{"newspaper_name": "The Litchfield County post.", "edition": "01", "page": "p4", "byline": ""}
{"character_count": 3022, "word_count": 511, "ccnet_language_score": [0.979200005531311], "ccnet_perplexity": [2126.199951171875], "fasttext_language": ["en"]}
other causes, spread fondacss for tales of chivalry, and amatory romances; and with them taste for foreign ornament of lan- gIape. and iiknrativeness of expression.

 The charaetss of English poetry was great ly improved by their influence.

 We now came to the consideration of new era in the annals of English litera- turc. In the reign of Edward Sd, Iumi- nary rose upon the pOctical world, whose efulgcnce not oIlly eclipsed all which had preceded, but surpassed in brightness any which for century came after 1t, and gild- ed the poctical hemisphere long after the orb itself had disappeared. This lumina- ry was Godfrey Chaucer: he was born in the year 328; possessed of a comprehen- sivc mind, he soon obtained knowledge of tho sciences, as they were then taught at the university of Oxford. The active ness of his intellect, and the livcliness of his disposition, recommended him to the notice. of his sovereign and he was recei- we'd with favour at court. Here he acqui- red every thing that savoured of rcfine- ment in hisown country. This, however, did not content him: he aspired after some- thing beyond it. He made frequent visits to France and Italy. The official station, which he sometimes held, gave him admis- sion to the different courts. He was y no

 means an inattentive observer oftheir com-

 parative elegancy of language and manners.

 Introduced to Petrarch and other celebra- ted Intalian poets, attentivcly studying the

 Italian and provincial languages, and ea-

 gerly perusing the best poetry, particular

 ly that of Dante, his mind was fertilized and expanded. Thus qualified he under took to improve the diction of his native country, by smoothing it's asperities, and to enrich it, by an infusion of the more re- fined Provincial phraseology. He was as- sisted by Gower, his contemporary and friend. The success that attended his ex- ertions has given renown to his name which will long endure. He stands upon an elevation conspicuously prominent, when we consider that he was the first pc ct who united the manners of court and a knowledge of the world with the scien- tific learning of the schools. Before his time those who made poetry an object of study, were either men whose limited ed- ucation unftted them for any effort towards the improvement of their native language, or rcligionists who in the seclusion of the cloister wasted what powers they may have possessed upon marvellous relations, and extravagantlegends ofreal or fancicd saints. What renders his productions more remar- kable is the deartll of eminent genius which succeeded his removal from the world. The space of time that elapsed from the death of Chaueer, to the rise of Skelton, in the reign of Henry 9th, may be compa- red as respects poetical talent to an exten- sive heath, where the eye is here and there relieved by spot of verdure, or an aspi- ring shrub but where no majestic tree gratifies the sight with the beauty of its fol- iagc. or attracts the footsteps, by promis- ing an umbrageous retreat.