Cathcart's literary reader; a manual of English literature

Front matter

Class ?.(iMT_6_

Book . Gi^rL

CopghtN"

Preface

IT is now more than seventeen years since the first edition of the "LITERARY READER" was presented to the public. At that time the Compiler declared .that he had not designed to make the work a compendium of English literature, but rather to provide a means of acquiring a fair knowledge of that literature for those who might not be able to pursue a special course of study in it. It was recognized that in the catalogue of school studies, literature then held but a humble place; its value to the mass of scholars had been undervalued, — it had long been esteemed a branch of knowledge really useful only to the few who aspire to a liberal education. Public sentiment had, fortunately, undergone a change touching this matter within a few years, and the book was prepared in the avowed hope of furthering that change, and of confirming literature in its true place among school studies.

It is no small satisfaction to be able to record that the success of the "Literary Reader" in its original edition was such as to justify this hope ; and a new edition is now put forth, embodying such changes and improvements as the higher and severer demands of the time seem to make necessary. This work, not less than the former edition of the " Literary Reader," is intended iv PREFACE

for the use of schools as a text-book, bv the means of which the learner may acquire, simultaneously, proficiency in reading and no inconsiderable familiarity with some of the best pages of English literature. Still, it is believed that, even more than in its former shape, the book will be found serviceable by the general reader.

The recognition of distinctively scientific . writers as contributors to letters is continued. In its early days science was dry and almost repellent to all save its favored students ; but its modern exponents have not failed to see the importance of presenting it in attractive guise, and the writings of Agassiz, Gray, Dana, Lyell, Tyndall, Huxley, and others abound in passages of great beauty even when judged by the standards of pure literature.

Among the leading features of this revision are the Definitions and Outline of Study, which form the introduction to the book ; the chapter on the Beginnings of English Literature, which covers the period previous to the time when our language took its permanent form ; and the subdivision of our literature into the four great periods of Elizabethan Literature, the Literature of the Commonwealth and Restoration, the Literature of the Eighteenth Century, and the Literature of the Nineteenth Century. The biographical and critical notices have been rewritten and much extended, and an introductory chapter has been prepared to each of the four grand divisions of our literature. Each one of these periods is marked by distinct and definite outlines ; each one has its own character, and arranges itself in something like systematic order around certain great central names. It has therefore been possible to make the book orderly and continuous in its character, and to give it an historical

PRhFACE V

perspective which shows forth the masters and masterpieces of our Hterature in their true proportions.

The portraits which adorn the volume have been drawn by Mr. Jacques Reich. They form a series remarkable for fullness, authenticity, and artistic merit.

The Compiler acknowledges, as formerly, his obligations to Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, Messrs. D. Appleton and Company, and Messrs. J. R. Osgood and Company, and their successors, for their courtesy in permitting the use of selections from their copyright editions of American writers.

He also acknowledges his many obligations to his friend Mr. Henry D. Harrower for the editorial supervision of the work, which has been entirely in his charge ; to him are to be credited in large measure such improvements as may appear in the revision.

G. R. C.

New York, January, T892.

Contents

Pagb

Preface iii

Definitions and Outline of Study. ... xi

II The Elizabethan Literature

William Shakespeare 19

1. Othello's Speech to the Senate 21

2. The Winning of Juliet .... 23

3. Wolsey on the Vicissitudes of Life 24

4. Hamlet's Soliloquy 25

5- Polonius's Advice to his Son . . 26

6. The Seven Ages of Man ... 27

8. England 29

11. Ingratitude rebuked . . . . 30

1. On Shakespeare ...... 36

2. On the Portrait of Shakespeare • 39

3. Hymn to Diana ...... 39

4. Two Epitaphs ....... 40

5. The Noble Nature .... 40

Ben

Francis Bacon 41

1. Of Friendship

2. Of Goodness and Goodness

Nature

3. Of Learning . . . . .

of

A Garland of Elizabethan Lyrics .

1. The Gifts of God (George Her-

bert)

2. The Happy Life (Henry Wotton)

3. Death, the Leveier (James Shir-

4. On the Tombs in Westminster

Abbey (Francis Beaumont)

5. Melancholy (John Fletcher) . .

6. To Dianeme (Robert Herrick) .

7. To Lucasta, on going to the Wars

(Richard Lovelace) .

Notable Contemporary Writers .

48 50

52 53

S3

54 55

56 57

III The Literature of the Commonwealth and the Restoration 59

1. The Invocation and Introduction

• to " Paradise Lost " . . . . 62

2. Adam and Eve's Morning Hymn 64

3. May Morning . . .... 66

John Dryden . . 73

I. Song for St Cecilia's Day ... 74

2 Mac Flecknoe ....... 77

3. Ode to the Memory of Mrs Anne

Killigrew . , 78

Three Contemporary Songs ... 81

1. The Retreat (Henry Vaughan) . 81

2. A Supplication (Abraham Cowley) 82

3. Song of the Emigrants in Ber-

muda (Andrew Marvell) ■ . , 83

Vlll

CONTENTS