Produced by Marius Masi, Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's note: The following typographical errors have been corrected: Page 23: "The people--that is, the promiscuous mass of mankind--hardly exist to Froissart." 'promiscuous' amended from 'promiscous'. Page 178: "Gil Blas, discouraged, was about to leave Dr. Sangrado's service, when that distinguished physician said to him--we take up the text of the story once more:" 'Blas' amended from 'Glas'. Page 189: "When the Christian religion, two centuries ago, became unhappily divided into Catholic and Protestant, the people of the north embraced the Protestant, and those south adhered still to the Catholic." 'unhappily' amended from 'unhappilly'. Page 238: "His European reputation in science made his name a tower of strength to the 'Encyclopaedia,'--even after he ceased to be an editorial coadjutor in the enterprise." 'editorial' amended from 'editoral'. Page 295: "Dickens's Pegasus often flies with his bit between his teeth. 'between' amended from 'beween'. OTHER BOOKS BY PROFESSOR WILKINSON THE EPIC OF SAUL THE EPIC OF PAUL WEBSTER: AN ODE. WITH NOTES POEMS A FREE LANCE IN THE FIELD OF LIFE AND LETTERS (Volume of Essays) EDWIN ARNOLD AS POETIZER AND AS PAGANIZER THE DANCE OF MODERN SOCIETY FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY NEW YORK AND LONDON _WILKINSON'S FOREIGN CLASSICS IN ENGLISH_ FRENCH CLASSICS BY WILLIAM CLEAVER WILKINSON PROFESSOR OF POETRY AND CRITICISM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO * * * * * FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY NEW YORK AND LONDON 1909 COPYRIGHT 1900 BY WILLIAM CLEAVER WILKINSON. (_Printed in the United States of America_) PREFACE.