AUTHOR OF "STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE," AND EDItor of 66 ENGLISH PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, 26, ST. GEORGE'S PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER, S.W. NEW YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG AND CO. 1883. PREFACE. IN asking the reader to travel with me for a season in the "realms of gold," or rather in that English realm, which is the richest, the widest, and the most fertile, I do not undertake fully to explore the country. So vast a journey is far beyond my power as a traveller. How, indeed, would it be possible to explore a territory so spacious, and to point out every lovely object in this enchanting region? The amplest leisure and the largest knowledge will scarcely suffice for such a task. My purpose is a more modest one-namely, to point out some of the impressive features of a road rich in all that is fitted to gladden the eye and soothe the heart. In other words, and dropping Keats's metaphor, the attempt is made in these pages to give brief biographies of illustrious English poets and such a sketch of their works as may attract young |