Bibliography
This list of the literatures of many tongues, from each of which translations have added to the common stock accessible even to those who can read with ease only one language, indicates the existence of a bewildering mass of printed matter, and just as each language has its literature—using the word to signify output, so each subject upon which men write has its literature—using the word to signify material for any one branch of study. Bibliographies are the charts by which students are enabled to navigate these vast seas of knowledge. The articlesBibliography(Vol. 3, p. 908), by A. W. Pollard, assistant librarian of the British Museum, andIndex(Vol. 14, p. 373) describe the technicalities of cataloguing and classifying books and their contents.
The Britannica is itself the most complete index to the subjects treated by books and the most complete bibliographical manual for the student that could be imagined. The Index of 500,000 entries (Vol. 29) shows to what class any one of half a million facts belongs, by referring to the article in which that fact is treated. At the end of the article a list of the best books on the subject shows the student who desires to specialize just where to go for further details. No less than 203,000 books are included in these lists appended to Britannica articles and many of them are, in themselves, substantial contributions to literature. The Shakespeare bibliography would, for example, fill 30 pages of the size and type of this Guide; the bibliography of English history, by A. F. Pollard, of the University of London, 13 pages, and the bibliography of French history, by Prof. Bémont of the École des Hautes Études, Paris, 8 pages.
A group of articles of great interest to every student of literature deals with the methods and appliances by which writings are preserved and circulated.Manuscript(Vol. 17, p. 618) is by Sir E. Maunde Thompson, of the British Museum Library;Book(Vol. 4, p. 214);Book-Collecting(Vol. 4, p. 221) andIncunabula(Vol. 14, p. 369) are by A. W. Pollard, also of the British Museum Library.Libraries(Vol. 16, p. 545), equivalent to 100 pages of this Guide, is by H. R. Tedder, librarian of the Athenaeum Club, London. The articles on printing, binding, publishing and similar subjects are described in the chapter of this GuideFor Printers.
With this chapter to help him the student will have little difficulty in devising his own course of reading in any one literature—starting with the general treatment, going from this to the separate biographies of the great authors mentioned in the general article, and, when there is in the national literature that he is studying some special development of a literarygenre, as of the sermon in the 17th or the satire in the 18th century, turning to the article in the Britannica dealing with this form of literature,Satire,Sermon, or whatever it may be. For example, what could be more illuminating to the student of 19th century literature than the following passages-disconnectedhere—from the articleSatire?
Goethe and Schiller, Scott and Wadsworth, are now at hand, and as imagination gains ground satire declines. Byron, who in the 18th century would have been the greatest of satirists, is hurried by the spirit of his age into passion and description, bequeathing, however, a splendid proof of the possibility of allying satire with sublimity in hisVision of Judgment.... Miss Edgeworth skirts the confines of satire, and Miss Austen seasons her novels with the most exquisite satiric traits. Washington Irving revives the manner ofThe Spectator, and Tieck brings irony and persiflage to the discussion of critical problems.... In all the characteristics of his genius Thackeray is thoroughly English, and the faults and follies he chastises are those especially characteristic of British society. Good sense and the perception of the ridiculous are amalgamated in him; his satire is a thoroughly British article, a little over-solid, a little wanting in finish, but honest, weighty and durable. Posterity must go to him for the humours of the age of Victoria, as they go to Addison for those of Anne’s.... In Heine the satiric spirit, long confined to established literary forms, seems to obtain unrestrained freedom to wander where it will, nor have the ancient models been followed since by any considerable satirist except the Italian Giusti. The machinery employed by Moore was indeed transplanted to America by James Russell Lowell, whoseBiglow Papersrepresent perhaps the highest moral level yet attained by satire.
In no age was the spirit of satire so generally diffused as in the 19th century, but many of its eminent writers, while bordering on the domains of satire, escape the definition of satirist. The term cannot be properly applied to Dickens, the keen observer of the oddities of human life; or to George Eliot, the critic of its emptiness when not inspired by a worthy purpose; or to Balzac, the painter of French society; or to Trollope, the mirror of the middle classes of England. IfSartor Resartuscould be regarded as a satire, Carlyle would rank among the first of satirists; but the satire, though very obvious, rather accompanies than inspires the composition.
The list in the preceding chapter of the key articles dealing with national literatures shows that the Britannica separately treats the literary products of some 30 countries. To outline 30 courses of reading, mentioning the 3,000 critical and biographical articles, would make this Guide unwieldy. On pp. 929–937 of Vol. 29 the reader will find classified lists of these articles, and only four groups are selected here for detailed treatment: those on American, English, German and Greek literature. The main article in the literature of each of the other countries indicates the characteristic forms, the typical works of the leading writers discussed in special articles, so that courses of reading as systematic as these four can easily be planned for other countries by the reader.
On English literature, with its vastly longer history and greater volume, there is much more matter in the Britannica than on American literature—or of course any other national literature. The key article isEnglish Literature(Vol. 9, p. 607; equivalent to 120 pages of this Guide), and an excellent outline for the study of this subject may be based on this article which should be supplemented by the sections onLiteraturein the articlesScotland,Canada, etc. A combination of these with special articles may be arranged as follows:
Anglo-Saxon
On the period before Chaucer—the first part of the articleEnglish Literature(Vol. 9, p. 607), by Henry Bradley, joint-editor ofThe New English Dictionary, etc.; the same author’sBeowulf(Vol. 3, p. 758),Cædmon(Vol. 4, p. 934) andCynewulf(Vol. 7, p. 690),Anglo-Saxon Chronicle(Vol. 2, p. 34), andAlfred the Great(Vol. 1, p. 582),both by the Rev. Charles Plummer, author ofLife and Times of Alfred the Great, etc.;Dan Michel of Northgate(Vol. 18, p. 371);Anglo-Norman Literature(Vol. 2, p. 31), by Prof. L. M. Brandin, University of London;Ancren Riwle(Vol. 1, p. 952);Orm(Vol. 20, p. 293), by Henry Bradley;Layamon(Vol. 16, p. 311), by the late Prof. W. W. Skeat of Cambridge;Havelok the Dane(Vol. 13, p. 80);Romance,Arthurian Romance, etc.
Chaucer
On the period from Chaucer to the Renaissance, see the second part of the articleEnglish Literature(Vol. 9, p. 611), by Prof. J. M. Manly, University of Chicago, author ofThe Language of Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women;The Pearl(Vol. 21, p. 27), by Prof. Israel Gollancz, King’s College, London, editor of the TempleShakespeare, etc.;Langland(Vol. 16, p. 174);John Gower(Vol. 12, p. 298), by G. C. Macaulay, editor of Gower’s works;Geoffrey Chaucer(Vol. 6, p. 13), by A. W. Pollard, chief-editor of the “Globe”Chaucer;John Lydgate, (Vol. 17, p. 156), by Frederick J. Snell, author ofThe Age of Chaucer;Thomas Occleve(Vol. 19, p. 966), by W. S. McCormick, formerly professor of English, University College, Dundee;Stephen Hawes(Vol. 13, p. 93);John Skelton(Vol. 25, p. 184);Juliana Berners(Vol. 3, p. 801);Thomas of Erceldoune(Vol. 26, p. 865);John Barbour(Vol. 3, p. 389), by Professor George Gregory Smith, Queen’s University, Belfast;Andrew of Wyntoun(Vol. 28, p. 873);Harry the Minstrel(Vol. 13, p. 29);John Wycliffe(Vol. 28, p. 866), by Reginald Lane Poole, author ofWycliffe and Movements for Reform, and W. Alison Phillips;Reginald Pecock(Vol. 21, p. 33);Sir John Fortescue(Vol. 10, p. 678), by P. C. Yorke;William Caxton(Vol. 5, p. 587).
The English versions of the Bible are dealt with in the chapter of this Guide onBible Study; but the articleBible, English(Vol. 3, p. 894), by Canon Henson of Westminster Abbey and Anna C. Paues, lecturer in Germanic philology at Newnham College, should be read in connection with the study of this and earlier periods of English literature.
Elizabethan Literature
Spenser
On English literature in the Elizabethan age read part 3 of the articleEnglish Literature(Vol. 9, p. 616), by Prof. Oliver Elton, University of Liverpool; alsoSir Thomas More(Vol. 18, p. 822), by Mark Pattison, the essayist and student of the Renaissance;William Tyndale(Vol. 27, p. 498);Roger Ascham(Vol. 2, p. 720), by A. F. Leach, author ofEnglish Schools at the Reformation, etc.;William Dunbar(Vol. 8, p. 668), by Prof. G. Gregory Smith;Sir Thomas Hoby(Vol. 13, p. 553);Raphael Holinshed(Vol. 13, p. 584);John Foxe(Vol. 10, p. 770);Sir Thomas North(Vol. 19, p. 759);Sir Thomas Wyat(Vol. 28, p. 861);Earl of Surrey(Vol. 26, p. 138);George Gascoigne(Vol. 11, p. 493);Nicholas Udal(Vol. 27, p. 554), by A. F. Leach;Edmund Spenser(Vol. 25, p. 639,) by the late Professor William Minto of Aberdeen, and F. J. Snell, author ofThe Age of Chaucer, etc.;Sir Philip Sidney(Vol. 25, p. 43);John Lyly(Vol. 17, p. 159), by Mrs. Humphry Ward;Euphuism(Vol. 9, p. 898);Michael Drayton(Vol. 8, p. 557), andSamuel Daniel(Vol. 7, p. 808), all by Edmund Gosse;William Warner(Vol. 28, p. 327);Edward Fairfax(Vol. 10, p. 130);Sir John Harington(Vol. 12, p. 952);GilesandPhineas Fletcher(Vol. 10, p. 498);Thomas Watson(Vol. 28, p. 413), by E. Gosse;Thomas Lodge(Vol. 16, p. 860), by Prof. A. W. Ward, Cambridge;Thomas Campion(Vol. 5, p. 137), by P. Vivian, editor of Campion;Nicholas Breton(Vol. 4, p. 501);RobertSouthwell(Vol. 25, p. 517); the metaphysical poets,John Donne(Vol. 8, p. 417),George Herbert(Vol. 13, p. 339),Richard Crashaw(Vol. 7, p. 379),Abraham Cowley(Vol. 7, p. 347),Thomas Traherne(Vol. 27, p. 155), andHenry Vaughan(Vol. 27, p. 955);William Browne(Vol. 4, p. 667);George Wither(Vol. 28, p. 758);William Drummondof Hawthornden (Vol. 8, p. 600);Robert Herrick(Vol. 13, p. 389), by E. Gosse;Richard Lovelace(Vol. 17, p. 71);Sir John Suckling(Vol. 26, p. 7);Andrew Marvell(Vol. 17, p. 805);Edmund Waller(Vol. 28, p. 282), by E. Gosse; andJohn Milton(Vol. 18, p. 480), in great part by David Masson, late professor at Edinburgh University.
The Drama
Shakespeare
Elizabethan drama—particularly Shakespeare—deserves a separate paragraph, especially as its treatment in the Britannica is so full. Read in the articleEnglish Literature, pp. 622–626; in the articleDrama, by Prof. A. W. Ward, Cambridge, pp. 520–524 of Volume 8; and the articles:John Lyly(Vol. 17, p. 159), by Mrs. Humphry Ward;Thomas Kyd(Vol. 15, p. 958), by E. Gosse;George Peele(Vol. 21, p. 44);Robert Greene(Vol. 12, p. 539), by A. W. Ward;Christopher Marlowe(Vol. 17, p. 741), by A. C. Swinburne and Thomas Seccombe, author ofThe Age of Johnson, etc.; and above allShakespeare(Vol. 24, p. 772; equivalent to 80 pages of this Guide), containing a biography and sketches of the different works by E. K. Chambers, editor of the “Red Letter Shakespeare” and author ofThe Medieval Stage, with a discussion of the portraits of Shakespeare (20 of which are reproduced), by M. H. Spielmann, formerly editor of theMagazine of Art, and of the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy by Hugh Chisholm, editor-in chief of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and an elaborate, classified bibliography by H. R. Tedder, librarian of the Athenaeum Club, London. In his discussion of the Baconian theory of the authorship of the plays Mr. Chisholm says:
“No such idea seems to have occurred to anybody till the middle of the 19th century.... The most competent special students of Shakespeare, however they may differ as to details, and also the most authoritative special students of Bacon, are unanimous in upholding the traditional view.” And he adds that as regards the effort to account for the positive contemporary evidence in favour of the identification of the man Shakespeare with the author of Shakespeare’s works, “it is highly significant that it was not attempted or thought of for centuries.” See also:Hamlet(Vol. 12, p. 894) for earlier treatment of the legend, andMacbeth(Vol. 17, p. 197) for the historical basis of the play.
For the other dramatists of the time see the articlesBen Jonson(Vol. 15, p. 502), by A. W. Ward;George Chapman(Vol. 5, p. 852),John Webster(Vol. 28, p. 462),Cyril Tourneur(Vol. 27, p. 106), andBeaumont and Fletcher(Vol. 3, p. 592), all by A. C. Swinburne;Thomas Dekker(Vol. 7, p. 939), by William Minto and R. B. McKerrow;Thomas Heywood(Vol. 13, p. 439);Thomas Middleton(Vol. 18, p. 416);John Marston(Vol. 17, p. 776);Philip Massinger(Vol. 17, p. 868);John Ford(Vol. 10, p. 641), by A. W. Ward;James Shirley(Vol. 24, p. 990).
16th and 17th Century Prose
For Elizabethan prose writers not already mentioned, see: the translators,John Bourchier, Lord Baron Berners(Vol. 3, p. 800),Philemon Holland(Vol. 13, p. 587) andGiovanni Florio(Vol. 10, p. 546); and the philosophers and essayists,Richard Hooker(Vol. 13, p. 672), by T. F. Henderson,Francis Bacon, (Vol. 3, p. 135; equivalent to 55 pages of this Guide), by Robert Adamsonand J. M. Mitchell,Thomas Hobbes(Vol. 13, p. 545), by G. Croom Robertson, biographer of Hobbes,Sir Thomas Browne(Vol. 4, p. 666),Izaak Walton(Vol. 28, p. 300),Robert Burton(Vol. 4, p. 865),Jeremy Taylor(Vol. 26, p. 469),Thomas Fuller(Vol. 11, p. 296),William Chillingworth(Vol. 6, p. 162),John Hales(Vol. 12, p. 834),Ralph Cudworth(Vol. 7, p. 612), by Henry Sturt, author ofPersonal Idealism, etc.; the historianClarendon(Vol. 6, p. 428), by P. C. Yorke; and the letter-writerJames Howell(Vol. 13, p. 838).
Dryden
Pepys
On the Restoration period—from 1660 to 1700—see Professor Elton’s chapter (Vol. 9, pp. 628–631) in the articleEnglish Literature; and the articles:John Dryden(Vol. 8, p. 609), by William Minto and Margaret Bryant;Samuel Butler(Vol. 4, p. 885),Sir Isaac Newton(Vol. 19, p. 583), by H. M. Taylor, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge;Isaac Barrow(Vol. 3, p. 440),John Ray(Vol. 22, p. 931), by Prof. D. Wentworth Thompson, University College, Dundee;Joseph Glanvill(Vol. 12, p. 77),Thomas Burnet(Vol. 4, p. 853),John Tillotson(Vol. 26, p. 976),Sir William Temple(Vol. 26, p. 602), by G. W. Prothero, editorThe Quarterly Reviewand joint-editorCambridge Modern History,Marquess Halifax(Vol. 12, p. 839), by P. C. Yorke;Robert South(Vol. 25, p. 463),William Sherlock(Vol. 24, p. 850),Richard Baxter(Vol. 3, p. 551),John Howe(Vol. 13, p. 835),George Fox(Vol. 10, p. 765),John Bunyan(Vol. 4, p. 803), by Lord Macaulay;2nd Earl of Rochester(Vol. 23, p. 427),Sir William Davenant(Vol. 7, p. 851),Nahum Tate(Vol. 26, p. 449),Thomas Otway(Vol. 20, p. 376),Nathaniel Lee(Vol. 16, p. 361), Watts-Dunton’s articleWilliam Wycherley(Vol. 28, p. 863), and the two great diaristsJohn Evelyn(Vol. 10, p. 5) andSamuel Pepys(Vol. 21, p. 130), by D. Hannay.