Chapter VI: Literature, Science, and Religion

LITERATURE.

I. FRANCE.

POETRY AND THE DRAMA.--The literature of France in the age of _Louis XIV_. was classical in its spirit. The ancient Greek and Roman writers were admired and imitated. The Renaissance was now to run its course. The French Academy, founded by _Richelieu_, undertook to regulate and improve the French language. Measure, finish, elegance, were demanded by the reigning taste, in all literary productions. _Corneille_ (1606-1684), the father of French tragedy, was the most virile of the French dramatists. _Racine_ (1639-1699), who followed, if less grand, was more pathetic. We find, however, in writers of genius,--even in the great preachers, as _Bourdaloue_ and _Massillon_, who formed a type of pulpit eloquence peculiar to France,--a tendency to what seems now a stilted style. The master in comedy was _Molière_ (1622-1673), an actor, as well as an author of inimitable humor. One of the most popular of French authors has been _La Fontaine_ (1621-1695), whose fables have charmed multitudes by their smooth versification, as well as by their contents. _Boileau_ (1636-1711), the Horace of France, prescribed, as a lawgiver, rules upon the "Art of Poetry," and himself wrote satires and other poems of high merit.

PROSE LITERATURE.--_Bossuet_ (1627-1704) was an eloquent preacher and historical writer, and an expert theological polemic of the liberal Catholic school. Of a very different tone is _Rochefoucauld_, whose _Maxims_, expressed in pithy language, seek to trace all virtuous action to self-seeking. The French fondness for epigram--for terse, paradoxical statement--is exemplified even in the best writers, as, for example, _Blaise Pascal_. _La Bruyère_ (1645-1696), a genial philosopher, wrote in a most attractive style a work entitled _The Characters of Our Age_. The metaphysician _Malebranche_ (1638-1715) taught that we know through our spiritual union with God, or that we see all things in God. A disciple of _Des Cartes_, he did not strictly follow his master. _Fénelon_ (1651-1715), illustrious for his piety as well as for his versatile authorship, wrote on religious topics and on education. Of all his writings, his _Telemachus_, composed for the young Duke of Burgundy, his pupil, has been the most read. The letters of Madame _de Sévigné_, addressed to her daughter, and not meant for publication, present most graphic descriptions of the characters and occurrences of the day.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.--When we cross the limit of the eighteenth century, we meet with growing signs of skepticism in religion, and of innovation in political thought. Criticism of the past, of traditional creeds and established institutions, is spreading. The _Historical and Critical Dictionary of Bayle_, a storehouse of chronicle and anecdote, is leavened with the spirit of doubt. Three great writers deserve special attention. _Montesquieu_ (1689-1755) satirized all dogma in his _Persian Letters_. His celebrated work on the _Spirit of Laws_ is just and humane in its tone, and full of original and inspiring views on history and government. He is one of the founders of modern political science. _Voltaire_ (1694-1778), the most popular of all the writers of his age, was the incarnation of its critical and skeptical spirit, the highest example of its wit as of its levity, and of the artificial character of its literary ideals. He was play-writer, poet, historian, critic, and brilliant converser, all in one. In religion, a scoffer not only at superstition, but at all beliefs and rites which imply revelation, he still clung to the belief in a personal God. His creed was deism, _Jean Jacques Rousseau_ (1712-1778) was, like _Voltaire_, a deist in his creed; but in religion, as in all his mental action, there was a vein of sentiment. By the fascination of his style, he was able, in his various writings, including his autobiographical _Confessions_, to interest profoundly multitudes of readers of both sexes, and even to move them to sympathy with himself in a career which deserves not less abhorrence than commiseration. He was, perhaps, the first author to evoke in others a genuine relish, which he felt himself, for the wild scenery of nature. In his _Social Contract_ he maintained that government grows out of a contract of individuals with one another, all of whom in the state of nature are free and independent. He carried to a great extreme an idea which in England had been held by _Hooker_, and more explicitly expounded by _Locke_. His doctrine furnished a theory for the political revolution in France. The "Encyclopædists" went much beyond _Voltaire_ and _Rousseau_. _D'Alembert_, _Helvetius_, _Holbach_, advocated atheism and materialism. _Condillac_ (1715-1780) sought to reduce this species of infidelity to an exact philosophical system by tracing even conscience to sensation and self-interest. All religious sentiment was condemned as morbid illusion.

II. GERMANY.

In Germany, the great name in philosophy is that of _Leibnitz_ (1646-1716), a rival of _Newton_ in mathematics and natural science, and an eminent thinker in metaphysics, theology, and in jurisprudence. In intellect and in variety of attainments, he is almost the peer of _Aristotle_. _Wolf_ (1679-1754) his disciple, systemized and modified his philosophical views. _Klopstock_ (1724-1803), the author of _Messiah_, written somewhat after the manner of the _Paradise Lost_ of _Milton_, excelled the other German poets of his day. _Frederick the Great_ treated with disrespect the native literary products of his country. Yet a new era in German letters and criticism was opened by _Lessing_ (1729-1781), a poet, and a critic of admirable insight, whose influence in this direction in Germany has been likened in its power to that of _Luther_ in religion.

III. ITALY.

In the eighteenth century, there was a new revival of literature in Italy. _Vico_ (1668-1744) almost made an epoch in the scientific treatment of history and mythology; in political economy and in archeology, there were numerous explorers; Florence became once more a seat of learning. _Beccaria_ (1738-1794) by his writings introduced more humane views in criminal jurisprudence. _Volta_ (1745-1827), an electrician, constructed the instrument called the voltaic pile. _Metastasio_ (1698-1782) fostered the melodrama, or Italian opera, by his dramatic writings. _Goldoni_ (1707-1793), a Venetian, was the most eminent writer of comedies. Tragedy reached its acme in the works of _Alfieri_ (1749-1803), the founder of a new school.

IV. ENGLAND.

In England, after the Restoration, the influence of French standards in literature is obvious. The drama declined, partly from the earlier antagonism of the Puritans, and partly from the rage for indecency which infected the dramatic writers,--even those of much ability, as _Congreve_,--and defiled the stage. The _Pilgrim's Progress_ of _Bunyan_ (1628-88) is written in a plain, unaffected style, and is the most popular work of that age. In sharp contrast with _Bunyan_ is _Butler's Hudibras_, a witty satire, in doggerel verse, upon Puritanism. The principal writer, prior to Queen _Anne_, is _Dryden_ (1631-1700). We have passed now from the _Romantic_ school of poetry, in which Shakspeare is the most exalted name, to the _Classical_ school. In the age of Queen _Anne_, _Pope_ (1688-1744), with his vigor, without elevation, of thought, his smooth versification and bright wit, is the principal figure. The same period produced the labored novels of _Richardson_ (1689-1761), and the vigorous and lifelike fictions of _Fielding_ (1707-1754), which are, unhappily, disfigured by coarse and licentious passages. In the early part of the century, _Addison_ (1672-1719) and _Steele_ (1672-1729) were the most distinguished essayists. In them, as in the novels of _Defoe_ (1661-1731), the author of _Robinson Crusoe_, and in the prose writings of _Swift_ (1667-1745), the richness and idiomatic force of the English tongue are seen; while in _Samuel Johnson_, the literary dictator in the latter part of the century, the author of the _English Dictionary_, of _The Rambler_, the _Lives of the Poets_, and _Rasselas_, we have a striking and contagious example of a stately, sounding, Latinized diction. In pleasing contrast, as regards style, which charms from its simplicity, are the writings of _Goldsmith_ (1728-74). In poetry, _Gray_ (1716-71), the author of the _Elegy in a Country Churchyard_, and _Collins_ (1721-59), wrote little, but wrote well. The triumvirate of great English historians of the century are _Hume_, _Robertson_, and _Gibbon_. Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_ is a monument of masterly ability and of vast research; a work, however, marred by a want of naturalness in style, and, still more, by a lack of religious faith and reverence, and by impurity of tone and allusion. _Hume's_ style is one of his chief claims to esteem as an historian; for he was indolent in his researches, and prejudiced in his views. He merited distinction chiefly as an economist and a metaphysician.

PHILOSOPHY.--In English philosophy, there are several writers of extraordinary talents and influence. _John Locke_ (1632-1704), an upright man and a lover of freedom, wrote the celebrated _Essay on the Understanding_, besides other important works in political science and theology. He traced all our knowledge to two sources, _sensation_ and _reflection_, ultimately to the first of these. _Berkeley_ (1685-1753) advocated with rare genius an ideal theory of matter, and defended theism. _Hume_ (1711-76) indirectly gave rise to much of the later philosophy, by his acute speculations in behalf of skepticism as to the reality of human knowledge and the foundation of accepted beliefs. _Reid_ (1710-96) rescued philosophy from the attacks of _Hume_ by the doctrine of "common sense," and thus founded the Scottish school of metaphysicians. Among the numerous authors who cultivated both philosophy and theology, particular distinction belongs to _Dr. Samuel Clarke_ (1675-1729), and to Bishop _Joseph Butler_ (1692-1752) who wrote briefly, but with marked power, on the nature of conscience, and on the _Analogy_ between religion and what we know of the constitution and course of nature.

NEWTON: ADAM SMITH.--_Sir Isaac Newton_ (1642-1727), the discoverer of the law of gravitation, made, through his _Principia_, one of the most important contributions ever made to the advancement of physical science. In 1776 _Adam Smith_, a Scotchman, who had previously written on metaphysics and politics, published his treatise on _The Wealth of Nations_, the first complete system of political economy. He showed that money is not wealth, but simply one product serving as a means of exchange. He made it clear, that, for one nation to gain in trade, it is not requisite that another should lose. Much light was thrown on political economy by essays of _Hume._

V. AMERICA.

The most notable American writers before the War of Independence were _Jonathan Edwards_ (1703-58), a great metaphysical genius, and the founder of a school in theology; and _Benjamin Franklin_ (1706-90), whose writings, in excellent English, related mainly to ethical and economical topics. As the Revolution approached, there sprung up authors of ability on the political questions of the day. _The Federalist_, written after the war, by _Hamilton, Madison_, and _Jay_, in favor of the proposed Constitution, is a work of high merit, as regards both matter and style.

NATURAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE.

The inductive method, or the "Baconian" method of observation and experiment, began to bear rich fruits. _Sir Isaac Newton_ (1642-1727) not only discovered the law of gravitation: other discoveries by him in mechanics and optics were of great moment in the progress of those sciences. Fluxions, or the differential calculus, was discovered independently by both _Newton_ and _Leibnitz_. _Euler_, a Swiss mathematician of the highest ability (1707-1783), contributed essentially to the advancement of mechanics. _Napier_ invented logarithms, to shorten mathematical calculations. _Huygens_, a Dutch philosopher (1629-1695), invented the pendulum clock. _Gregory_ (1638-1675) invented the reflecting telescope, _Halley_, an English astronomer (1656-1742), gave his name to a comet whose return he predicted. _Guericke_ invented (1680), and _Robert Boyle_ (1627-1691) perfected, the air-pump. _Boyle_ was active in founding the Royal Society (1660). _Volta_, by the invention of the pile called by his name, and _Franklin_, signally advanced the study of electricity. In the history of zoölogy, _Buffon_ is a great name, as is that of _Lavoisier_ in chemistry. _Linnaeus_, a Swede, born in the same year with Buffon (1707), attained to the highest distinction by reducing botany to a system. The lives of the eminent astronomers _Lagrange_ (1736-1813), _Laplace_ (1749-1827), and _Sir William Herschel_ (1738-1822), outlasted the eighteenth century.

The radical improvement of the steam-engine by _James Watt_, a Scotchman (1736-1819),--who obtained his first patent in 1769,--and the invention of the spinning-jenny by _Richard Arkwright_ (1732-1792), are indicative of a new era of progress in the application of science to practical arts and uses.

RELIGION AND THEOLOGY.

ENGLISH DEISM.--The religious debates and the religious wars of the seventeenth century were followed by much indifference and disbelief in the eighteenth. Weariness with sectarian struggles, and revolt against the yoke of creeds, were pushed to the extreme of a denial of revealed religion,--finally, in France, to a denial of the truths of natural religion also. In England, there appeared a school of deistical writers, beginning earlier with _Lord Herbert_ of Cherbury (1581-1648), and continued through _Tindal_, _Morgan_, _Bolingbroke_, _Shaftesbury_, _Collins_, and others. On the other side, _Butler_, _Lardner_ (1684-1768), _Bentley_, the best of England's classical scholars and critics (1662-1742), and, later, _Paley_ (1743-1805), were among the authors who defended the divine origin of Christianity on rational and historical grounds. Of these writers, _Butler_ was the most profound, _Lardner_ and _Bentley_ the most learned, and _Paley_ the most lucid.

THE "QUAKERS."--During this period, the Society of Friends, "Quakers," was founded in England by _George Fox_ (1624-1691), who in 1647, impelled by what he considered a divine call, began the life of an itinerant preacher. He and his followers were subjected frequently to cruel persecution, both in England and America. In exceptional cases, they fell into extravagances of enthusiasm, interrupted public worship, walked in the streets clothed in sackcloth, or in some instances naked. They condemned war, practiced non-resistance, objected to oaths and to a paid ministry, and set an example of the utmost plainness and simplicity in speech and dress. Among their many converts were _William Penn_, and their able and learned theologian, _Robert Barclay_ (1648-1690). The Friends, by their Christian forbearance and patience, their purity of conduct and their philanthropy, and their tranquil piety, gradually won the respect of the other religious bodies, who were at first offended by their novel tenets and manners, and by the occasional occurrence of revolting manifestations of a half-insane enthusiasm.

METHODISM.--Of the religious movements in Protestant countries, Methodism is the most noteworthy. This movement was originated by a little group of students at Oxford, of whom _John Wesley_, his brother _Charles_, and _George Whitefield_ were the chief. Of these, _John Wesley_ (1703-1791) united with intellectual ability and cultivation, and religious fervor, a remarkable organizing capacity. _Whitefield_ was an orator in the pulpit, of unrivaled eloquence. He was a Calvinist in his theology, and separated from _Wesley_ on account of Wesley's Arminian views. They were nicknamed "Methodists," from their strictness of life in the University, and their systematic ways. _Wesley_ and his associates preached to the common people in England, including the poor colliers and miners, with untiring ardor and surprising effect. Their converts were very numerous, and were formed into societies under a definite polity and discipline. The Wesleyan movement was much opposed in the Church of England by those who stood in dread of enthusiasm. By ordaining lay preachers and superintendents for America, and by putting its chapels under the protection of the Toleration Act,--measures which _Wesley_ deemed necessary,--Methodism became separate from the Anglican Established Church. As a distinct body, it gained a. multitude of adherents in England and America.

MORAVIANISM.--In 1722 a company of persecuted Moravian Christians was received by Count _Zinzendorf_ (1700-1760) on his estate, situated on the borders of Bohemia. They founded a town called _Herrnkut_. _Zinzendorf_ became their bishop. The new community was distinguished for sincere piety and for missionary zeal. They did not in the least antagonize the Lutheran churches, yet had an organization of their own. Some of them settled in America. The Moravians never became a very numerous body; but their influence in promoting spiritual religion and education, and in carrying Christianity to the heathen, has been more potent than that of many larger bodies of Christians. It was specially wholesome in Germany, at a time when, under the auspices of _Frederick the Great_, the French type of unbelief prevailed in the higher classes of society.

PIETISM.--Prior to _Zinzendorf_, _Spener_ (1635-1705), a man of devout feeling, had given rise to the "Pietists," as the promoters of a warmer type of religious experience than was approved by the current opinion were derisively named.

SWEDENBORG.--_Swedenborg_ (1688-1772), a Swedish noble, a mathematician and naturalist of large attainments, communicated, in copious writings, what he sincerely professed to consider special revelations made to him respecting God, the unseen world, and the sense of the Scriptures. His adherents are called "The New Church," or Swedenborgians.

THE JESUIT ORDER.--Under the influences that had sway in the eighteenth century, the authority of the popes sank in the Catholic countries. The spirit of innovation was rife. One of the remarkable incidents of the time, characteristic of its tendency, was the conflict of Portugal and the Bourbon courts of France and Spain, with the Society of Jesuits. The Jesuits had secretly established, unobserved, a state under their own exclusive control in _Paraguay_, a part of which, by a treaty of Portugal with Spain, fell to Portugal. Other charges, some relating to interference in political affairs, and some to other and different grounds of complaint, led to the expulsion of the order from all Portuguese territory (1757); and soon after, it was suppressed in France and in Spain, and in several of the Italian states. The Jesuit order was formally abolished by _Pope Clement XIV._ in 1773, to be again restored by papal authority in 1814.

ESSAYS AT POLITICAL REFORM.

RUSSIA: GERMANY.--The minds of men were unsettled, not only by the prevalent tone of literature and speculation, but by governmental changes and reforms. The disposition was to introduce French methods of administration. _Catherine II._ of Russia (1762-1796) tried the experiment of various judicial and educational reforms. _Frederick the Great_, with more wisdom and consistency, introduced many changes for the benefit of the industrial class. The most sweeping reforms were undertaken by the Emperor _Joseph II_. (1780-1790), after the death of his mother, _Maria Theresa_. His measures for the reduction of the power of the clergy and of the nobility, the closing of monasteries, and the weakening of the connection of the Austrian Church with Rome, were of a very radical character. He himself finally became convinced that they were too radical to be completely realized, in the existing state of opinion among his subjects. Two of his reforms--the abolition of serfdom, and the edict of religious toleration--remained in force. The other changes did not survive him. The attempts to impose his reforms in the Austrian Netherlands provoked an insurrection. _Leopold II. _(1790-1792), _Joseph's_ successor, suppressed the Belgian revolt, but repealed the ordinances of his brother which had occasioned it.

TUSCANY.--In Tuscany, the brother of _Joseph II., Leopold,_ prior to his becoming emperor, undertook likewise a great plan of ecclesiastical reform in the same line as that of _Joseph_ (1786); but there the opposition of the bishops prevented him from practically carrying out his scheme.

PORTUGAL.--In Portugal, the house of _Braganza_ had ascended the throne in 1640. _Joseph Emanuel_ (1750-1777) left the management of the government to his minister, _Pombal_. His measures were contrived to weaken the power of the nobles and the clergy. By him the warfare against the Jesuits was carried forward. The fall of _Pombal_, which followed the death of the king, led to the abolition of all his reforms, which had the same fate as those undertaken later in Austria by _Joseph II_.

LITERATURE.--See the lists of works on pp. 16, 395, 450, and Adams's
_Manual of Historical Literature_; SCHLOSSER'S _History of the
Eighteenth Century_ (8 vols,); NOORDEN'S _Europaische Gesch. im
18tn. Jahr.: Der Spanische Erbfolgekrieg_ (2 vols.); Lord John
Wakeman, _European History_, 1598-1715; Hassall, _European
History_, 1715-1789; Perlcins, _Regency_ and _Louis XV_,
(3 vols.); St. Simon, _The Memoirs of the Reign of Louis XIV. and
the Regency_ [an abridgment, 3 vols.]; Voltaire, _Age of Louis
XIV_.; PHILIPPSON (in Oncken's Series), _Das Zeitalter Ludwigs
d. Vierzehten_; A. de Broglie, _Louis XV: The King's Secret
Correspondence with his Agents_, etc. (2 vols.); A. Thiers, _The
Mississippi Bubble_; Morley's _Life of Voltaire_, and _Life
of Rousseau_.

A. v, Arneth, _Geschichte Maria Theresas_ (10 vols., 1863-79):
DUNCKER, _Aus der Zeit Friedrichs d. Grossen_, etc.; RANKE,
_Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg, and History of Prussia during
the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries_ (3 vols); CARLYLE'S
_History of Frederick the Second_ (6 vols.); Tuttle, _History
of Prussia_ (4 vols.); Von Raumer, _Frederick the Second and his
Times_; A. de Broglie, _Frederick the Great and Maria
Theresa_ (2 vols.); ONCKEN, _Das Zeitalter Friedrich
d. Grossen_ (2 vols.).

The _Diaries_ of PEPYS and EVELYN; R. Vaughan, _Protectorate
of Oliver Cromwell_; MACAULAY'S _History of England from the
Accession of James II_. (4 vols.); MAHON'S _History of
England_ (1701-13), also _History of England_ (1713 to 1783)
(7 vols.); BURTON, _History of the Reign of Queen Anne_;
E.E.MORRIS, _The Age of Anne_; Alison, _Military Life of the
Duke of Marlborough_; _Life of Marlborough_, by Gleig, by
Coxe (3 vols.); LECKY'S _History of England in the Eighteenth
Century_ (2 vols.); Froude, _The English in Ireland in the
Eighteenth Century_ (2 vols.); Mahan, _Influence of the Sea
Power on History_; Egerton, _Short History of British Colonial
Policy_; Seeley, _The Expansion of England_; Payne,
_European Colonies_; Lucas, _Introduction to a Historical
Geography of the British Colonies_; H. Walpole, _Memoirs of the
Reign of George II._ (3 vols.), and of _George III_. (4
vols.); J. G. Phillimore, _History of England during the Reign of
George III_.; J. Adolphus, _History of England_ [1760 83] (3
vols.); Wraxall (1751-1831), _Historical Memoirs of his own
Time_ (4 vols.). and _Posthumous Memoirs of his own Time_, (3
vols.); May, _Constitutional History of England_ [1760-1860] (2
vols.); STOUGHTON, _History of Religion in England from the Opening
of the Long Parliament to the End of the Eighteenth Century_ (6
vols.); TYERMAN'S _Life of Wesley_; SOUTHEY'S _Life of
Wesley_; TYERMAN'S _Life of Whitefield_; TYLER'S _History
of American Literature_; VAN LAUN, _History of French
Literature_ (3 vols.); MORLEY'S _Series of English Men of
Letters_; TAINE'S _History of English Literature_.

Schuyler's _Life of Peter the Great_; Catherine II., _Memoirs
written by herself_; RAM-BAUD'S _History of Russia_.

Histories of the United States by BANCROFT, HILDRETH, McMaster,
Bryant and Howard, DOYLE, Wilson, Laboulaye, NEUMANN, Fiske,
Schouler; Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History of America_
(8 vols.); Hart, _American History told by Contemporaries_ (4
vols.); Macdonald, _Select Charters_ and _Select
Documents_; Preston, _Documents_; Channing, _The United
States of America_ (1765-1865); Higginson, _Larger History of
the United States_; Goldwin Smith, _The United States_;
LODGE'S _Short History of the English Colonies in America_;
PARKMAN'S Series of Histories of the French in America; Frothingham,
_Rise of the Republic_ [to 1790]; Weeden, _Economic and
Social History of New England_; Palfrey's _History of New
England_; Sabine's _American Loyalists_; Bruce, _Economic
History of Virginia_; Trevelyan, _The American Revolution_
(1766-76); LOSSING, _Field Book of the American Revolution_;
Fiske's _Old Virginia_ and _Dutch and Quaker Colonies_;
brief treatment of epochs by Fisher, Thwaites, Hart, Sloane, Walker.

_Lives_ of Washington, by MARSHALL, SPARKS, IRVING, Weems;
_Lives_ of John Adams, by C. F. ADAMS, by MORSE; _Life of
Franklin_, by himself (Bigelow's ed.), by SPARKS, by Parton;
_Lives_ of Jefferson, by RANDALL, Parton, Morse; Tudor's
_Life of James Otis_; _Life_ of Samuel Adams, by Wells, by
Hosmer; _Life_ of Hamilton, by MORSE; _Life_ of Madison,
by RIVES; W. Jay's _Life of John Jay_ (2 vols.); H. Von Hoist,
_Constitutional and Political History of the United States_
[from 1759]; Sparks's _American Biography_ (2 series, 25
vols.). WINSOR's _Reader's Handbook of the American
Revolution_ (1761-83), a very useful work, gives the literature
on the subject (1880); Bancroft, _History of the Formation of the
Constitution of the United States_.

PERIOD IV. THE ERA OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. (1789-1815.)