The object of the present work is to illustrate the history of English literature, from the end of the fifteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century, by means of letters. The editor has sought to bring the reader into personal touch with the great authors through their letters, believing that character and personality are better revealed from their correspondence. Some of the authors featured in this volume include: Sir Thomas More; Edmund Spenser; Sir Walter Raleigh; John Donne; Robert Herrick; John Milton; Izaak Walton; Samuel Pepys; William Congreve; Daniel Defoe; Jonathan Swift; Richard Steele; James Boswell; Henry Fielding; Edmund Burk; William Cowper; and Robert Burns amongst others.