 145.
• in the reign of the Conqueror, turned common lawyers, 352.
• the Imperial law their favourite study, 361.
• opposed by the barons, 363.
• supported by the judges and great officers of the realm, 366.
• at the Reformation propagated the doctrine of passive obedience, iv. 57.
• and of divine right, 62.
• apology for them, 63, 64.
• Combat, a mode of deciding questions of right and property, iii. 200.
• Comnena, Manuel, a crusade in his time attended by women-warriors, iv. 317.
• Constitution, English, enquiry into, iii. 284.
• hath at all times been free, 286.
• many have but crude notions of it, 297.
• summary of erroneous doctrines respecting it, 298.
• question proposed, 305.
• its origin in the Saxon institutions, 309.
• æra of the Conquest, 310.
• contest for liberty throughout the Norman and Plantagenet lines, 313.
• council of the Kingdom originally consisting of such as held in capite of the crown, by barony, or knight’s service, 334.
• origin of knights of shires, 337.
• of citizens and burgesses, 338.
• formation of a House of Commons, 340, 346.
• its freedom shewn in the perpetual opposition of the people to the civil and canon laws, 349 to 358.
• proofs of it, 363, 367.
• Imperial law still prevails in certain of our Courts, and in the Universities, 375.
• fate and fortunes of the Civil law down to the present time, 378.
• contrasted with the free principles of the English law, 384 to 386.
• increase of prerogative under the Tudor line, 392. iv. 16.
• state of the nation at the accession of Henry VII. 24, 27.
• Henry VIII. 28.
• Rupture with the Court of Rome, 29.
• high prerogative, 37.
• Commons house rising in importance, 39.
• causes of the increase of Royal authority, 40.
• translation of the Pope’s supremacy to the king, 41.
• use made of the title, Supreme head of the Church, 49.
• high commission court and star-chamber, 50.
• dispensing power, 52.
• instances of its exercise, 53, 54.
• passive obedience, 57.
• why inculcated by the clergy, 58.
• doctrine of divine right whence originating, 62.
• growth of Puritanism, 63.
• Canon laws retained after the yoke of Rome was thrown off, 67.
• influence of the crown, after the Reformation, required to be limited by another change in the government, 71.
• translation of the supremacy no argument against the freedom of the constitution, 73.
• causes concurring with the Reformation to favour liberty, in the time of Charles I. 76, 77.
• issue of the conflict between prerogative and liberty, 79, 80.
• what is meant by the free constitution of the English monarchy, 81. n.
• Court, but two sorts of men that should live in one, iii. 124.
• the clergy justified in attending, 145.
• Cowley, Mr. his motives for retiring from the world, iii. 101.
• expatiates on the benefit of solitude, 104.
• grounds of his apology for seclusion, 110.
• his early habits, 112.
• his residence at Oxford, and friendship with Lord Falkland, 116.
• his peculiar disposition, 120.
• his invective against courts, 124.
• his pursuits in retirement, 127.
• uses of applying experiment and observation to natural science, 129.
• his cynical severity against courts, 135.
• eulogium on him by Lord Clarendon, 140. n.
• remonstrance of his friend on his seclusion, 147.
• his reply in the words of Spenser, 148.
• his resolution unshaken, 150.
• his purposed apology to Lord St. Alban’s begun in his Essays, 152.
• his poem, called “The Complaint,” 157.
• Craig, his opinion of the feudal law, iii. 328.
• Criticism, bad, arises from abuse of terms, iv. 324.
• Cromwell, his design for setting up a Protestant Council, iv. 14.
• Crusades, state of things when they were set on foot, iv. 252.
• considered as the origin of knight errantry, 255.
• domestic disorders resulting from them, 277.
• vast armies which were sent out, 318.
• Cutter of Coleman Street, origin and purpose of that comedy, iii. 122. n.
• D.
• Davenant, Sir W. a new sort of criticism in his preface to Gondibert, iv. 311.
• Declaration of rights, a barrier against future encroachments of the crown, iii. 293.
• Decretals, of the popes, against the civil law, iii. 355.
• Dialogue, a favourite form of instruction with the ancients, iii. 19.
• its advantages, 21.
• only three in the English language worthy of mention, 24.
• real persons only to be introduced in it, 27.
• a new species, created by Lucian, 28.
• the serious and philosophic, the best, 32.
• its requisites, 34.
• rule for restraining the characteristic peculiarities of style, 39.
• modern writers cannot aspire to the elegance of the ancient, 43.
• remedies for their difficulties, ib. 46.
• the ancient notion of, very little comprehended in our days, iv. 90.
• Disparity, a passage from a tract so called, iii. 235. n.
• another, illustrative of Queen Elizabeth’s policy, 258. n.
• Dispensing power of the Crown, iv. 52.
• exercised by various sovereigns, 53, 54.
• eleven out of twelve judges declared for it, 55.
• Dissipation of mind, caused by travel, iv. 145.
• Divine right, doctrine of, why preached up, iv. 62.
• arguments for it used by the lawyers in the time of Charles I. 78. n.
• Drama, a particular precept for, mistaken for a general maxim, iv. 326.
• Dutch towns, accomplished scholars sometimes met within them, iv. 121.
• E.
• Education, that commonly called liberal, wherein defective, iv. 117, 118.
• its proper objects pointed out, 138.
• one of its great secrets, to fix the attention of youth, 145.
• private, why preferable to public, 210.
• Edward the Confessor, formed a digest of the Saxon laws, iii. 349.
• Edward I. dispute concerning the succession to the crown of Scotland in his reign, iii. 367.
• Edward III. a house of commons originating in his reign, iii. 340, 344.
• Ειρηναρχια, a Latin panegyric on Queen Elizabeth taught in schools, iii. 239. n.
• Elizabeth, Queen, dialogue on the age of, iii. 167.
• humour of magnifying her character, whence arising, 177.
• her romantic spirit, 196.
• examples of it, ib. n.
• honours paid her at Kenelworth, 203.
• superiority of poets in her reign, to what owing, 209.
• language of that age, favourable to poetry, 210.
• inquiry into the merits of her government, 219.
• sketch of its history, 221, 222.
• splendour of her reign how far owing to fortunate circumstances, 223.
• her enthusiasm for her Protestant subjects, 225.
• contending factions of Papists and Puritans, 226.
• condition of the Continental powers, 230.
• of Ireland, 231.
• of Scotland, 233.
• her prerogative uncontrouled, 234.
• passion for letters in her reign, 236.
• a Latin panegyric on her, taught in grammar-schools, 239. n.
• spirit and genius of the nation roused by the dangers of the time, 241.
• manners of her subjects debased by servility and insolence, 242.
• her choice of ministers, ib.
• her personal qualities, 245.
• her love for her people called in question, 250.
• her foreign and domestic policy glanced at, 252.
• her popularity in part ascribed to her vices, 255.
• her cowardice, 256.
• her avarice, 261.
• her fondness for shew, 265.
• sale of offices, 266.
• reason why she did not marry, 271. n.
• her government oppressive, 272.
• two great events which cast an uncommon lustre over her reign, 274.
• causes of her domestic successes, 275.
• her character, 276.
• vindicated, 279.
• established the Reformation, iv. 31, 32.
• exercised the dispensing power, 54.
• her inclination for the fancies of chivalry, iv. 347.
• Empson and Dudley, how enabled to violate the constitution, iii. 379.
• their proceedings sanctioned by Parliament, iv. 34.
• England, a constitutional history of, highly desirable, iii. 286, 288.
• its monarchy by some declared to be absolute, 298, 299.
• its lands were allodial in the Saxon times, 324.
• how possessed, ib.
• introduction of feudal tenures at the conquest, why popular, 325.
• origin of the struggles between the Church and the King, 331.
• between the King and his Barons, 332.
• never famous for the civility of its inhabitants, iv. 112.
• early travel recommended as a cure for this defect, 113.
• prejudices and low habits of our youth, 115.
• liberal arts not much advanced, 127.
• foreign nations to be emulated, 129.
• qualifications for a Senator, 140.
• another view of the state of the country, 151.
• ideas of liberty connected with it, 153.
• Epic narration, less restricted to truth than the drama, iv. 327.
• Erasmus, improved on the dialogue of Lucian, iii. 28.
• Erudition, present state of, iv. 132.
• Esprit, De l’, remark on a work so called, iv. 89. n.
• Europe, why not fit for an Englishman to travel in, iv. 200.
• view of the Protestant Universities of, 212, 213.
• F.
• Faery Court, means the reign of chivalry, iv. 248.
• Fairies, more engaging than the rabble of Pagan divinities, iv. 283.
• Fairy Queen of Spenser, to be criticized as a Gothic, and not a classical poem, 292, 296.
• derives its method from the established modes of chivalry, 297.
• in what its unity consists, 300.
• expedients of the poet in connecting the subject, 302.
• allegorical character of the poem, 304.
• conduct of the story justified by its moral, 305.
• principal defect arising from the union of two designs, 306.
• Fairy way of writing, vindicated, iv. 316.
• allegory its last resource, 349.
• Falkland, Lord, his scruples on accepting the office of Secretary of State, iii. 67.
• Feugregeois, wonders told of it in the history of the crusades, iv. 320.
• Feudal law, instituted by William the Conqueror, iii. 313.
• or rather new-modelled by him, 317.
• previously adopted in France, 319, 320.
• its fruits, 321.
• favourable to the cause of liberty, 323.
• definition of the feudal system, 329.
• its defects, 333, 334.
• fitted itself to the varying situations of society, 345.
• Feudal constitution, the origin of chivalry, iv. 242.
• consideration had of females under it, 274.
• distinction between the early and later feudal times, 276.
• dissensions of leaders, domestic disorders, and usurpations, 277, 278.
• Foreigners, their disputes with British subjects, by what laws decided, iii. 376.
• Fortescue, his distinction between regal and political forms of government, iii. 388. n.
• Fortune, the making of one, an indefinite expression, iii. 131.
• Franc-almoign, a particular tenure in the Saxon times, iii. 327.
• France, its lands, under the Carlovingian line, of two kinds, iii. 318.
• changes introduced, ib. 319, 320.
• most of its lands were beneficiary, 324.
• her pre-eminence in taste and politeness, iv. 130.
• Freedom, English, best supported by the ancient nobility, iii. 184.
• Free men, persons holding allodial estates in France, so called, iii. 318.
• French critics, preferred the Gierusalemme Liberata to the Orlando Furioso, iv. 309.
• Fynes Moryson, his remark on the condition of the English people, iii. 183. n.
• G.
• Gardening, Gothic method of design in, iv. 301.
• Genius, men of, infelicities attending the sensibility of their gratitude, iii. 140.
• Gentleman, what his chief object, iv. 123.
• German nations, foundation of gallantry in their ancient manners, iv. 250.
• their predatory disposition, 269.
• Giants of Romance, were oppressive feudal lords, iv. 263.
• Gothic romance, incorporated with pagan fable, in a pageant given to Queen Elizabeth at Kenelworth, iii. 203.
• whence fallen into disrepute, iv. 333.
• steps of its decline traced, 345.
• ---- MANNERS,
• in some circumstances agree with the heroic, iv. 262.
• military enthusiasm, ib.
• giants and savages, 263.
• monsters, dragons, and serpents, 265.
• robbery and piracy, 268.
• bastardy, 269.
• hospitality and courtesy, 270.
• martial exercises, ib.
• passion for adventures, 271.
• wherein they differed from the heroic, 272.
• in the affair of religion and gallantry, 274.
• more poetical than the heroic, 280.
• in the displays of love and friendship, 282.
• in religious machinery, 283.
• their effect on Spenser, 291.
• on Milton, 292.
• on Shakespear, 294.
• method of design in poetry, 300.
• Greeks, a sort of chivalry prevailed among them, iv. 273.
• Grotius, his character of the English in Elizabeth’s reign, iii. 242. n.
• his remark on the foreign policy of that Queen, 259. n.
• Guarini, his Pastor Fido, for what admirable, iv. 315.
• Guy, earl of warwick, his return from the wars, compared with that of Ulysses, iv. 278.
• H.
• Habits, low and immoral, how far likely to be corrected by foreign travel, iv. 157.
• Hale’s case, afforded an alarming proof of the influence of the dispensing power, iv. 55.
• Hampden, Mr. his allegation in the great cause of ship-money, 78. n.
• Harrington, Sir James, his opinion on the statutes against retainers, in Henry VII.’s reign, 184. n.
• Harrison, his account of the progress of learning in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, iii. 237. n.
• Helmet, used as a signal of hospitality in the ages of chivalry, iii. 182.
• Henriade, why not long-lived, iv. 331.
• Henry III. issued a prohibition against the teachers of the Roman law in London, iii. 357, 358.
• Henry VII. his character, iv. 19.
• increased his own authority and diminished that of his nobles, 25.
• filled the great offices with churchmen only, 26.
• exercised the dispensing power, contrary to act of parliament, 53.
• Henry VIII. favoured the study of the civil law, though constrained to abolish it, iii. 380.
• his character, iv. 19.
• advantageous circumstances on his accession, 29.
• his rupture with the court of Rome, ib.
• obtained of his parliament to have his proclamations pass for laws, 34.
• Helvidius, Priscus, a fine trait in his character, as given by Tacitus, iii. 142.
• Hentznerus, Paulus, praises Queen Elizabeth’s skill in languages, iii. 257. n.
• Herbert, Mr. George, commended king James as a greater orator than any of the ancients, iii. 240. n.
• Hercules, a knight errant, iv. 266.
• Heroic poetry, why it has survived the Gothic, iv. 333.
• High Commission Court, iii. 381.
• in what originating, iv. 49.
• History, English, study of it essential to a young senator, iv. 142.
• Hobbes, Mr. assisted in establishing a new sort of criticism, iv. 311.
• his notion of poetical truth, 324.
• Homer, correspondence of his descriptions with those of Gothic romance, iv. 266.
• his two poems intended to expose the evils arising from the political state of old Greece, 277.
• felicity of his age, for poetical manners, 280.
• Hospitality, much practised by the great, in former times, iii. 181.
• species of it peculiar to the purer ages of chivalry, 182. n.
• House of Commons, its origin, iii. 340.
• generated by the constitution, 346.
• Human nature, how to be studied, iv. 197.
• Hume, ground of his apology for the House of Stuart, iii. 391. n.
• his account of the feudal times the best part of his history of England, iv. 80. n.
• his zeal for the house of Stuart a disgrace to his work, 82.
• I & J.
• James I. favoured the study of the civil law, iii. 381.
• advantages under which he succeeded to the crown, iv. 33.
• believed himself absolute, 37.
• his bold language to his parliaments, 38.
• asserts the right of the King to suspend the laws, 54.
• considered a most able judge of church work, 59, 60. n.
• styles himself the great schoolmaster of the land, 69. n.
• Jesuits, their expedient to justify the pope in deposing kings, iv. 61.
• Ignorance, the parent of many vices, iv. 108.
• Interest, of men in office, how connected with duty, iii. 139.
• Jonson, Ben, praised by Lord Clarendon, iii. 140. n.
• his encomium on legends of ancient chivalry, 194.
• contrasts them with real life and manners, 198.
• design of the witch-scenes in his Masque of Queens, iv. 287.
• Ireland, distractions in, during the reign of Elizabeth, iii. 231.
• Irish, savage, in the reign of Elizabeth, held their rhymers in principal estimation, iv. 271.
• Italian Poetry, a short history of, 309 to 315.
• vindicated, 316, 328.
• its fictions ingenious as well as bold, 330.
• Italy, the theatre of politeness in the age of Elizabeth, iv. 99.
• abounding with literary men, 121.
• Jury, trial by, when disgraced and rejected, iii. 379, 382.
• Justices of Peace, in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, notoriously corrupt, iii. 270.
• Justinian Law, when introduced into England, iii. 354.
• Why the chief study of the clergy, 361.
• opposed by the barons, 363.
• allows legitimation by subsequent marriage, 365.
• in what courts it obtains to this day, 375.
• its fate and fortunes down to the present time, 378.
• Justs and Turnaments, their origin, iv. 243.
• K.
• Kenelworth Castle, contemplations in the ruins of, iii. 170.
• behaviour of Lord Leicester’s porter on Queen Elizabeth’s visit, 174.
• pageants in honour of her, 203.
• Knights of Shire, whence originating, iii. 337, 338.
• Knights Errant, iv. 247.
• their devotion to the fair sex, 248.
• their most essential qualities, courage and faith, 251.
• origin ascribed to the crusades, 255.
• objection to that hypothesis, 257.
• what the principal mover of their adventures, 275.
• Knowledge of the world, necessary for enlarging the mind, iv. 108.
• what is meant by it, 122, 123.
• not attainable by early travel, 170.
• to be acquired by degrees, 180.
• L.
• Ladies, attach a high degree of merit to good breeding, iv. 168.
• though bred at home, have a manifest advantage over their travelled brothers in liberal acquirements, 176.
• virtues and faults more conspicuous in them than in the other sex, 177, 178.
• “Lady of the Lake,” a pageant at Kenelworth Castle, iii. 203.
• Laga, or Leaga, the Saxon word for law, its extensive import, iii. 308.
• Language, English, at what period most favourable to poetry, iii. 210.
• Languages, time sometimes wasted in studying, iv. 147.
• Laws, how rendered necessary, iv. 108.
• Learning, revival of, began first by poetry, iii. 206.
• Legislators, ancient, why required to travel for instruction, iv. 95.
• Legislature, their right to settle the government, unquestionable, iii. 302.
• Leicester, Earl of, his splendid monument in the great church of Warwick, iii. 168.
• Strictures on his conduct, 176.
• Letters, the cultivation of, its own reward, iii. 130.
• Liberal Arts, of late growth in England, iv. 127.
• study of them less important than other branches of education, 192.
• Liberty, a right understanding of its principles necessary to the security of the British government, iii. 295.
• religious, made way for the entertainment of civil, in all its branches, iv. 76.
• Life-guard, instituted by Henry VII. iv. 25.
• Livy, his dialogues, if preserved, would have suffered by comparison with those of Cicero, iii. 41.
• Locke, Mr. Lord Shaftesbury’s opinion of him as a philosopher, iv. 88.
• his notion of education, opposed to that of his lordship, 136, 138.
• denies that its objects can be attained by foreign travel, 143.
• his remarks on England, 151.
• on national prejudices, 152, 154.
• on evil habits, 156.
• on bashfulness in youth, 161.
• on knowledge of the world, 170.
• on the means of instilling it into the minds of youth, 180.
• his objections to the study of the fine arts, 191, 193.
• of the fine arts, 191, 193.
• Declares against European travels, 200.
• his remarks on the universities, 204.
• on clergy tutors, 217.
• Presage of brighter days for the universities, 224.
• Lollardism, spreading in the reign of Henry VII. iv. 27.
• London, a fit scene for seeing the world, iv. 190.
• Lucan, his magic scenes excelled by those of Apuleius, iv. 283, 284.
• Lucian, created a new species of dialogue, iii. 28.
• its nature defined, 30, 32.
• his remark on the social use of the table, 182.
• M.
• Manners, best acquired by early travel, iv. 119.
• meaning of the term, 120.
• a chief object of study, 124.
• Masks and Shows, their origin and design, iii. 207.
• Matthew Paris, his remark on the subjection of the ecclesiastical to the secular power at the Conquest, iii. 327. n.
• Maynard, Sir John, one of the most accomplished lawyers of his time, iii. 289. n.
• traces the origin of the English Constitution, 306.
• was one of the eleven members proceeded against, on the charge of the army, 383. n.
• his opinion that the power of the militia was not in the king, iv. 75. n.
• Melvil, Sir James, his frank reply to Queen Elizabeth touching her celibacy, iii. 271. n.
• Milton, recommends gymnastics in his Tractate of Education, iii. 188.
• why he preferred the classic to the Gothic model in poetry, iv. 292.
• pleased with the manners described in books of chivalry, 293.
• his allusion to the vast armies described in romance, 318.
• Pagan gods and Gothic fairies out of credit when he wrote, 331.
• admired Chaucer’s tale of Cambuscan, 342.
• His reason for relinquishing his design of Prince Arthur, 348.
• Modesty, in young persons, a grace and ornament, iv. 162.
• the blush of budding reason and virtue, 164.
• Montesquieu, his observation on the Gothic government, iii. 341. n.
• More, Dr. Henry, his dialogue with Mr. Waller on sincerity, iii. 53.
• his character, according to Bishop Burnet, 93. n.
• Mountjoy, Lord, how reprimanded by Queen Elizabeth, iii. 249.
• N.
• Nations, improved by intercourse with each other, iv. 109.
• Nature, how to be followed in poetry, iv. 324.
• Neutrality, why another name for insincerity, iii. 66.
• Norham, great Council of, rejected the Cæsarean law, iii. 367.
• O.
• Obedience, Passive, doctrine of, by whom propagated, iv. 57.
• P.
• Pagan superstitions, fall short of the Gothic, iv. 284.
• Pandects, when and by whom introduced into England, iii. 354.
• their doctrine concerning the origin of government, 371.
• Papal Supremacy, its extent in this kingdom, iv. 42.
• how transferred to Henry VIII. 43.
• qualifying clauses, ib.
• high notions entertained of the pope’s power, 46.
• dispensing power, 52.
• exercised by the popes against the Gospel itself, 56. n.
• indignation of the popes against our reforming sovereigns, 61.
• Parliaments, their authority acknowledged even under our most despotic Princes, iv. 37.
• transferred the papal supremacy to Henry VIII. 43.
• how curbed by the dispensing power, 51, 52.
• Personification, why frequent in old poetry, iii. 211, 212.
• Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, a festival given by him, for a crusade, iv. 298.
• Philosophers, ancient, considered travel as a necessary part of their studies, iv. 95.
• Philosophy, how at present degraded, iv. 131.
• Plato, the model, if not the inventor, of the Greek dialogue, iii. 20.
• Plot, of Mr. Waller, its failure, iii. 71, 72.
• confounded with another of more dangerous tendency, 75.
• Plutarch, his life of Theseus reads like a modern romance, iv. 266.
• Poetry, what point in the revolutions of taste and language most favourable to it, iii. 210.
• the sublime species not subject to strict rules of credibility, iv. 325, 326.
• Poets, generally enamoured of solitude, iii. 113, 114.
• Pole, Cardinal, violent in his invectives against Henry VIII. iv. 60.
• Politeness, not attainable by great men, iv. 166.
• what its most reasonable sense, 201.
• Prejudices, of home-bred gentlemen, iv. 114.
• the term equivocal, 152.
• some ought not to be removed, 153.
• proper cure for vicious prejudices, 155.
• Prerogative, of English monarchs, controuled by law, iii. 287.
• Protestant Council, projected by Cromwell, iv. 14. n.
• Protestantism, had made considerable progress on the accession of Elizabeth, iii. 224.
• its effects on the public morals, 238.
• Protestants, French, persecution of, iv. 12. n.
• Puritanism, growth of, iv. 63.
• Puritans, how managed by Queen Elizabeth, iii. 227.
• R.
• Raleigh, Sir Walter, his opinion on the conduct of the Spanish war, iii. 252.
• received money to use his interest with the Queen, 268.
• Reason, best exercised in society, iii. 106.
• Recreant, why a term of disgrace for a vanquished knight, iv. 251.
• Reformation, established in the reign of Elizabeth, iv. 31, 32.
• though founded on principles of liberty, for a time favoured the power of the crown, 70.
• carried on and established by the whole legislature, 73.
• Religious Houses, suppression of, favoured the extension of prerogative, iv. 20.
• Representation, Dramatic, requires stricter adherence to truth than narration, iv. 326.
• Retainers, laws of Henry VII. against, iv. 25.
• Retirement, foundation of the dialogue concerning, iii. 97. n.
• its good effects on the mind, 104.
• its disadvantages, 106.
• retirement of good men from public employments prejudicial to the state, 141.
• Revolution of 1688, why justifiable, iii. 283.
• settlement introduced by it, how to be rendered secure, 295.
• Rhetorician, one who taught the art of not speaking, iv. 121.
• Richard II. the wonder-working parliament in his reign rejected the Roman civil law, iii. 367.
• his declaration that his will was law, 374.
• Robert the Norman, his wife fought by his side in battle, iv. 317.
• Roman Emperors, their policy in assuming the title of Pontifex Maximus, iv. 47.
• Rome, Court of, its authority rejected by Henry VIII. iv. 29.
• Romance, Spirit of, whence originating, iv. 239.
• principal subjects, 241.
• from what period its writers derive their ideas of chivalry, 259.
• practice of mixing Pagan fable with it, 272.
• Gothic superstitions introduced, 284.
• decline of this species of writing, 333, 345, 348.
• Rousseau, his observation on the use of the marvellous in epic and dramatic compositions, iv. 327. n.
• Royal Society, much talked of, before it was instituted, iii. 143. n.
• Ryswick, treaty of, wherein defective, iv. 12.
• S.
• St. Alban’s, Lord, the patron of Cowley, iii. 97, 99, 102.
• Saxons, the principles of their policy still maintained in our government, iii. 307.
• spirit of liberty prevailed among them, 309.
• their institutions, after the decline of the Romans, the standing laws of this kingdom, 349.
• Savages of Romance, dependants of feudal lords, iv. 263.
• Selden, his character of Ben Jonson, iii. 209.
• a curious extract from his dissertation on Fleta, 370.
• Self-love, when uncontrouled, engenders vices, iv. 108.
• Senator, English, requisite qualifications of one, iv. 140.
• are not attainable by foreign travel, 143.
• Sidney, Sir Philip, the flower of knighthood, iii. 197.
• Sincerity in the commerce of the world, a dialogue on, iii. 53.
• Shaftesbury, Lord, eminent as a writer of dialogue, iii. 24.
• his remarks on the difficulties attending that class of composition, 42.
• represented in a dialogue with Mr. Locke, on the uses of foreign travel, iv. 87.
• states its advantages, 107.
• asserts it to be the most important part of education, 111.
• descants on the prejudices of home-bred gentlemen, 115.
• on the state of the arts in Britain, 126.
• on the decay of philosophy, 131.
• his raillery against the Gothic manner in poetry, 311.
• Shakespear, remark of his best critic on the witch-scenes in Macbeth, iv. 286.
• greater in the Gothic than in the classic manner, 295.
• Socrates, whence he took his name of Ironist, iii. 28.
• never stirred out of Athens, iv. 96.
• Somers, Mr. his fears that the principles of liberty are not thoroughly established in the minds of the people, iii. 295, 297.
• his notion of the varying ascendancy of liberty and prerogative, iv. 18.
• Spain, Queen Elizabeth’s triumph over, to what owing, iii. 274.
• Spenser, had talent for business as well as for poetry, iii. 243.
• his funeral, ib. n.
• charmed by Gothic Romance, iv. 239.
• his account of the courtesy of chivalry, 247.
• of the connection of gallantry with the profession of Knighthood, 249.
• his description of characters in romance, 264.
• his design in the Fairy Queen, 280.
• why he chose chivalry for his theme, and Fairy land for his scene, 291.
• why he had recourse to allegory, 346.
• with whom he ranks highest among the poets, 350.
• Sprat, the Rev. Mr. his account of a conversation with Mr. Cowley on retirement, iii. 99.
• Star-Chamber, iii. 381.
• when confirmed by act of parliament, iv. 25, 34.
• its jurisdiction why extended, 50.
• Stephen, the Justinian laws introduced into England during his reign, iii. 354.
• interdicted the study of them, 356.
• Stillingfleet, Dr. his remark on the dispensing power, iv. 54.
• Stuart, House of, part of their difficulties ascribed to the bad policy of their predecessor, iii. 228.
• English Government despotic under the first princes of that line, iii. 390.
• prerogative increased in the preceding reigns, iv. 20, 33.
• confirmed the jurisdiction of the Star-Chamber by statute, 34.
• exercised the dispensing power to a dangerous degree, 55.
• T.
• Tacitus, bears testimony to the free spirit of the German constitutions, iii. 309.
• Tasso, his Gierusalemme Liberata planned on the model of the Iliad, iv. 279.
• his description of a garden, iv. 301.
• his Gierusalemme Liberata considered, 308.
• how estimated by the French critics, 309, 310.
• his Clarinda not so extravagant a character as is generally supposed, 318.
• remark of a French critic on his enchantments, 322.
• his fairy tales do him more honour than the classical parts of his poem, 329.
• Terence, his characters all express themselves with equal elegance, iii. 39.
• Theobald, Archbishop, favoured the reading of the Justinian laws in England, iii. 354.
• Third Estate in France, their deputies how stigmatized by one of the popes, iv. 59. n.
• Thuanus, his remark on the romantic spirit of Queen Elizabeth, iii. 196.
• Thurkeby, Judge, exclaims against the dispensing power, iv. 53. n.
• Tilt Yard, a school of fortitude and honour to our forefathers, iii. 185.
• Its exercises excelled those of the Grecian gymnastics, 188.
• Toleration-act, when passed, iv. 11. n.
• Topaz, Sir, of Chaucer, a prelude to Don Quixote, iv. 336.
• Tour of Europe, too limited for a philosophic traveller, iv. 198.
• Travel, foreign, dialogue on the uses of, iv. 87.
• considered as a part of early education, 93.
• question stated, 94.
• example of the ancient philosophers, 96.
• allusion to the court of Elizabeth, 98.
• of Charles II. 100.
• youth more exposed to vice abroad than at home, 103.
• arguments in favour of it, 107.
• its tendency to remove prejudices and correct low habits, 115.
• and to qualify a person for bearing his part in public affairs, 124.
• the argument refuted, 135.
• proper objects of education, 138.
• does not contribute to attain them, 143.
• waste of time, ib.
• dissipation of mind, 145.
• objects to which the traveller’s application is directed, 146.
• hinder him from more important studies, 149.
• vicious prejudices may be removed without it, 155.
• low habits not likely to be corrected by it, 157, 158.
• precipitates youth into manhood, 165.
• is become fashionable through the influence of the ladies, 168.
• knowledge of the world not to be acquired by it, 172.
• unseasonable and useless in youth, 173.
• considered as a means of dissolving hasty and ill-timed connexions, 188.
• of studying the fine arts, 191.
• when to be practised with most advantage, 195.
• to be extended beyond the tour of Europe, 198.
• foreign and English universities compared, 212.
• what tutorage most proper, 217.
• Tudor Line, government of England more despotic under them than in the preceding reigns, iii. 390.
• Tutor, Travelling, how to be chosen, iv. 106.
• the best cannot teach every thing requisite, 149.
• what tutorage most proper, 217.
• V. and U.
• Vacarius taught the civil law in England, iii. 355.
• Virtue, exists most in the offices of social life, iii. 106.
• not incompatible with ambition, 139.
• Virtuosoship, one of the objects of foreign travel, iv. 146.
• Ulysses, his return afforded an exception to the domestic licence of the time, iv. 278.
• Unity of design in Gothic poems, iv. 300.
• Universities, the Imperial law still obtains in them, iii. 375.
• strictures on, iv. 132.
• a sketch of their institution and genius, 204.
• why the barbarous plans of education still prevail, 206.
• a reformation contemplated, 208.
• their studies and discipline not without their use, 211.
• compared with those of the continent, 212.
• their forms and regulations commended, 214.
• much room for improvement in them, 223.
• happy presage of their future condition, 224.
• W.
• Waller, Mr. Edmund, represented in dialogue with Dr. More, on sincerity in the commerce of the world, iii. 53.
• recites his history, 57.
• his introduction at court, where he recommended himself by his poetry, 60.
• engaged actively in the parliament of 1640, 63.
• his relationship and attachment to Mr. Hampden could never bias him from moderation, 65.
• his resolution to pursue the King’s interests, and yet keep clear with the Parliament, 69.
• his popularity drew him into difficulties, 71.
• failure of his plot, 72.
• his address in extricating himself from the danger thence arising, 77.
• his hypocrisy, 79.
• retired into France during the troubles of the country, 83.
• ascribes his misfortunes to sincerity, and his escape from them, to dissimulation, 84.
• is admitted, on his return, to the confidence of the Protector, whom he panegyrized, 86.
• congratulated Charles II. on his restoration, 88.
• his arguments in justification of his conduct, 91.
• Walls of Fire, mentioned in romance, what in reality, iv. 320.
• Walsingham, Secretary, recounts the ill effects of Queen Elizabeth’s frugality, iii. 263. n.
• his illustrious poverty, 264.
• Warwick, Great Church of, famous for its monuments, iii. 168.
• William I. his Conquest by some considered as the foundation of absolute monarchy in England, iii. 298, 309.
• his claim to the crown not conquest but testamentary succession, 311.
• instituted the feudal law, 313.
• consequences of his distribution of forfeited estates and seignories, 333.
• obliged to ratify the old standing laws of the kingdom, 349.
• illustration of his policy in his distinction of the ecclesiastical and temporal courts, 351, 352.
• styles himself Bastard, in one of his charters, 363.
• William III. King, his character, iv. 14.
• Wolsey, Cardinal, charged with subjecting the laws of the land to the imperial laws, iii. 380.
• Women-Warriors, in times of chivalry, iv. 317.
• World, the Commerce of, how to be prepared for, iv. 138.
• a knowledge of, the most momentous part of education, and least understood, 179.
• X.
• Xenophon, why lavish in praise of hunting, iii. 189.
• Y.
• Yorke, the late Right Hon. Charles, extract from a letter of his, on the origin of chivalry, iv. 254.
• Youth, the season for acquiring right propensities and virtuous habits, iv. 113.
• education of, in England, wherein defective, iv. 117.
• value of time at that age, 144.
• bashfulness a favourable symptom, 161.
• what period of it requires most care and vigilance, 180.
• entrance into the world, 181.
• necessity of moral discipline, 184.
• Z.
• Zeal for the faith, actuated the professors of chivalry, iv. 251.