rarely to be equalled and never to be surpassed. As the epic, as treated by Homer, inaugurated literature, so history, as written by Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon, added another phase; a prominent part also being taken by the drama, created, refined and perfected by Thespis, schylus, Sophocles, Euripides, &c. Philosophy, hitherto merely the friend, became truly the lover of wisdom when it was moulded into system, logic and learning by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and Oratory assumed a new power, and Speech found a new world to conquer a world as varied in its characters and intellects as nature herself. "Demosthenes, waving the stormy democracy into a calm, from a sunny-hill-side; Plato enchaining the souls of his disciples, under the boughs of a dim plane tree; Cicero in the stern silence of the forum." With regard to the greatest speaker of all ages, it has been well remarked that "reading his speeches was like conversing with the living man. The tones of a rich, powerful voice appear to flow in upon the soul through the eye, and gradually excite a quick panting interest, which makes you eager to know the result of his pleading, and not a little irritated when you fail, and the conviction comes upon you, that the Egyptian symbol, a lion obliterating with its tail the print of its own footsteps, may be applied to Demosthenes, he conceals by his art the strength that has passed over the page."

It

An inquiry into Grecian literature elicits some facts which are of special interest, for we discover that in Greece, literature was not the profession of a class, but pervaded all sections of humanity. is not only in the poem that the literary man is recognised, but history records him as the soldier, the politician, &c. Thus, we read of Sparta sending an army to invade Messene, and Tyrtæus, a schoolmaster appointed leader; of Eschylus the tragedian, fighting at the battles of Marathon, Salamis and Platea; and years afterwards, writing his drama of the Persians. Thucydides has the command of seven Athenian triremes in the Peloponnesian war, and this war forms the subject of his great history. Pericles, literary and artistic, the pupil of Anaxagoras, becomes the great ruler of Athens. Socrates served as a soldier in the Peloponnesian war, and during the blockade

of Potidea he rescued Alcibiades from the enemy, whilst at the battle of Delium he saved the life of "another of his pupils, Xenophon, whom he carried from the field on his shoulder, fighting his way as he went."

Xenophon conducts the immortal retreat of the ten thousand after the battle of Cunaxa, and writes the Anabasis, Hellenica and Cyropaedia; and we read of Demosthenes holding a command at the battle of Charonea.

Literature, also, had a shrine of its own in the famous games held at Olympia, where, whilst gymnasts and athletæ struggled and wrestled, ran in the race, and strove to win the crown, letters were not forgotten, for an old legend, mentioned by Photius, relates how Thucydides, when a boy, hearing Herodotus read his history at the Olympic games, was moved to tears at so great a work, "and there are numerous other writers, who thus published their works, as the sophist Hippias, Prodicus of Ceos, Anaximenes, the orator Lysias, &c." Plutarch also refers to the tradition of a literary contest between Homer and Hesiod at Chalcis, in which the latter was victorious.

After the fall of Greece, 146 B.C. literature migrated to Rome, and here for a time it found a "local habitation and a name;" and in the Augustan age, the names of Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Livy, &c. gave promise of a glorious future, never realized until centuries had elapsed; for, at the descent of the Northmen and fall of the Roman Empire, literature "paled its ineffectual fire," and the torch of intellect, which had burnt so brilliantly in classic times, gave out a very weak uncertain light—a light which only made more intense the surrounding darkness. Still, it might be said, with some slight change of words,

"The love of letters once begun,
Bequeathed from loving sire to son,

Though often lost, is ever won."

And thus we find in the time of Bede, Alcuin and Alfred, a new light breaking through the gloom-a light which, at that period, threw a special lustre upon the legends of saints and the adventures and romances of chivalry. Such was the Anglo-Saxon epoch. This light, under the care of the monks, the men of letters of those days, became a beacon and a landmark, gradually burning into a steady

and a brilliant flame, bringing out Chaucer in marked outlines, and creating through him a new feature, by the love of nature, and national and social character which he introduced into his tales. In the Elizabethan era, the torch of literature, which had been passed from hand to hand, sometimes in fear, often in doubt, often dim and uncertain, was now safe, for they who bore it were literary giants, and rekindled by its aid, the old Greek fire, which had almost died out. A new classical taste was matured at this period a taste originally borrowed from Grecian lore, but now developed by such minds as Shakespeare, Spenser, Jonson, Milton, &c., of whom it may be said that they illumined the literary page, not for one era, but for all time.

It will be doubtless remarked, that there are three distinct literary epochs in the history of literature from Alfred to Elizabeth. The Anglo-Saxon, (449 to 1066,) including Bede, Alcuin, Cædmon, Alfred, &c. The Norman-Saxon, (from 1066 to 1250,) represented by the Saxon Chronicle (1173), and Layamon's Brut, (1200), and the Romances and French Fabliaux. The Early English, (1250 to 1520,) represented especially by its first book, Sir John Mandeville's Travels (1356), followed by Wickcliffe's translation of the Bible, about 1380, a little later by Chaucer, the father of English poetry, and the Modern English period, from 1520 to the present time. The birth of this epoch is peculiarly associated with the Reformation, which exercised a very important influence upon literature, not only by the greater freedom of thought, but also by the check which it gave to the custom of writing in Latin, the English language rapidly becoming general in composition. This change, and it was a most important one, was really inaugurated by Lord Berners, 1525, by translating Froissart, "Out of Frenshe into our maternal English tongue."

With the Restoration, notwithstanding the genius of Dryden, of whom Dr. Johnson has said, that "he found the English language of brick and left it marble," literature lost much of its nobility and purity, and the loss may be accounted for by the influence of French tastes and manners introduced by Charles II. which became

the more extravagant and licentious by contrast with the puritan simplicity of the Commonwealth. A healthy change set in, in Queen Anne's reign, and of the writers of this period it has been justly remarked, that they "corrected the gross indecencies of the old style, increased its precision and correctness, made its pleasantries and sarcasms more polished and elegant, and spread through the whole of its irony, its narration, and its reflections, a tone of clear and condensed good sense, which recommended itself to all who had, and who had not, any relish for higher beauties." From that period literature has progressed, assuming new forms, creating new paths, until purified and matured by time and taste, it brings to us a great and invaluable legacy from all ages; a gift which increases the wealth of the recipient, and yet robs not the donor; a possession which makes the poor man rich, and the wealthy man happy; a true garden of the Hesperides, rich with golden fruit, forbidden to none, guarded by no dragons of ignorance and superstition as in the olden days; but open to all, and affording a blessing and a joy to him who gathers of its store in a true and loving spirit.

Literature has a world of its own-unbounded, illimitable-fair with landscapes from Arcadia-prosperous with colonies from Utopia -beautiful with buds and blossoms from the gardens of poesy,-a world, in fact, so generous and true, that one could almost fancy some pleasant breeze bore a murmur from it in Juliet's words

Who, then, would not bravely brace his burden to his shoulder, and travel with the pilgrim's staff of hope into this far country of scenes more charming and varied, more singular and beautiful-of changes. more rapid and wonderful, than were ever dreamt of in Arabian Nights, or achieved by the marvellous girdle of Puck. Who once having become a student in the temple of letters, would falter or turn back. The goal may be distant, but he sees it though afar off, and his path is brightened by many a fragrant flower, which blooms not save in the sunshine of poetry-many a scene, unknown save in this

enchanted ground-many a resting-place, removed from the great highway; and though, as it may be, and has often been, that the student never realizes his day-dream, but lives on in hope, "the dream of the waking, the dawn of a visionary future," still the aspiration, the struggle, will bring their own reward, and become as seed planted in good ground, giving a bounteous return.

From this incomplete sketch of the rise and progress of literature, I will offer a few remarks on its means, and how to use them, its objects and advantages.

Literature, to the mind, is somewhat like cultivation to a field; it not only produces a beneficial result, but also prepares the ground for a harvest of a still more valuable nature. Gibbon remarks "that every person has two educations- -one which he receives from others, and one more important, which he gives to himself.” One influence for a future harvest is supplied by a special element, and unless the germs be carefully planted, and find congenial nutriment, they will never arrive at a healthy maturity. What is this special element ? Education; by means of what I would define as its priesthood-Books.

Books, which Addison charmingly describes as the "legacy that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn." Books, which Milton so beautifully refers to when he writes, "Who kills a man, kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason herself—kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye. Many a man lives a burden on the earth; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.”

Of good books, it may be very truly said, "There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple. If the ill spirit have so fair a house, good things will strive to dwell with it." On the subject, Hare very correctly remarks, "Books, as Dryden has aptly termed them, are spectacles to read nature. Eschylus and Aristotle, Shakespeare and Bacon, are priests who preach and expound the mysteries of man and the universe. They teach us to understand and feel what we see-to decipher and syllable the hieroglyphics of the senses."