James II. ascends the throne in 1685. Revolution of 1688. William III. and Mary II. ascend the throne, 1689. +1690+ Battle of the Boyne, 1690. JAMES THOMSON. +1700-1748+. Poet. +The Seasons+; a poem in blank verse (1730); +The Castle of Indolence+; a mock-heroic poem in the Spenserian stanza (1748). Censorship of the Press abolished, 1695. Queen Anne ascends the throne in 1702. +1700+ HENRY FIELDING. +1707-1754+. Police-magistrate, journalist; novelist. +Joseph Andrews+ (1742); +Amelia+ (1751). He was “the first great English novelist.” Battle of Blenheim, 1704. Gibraltar taken, 1704. DR SAMUEL JOHNSON. +1709-1784+. Schoolmaster; literary man; essayist; poet; dictionary-maker. +London+ (1738); +The Vanity of Human Wishes+ (1749); +Dictionary of the English Language+ (1755); +Rasselas+ (1759); +Lives of the Poets+ (1781). He also wrote +The Idler+, +The Rambler+, and a play called +Irene+. Union of England and Scotland, 1707. +1710+ DAVID HUME. +1711-1776+. Librarian; Secretary to the French Embassy; philosopher; literary man. +History of England+ (1754-1762); and a number of philosophical _Essays_. His prose is singularly clear, easy, and pleasant. George I. ascends the throne in 1714. THOMAS GRAY. +1716-1771+. Student; poet; letter-writer; Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge. +Odes+; +Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard+ (1750)-- one of the most perfect poems in our language. He was a great stylist, and an extremely careful workman. Rebellion in Scotland in 1715. +1720+ TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT. +1721-1771+. Doctor; pamphleteer; literary hack; novelist. +Roderick Random+ (1748); +Humphrey Clinker+ (1771). He also continued +Hume’s History of England+. He published also some _Plays_ and _Poems_. South-Sea Bubble bursts, 1720. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. +1728-1774+. Literary man; play-writer; poet. +The Traveller+ (1764); +The Vicar of Wakefield+ (1766); +The Deserted Village+ (1770); +She Stoops to Conquer+--a Play (1773); and a large number of books, pamphlets, and compilations. George II. ascends the throne, 1727. ADAM SMITH. +1723-1790+. Professor in the University of Glasgow. +Theory of Moral Sentiments+ (1759); +Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations+ (1776). He was the founder of the science of political economy. +1730+ EDMUND BURKE. +1730-1797+. M.P.; statesman; “the first man in the House of Commons;” orator; writer on political philosophy. +Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful+ (1757); +Reflections on the Revolution of France+ (1790); +Letters on a Regicide Peace+ (1797); and many other works. “The greatest philosopher in practice the world ever saw.”