The British nation a history / by George MWrong . was able to pay largesums to authors, though thechief method of sale wasthrough subscriptions re-ceived before the first half of the eight-eenth century we find theclimax of the earlier literarymovement. Pope was a closeimitator of Dryden; and hispoetry, with little imagina-tion or emotion, but highlyfinished, appealed to the re-fined and cultivated of histime. The age saw the be-ginning of the periodicalpress, made immortal by Addison and Steele in the Spectator; Swift and Defoe,who were great pamphleteers, raised political cont
The British nation a history / by George MWrong . was able to pay largesums to authors, though thechief method of sale wasthrough subscriptions re-ceived before the first half of the eight-eenth century we find theclimax of the earlier literarymovement. Pope was a closeimitator of Dryden; and hispoetry, with little imagina-tion or emotion, but highlyfinished, appealed to the re-fined and cultivated of histime. The age saw the be-ginning of the periodicalpress, made immortal by Addison and Steele in the Spectator; Swift and Defoe,who were great pamphleteers, raised political controversyto the level of literature, and before the middle of thecentury Richardson and Fielding produced the first Eng-lish novels. Dr. Johnson is important to the age as criticand moralist, and he became its dictator in regard tostyle. The number of readers steadily increased, and newforces were appearing in society. Methodism, valuingnot dogma but personal experience, brought emotion andmysticism into religion, and poetry felt the same Alexander Pope (1688-1744-). 492 THE BRITISH NATION After Popes death there was a marked transition. Adeep feeling for nature is already visible in Gray andGoldsmith; in Cowper it has become delight in quietcontemplation, while in Burns it is united with a protestagainst the wrongs which man inflicts upon man. Theage saw the first great historical writers, the pioneers ofthe modern historical method of study: in both judg-ment and literary style Edward Gibbon still stands firstamong English historians. Hume wrote history, but hisfame rests chiefly upon his work in philosoishy. Little that is original or creative is to be found inEnglish architecture since the Tudor age. When Londonwas burnt in 1666, Sir Christopher Wren, asthe leading architect, had a great oppor-tunity. He replaced the old St. Pauls Cathedral, whichhad been Gothic, by the present structure in the classicstyle and with a great dome ; many of the London churchesare also
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