PREFACE.

In so brief a history of so rich a literature, the problem is how to getroom enough to give, not an adequate impression—that is impossible—butany impression at all of the subject. To do this I have crowded outevery thing but belles lettres. Books in philosophy, history, science,etc., however important in the history of English thought, receive themerest incidental mention, or even no mention at all. Again, I haveomitted the literature of the Anglo-Saxon period, which is written in alanguage nearly as hard for a modern Englishman to read as German is, orDutch. Cædmon and Cynewulf are no more a part of English literature thanVergil and Horace are of Italian. I have also left out the vernacularliterature of the Scotch before the time of Burns. Up to the date of theunion Scotland was a separate kingdom, and its literature had adevelopment independent of the English, though parallel with it.

In dividing the history into periods, I have followed, with somemodifications, the divisions made by Mr. Stopford Brooke in hisexcellent little Primer of English Literature. A short reading courseis appended to each chapter.

HENRY A. BEERS.