A Brief History of the English Language and Literature - LightNovelsOnl.com
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+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."
