Swallow-like,
English poetry had hung about the eaves or skimmed the surface of town and
court; but now, like the lark, it soared into freer air--
Coetusque vulgares et udam
Spernit humum fugiente penna.
In short, it was a day of general awakening. The intestine troubles
excited by the Jacobites were brought to an end by the disaster of
Culloden, in 1745. The German campaigns culminating at Minden, in 1759,
opened a door to the study of German literature, and of the Teutonic
dialects as elements of the English language.
It is, therefore, not astonishing that in this period Literature should
begin to arrange itself into its present great divisions. As in an earlier
age the drama had been born to cater to a popular taste, so in this, to
satisfy the public demand, arose English _prose fiction_ in its peculiar
and enduring form. There had been grand and desultory works preceding
this, such as _Robinson Crusoe, The Pilgrim's Progress_, and Swift's
inimitable story of _Gulliver_; but the modern novel, unlike these, owes
its origin to a general desire for delineations of private life and
manners.
Pages:
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465