HIS volume is written as a companion to the THIS "Short History of France" and "Short History of England," with which it forms a series. The study of literature calls for a knowledge of concurrent history. Half the value of acquaintance with writings is gone if the "setting" of each writer, as he appears in turn upon the pages, is not kept in sight. We need to know what influences were at work to make him what he was, and who were his contemporaries in literature, art, and government. On the other hand, to record an age without dwelling on its literature is to draw a face without the eyes. As John Morley puts it: "History tells us the deeds, but literature tells us the life of a nation.” In this history-in every history, short or longa legion of worthy authors are crowded out; for it is impossible to tell everything (even in treating a single branch of a single subject), and we learn to exercise the self-denial involved in omissions. This task is a hard one, too, for it is far easier to tell everything than to pick and choose from the store. But experience teaches us that young people remem ber more when only a little is given them. A great array of facts appalls them with a sense of hopeless, endless toil. "An attempt to introduce young people to the study of literature" would be a more descriptive title for the volume; but title-pages should leave something to the imagination. Our aim has been to achieve what Dr. Arnold describes when he says: "The harvest gathered in the fields of the Past is brought home for the use of the Present." E. S. K. CHICAGO, October, 1892. II. THE FIRST ANGLO-SAXON WRITERS, IV. ANGLO-NORMAN WRIters, V. THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY, VI.-GEOFFREY CHAUCER, VII.-WRITERS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, VIII. CAXTON AND MALORY, IX. THE TRANSITION PERIOD, X.-SIR THOMAS MORE AND OTHER WRITERS, XI. EARLY ELIZABETHAN PERIOD, XII. MISCELLANEOUS WRiters, XIII.-SPENSER AND LESSER WRITERS, XVII. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. MISCELLANEOUS XVIII. EARLY SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY POETS, SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY POETS-CONTINUED, XIX. XXIII. SEVENTEENTH SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENTIFIC WRITERS, XXIV. LATER DRAMATISTS. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, XXVIII.-AGE OF ANNE. LESSER ESSAYISTS, XXIX. THE FIRST NOVELISTS, XXX.-EARLY EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY POETS, XXXI.-EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY POETS-CONTINUED, XXXII.-SAMUEL JOHNSON, 199 177 205 211 215 223 XXXIII.-OLIVER GOLDSMITH, XXXV.-THREE GREAT HISTORIANS, XXXVII.-LITERARY FORGERIES, XXXIV.-EIGhteenth-Century MISCELLANEOUS WRITERS, 227 XXXVI.-EIGhteenth-Century MISCELLANEOUS WRITERS, 236 XXXVIII. LATER MISCELLANEOUS POETS, 232 242 248 LV.-BULWER. NINETEENTH-CENTURY NOVELISTS. THACKERAY. READE. COLLINS. THE TROLLOPES, 364 LVI.-CHARLES KINGSLEY. THE BRONTËS. GEORGE 354 |