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beginning to make large annual addition to the knowledge of our early literature. In research over the whole field there were new energies at work. Their issues were worth

waiting for.

With a resolve, therefore, to recast the original design,

ENGLISH WRITERS, as first published, was suffered to pass The book, so planned and begun, was part

out of print.

of the fulfilment of a young desire.

But even that desire

had for a long time been held in check, because it was necessary, before attempting a large book upon Literature, to give years of maturer life to study both of books and men, and books are men, or the best part of them. After waiting and working on through yet another twenty years, the labourer has learnt that he knows less and less. Little is much to us when young; time passes and proportions change. But, however small the harvest, it must be garnered. Scanty produce of the work of a whole life, it may yield grain to some one for a little of life's daily bread.

One result of the change of plan in the book is an enlargement of its scale.

There is a long story to tell, of English Literature regarded as expression of a nation's History throughout the sequence of its thought. It is intended to include notes of the literature of all offshoots of the English race. If life and health last, this work, issued in half-yearly volumes, of moderate compass and convenient size, will go on steadily towards its close. The writer will say all that he thinks ought to be said, and is not bound by any other

pledge. But as no labourer plans in his afternoon for a long day's work before nightfall, the proportions of the book should be upon a scale that will not extend it beyond twenty volumes. The whole narrative will be continuous; the whole book, one. But the volumes will be grouped also in sections, which may be read as distinct Histories of Periods. Each volume will be separately indexed, and, from time to time, extra title pages will be supplied for the use of readers who may wish to place any one section as a distinct work upon their shelves.

January, 1887.

CONTENTS.

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...

Relation to all Time of the "Divine Comedy "
Transmission of certain Forms of Poetry from the Trou-

badours through Dante to Petrarch

...

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14, 15

15-17

The Native and the Foreign Elements in Chaucer's Verse

Dark Days of English Literature

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