Chapter I: Preface

A Preface to a book on the History of English Literature is apt to be an apology, for a writer must be conscious of his inability to deal with a subject so immense and so multiplex in its aspects. This volume does not pretend to be an encyclopædia of our literature; or to include all the names of authors and of their works. Selection has been necessary, and in the fields of philosophy and theology but a few names appear. The writer, indeed, would willingly have omitted not a few of the minor authors in pure literature, and devoted his space only to the masters. But each of these springs from an underwood, as it were, of the thought and effort of men less conspicuous, whom it were ungrateful, and is practically impossible, to pass by in silence. Nevertheless the attempt has been made to deal most fully with the greatest names.

The author's object has been to arouse a living interest, if it may be, in the books of the past, and to induce the reader to turn to them for himself. Scantiness of space forbids the presentation of extracts; for poetry there is perhaps no better selection than that of the Oxford Book of Verse by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.[1] For prose, the Anthologies of Mrs. Barnett and Mrs. Dale may be recommended.[2]

It is unhappily the fact that the works of a majority of the earlier authors are scarcely accessible except in the publications of learned societies or in very limited editions; but from Chaucer onwards the Globe Editions are open to all; and the great Cambridge "History of English Literature" is invaluable as a guide to the Bibliography. It is better to study even a little of the greatest authors than to read many books about them. If the writer should perchance succeed in bringing any readers to the works of the immortals his purpose will be fulfilled But readers, like poets and anglers, are "born to be so"; and when born under a fortunate star do not need to be allured or compelled to come into the Muses' paradise.

That sins of commission as well as of omission will be discovered the author cannot doubt, for through much reading and writing they that look out of window are darkened, and errors come.

[1] University Press.

[2] Longmans, Green & Co.

CONTENTS.

Preface v

List of Authors xi

CHAPTER

I. Anglo-Saxon Literature: The Anglo-Saxon Way of Living--Minstrels, Story-Tellers, and Stories--Beowulf--The Wanderer--The Plaint of Deor--The Seafarer--Waldhere--The Fight at Finnsburg

II. Anglo-Saxon Christian Poetry: Cædmon--Cynewulf --Andreas--Dream of the Rood--Elene--Riddles--Phœnix

III. Anglo-Saxon Learning and Prose: Latin among the Anglo-Saxons--Bede--Alcuin--Alfred--The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle--The Monks and Learning--Ælfric

IV. After the Norman Conquest: Latin Literature--Walter Map--Changes Since the Conquest

V. Geoffrey of Monmouth: The Stories of Arthur

VI. Layamon's "Brut": Ormulum--Ancren Riwle--The Owl and the Nightingale--Lyrics--Political Songs--Robert of Gloucester--Cursor Mundi--Devotional Books--Minot

VII. The Romances in Rhyme: Tristram--Havelok--King Horn--Beues of Hamtoun--Guy of Warwick--Arthur and Merlin--The Tale of Troy--The Story of Troy from Homer to Shakespeare--King Alisaundre

VIII. Alliterative Romances and Poems: Gawain and the Green Knight--Pearl--Huchowne 72

IX. Chaucer: Early Poems--The Dethe of the Duchesse--Other Early Poems--Troilus and Criseyde--The Canterbury Tales 78

X. "Piers Plowman," Gower

XI. The Successors of Chaucer: Lydgate--Occleve--Hawes

XII. Late Mediaeval Prose: Wyclif--Chaucer's Prose Style--Trevisa--Mandeville--Pecock: "The Repressor"--Capgrave--Lord Berners

XIII. Malory

XIV. Early Scottish Literature: Barbour--Wyntoun--The Kingis Quhair--Henryson--Dunbar--Blind Harry--The Buke of the Howlat--Gawain Douglas--Sir David Lyndsay

XV. Popular Poetry. Ballads

Professional Poetry: Skelton--Barclay

XVI. Rise of the Drama: Heywood--Ralph Roister Doister--Gammer Gurton's Needle--"Gorboduc"

XVII. Wyatt and Surrey. Gascoigne. Sackville: The Earl of Surrey--Tottel's Miscellany--Gascoigne--Sackville

XVIII. Prose of the Renaissance: Elyot--Ascham--Lyly's Euphues--Sidney--Sidney's "Defence of Poesie" Spenser

XIX. The Elizabethan Stage and Playwrights: John Lyly --Peele--Greene--Lodge--Nash--Marlowe--Kyd--Shakespeare --The Sonnets--Later Plays--Jonson--Jonson's Prose

XX. Other Dramatists: Beaumont and Fletcher--Chapman--John Marston--Dekker--Middleton--Heywood--Webster--Massinger --Ford--Shirley

XXI. Elizabethan and Jacobean Prose Writers: Hooker--"Martin Marprelate"--Bacon--Raleigh--Overbury--Translators--Pulpit Eloquence

XXII. Late Elizabethan and Jacobean Poets: Minor Lyrists-- Drayton --Daniel--Davies--Giles and Phineas Fletcher--Corbet--Sir John Beaumont

XXIII. Late Jacobean and Caroline Prose: Burton--Herbert of Cherbury--Browne.

Caroline Prose: Milton--Jeremy Taylor--Thomas Fuller--Hobbes--Izaak Walton--John Bunyan--Clarendon

XXIV. Caroline Poets: Crashaw--Herbert--Vaughan--Herrick--Carew--Lovelace --Suckling--Habington--Cartwright--Davenant--Cowley --Denham--Sherburne--Stanley--Browne--Cotton --Waller--Marvell--Milton--Samuel Butler

XXV. Restoration Theatre: Congreve--Vanbrugh--George Farquhar --Otway--Nat Lee--Dryden

XXVI. Augustan Poetry: Alexander Pope--Prior--Gay--Ambrose Philips--Tickell

XXVII. Augustan Prose: Steele--Addison--Swift--De Foe

XXVIII. Georgian Poetry I.: Edward Young--James Thomson--William Collins--Thomas Gray--The Wartons--John Dyer--William Shenstone

XXIX. Georgian Poetry II.: Thomas Chatterton--William Cowper--Literature in Scotland (1550-1790)--Robert Burns--Charles Churchill--George Crabbe

XXX. Georgian Prose I.: The Great Novelists--Richardson--Henry Fielding--Tobias Smollet

XXXI. Georgian Prose II.: Samuel Johnson--Oliver Goldsmith--Edmund Burke--Horace Walpole--Laurence Sterne--David Hume--Robertson--Edward Gibbon--Richard Brinsley Sheridan--Lady Mary Wortley Montagu--Junius

XXXII. The Romantic Movement: Coleridge--Walter Scott--William Wordsworth--Robert Southey--Shelley--Byron --Keats--Walter Savage Landor

XXXIII. Later Georgian Novelists: Frances Burney-- Mrs. Radcliffe--Maria Edgeworth--Charles Brockden Brown--Jane Austen--Walter Scott, the Novelist--James Fenimore Cooper--Washington Irving.

Magazines and Essayists: Charles Lamb--Leigh Hunt--William Hazlitt--Thomas de Quincey

XXXIV. Poets after Wordsworth: Philip Freneau--William Cullen. Bryant--John Greenleaf Whittier--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow--Alfred Tennyson--Robert Browning--Edgar Allan Poe--Ralph Waldo Emerson--James Russell Lowell--Matthew Arnold.

General Writers: John Ruskin

XXXV. Late Victorian Poets: Edward FitzGerald--George Meredith--Elizabeth Barrett Browning--Christina Rossetti--Dante Gabriel Rossetti--William Morris--Swinburne.

Poetic Underwoods

XXXVI. Latest Georgian and Victorian Novelists: Dickens-- Thackeray--The Brontë Sisters--Nathaniel Hawthorne--Oliver Wendell Holmes--Charles Kingsley--George Meredith--Anthony Trollope--George Eliot--Robert Louis Stevenson--Minor Novelists

XXXVII. Historians: Thomas Babington Macaulay--Thomas Carlyle--James Anthony Froude--Edward Augustus Freeman--William Hickling Prescott--John Lothrop Motley--J. S. Mill--Cardinal Newman--W. E. H. Lecky

Index (not included in this text ed.)

LIST OF AUTHORS.

Adamnan, Abbot (_c._ 625-704)
Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Ælfric (_c._ 955-1020)
Ailred (_c._ 1109-1166)
Ainsworth, William Harrison (1805-1882)
Alcuin (735-804)
Aldhelm, Bp. (_c._ 640--709)
Alexander, Sir William, Earl of Stirling (_c._ 1567-1640)
Alfred, King (849-901)
Andrewes, Lancelot (1555-1626)
Arbuthnot, John (1667-1735)
Arnold, Matthew (1822-1888)
Ascham, Roger (1515-1568)
Asser, Bp. (_fl. c._ 900)
Atterbury, Francis (1662-1732)
Austen, Jane (1775-1817)
Ayton, Sir Robert (1570-1638)
Aytoun, William Edmonstoune, (1813-1865)

Bacon, Francis (1561-1626)
Baillie, Lady Grizel (1665-1746)
Bale, John (1495-1563)
Bannatyne, George (1545-1608)
Barbour, John (_c._ 1316-1396)
Barclay, Alexander (_c._ 1475-1552)
Barnfield, Richard (1574-1627)
Barrow, Isaac (1630-1677)
Baxter, Richard (1615-1691)
Beattie, James (1735-1803)
Beaumont, Francis (1584-1616)
Beaumont, Sir John (1582-1628)
Beckford, William (1759-1844)
Beddoes, Thomas Lovell (1803-1849)
Bede (673-735)
Behn, Mrs. Aphra (1640-1689)
Bentley, Richard (1662-1742)
Berkeley, George (1685-1753)
Berners, Lord (1467-1533)
Besant, Sir Walter (1836-1901)
Black, William (1841-1898)
Blackwood, William (1776-1834)
Blair, Robert (1699-1746)
Borrow, George (1803-1881)
Boswell, James (1740-1795)
Bowles, William Lisle (1762-1850)
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth (1837- )
Brome, Richard (_fl. c._ 1623-1652)
Brontë, Anne (1820-1849)
Brontë, Charlotte (1816-1855)
Brontë, Emily (1818-1848)
Broome, William (1689-1745)
Brougham, Henry, Lord Brougham (1778-1868)
Brown, Charles Brockden (1771-1810)
Browne, Sir Thomas (1605-1682)
Browne, William (_c._ 1591-1643)
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861)
Browning, Robert (1812-1889)
Bryant, William Cullen (1794-1878)
Bunyan, John (1628-1688)
Burke, Edmund (1729-1797)
Burnet, Gilbert (1643-1715)
Burnett, James, Lord Monboddo (1714-1799)
Burney, Charles (1726-1814)
Burney, Frances (1752-1840)
Burns, Robert (1759-1796)
Burton, Robert (1577-1640)
Butler, Samuel (1612-1680)
Byron, George Gordon, Lord (1788-1824)

Cædmon (_fl. c._ 670)
Campbell, Thomas (1777-1844)
Campion, Thomas (_fl._ 1581-1619)
Canning, George (1770-1827)
Capgrave, John (1393-1464)
Carew, Richard (1555-1620)
Carew, Thomas (_c._ 1598-1639)
Carlyle, Alexander (1722-1805)
Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881)
Cartwright, William (1611-1643)
Caxton, William (_c._ 1422-1491)
Chambers, Robert (1802-1871)
Chapman, George (_c._ 1559-1634)
Chatterton, Thomas (1752-1770)
Chaucer, Geoffrey (_c._ 1340-1400)
Chillingworth, William (1602-1644)
Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)
Churchyard, Thomas (_c._ 1520-1604)
Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)
Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of (1607-1674)
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834)
Collins, Wilkie (1824-1889)
Collins, William (1721-1759)
Colman, George (1762-1836)
Congreve, William (1670-1729)
Constable, Henry (_c._ 1560-1613)
Cooper, Anthony Ashley, Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)
Cooper, James Fenimore (1789-1851)
Corbet, Richard (1582-1635)
Cotton, Charles (1630-1687)
Coverdale, Miles (1488-1568)
Cowley, Abraham (1618-1667)
Cowper, William (1731-1800)
Crabbe, George (1754-1832)
Cranmer, Thomas (1489-1556)
Crashaw, Richard (_c._ 1613-1649)
Creighton, Mandell (1843-1901)
Cross, Mary Ann: "George Eliot" (1819-1880)
Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)
Cynewulf (_fl. c._ 750)

Dalrymple, Sir David, Lord Hailes (1726-1792)
Daniel, Samuel (1562-1619)
D'Arblay, Madame, _see_ Frances Burney.
Darwin, Charles (1809-1882)
Davenant, Sir William (1606-1668)
Davies, Sir John (1569-1626)
Day, Thomas (1748-1789)
De Foe, Daniel (1661-1731)
Dekker, Thomas (_c._ 1570-1641)
De la Ramée, Louise (1840-1908)
Denham, Sir John (1615-1669)
De Quincey, Thomas (1785-1859)
Dickens, Charles (1812-1870)
Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield (1804-1881)
Donne, John (1573-1631)
Douglas, Gawain (_c._ 1473-1522)
Drayton, Michael (1563-1631)
Drummond, William, of Hawthornden (1585-1649)
Dryden, John (1631-1700)
Dunbar, William (_c._ 1460-1520)
D'Urfey, Thomas (1653-1723)
Dyer, John (_c._ 1700-1758)

Edgeworth, Maria (1767-1849)
Edwards, Jonathan (1629-1712)
Edwards, Richard (_c._1523-1566)
Eliot, George, _see_ Mary Ann Cross.
Elliot, Jean (1727-1805)
Elyot, Sir Thomas (_c._ 1499-1546)
Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882), 579-82.
Etherege, Sir George (_c._ 1635-1691)
Evelyn, John (1620-1706)

Fairfax, Edward (_fl. c._ 1600)
Farquhar, George (1678-1707)
Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)
Ferguson, Rev. Adam (1723-1816)
Fergusson, Robert (1750-1774)
Ferrier, Susan (1782-1854)
Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)
FitzGerald, Edward (1809-1883)
Fitzneale, Richard (_fl._ 1169-1198)
Fletcher, Giles (_c._ 1549-1611)

Fletcher, John (1579-1625)
Fletcher, Phineas (_c._ 1582-1650)
Florence of Worcester (_d._ 1118)
Florio, John (_c._ 1553-1625)
Forbes, Bishop Robert (1708-1775)
Ford, John (_fl. c._. 1613-1633)
Fordun, John (_d. c._ 1384)
Forster, John (1812-1876)
Fox, George (1624-1690)
Francis, Sir Philip (1740-1818)
Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790)
Freeman, E. A. (1823-1892)
Freneau, Philip (1752-1832)
Froude, James Anthony (1818-1894)
Froude, Richard Hurrell (1803-1836)
Fuller, Thomas (1608-1661)

Galt, John (1779-1839)
Gardiner, Samuel Rawson (1829-1902)
Gascoigne, George (_c._ 1525-1577)
Gaskell, Elizabeth (1810-1865)
Gay, John (1685-1732)
Geoffrey of Monmouth (_c._ 1100-1155)
Gerald of Wales (_c._ 1147-1217)
Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)
Gildas (_c._ 516-570)
Giraldus Cambrensis, _see_ Gerald of Wales.
Glanvill, Joseph (1636-1680)
Godric, St. (_c._ 1065-1170)
Golding, Arthur (_c._ 1536-1605)
Goldsmith, Oliver (1728-1774)
Googe, Barnabe (1540-1594)
Gosson, Stephen (1554-1624)
Gower, John (_c._ 1325-1408)
Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)
Green, J. R. (1837-1883)
Green, Matthew (1696-1737)
Greene, Robert (_c._ 1560-1592)
Griffin, B. (_fl._ 1596)
Grimald, Nicholas (1519-1562)
Grote, George (1794-1871)
Gwynne, Talbot (_fl. c._ 1862-1865)

Habington, William (1605-1654)
Hales, John (1584-1656)
Hall, Joseph (1574-1656)
Hallam, Henry (1777-1859)
Hamilton, William, of Bangour (1704-1754)
Hamilton, William, of Gilbertfield (_c._ 1665-1751)
Harington, Sir John (1561-1612)
Harry, Blind (_fl. c._ 1480-1492)
Harvey, Gabriel (_c._ 1545-1630)
Hawes, Stephen (_c._ 1475-1523)
Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1804-1864)
Haywood, Eliza (_c._ 1693-1756)
Hazlitt, William (1778-1830), 555-7.
Henley, W. E. (1849-1903)
Henry of Huntingdon (_fl._ 1125-1154)
Henry son, Robert (_fl. c._ 1462)
Herbert, Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1583-1648)
Herbert, George (1593-1633)
Herrick, Robert (1591-1674)
Heywood, John (_c._ 1497-1580)
Heywood, Thomas (_fl. c._ 1596-1650)
Higden, Ranulf (_d._ 1364)
Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679)
Hogg, James (1770-1835)
Holland, Philemon (1552-1637)
Holland, Sir Richard (_fl. c._ 1450)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1809-1894)
Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)
Home, John (1722-1808)
Hood, Thomas (1799-1845)
Hook, Theodore (1788-1841)
Hooker, Richard (_c._ 1553-1600)
Horner, Francis (1778-1817)
Howard, Henry, Earl of Surrey (_c._ 1517-1547)
Howell, James (1594-1666)
Huchown (_fl._ 1342-1377)
Hume, David (1711-1776)
Hunt, James Henry Leigh (1784-1859)
Hutcheson, Francis (1694-1746)
Huxley, T. H. (1825-1895)

Irving, Washington (1783-1859)

James I of Scotland (1394-1437)
James, G. P. R. (1799-1860)
Jeffrey, Francis (1773-1850)
Jocelin de Brakelond (_fl._ 1173-1202)
Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Jonson, Ben (_c._ 1573-1637)
"Junius" (_fl._ 1768-1773)

Keats, John (1795-1821)
Kingsley, Charles (1819-1875)
Kingsley, Henry (1830-1876)
Kirke, Edward (1553-1613)
Knox, John (_c._ 1505-1572)
Kyd, Thomas (_c._ 1558-1594)

Lamb, Charles (1775-1834)
Landor, Walter Savage (1775-1864)
Langland, William (_c._ 1332-1400)
Lawrence, G. A. (1827-1876)
Layamon (_fl. c._ 1200-1220)
Lecky, W. E. H. (1838-1903)
Leighton, Robert (1611-1684)
Leslie of Ross, Bishop (1527-1596)
Lever, Charles (1806-1872)
Lingard, John (1772-1851)
Locke, John (1632-1704)
Lockhart, George, of Carnwath
Lockhart, John Gibson (1794-1854)
Lodge, Thomas (_c._ 1558-1625)
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807-1882)
Lovelace, Richard (1618-1658)
Lowell, James Russell (1819-1891)
Lydgate, John (_c._ 1370-1446)
Lyly, John (_c._ 1554-1606)
Lyndsay, Sir David (1490-1555)
Lytton, Edward George Bulwer (1803-1873)

Macaulay, Thomas Babington (1800-1859)
Mackenzie, Sir George (1636-1691).
Macpherson, James (1736-1796)
Malory, Sir Thomas (_c._ 1400-1471)
Mandeville, Sir John (_fl. c._ 1322-1357)
Map, Walter (_c._ 1137-1200)
Marlowe, Christopher (1564-1593)
Marryat, Capt. Frederick (1792-1848)
Marston, John (_c._ 1575-1634)
Marvell, Andrew (1621-1678)
Massinger, Philip (1583-1640)
Mather, Cotton (1663-1728)
Mayne, Jasper (1604-1672)
Meredith, George (1828-1909)
Meres, Francis (1565-1647)
Middleton, Thomas (_c._ 1570-1627)
Mill, James (1773-1836)
Mill, John Stuart (1806-1873)
Milman, Henry Hart (1791-1868)
Milton, John (1608-1674)
Minot, Laurence (_c._ 1300-1352)
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley (1689-1762)
Montgomery, Alexander (_c._ 1556-1610)
Montgomery, Robert (1807-1855)
Moore, Thomas (1779-1852)
More, Henry (1614-1687)
More, Sir Thomas (1478-1535)
Morris, William (1834-1896)

Nairne, Carolina, Lady (1766-1845)
Napier, Sir William (1785-1860)
Nash, Thomas (1567-1601)
Nennius (_c._ 800)
Newman, John Henry, Cardinal (1801-1890)
Nicholas of Guildford (_fl._ 1250)
Nicolls, Thomas (_fl._ 1550
North, Christopher, _see_ John Wilson.
North, Roger (1653-1733)
North, Sir Thomas (_c._ 1535-1601)

Occleve, Thomas (_c._ 1368-1450)
Oliphant, May Margaret Wilson, (1828-1897)
Ormin (_c._ 1200)
Otway, Thomas (1652-1685)
Ouida, _see_ De la Ramée.
Overbury, Sir Thomas (1581-1613)

Painter, William (_c._ 1540-1594)
Palgrave, Sir Francis (1788-1861)
Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)
Pater, Walter Horatio (1839-1894)
Payn, James (1830-1898)
Peacock, Thomas Love (1785-1866)
Pecock, Reginald (_c._ 1395-1460)
Peele, George (_c._ 1558-1598)
Pepys, Samuel (1633-1703)
Percy, Thomas (1729-1811)
Phaer, Thomas (_c._ 1510-1560)
Philips, Ambrose (1675-1749)
Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849)
Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Praed, Winthrop Mackworth (1802-1839)
Prescott, William Hickling (1796-1859)
Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)
Prynne, William (1600-1669)

Radcliff, Ann (1764-1822)
Raleigh, Sir Walter (_c._ 1552-1618)
Ramsay, Allan (1686-1758)
Randolph, Thomas (1605-1635)
Reade, Charles (1814-1884)
Reeve, Clara (1729-1807)
Reynolds, John Hamilton (1796-1852)
Rich, Barnaby (_c._ 1540-1620)
Richard, Prior of Hexham (_fl._ 1138-1154)
Richardson, Samuel (1689-1761)
Ritson, Joseph (1752-1803)
Robert of Gloucester (_fl. c._ 1260-1300)
Robertson, William (1721-1793)
Robynson, Ralph (_fl. c._ 1551)
Rogers, Samuel (1763-1855)
Rolle, Richard (_c._ 1290-1349)
Rossetti, Christina (1830-1894)
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (1828-1882)
Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)
Rowley, William (_c._ 1585-1642)
Ruskin, John (1819-1900)

Sackville, Thomas (1536-1608)
St. John, Henry, Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751)
Savile, Sir Henry (1549-1622)
Scott, Alexander (_c._ 1525-1584)
Scott, John (1783-1821)
Scott, Michael (1789-1835)
Scott, Sir Walter (1771-1832)
Sedley, Sir Charles (_c._ 1639-1701)
Shadwell, Thomas (1642-1692)
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822)
Shenstone, William (1714-1763)
Sherburne, Sir Edward (1618-1702)
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (1751-1816)
Shirley, James (1596-1666)
Sidney, Sir Philip (1554-1586)
Simeon of Durham (_fl._ 1130)
Skelton, John (_c._ 1460-1529)
Smith, Horace (1779-1849)
Smith, Captain John (1580-1631)
Smith, Sydney (1771-1845)
Smith, William (_fl._ 1596)
Smollett, Tobias (1721-1771)
South, Robert (1634-1716)
Southerne, Thomas (1660-1746)
Southey, Robert (1774-1843)
Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903)
Spenser, Edmund (_c._ 1552-1599)
Stanley, Thomas (1625-1678)
Stanyhurst, Richard (1547-1618)
Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)
Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)
Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850-1894)
Still, John (1543-1608)
Strachey, William (_fl._ 1609-1618)
Stubbs, William (1825-1901)
Suckling, Sir John (1609-1642)
Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)
Swinburne, Algernon Charles (1837-1909)
Symonds, John Addington (1840-1893)

Talfourd, Sir T. N. (1795-1854)
Tautphœus, Baroness (1807-1893)
Taylor, Jeremy (1613-1667)
Temple, Sir William (1628-1699)
Tennyson, Alfred (1809-1892)
Thackeray, William Makepeace (1811-1863)
Thomas of Ercildoune (_d. c._ 1299)
Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Tickell, Thomas (1686-1740)
Tourneur, Cyril (_c._ 1575-1626)
Trevisa, John (_c._ 1326-1412)
Trollope, Anthony (1815-1882)
Turner, Sharon (1768-1847)
Tusser, Thomas (_c._ 1524-1580)

Udall, Nicholas (1505-1556)
Urquhart, Sir Thomas (1611-1660)
Ussher, James (1581-1656)

Vanbrugh, Sir John (1666-1726)
Vaughan, Henry (1622-1695)
Villiers, George, second Duke of Buckingham (1627-1688)

Wace (_fl._ 1170)
Waller, Edmund (1606-1687)
Walpole, Horace (1717-1797)
Walton, Izaac (1593-1683)
Wardlaw, Elizabeth, Lady (1677-1727)
Warton, Joseph (1722-1800)
Warton, Thomas (_c._ 1688-1745)
Warton, Thomas (1728-1790)
Watson, Thomas (_c._ 1557-1592)
Webster, John (_c._ 1580-1625)
Whetstone, George (_c._ 1544-1587)
Whittier, John Greenleaf (1807-1892)
Whyte-Melville, George John (1821-1878)
Wilkie, Prof. William (1721-1772)
William of Malmesbury (_c._ 1095-1143)
William of Newburgh (1136-1198)
Willoughby, Henry (_c._ 1574-1596)
Wilson, John (1785-1854)
Wither, George (1588-1667)
Wodrow, Robert (1679-1734)
Wood, Mrs. Henry (1814-1887)
Wordsworth, William (1770-1850)
Wyatt, Sir Thomas (1503-1542)
Wycherley, William (_c._ 1640-1716)
Wyclif, John (_c._ 1329-1384)
Wyntoun, Andrew (_fl. c._ 1413

Young, Edward (1683-1765)