Mrs. Nichols has given to her work. The book is an excellent addition to the subject of which it treats, and should find a place in every library, private and public, as well as in the schools as a useful textbook.

In concluding this sincerely friendly introduction to Mrs. Nichols' "Leaves from English Literature" I beg to suggest that she will write a similar volume upon American literature.

1722 North Calvert Street,

EUGENE L. DIDIER,

Baltimore, Md., June 15, 1913.

NEV

LEAVES FROM ENGLISH LITERALD TURE. LIBRARY

LITERATURE DEFINED.

WEBSTER says that Literature is "the class of writings distinguished for beauty of style or expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction from scientific treatises and works which contain positive knowledge."

Literature is not the expression of the political, social, or civil life of a nation, but of the spiritual life of that nation.

A man's writings do not always partake of his spiritual life, but that of his age.

Dryden was pure but his poetry was adapted to his

age.

FORCES THAT DETERMINE THE CHARACTER
OF LITERATURE.

Three great forces constitute the mainspring of all literature, the race, the surroundings, and the epoch.

Races, or varieties of men, differ as much as the same species of lower animals. As an example, some dogs are valuable to the shepherd, others are useful to the hunter and still others are only fit to bark and bite.

Some men are brave; some are timid; some are born to rule; some are born to servitude; some are intelligent; some are stupid.

Taine says: "A race, like the old Aryans, scattered

from the Ganges: as far as the Hebrides, settled in every clime, spread over every grade of civilization, transformed by thirty centuries of revolutions, nevertheless manifests in its tongues, religions, literatures, philosophies, the community of blood and of intellect which to this day binds its offshoots together."

No man liveth unto himself." He is surrounded by nature and inspired by her sweetest smiles and most beautiful charms. He is also surrounded by his fellowmen. Climate has its effect. The mixing and mingling with other races must be considered. The form of government plays an important part. It is more than probable that the landscape, the mountains, plains, etc., wield the chief influence under this head in the production of literature.

The giant oak grows little by little each year. It begins a tender plant, but it gradually becomes strong. The force stored up in the preceding years enables it under favorable surroundings to continue its growth. What has gone before gives momentum to that which follows. The writer of any epoch has the accumulated force of the epochs which precede him and its influence will be seen and felt in his writings.

Race, surroundings, and epochs do not interpret everything in literature. The personal element must be considered. Sometimes a writer rises above his fellow-men like mountain peaks above the valley below. Such a writer is usually called a genius and his efforts are seen and felt in after ages.

INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON LITERATURE.

THE character and success of the poet depend largely upon the material furnished. The surroundings do not make the poet but aid most materially. The land and climate too have their influences. Compare Russia with

Greece and observe these influences. While Russia had no literary productions of note, grand old Athens was the very fountain-head of learning. Look back on Arabia in the year 662, inhabited by nomads. Up to that time this country noted for its fast horses had never contributed a single thing to the literature of the world. In this age Arabia was inhabited by wandering tribes, yet in one century, mark the rapid strides. Splendid cities, marble-paved halls, culture, and affluence are seen on every side.

One genius, Mohammed, blazed forth and illumined these desert wilds. One master intellect revealed all these dormant beauties. The soul of one individual developed this latent talent. Mohammed's wonderful imagination caused his followers to believe that he was inspired, but he was a great poet that misunderstood and mistook his mission.

Great spirits burst forth under adverse circumstances. Milton rose above the dark surroundings. Shakespeare lived in a propitious age, when there was everything to nurture his talent.

POETRY, THE OLDEST LITERATURE.

THE oldest literature extant is poetry. As an illustration, the book of Job among the Hebrews and Homer's Illiad among the Greeks.

"As

The first literature of any people is poetry. civilization advances poetry almost necessarily declines. Language, the machine of the poet, is best fitted for his purpose in its rudest state. Nations, like individuals, first perceive, then abstract. They advance from particular images to general terms. Hence the vocabulary of an enlightened society is philosophical, that of a half-civilized people is poetical."

THE LANGUAGE AND THE COUNTRY.

No language has grown so fast and spread so rapidly as the language of the English people. From its rapid progress, it is thought by leading scholars that it will one day become the universal language. All other languages will be submerged in the great English sea. The literature produced by the English speaking people is superior to the literature of any other people.

Read the poems of Shelley, Keats and Tennyson, and it will be seen that there is nothing to compare with the masterpieces of English Literature. Wonderful land where a great people have been developed! Wonderful variety of contour and landscape! The southern part is called "the land of roses " where roses bloom profuselygrow everywhere clamber upward-trail downward. The middle part is more nearly level and impresses one with vigor and solidity. Everything neat, trimmed, and pruned. Toward the north the people are more prosperous. "Charles II. said that he was convinced that there was not a country in the world where one could spend so much time out of doors comfortably as in England; and he might have added that the people fully appreciate this fact and habitually avail themselves of it.-(Montgomery.)

A HETEROGENEOUS LANGUAGE.

PROF. MAX MULLER in his "Lectures on the Science of Language" has the following to say of the English Language: "There is, perhaps, no language so full of words evidently derived from the most distant sources