The age is far more remarkable for its prose than for its poetry. French influence helped to develop a concise, flexible, energetic prose style. The deterioration in poetry was partly compensated for by the rapid advances in prose, which needed the influences working toward artistic finish. Because of its cleverness, avoidance of long sentences, and of classical inversions, Dryden's prose is essentially modern. Defoe's _Robinson Crusoe_ is the world's most popular story of adventure, told in simple and direct, but seemingly artless, prose. Of all the prose writers since Swift's time, few have equaled him and still fewer surpassed him in simplicity, flexibility, directness, and lack of affectation. The essays of Steele and Addison constitute a landmark. No preceding English prose shows so much grace of style, delicate humor, and power of awakening and retaining interest as do the _Sir Roger de Coverley Papers_. The influence of this age was sufficient to raise permanently the standard level of artistic literary expression. The unpruned, shapeless, and extravagant forms of earlier times will no longer be tolerated. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY HISTORICAL An account of the history of this period may be found in either Gardiner,[3] Green, Walker, or Cheney. Vols. VIII. and IX. of the _Political History of England_ give the history in greater detail. For the social side, consult Traill, Vols. IV. and V., and Cheney's _Industrial and Social History of England._ Lecky's _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_ is an excellent work. LITERARY _The Cambridge History of English Literature,_ Vols. VIII., IX., X. Courthope's _A History of English Poetry_, Vols. III., IV., and V. Stephen's _English Literature in the Eighteenth Century_. Taine's _History of English Literature_, Book III., Chaps. I., II., III. Gosse's _History of Eighteenth Century Literature_ begins with 1660. Garnett's _The Age of Dryden_. Phillips's _Popular Manual of English Literature_, Vol. I. Minto's _Manual of English Prose Literature_. Saintsbury's _Life of Dryden_. (E.M.L.) Macaulay's _Essay on Dryden_. Lowell's _Essay on Dryden_ in _Among My Books_. Dryden's _Essays on the Drama_, edited by Strunk. Fowler's _Life of Locke_. (E.M.L.) Stephen's _History of Thought in the Eighteenth Century_. Dennis's _The Age of Pope_. Thackeray's _English Humorists_ (Swift, Addison, Steele, Pope). Stephen's _Life of Swift_. (E.M.L.) Craik's _Life of Swift_. Courthope's _Life of Addison_. (E.M.L.) Macaulay's _Essay on Addison_. Stephen's _Life of Pope_. (E.M.L.) De Quincey's _Essay on Pope_, and _On the Poetry of Pope_. Johnson's _Lives of the Poets_ (Dryden, Pope, Addison). Lowell's _My Study Windows_ (Pope). SUGGESTED READINGS WITH QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS