The Roman Epic abounds in moral and poetical defects; nevertheless it remains the most complete picture of the national mind at its highest elevation, the most precious document of national history, if the history of an age is revealed in its ideas, no less than in its events and incidents.—Rev. C. Merivale.
History of the Romans under the Empire, c. xli.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
Claxton,Remsen & Haffelfinger,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, atWashington.
Stereotyped by J. Fagan & Son, Philadelphia.
My Dear Bishop:
I desire to connect your name with whatever may be useful and valuable inthis work, to show my high appreciation of your fervent piety, variedlearning, and elegant literary accomplishments; and, also, far more thanthis, to record the personal acknowledgment that no man ever had a moreconstant, judicious, generous and affectionate brother, than you have beento me, for forty years of intimate and unbroken association.
Most affectionately and faithfully yours,
Henry Coppée.
It is not the purpose of the author to add another to the many volumescontaining a chronological list of English authors, with brief commentsupon each. Such a statement of works, arranged according to periods, orreigns of English monarchs, is valuable only as an abridged dictionary ofnames and dates. Nor is there any logical pertinence in clusteringcontemporary names about a principal author, however illustrious he maybe. The object of this work is to present prominently the historicconnections and teachings of English literature; to place great authors inimmediate relations with great events in history; and thus to propose animportant principle to students in all their reading. Thus it is thatLiterature and History are reciprocal: they combine to make eras.
Merely to establish this historic principle, it would have been sufficientto consider the greatest authors, such as Chaucer, Spenser, Shakspeare,Milton, Dryden, and Pope; but it occurred to me, while keeping thisprinciple before me, to give also a connected view of the course ofEnglish literature, which might, in an academic curriculum, show studentshow and what to read for themselves. Any attempt beyond this in socondensed a work must prove a failure, and so it may well happen that somereaders will fail to find a full notice, or even a mention, of somefavorite author.
English literature can only be studied in the writings of the authors hereonly mentioned; but I hope that the work will be found to containsuggestions for making such extended reading profitable; and that teacherswill 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 theauthors mentioned, I can only say that I at first intended and began tonote editions: I soon saw that I could not do this with any degree ofuniformity, and therefore determined to refer all who desire thisbibliographic assistance, to The Dictionary of Authors, by my friend S.Austin Allibone, LL.D., i