Pecock, Fortescue.-22 The Paston Letters.'-23. The

Introduction of Printing.-24. Hawes, Barklay, Skelton.-

25. The Scotch Poets.-26. Translations of the Bible.-

27. Berners, More.-28. Elyot, Latimer, Cheke.-29.

Wyatt, Surrey.-30. Early Dramatic Writers.-31. Ballad

Poetry

PAGE

29

CHAPTER IV.

The Age of Spenser, Shakespeare, and Bacon.

1550-1625.

32. Summary of the Period.-33. The Poets: Gascoigne,

Sackville.-34. Sidney.-35. SPENSER.-36. The Minor

Poets. 37. The Growth of the English Drama.-38. Early

English Plays.-39. The Precursors of Shakespeare: Mar-

lowe, &c.-40. SHAKESPEARE.-41. The Contemporaries of

Shakespeare: Jonson, Webster, Beaumont and Fletcher,

Massinger, &c.-42. The Prose Writers: Ascham.-43.

Lyly.-44. Hooker, Raleigh.-45. BACON.-46. Burton,

Selden, Lord Herbert.-47. The Minor Prose Writers.-48.

The Authorised Version of the Bible.

50

CHAPTER V.

The Age of Milton and Dryden.

1625-1700.

19. Summary of the Period.-50. The Metaphysical School'

of Poets.-51. Cowley.-52. Herbert, Crashaw.-53.

Quarles, Wither.-54. Herrick, Habington.-55. The

Cavalier Poets.-56. Waller.-57. MILTON.-58. Butler.-

59. Marvell.-60. The Minor Poets.-61. The Prose

Writers.-62. Hobbes, Clarendon.-63. Fuller, Browne.-

64. Walton.-65. The Diarists.-66. Bunyan.-67. Locke,

Temple.-68. The Theologians.-69. The Scientific Writers.

-70. The Minor Prose Writers.-71. The Newspaper Press.

-72. The Survivors of the Shakespearean Stage.-73. The

Stage of the Restoration.-74. DRYDEN.-75. Shadwell,

Lee.-76. Otway, Southerne.-77. The Comic Dramatists

76

CHAPTER VI.

The Age of Pope, Swift, the Novelists, and Johnson.

1700-1785.

78. Summary of the Period.-79. The Poets: POPE.-80.

Prior, Gay.-81. Young, Thomson.-82. Gray, Collins.-

83. Churchill.-84. Chatterton, Macpherson.-85. The

Minor Poets.-86. The Wartons, Percy.-87. The Prose

Writers: Defoe. -88. SWIFT.-89. Berkeley, Arbuthnot.-

90. Shaftesbury, Bolingbroke, Mandeville.-91. The Es-

sayists: Addison, Steele, &c. -92. The Novelists:

Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, &c.-93. Goldsmith.

-94. JOHNSON.-95. Burke.-96. The Historians.-97.

Wilkes, 'Junius.'-98. Adam Smith, Blackstone.-99. The

Theologians.-100. The Dramatic Writers

CHAPTER VII.

The Age of Wordsworth, Byron, and Scott.

1785-1835.

-

101. Summary of the Period.-102. The Poets: Cowper.-

103. Crabbe.-104. Darwin.-105. The Della-Cruscans.-

106. Burns.-107. Rogers, Bowles.-108. WORDSWORTH.-

109. Southey.-110. Coleridge.-111. Lamb.-112. Camp-

bell.-113. Hogg, Bloomfield.-114. Moore.-115. BYRON.

-116. Shelley.--117. Keats.-118. Leigh Hunt, Landor.

-119. Other Poets.-120. The Novelists: Mrs. Radcliffe.

-121. Lewis, Godwin.-122. Miss Edgeworth, Miss Austen.

-123. SCOTT.-124. Other Novelists.-125. The Philo-

sophers.-126. The Historians.-127. The Theologians.—

128. Hazlitt, Cobbett.-129. The Quarterlies.-130. The

Dramatic Writers

PAGE

112

154

CHAPTER VIII.

The Modern Age (Deceased Authors).

1835-1875.

131. Summary of the Period.-132. The Poets: Hood.-133.

Mrs. Browning.-134. Other Poets: Miss Procter, Aytoun,

Smith, Clough.-135. The Novelists: Lytton, Dickens,

Thackeray, Lever, Mrs. Nicholls, Mrs. Gaskell, &c.-136.

-The Historians: Macaulay, G. C. Lewis, Grote, Alison,

Milman, Buckle.-137. The Philosophers: Hamilton, J. S.

Mill.-138. The Theologians.-139. The Scientific Writers.

-140. Other Prose Writers: De Quincey.-141. The

Dramatic Writers

PAGE

193

CHAPTER IX.

The Modern Age (cont.) (Deceased Authors).

1875-1896.

142. Summary of the Period.-143. Tennyson and Browning.

-144. Other Poets: Matthew Arnold, Dante Gabriel and

Christina Rossetti, Sir Henry Taylor, William Morris, &c.

-145. The Novelists: Disraeli, George Eliot, R. L. Steven-

son, Kingsley, Trollope, Charles Reade, &c.-146. The

Historians: Carlyle, Froude, Green, Freeman, &c.-147.

The Philosophers and Theologians: Carlyle, Newman,

Pusey, Colenso, Lightfoot, &c.-148. The Scientific Writers:

Darwin, Lyell, Huxley, Tyndall, &c.-149. Other Prose

Writers: John Forster, James Spedding, Sir A. Helps, &c.

-150. The Dramatic Writers

221

1340 (?)

VIII. King Arthur and the Round Table, by

Robert of Brunne

273

1346

IX. The Battle of Neville's Cross, by Laurence

A.D.

1356

1377

1380

1387

X. The Lady of the Land, by Sir John Mande-

ville

XI. The Description of Sloth, by William

Langland

XII. The Parable of the Tares in the Wheat, by

John Wiclif

XIII. The Substitution of English for French, by

John of Trevisa

1377–83 (?) XIV. The Vision of Philosophy, by Geoffrey

PAGE

275

278

1485

1525

William Tyndale.

1589

1590

1595

XVII. Sir Ector's Lament for Sir Lancelot, by

Sir Thomas Malory

XVIII. The Parable of the Tares in the Wheat, by

A Letter from Prison, by Sir Thomas More 282

The Bishop and Robin Hood, by Hugh

Latimer

XXI. The Parable of the Tares in the Wheat,

from the Geneva Bible

·

XXII. The Apology for the Schoolmaster,' by

Roger Ascham

XXIII. The First Adventure of the Faery Queene,'

by Edmund Spenser

XXIV. Description of the Red Cross Knight and

Una, Edmund Spenser

XXV. The Elizabethan Stage, by Sir Philip Sidney 286

APPENDIX B.

The Canterbury Tales.'

A list of the Tales, in the order adopted by the 'Chaucer
Society,' showing the sources (so far as they have been
traced) from which Chaucer derived them.

APPENDIX C.

The Plays of Shakespeare.

A list of the Plays, in the order of the Folio of 1623, showing

the sources (so far as they have been traced) from which

Shakespeare derived the plots, and the probable or approxi-

mate date of production

PAGE

292

APPENDIX D.

'Paradise Lost' and 'Paradise Regained.'

A brief account and summary of the twelve books of Paradise
Lost and the four books of Paradise Regained

299

APPENDIX E.

Dictionary of Minor Authors.

A brief Dictionary of Deceased Minor Authors, &c., giving
the dates of their births and deaths, the reigns in which
they wrote, and the titles of some of their chief works

GENERAL INDEX

306

363