ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS.
EDITED BY JOHN MORLEY.
These Short Books are addressed to the general public with a view both to stirring and satisfying an interest in literature and its great topics in the minds of those who have to run as they read. An immense class is growing up, and must every year increase, whose education will have made them alive to the importance of the masters of our literature, and capable of intelligent curiosity as to their performances. The Series is intended to give the means of nourishing this curiosity, to an extent that shall be copious enough to be profitable for knowledge and life, and yet be brief enough to serve those whose leisure is scanty.
The following are arranged for:—
| SPENSER | The Dean of St. Paul's. | |
| HUME | Professor Huxley. | [Ready. |
| BUNYAN | James Anthony Froude. | |
| JOHNSON | Leslie Stephen. | [Ready. |
| GOLDSMITH | William Black. | [Ready. |
| MILTON | Mark Pattison. | |
| WORDSWORTH | Goldwin Smith. | |
| SWIFT | John Morley. | |
| BURNS | Principal Shairp. | [Ready. |
| SCOTT | Richard H. Hutton. | [Ready. |
| SHELLEY | J. A. Symonds. | [Ready. |
| GIBBON | J. C. Morison. | [Ready. |
| BYRON | Professor Nichol. | |
| DEFOE | W. Minto. | [In the Press. |
| GRAY | John Morley. | |
| HAWTHORNE | Henry James, Jnr. | |
| CHAUCER | A. W. Ward. |
[OTHERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED.]
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
"The new series opens well with Mr. Leslie Stephen's sketch of Dr. Johnson. It could hardly have been done better; and it will convey to the readers for whom it is intended a juster estimate of Johnson than either of the two essays of Lord Macaulay."—Pall Mall Gazette.
"We have come across few writers who have had a clearer insight into Johnson's character, or who have brought to the study of it a better knowledge of the time in which Johnson lived and the men whom he knew."—Saturday Review.
"We could not wish for a more suggestive introduction to Scott and his poems and novels."—Examiner.
"The tone of the volume is excellent throughout."—Athenæum Review of "Scott."
"As a clear, thoughtful, and attractive record of the life and works of the greatest among the world's historians, it deserves the highest praise."—Examiner Review of "Gibbon."
"The lovers of this great poet (Shelley) are to be congratulated at having at their command so fresh, clear, and intelligent a presentment of the subject written by a man of adequate and wide culture."—Athenæum.