LISTING

(Fr. leziere.) In Architecture, the cutting away the sappy part from the edge of a board. LITANY (Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.), signifies a general supplication; and was applied by the Eastern church in early ages to a special form of prayer which was introduced into the ritual, or used on particular occasion s, The term pa ed over into the Western church, where the words rogatio and supplicatio had before been used in the same technical sense. It is supposed by Palmer {Antiq. i. 269.) that the change of term was occasioned by the frequency of proce ional supplications from the Eastern to the Western churches, beginning in the 4th century. It appears that some of the Eastern litanies contain the supplication to saints which forms a distinguishing feature of the Roman. This is sufficient to justify the English church, even on antiquarian grounds, in rejecting these portions of the service. Our litany is mostly translated from the forms of the Western litanies previously used in this country; those of the breviary of Salisbury and York. The direction in the Prayer Book is that the litany shall be read on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sun days: on the two former, as fast days in the primitive church; the one as the day in which Christ was sold by Judas, the other as that of the crucifixion, and therefore periods of peculiar humiliation; on the Sunday, as the day appointed for the most complete and solemn service in the week. ( See Riddle's Christian Antiquities, p. 623., 1839; Palmer^s Origines Liturgic/s, i. 264.) LITERATI (Lat.), denotes, in general, learned men; but is applied in China to such persons as are able to read and write their own language, and also to a particular sect, consisting chiefly of the most learned men of that country; amongst whom it is called Jukiao, or learned. It is from the cla of the literati that the mandarins {quad vide) are alone capable of being selected. LITERATURE (Lat. liter a, letter), comprises, in the general sense of the word, the entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; but, in the narrower use to which ordinary custom restricts it, we draw a distinction between literature and positive science, thus exempting from the province of the former one extensive branch of our studies and attainments. And, in a still more restricted sense, the word literature is sometimes used as synonymous with polite literature, or the French belles lettres (which see). The history of literature is a peculiar and distinct subject, comprising several subdivisions, such as histories of the literature of special ages or countries; or histories of separate branches of literature, such as poetry. For its complete execution it requires an union of bibliographical knowledge with critical acumen. It should give the reader a sufficient acquaintance with the titles, contents, and dates of remarkable books, and with the general biography of remarkable authors, together with a critical appreciation of the characters and value both of authors and books, and of the dependence, connection, and derivation of literature; that is, the mode in which opinions, taste, and style have been propagated or changed. This last, as it is the most difficult part of the subject, so is it that of which the execution has been hitherto most imperfect. Antiquity has left us no relics of this species of history; although the constant references of such writers as Cicero, Pliny, and Quintilian, to earlier authors, accompanied by critical appreciation of their merits, show that the taste and materials for it were not wanting. A remarkable pa age of Velleius Paterculus, in which he shows, by historical instances, how many of the great names of antiquity were cotemporary with each other, in limited periods of tune, clustering, as it were, together in particular seasons and places, is one of the earliest instances we have of that spirit of generalization from literary phenomena which is now so common as to leave little room even for the display of originality. In the following brief notices of the principal works of general literary history which the student has it now in his power to consult, we shall follow, in great measure, the criticisms of Mr. Hallam, in the Preface to his Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, -Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries. The oldest work of this description (if such it can be called) is that of Polydore Virgil, De Inventor i bus Rerum, 1499. Conrad Gesner, who has been termed the " father of literary history," published his Bibliotheca ljnivcv£alis at Zurich, 1.^45-55. Notwithstanding these and a few other LITERATURE. '\ meagre attempts. Lord Bacon, says Mr. Hallam, was I justified in denying that, up to his time, any real history ' of letters had been written: " and he compares that of the world wanting this to a statue of Polyp hem us wanting his single eye." The next in order of time is Lambuc's Prodromus Histories Liter arice, 1659; a work pursued on a great plan, but scarcely begun. But Morhqf's Polyhistor Liter arius, first published in 1688, and much enlarged by subsequent editors, "is still found in every considerable library," Andres, a Spanish Jesuit, published his Origine, Progre o, e Stato Attuale d'ogni Letteratura, from 1782 to 1799; a very extensive, and, in some respects, valuable work, though without much display of taste, and no signs of genius. In the present century, no writers, except of Germany, have attempted a field which has become of such enormous extent; but Eichhorn's Literary History, in six volumes, 1805, 1811, appears to be now, on the whole, the most complete and valuable work of this kind extant. Waehler's Manual of Literary History, in four volumes, appeared at Leipsig in 1833. But besides these general compendia, much a istance is to be derived from general biographers. Of these the well-known Dictionary of Bayle, first published in 1697, is the earliest of any value. It is characterized by Hallam (p. xi.) in a manner perhaps too depreciating. That of Niceron, Me moires pour servir a VHistoire des Hommes illustres de la Republique des Lettres, 43 vols. 12mo. 1733, 1745, is extraordinarily copious, and useful in biographical details, but in other respects of no great value. The Biographic Universelle {of which the original edition was in 52 volumes, and a supplement is now in course of publication which has reached the letter H) stands incomparably first among this cla of works. Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary scarcely deserves mention as a literary work; but its historical details are sometimes minute and useful, though not unfrequently moSl so in the obscurest names. Of partial works on literary history some of the most remarkable and useful are, 1. According to subjects — History of Philosophy, Brucker, Buhle, Tennemann (abridged by Victor Cousin). To these we may add, brief as they are, the Introductory E ays of Stewart and Play fair to tlie Encyclopedia Britannica. Of Belles Lettres, generally, Bouterwek, 12 vols. 8vo. Poetry, Quadrio, Storia d'ogni Poesia; a work of remarkable industry, though strangely defective in point of critical taste. 2. According to countries — French: Laharpe, Cours de Litter at ure Frangaise; a performance of considerable, but in parts superficial and showy, talent. Italian: Tiraboschi, Storia delta Lettcratura Italian a; a work of extraordinary value, in which the history of Italian literature has been traced, with the greatest care and the most elaborate research, from the earliest times down to the last century. It has been abridged, but with some original criticism, by Ginguen^, in his His to ire Litter a ire de V Italic; Corniani, Secoli delle Letteratura Italian a dopo ilsuo risorgimento, 1804,1813. Sismondi's Litter at ure de Midi de VEurope is most valuable, also, in its Italian chapters, although those on Spanish and Portuguese literature touch on subjects le generally known. In England, as Mr. Hallam observes, " we cannot claim for ourselves a single attempt of the most superficial kind. War ton's History of Poetry contains much that bears on our general learning; but it leaves us about the acce ion of Elizabeth." 3. According to ages: — The recent work of Mr. Hallam, which comprehends the literary history of Europe from 1400 to 1700; a work almost approaching to universal in its character. Its peculiar excellences are a philosophical spirit, manline and candour of judgment, great honesty in the execution, and a taste unusually cultivated and correct. It is, however, as might be expected from a work of so comprehensive a character, unequal both in the space which it allots to different subjects and authors, and in point of execution. The love of literature is, perhaps, the most remarkable and characteristic form in which advancing civilization exhibits itself. From being the absorbing pa ion of the learned few, it becomes, with the progre of education, the delight and favourite occupation of numbers; losing, perhaps, in intensity what it gains in universality. For, without joining in the views of the indiscriminate eulogisers of past times, it cannot, we think, be fairly denied that the engro ing devotion to study which characterized the learned men of the first two centuries after the revival of knowledge, especially in the branches of philology and divinity, rarely finds a counterpart at the present day. More diversified subjects of interest now present themselves to the inquiring mind: objects in themselves of inferior character, such, for example, as the establishment of correct rules of cla ical composition, are le appreciated, because we have daily opportunities of discu ing topics of much higher interest, from which it is difficult to carry back the faculties to pursuits of special investigation. That all this has some disadvantages it were vain to deny. Some imagine that not only extent and minutene of knowledge, but real depth of learning and [s. 682]