A Brief History of the English Language and Literature Part 25

+1650+

JOHN LOCKE. +1632-1704+. Diplomatist; Secretary to the Board of Trade; philosopher; prose-writer.

+Essay concerning the Human Understanding+ (1690); +Thoughts on Education+; and other prose works.

The Commonwealth, 1649-60.

Cromwell Lord Protector, 1653-58.

+1660+

DANIEL DEFOE. +1661-1731+. Literary man; pamphleteer; journalist; member of Commission on Union with Scotland.

+The True-born Englishman+ (1701); +Robinson Crusoe+ (1719); +Journal of the Plague+ (1722); and more than a hundred books in all.

Restoration, 1660.

First standing army, 1661.

First newspaper in England, 1663.

JONATHAN SWIFT. +1667-1745+. English clergyman; literary man; satirist; prose-writer; poet; Dean of St Patrick's, in Dublin.

+Battle of the Books+; +Tale of a Tub+ (1704), an allegory on the Churches of Rome, England, and Scotland; +Gulliver's Travels+ (1726); a few poems; and a number of very vigorous political pamphlets.

Plague of London, 1665.

Fire of London, 1666.

+1670+

SIR RICHARD STEELE. +1671-1729+. Soldier; literary man; courtier; journalist; M.P.

Steele founded the 'Tatler,' 'Spectator,' 'Guardian,' and other small journals. He also wrote some plays.

Charles II. pensioned by Louis XIV. of France, 1674.

JOSEPH ADDISON. +1672-1719+. Essayist; poet; Secretary of State for the Home Department.

+Essays+ in the 'Tatler,' 'Spectator,' and 'Guardian.' Cato, a Tragedy (1713). Several _Poems_ and _Hymns_.

The Habeas Corpus Act, 1679.

+1680+

ALEXANDER POPE. +1688-1744+. Poet.

+Essay on Criticism+ (1711); +Rape of the Lock+ (1714); Translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, finished in 1726; +Dunciad+ (1729); +Essay on Man+ (1739). A few prose _Essays_, and a volume of _Letters_.

James II. ascends the throne in 1685.

Revolution of 1688.

William III. and Mary II. ascend the throne, 1689.

+1690+

Battle of the Boyne, 1690.

JAMES THOMSON. +1700-1748+. Poet.

+The Seasons+; a poem in blank verse (1730); +The Castle of Indolence+; a mock-heroic poem in the Spenserian stanza (1748).

Censors.h.i.+p of the Press abolished, 1695.

Queen Anne ascends the throne in 1702.

+1700+

HENRY FIELDING. +1707-1754+. Police-magistrate, journalist; novelist.

+Joseph Andrews+ (1742); +Amelia+ (1751). He was "the first great English novelist."

Battle of Blenheim, 1704.

Gibraltar taken, 1704.

DR SAMUEL JOHNSON. +1709-1784+. Schoolmaster; literary man; essayist; poet; dictionary-maker.

+London+ (1738); +The Vanity of Human Wishes+ (1749); +Dictionary of the English Language+ (1755); +Ra.s.selas+ (1759); +Lives of the Poets+ (1781). He also wrote +The Idler+, +The Rambler+, and a play called +Irene+.

Union of England and Scotland, 1707.

+1710+

DAVID HUME. +1711-1776+. Librarian; Secretary to the French Emba.s.sy; philosopher; literary man.

+History of England+ (1754-1762); and a number of philosophical _Essays_. His prose is singularly clear, easy, and pleasant.

George I. ascends the throne in 1714.

THOMAS GRAY. +1716-1771+. Student; poet; letter-writer; Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge.

+Odes+; +Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard+ (1750)-- one of the most perfect poems in our language. He was a great stylist, and an extremely careful workman.

Rebellion in Scotland in 1715.

+1720+

TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT. +1721-1771+. Doctor; pamphleteer; literary hack; novelist.

+Roderick Random+ (1748); +Humphrey Clinker+ (1771). He also continued +Hume's History of England+. He published also some _Plays_ and _Poems_.

South-Sea Bubble bursts, 1720.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH. +1728-1774+. Literary man; play-writer; poet.

+The Traveller+ (1764); +The Vicar of Wakefield+ (1766); +The Deserted Village+ (1770); +She Stoops to Conquer+--a Play (1773); and a large number of books, pamphlets, and compilations.

George II. ascends the throne, 1727.

ADAM SMITH. +1723-1790+. Professor in the University of Glasgow.

+Theory of Moral Sentiments+ (1759); +Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations+ (1776). He was the founder of the science of political economy.

+1730+

EDMUND BURKE. +1730-1797+. M.P.; statesman; "the first man in the House of Commons;" orator; writer on political philosophy.

+Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful+ (1757); +Reflections on the Revolution of France+ (1790); +Letters on a Regicide Peace+ (1797); and many other works. "The greatest philosopher in practice the world ever saw."