Produced by Anne Soulard, Tiffany Vergon
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
Since the first publication of this work in 1860, many new names haveappeared in modern literature. Japan, hitherto almost unknown toEuropeans, has taken her place among the nations with a literature of herown, and the researches and discoveries of scholars in various parts ofthe world have thrown much light on the literatures of antiquity. To keeppace with this advance, a new edition of the work has been called for.Prefixed is a very brief summary of an important and exhaustive History ofthe Alphabet recently published.
This work was begun many years ago, as a literary exercise, to meet thepersonal requirements of the writer, which were such as most personsexperience on leaving school and "completing their education," as thephrase is. The world of literature lies before them, but where to begin,what course of study to pursue, in order best to comprehend it, are theproblems which present themselves to the bewildered questioner, who findshimself in a position not unlike that of a traveler suddenly set down inan unknown country, without guide-book or map. The most natural courseunder such circumstances would be to begin at the beginning, and take arapid survey of the entire field of literature, arriving at its detailsthrough this general view. But as this could be accomplished only bysubjecting each individual to a severe and protracted course of systematicstudy, the idea was conceived of obviating this necessity to some extentby embodying the results of such a course in the form of the followingwork, which, after being long laid aside, is now at length completed.
In conformity with this design, standard books have been condensed, withno alterations except such as were required to give unity to the wholework; and in some instances a few additions have been made. Where standardworks have not been found, the sketches have been made from the bestsources of information, and submitted to the criticism of able scholars.
The literatures of different nations are so related, and have soinfluenced each other, that it is only by a survey of all that any singleliterature, or even any great literary work, can be fully comprehended, asthe various groups and figures of a historical picture must be viewed as awhole, before they can assume their true place and proportions.
THE ALPHABET.1. The Origin of Letters.—2. The Phoenician Alphabet and Inscriptions.—3. The Greek Alphabet. Its Three Epochs.—4. The Mediaeval Scripts. TheIrish. The Anglo-Saxon. The Roman. The Gothic. The Runic.CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES
1. Chinese Literature.—2. The Language.—3. The Writing.—4. The Five
Classics and Four Books.—5. Chinese Religion and Philosophy. Lao-tsé.
Confucius. Meng-tsé or Mencius.—6. Buddhism.—7. Social Constitution of
China.—8. Invention of Printing.—9. Science, History, and Geography.
Encyclopaedias.—10. Poetry.—11. Dramatic Literature and Fiction.—12.
Education in China.
1. The Language.—2.