Wonderful have been the achievements of Americans as inventors, mechanics, merchants――indeed, in every field in which they have contended――but we are prepared to agree with Dr. Johnson that “The chief glory of a nation is its authors;” and, with Carlyle, that they entitle us to our greatest respect among other nations. The reading of the biographies and extracts herein contained should impress the reader with the debt of gratitude we as a people owe to those illustrious men and women, who, while wreathing their own brows with chaplets of fame, have written the name, “_America_,” high up on the literary roll of honor among the greatest nations of the world. Illustration: THE POETS OF NEW ENGLAND THE DISTINCTIVE PURPOSE AND PLAN OF THIS VOLUME. THIS work has been designed and prepared with a view to presenting an outline of American literature in such a manner as to stimulate a love for good reading and especially to encourage the study of the lives and writings of our American authors. The plan of this work is unique and original, and possesses certain helpful and interesting features, which――so far as we are aware――have been contemplated by no other single volume. The first and main purpose of the work is to present to our American homes a mass of wholesome, varied and well-selected reading matter. In this respect it is substantially a volume for the family. America is pre-eminently a country of homes. These homes are the schools of citizenship, and――next to the Bible, which is the foundation of our morals and laws――we need those books which at once entertain and instruct, and, at the same time, stimulate patriotism and pride for our native land.