Symonds, J. A....... Swinburne, Algernon Chas. (I1.) 692 Wallace, Alfred Russell 734 Waller, Edmund 665 131 Tennyson, Alfred (Illustration).. 612 Watts, Alaric Alexander.. 476 Tennyson, Charles 612 Watts, Isaac Tennyson, Frederick 612 Wesley, John Tenth Era of English Literature 188 194 (Illustration) Wharton, Joseph 608 and 734 Wharton, Thomas Thackeray, Anne Isabella....... 696 Whatley, Archbishop Thackeray, William Makepeace Third Era of English Literature 52 White, Kirk 256 256 476 355 Tupper. Martin Farquhar (Illus.) 596 Yeats, William Butler. Tyndall, John (Illustration)..... 650 Yonge, Charlotte M. 686 Udall, Nicholas 51 Zangwill, Israel 733 ENGLISH AUTHORS, compiled from notes used in the school-room during ten years, is given to the public at the earnest solicitation of those teachers who have watched my methods, and such of my pupils as have been under my instruction in literature. ' The features of the book which should make it acceptable as a text book are the simple language in which it is written, the systematic combining of the study of history with literature, the interspersing of the acts and anecdotes of an author with his literary life, the presentation of his face and figure by means of cuts or engravings, and the sketches of the living and late writers. The sketches of the living writers have been prepared at great disadvantage, as I have been entirely dependent upon short notices in newspapers and magazines, and while these may not always be relied upon, they will be valuable, as no literature yet published, neither indeed any cyclopedia, contains all the information. The best authorities have been consulted, and only that which is apt to interest and chain the attention of the young has been retained. Sometimes entire sketches have been copied, but credit has always been given the writer. I hope teachers will take as much pleasure in teaching the book as I have taken in preparing it. January, 1890. M. RUTHERFORD, HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Language is the mother of literature, for language is the medium through which thoughts are expressed, and written language is recorded thought. There can be no thought without knowledge, therefore there must be in all recorded matter a knowledge of the facts to be presented and a knowledge of the surrounding circumstances that lead to the establishment of these facts. In studying the literature of any people, we must not divorce it from the age in which it was produced. Shakespeare's dramas reflect the intellectual wealth and freedom of the Elizabethan era, and could not have been written during the early Saxon or Norman periods any more than Ossian's poems or Bede's writings could have been conceived in this rushing twentieth century. Yet time can never wholly account for such a genius as Homer, or such a poet as Shakespeare. Social condition or environment is such a formative principle in literature, that it is absolutely necessary to study the physical conditions surrounding authors before we begin to study their expressed thoughts; for the thoughts are vitally affected by the environment, not only of the home-whether that home is one of intelligence or ignorance, of wealth or poverty, of love or misery; but by the political condition of the country— whether it is at war or at peace, whether it is enjoying a period of freedom or persecution. There is many a |