ngs the four characteristics mentioned on p.
331. Compare his style with Bacon's, Swift's, Addison's, and Gibbon's.

Goldsmith.--Read his three masterpieces: _The Deserted Village, The
Vicar of Wakefield (Eclectic English Classics_, or _Gateway Series_,
American Book Company), _She Stoops to Conquer_ (Cassell's _National
Library_; _Everyman's Library_).

Select passages that show (a) altruistic philosophy of life, (b)
humor, (c) special graces of style. What change did _She Stoops to
Conquer_ bring to the stage? What qualities keep the play alive?

Johnson.--Representative selections are given in Craik, IV.,
141-185. Those from _Lives of the English Poets_ (Craik, IV., 175-182;
_Century_, 405-419) will best repay study. Let the student who has the
time read Johnson's _Dryden_ entire. As much as possible of Boswell's
_Life of Johnson_ should be read (Craik, IV., 482-495; Manly, II.,
277-292).

Compare the style of Johnson with that of Gibbon and Burke. For what
reasons does Johnson hold a high position in literature? What special
excellences or defects do you note in his _Lives of the English
Poets_? Why is Boswell's _Life of Johnson_ a great work?

FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER VII:

[Footnote 1: _The English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century_.]

[Footnote 2: To be found in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, or in
Macaulay's collected _Essays_.]

[Footnote 3: For full titles, see p. 50.]

[Footnote 4: For full titles, see p. 6.]

CHAPTER VIII: THE AGE OF ROMANTICISM, 1780-1837

History of the Period.--Much of the English history of this period
was affected directly or indirectly by the French Revolution (1789).
The object of this movement was to free men from oppression by the
aristocracy and to restore to them their natural rights. The new
watchwords were "Liberty, Fraternity, Equality." The professed
principles of the French revolutionists were in many respects similar
to those embodied in the American _Declaration of Independence_.

At first the movement was applauded by the liberal-minded Englishmen;
but the confiscation of property, executions, and ensuing reign of
terror soon made England recoil from this Revolution. When France
executed her king and declared her intention of using force to make
republics out of European powers, England sent the French minister
home, and war immediately resulted. With only a short intermission,
this lasted from 1793 until 1815, the contest caused by the French
Revolution having