CONTENTS.
| page | ||
| TABLE OF CONTENTS | [5] | |
| EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS | [11] | |
| INTRODUCTION | [23] | |
| CHAPTER I. | ||
| BEFORE SHAKESPEARE | [31] | |
| I. Remote origin of the novel—Old historical romances orepics—Beowulf. The French conquest of England in the eleventh century—The mind andliterature of the new-comers—Their romances, their short tales | [31] | |
| II. Effects of the conquest on the minds of the Englishinhabitants—Slow awakening of the native writers—Awakening of theclerks, of the translators and imitators—The English inhabitantsconnected through a literary imposture with Troy and the classicalnations of antiquity—Consequences of this imposture. Chaucer—His lack of influence on later prose novelists—The short prosetales of the French never acclimatized in England before theRenaissance—More's Latin "Utopia" | [37] | |
| III. Printing—Caxton's rôle—Part allotted to fiction in the list ofhis books—Morte Darthur. Development of printing—Mediæval romances set in type in the sixteenthcentury | [52] | |
| CHAPTER II. | ||
| TUDOR TIMES—THE FASHIONS AND THE NOVEL | [69] | |
| I. The Renaissance and the awakening of a wider curiosity—Travelling inItaly—Ascham's censures | [69] | |
| II. Italian invasion of England—Italian books translated, Boccaccio,Ariosto, Tasso, &c. English collections of short stories imitated from the French orItalian—Separate short stories—Lucrece of Sienna—A "travellingliterature" | [74] | |
| III. Learning—Erasmus' judgment and prophecies—The part played bywomen—They want books written for themselves—Queen Elizabeth, hertalk, her tastes, her dress, her portraits—The "paper work"architecture of the time | [87] | |
| CHAPTER III. | ||
| LYLY AND HIS "EUPHUES" | [103] | |
| I. "Euphues," a book for women | [103] | |
| II. "Euphuism," its foreign origin—How embellished and perfected byLyly—Fanciful natural history of the time—The mediævalbestiaries—Topsell's scientific works | [106] | |
| III. The plot of the novel—Moral tendencies of "Euphues"—Lyly'sprecepts concerning men, women and children | [123] | |
| IV. Lyly's popularity—Courtly talk of the time—Translations andabbreviations of "Euphues" in the seventeenth and eighteenthcenturies | [135] | |
| CHAPTER IV. | ||
| LYLY'S LEGATEES | [145] | |
| I. Lyly's influence—His principal heirs and successors, Riche,Dickenson, Melbancke, Munday, Warner, Greene, Lodge, &c. | [145] | |
| II. Robert Greene's biography—His autobiographical tales—His life andrepentance, characteristic of the times | [150] | |
| III. His love stories and romantic tales—His extraordinary success—Histales of real life—His fame at home and abroad | [167] | |
| IV. N. Breton, an imitator of Greene—Thomas Lodge, a legatee ofLyly—His life—His "Rosalynd" and other works—His relation toShakespeare | [192] | |
| CHAPTER V. | ||
| SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND PASTORAL ROMANCE | [217] | |
| Of shepherds. | ||
| I. Sidney's life—His travels and friendship with Languet—His courtlife and love—His death—The end of "Stella" | [219] | |
| II. Sidney's works—Miscellaneous writings—The "Apologie"—Sidney'sappreciation of the poetic and romantic novel. The "Arcadia," why written—Sidney's various heroes: shepherds, knights,princesses, &c.—Eclogues and battles, fêtes, masques andtournaments—Anglo-arcadian architecture, gardens, dresses andfurniture. Sidney's object according to Fulke Greville, and according tohimself—His lovers—Youthful love, unlawful love, foolish love,innocent love—Pamela's prayer—The final imbroglio. Sidney's style as a novel writer—His wit and brightness—Hiseloquence—His bad taste—His fanciful ornaments | [228] | |
| III. Sidney's reputation in England—Continuators, imitators, andadmirers among dramatists, poets and novelists—Shakespeare, Jonson,Day, Shirley, Quarles—Lady Mary Wroth and her novel—Sidney'sreputation in the eighteenth century, Addison, Young, Walpole,Cowper—Chap-books. In France—He is twice translated, and gives rise to a literaryquarrel—Charles Sorel's judgment in the "Berger extravagant," and DuBartas' praise—Mareschal's drama out of the "Arcadia"—Niceron andFlorian | [260] | |
| CHAPTER VI. | ||
| THOMAS NASH; THE PICARESQUE AND REALISTIC NOVEL | [287] | |
| I. Merry books as a preservative of health—Sidney's contempt for thecomic. Studies in real life—The picaresque tale; its Spanish origin—Itssuccess in Europe—-Lazarillo and Guzman | [287] | |
| II. Thomas Nash—His birth, education and life—His writings, histemperament—His equal fondness for mirth and for lyrical poetry—Hisliterary theories on art and style—His vocabulary, his style. His picaresque novel, "Jack Wilton"—Scenes and characters—Observationof nature—Dramatic and melodramatic parts—Historicalpersonages—Nash's troubles on account of "Jack Wilton." His other works—Scenes of light comedy in them—Portraits of theupstart, of the sectary, &c. | [295] | |
| III. Nash's successors—H. Chettle—Chettle's combined imitation ofNash, Greene and Sidney. Dekker—His dramatic and poetical faculty—His prose works—His literaryconnection with Nash—His pictures of real life—His humour andgaiety—Grobianism—A gallant at the play-house in the time ofShakespeare—Defoe and Swift as distant heirs | [327] | |
| CHAPTER VII. | ||
| AFTER SHAKESPEARE | [347] | |
| I. Heroical romances—Their origin mainly French—The new heroism àpanache on the stage, in epics, in the novel, in real life—The heroicideal—The Hôtel de Rambouillet | [347] | |
| II. Heroes and heroism à panache migrate to England—Their welcome inspite of the Puritans—Translations of French romances—Use of Frenchengravings—Imitation and appreciation of French manners—Orinda, theDuchess of Newcastle, Dorothy Osborne, Mrs. Pepys | [362] | |
| III. Original English novels in the heroical style—Roger Boyle, J.Crowne—Heroism on the stage | [383] | |
| IV. Reaction in France—Sorel, Scarron, Furetière, &c.—Reaction inEngland—"Adventures of Covent Garden," "Zelinda," &c. | [397] | |
| V. Conclusion—The end of the period—Ingelo, Harrington, Mrs. Behn; howshe anticipates Rousseau. Connection between the master-novelists of the eighteenth century andthe prentice-novelists of the sixteenth | [411] | |
| INDEX | [419] | |
aries.
taurus.