teaching him the true place that every book and author occupies in the world of letters.
Fundamental Principles. — To pursue the study of a literature to the best advantage one needs a thorough knowledge of the language, history, social customs, and spirit of the people that produced it, as well as a general idea of the geography and climate of their country. The great agencies which determine the character of a literature must be borne constantly in mind:
1. Race. — The hereditary disposition of the makers of the literature must first be noted. The races inhabiting the warmer climates are naturally impulsive, with strong passions. The northern races are more cold and reserved. These characteristics are stamped upon the literary product of these races.
2. Environment. — The surroundings of a people have a great effect upon their intellectual development. What of the climate? Is the land fertile and easy to work, or does it compel the husbandman to expend great energy upon it? Is it subject to depressing fogs, like Britain, or to violent extremes of temperature like Norway? Is it mountainous like Greece, or flat like Holland? Is it inland like Russia, or maritime like England? It is this agency that gives color to a literature.
3. Epoch. — What was the spirit of the ago? What has been the history of the nation? Has it been free during the whole of its history? Has it had to maintain a constant fight against invaders, or has it been itself an invader? What perplexing questions, intellectual, moral, social, has it been called upon to settle? In what great
