Chapter I: Preface

It is not the purpose of the author to add another to the many volumes containing a chronological list of English authors, with brief comments upon each. Such a statement of works, arranged according to periods, or reigns of English monarchs, is valuable only as an abridged dictionary of names and dates. Nor is there any logical pertinence in clustering contemporary names about a principal author, however illustrious he may be. The object of this work is to present prominently the historic connections and teachings of English literature; to place great authors in immediate relations with great events in history; and thus to propose an important principle to students in all their reading. Thus it is that Literature and History are reciprocal: they combine to make eras.

Merely to establish this historic principle, it would have been sufficient to consider the greatest authors, such as Chaucer, Spenser, Shakspeare, Milton, Dryden, and Pope; but it occurred to me, while keeping this principle before me, to give also a connected view of the course of English literature, which might, in an academic curriculum, show students how and what to read for themselves. Any attempt beyond this in so condensed a work must prove a failure, and so it may well happen that some readers will fail to find a full notice, or even a mention, of some favorite author.

English literature can only be studied in the writings of the authors here only mentioned; but I hope that the work will be found to contain suggestions for making such extended reading profitable; and that teachers will find it valuable as a syllabus for fuller courses of lectures.

To those who would like to find information as to the best editions of the authors mentioned, I can only say that I at first intended and began to note editions: I soon saw that I could not do this with any degree of uniformity, and therefore determined to refer all who desire this bibliographic assistance, to _The Dictionary of Authors_, by my friend S. Austin Allibone, LL.D., in which bibliography is a strong feature. I am not called upon to eulogize that noble work, but I cannot help saying that I have found it invaluable, and that whether mentioned or not, no writer can treat of English authors without constant recurrence to its accurate columns: it is a literary marvel of our age.

It will be observed that the remoter periods of the literature are those in which the historic teachings are the most distinctly visible; we see them from a vantage ground, in their full scope, and in the interrelations of their parts. Although in the more modern periods the number of writers is greatly increased, we are too near to discern the entire period, and are in danger of becoming partisans, by reason of our limited view. Especially is this true of the age in which we live. Contemporary history is but party-chronicle: the true philosophic history can only be written when distance and elevation give due scope to our vision.

The principle I have laid down is best illustrated by the great literary masters. Those of less degree have been treated at less length, and many of them will be found in the smaller print, to save space. Those who study the book should study the small print as carefully as the other.

After a somewhat elaborate exposition of English literature, I could not induce myself to tack on an inadequate chapter on American literature; and, besides, I think that to treat the two subjects in one volume would be as incongruous as to write a joint biography of Marlborough and Washington. American literature is too great and noble, and has had too marvelous a development to be made an appendix to English literature.

If time shall serve, I hope to prepare a separate volume, exhibiting the stages of our literature in the Colonial period, the Revolutionary epoch, the time of Constitutional establishment, and the present period. It will be found to illustrate these historical divisions in a remarkable manner.

H. C.

The Lehigh University, _October_, 1872.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

THE HISTORICAL SCOPE OF THE SUBJECT.

Literature and Science--English Literature--General Principle--Celts
and Cymry--Roman Conquest--Coming of the Saxons--Danish Invasions--The
Norman Conquest--Changes in Language

CHAPTER II.

LITERATURE A TEACHER OF HISTORY. CELTIC REMAINS.

The Uses of Literature--Italy, France, England--Purpose of the
Work--Celtic Literary Remains--Druids and Druidism--Roman
Writers--Psalter of Cashel--Welsh Triads and Mabinogion--Gildas and St.
Colm

CHAPTER III.

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE AND HISTORY.

The Lineage of the Anglo-Saxon--Earliest Saxon Poem--Metrical
Arrangement--Periphrasis and Alliteration--Beowulf--Caedmon--Other
Saxon Fragments--The Appearance of Bede

CHAPTER IV.

THE VENERABLE BEDE AND THE SAXON CHRONICLE.

Biography--Ecclesiastical History--The Recorded Miracles--Bede's
Latin--Other Writers--The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: its Value--Alfred the
Great--Effect of the Danish Invasions

CHAPTER V.

THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND ITS EARLIEST LITERATURE.

Norman Rule--Its Oppression--Its Benefits--William of
Malmesbury--Geoffrey of Monmouth--Other Latin Chronicles--Anglo-Norman
Poets--Richard Wace--Other Poets

CHAPTER VI.

THE MORNING TWILIGHT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.

Semi-Saxon Literature--Layamon--The Ormulum--Robert of
Gloucester--Langland. Piers Plowman--Piers Plowman's Creed--Sir Jean
Froissart--Sir John Mandevil

CHAPTER VII.

CHAUCER, AND THE EARLY REFORMATION.

A New Era: Chaucer--Italian Influence--Chaucer as a Founder--Earlier
Poems--The Canterbury Tales--Characters--Satire--Presentations of
Woman--The Plan Proposed

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAUCER (CONTINUED).--REFORMS IN RELIGION AND SOCIETY.

Historical Facts--Reform in Religion--The Clergy, Regular and
Secular--The Friar and the Sompnour--The Pardonere--The Poure
Persone--John Wiclif--The Translation of the Bible--The Ashes of Wiclif

CHAPTER IX.

CHAUCER (CONTINUED).--PROGRESS OF SOCIETY, AND OF LANGUAGE.

Social Life--Government--Chaucer's English--His Death--Historical
Facts--John Gower--Chaucer and Gower--Gower's Language--Other Writers

CHAPTER X.

THE BARREN PERIOD BETWEEN CHAUCER AND SPENSER.

Greek Literature--Invention of Printing. Caxton--Contemporary
History--Skelton--Wyatt--Surrey--Sir Thomas Moore--Utopia, and other
Works--Other Writers

CHAPTER XI.

SPENSER AND THE ELIZABETHAN AGE.

The Great Change--Edward VI. and Mary--Sidney--The Arcadia--Defence of
Poesy--Astrophel and Stella--Gabriel Harvey--Edmund Spenser: Shepherd's
Calendar--His Great Work

CHAPTER XII.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HISTORY IN THE FAERIE QUEENE.

The Faerie Queene--The Plan Proposed--Illustrations of the History--The
Knight and the Lady--The Wood of Error and the Hermitage--The
Crusades--Britomartis and Sir Artegal--Elizabeth--Mary Queen of
Scots--Other Works--Spenser's Fate--Other Writers

CHAPTER XIII.

THE ENGLISH DRAMA.

Origin of the Drama--Miracle Plays--Moralities--First Comedy--Early
Tragedies--Christopher Marlowe--Other Dramatists--Playwrights and
Morals

CHAPTER XIV.

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.

The Power of Shakspeare--Meagre Early History--Doubts of his
Identity--What is known--Marries and goes to London--"Venus" and
"Lucrece"--Retirement and Death--Literary Habitudes--Variety of the
Plays--Table of Dates and Sources

CHAPTER XV.

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE (CONTINUED).

The Grounds of his Fame--Creation of Character--Imagination and
Fancy--Power of Expression--His Faults--Influence of
Elizabeth--Sonnets--Ireland and Collier--Concordance--Other Writers

CHAPTER XVI.

BACON, AND THE RISE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY.

Birth and Early Life--Treatment of Essex--His Appointments--His
Fall--Writes Philosophy--Magna Instauratio--His Defects--His Fame--His
Essays

CHAPTER XVII.

THE ENGLISH BIBLE.

Early Versions--The Septuagint--The Vulgate--Wiclif;
Tyndale--Coverdale; Cranmer--Geneva; Bishop's Bible--King James's
Bible--Language of the Bible--Revision

CHAPTER XVIII.

JOHN MILTON, AND THE ENGLISH COMMONWEALTH.

Historical Facts--Charles I.--Religious Extremes--Cromwell--Birth and
Early Works--Views of Marriage--Other Prose Works--Effects of the
Restoration--Estimate of his Prose

CHAPTER XIX.

THE POETRY OF MILTON.

The Blind Poet--Paradise Lost--Milton and Dante--His
Faults--Characteristics of the Age--Paradise Regained--His
Scholarship--His Sonnets--His Death and Fame

CHAPTER XX.

COWLEY, BUTLER, AND WALTON.

Cowley and Milton--Cowley's Life and Works--His Fame--Butler's
Career--Hudibras--His Poverty and Death--Izaak Walton--The Angler; and
Lives--Other Writers

CHAPTER XXI.

DRYDEN, AND THE RESTORED STUARTS.

The Court of Charles II.--Dryden's Early Life--The Death of
Cromwell--The Restoration--Dryden's Tribute--Annus Mirabilis--Absalom
and Achitophel--The Death of Charles--Dryden's Conversion--Dryden's
Fall--His Odes

CHAPTER XXII.

THE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE OF THE GREAT REBELLION AND OF THE RESTORATION.

The English Divines--Hall--Chillingsworth--Taylor--Fuller--Sir T.
Browne--Baxter--Fox--Bunyan--South--Other Writers

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE DRAMA OF THE RESTORATION.

The License of the Age--Dryden--Wycherley--Congreve--Vanbrugh--
Farquhar--Etherege--Tragedy--Otway--Rowe--Lee--Southern

CHAPTER XXIV.

POPE, AND THE ARTIFICIAL SCHOOL.

Contemporary History--Birth and Early Life--Essay, on Criticism--Rape
of the Lock--The Messiah--The Iliad--Value of the Translation--The
Odyssey--Essay on Man--The Artificial School--Estimate of Pope--Other
Writers

CHAPTER XXV.

ADDISON, AND THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE.

The Character of the Age--Queen Anne--Whigs and Tories--George
I.--Addison: The Campaign--Sir Roger de Coverley--The Club--Addison's
Hymns--Person and Literary Character

CHAPTER XXVI.

STEELE AND SWIFT.

Sir Richard Steele--Periodicals--The Crisis--His Last Days--Jonathan
Swift: Poems--The Tale of a Tub--Battle of the Books--Pamphlets--M. B.
Drapier--Gulliver's Travels--Stella and Vanessa--His Character and
Death

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF MODERN FICTION.

The New Age--Daniel Defoe--Robinson Crusoe--Richardson--Pamela, and
Other Novels--Fielding--Joseph Andrews--Tom Jones--Its
Moral--Smollett--Roderick Random--Peregrine Pickle

CHAPTER XXVIII.

STERNE, GOLDSMITH, AND MACKENZIE.

The Subjective School--Sterne: Sermons--Tristram Shandy--Sentimental
Journey--Oliver Goldsmith--Poems: The Vicar--Histories, and Other
Works--Mackenzie--The Man of Feeling

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE HISTORICAL TRIAD IN THE SCEPTICAL AGE.

The Sceptical Age--David Hume--History of England--Metaphysics--Essay
on Miracles--Robertson--Histories--Gibbon--The Decline and Fall

CHAPTER XXX.

SAMUEL JOHNSON AND HIS TIMES.

Early Life and Career--London--Rambler and Idler--The Dictionary--Other
Works--Lives of the Poets--Person and Character--Style--Junius

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE LITERARY FORGERS IN THE ANTIQUARIAN AGE.

The Eighteenth Century--James Macpherson--Ossian--Thomas
Chatterton--His Poems--The Verdict--Suicide--The Cause

CHAPTER XXXII.

POETRY OF THE TRANSITION SCHOOL.

The Transition Period--James Thomson--The Seasons--The Castle of
Indolence--Mark Akenside--Pleasures of the Imagination--Thomas
Gray--The Elegy. The Bard--William Cowper--The Task--Translation of
Homer--Other Writers

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE LATER DRAMA.

The Progress of the Drama--Garrick--Foote--Cumberland--Sheridan--George
Colman--George Colman, the Younger--Other Dramatists and
Humorists--Other Writers on Various Subjects

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE NEW ROMANTIC POETRY: SCOTT.

Walter Scott--Translations and Minstrelsy--The Lay of the Last
Minstrel--Other Poems--The Waverley Novels--Particular
Mention--Pecuniary Troubles--His Manly Purpose--Powers
Overtasked--Fruitless Journey--Return and Death--His Fame

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE NEW ROMANTIC POETRY: BYRON AND MOORE.

Early Life of Byron--Childe Harold and Eastern Tales--Unhappy
Marriage--Philhellenism and Death--Estimate of his Poetry--Thomas
Moore--Anacreon--Later Fortunes--Lalla Rookh--His Diary--His Rank as
Poet

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE NEW ROMANTIC POETRY (CONTINUED).

Robert Burns--His Poems--His Career--George Crabbe--Thomas
Campbell--Samuel Rogers--P. B. Shelley--John Keats--Other Writers

CHAPTER XXXVII.

WORDSWORTH, AND THE LAKE SCHOOL.

The New School--William Wordsworth--Poetical Canons--The Excursion and
Sonnets--An Estimate--Robert Southey--His Writings--Historical
Value--S. T. Coleridge--Early Life--His Helplessness--Hartley and H. N.
Coleridge

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE REACTION IN POETRY.

Alfred Tennyson--Early Works--The Princess--Idyls of the
King--Elizabeth B. Browning--Aurora Leigh--Her Faults--Robert
Browning--Other Poets

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE LATER HISTORIANS.

New Materials--George Grote--History of Greece--Lord Macaulay--History
of England--Its Faults--Thomas Carlyle--Life of Frederick II.--Other
Historians

CHAPTER XL.

THE LATER NOVELISTS AS SOCIAL REFORMERS.

Bulwer--Changes in Writers--Dickens's Novels--American Notes--His
Varied Powers--Second Visit to America--Thackeray--Vanity Fair--Henry
Esmond--The Newcomes--The Georges--Estimate of his Powers

CHAPTER XLI.

THE LATER WRITERS.

Charles Lamb--Thomas Hood--Thomas de Quincey--Other Novelists--Writers
on Science and Philosophy

CHAPTER XLII.

ENGLISH JOURNALISM.

Roman News Letters--The Gazette--The Civil War--Later Divisions--The
Reviews--The Monthlies--The Dailies--The London Times--Other Newspapers

Alphabetical Index of Authors