ENGLAND AND IRELAND, CHURCH OF.

All the bishops except one, Kitchin of Llandaff, refused to take the oath of uniformity, and were ejected from their sees to the number of 14 (the eleven remaining sees were vacant by deaths), and 175 other beneficed clergy were deprived for the same cause no very considerable number, when it is remembered that there were then 9400 benefices in England. There was some difficulty in filling up the vacant bishoprics, and perhaps some slight informalities. Matthew Parker was made Archbishop of Canterbury. For the refutation of the fable of the NAG'S-HEAD CONSECRATION, see the article under that head. In 1562, the Thirty-nine Articles were finally reviewed and subscribed. These, with the Book of Common Prayer, are the tests of orthodoxy in the Church of England.

But what was done to satisfy the scruples of Protestant nonconformists? An attempt in this direction was made in the reign of James I. at the HAMPTON COURT CONFERENCE (q. v.). The result was another review of the Common Prayerbook; and this, with the new translation of the Bible, and the passing of the canons of 1604, were the principal ecclesiastical events of James's reign. These canons received the sanction of the crown, but not that of parliament; they are not, therefore, binding on the laity, but they are still binding on the clergy to some extent, and they regulate the practice of the ecclesiastical courts, and are the only rule, on some points, to which the bishops and clergy can appeal. See the articles LAUD and CHURCH OF SCOTLAND for the events of Charles I.'s reign. The great rebellion overthrew both church and state. The bishops were declared 'delinquents,' robbed of their property, and abolished; and the clergy were ejected from their benefices. Laud was put to death in 1645. The Church of England had no corporate existence during this interval. With the restoration of the monarchy, 1660, came the restoration of the church. The reaction from Puritanism to Prelacy was complete. Attempts were made, but with small success, to win over the Puritan leaders; bishoprics were offered to Baxter, Calamy, and Reynolds; but the last only accepted. The SAVOY CONFERENCE (q. v.) was an unsuccessful, perhaps insincere attempt to comprehend the nonconformists in the Established Church. But the demands of the Presbyterians were most immoderate. Baxter went so far as to propose the substitution of an entirely new book of his own composition, in the place of the Common Prayer-book. After the failure of the Savoy Conference, this was once more reviewed; and a new Act of Uniformity in 1662 made its use, as it now stands, compulsory in all the churches.

landed in England. It is worthy of remark, that out of these seven bishops three refused to swear allegiance to him, and were joined by a consider. able number of the clergy; these were called Nonjurors. In the first year of William and Mary's reign, the Toleration Act was passed, and dissent ceased to be illegal. Another attempt was made to comprehend the nonconformists in the church, but the lower house of Convocation was in no tolerant mood, and the attempt failed, but chiefly in conse quence of the disturbances in Scotland. In 1717, Convocation was dissolved. After slumbering for nearly 140 years, it has been once more called into life and action in the province of Canterbury. See the article CONVOCATIONS.

That the Church of England, after fighting for its very existence against popery on the one hand, and against Puritanism on the other, should have subsided into inactivity during the dull reigns of the Georges, is less a matter of surprise than of regret. The peaceful enjoyment of her temporalities in a dull, irreligious, not to say infidel age, may easily account for, though it cannot excuse, her idleness. But that in the rise of John Wesley, 1730, she should have failed to see a grand opportunity for herself, is a matter of both surprise and regret; she, however, let it pass; nor can she hope that such another will ever again present itself. The utmost that can be hoped is, that she has seen her error. The next important event in the history of the church is the Act of Union, which came into effect on the 1st of January 1801, and united the churches of England and Ireland in all matters of doctrine, worship, and discipline. The Reformation had made some progress in Ireland under Edward VI. Five Protestant bishops were appointed in 1550, and the English Bible and Liturgy were introduced in 1551; but from a variety of causes, the Reformed doctrines have never found much acceptance with the native population; and although a Protestant church was established by law, it was and is the church of the minority (see IRELAND). In 1635, the English Articles were received; and in 1662, the English Book of Common Prayer was adopted by convocation. Before the political union of the countries, the two churches were in full communion. By an act of the imperial parliament in 1833, ten of the Irish bishoprics were suppressed, and the funds thus obtained were applied to the augmentation of small livings and the building and repair of churches. There are now twelve Irish bishops.

In later times, two great controversies have shaken the English Church, but have led to nothing more than some internal divisions, and the The Church of England passed through one more secession of some members to Rome, and a few to critical period before reaching that tranquillity in the ranks of dissent. These were the Tractarian which, for upwards of a century, she slumbered too and the Gorham controversies. The former was securely. In 1687, James II. published the famous occasioned by some Tracts which began to be Declaration of Indulgence, which filled up the published at Oxford in 1833, the object of which measure of popular discontent, and finally cost him was to revive something of the spirit of Catholic his crown. Although by this declaration, which antiquity, and reform the abuses and slovenly was perfectly illegal, liberty of conscience was per- practices which had crept into every part of the mitted to all his subjects, it was clearly understood church system. See TRACTS FOR THE TIMES. The that the liberty was intended only for the papists. Gorham Controversy (q. v.) related to the doctrine The nonconformists refused to accept the treacher- of baptismal regeneration. The Tractarians are ous boon. Eighteen bishops out of twenty-five accused of Romanising tendencies; and their views, refused to publish the declaration, as ordered, in when carried to extremes, undoubtedly lead in their dioceses. Seven of them-Sancroft, Lloyd, that direction, as is proved by the numerous Ken, Turner, Lake, White, and Trelawny-drew up secessions to that church. With the extreme Low a remonstrance to the king; they were summoned Church party, Episcopacy is rather an expedient before the privy council, and sent to the Tower. than a necessary form of church government. They The whole city was in commotion; and great was think but little of the efficacy of sacraments, and the rejoicing when, on being brought to trial in deny that regeneration necessarily takes place in Westminster Hall, they were acquitted. On the 5th infant baptism. Justification by faith, the atoneof November following, 1688, the Prince of Orangement of the cross, and the Calvinistic doctrines o

ENGLANTE-ENGLISH.

election, are their leading topics in preaching. See fabric, and the warming, lighting, cleaning, &c., of

the life of SIMEON and of VENN for the views of this party.

What are called BROAD CHURCH views, are those which are attributed to men of the Arnold school, and the followers of Mr Maurice (q. v.). Those who hold them can scarcely be called a party, and are, indeed, unwilling to be so considered; but if their position must be defined, they might be described as a party between, and somewhat antagonistic to, both the High and Low Church parties. The High Church party insist on the authority of the church and priesthood, the efficacy of sacraments when rightly received, and the necessity of apostolical succession in the matter of orders, and in their general teaching they take the Prayer-book as the exponent of Scripture. They are scrupulous in observing the rubrics, and have done much to revive the practice of daily prayer in the churches, and the observance of the festivals. Order, unity, antiquity, and catholicity are what they profess to have in view.

the church; and are under the exclusive control
of the churchwardens; of these there are two
in each parish, one generally nominated by the
minister, the other elected by the parishioners.
The Church of England has three orders of clergy
bishops, priests, and deacons. Generally, a degree
at one of the English universities, or of Dublin, is
required in a candidate for orders; but in Wales and
some of the more populous districts, this conditior
is dispensed with. There are 2 archbishops (Canter-
bury and York) and 26 bishops in England; besides
2 archbishops and 10 bishops in Ireland. The
archdeacons and rural deans assist the bishops in
the management of their dioceses.

The patronage of the church is in a great variety of hands-in the crown, the bishops, the nobles and gentry, and incorporate bodies such as colleges and cathedrals. Advowsons and next presentations may be sold as property, but a presentation may not be sold when a living is vacant. A clergyman is presented' to his living by the patron, he is inducted by the bishop or his appointee; he must read himself in,' i. e., he must read the Thirty-nine Articles after the morning or evening prayer within two months after induction.

The Episcopal Church in Scotland is not in union with that of England.

The above sketch has been largely drawn from Short's excellent History of the Church of England; see also Marsden's able Dictionary of Christian Churches and Sects, and Hardwick; also Fuller's Church History, Collier, Strype, Mosheim, Burnet, and Clarendon. Among the great divines whose works should be consulted for further information regarding the views of the church, may be named Barrow, Pearson, Hooker, Jeremy Taylor, Lightfoot, Hammond, Sancroft, South, Tillotson, Bishop Butler, Atterbury, Bull, Sherlock, and others. ENGLANTÉ, in Heraldry, is bearing acorns or other similar glands.

There are at present, in round numbers, 11,730 benefices in England and Wales, of which 1260 are new districts, which are being continually formed out of the old large and overpopulous parishes. Various acts of legislation have of late years facilitated this. These districts are called perpetual curacies, or incumbencies, and for the most part are but very slenderly endowed. The old benefices are either rectories, where the incumbent receives the great or corn tithes, or vicarages, where he receives the small tithe only. The great tithes had anciently been bestowed upon the neighbouring monasteries, who undertook the cure of the souls, and appointed vicars for the purpose, who lived on the small tithes and the offerings of the people. At the dissolution of the monasteries, many of the great tithes were given to laymen, and laymen now extensively hold them, and some to endowed colleges. There are two popular errors with respect to church property: one is, that the endowments were in some way made by the state; the other, that they are very rich. Neither of these is the case. The endowments were all by private beneficence, and there is no tenure so ancient as that by which the parish church holds her property. In the aggregate, the amount is very large, and was ascertained by the commission appointed in 1830 to be as follows: Bishops, £181,631; deans and chapters, £360,095; parochial clergy, £3,251,159: total annual revenue, £3,792,885. The revenues of the Irish branch are stated at £1,000,000, but this is probably in excess of the truth. Since 1830, the English revenues must have rather increased from private beneficence and the increase in the value of property. Divided equally amongst the whole number of benefices, this would give an average of less than £300 per annum for the joint support of incumbent and curates. It appears, from the last census, that there are in England and Wales 14,077 churches or chapels, served by E'NGLISH, forms the first part of several 17,320 ministers, or 123 ministers to every 100 geographical names.-1. English Cove is a bay buildings. The fixed character of the church of the Pacific Ocean, on the south-west coast of endowments, and their generally substantial build- New Ireland, in lat. 4° 54′ S., and long. 152° 35′ E. ings, have secured for the poorest and the most-2. English Harbour, on the south side of sequestered, and sometimes the most populous Antigua, is one of the best havens in the West neighbourhoods, from which wealth and civilisation Indies. It is situated in lat. 17° 3′ N., and long. have emigrated, at least a nucleus, and often a 61° 45′ W.-3. English Harbour is on the Pacific fruitful seed of moral and religious improvement; shore of Costa Rica, in Central America, lying in whilst the fixity of the church doctrines has been a lat. 8° 50′ N., and long. 83° 55′ W.-4. English standard of truth to restrain the license of individual River is an estuary on the west side of Delagoa opinion. The church rates, amounting to £500,000 Bay, an inlet of the Indian Ocean, in Africa. annually, are no part of the ministers' endowment; is about lat. 25° 58′ S., and long. 32° 36′ E.— they are collected from time immemorial, and 5. English River, otherwise known as Mississippi or exclusively devoted to the repairs of the church Great Water, enters Hudson's Bay from the west,

E'NGLESHERY, E'NGLESBURY, i. e., being The presentment of Engleshery an Englishman. is thus explained, Hale's Pl. of Crown, p. 446: Anciently, there was a law introduced by Canutus the Dane, that if any man were slain in the fields, and the manslayer were unknown, and could not be taken, the township where he was slain should be amerced to sixty-six marks; and if it were not sufficient to pay it, the hundred should be charged, unless it could be made appear before the coroner, upon the view of the body, that the party slain was an Englishman; and this making it appear was various according to the custom of several places, but most ordinarily it was by the testimony of two males of the part of the father of him that was slain, and by two females of the part of his law. Presentment of Engleshery was taken away mother.' William the Conqueror continued this 21 Edw. III. st. 1, c. 4.

It

ENGLISH CHANNEL-ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE-ENGLISH LITERATURE.

inflections, which the English has contrived to get rid of. It prefers to express the various modifications of an idea by some relational word or words attached to the leading idea. During the SemiSaxon period, as we have seen, the verbs suffered much less inflectional change than the substantives and adjectives; this will be found to hold throughout the entire 250 years of the era of reconstruction. In the fine poem of The Owl and the Nightingale, the Anglo-Saxon vowels a, e, u, in final syllables, are all represented by e, and the final n of the infinitive is beginning to disappear. In the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, we encounter, besides, a great number of French words, which had gradually become familiar to the people, through the presence of their Norman masters. The presence of French is, besides, very noticeable in the poetry of Chaucer and Gower. What fear could not accomplish, literary respect produced; for it is no doubt to the literary men of England, rather than to its masters, that we owe so large an admixture of French expressions and of French terminology. Our first complete translation of the Bible belongs to this period. Piers Plowman has but few French words, while Lydgate and Bishop Peacock have too many; and More's Edward V. (1509), and the Nut Brown Maid (1500), are comparatively modern in their style and tone. As to Scotland, again, in the Anglian counties lying south of the Forth, the language in all respects was similar to its more southern neighbour, and underwent such changes as we have noted in its more Saxon compeer. Barbour, a Scottish contemporary of Chaucer, wrote purer English than Chaucer did, and his poems resembled in a striking degree the homely phraseology of Piers Plowman. Regarding the north-eastern dialects of Scotland, some diversity of opinion exists. Some antiquaries are of opinion, that the large infusion of Norse or Scandinavian elements in these dialects is to be accounted for by the fact of a Norwegian kingdom having been maintained in the east of Scotland during the 11th c. for a period of thirty years; while others allege with more probability, that the language of the north-east of Scotland is as decidedly AngloSaxon in its form and substance as that of Norfolk or Yorkshire.

northern and a southern one. The Anglian or Northern dialect, it has been presumed, was, to some extent, marked with Scandinavian features; while the Saxon or Southern dialect was more purely Low-Germanic, though the Anglian was also Low-Germanic in all essentials. Some have accounted for the partial approximation of the Anglian dialect to Scandinavian by the fact that the Danes, at a later period, effected a settlement in the north-east of England; but, on the other hand, it is argued that certain peculiarities of a Scandinavian character are to be found in the Anglian, even of a date anterior to the first Danish occupation of a part of England in the latter half of the ninth century. Some philologers, again, insist on distributing the Anglo-Saxon language into more dialects than two; but it will be sufficient if the reader bear in mind the two which have been mentioned. Now, the question arises, which of the dialects of the Anglo-Saxon is specifically the parent of the English tongue? Two answers have been given to this question. It has been alleged that after the Norman Conquest, the classical Saxon of Wessex lost its temporary supremacy, and gradually gave way to a different dialect-namely, that of the Midland counties of England. This was the district where the universities sprung up, and where the rich monasteries and other religious foundations took their rise; and in support of this theory, it is argued by competent scholars, that the dialect which is most closely allied to the standard English of our day is that of Northamptonshire and some neighbouring counties. On the other hand, it has been maintained by no less an authority than Sir Francis Madden, and his conclusion seems not unlikely, that we must look for the real groundwork of our language in a gradual coalescence of nearly all the leading dialects of England. See his edition of Layamon's Brut, 1847. The period known as Semi-Saxon, in the history of our English tongue, dates from about the Conquest until near the middle of the 13th century. This was a transition era, and, like every era of the kind, one of confusion, both to those using the language, and to those desirous of tracing its history. The monks of the time, accustomed to the use of medieval Latin, had in a great measure forgotten the grammar of the Anglo-Saxon language; and In the Modern English Period, says Professor when they attempted to write their mother-tongue, Spalding, 'the organisation of the English language did so very badly. In fact, their language is just may be said to be complete. The laws determining ungrammatical Anglo-Saxon, and very probably had the changes to be made on words, and regulating its counterpart in the usus loquendi of the common the grammatical structure of sentences, had been people. The Saxon Chronicle, as it is called, which definitively fixed, and were generally obeyed; all bears date 1173, and Layamon's Brut, about 1190 that had still to be gained in this particular, was an or 1200, exhibit traces of the breaking-up of the increase of ease and dexterity in the application of Anglo-Saxon. The inflections and genders of the the rules. The vocabulary, doubtless, was not so substantives, the definite and indefinite declensions far advanced. It was receiving constant accesof adjectives, are for the most part disregarded; a sions; and the three-and-a-half centuries that have marked partiality is shewn for weak preterites and since elapsed, have increased our stock of words participles; there is a constant substitution of en for immensely. But this is a process which is still on in the plurals of verbs; and the final e is often going on, and which never comes to a stop in the discarded; besides a great uncertainty prevailing speech of any people; and the grammar being once in the government of prepositions. As regards the thoroughly founde 1, the effects of glossarial changes Semi-Saxon vocabulary itself, although employed are only secondary, until the time arrives when in literature a century and a half after the Norman they co-operate with other causes in breaking up a Conquest, it exhibits but few traces of Norman- language altogether.'-For further information, the French; proving beyond question, that the imme-reader is referred to such accessible works as those diate effects of that great change were by no means so important on the Anglo-Saxon tongue as they were at one time believed to have been.

When we come to the Early English Period, we have escaped most of the perplexities which attach themselves to the Semi-Saxon era of our language. The principles of the English tongue now assert themselves actively in contrast with those of its Teutonic origin. The Anglo-Saxon was rich in

of Latham, Craik, and Spalding.

ENGLISH LITERATURE, like every other mental product, is qualified by the history of the nation to which it belongs. The great social eras of a country's history have always been found to correspond with the great intellectual eras of her growth. It will, however, be sufficient for our purpose to arrange the literary annals of England into three periods: 1. The period antecedent to the

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

1. The Period Antecedent to the Conquest.-This period possesses a literature composed in three distinct languages-the Celtic, the Latin, and the Anglo-Saxon. Regarding the Celtic literature, see CELTIC NATIONS, IRISH LITERATURE, and WELSH LITERATURE. The introduction of Latin literature into this country was considerably later than the Roman invasion of it. The cultivation of the letters of Rome followed as a necessary consequence on the introduction of Christianity into the country. St Patrick is said to have been the first teacher of Christianity in the British Islands, some time before the middle of the 5th century. Ireland was the scene of his labours; and it is well known that it was by Irish missionaries, chief among whom was St Columba (q. v.), that the first light of the gospel was attempted to be disseminated in Scotland and the north of England. Towards the close of the 6th c., St Augustine landed in the south of England, and laid the foundations of the Anglo-Catholic Church. These great evangelists, however, rather prepared the way for literary effort on the part of others, than were themselves literary. The earliest names of importance that we encounter are Alcuin and Erigena, Bede and Alfred. After the immigration of the Anglo-Saxons into Britain, this people began to form a literature of their own. Their three historical poems-the Gleeman's Song, the Battle of Finnesburgh, and the Tale of Beowulf-are mainly versions of events which happened on the continent before the descent on the shores of England. The last, which is essentially a Norse tale, is the only poem resembling an Iliad which the Anglo-Saxons possess. Except the remarkable religious poems of the Northumbrian monk Cædmon, in the 7th c., little more of any moment in verse has been handed down to us by the Anglo-Saxon people. But this people, though comparatively poor in poetry, are eminently simple and straightforward prose writers. King Alfred discarded Latin in all his communications with his subjects, and in consequence the Anglo-Saxon made an impressive start throughout the whole of England. From the Saxon Chronicle, which is made up from the MS. of several conventual records, modern scholars have derived special and valuable information. Portions of the sacred Scriptures were translated into this language, several of the leading men of the time, such as Aldhelm, Bede, and Alfred, lending their assistance. Sermons and grammars, glossaries and medical treatises, geographies and dialogues between Solomon and Saturn, make up the file of this period of the literature. This notice of the first period must be concluded by an allusion to the illustrious name of Alfred, who, by his enlightenment and his virtue, has rendered the 9th c., in which he flourished, one of the brightest spots in the whole range of English literature. His favourite literary employment was rendering works written in Latin, a language which he only knew imperfectly, into his native tongue. He did not scruple to add a picturesque story, a bit of geography, or a devout prayer, when occasion suited, to the original text of his author. Even in his version of the last of the philosophic Romans, he sometimes vies with Boëthius in passages of solemn eloquence or of speculative meditation.

Norman Conquest; 2. The period extending from those of the obstinate inhabitants of the country the Norman Conquest to the English Reformation; In a few centuries, the English people compelled and 3. The period extending from the English their Norman masters to acquire the despised Reformation to the present day. Anglo-Saxon; and if there was a considerable importation of Norman-French into our literature, it was owing much more to such writers as Chaucer and Gower, who took what suited them from whatever quarter, than to any lordly influence of the Norman nobility domineering over the abject necks of their Teutonic enemies. In a generation or two after the Conquest, classical and theological learning made very considerable progress. Monasteries were busy, and the English universities were both by this time founded; while an interchange of teachers and pupils constantly went on between the English seminaries and those of France and other countries. Lanfranc and Anselm, Hales and Duns Scotus, Michael Scot and Roger Bacon, had attained to a great eminence in speculative and in physical philosophy. Doubtless their thinking was more characterised by its hair-splitting ingenuity than by its solidity, but the 13th c. stands out in a distinguished manner in England, and indeed throughout Europe, for its peculiar devotion to speculative studies. But all these philosophers wrote in Latin, and so did the historical writers of the time. These were William of Malmesbury, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Giraldus Cambrensis, Matthew Paris, and other chroniclers. One of the most curious and amusing phases through which our literature passed was the composition of local squibs, generally of a personal character, in rhymed Latin couplets. The ecclesiastics frequently came in for more than their share of this rude abuse. It is to Walter Mapes, a man of wit and fancy, we owe a highly popular drinking-song of this period, beginning Mihi est propositum in taberna mori (I devise to end my days in a tavern drinking;' see Leigh Hunt's felicitous translation), which almost rivals in spirit and vigour the Jolly Good Ale and Old of two centuries later. The satire passed from the clergy, and was directed against the feeble king (John). De Montfort and the other great barons who distinguished themselves at Runnymede, are the universal theme of popular praise. The Gesta Romanorum, a medley of the most dissimilar elements, compiled by nobody knows who, contain tales and apologues, fables and satires, stories of pathos and of humour, worked up into a form closely resembling the French Fabliaux. These Gesta have been instrumental in suggesting some of the noblest themes to our more recent literature, and thus possess double claims on our affectionate regard. The Merchant of Venice, Marmion, &c., owe much to these rude tales of a bygone age. The French Fabliaux affected our literature but little before the time of Chaucer. Except the productions of a poetess, Marie of France, few of these compositions have come down to us of very great merit. The romances of chivalry, rude and spirited, pathetic and imaginative, are well worth the attention of the student of English literature; such are the fine old story of Havelok the Dane, the Gest of King Horn, Bevis of Hamptoun, Guy of Warwick; and last and best of all are those romances written in French, but composed by Englishmen, that celebrate the glory and fall of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, of which splendid use has recently been made by Alfred Tennyson in his Idylls of the King. But what during all this time has become of the old vernacular tongue of England as a medium of literary expression? Driven from the monasteries and universities, for the most part, and only slightly retained in poetry, it might have been expected to decay and die out. But such was the native vitality of the people who spoke it, that it kept its place.

2. The Period extending from the Norman Conquest to the English Reformation.-The Conquest had the effect of changing the language and manners of the court; it took but little effect on

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