Section 4.-(1) The struggles of Poland, Greece, and Spain
drew English attention to them ; but it was the older
history and literature of the two latter that impressed the
imagination. (2) Scandinavian literature, both old and
new, began to have appreciable influence over English
writers. (3) The other countries of Europe gave but little
impulse to English literature during the period.
• 77-79
Section 5.-(1) But what stirred the English literary mind
most was the rapidly expanding English empire. (2) The
English language grew conscious of its great capacity and
drew new treasures from all sources. (3) Classical scholar-
ship was also refined and made more living, yet began to
take a subordinate place.
80-.82
Section 6.-(1) Most important was the rediscovery of the
/treasures of older English literature. (2) The new national
audience demanded a wider and more national vocabulary.
(3) The Latin elements of it were as much needed as the
Saxon, but came to be mastered by the imagination instead
of mastering it. (4) The foreign and native elements were
so amalgamated as to fit the purpose of every writer, and to
make the diction more flexible. (5) Lamb's Essays of Elia
furnish a crucial instance of the return on the older vocabu-
lary and literature ; it reveals that the new audience had pre-
served the older words and tastes. (6) The Authorised
Version and the books moulded upon it now supplied the
medium for addressing the new audience. (7) Shakespeare
had also become a national book and tinged the new
medium. (8) The audience having been again nationalized,
the cultured poets were again the popular poets.
. 824-90