ENGLISH LITERATURE AN ILLUSTRATED RECORD IN FOUR VOLUMES VOLUME II FROM THE AGE OF HENRY VIII TO THE AGE OF MILTON PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME 2925 85 THE first volume of this work covered more than seven centuries of literary history; the second barely covers seventy years. The first was occupied to a considerable degree with the records of important literary movements enlisting numerous and nameless participators -such as the religious drama and ballad poetry-rather than with the individual authorship which almost engrosses the second. The first dealt with a time when British literature neither extended, nor was fitted to extend, beyond the British borders; the second treats of a period when, though still confined within insular limits, it possessed the power and awaited the opportunity of exerting a deep influence on the world. The historical treatment of epochs so contrasted cannot be exactly the same. The chief divergence will be found in the slighter notice. accorded to inferior writers who would have been welcome, if they had come sooner, and the ample space devoted to those who have made the British literature of the age European, especially its two pre-eminent representatives, Bacon and Shakespeare. This volume, to the end of the chapters on Shakespeare, is written by the author of vol. i., and thence to the conclusion by the author of vols. iii. and iv. The writers desire to record their obligations for literary assistance to Mr. A. W. Pollard and Mr. A. H. Bullen, and for aid in the department of illustration to Mrs. Christie-Miller, of Britwell Park; to Mrs. Sydney Pawling ; to R. R. Holmes, Esq., King's Librarian, Windsor Castle; and to S. Arthur Strong, Esq., Librarian to the Duke of Devonshire. 42 November 1903. R. G. TABLE OF CONTENTS Political and Literary Outlook at Elizabeth's Accession-Reformation and Renaissance--The Four great Prose-writers--Bacon-Hooker-Sidney-Raleigh-Bacon's Relations with Essex-Bacon as Statesman and Author-His Rise and Fall-Retirement and Death- Hooker-The Ecclesiastical Polity-Sidney-His Life and Character-His Poetry- The Arcadia-Raleigh-His Life-The Expedition to Guiana-His Imprisonment-The Special Characteristics of the Age-Queen Elizabeth-Edward Hall-Grafton-Stow- Holinshed-Harrison-Foxe-Camden-Speed-Bodley-Cotton-John Knox-George Buchanan-Hakluyt-Purchas-Knolles-Rycaut-Gerard-Reginald Scot-The Art of English Poetry-Webbe-Harvey-Meres-Gosson-John Lyly-Lodge-Robert Greene -Nash-Translation of the Scriptures-The Bishops' Bible—Sir Thomas North-John Edmund Spenser-The Faerie Queene-The Shepherd's Calendar-Minor Poems-Thomas Sackville-Gascoigne - Tusser - Minor Translations-Clement Robinson - Thomas Constable - Barnes-Lok - Pp. 109-153 The Development of Elizabethan Drama-The Moralities-Everyman-Hickescorner-Skelton |