without being themselves men of erudition or philosophers. When the fine spirit of truth has gone abroad, it passes insensibly from mind to mind, independent of its direct transmission from books; and it comes home in a more welcome shape to the poet, when caught from his social intercourse with his species, than from solitary study. Shakespeare's genius was certainly indebted to the intelligence and moral principles which existed in his age, and to that intelligence and to those moral principles, the revival of classical literature undoubtedly contributed. So also did the revival of pulpit eloquence, and the restoration of the Scriptures to the people in their native tongue. The dethronement of scholastic philosophy, and of the supposed infallibility of Aristotle's authority, an authority at one time almost paramount to that of the Scriptures themselves, was another good connected with the Reformation; for though the logic of Aristotle long continued to be formally taught, scholastic theology was no longer sheltered beneath his name. Bible divinity superseded the glosses of the schoolmen, and the writings of Duns Scotus were consigned at Oxford to proclaimed contempt'. The reign of true philosophy 1 Namely in the year 1535. The decline of Aristotle's authority, and that of scholastic divinity, though to a certain degree connected, are not, however, to be identified. What were called the doctrines of Aristotle by the schoolmen, were a mass of metaphysics established in his name, first by Arabic commentators, and afterwards by Catholic doctors; among the latter of whom, many expounded the philosophy of the Stagyrite, without understanding a word of the original language in which his doctrines were written. Some Platonic opinions had also mixed with the metaphysics of the schoolmen. Aristotle was nevertheless their main authority; though it is probable that, if he had come to life, he would not have fathered much of the philosophy which rested on his name. Some of the reformers threw off scholastic divinity and Aristotle's authority was not indeed arrived, and the Reformation itself produced events tending to retard that progress of literature and intelligence, which had sprung up under its first auspices. Still, with partial interruptions, the culture of classical literature proceeded in the sixteenth century, and, amidst that culture, it is difficult to conceive that a system of Greek philosophy more poetical than Aristotle's, was without its influence on the English spiritnamely, that of Plato. That England possessed a distinct school of Platonic philosophy in the sixteenth century, can at once; but others, while they abjured the schoolmen, adhered to the Peripatetic system. In fact, until the revival of letters, Aristotle could not be said, with regard to the modern world, to be either fully known by his own works, or fairly tried by his own merits. Though ultimately overthrown by Bacon, his writings and his name, in the age immediately preceding Bacon, had ceased to be a mere stalkinghorse to the schoolmen, and he was found to contain heresies which the Catholic metaphysicians had little suspected. not, I believe, be affirmed', but we hear of the Platonic studies of Sir Philip Sydney; and traits of Platonism are sometimes beautifully visible in the poetry of Surrey and of Spenser2. The Italian Muse communicated a tinge of that spirit to our poetry, which must have been Enfield mentions no English school of Platonism before the time of Gale and Cudworth. ? In one of Spenser's hymns on Love and Beauty, he breathes this platonic doctrine. Every spirit, as it is most pure "And hath in it the more of heavenly light, So, also, Surrey to his fair Geraldine. "The golden gift that Nature did thee give, "To fasten friends, and feed them at thy will "With form and favour, taught me to believe "How thou art made to shew her greatest skill." This last thought was probably suggested by the farther excited in the minds of poetical scholars by the influence of Grecian literature. Hurd indeed observes, that the Platonic doctrines had a deep influence on the sentiments and character of Spenser's age. They certainly form a very poetical creed of philosophy. The Aristotelian system was a vast mechanical labyrinth, which the human faculties were chilled, fatigued, and darkened by exploring. Plato at least expands the imagination, for he was a great poet; and if he had put in practice the law respecting poets which he prescribed to his ideal republic, he must have begun by banishing himself. The Reformation, though ultimately lines in Petrarch, which express a doctrine of the Pla- "Quel bel viso leggiadro, in che ella volse |