In the printed book, this table covered 14 (fourteen) pages, with the header repeated at the top of each page. The column headed “Years” was labeled “Centuries” on the earlier pages, changing to “Decades” on the page beginning 1560.
(Author unknown.)
Beowulf(brought over by Saxons and Angles from the Continent).
CAEDMON.
A secular monk of Whitby.
Died about680.
Poemson the Creation and other subjects taken from the Old and the New Testament.
Edwin (of Deira), King of the Angles, baptised 627.
BAEDA.
672-735.
“The Venerable Bede,” a monk of Jarrow-on-Tyne.
AnEcclesiastical Historyin Latin. A translation ofSt John’s Gospelinto English (lost).
First landing of the Danes, 787.
ALFRED THE GREAT.
849-901.
King; translator; prose-writer.
Translated into the English of Wessex, Bede’s Ecclesiastical History and other Latin works. Is said to have begun theAnglo-SaxonChronicle.
The University of Oxford is said to have been founded in this reign.
Compiled by monks in various monasteries.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 875-1154
ASSER.
Bishop of Sherborne. Died910.
Life of King Alfred.
(Author unknown.)
A poem entitledThe Grave.
LAYAMON.
1150-1210.
A priest of Ernley-on-Severn.
The Brut(1205), a poem on Brutus, the supposed first settler in Britain.
John ascended the throne in 1199.
ORMORORMIN.
1187-1237.
A canon of the Order of St Augustine.
The Ormulum(1215), a set of religious services in metre.
ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER.
1255-1307.
Chronicle of Englandin rhyme (1297).
Magna Charta, 1215.
Henry III. ascends the throne, 1216.
ROBERT OF BRUNNE.
1272-1340.
(Robert Manning of Brun.)
Chronicle of Englandin rhyme;Handlyng Sinne(1303).
University of Cambridge founded, 1231.
Edward I. ascends the throne, 1272.
Conquest of Wales, 1284.
SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE.
1300-1372.
Physician; traveller; prose-writer.
The Voyaige and Travaile. Travels to Jerusalem, India, and other countries, written in Latin French and English (1356). The first writer “in formed English.”
Edward II ascends the throne, 1307.
Battle of Bannockburn, 1314.
JOHN BARBOUR.
1316-1396.
Archdeacon of Aberdeen.
The Bruce(1377), a poem written in the Northern English or “Scottish” dialect.
Edward III. ascends the throne, 1327.
JOHN WYCLIF.
1324-1384.
Vicar of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire.
Translation of theBiblefrom the Latin version; and many tracts and pamphlets on Church reform.
Hundred Years’ War begins, 1338.
Battle of Crecy, 1346.
JOHN GOWER.
1325-1408.
A country gentleman of Kent; probably also a lawyer.
Vox Clamantis,ConfessioAmantis,Speculum Meditantis(1393); and poems in French and Latin.
WILLIAM LANGLANDE.
1332-1400.
Born in Shropshire.
Vision concerning Piers thePlowman—three editions (1362-78).
Battle of Poitiers, 1356.
First law-pleadings in English, 1362.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER.
1340-1400.
Poet; courtier; soldier; diplomatist; Comptroller of the Customs: Clerk of the King’s Works; M.P.
The Canterbury Tales(1384-98), of which the best is theKnightes Tale. Dryden called him “a perpetual fountain of good sense.”
Richard II. ascends the throne, 1377.
Wat Tyler’s insurrection, 1381.
JAMES I. OF SCOTLAND.
1394-1437.
Prisoner in England, and educated there, in 1405.
The King’s Quair(=Book), a poem in the style of Chaucer.
Henry IV. ascends the throne, 1399.
WILLIAM CAXTON.
1422-1492.
Mercer; printer; translator; prose-writer.
The Game and Playe of the Chesse(1474)—the first book printed in England;Lives of the Fathers, “finished on the last day of his life;” and many other works.
Henry V. ascends the throne, 1415.
Battle of Agincourt, 1415.
Henry VI. ascends the throne, 1422.
Invention of Printing, 1438-45.
WILLIAM DUNBAR.
1450-1530.
Franciscan or Grey Friar; Secretary to a Scotch embassy to France.
The Golden Terge(1501); theDance of the Seven Deadly Sins(1507); and other poems. He has been called “the Chaucer of Scotland.”
Jack Cade’s insurrection, 1450.
End of the Hundred Years’ War, 1453.
GAWAIN DOUGLAS.
1474-1522.
Bishop of Dunkeld, in Perthshire.
Palace of Honour(1501); translation ofVirgil’s Æneid(1513)—the first translation of any Latin author into verse. Douglas wrote in Northern English.
Wars of the Roses, 1455-86.
Edward IV. ascends the throne, 1461.
WILLIAM TYNDALE.
1477-1536.
Student of theology; translator. Burnt at Antwerp for heresy.
New Testamenttranslated (1525-34); theFive Books of Mosestranslated (1530). This translation is the basis of the Authorised Version.
Edward V. king, 1483.
SIR THOMAS MORE.
1480-1535.
Lord High Chancellor; writer on social topics; historian.
History of King Edward V., and of his brother, and of Richard III.(1513);Utopia(= “The Land of Nowhere”), written in Latin; and other prose works.
Richard III. ascends the throne, 1483.
Battle of Bosworth, 1485.
SIR DAVID LYNDESAY.
1490-1556.
Tutor of Prince James of Scotland (James V.); “Lord Lyon King-at-Arms;” poet.
Lyndesay’s Dream(1528);TheComplaint(1529);A Satireof the Three Estates(1535)—a “morality-play.”
Henry VII. ascends the throne, 1485.
Greek began to be taught in England about 1497.
ROGER ASCHAM.
1515-1568.
Lecturer on Greek at Cambridge; tutor to Edward VI., Queen Elizabeth, and Lady Jane Grey.
Toxophilus(1544), a treatise on shooting with the bow;The Scholemastre(1570). “Ascham is plain and strong in his style, but without grace or warmth.”
Henry VIII. ascends the throne, 1509.
Battle of Flodden, 1513.
Wolsey Cardinal and Lord High Chancellor, 1515.
JOHN FOXE.
1517-1587.
An English clergyman. Corrector for the press at Basle; Prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral; prose-writer.
The Book of Martyrs(1563), an account of the chief Protestant martyrs.
Sir Thomas More first layman who was Lord High Chancellor, 1529.
Reformation in England begins about 1534.
EDMUND SPENSER.
1552-1599.
Secretary to Viceroy of Ireland; political writer; poet.
Shepheard’s Calendar(1579):Faerie Queene, in six books (1590-96).
Edward VI. ascends the throne, 1547.
Mary Tudor ascends the throne, 1553.
SIR WALTER RALEIGH.
1552-1618.
Courtier; statesman; sailor; coloniser; historian.
History of the World(1614), written during the author’s imprisonment in the Tower of London.
Cranmer burnt 1556.
RICHARD HOOKER.
1553-1600.
English clergyman; Master of the Temple; Rector of Boscombe, in the diocese of Salisbury.
Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity(1594). This book is an eloquent defence of the Church of England. The writer, from his excellent judgment, is generally called “the judicious Hooker.”
Elizabeth ascends the throne, 1558.
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.
1554-1586.
Courtier; general; romance-writer.
Arcadia, a romance (1580).Defence of Poesie, published after his death (in 1595).Sonnets.
FRANCIS BACON.
1561-1626.
Viscount St Albans; Lord High Chancellor of England; lawyer; philosopher; essayist.
Essays(1597);Advancement of Learning(1605);Novum Organum(1620); and other works on methods of inquiry into nature.
Hawkins begins slave trade in 1562.
Rizzio murdered, 1566.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
1564-1616.
Actor; owner of theatre; play-writer; poet. Born and died at Stratford-on-Avon.
Thirty-seven plays. His greatesttragediesareHamlet,Lear, andOthello. His bestcomediesareMidsummer Night’s Dream,The Merchant of Venice, andAs You Like It. His besthistorical playsareJulius CæsarandRichard III. Manyminor poems— chieflysonnets. He wrote no prose.
Marlowe, Dekker, Chapman, Beaumont and Fletcher, Ford, Webster, Ben Johnson, and other dramatists, were contemporaries of Shakspeare.
BEN JONSON.
1574-1637.
Dramatist; poet; prose-writer.
Tragediesandcomedies.Best plays:Volpone or the Fox;Every Man in his Humour.
Drake sails round the world, 1577.
Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, 1578.
WILLIAM DRUMMOND (“of Hawthornden”).
1585-1649.
Scottish poet; friend of Ben Jonson.
Sonnetsandpoems.
Raleigh in Virginia, 1584.
Babington’s Plot, 1586.
Spanish Armada, 1588.
THOMAS HOBBES.
1588-1679.
Philosopher; prose-writer; translator of Homer.
The Leviathan(1651), a work on politics and moral philosophy.
Battle of Ivry, 1590.
SIR THOMAS BROWNE.
1605-1682.
Physician at Norwich.
Religio Medici(= “The Religion of a Physician”);Urn-Burial; and other prose works.
Australia discovered, 1601.
James I. ascends the throne in 1603.
JOHN MILTON.
1608-1674.
Student; political writer; poet; Foreign (or “Latin”) Secretary to Cromwell. Became blind from over-work in1654.
Minor Poems;Paradise Lost;Paradise Regained;Samson Agonistes. Many prose works, the best beingAreopagitica, a speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing.
Hampton Court Conference for translation of Bible, 1604-11.
Gunpowder Plot, 1605.
SAMUEL BUTLER.
1612-1680.
Literary man; secretary to the Earl of Carbery.
Hudibras, a mock-heroic poem, written to ridicule the Puritan and Parliamentarian party.
Execution of Raleigh, 1618.
JEREMY TAYLOR.
1613-1667.
English clergyman; Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland.
Holy LivingandHoly Dying(1649); and a number of other religious books.
JOHN BUNYAN.
1628-1688.
Tinker and traveling preacher.
The Pilgrim’s Progress(1678); theHoly War; and other religious works.
Charles I. ascends the throne in 1625.
Petition of Right, 1628.
JOHN DRYDEN.
1631-1700.
Poet-Laureate and Historiographer-Royal; playwright; poet; prose-writer.
Annus Mirabilis(= “The Wonderful Year,” 1665-66, on the Plague and the Fire of London);Absalom and Achitophel(1681), a poem on political parties;Hind and Panther(1687), a religious poem. He also wrote many plays, some odes and a translation of Virgil’sÆneid. His prose consists chiefly of prefaces and introductions to his poems.
No Parliament from 1629-40.
Scottish National Covenant, 1638.
Long Parliament, 1640-53.
Marston Moor, 1644.
Execution of Charles I., 1649
JOHN LOCKE.
1632-1704.
Diplomatist; Secretary to the Board of Trade; philosopher; prose-writer.
Essay concerning the Human Understanding(1690);Thoughts on Education; and other prose works.
The Commonwealth, 1649-60.
Cromwell Lord Protector, 1653-58.
DANIEL DEFOE.
1661-1731.
Literary man; pamphleteer; journalist; member of Commission on Union with Scotland.
The True-born Englishman(1701);Robinson Crusoe(1719);Journal of the Plague(1722); and more than a hundred books in all.
Restoration, 1660.
First standing army, 1661.
First newspaper in England, 1663.
JONATHAN SWIFT.
1667-1745.
English clergyman; literary man; satirist; prose-writer; poet; Dean of St Patrick’s, in Dublin.
Battle of the Books;Tale of a Tub(1704), an allegory on the Churches of Rome, England, and Scotland;Gulliver’s Travels(1726); a few poems; and a number of very vigorous political pamphlets.
Plague of London, 1665.
Fire of London, 1666.
SIR RICHARD STEELE.
1671-1729.
Soldier; literary man; courtier; journalist; M.P.
Steele founded the ‘Tatler,’ ‘Spectator,’ ‘Guardian,’ and other small journals. He also wrote some plays.
Charles II. pensioned by Louis XIV. of France, 1674.
JOSEPH ADDISON.
1672-1719.
Essayist; poet; Secretary of State for the Home Department.
Essaysin the ‘Tatler,’ ‘Spectator,’ and ‘Guardian.’ Cato, a Tragedy (1713). SeveralPoemsandHymns.
The Habeas Corpus Act, 1679.
ALEXANDER POPE.
1688-1744.
Poet.
Essay on Criticism(1711);Rape of the Lock(1714); Translation of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, finished in 1726;Dunciad(1729);Essay on Man(1739). A few proseEssays, and a volume ofLetters.
James II. ascends the throne in 1685.
Revolution of 1688.
William III. and Mary II. ascend the throne, 1689.
Battle of the Boyne, 1690.
JAMES THOMSON.
1700-1748.
Poet.
The Seasons; a poem in blank verse (1730):The Castle of Indolence; a mock-heroic poem in the Spenserian stanza (1748).
Censorship of the Press abolished, 1695.
Queen Anne ascends the throne in 1702.
HENRY FIELDING.
1707-1754.
Police-magistrate, journalist; novelist.
Joseph Andrews(1742);Amelia(1751). He was “the first great English novelist.”
Battle of Blenheim, 1704.
Gibraltar taken, 1704.
DR SAMUEL JOHNSON.
1709-1784.
Schoolmaster; literary man; essayist; poet; dictionary-maker.
London(1738);The Vanity of Human Wishes(1749);Dictionary of the English Language(1755);Rasselas(1759);Lives of the Poets(1781). He also wroteThe Idler,The Rambler, and a play calledIrene.
Union of England and Scotland, 1707.
DAVID HUME.
1711-1776.
Librarian; Secretary to the French Embassy; philosopher; literary man.
History of England(1754-1762); and a number of philosophicalEssays. His prose is singularly clear, easy, and pleasant.
George I. ascends the throne in 1714.
THOMAS GRAY.
1716-1771.
Student; poet; letter-writer; Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge.
Odes;Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard(1750)—one of the most perfect poems in our language. He was a great stylist, and an extremely careful workman.
Rebellion in Scotland in 1715.
TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT.
1721-1771.
Doctor; pamphleteer; literary hack; novelist.
Roderick Random(1748);Humphrey Clinker(1771). He also continuedHume’s History of England. He published also somePlaysandPoems.
South-Sea Bubble bursts, 1720.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH.
1728-1774.
Literary man; play-writer; poet.
The Traveller(1764);The Vicar of Wakefield(1766);The Deserted Village(1770);She Stoops to Conquer—a Play (1773); and a large number of books, pamphlets, and compilations.
George II. ascends the throne, 1727.
ADAM SMITH.
1723-1790.
Professor in the University of Glasgow.
Theory of Moral Sentiments(1759);Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations(1776). He was the founder of the science of political economy.
EDMUND BURKE.
1730-1797.
M.P.; statesman; “the first man in the House of Commons;” orator; writer on political philosophy.
Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful(1757);Reflections on the Revolution of France(1790);Letters on a Regicide Peace(1797); and many other works. “The greatest philosopher in practice the world ever saw.”
WILLIAM COWPER.
1731-1800.
Commissioner in Bankruptcy; Clerk of the Journals of the House of Lords; poet.
Table Talk(1782);John Gilpin(1785);A Translation of Homer(1791); and many otherPoems. His Letters, like Gray’s, are among the best in the language.
EDWARD GIBBON.
1737-1794.
Historian; M.P.
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire(1776-87). “Heavily laden style and monotonous balance of every sentence.”
Rebellion in Scotland, 1745, commonly called “The ’Forty-five.”
ROBERT BURNS.
1759-1796.
Farm-labourer; ploughman; farmer; excise-officer; lyrical poet.
Poems and Songs(1786-96). His prose consists chiefly of Letters. “His pictures of social life, of quaint humour, come up to nature; and they cannot go beyond it.”
Clive in India, 1750-60. Earthquake at Lisbon, 1755.
Black Hole of Calcutta, 1756.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
1770-1850
Distributor of Stamps for the county of Westmoreland; poet; poet-laureate.
Lyrical Ballads(with Coleridge, 1798);The Excursion(1814);Yarrow Revisited(1835), and many poems.The Preludewas published after his death. His prose, which is very good, consists chiefly of Prefaces and Introductions.
George III. ascends the throne in 1760.
Napoleon and Wellington born, 1769.
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
1771-1832.
Clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh; Scottish barrister; poet; novelist.
Lay of the Last Minstrel(1805);Marmion(1808);Lady of the Lake(1810);Waverley—the first of the “Waverley Novels”—was published in 1814. The “Homer of Scotland.” His prose is bright and fluent, but very inaccurate.
Warren Hastings in India, 1772-85.
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.
1772-1834.
Private soldier; journalist; literary man; philosopher; poet.
The Ancient Mariner(1798);Christabel(1816);The Friend—a Collection of Essays (1812);Aids to Reflection(1825). His prose is very full both of thought and emotion.
ROBERT SOUTHEY.
1774-1843.
Literary man; Quarterly Reviewer; historian; poet-laureate.
Joan of Arc(1796);Thalaba the Destroyer(1801);The Curse of Kehama(1810);A History of Brazil;The Doctor—a Collection of Essays;Life of Nelson. He wrote more than a hundred volumes. He was “the most ambitious and and most voluminous author of his age.”
American Declaration of Independence, 1776.
CHARLES LAMB.
1775-1834.
Clerk in the East India House; poet; prose-writer.
Poems(1797);Tales from Shakespeare(1806);The Essays of Elia(1823-1833). One of the finest writers of writers of prose in the English language.
WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.
1775-1864.
Poet; prose-writer.
Gebir(1798);CountJulian(1812);Imaginary Conversations(1824-1846);Dry Sticks Faggoted(1858). He wrote books for more than sixty years. His style is full of vigour and sustained eloquence.
Alliance of France and America, 1778.
THOMAS CAMPBELL.
1777-1844.
Poet; literary man; editor.
The Pleasures of Hope(1799);Poems(1803);Gertrude of Wyoming,Battle of the Baltic,Hohenlinden, etc. (1809). He also wrote someHistorical Works.
Encyclopædia Britannica founded in 1778.
HENRY HALLAM.
1778-1859.
Historian.
View of Europe during the Middle Ages(1818);Constitutional History of England(1827);Introduction to the Literature of Europe(1839).
THOMAS MOORE.
1779-1852.
Poet; prose-writer.
Odes and Epistles(1806);Lalla Rookh(1817);History of Ireland(1827);Life of Byron(1830);Irish Melodies(1834); and many prose works.
THOMAS DE QUINCEY.
1785-1859.
Essayist.
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater(1821). He wrote also on many subjects—philosophy, poetry, classics, history, politics. His writings fill twenty volumes. He was one of the finest prose-writers of this century.
French Revolution begun in 1789.
LORD BYRON (George Gordon).
1788-1824.
Peer; poet; volunteer to Greece.
Hours of Idleness(1807);English Bards and Scotch Reviewers(1809);Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage(1812-1818);Hebrew Melodies(1815); and manyPlays. His prose, which is full of vigour and animal spirits, is to be found chiefly in his Letters.
Bastille overthrown, 1789.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
1792-1822.
Poet.
Queen Mab(1810);Prometheus Unbound—a Tragedy (1819);Ode to the Skylark,The Cloud(1820);Adonaïs(1821), and many other poems; and several prose works.
Cape of Good Hope Hope taken, 1795.
Bonaparte in Italy, 1796.
Battle of the Nile, 1798.
JOHN KEATS.
1795-1821.
Poet.
Poems(1817);Endymion(1818);Hyperion(1820). “Had Keats lived to the ordinary age of man, he would have been one of the greatest of all poets.”
Union of Great Britain and Ireland, 1801.
Trafalgar and Nelson, 1805.
Peninsular War, 1808-14.
Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia; Moscow burnt, 1812.
THOMAS CARLYLE.
1795-1881.
Literary man; poet; translator; essayist; reviewer; political writer; historian.
German Romances—a set of Translations (1827);Sartor Resartus—“The Tailor Repatched” (1834);The French Revolution(1837);Heroes and Hero-Worship(1840);Past and Present(1843);Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches(1845);Life of Frederick the Great(1858-65). “With the gift of song, Carlyle would have been the greatest of epic poets since Homer.”
War with United States, 1812-14. Battle of Waterloo,1815.
George IV. ascends the throne, 1820.
Greek War of Freedom, 1822-29.
Byron in Greece, 1823-24.
Catholic Emancipation, 1829.
LORD MACAULAY (Thomas Babington).
1800-1859.
Barrister; Edinburgh Reviewer; M.P.; Member of the Supreme Council of India; Cabinet Minister; poet; essayist; historian; peer.
Milton(in the ‘Edinburgh Review,’ 1825);Lays of Ancient Rome(1842);History of England—unfinished (1849-59). “His pictorial faculty is amazing.”
William IV. ascends the throne, 1830.
The Reform Bill, 1832.
Total Abolition of Slavery, 1834.
LORD LYTTON (Edward Bulwer).
1805-1873.
Novelist; poet; dramatist; M.P.; Cabinet Minister; peer.
Ismael and Other Poems(1825);Eugene Aram(1831);Last Days of Pompeii(1834);The Caxtons(1849);My Novel(1853);Poems(1865).
Queen Victoria ascends the throne, 1837.
Irish Famine, 1845.
JOHN STUART MILL.
1806-1873.
Clerk in the East India House; philospher; political writer; M.P.; Lord Rector of the University of St Andrews.
System of Logic(1843);Principles of Political Economy(1848);Essay on Liberty(1858);Autobiography(1873); “For judicial calmness, elevation of tone, and freedom from personality, Mill is unrivalled among the writers of his time.”
Repeal of the Corn Laws, 1846.
Revolution in Paris, 1851.
Death of Wellington, 1852.
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
1807-1882.
Professor of Modern Languages and Literature in Harvard University, U.S.; poet; prose-writer.
Outre-Mer—a Story (1835);Hyperion—a Story (1839);Voices of the Night(1841);Evangeline(1848)Hiawatha(1855);Aftermath(1873). “His tact in the use of language is probably the chief cause of his success.”
Napoleon III. Emperor of the French, 1852.
Russian War, 1854-56.
LORD TENNYSON (Alfred Tennyson).
1809——.
Poet; poet-laureate; peer.
Poems(1830)In Memoriam(1850);Maud(1855);Idylls of the King(1859-73);Queen Mary—a Drama (1875);Becket—a Drama (1884). He is at present our greatest living poet.
Franco-Austrian War, 1859.
Emancipation of Russian serfs, 1861.
ELIZABETH B. BARRETT (afterwardsMrs Browning).
1809-1861.
Poet; prose-writer; translator.
Prometheus Bound—translated from the Greek of Æschylus (1833);Poems(1844);Aurora Leigh(1856); andEssayscontributed to various magazines.
Austro-Prussian “Seven Weeks’ War”, 1866.
Suez canal finished, 1869.
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY.
1811-1863.
Novelist; writer in ‘Punch’; artist.
The Paris Sketch-Book(1840);Vanity Fair(1847);Esmond(1852);The Newcomes(1855);TheVirginians(1857). The greatest novelist and one of the most perfect stylists of this century. “The classical English humorist and satirist of the reign of Queen Victoria.”
Franco-Prussian War 1870-71.
Third French Republic, 1870.
William I. of Prussia made Emperor of the Germans at Versailles, 1871.
CHARLES DICKENS.
1812-1870.
Novelist.
Sketches by Boz(1836);The Pickwick Papers(1837);Oliver Twist(1838);Nicholas Nickleby(1838); and many other novels and works;Great Expectations(1868). The most popular writer that ever lived.
Rome the new capital of Italy, 1871.
Russo-Turkish War 1877-78.
ROBERT BROWNING.
1812——.
Poet.
Pauline(1833);Paracelsus(1836);Poems(1865);The Ring and theBook(1869); and many other volumes of poetry.
Berlin Congress and Treaty, 1878.
Leo XIII. made Pope in 1878.
JOHN RUSKIN.
1819——.
Art-critic; essayist; teacher; literary man.
Modern Painters(1843-60);The Stones of Venice(1851-53);The Queen of the Air(1869);An Autobiography(1885); and very many other works. “He has a deep, serious, and almost fanatical reverence for art.”
Assassination of Alexander II., 1881
Arabi Pasha’s Rebellion 1882-83.
War in the Soudan, 1884.
GEORGE ELIOT.
1819-1880.
Novelist; poet; essayist.
Scenes of Clerical Life(1858);Adam Bede(1859); and many other novels down toDaniel Deronda(1876);Spanish Gypsy(1868);Legend of Jubal(1874).
Murder of Gordon, 1884.
New Reform Bill, 1885.
1.See p. 43.2.Words and Places, p. 158.3.In the last half of this sentence, all the essential words—necessary,acquainted,character,uses,element,important, are Latin (exceptcharacter, which is Greek).4.Or, as an Irishman would say, “I am kilt entirely.”5.Chairis the Norman-French form of the Frenchchaise. The Germans still call a chair astuhl; and among the English,stoolwas the universal name till the twelfth century.6.In two words, afig-showerorsycophant.7.A club for beating clothes, that could be handled only by three men.8.The wordfaithis a true French word with an English ending—the endingth. Hence it is a hybrid. The old French word wasfei—from the Latinfidem; and the endingthwas added to make it look more liketruth,wealth,health, and other purely English words.9.The accusative or objective case is given in all these words.10.In Hamlet v. 2. 283, Shakespeare makes the King say—“The King shall drink to Hamlet’s better breath;And in the cup an union shall he throw.”11.Professor Max Müller gives this as the most remarkable instance of cutting down. The Latinmea dominabecame in Frenchmadame; in Englishma’am; and, in the language of servants,’m.12.Milton says, in one of his sonnets—“New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large.”From the etymological point of view, the truth is just the other way about.Priestis oldPresbyterwrit small.13.See p. 242.14.This plural we still find in the famous Winchester motto, “Manners maketh man.”15.Goût(goo) from Latingustus, taste.16.Quickly.17.This use of the phrase “the same” is antiquated English.18.Emulating.
1.See p. 43.
2.Words and Places, p. 158.
3.In the last half of this sentence, all the essential words—necessary,acquainted,character,uses,element,important, are Latin (exceptcharacter, which is Greek).
4.Or, as an Irishman would say, “I am kilt entirely.”
5.Chairis the Norman-French form of the Frenchchaise. The Germans still call a chair astuhl; and among the English,stoolwas the universal name till the twelfth century.
6.In two words, afig-showerorsycophant.
7.A club for beating clothes, that could be handled only by three men.
8.The wordfaithis a true French word with an English ending—the endingth. Hence it is a hybrid. The old French word wasfei—from the Latinfidem; and the endingthwas added to make it look more liketruth,wealth,health, and other purely English words.
9.The accusative or objective case is given in all these words.
10.In Hamlet v. 2. 283, Shakespeare makes the King say—
“The King shall drink to Hamlet’s better breath;And in the cup an union shall he throw.”
“The King shall drink to Hamlet’s better breath;
And in the cup an union shall he throw.”
11.Professor Max Müller gives this as the most remarkable instance of cutting down. The Latinmea dominabecame in Frenchmadame; in Englishma’am; and, in the language of servants,’m.
12.Milton says, in one of his sonnets—
“New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large.”
From the etymological point of view, the truth is just the other way about.Priestis oldPresbyterwrit small.
13.See p. 242.
14.This plural we still find in the famous Winchester motto, “Manners maketh man.”
15.Goût(goo) from Latingustus, taste.
16.Quickly.
17.This use of the phrase “the same” is antiquated English.
18.Emulating.
Spellings in the Index are sometimes different from those used in the main text, as with the names “Shakespeare” and “Wycliffe”, or the use of ligatures in names such as “Bæda” and “Cædmon”. Page references are linked to the nearest paragraph.
Africanwords in English,263.
Americanwords in English,263.
AnalyticEnglish (= modern),239.
AncientEnglish,199.
synthetic,239.
Anglo-Saxon, specimen from,250.
contrasted with English of Wyclif and Tyndale,251.
Arabicwords in English,263.
Aryanfamily of languages,195.
Bible, English of the,256.
Bilingualism,222.
Changesof language, never sudden,198.
Chinesewords in English,264.
Deadand living languages,198.
Dialectsof English,238.
Doublets, English and other,236-238.
Greek,233.
Latin,230-233.
Dutchand Welsh contrasted,197.
words in English,260.
English,194.
a Low-German tongue,196.
diagram of,203.
dialects of,238.
early and oldest, compared,252.
elements of, characteristics of the two,234-236.
English element in,202.
foreign elements in,204.
grammar of, its history,239-249.
its spread over Britain,197.
modern,258-265.
nation,202.
of the Bible,256.
of the thirteenth century,254.
of the fourteenth century,255.
of the sixteenth century,256.
on the Continent,194.
periods of,198-201.
marks which distinguish,254.
syntax of, changed,245.
the family to which it belongs,195.
the group to which it belongs,195,196.
vocabulary of,202-238.
Foreignelements in English,204.
French(new) words in English,261.
(Norman), see Norman-French.
Germanwords in English,262.
Grammarof English,239-249.
comparatively fixed (since 1485),258.
First Period,240.
general viewof its history,243.
Second Period,241.
short viewof its history,239-243.
Third Period,242.
Fourth Period,242.
Greekdoublets,233.
Gutturals, expulsion of,246-248.
Hebrewwords in English,262.
Hinduwords in English,264.
Historyof English, landmarks in,266.
Hungarianwords in English,264.
Indo-Europeanfamily,195.
Inflexionsin different periods, compared,253.
loss of,239,240.
grammatical result of loss,248.
Italianwords in English,259.
Kelticelement in English,204-206.
Landmarksin the history of English,266.
Language,193.
changes of,198.
growth of,193.
living and dead,198.
spoken and written,203.
written,193.
Latincontributions and their dates,209.
doublets,230-233.
element in English,208-233.
of the eye and ear,230.
of the First Period,210.
Second Period,211,212.
Third Period,212-227.
Fourth Period,227-230.
triplets,233.
Lord’s Prayer, in four versions,251,252.
Malaywords in English,264.
MiddleEnglish,200.
ModernEnglish,201,258-265.
analytic,239.
Monosyllables,244.
New wordsin English,258-265.
Norman-French,212.
bilingualism caused by,222.
contributions, general character of,220.
dates of,213-215.
element in English,212-227.
gains to English from,221-224.
losses to English from,225-227.
synonyms,222.
words,216-220.
Oldestand early English compared,252.
Orderof words in English, changed,245.
Periodsof English,198-201.
Ancient,199.
Early,199.
Middle,200.
Tudor,201.
Modern,201.
grammar of the different,239-249.
marks indicating different,254.
specimens of different,250-257.
Persianwords in English,264.
Polynesianwords in English,264.
Portuguesewords in English,264.
Renascence(Revival of Learning),227.
Russianwords in English,264.
Scandinavianelement in English,206-208.
Scientificterms in English,265.
Spanishwords in English,259.
Specimensof English of different periods,250-257.
Spokenand written language,203.
Syntaxof English, change in,245.
SyntheticEnglish (= ancient),239.
Tartarwords in English,264.
Teutonicgroup,195.
TudorEnglish,201.
Turkishwords in English,264.
Tyndale’sEnglish, compared with Anglo-Saxon and Wyclif,251.
Vocabularyof the English language,202-238.
Welshand Dutch contrasted,197.
Wordsand inflexions in different periods, compared,253.
new, in English,258-265.
Writtenlanguage,193.
and spoken,203.
Wyclif’sEnglish, compared with Tyndale’s and Anglo-Saxon,251.
Addison, Joseph,315.
Alfred,276.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,276.
Arnold, Matthew,359.
Austen, Jane,348.
Bacon, Francis,299.
Bæda(Venerable Bede),275.
Barbour, John,285.
Beowulf,273.
Blake, William,334.
Browning, Robert,358.
Browning, Mrs.,357.
Brunanburg, Song of,275.
Brunne, Robert of,279.
Brut,277.
Bunyan, John,309.
Burke, Edmund,326.
Burns, Robert,332.
Butler, Samuel,304.
Byron, George Gordon, Lord,343.
Cædmon,274.
Campbell, Thomas,342.
Carlyle, Thomas,349.
Caxton, William,288.
Chatterton, Thomas,333.
Chaucer, Geoffrey,283.
followers of,287.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor,340.
Collins, William,321.
Cowper, William,329.
Crabbe, George,331.
Defoe, Daniel,312.
De Quincey, Thomas,348.
Dickens, Charles,361.
Dryden, John,305.
Eliot, George,364.
Gibbon, Edward,327.
Gloucester, Robert of,279.
Goldsmith, Oliver,325.
Gower, John,282.
Gray, Thomas,320.
Hobbes, Thomas,308.
Hooker, Richard,296.
James I.(of Scotland),287.
Johnson, Samuel,323.
Jonson, Ben,295.
Keats, John,345.
Lamb, Charles,346.
Landor, Walter Savage,347.
Langlande, William,282.
Layamon,277.
Locke, John,309.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth,354.
Macaulay, Thomas Babington,351.
Maldon, Song of the Fight at,275.
Mandeville, Sir John,281.
Marlowe, Christopher,295.
Milton, John,303.
Moore, Thomas,342.
More, Sir Thomas,290.
Morris, William,360.
Orm’sOrmulum,278.
Pope, Alexander,317,319.
Raleigh, Sir Walter,298.
Ruskin, John,363.
Scott, Sir Walter,339.
Shakespeare, William,292,301.
contemporaries of,294.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe,344.
Sidney, Sir Philip,297.
Southey, Robert,341.
Spenser, Edmund,291.
Steele, Richard,316.
Surrey, Earl of,289.
Swift, Jonathan,313.
Taylor, Jeremy,307.
Tennyson, Alfred,355.
Thackeray, William Makepeace,361.
Thomson, James,319,320.
Tyndale, William,290.
Wordsworth, William,337.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas,289.
Wyclif, John,282.