Excerpt from The Development of English Literature: The Old English Period 1. A people's literature is a criterion of a peeple's civilization. It embodies what is most enduring in thought, and records what is best worth remembering in deeds. A people may be conquered it may lose its individuality; it may change its religion, its govern ment, its soil but so long as its literature remains, its growth and development, its rise and fall, its character and genius continue objects of interest and teach a les son to all who wish to be instructed. 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.