Marvard College Library 22 May, 1290.
From the Library of
PROF. E A. GURNEY'
'... To develope the dawnings of genius, and to pursue the progress of our national poetry, from a rude origin and obscure beginnings to its perfection ' in a polished age must prove interesting, instructive, and be productive of ⚫ entertainment and utility... The object being to faithfully record the features of the time, and preserve the picturesque representations of manners...I have 'chose to note but the history of our poetry in a chronological series, and often 'to deviate into incidental digressions to notice the contemporaneous poetry * of other nations... My performance exhibits without transposition the gradual * improvement of our poetry to the time that it uniformly represents the pro- 'gression of our language. In the earlier sections of the work are numerous 'citations extracted from ancient MSS. never before printed, and which may 'illustrate the darker periods of the history of our poetry.' T. W.
SEC. V Specimens of other popular metri-
cal romances which appeared about the
end of 13th century. Sir Guy. The
Squier of Low Degree. Sir Degore.
King Robert of Sicily. The King of
Tars. Ippomedon. La Mort Arthure.
Subjects of ancient tapestry, 118, 145
SEC. VI. Adam Davie flourished in the be-
ginning of 14th century. Specimens of
his poetry.
His Life of Alexander.
Robert Baston's comedies. Anecdotes
of the early periods of the English,
French, and Italian drama,
SEC. VII. The reign of Ed. III. ole's Pricke of Conscience,
SEC. VIII. Pierce Plowman's
Ancient state and institution
Donat explained. Antichrist, 176, 189
SEC. IX. Pierce the Plowman's Crede.
Constitution and character of the orders of
mendicant friars. Wickliffe, 190, 204
SEC. X. Specimens of alliterative poetry.
Hymn to the Virgin Mary,
SEC. XI. John Barbour's History of Ro-
bert Bruce, and Blind Harry's Sir William
Wallace. Historical romances of recent
events commence about the close of 14th
century. Chiefly composed by heralds.
Character and business of ancient heralds.
Narratives written by them. Froissart's
History. His life and character. Retro-
spective view of manners,
SEC. XII. General view of the character of Chaucer. Boccacio's Tescide. A Greek poem on that subject. Tournaments at
Constantinople. Common practice of the Greek exiles to translate the popular
Italian poems. Specimens both of the
Greek and Italian Theseid. Critical ex- amination of the Knight's Tale, 224, 243 SEC. XIII. The subject of Chaucer con- tinued. His Romaunt of the Rose. William of Lorris and John of Meun. Specimens of the French Le Roman de la Rose. Improved by Chaucer. William of Lorris excells in allegorical personages. Petrarch dislikes this poem, 243, 253
SEC. XIV. Chaucer continued. His Troi-
lus and Cresseide. Boccacio's Troilo.
Sentimental and pathetic strokes in
Chaucer's poem. House of Fame. A
Provencal composition. Analysed. Im-
properly imitated by Pope, 253, 261
SEC. XV. Chaucer continued. The sup-
posed occasion of his Canterbury Tales
superior to that of Boccacio's Decameron.
Squire's Tale, Chaucer's capital poem. Its fictions. Story of Patient Grisilde. Its origin, popularity, and excellence. How conducted by Chaucer, SEC. XVI. Chancer continued. the Nun's Priest. Its origin and allusions. January and May. Its imitations. Licen- tiousness of Boccacio. Miller's Tale. humour and ridiculous characters. Tales of the comic species. Their origin, allusions, and merits, Rime of Sir Thopas. Its design and tendency,
SEC. XVII. Chaucer continued.
view of the Prologues to the Canterbury
Tales. The Prioresse. The Wife of
Bath. The Franke'ein. The Doctor of Physicke. State of medical erudition and practice. Medicine and astronomy blended. Chaucer's physician's library. Learning of the Spanish Jews. The Somp-
nour. The Pardonere. The Monke. Qualifications of an abbot. The Frere. The Parsoune. The Squire. English crusades into Lithuania. The Reeve. The Clarke of Oxenford. The Serjeaunt of Lawe. The Hoste. Supplemental Tale, of Beryn. Analysed 237, 302
SEC. XVIII. Chaucer continued. State
of French and Italian poetry: and their
influence on Chaucer. Rise of allegorical
composition in the dark ages. Love-
courts, and Love-fraternities, in France. Tales of the troubadours. Dolopathos. Boccacio, Dante, and Petrarch. Decline of Provencal poetry, Succeeded in France by a new species. Froissart. The Floure and the Leafe. Floral games in France. Allegorical beings, 302, 310
SEC. XIX. John Gower. His character and
poems. His tomb. His Confessio Am-
antis. Its subject and plan. An unsuc-
cessful imitation of the Roman de la
Rose. Aristotle's Secretum Secretorum.
Chronicles of the middle ages. Colonna.
Romance of Lancelot. The Gesta Ro-
manorum. Shakespeare's caskets. Authors
quoted by Gower. Chronology of some of
Gower's and Chaucer's poems. The Con-
fessio Amantis preceded the Canterbury
Tales. Gower's genius,
SEC. XX. Boethius. Why, and how much, esteemed in the middle ages. Translated by Johannes Cappellanus, the only poet of the reign of king Henry IV. Number of Harpers at the coronation feast of Henry V. A minstrel-piece on the Bat- tayle of Agynkourte. Occleve. His poems. Egidius de Regimine Principum, and Jacobus of Casali De Ludo Scaccorum. Chaucer's picture. Humphrey duke of Gloucester. His character as a patron of literature. Apology for the gallicisms of
Chaucer, Gower, and Occleve, 335, 348
SEC. XXI. Reign of Henry VI. Lydgate.
His life and character. His Dance of
Death. Macaber a German poet. Lyd-
gate's poem in honour of Saint Edmund.
Presented to Henry VI., at Bury-abbey,
in a most splendid manuscript, now re-
maining. His Lyf of our Lady. Elegance
and harmony of his style, 348, 355
SEC. XXII. Lydgate continued. His Fall of Princes, from Laurence Premierfait's French paraphrase of Boccace on the same subject. Nature, plan, and specimens of that poem. Its sublime allegorical figure of fortune. Authors cited in the same. Boccace's opportunities of collect- ing many stories of Greek original, now not extant in any Greek writer. Lydgate's Storie of Thebes. An additional Canter- bury Tale. Its plan, and originals. Mar- tianus Capella. Happily imitated by
Lydgate. Feudal manners applied to
Greece. Specimen of Lydgate's force in
description, 355, 368.
SEC. XXIII. Lydgate's Troy-Boke. A para- phrase of Colonna's Historia Trojana. Homer, when, and how, first known in Europe. Lydgate's powers in rural painting. Dares and Dictys. Feudal man- ners, and Arabian imagery, ingrafted on the Trojan story. Anecdotes of ancient Gothic architecture displayed in the structure of Troy. An ideal theatre at Troy so described, as to prove that no regular stage now existed. Game of chess invented at the siege of Troy.
Lydgate's gallantry. His anachronisms.
Hector's shrine and chantry. Specimens
of another Troy-Boke, anonymous, writ-
ten in the reign of Hen. VI., 368, 380
SEC. XXIV. Reign of Hen. VI. continued. Hugh Campeden translates the French romance of Sidrac. Thomas Chester's Sir Launfale. Metrical romance of the Eile of Tholouse. Analysis of its Fable. Minstrels paid better than the clergy. Reign of Ed. IV. Translation of the
classics and other books into French.
How it operated on English literature.
Caxton. Anecdotes of English typo-
graphy, 381, 399
SEC. XXV. Harding's Chronicle. First men-
tion of the king's Poet Laureat occurs in
the reign of Ed. IV. History of that
office. Scogan. Didactic poems on che-
mistry by Norton and Ripley, 399, 408
SEC. XXVI. Poems of Thomas Kowlie.
Supposed to be spurious, 408, 427
SEC. XXVII. The reigns of Rich III. and
SE XXIX. Barklay's Ship of Fools.
origin. Specimens. Barklay's Ecologues,
and other pieces. Alcock bishop of Ely.
Modern Bucolics,
479, 490
Src. XXX. Digression to the Scotch poets. William Dunbar. His Thistle and Rose, and Golden Terge. Specimens. Dunbar's comic pieces Estimate of his genius. Moralities fashionable among the Scotch in the ffteenth century, 491, 505
SEC. XXXI. Scotch poets continued. Gawen
Douglas. His translation of the Eneid.
His genius for descriptive poetry. Palice
of Honour, and other pieces, 505, 515
SEC. XXXII. Scotch poets continued. Sir David Lyndesay. His chief performances the Dreme, and Monarchie. His talents for description and imagery. His other poems examined. An anonymous Scotch pcem, never printed, called Duncane Laider. Its humour and satire. Feudal robbers. Blind Harry. History of the Scotch poetry recommended, Sec. XXXIII. Skelton. His life.
acted by singing-boys in choirs. Boy-
bishop. Fete de Foux. On the same
principle, plays acted by the company
of parish clerks. By the Law-societies
in London. Temple-Masques, 562, 589
SEC. XXXV. Causes of the increase of ver- nacular composition in the fifteenth cen- tury. View of the revival of classical learning. In Italy. France. Germany. Spain. England, 589, 607
SEC. XXXVI. The same subject continued.
Reformation of religion. Its effects on
literature in England. Application of this
digression to the main subject, 607, 627
SEC. XXXVII. Petrarch's sonnets. Lord
Surrey. His education, travels, mistress,
life, and poetry. He is the first writer of
blank-verse. Italian blank-verse. Surrey
the first English classic poet, 628, 645
SEC. XXXVIII. Sir Thomas Wyat. In- ferior to Surrey as a writer of sonnets. His life. His genius characterised. Excels in moral poetry, 645, 653
SEC. XXXIX. The first printed Miscellany
of English poetry. Its contributors. Sir
Francis Bryan, Lord Rochford, and Lord
Vaulx. The first true pastoral in Eng-
lish. Sonnet-writing cultivated by the no-
bility. Sonnets by king Henry VIII. Lit-
erary character of that king, 653, 664
SFC. XL. The second writer of blank-verse
in English. Early blank verse, 664, 671
SEC. XLI. Andrew Borde. Bale. Anslay.
Chertsey. Fabyll's ghost a poem. The
Merry Devil of Edmonton. Minor poets
of the reign of Henry VIII., 671, 682
SEC. XLII. John Heywood the epigram-
matist. His works. Ancient unpublished
burlesque poem of Sir Penny 683, 689
SEC. XLIII. Sir Thomas More's English
poetry. Tournament of Tottenham.
age and scope. Laurence Minot. Al-
literation. Digression illustrating the
language of the fifteenth century, by a
specimen of the metrical Armoric romance
of Ywayn and Gawayn,
689, 711
SEC. XLIV. The Notbrowne Mayde. Not
older than the sixteenth century. Artful
contrivance of the story. Misrepresented
by Prior. Metrical romances. Guy, syr
Bevys, and Kynge Apolyn, printed in
the reign of Henry. The Scole howse, a
satire. Christmas carols. Religious libels
in rhyme. Merlin's prophesies. Lau-
rence Minot. On the late continuance
of the use of waxen tablets. Pageantries
of Henry's court. Dawn of taste, 712, 729
SEC. XLV. Effects of the Reformation on our poetry. Clement Marot's Psalms. Why adopted by Calvin. Version of the Psalms by Sternhold and Hopkins. The Defects of this version, which is patron- ised by the puritans in opposition to the Choral Service, 729, 741
SEC. XLVI. Metrical versions of scripture.
Archbishop Parker's Psalms in metre.
R. Crowley's puritanical poetry, 741, 748
SEC. XLVII. Tye's Acts of the Apostles in
rhyme. His merit as a musician. Early
piety of Ed. VI. Controversial ballads
and plays. Translation of the Bible.
effects on our language. Kelton's Chro-
nicle of the Brutes. First Drinking song.
Gammar Gurton's Needle, 748, 761
SEC. XLVIII. Reign of queen Mary.
Mirrour of Magistrates. Its inventor,
Sackville lord Buckhurst. His life.
Mirrour continued by Baldwyn and
Ferrers. Its plan and stories, 761, 769
SEC. XLIX. Sackville's Induction to the
Mirrour of Magistrates. Examined. A
prelude to the Fairy Queen. Compara-
tive view of Dante's Inferno, 769, 791
SEC. L. Sackville's Legend of Buckingham
in the Mirrour of Magistrates. Additions
by Higgins. Account of him. The early
editions of this Collection. Specimen of
Higgins's Legend of Cordelia, which has
been copied by Spenser, 791, 799
SEC. LI. View of Niccols's edition of the
Mirrour of Magistrates. High estimation
of this Collection. Historical plays,
whence, 799, 809
SEC. LII. Richard Edwards. Principal
poet, player, musician, and buffoon, to the
courts of Mary and Elizabeth. Anecdotes
of his life. Cotemporary testimonies of
his merit. A contributor to the Paradise
of daintie Devises. His book of comic
histories, supposed to have suggested
Shakespeare's Induction of the Tinker.
Anecdotes of Antony Munday and Henry
Chettle. Edwards's songs, 809, 818
SEC. LIII. Tusser. Remarkable circum-
stances of his life. His Husbandrie, one
of our earliest didactic poems, 818, 866 SEC. LIV. William Forrest's poems.
His Queen Catharine, an elegant manuscript, contains anecdotes of Henry's divorce. He collects and preserves ancient music. Puritans oppose the study of the classics. Lucas Shepherd. John Pullayne. merous metrical versions of Solomon's Song. Censured by Hall the satirist. Re- ligious rhymers. Edward More. Boy- bishop, and miracle-plays, revived by queen Mary. Minute particulars of an ancient miracle-play, 826, 838
SEC. LV. English language begins to be
cultivated. Earliest book of Criticism in
English. Examined. Soon followed by
others. Early critical systems of the
French and Italians. New and superb
editions of Gower and Lydgate. Chau-
cer's monument erected in Westmin-
ster-abbey. Chaucer was esteemed by the
reformers, 839,855
SEC. LVI. Sackville's Gordobuc. Our first
regular tragedy. Its fable, conduct, cha-
racters, and style. Dumb show. Sackville
not assisted by Norton, 855, 866
SEC. LVII. Classical drama revived and
studied. The Phonissa of Euripides tran-
slated by Gascoigne. Seneca's Tragedies
translated. Account of the translators,
and of their respective versions. Queen
Elizabeth translates a part of the Her-
cules Oetæus, $66, 880
SEC. LVIII. Most of the classic poets tran-
slated before the end of the sixteenth
century. Phaier's Eneid. Completed by
Twyne. Their other works. Phaier's Ballad
of Gad's-hill. Stanihurst's Eneid in English
hexameters. His other works. Fleming's
Virgil's Bucolics and Georgics. His other
works. Webbe and Fraunce translate
some of the Bucolics. Fraunce's other
works. Spenser's Culex. The original
not genuine. The Ceiris proved to be
genuine. Nicholas Whyte's Story of Jason
supposed to be a version of Valerius
Flaccus. Golding's Ovid's Metamor-
phoses. His other works. Ascham's
censure of rhyme. A translation of the
Fasti revives and circulates the story of
Lucrece. Euryalus and Lucretia. De-
tached fables of the Metamorphoses
translated. Moralisations in fashion.
Underdowne's Ovid's Ibis. Ovid's Ele-
gies translated by Marlowe. Remedy of
Love, by F. L. Epistles by Turberville.
Lord Essex a translator of Ovid. His
literary character. Churchyard's Ovid's
Tristia. Other detached versions from
Ovid. Ancient meaning and use of the
word Ballad. Drant's Horace. Criticism
on Tully's Oration pro Archia, 880, 905
SEC. LIX. Kendal's Martial. Marlowe's versions of Coluthus and Museus. General character of his Tragedies. Testimonies of his cotemporaries. Specimens and estimate of his poetry. His death. First Translation of the Iliad by Arthur Hall. Chapman's Homer. His other works. Version of Clitophon and Leucippe. Origin of the Greek erotic romance. Palingenius translated by Googe. Criti- cism on the original. Specimen and merits of the translation. Googe's other works. Incidental stricture on the phil-
osophy of the Greeks, 995, 924
SEC. LX. Translation of Italian novels.
Of Boccace. Paynter's Palace of Plea-
Other versions of the same sort.
Early metrical versions of Boccace's
Theodore and Honoria, and Cymon and
Iphigenia. Romeus and Juliet. Bandello
translated. Romances from Bretagne.
Plot of Shakespeare's Tempest. Miscel
laneous Collections of translated novels
before the year 1600. Pantheon. Novels
arbitrarily licenced or suppressed. Refor-
mation of the English Press, 924,943
SEC. LXI. General view and character of the
poetry of Queen Elizabeth's age, 945, 915
[MEMORANDUM.-Sections 1 to 61 complete the three volumes 4to, as published by T.
Warton. What is given in Sections 61 to 66 were found at his death, and appear as a frag-
mentary addition to the preceding volumes.]
SECS. LXII., LXIII., LXIV., are chiefly
occupied with criticisms and specimens of
the productions of Bishop Joseph Hall, the
first professed English satirist, 95%, 986
SEC. LXV. Marston's 'Scourge of Villany,' -satires, epigrams, and dreams, 987, 996
On original title from 1778 to 18th century appears.-A. M.
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