ing conceptions must form part of our general conception of a literary period.

The greatest literature possesses what may be called a general human interest, because the greatest writers take a serious view of life and are profoundly conscious of the great questions of duty, destiny, fate, and the significance of human character, which are the same in all periods. Furthermore, the æsthetic element or the relation of the work to the principles of the beautiful is found in all great literature and is not affected by time. We can enjoy Homer without much knowledge of the heroic age of Greek civilization, and Shakespeare is properly said to be not "of an age, but for all time." It might be concluded from this that some historical study is necessary only to the comprehension of the smaller men who are molded by their time and embody the faiths and sentiments of their own social environments. But this would not be true, because the great men are also conditioned by their surroundings, although not entirely subject to them. The more we know about the Elizabethan period, for example, the better we understand Shakespeare; nor is our admiration of his works diminished; on the contrary, it is increased because it is more intelligent. Unless we are devoid of the imaginative power to form a general comprehension of a period, some knowledge of history, especially of the history of manners and social development, aids greatly in appreciation of literature, even of literature of the highest form.

NOTE. Many definitions of literature have been made, as, "A criticism of life," " Expression of the thought and emotion of a nation,” "The recorded thought of men of genius," etc. Professor Mark Liddell, in the Atlantic Monthly, July, 1899, gives a very satisfactory definition: "Literature is that part of recorded human thought which

possesses or has possessed a more or less general and abiding human interest." Literature is evidently produced to be read (or listened to). That which is read with interest and delight justifies its claim to be considered literature. The general intelligence and culture of the body of readers determines its grade. That which is read once and cast aside is ephemeral literature; that which is read often becomes permanent literature; that which is read by successive generations becomes universal literature; that which is not read with delight and interest is not literature at all, at least for the reader. Criticism or judgment, which may be based either on questions of thought or on questions of form or on the relation of matter to form, seeks to discover why a given production is read with pleasure. Literature in this view is one of the social forces of the world, molding character and manners in common with the other great social forces, and not merely an art product, though its appeal is largely to the æsthetic Hence its connection with historical and social study.

sense.

In this book English Literature will be regarded as divided into the following periods:

BEERS, H. A. From Chaucer to Tennyson.
COURTHOPE, W. J. History of English Poetry.

"ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA."

MITCHELL, D. G. English Lands, Letters, and Kings.

RYLAND, F. Chronological Outlines of English Literature.

TAINE, H. A. History of English Literature.

WARD, T. H. (Ed.) Selections from the English Poets: Chaucer to Dobell. 4 v. (Especially valuable for its introductions.)

WARNER, C. D. (Ed.) Library of the World's Best Literature. 30 v. WARTON, T. History of English Poetry. Ed. by W. C. HAZLITt. 4 v. SHAIRP, J. C. Aspects of Poetry.

PALGRAVE, F. T. Landscape in Poetry: From Homer to Tennyson.

ABBREVIATIONS.

- In the reference lists which follow, D. N. B. Dictionary of National Biography (ed. by Stephen and Lee);

OUTLINE HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND

AMERICAN LITERATURE

CHAPTER I

THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD (449 to 1066)

KEMBLE, J. M.
PAULI, R. Life

FREEMAN, E. A.

HOSMER, J. K.

of Alfred the Great.

Old English History.

Short History of Anglo-Saxon Freedom. 1890. BARNES, W. Early England and the Saxon-English. 1869. POWELL, F. Y. Early England to the Norman Conquest.

IN the sixth century of the Christian era the island of Britain was a province of the Roman Empire. The inhabitants, "Brythons" and Gaels (or Goils), branches of the

Historical
Sketch.

Celtic stock with some admixture of the blood of still earlier prehistoric races, had not become Romanized as the Gauls of the continent had. Christianity had been introduced, but neither in language nor in institutions can much trace of the Roman occupation be found among the Celtic people of Britain. The neces

sity of defending the heart of the Empire compelled the withdrawal of the legions, A.D. 411. The great Roman roads, Roman villas, and the names of some Roman mili

tary camps, like Winchester or Lancaster (Lanchester), were about all that remained to mark the fact that the island had once been a Roman province.

Before the withdrawal of the Roman soldiers Britain had been subject to incursions by piratical bands of the LowGermanic people who inhabited the shores of the North Sea in the neighborhood of the Danish peninsula. It had been the duty of a special officer, comes limitis Saxonici, count of the Saxon shore, to guard against the raids of the Saxon sea-rovers. Afterwards the people of Britain were subjected to attacks from Saxon pirates, from the wild tribes of the north (Picts), and from marauders from Ireland (Scots). The Celts were not united, and in despair called on the Jutes, one of the Germanic tribes, for aid. These last made a permanent settlement, and soon a great body of the German tribes, Angles and Saxons, invaded the south and east coasts. The Celts were gradually forced westward. The conquest of the island. was gradual, and several centuries elapsed before the various bodies of Angles and Saxons, after much fighting among themselves and with Danish invaders, coalesced to form the germ of a nation. The language of the Germanic conquerors was called "Englisc," and they, known in history as Anglo-Saxons, gave to the southern and main part of the island the name of England. This language, consisting of a number of dialects more or less markedly different, gave rise, chiefly through literary influence, to the standard language called English, the medium of English literature. A northern dialect of it, separated by the political division of Scotland from England so that it developed independently, became the medium of early Scottish literature and of later writers in the Scottish vernacular.