Excerpt from The Age of Wordsworth In dealing with the Single lives I have tried to Observe what, in my view, should be the normal distinction between literary history and biography. TO the literary historian, as such, the facts of a man's life are Of primary concern only in so far as they serve to explain his work. Hence many events which loom large in the general conception Of, say, Coleridge or Shelley, and properly occupy much space in the admirable critical biographies which abound for this period, are here on principle ignored. On the other hand, I have everywhere striven to bring out the literary bearing Of whatever biographical detail I admitted at all. To the large biographical and critical literature Of the period I am, it is needless to say, much indebted. I would refer especially, among living men, to the writings Of Dr. Garnett, Mr. Stopford Brooke, Mr. F. W. Myers, Professors Brandl, Colvin, Dowden, Hales, Raleigh and Vaughan. Professor Saintsbury's excellent History of Nineteenth Century Litera ture - the only competent English book on its subject has furnished an occasional suggestion; the French and German historians Of the Romantic period - especially Haym, Julian Schmidt, and MM. Lanson, Pellissier and Brunetiere - have had some influence on my treatment and Georg Brandes' brilliant if perverse handling Of the English Naturalisten' has not been ignored. Professor Legouis' 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.