#THE WORLD'S# GREAT CLASSICS LIBRARY COMMITTEE TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D.D. LLD. RICHARD HENRY STODDARD ARTHUR RICHMOND MARSH. A.B. PAVL VAN DYKE, D.D. ALBERT ELLERY BERGH •ILLUSTRATED•WITH•NEARLY•TWO• •HUNDRED•PHOTOGRAVURES•ETCHINGS• •COLORED•PLATES•AND•FULL• •PAGE•PORTRAITS•OF•GREAT•AUTHORS• CLARENCE COOK--ART EDITOR •THE•COLONIAL•PRESS• •NEW•YORK•MDCCCXCIX• [Illustration: LONDON BRIDGE. _After an etching by Edwin Edwards._ The artist has chosen for his masterly work the moment when the sun, long before toiling London is awake, rises amid vapors from the eastern horizon. The river reflects the dawn, "All bright and glittering in the smokeless air." In the placid stream are mirrored the shadows of the bridge; to the west of which appear the façades of Fishmonger's Hall, and Billingsgate market, radiant with morning. To appreciate the full charm and fidelity to nature of this etching one should read Wordsworth's sonnet written on Westminster bridge, beginning "Earth has not anything to show more fair," and ending with the words "The river glideth at his own sweet will: Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still." HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE HIPPOLYTE ADOLPHE TAINE TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY HENRY VAN LAUN WITH A SPECIAL INTRODUCTION BY J. SCOTT CLARK, A. M. PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY REVISED EDITION VOLUME II CONTENTS BOOK II--THE RENAISSANCE (_CONTINUED_) CHAPTER FIFTH The Christian Renaissance SECTION I.--Decay of The Southern Civilizations SECTION II.--Luther and the Reformation in Germany SECTION III.--The Reformation in England SECTION IV.--The Anglicans SECTION V.--The Puritans SECTION VI.--John Bunyan CHAPTER SIXTH Milton SECTION I.--Milton's Family and Education SECTION II.--Milton's Unhappy Domestic Life SECTION III.--Milton's Combative Energy SECTION IV.--Milton's Personal Appearance SECTION V.--Milton as a Prose Writer SECTION VI.--Milton as a Poet BOOK III.--THE CLASSIC AGE CHAPTER FIRST The Restoration _Part I.--The Roisterers_ SECTION I.--The Excesses of Puritanism SECTION II.--A Frenchman's View of the Manners of the Time SECTION III.--Butler's Hudibras SECTION IV.--Morals of the Court SECTION V.--Method and Style of Hobbes SECTION VI.--The Theatre SECTION VII.--Dryden and the Drama SECTION VIII.--Wycherley _PART II.--The Worldlings_ SECTION I.--Court Life in Europe SECTION II.--Dawn of the Classic Spirit SECTION III.--Sir William Temple SECTION IV.--Writers à la Mode SECTION V.--Sir John Denham SECTION VI.--Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar SECTION VII.--Superficiality of English Comedy SECTION VIII.--Natural Characters SECTION IX.--Artificial Characters SECTION X.--Sheridan.--Decadence of the Theatre CHAPTER SECOND Dryden