Excerpt from Masters in LiteratureThis volume has been prepared principally for those who are taking up a systematic study of English Literature for the first time. The aim has been to show in simple, brief, and, it is hoped, interesting manner the successive developments in our literature's history, and to give our great writers their proper historical setting.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.