Outlines of English and American Literature

Outlines of English and
American Literature
by
William J. Long

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Outlines of English and American
Literature
by William J. Long Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be
sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading
or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: Outlines of English and American Literature An Introduction to

the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote,
and to the Times in Which They Lived
Author: William J. Long
Release Date: March, 2005 [EBook #7800] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on May 18, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTLINES
OF ENGLISH LIT. ***

Produced by Charles Franks, Bill Keir and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team

OUTLINES OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CHIEF WRITERS OF ENGLAND
AND AMERICA, TO THE BOOKS THEY WROTE, AND TO THE
TIMES IN WHICH THEY LIVED
BY
WILLIAM J. LONG
This is the wey to al good aventure.--CHAUCER
TO MY SISTER "MILLIE" IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF A
LIFELONG SYMPATHY
[Illustration: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

After the Chandos Portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, London,
which is attributed to Richard Burbage or John Taylor. In the catalogue
of the National Portrait Gallery the following description is given:
"The Chandos Shakespeare was the property of John Taylor, the player,
by whom or by Richard Burbage it was painted. The picture was left by
the former in his will to Sir William Davenant. After his death it was
bought by Betterton, the actor, upon whose decease Mr. Keck of the
Temple purchased it for 40 guineas, from whom it was inherited by Mr.
Nicoll of Michenden House, Southgate, Middlesex, whose only
daughter married James, Marquess of Caernarvon, afterwards Duke of
Chandos, father to Ann Eliza, Duchess of Buckingham."
The above is written on paper attached to the back of the canvas. Its
authenticity, however, has been doubted in some quarters.
Purchased at the Stowe Sale, September 1848, by the Earl of Ellesmere,
and presented by him to the nation, March 1856.
Dimensions: 22 in. by 16-3/4 in.
This reproduction of the portrait was made from a miniature copy on
ivory by Caroline King Phillips.]
PREFACE
The last thing we find in making a book is to know what to put
first.--Pascal
When an author has finished his history, after months or years of happy
work, there comes a dismal hour when he must explain its purpose and
apologize for its shortcomings.
The explanation in this case is very simple and goes back to a personal
experience. When the author first studied the history of our literature
there was put into his hands as a textbook a most dreary catalogue of
dead authors, dead masterpieces, dead criticisms, dead ages; and a boy
who knew chiefly that he was alive was supposed to become interested

in this literary sepulchre or else have it said that there was something
hopeless about him. Later he learned that the great writers of England
and America were concerned with life alone, as the most familiar, the
most mysterious, the most fascinating thing in the world, and that the
only valuable or interesting feature of any work of literature is its
vitality.
To introduce these writers not as dead worthies but as companionable
men and women, and to present their living subject as a living thing,
winsome as a smile on a human face,--such was the author's purpose in
writing this book.
The apology is harder to frame, as anyone knows who has attempted to
gather the writers of a thousand years into a single volume that shall
have the three virtues of brevity, readableness and accuracy. That this
record is brief in view of the immensity of the subject is plainly
apparent. That it may prove pleasantly readable is a hope inspired
chiefly by the fact that it was a pleasure to write it, and that pleasure is
contagious. As for accuracy, every historian who fears God or regards
man