Produced by Louise Hope, Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Transcriber’s Note: This e-text includes a few characters that will only display in UTF-8 (Unicode) file encoding: āă ē ŏ īĭ ŭ: vowels with “long” or “short” marks (macron and breve) œ, ȝ: “oe” ligature; yogh If any of these characters do not display properly--in particular, if the diacritic does not appear directly above the letter--or if the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, make sure your text reader’s “character set” or “file encoding” is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change the default font. As a last resort, use the latin-1 version of the file instead. All Greek words were given in transliteration, and have not been changed. Single italicized letters within words are shown in braces {}; other italics are shown conventionally with _lines_. Boldface type is shown by +marks+. Individual +bold+ or CAPITALIZED words within an italicized phrase should be read as non-italic, though the extra _lines_ have been omitted to reduce clutter.] A BRIEF HISTORY of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE by J. M. D. MEIKLEJOHN, M.A. Professor of the Theory, History, and Practice of Education in the University of St. Andrews, Scotland Boston D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers 1887 _Copyright, 1887,_ By D. C. Heath & Co. PUBLISHER’S NOTICE. The present volume is the second part of the author’s “English Language-- Its Grammar, History, and Literature.” It includes the History of the English Language and the History of English Literature. The first part comprises the department of Grammar, under which are included Etymology, Syntax, Analysis, Word Formation, and History, with a brief outline of Composition and of Prosody. The two may be had separately or bound together. Each constitutes a good one year’s course of English study. The first part is suited for high schools; the second, for high schools and colleges. The book, which is worthy of the wide reputation and ripe experience of the eminent author, is distinguished throughout by clear, brief, and comprehensive statement and illustration. It is especially suited for private students or for classes desiring to make a brief and rapid review, and also for teachers who want only a brief text as a basis for their own instruction. PREFACE. This book provides sufficient matter for the four years of study required, in England, of a pupil-teacher, and also for the first year at his training college. An experienced master will easily be able to guide his pupils in the selection of the proper parts for each year. The ten pages on the Grammar of Verse ought to be reserved for the fifth year of study.