Excerpt from Sketch of English Literature: With the Lives and Works of the Chief Authors This short outline of the Chief Periods in English Literature does not in any wise claim to be more than an introduction to the subject, but it is intended to form a basis for good oral lessons, and to be used as a text-book in conjunction with such lessons. I have endeavoured to (preserve the consecutive narrative as far as possible, so that the book may form a Literature Reader to be used with some book of Specimen Extracts. The chief object of the compiler of such an outline literature ought to be to encourage pupils to read for themselves the works of our great authors, and one great step in accomplish ing this is to arouse interest in the growth and development of our literature, and in the personality of the great men who form its central figures. Apart even from their literary interest, the lives and characters of such men as Milton, Dr. Johnson, Scott, or Wordsworth, are quite invaluable for study. I have added a short Bibliography, which I hope will be found useful both to young teachers and students of the subject. 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.