I.

THE LIFE OF JOHN MILTON,

NARRATED IN CONNEXION WITH THE POLITICAL, ECCLESIASTICAL, AND LITERARY

HISTORY OF HIS TIME.

Vol. I. with Portraits. 8vo. cloth. 188.

"Mr. Masson seems thoroughly to understand the character of the period he has chosen for illustration, and to have considerable insight into the disposition and the motives of the statesmen who made its history. We have, we hope, conveyed to our readers a tolerably complete impression of this able and delightful volume-of its enduring and general excellence. The whole reading public are bound to afford him their warmest encouragements, and to forget all minor differences of opinion in contemplating labours destined, we trust, to increase the European reputation of our literature."- Literary Gazette.

"The perusal of this book has left upon our mind a conviction of the entire trustworthiness of the author, of his indefatigable industry and his conscientious spirit... In general we accept his views as those of a guide at once sensible and candid and unbiassed by preconceived theory...The author has spared no pains in his researches... It has merits which will in our opinion ensure it a permanent place among the standard works of English literary history."-Saturday Review. "There is scarce a page which does not bear witness of careful antiquarian research, and minute as well as extensive reading. The biographer has large acquaintance with his period-deep love for his author."-Athenæum.

II.

ESSAYS: BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL. CHIEFLY ON ENGLISH POETS.

8vo. cloth. 12s. 6d.

CONTENTS:

I. Shakespeare and Goethe.-II. Milton's Youth.-III. The Three Devils Luther's, Milton's, and Goethe's.-IV. Dryden, and the Literature of the Restoration.-V. Dean Swift.-VI. Chatterton : a Story of the Year 1770.-VII. Wordsworth.-VIII. Scottish Influence on British Literature. IX. Theories of Poetry. X. Prose and Verse: De Quincey.

"Mr. Masson has succeeded in producing a series of criticisms in relation to creative literature, which are satisfactory as well as subtle,-which are not only ingenious, but which possess the rarer recommendation of being usually just... But we pass over these Essays to that which is in the main a new, and, according to our judgment, an excellent biographical sketch of Chatterton...This 'Story of the Year 1770,' as Mr. Masson entitles it, stands for nearly 200 pages in his volume, and contains, by preference, the fruits of his judgment and research in an elaborated and discursive memoir...Its merit consists in the illustration afforded by Mr. Masson's inquiries into contemporary circumstances, and the clear traces thus obtained of Chatterton's London life and experience... Mr. Masson unravels this mystery very completely."-Times.

"Distinguished by a remarkable power of analysis, a clear statement of the actual facts on which speculation is based, and an appropriate beauty of language. These Essays should be popular with serious men."-Athenæum.

BRITISH NOVELISTS AND THEIR STYLES.

AND THEIR STYLES:

BEING A CRITICAL SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF

BRITISH PROSE FICTION.

BY DAVID MASSON, M.A.

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON;
AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN MILTON," ETC.

Cambridge:

MACMILLAN AND CO.

AND 23, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON.

1859.

162130-B

[The Right of Translation is Reserved.]