Chapter I: Front Matter

Note: Images of the original pages are available through
Internet Archive. See
https://archive.org/details/englishlandslett01mitc

Project Gutenberg has the other three volumes of this work.
II: From Elizabeth to Anne
see https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54142
III: Queen Anne and the Georges
see https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37226
IV: The Later Georges to Victoria
see https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54143

ENGLISH LANDS LETTERS AND KINGS

From Celt to Tudor

* * * * * *

ENGLISH LANDS LETTERS AND KINGS

_By Donald G. Mitchell_

I. From Celt to Tudor II. From Elizabeth to Anne III. Queen Anne and the Georges IV. The Later Georges to Victoria

_Each 1 vol., 12mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.50_

AMERICAN LANDS AND LETTERS

From the Mayflower to Rip Van Winkle

_1 vol., square 12mo, Illustrated, $2.50_

* * * * * *

ENGLISH LANDS LETTERS AND KINGS

From Celt to Tudor

by

DONALD G. MITCHELL

New York Charles Scribner’s Sons MDCCCXCVII

Copyright, 1889, by Charles Scribner’S Sons

Trow’S Printing and Bookbinding Company, New York.

_PREFACE._

This little book is made up from the opening series of a considerable range of “talks,” with which--during the past few years--I have undertaken to entertain, and (if it might be) instruct a bevy of friends; and the interest of a few outsiders who have come to the hearings has induced me to put the matter in type. I feel somewhat awkwardly in obtruding upon the public any such panoramic view of British writers, in these days of specialists--when students devote half a lifetime to the analysis of the works of a single author, and to the proper study of a single period.

I have tried, however, to avoid bad mistakes and misleading ones, and shall reckon my commentary only so far forth good--as it may familiarize the average reader with the salient characteristics of the writers brought under notice, and shall put these writers into such a swathing of historic and geographic enwrapments as shall keep them better in mind.

When I consider the large number of books recently issued on similar topics, and the scholarly acuteness, and the great range belonging to so many of them, I am not a little discomforted at thought of my bold scurry over so wide reach of ground. Indeed, I have the figure before me now--as I hint an apology--of an old-time country doctor who has ventured with his saddle-bags and spicy nostrums into competition with a half score of special practitioners--with their microscopy and their _granules dosimetriques_; but I think, consolingly, that possibly the old-time mediciner--if not able to cure, can at the least induce a pleasurable slumber.

EDGEWOOD, 1889.

_CONTENTS._

PAGE
CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARY, 1

EARLY CENTURIES, 5

CELTIC LITERATURE, 7

BEGINNING OF ENGLISH LEARNING, 9

CÆDMON, 13

BEDA, 15

KING ALFRED, 17

CANUTE AND GODIVA, 22

WILLIAM THE NORMAN, 25

HAROLD THE SAXON, 29

CHAPTER II.

GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH, 37

KING ARTHUR LEGENDS, 39

EARLY NORMAN KINGS, 46

RICHARD CŒUR DE LION, 50

TIMES OF KING JOHN, 53

MIXED LANGUAGE, 56

SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE, 59

EARLY BOOK-MAKING, 62

RELIGIOUS HOUSES, 66

LIFE OF A DAMOISELLE, 72

CHAPTER III.

ROGER BACON, 77

WILLIAM LANGLANDE, 84

JOHN WYCLIF, 90

CHAUCER, 97

CHAPTER IV.

OF GOWER AND FROISSART, 127

TWO HENRYS AND TWO POETS, 132

HENRY V. AND WAR TIMES, 141

JOAN OF ARC AND RICHARD III., 146

CAXTON AND FIRST ENGLISH PRINTING, 149

OLD PRIVATE LETTERS, 154

A BURST OF BALLADRY, 158

CHAPTER V.

EARLY DAYS OF HENRY VIII., 167

CARDINAL WOLSEY, AND SIR THOMAS MORE, 173

CRANMER, LATIMER, KNOX, AND OTHERS, 182

VERSE-WRITING AND PSALMODIES, 189

WYATT AND SURREY, 193

A BOY-KING, A QUEEN, AND SCHOOLMASTER, 197

CHAPTER VI.

ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND, 204

PERSONALITY OF THE QUEEN, 207

BURLEIGH AND OTHERS, 210

A GROUP OF GREAT NAMES, 214

EDMUND SPENSER, 217

THE FAERY QUEEN, 221

PHILIP SIDNEY, 230

CHAPTER VII.

JOHN LYLY, 245

FRANCIS BACON, 250

THOMAS HOBBES, 261

GEORGE CHAPMAN, 266

MARLOWE, 269

A TAVERN COTERIE, 274

CHAPTER VIII.

GEORGE PEELE, 284

THOMAS DEKKER, 287

MICHAEL DRAYTON, 291

BEN JONSON, 295

SOME PROSE WRITERS, 303

THE QUEEN’S PROGRESSES, 312

_ENGLISH LANDS, LETTERS, & KINGS._