A Manual of English Literature, Historical and Critical

ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SIXTH EDITION.

SOME omissions (see the names of Boyle, Hook, Izaak Walton, &c.) have been supplied, a few notices of writers either living or lately deceased have been added, and the whole work carefully revised.

DUBLIN: September 1888.

PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION.

THIS work remains what it was at first, -a mere sketch or ground-plan of the vast field of English Literature; but, as a sketch, the present edition will be found considerably less incomplete than those which have preceded it. Notices of more than two hundred additional authors have been incorporated, and articles which have hitherto been missing have been supplied, e.g. on the 'Paston Letters,'' Eikon Basilike,' 'early Welsh literature,' &c. Many notices have been amended or remodelled, as those on Robert of Gloucester, Lydgate, Lamb, Cobbett, &c. Lastly, a new chapter, containing brief notes on many poets and novelists of recent times, or of the present day, has been added. In preparing this chapter I have been much assisted by my son William T. Arnold, the editor of 'Keats,' and two of my daughters, Julia Frances and Ethel Margaret Arnold; see notes to pages 447 and 455. It is high time that the description of the rise and progress of literature in England should be undertaken on an adequate scale, and by a staff of writers duly qualified. The Histoire Littéraire de la France, commenced by the Benedictines of St.

Maur, and continued by the Institut, has reached its twentyeighth quarto volume, and is not yet out of the fourteenth century. No one in England seems to dream of anything of this kind. Yet the older universities could easily supply as many men as were needed,―men in the prime of life and full of geniality and latent power,-who, if once set to work, would quickly remove from us the reproach of imperfectly knowing and estimating our own literature. It is not capacity, nor zeal for letters, that is wanting, but organisation. Oxford and Cambridge, intent on examinations and athletic exercises, and still without constituted faculties, are wearing out the patience of the country, and letting the time of grace slip by. If they do not bestir themselves, this great work will eventually be taken out of their hands, and done, more or less effectually, by the non-conformists and the new Universities.

A volume of extracts published by Messrs. Longmans in 1882 as a companion volume to the 'Manual,' under the title of English Poetry and Prose,' is everywhere referred to in the notes to this work as 'Extract Book.'

DUBLIN: November 1884.

CONTENTS.

HISTORICAL SECTION.

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

PART I. ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD: A.D. 449-1066.

Character of Anglo-Saxon Literature.-Works in Latin: Bede, Alcuin.

-Poetry: Gleeman's Song, Beowulf, Caedmon's Paraphrase, Andreas

and Elene; Cynewulf; Judith, Brunanburg War-Song.-Prose:

Alfred, Saxon Chronicle

Pages 1-20

PART II. NORMAN PERIOD: 1066-1350.

Decline of the Saxon tongue.-2. Later portion of the Saxon Chronicle.

4. Impulse given to Learning by the Moors.-SCHOLASTIC PHILO-

SOPHY 6. St. Anselm; Abelard; St. Bernard; 9. Peter Lombard;

Alexander Hales; Duns Scotus; William of Occam; Burley.-

HISTORIANS AND CHRONICLERS, 11-30: Eadmer; Ingulfus; William

of Malmesbury; Ordericus Vitalis; Geoffrey of Monmouth; Alfred

of Beverley; Symeon of Durham; Florence of Worcester; St.

Ailred; Henry of Huntingdon; Benedictus Abbas; William of New-

burgh; Diceto; Giraldus de Barri; Roger de Hoveden; Roger de

Wendover; Matthew Paris; Wikes; Rishanger; Trivet; Higden.

Monastic Chronicles, 30: Jocelin de Brakelond.-LAW; MEDICINE;

MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS, 31-37: Gratian's Decretum; Glan-

vile; Salerno; John of Salisbury; Geoffrey Vinsauf; Walter Map;

Sawulf; Richard of Bury.-SCIENCE, 38-40: Adelard; Roger

Bacon. MEANS OF EDUCATION: Universities; Monasteries; In-

vention of Paper-POETRY: Early English Fragments, 46-49;

Canute's Song; St. Godric's Hymn, &c. Leonine Verses, 50: Latin

Satires and Epics; Vinsauf, Iscanus, Wireker, &c. French Poets,

56; Troubadours; Trouvères; French Romances; the Arthur Cycle,

60; legend of the Saint Graal, 63-69; other epopees; the Roman

d'Alexandre, 71; Fabliaux, 72; Satires; Historical Poems, 74;

Wace, Benoit, Gaimar. Ancient Welsh poems, 74a. English Poets,

75-93; 'Havelok'; 'King Horn'; Riming Chroniclers; Lagamon,

81; Robert of Gloucester, 84; Robert Manning, 85; Religious

Poems; Ormulum,' 86; 'Proverbs of Hendyng'; Cursor Mundi';

Hampole's 'Pricke of Conscience.' Occasional Poems, 91; Battle
of Lewes,' 'Owl and Nightingale,' Moral Poem.-Early English
Prose, 94; 'Ancren Riwle,' Ayenbite of Inwyt '

Pages 21-83

CHAPTER I.

EARLY ENGLISH PERIOD: 1350-1450.

Latin and French Compositions, 1-7; Froissart, Elmham, Avesbury,
Knyghton, Walsingham, Fordun, Bradwardine, Wyclif, Walden.
Growth of the English Language and Literature, 8; Alliterative
Poems, 9-20; Sainte Marherete,' 'Joseph of Arimathie,' William
of Palerne,' 'Geste Hystoriale,' 'Clannesse,' 'Pacience,' 'Plowman's
Crede'; connection between alliteration and irregularity of versifica-
tion, 16; Langland's 'Vision of Piers the Plowman,' 17.-Chaucer :
sketch of his life, 21; authenticity of his writings, 22-27 chrono-
logy of his writings, 28. His Early Poems, 29-35: Romaunt of the
Rose'; the new style; Assembly of Foules,' 'Boke of the Duchesse,'
'Quene Anelyda,' 'Chauceres A B C.' Poems of Middle Life, 36-40:
'Troylus and Cryseyde,' Court of Love,' 'House of Fame,'' Pala-
mon and Arcite.' His Later Poems, 41-64: Legende of Good
Women'; ballads and other short pieces, 43; Canterbury Tales';
their order, 45; Prologue, 46; Knightes Tale,' 'Milleres Tale,' &c.
-Gower, 65, 66; Occleve; Lydgate, 68-72; Minot.-SCOTTISH
POETS, 74: Barbour, James I., Wynton.-PROSE WRITERS, 75:
Maundevile, Chaucer, Wyclif, Trevisa; 'Promptorium Parvulorum,'
77; Lyndewode
Pages 84-143

CHAPTER II.

REVIVAL OF LEARNING: 1450-1558.

Decline of Literature; invention of Printing, 2; Caxton and his work ;
foundation of Schools and Universities.-POETRY AND ROMANCE, 3:
Hardyng, Shirley, Burgh, Malory, Hawes, Dame Berners, Barclay,
Skelton, Surrey, Wyat; the 'Mirrour for Magistrates'; first Poet
Laureate.-SCOTTISH POETS, 12–17: Henryson, Blind Harry, Dunbar,
Gawain Douglas, Lyndsay.-LEARNING, 18-28: Renaissance move-
ment; Grocyn; Linacre; Colet; Lilye's Grammar; Archbishop
Warham; More; the Humanities; state of the Universities.
PROSE WRITERS, 29-39: Pecock, Fortescue, Caxton, Paston
Letters,' Leland, More: his 'Utopia.' Chroniclers, 33: Polydore
Virgil, Mair, Capgrave, Fabyan, More, Hall, Grafton; Bale's 'Sum-
marium. Theological Writers, 34: Latimer, Tyndale; More, 36–7 ;
Roger Ascham; Lord Berners, Elyot
Pages 144-183

CHAPTER III.

ELIZABETHAN PERIOD: 1558-1625.

Brilliant Period of our Literature; connected with the Social Prospe-
rity of the Country.-POETS, 3-24: Spenser, Harvey, the 'Faerie
Queene,' 5; shorter poems, 6, 7; Shakspere's Poems, 8; Southwell,

Hall, Constable, Warner, Daniel, Drayton, Donne, Davies, Lodge,

Chapman, Marston, Gascoigne, Sidney, Dyer, Tusser, Marlowe,

Raleigh, Lord Brooke.-TRANSLATORS, 24; Rise and Progress of the

English Drama, 25-58; Miracle-plays; Coventry Mysteries; Towneley

Mysteries; Moralities, 27; Earliest Comedies, 28-9; Heywood's

Interludes; earliest Tragedy, 31; Plays of Marlowe; Kyd; Dramatic

Unities; Greene's Pamphlet. Shakspere, 35: sketch of his life; his

Comedies, 37-8; his Tragedies, 39, 40; his Historical Plays, 41-2;

'Pericles,' 43 ; ‘Titus Andronicus'; Doubtful Plays, 44. Ben Jonson,

45; Beaumont and Fletcher, 46; Greene, Peele, Nash, Massinger,

Ford, Webster, Marston, Chapman, Dekker, T. Heywood, Middleton,

Rowley, Tourneur, Randolph, Shirley; 'Histriomastix'; Suppression