English Prose for junior and senior classes

Preface

. This Reading-book of English Prose is meant as a companion book to the English Verse sent out two years ago. It is put together on the same plan, and with the same purpose in view. It is divided into two Parts, published separately. The First Part, presenting twenty specimens of as many famous, or at least popular, prose works, from Malory's Le Morte Darthur to Boswell's Life of Dr Johnson, conducts the reader from the close of the fifteenth century to the end of the eighteenth ; the Second Part, presenting other twenty, deals entirely with the prose literature of the nineteenth century. Each specimen is, in its own way, a masterpiece, and is long enough to show, with some degree of fulness, in most cases its author's cast of genius, and in every case the main characteristics of style of the work it represents.

In every instance the selected text is of a kind likely to interest young scholars ; and variety of literary form also has been so far taken into account as to avoid monotony on that score. Heroic Romance, Sacred History, the Essay, Theology, Sport and Rurality, Philosophy, Allegorical Romance, Criticism, the Story of Adventure, the Novel of Domestic Life, Bio-

PREFACE.

. graphy, Secular History, Letter -writing, Science, Art, and the literature of Travel and Discovery, are all represented in the various forms or styles peculiar to these different kinds of writing, and in such a way as will, it is hoped, excite in the mind of the reader a desire for further acquaintance with the great masters of English prose. Each specimen is introduced with some notice of its author, and of the scope and qualities of the work to which it belongs. Notes are ap pended to explain and illustrate the text ; and, when the text requires it, summaries are provided to give intelligibility or unity to the piece. The Editor's object has been, not only to furnish for young scholars between the ages of thirteen and sixteen a series of interesting readings, but also to indicate the wealth and variety of English prose literature throughout its entire course, and to illustrate in some degree the progress of our language, but especially the development of taste and style.

Senior pupils should therefore read the book straight through ; but for junior pupils the teacher will find it advisable to make his own selection of lessons. The attempt here made to combine a direct knowledge of what is best and most characteristic in English prose with the study of our literary history has already been made in the Editor's Outlines of English Literature for Young Scholars, but necessarily at much less length than the purpose of the present book permits. The importance, or rather the neces sity, of the combination has been happily enforced by Sir Henry Craik. "The knowledge of our literature," he has said, " must enter largely into higher education ; but let not that subject degenerate into a mere learning of strings of

PREFACE.

. V names and dates, and titles of books which remain sealed volumes to your pupils. Such a method of teaching litera ture presents temptations, and is apt to make a show in examinations. To map out our literature is a good thing, but if the map is only an outline one, and none of the details are filled in, the study (if it is to be called so) produces a sort of intellectual dishonesty. We must give something, however little, of the spirit of the author, teach them to understand his genius, and to know how and why he is to be read and remembered. Above all things, we must give them the intellectual property of sound and discriminating taste." J L. R. CONTENTS. PAGE I. Kino Arthur's Last Battle 3 Sir Thomas Malory. II. Elijah's Challenge 17 The Authorised Version. III. Hnw and What to Study, and Why .... 26 How to Benefit by Travel 28 Hints for Conversation 30 Lord Bacon.

IV. How to be Contented ....... 38 Jeremy Taylor. V. A Day's Angling in May 53 Izadk Walton. VI. Immortality more than Fame 72 Sir Thomas Browne. VII. An Account of Myself ....... 86 Abraham Cowley. VIII. From the House Beautiful to Vanity Fair . . 96 John Bunyan. IX. A Talk about some Great Authors . . , .116 John Dryden. CONTENTS. X. The First Number of The Spectator .- or, Mr Spectator makes his Bow . . . . . .133 The Subject, Object, and Nature of Mr Spectator's Satire ; or, A Night's Debate at the Club . 137 Mr Spectator burns his Notes ; or, A Scene in Lloyd's Coffee-house 141 The First Vision of Mirza. From an Oriental MS. . 144 Joseph Addison. XI. The Footmark on the Sand . . . . .153 Daniel Defoe. XII. Gulliver in Brobdingnag . . . . . .168 Jonathan Swift. XIII. Practical Joking with Parson Adams . . . 184 Henry Fielding.

XIV. The Young Lieutenant and his Son .... 203 Laurence Sterne. XV. Great Bargains at Wellbridge Fair . . .217 Oliver Goldsmith. XVI. The Greatest Voyage of Adventure . . . 229 William Robertson. XVIL James Thomson, a Poet of Nature .... 236 Samuel Johnson. XVIII. The Story of Zenobia .... 248 Edward Gibbon. XIX. A Poet's Letters ..... 261 William Cowper. XX. Entrapping Johnson — a Successful " Negotiation " . 276 James Boswell. CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF AUTHORS 1. Sir Thomas Malory . . . fl. 1470 2. Translators of the Bible — Bishop Andrews ..... 1555-1626 3. Lord Bacon ...... 1561-1626 4. Izaak Walton ...... 1593-1683 5. Sir Thomas Browne ..... 1605-1682 6. Jeremy Taylor ..... 1613-1667 7. Abraham Cowley ..... 1618-1667 8. John Bunyan ...... 1628-1688 9. John Dryden ...... 1631-1700 10. Daniel Defoe ...... 1661-1731 11.

Jonathan Swift ..... 1667-1745 12. Joseph Addison ..... 1672-1719 13. Henry Fielding ..... 1707-1754 14. Samuel Johnson ..... 1709-1784 15. Laurence Sterne ..... 1713-1768 16. William Robertson ..... 1721-1793 17. Oliver Goldsmith 1728-1774 18. William Cowper ..... 1731-1800 19. Edward Gibbon 1737-1794 20. James Boswell . . . . . 1740-1795 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WORKS. Published 1. Le Morte Darthur ...... 1485 2. The Bible (Authorised Version) .... 1611 3. Bacon's Essays .... 1597, 1612, 1625 4. Holy Living ....... 1650 5. The Compleat Angler ..... 1653 6. Hydriotaphia, or Urn-burial ..... 1658 7. Cowley's Essays ...... 166S 8. The Pilgrim's Progress .... 1678, 1684 9. Essay of Dramatic Poesy, and Preface to Fables . 1667, 1700 10. The Spectator ..... 1711-1714 11. Robinson Crusoe ..... 1719-1720 12.

Gulliver's Travels . . . . . .1726 13. The Adventures of Joseph Andrews .... 1742 14. Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy . . 1759-67 15. The Vicar of Wakefield . . . . .1766 16. The History of America ..... 1777 17. The Lives of the Poets .... 1779-81 18. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire . . 1776-81-88 19. Cowper's Letters ..... 1781-86 20. Life of Dr Johnson . . . . . .1791 I SIR THOMAS MALORY AND LE MORTE DARTHUR. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that Sir Thomas Malory's book of Arthurian romance is one of the great books of the world. Whether in regard to its own merits, of both sentiment and style, or in regard to its influence on English literature, it may be said to deserve the distinction. Prose-writing in England was scarcely an art till it was written : it is the first great effort in prose our literature can show ; and its subject-matter has had a strange attraction for many of our leading poets — such as Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Wordsworth, Scott, and Tennyson.

It is, besides, certain that much of our British war - spirit and love of adventure has been fostered, if not created, by this book. It was written by a knight of the fifteenth century, whose name is variously given as Mallore, Malory, Maleor, &c. Who he was nobody can say. It has been supposed that he was a Welshman, but only because his subject is of Welsh or Celtic origin : there are, however, ancient families of the name in habiting the English midlands. It has also been supposed that he was a priest, but only because of the pious exclamation, with which his prose epic of romance terminates, "that he is the servant of Jesus both day and night " ; yet he repeatedly designates himself as knight, both at the beginning and at the end of his book. A SIE THOMAS MALORY. In the course of his story, or rather chaos of stories, about Arthur and his knights, Malory refers, scores of times, to a certain French book as his authority.

But he drew from various sources, both English and French ; and, while he may be variously called a compiler and a translator, it is also true that he handled the legends in his own way wdth such freedom and artistic skill as to entitle him to the merit of an original writer. The part of his work which is presented here — Arthur's Last Battle — is a version of the old English metrical Le Mort Arthur. Tennyson, in The Passing of Arthur, has not copied Malory less closely than Malory has followed the old metrical romance. It may indeed be doubted whether Tennyson's Idyl has improved on the picturesqueness or the pathos of the story as told by Malory. Malory had finished his work " the ninth year of the reign of King Edward the Fourth" — i.e., in 1469-70; but it was not till 1485 that it was printed.

Two copies of this origi nal edition,1 as printed in black-letter by Caxton, still exist. They show a book of over 850 folio pages, divided, by the printer, into twenty-one chaptered books. The title-page in forms the reader that though the "noble and joyous" book is called Le Morte Darthur, yet it treats of the Birth, Life, and Acts of the said King ; of his noble Knights of the Round Table, their marvellous Quests and Adventures ; the Achieving of the Sangreal ; and, in the end, the Dolorous Death and Departing out of this World of them all." The story of Arthur is not English originally, but British or Welsh. Its romance captivated the English, and has coloured, one might almost say, the whole of our literature, both verse and prose. It began in the traditionary history of the Celtic Prince Arthur, and first took on its romantic hues from the hand of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote in Latin his History of the Kings of Britain in 1147.

A French writer, Wace embel lished Geoffrey's narrative in the production (in 1155?) of Le Brut oVAngleterre. Wace's work was the basis of Layamon's Brut (1205), written in Old English alliterative verse. These 1 The last and best reprint is by the learned German, Dr H. Oskar Sommer (1889). romantic histories give a Trojan origin to the British race, finding the founder of Britain in Brutus, the great-grandson of Æneas ; they come down, through the times of Arthur and his Knights, to the death, in 689, of the British (or Welsh) King Cadwallader. The work of inventing and embellishing went on apace, in connection with those Arthurian legends and myths, both in French and in English: Walter Map (in 1180?) is credited with having contributed the Quest of the Holy Grail, the character of Launcelot of the Lake, and the Death of Arthur.

At last, in 1470, came Sir Thomas Malory " at the moment when the charm of those exquisite tales of chivalry was taking its sunset colours," and fashioning and arranging with the in stinct of genius what was best in the whole cycle, gave them the permanent prose epic form in which we have them. Malory's style was partly formed on the French romances which he read and translated. His sentence is short and clear ; and the style is well sustained all through his book. He is generally picturesque, and not seldom musical. His style is equally capable of expressing pathos and action. Not only is he master of an artistic prose style, happy in small but effective details ; he has the further praise of setting a noble example in an age when prose was not yet regarded as an art. Of Malory's work as a whole Sir Walter Scott declared that " it is the best prose romance the English language can boast of."

KING ARTHUR'S LAST BATTLE. Then were they condescended that King Arthur and Sir Mordred should meet betwixt their hosts, and each of them should bring fourteen persons. And they came with this word unto Arthur. Then said he, "I am glad that this is done." And when Arthur should depart into the field, he warned all his host, that, an they saw any sword drawn — " Look ye come on fiercely," said he, "and slay that traitor Sir Mordred; for I in no wise trust him." In like wise Sir Mordred warned his host — " An ye see any sword drawn, look ye come on fiercely, and so slay all that ever before you stand, for in no wise will I trust for this treaty ; for I know well my father will be avenged on me." And so they met as their appointment was ; and they were agreed, and accorded thoroughly ; and wine was fetched, and they drank.

Eight so came an adder out of a little heather bush, and it stung a knight on the foot ; and, when the knight felt him stung, he looked down and saw the adder ; and then he drew his sword to slay the adder, and thought of no other harm. But, when the host on both parts saw that sword drawn, then they blew beamous trumpets and horns, and shouted grimly. And so both hosts dressed them together. And King Arthur took his horse, and said, " Alas ! this unhappy day " ; and so rode to his party. And Sir Mordred in like wise. And never was there seen a more doleful battle in any Christian land ; for there was but rushing and riding, hewing and striking; and many a grim word was there spoken, either to other, and many a deadly stroke struck. But ever King Arthur rode throughout the battle of Sir Mordred many times, and did full nobly as a noble king should ; and at all times he fainted never.

And Sir Mordred that day put him in devoir and in great peril. And thus they fought all the long day, and never stinted, till the noble knights were laid to the cold earth. And ever they fought still, till it was near night ; and by that time was there an hundred thousand laid dead upon the down. Then was Arthur wood wroth out of measure, when he saw his people so slain from him. Then the king looked about him, and then was he ware of all his host and of all his good knights, were left no more alive but two knights, Sir Lucan de Butler, and his brother Sir Bedwere ; and they were full sore wounded. " Jesu, mercy ! " said the king, " where are all my knights become 1 Alas, that ever I should see this doleful day ! For now," said Arthur, " I am come to mine end. But would to God that I wist where were that traitor Sir Mordred, that hath caused all this meschief !

" Then was King Arthur ware where Sir Mordred leaned upon his sword among a great heap of dead men. " Now give me my spear," said Arthur unto Sir Lucan ; for yonder I have espied the traitor that all this woe hath wrought." " Sir, let him be," said Sir Lucan ; " for he is unhappy. And if ye pass this unhappy day, ye shall be right well revenged upon him. Therefore, for God's sake, my lord, leave of by this ; for, blessed be God, ye have won the field. For here we ben three alive, and with Sir Mordred is none alive. And, if ye leave off now, this wicked day of destiny is past." " 'Tide me death, betide me life," says the king, " now I see him yonder alone, he shall never escape my hands ; for at a better avail shall I never have him." " God speed you well ! " said Sir Bedwere. Then the king gat his spear in both his hands, and ran toward Sir Mordred, crying, " Traitor, now is thy death-day come !

" And when Sir Mordred heard King Arthur he ran unto him with his sword drawn in his hand. And then King Arthur smote Sir Mordred under the shield with a foin of his spear out through the body more than a fathom. And, when Sir Mordred felt that he had his death's wound, he thrust himself, with the might that he had, up to the bur of King Arthur's spear. And right so he smote his father Arthur, with his sword holden in both his hands, on the side of the head, that the sword pierced the helmet and the brain pan, and therewithal Sir Mordred lay stark dead to the earth. And the noble Arthur fell in a swoon to the earth, and there he swooned ofttimes. And Sir Lucan de Butler and Sir Bedwere ofttimes heaved him up ; and so weakly they led him betwixt them both to a little chapel not far from the seaside.

And, when the king was there, he thought him well eased. Then heard they people in the field. "Now go thou, Sir Lucan," said the king, "and do me to wit what betokens that noise in the field." So Sir Lucan departed, who was grievously wounded in many places. And so, as he went, he saw and hearkened by the moonlight how that pillers and robbers were come into the field to pill and rob many a full noble knight of brooches and beads, of many a good ring and of many a rich jewel. And who ever were not dead all out, there they slew them for their harness and their riches. When Sir Lucan understood this work, he came to the king as soon as he might, and told him all what he had heard and seen. "Therefore be my rede," said Sir Lucan, "it is best that we bring you to some town." "I would it were so," said the king; "but I may not stand, my' head works so.

Ah, Sir Launcelot, this day have I sore missed thee. Alas, that ever I was against thee ! for now have I my death." Then Sir Lucan took up the king the one part, and Sir Bedwere the other part ; and in the lifting the king swooned, and Sir Lucan fell in a swoon with the lift. And therewith the noble knight's heart burst. And when the king awoke he beheld Sir Lucan, how he lay foaming at the mouth. " Alas ! " said the king, " this is to me a full heavy LE MORTE DARTHUE. 7 sight, to see this noble duke so die for my sake ; for he would have holpen me that had more need of help than I. Alas ! he would not complain him, his heart was so set to help me. Now Jesu have mercy upon his soul ! " Then Sir Bedwere wept for the death of his brother. " Leave this mourning and weeping," said the king, " for all this will not avail me ; for wit thou well, an I might live myself the death of Sir Lucan would grieve me evermore ; but my time hieth fast," said the king.

" Therefore," said Arthur unto Sir Bedwere, " take thou Excalybur, my good sword, and go with it to yonder waterside, and when thou comest there, I charge thee throw my sword in that water, and come again, and tell me what thou there seest." " My lord," said Bedwere, " your commandment shall be done, and I shall lightly bring you word again." So Sir Bedwere departed. And by the way he beheld that noble sword, that the pommel and the haft was all of precious stones ; and then he said to himself, " If I throw this rich sword in the water, thereof shall never come good, but harm and loss." And then Sir Bedwere hid Excalybur under a tree. And so, as soon as he might, he came again unto the king, and said he had been at the water, and had thrown the sword into the water. " What saw thou there 1 " said the king.

" Sir," he said, " I saw no thing but waves and winds." " That is untruly said of thee," said the king. " There fore go thou lightly again, and do my commandment ; as thou art lief to me and dear, spare not, but throw it in." Then Sir Bedwere returned again, and took the sword in his hand ; and then him thought sin and shame to throw away that noble sword, and so eft he hid the sword, and returned again, and told to the king that he had been at the water and done his commandment. "What saw thou there." said the king. "Sir," he said, "I saw no thing but the waters wap and the waves wane." " Ah, traitor untrue ! " said King Arthur, " now thou hast betrayed me twice. Who would have weened that thou that hast been to me so lief and dear, and that art named a noble knight, would betray me for the riches of the sword ?

But now go again lightly, for thy long tarrying putteth me in great jeopardy of my life ; for I have taken cold ; and but-if thou do now as I bid thee, if ever I may see thee, I shall slay thee with mine own hands ; for thou wouldest for my rich sword see me dead." ' Then Sir Bedwere departed, and went to the sword, and lightly took it up, and went to the waterside, and there he bound the girdle about the hilts, and then— he threw the sword as far into the water as he might ! And there came an arm and an hand above the water, and met it, and caught it, and so shook it thrice and brandished it ; and then — vanished away the hand with the sword in the water ! So Sir Bedwere came again to the king, and told him what he saw. " Alas ! " said the king, " help me hence, for I dread me I have tarried overlong."

Then Sir Bedwere took the king upon his back, and so went with him to that waterside. And when they were at the water side, even fast by the bank boved a little barge with many fair ladies in it ; and among them all was a queen ; and all they had black hoods, and all they wept and shrieked when they saw King Arthur. " Now put me into the barge," said the king. And so he did softly. And there received him three queens with great mourning. And so they set them down, and in one of their laps King Arthur laid his head, and thus that queen said, " Ah, dear brother ! " why have ye tarried so long from me 1 Alas ! this wound on your head hath caught overmuch cold." And so then they rowed from the land, and Sir Bedwere beheld all the ladies go from him. Then Sir Bedwere cried — "Ah, my lord Arthur ! what shall become of me, now ye go from me, and leave me here alone among mine enemies 1 " "Comfort thyself," said the king, "and do as well as thou mayst, for in me is no trust to trust in.

For I will into the vale of Avilion to heal me of my grievous wound. And, if thou hear never more of me, pray for my soul." But ever the queens and ladies wept and shrieked, that it was pity to hear. And as soon as Sir Bedwere had lost the sight of the barge, he wept and wailed, and so took the forest. And so he went all that night, and in the morning he was ware, betwixt two holts hoar, of a chapel and an hermitage. Then was Sir Bedwere glad, and thither he went ; and, when he came into the chapel, he saw where lay an hermit, grovelling on all four there, fast by a tomb was new graven. When the hermit saw Sir Bedwere he knew him well, for he was but little tofore Bishop of Canterbury that Sir Mordred fleemed. " Sir," said Sir Bedwere, " what man is there in terred that ye pray so fast for?"

"Fair son," said the hermit, "I wot not verily, but by my deeming. But this night, at midnight, here came a number of ladies, and brought hither a dead corse, and prayed me to bury him, and here they offered an hundred tapers, and they gave me an hundred besants." "Alas!" said Sir Bedwere, "that was my lord King Arthur that here lieth buried in this chapel." Then Sir Bedwere swooned ; and, when he awoke, he prayed the hermit he might abide with him still there, to live with fasting and prayers. " For from hence will I never go," said Sir Bedwere, "by my will; but here to prajr all the days of my life for my lord Arthur." " Ye are welcome to me," said the hermit, " for I know you better than ye ween that I do. Ye are the bold Bed were, and the full noble duke Sir Lucan de Butler was your brother."

Then Sir Bedwere told the hermit all as ye have heard tofore. So there 'bode Sir Bedwere with the hermit that was tofore Bishop of Canterbury ; and there Sir Bedwere put upon him poor clothes, and served the hermit full lowly in fasting and in prayers. More of the death of King Arthur could I never find but that ladies brought him to his burials, and such one was buried there that the hermit bare witness that sometime was Bishop of Canterbury ; but yet the hermit knew not in certain that he was verily the body of King Arthur, for this tale Sir Bedwere, Knight of the Table Eound, made it to be written. Yet some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had, by the will of our Lord Jesu, into another place ; and men say that he shall come again, and he shall win the holy cross.

I will not say that it shall be so, but rather I will say here in this world he changed his life ; but many men say that there is written upon his tomb this verse — f^tt jacet 2tttl)ut«3 3&zx quantum xzxqnt futtttus. — Le Morte Darthur. (Reduced into English by Sir Thomas Malory, Kt.) NOTES. Page 3. condescended. Agreed. Mordred. Before King Arthur married Guenever, he had a son, Mor dred by name, of whom at his birth Merlin prophesied that he should one day fight in a great battle against his own father. When the child grew up to manhood he joined the party against Sir Launeelot ; and, when Arthur was reluctantly persuaded to pursue and punish Sir Launcelot in his own country beyond the sea, the government of Eng land was left in the hands of Mordred. Mordred was, in his own way, as unfaithful to the king as the brave and well-beloved Launcelot had unhappily been.

He forged letters which stated that Arthur was slain in battle abroad ; and, assuming the crown, demanded also the hand of the queen. Guenever thereupon shut herself up in Lon don Tower ; and Mordred was besieging it, when news reached him that his father was returning home. Having a strong party of adher ents, the usurper hastened south, and opposed Arthur as he was land ing at Dover. In a disastrous battle among the boats, Sir Gawain, the king's faithful nephew, was slain. Arthur and Mordred, each at the head of a great force, next found themselves confronting each other at Baramdown, near Canterbury. A battle ensued, at the close of which, as before at Dover, it was found that King Arthur's party "stood best." Fresh levies were then raised by Mordred, till his army was rated at one hundred thousand men ; the king's force also was increased ; and the parties met upon a down near Salisbury, not far from the seaside.

Before they engaged, the ghost of Sir Gawain appeared to the king, and warned him against fighting, till he made peace with Sir Launcelot, and had the advantage of that noble knight's valour and skill. In consequence of this warning Arthur offered (tem porary) terms to Mordred, which the latter was willing to accept. [This is the position of affairs when the narrative of our text commences.] into the field. Between the two armies. an, or and. If. The word is Scandinavian. An if—ii if, a re duplication. Cp. or ere = ere ere. Page 4. for this treaty. Arthur had offered him Kent and Corn wall. they drank. By way of ratifying their agreement. thought of no other harm. I.e., meant only to kill the adder. parts, or parties. Sides. Fr. part = side. beamous trumpets. Trumpets made of horn ; bugleor oxhorns.