Excerpt from English Literature, Vol. 4 of 4: From the Age of Johnson to the Age of Tennyson The principles of selection which were followed in the earlier volumes of this work have been adhered to in this also, except in the last chapter, where it was found necessary in some degree to modify them. The age through which we have just passed is still too close to us to enable us to decide with any confidence which, among the many names which were prominent in the second rank of its literature, will continue to interest posterity. Instead, therefore, of crowding the page with eminent names, certain leading figures have been taken as unquestionably in themselves attractive, and as probably representa tive of the time. This portion of the work, it is obvious, must be peou liarly liable, in future editions, to extension and alteration. At present, its limit is the death of Queen Victoria, and it deals with no living person, except with one famous and venerable philosopher, whose work, we must regretfully suppose, is finished. 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.