Third and Final Series of Bibliographical Collections and Notes on Early English Literature: 1474 1700 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Third and Final Series of Bibliographical Collections and Notes on Early English Literature: 1474 1700

Notions concerning authors and other public men are apt to vary and fluctuate. The line of distinction between Shakespear and his con temporaries was not so broadly drawn a century ago; he has been an object of idolatry scarcely more than thirty years, when the writings of Schlegel, Tieck, Coleridge, Lamb, and Hazlitt had had their influence in directing the public attention to his unique power.

Yet in some respects the obscurer writers of other times have an even stronger claim on our attention than those who are, to say nothing more, too well known and too firmly established in favour to require bibliographical resuscitation or enshrinement. It adds little indeed to Spenser or Milton to accord them a place in these columns of mine; but they find themselves in the book as of right, and I am glad enough to see them here; for they brighten the gloom, and leaven the dough.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.