The literature of this period is more distinguished for learning and cleverness than for genius. There are a few names that rise above the smartness and mere accomplishment of the time into the regions of pure genius; but, with very few exceptions, even they bear the stamp of the period. We have here no Milton, no Shakespeare, no Herbert, no Herrick even, to produce; but De Foe, Addison, Steele, Thomson, and Pope, if they do not lift us to the highest creative plane, give us glimpses and traits of what is found there. For the rest, however full of power, there hangs a tone of "town," of a vicious and sordid era, about them, of an artificial and by no means refined life, a flavour of the grovelling of the politics which distinguished the period, and of the low views and feelings which occupied and surrounded the throne during the greater portion of this term.
The Indians who came round talked with her amicably enough, mainly by signs. She played with the children too, and one day there appeared among them her protg of the post, who thereafter became a camp follower.
TWO:To his surprise, astonishing him so much that he stopped in the middle of a stride, the lodgekeepers gate of an estate he was passing opened suddenly and Sandy found himself staring at the last person in the world he expected to meet.
