With the fifth stage of English criticism this essay is not concerned. The history of literary criticism in England will be traced no farther than 1650, when the influence of France was substituted for that of Italy. This section deals especially with the two great periods of Italian influence,--that of Sidney and that of Ben Jonson. These two men are the central figures, and their names, like those of Dryden, Pope, and Samuel Johnson, represent distinct and important epochs in the history of literary criticism. FOOT-NOTES: [437] _Cf._ _Mod. Lang. Notes_, 1898, xiii. 293. [438] _Cf._ Ascham, _Works_, ii. 174-191. [439] The _Reulis and Cautelis of Scottis Poesie_ by James VI. of Scotland is wholly based on Gascoigne's treatise. [440] J. A. Symonds, _Sir Philip Sidney_, p. 157. _Cf._ also, Sidney, _Defence_, Cook's introduction, p. xxvii. [441] _Cf._ Foffano, p. 173 _sq._ In Spain, Lope de Vega's _Laurel de Apolo_ and Cervantes' _Viage del Parnaso_ belong to the same class of poems. [442] _Cf._ Dryden, ded. epist. to the _Annus Mirabilis_. [443] Addison, _Spectator_, no. 62. [444] Dryden, preface to the _State of Innocence_. CHAPTER II THE GENERAL THEORY OF POETRY IN THE ELIZABETHAN AGE THOSE who have some acquaintance, however superficial, with the literary criticism of the Italian Renaissance will find an account of the Elizabethan theory of poetry a twice-told tale. In England, as in France, criticism during this period was of a more practical character than in Italy; but even for the technical questions discussed by the Elizabethans, some prototype, or at least some equivalent, may be found among the Italians. The first four stages of English criticism have therefore little novelty or original value; and their study is chiefly important as evidence of the gradual application of the ideas of the Renaissance to English literature.