Hart, John S., LL.D. A Manual of English Literature: A Text-Book for Schools and Colleges. Philadelphia: Eldredge & Brother, 1872.

PREFACE

This work is intended to serve the double-purpose of a Text-book and a book of reference.

As a Text-book, the whole of it should be read by the student, but that part only which is in the larger type should be made the subject of recitation. By adhering to this rule, the student, even with the very limited time given to the pusuit in our institutions of higher learning, will be able without difficulty to compass the whole subject of English Literature, in all its departments, and, at the same time, will learn where to look for those minor details which, in the course of his studies, form a frequent subject of inquiry, but with which it is not necessary or expedient, in ordinary cases, to burden the memory.

As a book of reference [. . . .]

It will be obvious, from the barest inspection of the volume, that the subject has not been considered in that restricted view which has been too much the wont of works of this kind. The Literature of a people contains something more, surely, that poetry, plays, and romances. Whatever makes a part of popular reading, and influences thereby, to any considerable extent, the opinions and actions of men, is a part of the national literature. It does not include strictly professional works, or works on pure science, the use of which is necessarily restricted to a select few; but it does include, most assuredly, works on religion and morality, which concern all men alike. It includes school-books and other books for the young, the fugitive tract, the daily and weekly newspaper, secular and religious, and periodical literature in all its forms, as well as the ponderous tomes that fill the shelves of the public library.

It is not pretended, of course, that all these topics are here treated exhaustively. The field of English Literature is practically without limit. A work in twenty volumes would not exhaust it. Yet the reader of the present treatise will, it is believed, get a fair and symmetrical view of the whole subject, in all its departments, and through its whole range, from the simple rhyming chronicle of the semi-Saxon age down to the “In Memoriam of Tennyson” and the thundering periods of the London Times.

A single word in reference to the method of grouping here pursued.

In any grouping that can be made, some incongruities will necessarily occur. An arrangement by centuries it, of all arrangements, the one most arbitrary and objectionable. A far better and more common plan is to associate authos with some conspicuous reign or other great public event. The obvious reason forthis is that the authors thus grouped together were subject in some measure to the same educational and political influences. They lived in the same moral atmoshphere, and hence partake to some extent of the same general character. It has been deemed advisable, therefore, in connection with most of the chapters, to indicate briefly the reigns and the great political events and pesonages with which each group of authors stands most nearly related. It has been judged best, also, so far as practicable,to group the main body of authors around some one great author who stands most conspicuously connected with that period of history. Minor juxtapositions follow, poets being groups with poets, historians with historians, theologians with theologians, and so on. By following this course, two advantages are secured. The memory is aided. The authors themselves, when thus presented in their natural connections, are better understood.

In collecting materials for this work, besides a diligent use of the many printed volumes on the subject, the mere enumeration of which would fill several pages, I have had special assistance form various quarters, which it is proper that I should specifically acknowledge.

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Princeton, N.J., Jan., 1872 J.S.H.

Table of Contents (16 pages; jpg files)