Excerpt from American Literature England at the time of the dawn of American literature was enjoying a period Of great prosperity and influence, thanks to the genius and wisdom Of Queen Elizabeth, who had lived till four years before the landing at Jamestown. James I, as king Of England and Scotland, had united the crowns Of the two countries. He was encouraging the expansion of British trade and the extension Of the British domain by subsidizing exploration, and by granting royal patents to his noble friends for the colonizing of America. Englishmen Of this happy period possessed a rich heritage of literature, Including the works Of Chaucer, Malory, Speu ser, and Marlowe. They were enjoying the companionship of such immortals as Beaumont and Fletcher, Ben Jonson, Bacon, and Shakspere. Under the direction Of the authors themselves they saw acted those great dramas that will be the delight and inspiration Of millions so long as the English language shall exist. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.