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| [Richard de Bury]—(Born in 1281, died in 1345.) |
| | [In Praise of Books.] | [3] |
| | (From the "Philobiblon") | |
| [Sir John Mandeville]—(Reputed author.) |
| I | | [The Route from England to Constantinople.] | [8] |
| | (From the "Travels") |
| II | | [At the Court of the Great Chan.] | [11] |
| | (From the "Travels") |
| [John Wyclif]—(Born about 1324, died in 1384.) |
| | [The Baptism of Christ.] | [14] |
| | (Being a translation from the Gospel of Mark) |
| [Geoffrey Chaucer]—(Born about 1340, died in 1400.) |
| | [Of Acquiring and Using Riches.] | [17] |
| | (One of the prose "Canterbury Tales") |
| [William Caxton]—(Born about 1422, died in 1491.) |
| | [Of True Nobility and Chivalry.] | [22] |
| | (From the "Game and Playe of Chesse." Translated by Caxton from the French original) |
| [Sir Thomas Malory]—(Born about 1430, died after 1470.) |
| | [Of the Finding of a Sword for Arthur.] | [26] |
| | (From the "Morte d'Arthur") |
| [Sir Thomas More]—(Born in 1478, died in 1535.) |
| | [Life in Utopia.] | [29] |
| | (From the "Utopia") |
| [John Knox]—(Born in 1505, died in 1572.) |
| | [An Interview with Mary Queen of Scots.] | [36] |
| | (From the "History of the Reformation in Scotland") |
| [Roger Ascham]—(Born in 1515, died in 1568.) |
| | [Of Gentle Methods in Teaching.] | [40] |
| | (From the "Schoolmaster") |
| [John Foxe]—(Born in 1516, died in 1587.) |
| | [The Death of Anne Boleyn.] | [45] |
| | (From the "Book of Martyrs") |
| [Sir Walter Raleigh]—(Born in 1552, died in 1618.) |
| | [The Mutability of Human Affairs.] | [49] |
| | (From the Preface to the "History of the World") |
| [Francis Bacon]—(Born in 1561, died in 1626.) |
| I | | [Of Travel.] | [53] |
| | (From the "Essays") |
| II | | [Of Riches.] | [56] |
| | (From the "Essays") |
| III | | [Of Youth and Age.] | [60] |
| | (From the "Essays") |
| IV | | [Of Revenge.] | [63] |
| | (From the "Essays") |
| V | | [Of Marriage and Single Life.] | [65] |
| | (From the "Essays") |
| VI | | [Of Envy.] | [67] |
| | (From the "Essays") |
| VII | | [Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature.] | [74] |
| | (From the "Essays") |
| VIII | | [Of Studies.] | [77] |
| | (From the "Essays") |
| IX | | [Of Regiment of Health.] | [79] |
| | (From the "Essays") |
| [William Shakespeare]—(Born in 1564, died in 1616.) |
| I | | [Brutus to His Countrymen.] | [82] |
| | (From "Julius Cæsar") |
| II | | [Shylock in Defense of His Race.] | [83] |
| | (From the "Merchant of Venice") |
| III | | [Hamlet to the Players.] | [85] |
| | (From "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark") |
| [Ben Jonson]—(Born in 1573, died in 1637.) |
| | [Shakespeare and Other Wits.] | [87] |
| | (From "Timber; or, Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter") |
| [Izaak Walton]—(Born in 1593, died in 1683.) |
| I | | [The Antiquity of Angling.] | [92] |
| | (From Part I, Chapter IV, of "The Compleat Angler") |
| II | | [Of the Trout.] | [96] |
| | (From Part I, Chapter IV, of "The Compleat Angler") |
| III | | [The Death of George Herbert.] | [101] |
| | (From the "Lives") |
| [James Howell]—(Born in 1595, died in 1666.) |
| I | | [The Bucentaur Ceremony in Venice.] | [106] |
| | (From the "Familiar Letters") |
| II | | [The City of Rome in 1621.] | [109] |
| | (From the "Familiar Letters") |
| [Sir Thomas Browne]—(Born in 1605, died in 1682.) |
| I | | [Of Charity in Judgments.] | [114] |
| | (From the "Religio Medici") |
| II | | [Nothing Strictly Immortal.] | [116] |
| | (From Chapter V of "Urn Burial") |
| [John Milton]—(Born in 1608, died in 1674.) |
| I | | [Of His Own Literary Ambition.] | [121] |
| | (From "The Reason of Church Government") |
| II | | [A Complete Education Defined.] | [126] |
| | (From the "Tractate on Education") |
| III | | [On Reading in His Youth.] | [129] |
| | (From the "Apology for Smectymnus") |
| IV | | [In Defense of Books.] | [131] |
| | (From the "Areopagitica") |
| V | | [A Noble and Puissant Nation.] | [135] |
| | (From the "Areopagitica") |
| VI | | [Of Fugitive and Cloistered Virtue.] | [141] |
| | (From the "Areopagitica") |
| [Lord Clarendon]—(Born in 1608, died in 1674.) |
| | [Of Charles I.] | [144] |
| | (From the "History of the Rebellion") |
| [Thomas Fuller]—(Born in 1608, died in 1661.) |
| | [Qualities of the Good Schoolmaster.] | [149] |
| | (From "The Holy and Profane State") |
| [Jeremy Taylor]—(Baptized in 1613, died in 1667.) |
| | [The Benefits of Adversity.] | [153] |
| | (From the "Rules and Exercises of Holy Dying") |
| [Abraham Cowley]—(Born in 1618, died in 1667.) |
| I | | [Of Obscurity.] | [156] |
| | (From the "Essays") |
| II | | [Of Procrastination.] | [159] |
| | (From the "Essays") |
| [George Fox]—(Born in 1624, died in 1691.) |
| | [An Interview with Oliver Cromwell.] | [161] |
| | (From the "Journal") |
| [John Bunyan]—(Baptized in 1628, died in 1668.) |
| I | | [A Dream of the Celestial City.] | [165] |
| | (From "The Pilgrim's Progress") |
| II | | [The Death of Valiant-for-truth and of Stand-fast.] | [169] |
| | (From "The Pilgrim's Progress") |
| III | | [Ancient Vanity Fair.] | [172] |
| | (From "The Pilgrim's Progress") |
| [John Dryden]—(Born in 1631, died in 1700.) |
| | [Of Elizabethan Dramatists.] | [181] |
| | (From the "Essay on Dramatic Poetry") |
| [Samuel Pepys]—(Born in 1633, died in 1703.) |
| I | | [Of Various Doings of Mr. and Mrs. Pepys.] | [185] |
| | (From the "Diary") |
| II | | [England Without Cromwell.] | [191] |
| | (From the "Diary") |
| [Gilbert Burnet]—(Born in 1643, died in 1715.) |
| | [Charles II.] | [195] |
| | (From the "History of Our Own Times") |
| [Daniel Defoe]—(Born in 1661, died in 1731.) |
| I | | [The Shipwreck of Crusoe.] | [201] |
| | (From "The Life and Surprizing Adventuresof Robinson Crusoe") |
| II | | [The Rescue of Man Friday.] | [204] |
| | (From "The Life and Surprizing Adventuresof Robinson Crusoe") |
| III | | [In the Time of the Great Plague.] | [211] |
| | (From the "History of the Great Plague") |
| [Jonathan Swift]—(Born in 1667, died in 1745.) |
| I | | [On Pretense in Philosophers.] | [216] |
| | (From "Gulliver's Travels") |
| II | | [On the Hospitality of the Vulgar.] | [221] |
| | (From No. 1 of The Tatler) |
| III | | [The Art of Lying in Politics.] | [224] |
| | (From The Examiner) |
| IV | | [A Meditation upon a Broomstick] | [228] |
| V | | [Gulliver Among the Giants.] | [230] |
| | (From "Gulliver's Travels") |
| [Joseph Addison]—(Born in 1672, died in 1719.) |
| I | | [In Westminster Abbey.] | [236] |
| | (From No. 26 of The Spectator) |
| II | | [Will Honeycomb and His Marriage.] | [240] |
| | (From Nos. 105 and 530 of The Spectator) |
| III | | [Pride of Birth.] | [246] |
| | (From No. 137 of The Guardian) |
| IV | | [Sir Roger and His Home.] | [251] |
| | (From Nos. 2 and 106 of The Spectator) |