Excerpt from The Life and Letters of John Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, Vol. 1 of 2: Now for the First Time Rev. And Collected The work which I have here attempted to perform has been the occupation of many years, although it is but lately that I have had an opportunity of devoting myself to it consecutively. There may be one or two indulgent readers who recollect that so long ago as 1880 I announced, and then withdrew, a proposal to write the Life of Donne. It is more than I deserve, that, in these days of antiquarian and biographical activity, What is perhaps the most im posing task left to the student of Elizabethan and Jacobean literature should still be left hitherto unattempted. There is no lack of interest in the subject; there is no lack of material for the biographer; and yet this is the first time that a full life of Donne has been essayed. 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.