A History of Elizabethan Literature

3 vols. 8vo. Vol. I. From the Origins to Spenser. 12s. 6d. net. Vol. II. From Shakespeare to Crabbe. 18s. net. Vol. III. From Blake to Mr. Swinburne. 18s. net. HISTORICAL MANUAL OF ENGLISH PROSODY. Crown 8vo. 6s. 6d. net. A HISTORY OF THE FRENCH NOVEL. 8vo. Vol. I. From the Beginning to 1880. 18s. net. Vol. II. From 1800 to 1900. 18s. net A HISTORY OF ENGLISH PROSE RHYTHM. 8vo. 18s. net. LIFE OF DRYDEN. Library Edition. Crown 8vo, 3s. net; Pocket Edition, Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. [ English Men of Letters. A FIRST BOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Globe 8vo. Sewed, 2s. Stiff Boards, 2s. 3d. NOTES ON A CELLAR-BOOK. Small 4to. 7s. 6d. net. MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. , LONDON. A HISTORY OF ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE BY GEORGE SAINTSBURY MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1920 COPYRIGHT First Edition 1887. Second Edition 1890. Reprinted 1893, 1894, 1896, 1898, 1901, 1903, 1907, 1910, 1913, 1918, 1920. PREFACE TO NINTH EDITION As was explained in the Note to the Preface of the previous editions and impressions of this book, after the first, hardly one of them appeared without careful revision, and the insertion of a more or less considerable number of additions and corrections. I found, indeed, few errors of a kind that need have seemed serious except to Momus or Zoilus. But in the enormous number of statements of fact which literary history of the more exact kind requires, minor blunders, be they more or fewer, are sure to creep in. No writer, again, who endeavours constantly to keep up and extend his knowledge of such a subject as Elizabethan literature, can fail to have something new to say from time to time. And though no one who is competent originally for his task ought to experience any violent changes of view, any one's views may undergo modification. In particular, he may find that readers have misunderstood him, and that alterations of expression are desirable. For all these reasons and others I have not spared trouble in the various revisions referred to; I think the book has been kept by them fairly abreast of its author's knowledge, and I hope it is not too far behind that of others. It will, however, almost inevitably happen that a long series of piecemeal corrections and codicils somewhat disfigures the character of the composition as a whole. And after nearly the…