PREFACE.

The nucleus of this book was gathered while the author was under the tutelage of Dr. A. P. Bourland, Professor of English Literature at George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn.

To this has been added material at various times, by careful reading and discriminating selection.

The author desires to give expression, here, to the most profound gratitude which she feels toward all those who have either lent assistance in a material way or given kindly words of encouragement in connection with this her most ambitious work.

Among the number to whom she feels indebted are, Prof. John W. Brister, State Superintendent, Nashville, Tenn., Prof. S. G. Gilbreath, President, East Tennessee Normal, Johnson City, Tenn., Prof. W. L. Lawrence, Tishomingo, Okla., Miss Lizzie Lee Bloomstein, A. B. Librarian, George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn., Prof. P. L. Harned, Clarksville, Tenn., Miss Will Allen, Dromgoole, Nashville, Tenn., Prof. W. K. Tate, State Supervisor Rural Schools, Columbia, S. C., Prof. M. W. Robinson, Nashville, Tenn., Miss Isabel Hayes, Nashville, Tenn., Mrs. Laura Elvira De Bow, Dixon Springs, Tenn., Mrs. Rutledge Smith, Cookeville, Tenn., Hon. J. E. Faust, Hartsville, Tenn., Mrs. S. C. Bridgewater, Dixon Springs, Tenn. and Prof. Fred B. Frazier, Dayton, Tenn.

AN

INTRODUCTION.

introduction to a book is often a mere perfunctory piece of professional work, written

to order. Such work generally lacks the charm of freshness, spontaniety, and sympathy. With quite a different feeling I have undertaken to write an introduction to Mrs. Kate Lee Nichols' volume of "Leaves from English Literature." It is not only a pleasure, but a privilege to be identified in any way with a book showing so much laborious research, conscientious study, and careful preparation. Within the small compass of one hundred and sixteen pages we have a brief, but scholarly definition of literature, followed by a compact, but comprehensive study of the English language, tracing its rapid growth through the German, Danish and Norman influence, but still retaining its sturdy Anglo-Saxon root. In passing, the author pays a splendid tribute to the work of King Alfred the Great in preserving the English language by “striking the shackles from the common people and making them free by writing English instead of Latin. Prior to this time no literature was written in English, but any thought or sentiment deemed worthy of preservation was written in Latin."

Mrs. Nichols devotes considerable space in the early portion of her book to a most illuminating account of what she very justly calls "the golden age of chivalry." She shows that this period-by ignorant or prejudiced historians called the "Dark Ages" -1096-1400-was a time of rare and exquisite literary culture. "From 1070-1170, more than one hundred poets lived. Poetic art was cultivated in all ranks." Yet, we have been taught to believe that, in the Middle Ages, the sword was mightier than the pen. In the next century, Chaucer arose, the first of that long line of illustrious bards who have made the English more glorious than the classic languages of Greece and Rome. The unparalleled genius of Shapespeare gave the world more sweetness, eloquence, and more true philosophy than all the classical authors combined. We can do without Oedipus and Media while we have Lear and Hamlet; Falstaff and Dogberry more than supply the place of Thraso and Prygoplinices. The tender grace of Juliet and Rosalind cannot be matched by the mere physical beauty of Helen and Cleopatra.

The Saxon influence in English literature is shown not only in the time of Chaucer, but five hundred years later, in the poetry of Tennyson. In treating of the effect of chivalry in polishing the manners of the time, Mrs. Nichols has done merited justice to the monks who laboriously copied the ancient writers, the Bible, and produced original works—chronicles, histories, biographies, miracle-plays. Among those learned monks, was Roger Bacon, who, besides

his literary works, was the discoverer of gunpowder; whether this has proved a blessing or a curse to the world I leave to the Peace Society to determine. Mrs. Nichols says that, "from the time of Venerable Bede to Henry II., every writer whose works have been preserved and of whom anything is known, was either a monk or an ecclesiastic of some kind with but two exceptions-Alfred the Great, and an obscure Saxon writer, Ethelward. This covers a space of about five hundred years." Guttenburg, a German monk, invented printing in 1440, but this, the most important invention since the creation of the world, was not introduced into England until 1471, by William Caxton, and the first book published by him was "The Game of the Chesse," in 1474. The tremendous effect of the invention of printing has reached its climax in this twentieth century.

A special interest is given to the volume by the numerous sketches of writers, past and present, with a brief summary of their principal works. This is made more valuable by little personal touches, and by quotations of striking passages from some few of the poets. More of these would be very acceptable. The last sketch is that of Rudyard Kipling, of whom she writes: "In appearance he is short and squarely broad shouldered. He has black hair and mustache. His eyes are grey-blue and always shielded by glasses."

No person can read the "Leaves from English Literature," even superficially, without being struck by the amount of time, trouble, thought and labor which