CHOICE SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE . SELECTED FROM THE CHIEF ENGLISH WRITERS, AND ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY. BY THOMAS B. SHAW, M.A., AUTHOR OF THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. EDITED, WITH ADDITIONS, By WILLIAM SMITH, LL.D., CLASSICAL EXAMINER IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1864. The right of Translation is reserved. 270. f. 12 Uniform with the present volume, post 8vo., 7s. 6d., LONDOX: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARIXG CROSS. PREFACE. The following extracts from the Chief English Writers were selected by the late Mr. Shaw to accompany his History of English Literature, and are divided into the same number of chapters, that they may be read with the biographical and critical account of each author. They present Specimens of all the chief English Writers from the earliest times to the present century. In making these Selections two objects have been chiefly kept in view : first, the illustration of the style of each Writer by some of the most striking or characteristic specimens of his works; and, secondly, the choice of such passages as are suitable, either from their language or their, matter, to be read in schools or committed to memory. W. S. NOVEMBER, 1864. (v) ANGLO-SAXON, SEMI-Saxox, AND OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE. 11. The Vision of Piers Ploughman, 12. John Gower, d. 1408. .Con- 14. John Barbour, d. 1396. Apo- 9 15. Chaucer (Prose). Tale of Meli- 13. Chaucer, 1328-1400. From the bæus, from the Parson's Tale : 11 16. Sir John de Mandeville, FROM THE DEATH OF CHAUCER TO THE AGE OF ELIZABETH, A.D. 1400-1558. 18. James I., 1394-1437. On his 26. Caxton, d. 1491. Introduction 19. William Dunbar, about 1465- 27. Lord Berners's Froissart . 20. Sir David Lyndsay, 1490-1557. 30. Sir Thomas More, 1480-1535. 21. John Skelton, d. 1529. Attack 22. Sir Thomas Wyatt, 1503-1541. 26 32. The Ancient Ballad of Chevy 23. Earl of Surrey, 1517-1547. A Prisoner in Windsor Castle, 33. The more modern Baliad of he reflects on Past Happiness 26 Chevy Chase |
