Jenkins, Rev. O.L., A.M. and Helen Dawes Brown. The Student’s Handbook of British and American Literature, containing Sketches Biographical and Critical of The Most Distinguished English Authors, From the Earliest Times to the Present Day, With Selections from their Writings, And Questions adapted to the use of Schools. Baltimore: John Murphy & Co., 1876.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

The compiler of this work has long felt the necessity of some Text-Book of British and American Literature, which, in its general bearing, would be free from sectarian views and influences; an, in the extracts, be entirely unexceptionable in point of morality. Such a book, it seemed to him, would be highly desirable for Educational Institutions; and might prove a suitable Manual for the young of both sexes, in the more advanced classes of our schools and colleges.

The restricted sense in which the word Literature is used, enables the compiler to confine his treatment of English writings to that particular department of Letters which comprises the Belles-Lettres, or Polite Literature, as distinguished from purely scientific treatises. In this acceptation, Literature has reference to that species of writings which finds a ready response in the thoughts and feelings of men in general, to the exclusion of writings that are merely technical or professional. Its distinctive traits may be summed up in the definition of the distinguished philosopher and publicist, Viscount De Bonald: “Literature is the expression of society.”

Whatever has relation to our common humanity, and interests all men alike, whether it be fictitious or read, in poetry or prose, comes within the appropriate province of Literature. Even popularized science is not excluded. When, for instance, Izaac Walton presents to the public his Complete Angler, it might seem from the nature of the subject, and perhaps from the aim of the writer, which is to teach the angler;s subtle art, that his book does not belong to literature as understood in its more restricted sense. But he has managed to invest this innocent pastime with so much that is agreeable and interesting, as to touch a chord of sympathy which is felt by all; and he has thus produced a treatise valuable for its technical knowledge, and unique in English Literature. If, in the early periods, the name of an eminent divine or scholar is introduced, whose writings might seem to belong rather to the department of science than of Belles-Lettres, it is because he ranks among the few men of his epoch who were remarkable for intellectual vigor and general knowledge.

Notwithstanding these limitations, it is scarcely to be expected, so wide is the field of Literature, that in a composition like the present, a complete list should be given of the writers that have graced the annals of British and American literature. A selection of the most distinguished names is all that can be accomplished.

Conscious of his incompetency to the task, the compiler has not presumed to exercise his own judgment alone in deciding upon the merits of each writer; but he has availed himself to the labors of others of approved critical abilities. The works to which he is chiefly indebted, are Chamber’s Cyclopedia of English Literature, Shaw’s Outlines of English Literature, Schlegel’s History of Literature, the Encyclopedia Americana, Allibone’s History of English Authors, and the Compendiums of Craik, Angus, Spalding, Griswold, Cleveland, and Reid. It is only within a few years that these and similar summaries have been issued in such numbers from the press, and readily adopted in many of our schools and academies. Works of this kind, when the materials are carefully selected, are well calculated to strengthen the mind and discipline the character of the student. They inspire him with a love for whatever is just and beautiful in thought and expression; they awaken refined and elevated feelings, and lead to a relish for ehatever is moral in tendency, and noble in sentiment.

“It is the sweetest note that man can sing,

When Grace in virtue’s key tunes nature’s string.”

SOUTHWELL.

But to secure so desirable a result, much care and discrimination are necessary. Young persons should not be left to their own inclinations solely in the choice of perusal of literary works. They should be especially cautioned against such as inculcate a loose morality, pervert the truths of history, or grossly insult the religious convictions of the reader. Franklin says of himself, that the reading of Cotton Mather’s Essay to Do Good, gave him a “tone of thinking that had an influence on some of the future events of his life.” It has been well said in one of our text-books of English Literature: “We may not be made, for our whole existence, better as well as wiser, by an hour of well-advised study, which has led to earnest meditation on our own character and destiny; whereas an impure image, a false doctrine, a groveling or malevolent wish excited by a book we read, may be the opening of a gate that will lead us downward into the abyss of moral depravation.”* Whenever it has been found necessary to allude to writings of this latter class, an effort has been made to point out the danger, or offer an antidote to the poison.

If this book should tend to enlist the student’s sensibilities and affections in favor of the true and the good, whilst it leads him to admire the beautiful and the sublime, the compiler will have accomplished his object; and he would willing leave to others the merit of perfecting a work, which seemed to him called for by the rapid growth and present flourishing condition of this important and comparatively new branch of modern education.

*History of Eng. Literature by Prof. Spalding.

Table of Contents (3 pages; jpg files)