CHAPTERS ON EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE. BY J. H. HIPPISLEY, Esq. M.A. "Not for the lerid bot for the lewed." PROLOGUE TO BRUNNE'S TRANSLATION OF PIERS LANGTOFT. LONDON: EDWARD MOXON, DOVER STREET. MDCCCXXXVII. INTRODUCTION. It is felt by the writer of the following chapters, that some apology may be required for a publication on subjects which have engaged the attention of many able authors, as well of the present, as of the preceding age. The choice of so beaten a track, necessarily implies one of two intentions; either that of supplying the deficiencies of previous writers, or that of selecting from well-known works, such matter as may lead the minds of those who have less leisure than inclination for the study of literary history, to a consideration of some of the more material topics which the pursuit may offer to them. This little work, undertaken with the latter object only, necessarily assumes, in some |