HAPTER X.
SIR JOHN BEAUMONT AND DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN.

CHAPTER XI.
THE BROTHERS FLETCHER.

CHAPTER XII.
WITHER, HERRICK, AND QUARLES.

CHAPTER XIII.
GEORGE HERBERT.

CHAPTER XIV.
JOHN MILTON.

CHAPTER XV.
EDMUND WALLER, THOMAS BROWN, AND JEREMY TAYLOR.

CHAPTER XVI.
HENRY MORE AND RICHARD BAXTER.

CHAPTER XVII.
CRASHAW AND MARVELL.

CHAPTER XVIII.
A MOUNT OF VISION--HENRY VAUGHAN.

CHAPTER XIX.
THE PLAIN.

CHAPTER XX.
THE ROOTS OF THE HILLS.

CHAPTER XXI.
THE NEW VISION.

CHAPTER XXII.
THE FERVOUR OF THE IMPLICIT. INSIGHT OF THE HEART.

CHAPTER XXIII.
THE QUESTIONING FERVOUR.

ENGLAND'S ANTIPHON.

INTRODUCTION.

If the act of worship be the highest human condition, it follows that the
highest human art must find material in the modes of worship. The first
poetry of a nation will not be religious poetry: the nation must have a
history at least before it can possess any material capable of being cast
into the mould of religious utterance; but, the nation once possessed of
this material, poetry is the first form religious utterance will assume.

The earliest form of literature is the ballad, which is the germ of all
subsequent forms of poetry, for it has in itself all their elements: the
_lyric_, for it was first chanted to some stringed instrument; the
_epic_, for it tells a tale, often of solemn and ancient report; the
_dramatic_, for its actors are ever ready to start forward into life,
snatch the word from the mouth of the narrator, and speak in their own
persons. All these forms have been used for the utterance of religious
thought and feeling. Of the lyrical poems of England, religion possesses
the most; of the epic, the best; of the dramatic, the oldest.

Of each of these I shall have occasion to speak; but, as the title of the
book implies,--for _Antiphon_ means the responsive song of the parted
choir,--I shall have chiefly to do with the lyric or song form.

For song is the speech of feeling. Even the prose of emotion always
wanders into the rhythmical. Hence, as well as for other reasons
belonging to its nature, it is one chief mode in which men unite to
praise God; for in thus praising they hold communion with each other, and
the praise expands and grows.

The _individual_ heart, however, must first have been uplifted into
praiseful song, before the common ground and form of feeling, in virtue
of which me