George III. ruled sixty years. During the same period, also, Napoleon Bonaparte revolutionized the politics of Europe.

George IV. reigned from 1820 to 1830, and was followed by his brother, William IV., who died in 1837, when Victoria I., a granddaughter of George III., ascended the throne at the age of eighteen, and England was at peace with all the world.

CHAPTER II.

DEFINITION OF TERMS.

NGLAND was known to the Romans as
Britannia, and also as Anglia.

The latter

name is said to have been derived from Angeln in Schleswig. Angeln is a little tract of country laid down on the map of Denmark. It is bounded on the east by the Baltic Sea, on the north by Flensburg Bay, and on the south by the river Schley. It is not known when the first emigrants from the land of the Teutons came into Britain, nor is it supposed that they all came from Angeln. A number of different tribes were undoubtedly involved in the movement, but the Angles took a greater part of the land than any of the others, and therefore the whole country received their name in the end.

The Celts lived in Britain and on the continent, at the earliest known period. Julius Cæsar called them Gauls in one branch, and Belgians in another. They were also called Cimbrians. The Gael of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales represent other branches of the Celts.

Anglo-Saxon is a modern term used to designate

in a general way all the Teutonic settlers in Britain. The Teutonic race, which originated in Asia, is divided into three branches.

I. The first branch is mainly composed of the Teutonic inhabitants of upper and middle Germany, Switzerland, and Hungary.

II. The second is called the Saxon branch, and includes the Frisians, Old Saxons, or Low Germans, the Dutch, Flemings, and Saxons of Transylvania, the English, Scotch, and most of the inhabitants of the United States.

III. The third is the Scandinavian branch, and includes the Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, and Danes.

The word Teuton is only another form of our word Dutch, and has always been applied to those we call Germans. It is derived from Tuisco, a god or hero whom that people considered their

common ancestor.

The Futes are a wide-spread branch of the Teutonic race which inhabited the irregular peninsula of Jutland, bounded by the North Sea, the SkagerRack, and the Baltic. The present kingdom of Denmark covers nearly the same territory.

Frisia is the ancient name of the most northerly division of Holland, now called Friesland. The name was also applied to a portion of Hanover about Aurich.

2

Literature is excluding the recorded knowledge of the positive sciences the entire result of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing. Literature proper is addressed to man as man, and is catholic, universal, not exclusive. It is adapted to strengthen rather than to store the mind. A treatise on arithmetic or geometry is, therefore, not a part of literature proper, for it does not appeal to its readers as men, but as students in the pursuit of knowledge of a special kind. The works of Shakespeare, on the other hand, do belong to literature, because they appeal to us all as human beings, and not to any class of men in particular. Literature is found in many different languages. This book treats

only of that found in the English language.

Linguistics is the science that treats of languages, and a person skilled in languages is called a lin guist.

Philology is the study of the words of a language. It is a term used by different authors in different significations. It was originally applied in Ger many to the study of the languages of Greece and Rome, as a means of general culture. Dr. Samuel Johnson defined it criticism, grammatical learning, in which sense it includes,

I. Etymology, or the science of the origin of words;

II. Grammar, or the science of the construction of language or languages; and

III. That part of Literary Criticism which inves

tigates the merits or demerits of style or diction, as compared with a received standard.

Comparative Philology, more properly called the Science of Language, is the science which treats of the laws and properties of all languages.

វ We find that English Literature takes either the form of Prose or Verse, each of which general divisions is subdivided into other classes.

Poets are those writers who so combine the materials of the natural and moral world, as to present them in new shapes, or in unaccustomed or affecting points of view, and in metrical language.

Prose Writers are those who produce composition not in verse, and without metre, or poetic

measure.

Verse is at a very early period in the history of our literature found in the form of

Lyrics, so called, because among the ancients they were sung to the lyre. The name is now applied to poetry suitable for music, which is generally the earnest expression of the composer's thoughts and feelings. In this class are,—

1. Ballads, which are either sentimental songs, light poems, or lyric tales in verse.

2. Pastorals, or poems descriptive of shepherds or their occupations, or of country life. Idyls are properly pastorals, though the name is frequently given to highly wrought descriptive poems on other subjects.

3. Odes, or short lyrics that express sentiment, but do not generally admit of narrative.