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THE

BEAUTIES

OF THE

BRITISH POETS,

WITH A FEW

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS

By the Rev. George Craly.

BOSTON:

PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY.

1857.

Sm

201830

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS.

ENGLISH POETRY constitutes one of the most brilliant portions of the intellectual history of Modern Europe. The era of English Poetry commences with the Norman Invasion. Anglo-Saxon Poems had existed; but their topics, their rudeness, or the decay of the language, extinguished them in the presence of a superior dialect and a more fortunate time. The few that remain, are merely memorials of some barbarian event, or harsh attempts to throw some superstitious fable into metre. The violence of the Norman Conquest, that shook the laws and institutions of England, also shook the language. But here the violence was more than compensated by the novelty, richness, and vigour of the results. The poetical soil was ploughed roughly; but, in the act, its native fertility was put in motion

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