(_d_) _The Periodical Essay._ Compared with the abundance of the earlier portion of the century, the amount produced later seems of little importance. The number of periodicals, however, was as great as ever. Johnson wrote _The Rambler_ and _The Idler_, and contributed also to _The Adventurer_ and others; Goldsmith assisted _The Bee_ during its brief career. _The Connoisseur_, to which Cowper contributed for a space, _The Mirror_ and _The Lounger_, published in Edinburgh by Mackenzie, “the Man of Feeling,” _The Observer_ and _The Looker On_ all imitated _The Spectator_ with moderate success, but show no important development in manner or matter. (_e_) _Miscellaneous Prose._ The amount of miscellaneous prose is very great indeed, and a fair proportion of it is of high merit. We have already given space to the political and philosophical writings of Burke, whose work is of the highest class, as represented in _The Sublime and Beautiful_ and _Reflections on the French Revolution_. Political writing of a different aim is seen in Godwin’s _Political Justice_; and the religious writings of Paley, the critical writings of Percy, and the natural history of Gilbert White are all to be included in this class. THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY STYLE =1. Poetry.= In poetical style the transitional features are well marked. The earlier authors reveal many artificial mannerisms--for example, extreme regularity of meter and the frequent employment of the more formal figures of speech, such as personification and apostrophe. The Pindaric odes of Gray and Collins are examples of the transitional style: Ye distant spires! ye antique towers! That crown the watery glade, Where grateful Science still adores Her Henry’s holy shade; And ye that from the stately brow Of Windsor’s heights the expanse below Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey, Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among Wanders the hoary Thames along His silver-winding way. GRAY, _Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College_ In this verse there are the conventional personifications of Science and the Thames, and such stock phrases as “the watery glade.” The whole poem, however, is infused with a new spirit of mingled energy and meditation. As the century draws to a close we have many of the newer styles appearing: the more regular blank verse of Cowper; the lighter heroic couplet of Goldsmith; the archaic medley of Chatterton; and the intense simplicity of Burns and Blake. As a further example of the new manner we quote a few stanzas from a poem by Fergusson, who, dying in the year 1774 (ten years before the death of Johnson), wrote as naturally as Burns himself: As simmer rains bring simmer flowers, And leaves to cleed the birken bowers; Sae beauty gets by caller showers Sae rich a bloom, As for estate, or heavy dowers Aft stands in room.