Excerpt from English Writers, Vol. 2: Part I, From Chaucer to Dunbar The whole period of Italian influence will be described in one large volume, of which this is the first instalment. The complete plan of the narrative has been present to me from the beginning, and I hope, when all is done, that, from the chosen point of view, its argument will be found to have been sketched in fair perspective. As we pass into the throng of more recent and more familiar writers, the greater fulness of significant detail should make it possible, from the date of the accession of Elizabeth, to reproduce the literary life of England in successive periods, and come the more readily face to face with our great authors. If we have more to see, our travelling will have become easier when once we get into the peopled highways of our later literature. 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.