CONTENTS
[INTRODUCTION]
[I. Historical documents serve only as a clue to reconstruct the visible individual] 1
[II. The outer man is only a clue to study the inner, invisible man] 5
[III. The state and the actions of the inner and invisible man have their causes in certain general
ways of thought and feeling] 8
[Chief causes of thought and feeling. Their historical effects] 9
[The three primordial forces.—Race] 13
[Surroundings] 14
[Epoch] 16
[VI. History is a mechanical and psychological problem. Within certain limits man can foretell] 19
[Primordial Causes] 20
[VII. Law of formation of a group. Examples and indications] 23
[VIII. General problem and future of history. Psychological method. Value of literature.
Purpose in writing this book] 24
[BOOK I.—THE SOURCE]
[CHAPTER FIRST]
[The Saxons]
[SECTION I.—The Coast of the North Sea] 31
[SECTION II.—The Northern Barbarians] 34
[SECTION III.—Saxon Ideas] 46
[SECTION IV.—Saxon Heroes] 46
[SECTION V.—Pagan Poems] 53
[SECTION VI.—Christian Poems] 56
[SECTION VII.—Primitive Saxon Authors] 63
[SECTION VIII.—Virility of the Saxon Race] 71
[CHAPTER SECOND]
[The Normans]
[SECTION I.—The Feudal Man] 73
[SECTION II.—Normans and Saxons Contrasted] 73
[SECTION III.—French Forms of Thought] 80
[SECTION IV.—The Normans in England] 87
[SECTION V.—The English Tongue—Early English Literary Impulses] 91
[SECTION VI.—Feudal Civilization]103
[SECTION VII.—Persistence of Saxon Ideas]108
[SECTION VIII.—The English Constitution]113
[SECTION IX.—Piers Plowman and Wyclif]119
[CHAPTER THIRD]
[The New Tongue]
[SECTION I.—The First Great Poet]126
[SECTION II.—The Decline of the Middle Ages]127
[SECTION III.—The Poetry of Chaucer]128
[SECTION IV.—Characteristics of the Canterbury Tales]143
[SECTION V.—The Art of Chaucer]150
[SECTION VI.—Scholastic Philosophy]158
[BOOK II.—THE RENAISSANCE]
[CHAPTER FIRST]
[The Pagan Renaissance]
[PART I.—Manners of the Time]
[SECTION I.—Ideas of the Middle Ages]169
[SECTION II.—Growth of New Ideas]171
[SECTION III.—Popular Festivals]178
[SECTION IV.—Influence of Classic Literature]180
[PART II.—Poetry]
[SECTION I.—Renaissance of Saxon Genius]185
[SECTION II.—The Earl of Surrey]185
[SECTION III.—Surrey's Style]190
[SECTION IV.—Development of Artistic Ideas]192
[SECTION V.—Wherein Lies the Strength of the Poetry of this Period]204
[SECTION VI—Edmund Spenser]214
[SECTION VII.—Spenser in his Relation to the Renaissance]221
[PART III.—Prose.]
[SECTION I.—The Decay of Poetry]237
[SECTION II.—The Intellectual Level of the Renaissance]243
[SECTION III.—Robert Burton]248
[SECTION IV.—Sir Thomas Browne]252
[SECTION V.—Francis Bacon]255
[CHAPTER SECOND]
[The Theatre]
[SECTION I.—The Public and the Stage]264
[SECTION II.—Manners of the Sixteenth Century]267
[SECTION III.—Some Aspects of the English Mind]274
[SECTION IV.—The Poets of the Period]279
[SECTION V.—Formation of the Drama]291
[SECTION VI.—Furious Passions—Exaggerated Characters]296
[SECTION VII.—Female Characters]305
[CHAPTER THIRD]
[Ben Jonson]
[SECTION I.—The Man—His Life]318
[SECTION II.—His Freedom and Precision of Style]321
[SECTION III.—The Dramas Catiline and Sejanus]327
[SECTION IV.—Comedies]333
[SECTION V.—Limits of Jonson's Talent—His Smaller Poems—His Masques]345
[SECTION VI.—General Idea of Shakespeare]350
[CHAPTER FOURTH]
[Shakespeare]
[SECTION I.—Life and Character of Shakespeare]354
[SECTION II.—Shakespeare's Style—Copiousness—Excesses]366
[SECTION III.—Shakespeare's Language And Manners]371
[SECTION IV.—Dramatis Personæ]377
[SECTION V.—Men of Wit]382
[SECTION VI.—Shakespeare's Women]386
[SECTION VII.—Types of Villains]391
[SECTION VIII.—Principal Characters]393
[SECTION IX.—Characteristics of Shakespeare's Genius]407
[INDEX]
HIPPOLYTE ADOLPHE PAINE
Photogravure from an engraving.
This picture shows the eminent French critic as he appeared thirty years ago. At that period his fame as a literary savant was spreading to the four quarters of the world, and he was lecturing daily to the crowds of students who had flocked to Paris to study literature under his guidance. In personal appearance he was unlike the traditional scholar, but resembled, in his quick, nervous energy and plain business-like ways, a keen-witted man of affairs. He was simple in dress, as the picture shows, and it is a noteworthy fact that the honors he received never caused him to lose his self-poise, or to cease his severe studies, which he carried on with diligence to the very day of his death. His face denotes the cool, critical, and well-balanced scholar, with the initiative to enter new fields of thought, and the will-power to impress his opinions upon others.