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| CHAPTER I. |
| THE LATER RENAISSANCE IN SPAIN. |
| The unity of Spanish literature—Limits of treatment—A prevailing characteristic—The division into native and imitative—The inheritance from the fifteenth century—Spanish verse—The Cancioneros—The romances—The Romanceros—The quality of this poetry—Spain and Italy—The DiÁlogo de la Lengua—Prose of the early sixteenth century—The influence of the Inquisition | 1 |
| CHAPTER II. |
| THE SPANISH LEARNED POETS. |
| The starting-point of the classic school—The natural influence of Italy—Prevalence of the classic school—Its aristocratic spirit—What was imitated from the Italians—Its technique and matter—Artificiality of the work of the school—Boscan—Garcilaso—Their immediate followers—The schools of Salamanca and Seville—GÓngora and GÓngorism—The epics—The Araucana—The Lusiads | 30 |
| CHAPTER III. |
| THE GROWTH AND DECADENCE OF THE SPANISH DRAMA. |
| The national character of the Spanish drama—The first beginnings of the religious plays—The starting-point of the secular play—BartolomÉ de Torres Naharro—Lope de Rueda—Lope de Vega’s life—His influence on the drama—The conditions of the work—Contemporaries and followers of Lope—Calderon—Calderon’s school | 60 |
| CHAPTER IV. |
| FORMS OF THE SPANISH DRAMA. |
| The prevailing quality of the Spanish drama—Typical examples—La Dama Melindrosa—El Tejedor de Segovia—El Condenado por Desconfiado—The plays on “honour”—A Secreto Agravio Secreta Venganza—The Auto Sacramental—the loa—The Verdadero Dios Pan—Los Dos Habladores | 91 |
| CHAPTER V. |
| SPANISH PROSE ROMANCE. |
| Pastorals and short stories—The original work of the Spaniard—The Libros de CaballerÍas—The Amadis of Gaul—Followers of Amadis of Gaul—Influence and character of these tales—The real cause of their decline—The character of the Novelas de PÍcaros—The Celestina—Lazarillo de TormÉs—Guzman de Alfarache—The followers of Mateo Aleman—Quevedo—Cervantes—His life—His work—The minor things—Don Quixote | 124 |
| CHAPTER VI. |
| SPAIN—HISTORIANS, MISCELLANEOUS WRITERS, AND THE MYSTICS. |
| Spanish historians—Histories of particular events—Early historians of the Indies—General historians of the Indies—GÓmara, Oviedo, Las Casas, Herrera, the Inca Garcilaso—Mendoza, Moncada, and Melo—General histories—Ocampo, Zurita, Morales—Mariana—The decadence—Solis—Miscellaneous writers—Gracian and the prevalence of GÓngorism—The mystics—Spanish mysticism—The influence of the Inquisition on Spanish religious literature—Malon de Chaide—Juan de Ávila—Luis de Granada—Luis de Leon—Santa Teresa—Juan de la Cruz—Decadence of the mystic writers | 157 |
| CHAPTER VII. |
| ELIZABETHAN POETRY. |
| The starting-point—Italian influence—The opposition to rhyme—Excuses for this—Its little effect—Poetry of first half of Elizabeth’s reign—Spenser—Order of his work—His metre—Character of his poetry—Sir P. Sidney—The Apologie for Poetrie—His sonnets and lyrics—Watson—The Sonneteers—Other lyric poetry—The collections and song-books—The historical poems—Fitz-Geoffrey and Markham—Warner—Daniel—Drayton—The satiric poets—Lodge—Hall—Marston—Donne | 185 |
| CHAPTER VIII. |
| THE EARLIER DRAMATISTS. |
| The first plays—Resistance to classic influence—Advantages of this—And the limitations—The dramatic quality—Classic, Spanish, and French drama—Unity in the English Plays—Ralph Roister Doister—Gammer Gurton’s Needle—Gorboduc—Formation of the theatre—Lyly—Greene—Peele—Kyd—Marlowe—Character of these writers—Shakespeare—Guesses about his life—Order of his work—Estimates of Shakespeare—Divisions of his work—The Poems—The Dramas—The reality of Shakespeare’s characters | 223 |
| CHAPTER IX. |
| THE ELIZABETHAN PROSE-WRITERS. |
| Elizabethan prose—Two schools of writers—Roger Ascham—His books and style—Webbe and Puttenham—The sentence—Euphuism—The Arcadia—Sidney’s style—Short stories—Nash’s Unfortunate Traveller—Nash and the pamphleteers—Martin Marprelate—Origin of the Marprelate Tracts—The Diotrephes—Course of the controversy—Its place in literary history—Hooker—The Ecclesiastical Polity | 259 |
| CHAPTER X. |
| FRANCE. POETRY OF THE LATER RENAISSANCE. |
| The PlÉiade—Ronsard—The lesser stars—The DÉfense et Illustration de la Langue FranÇaise—The work of Ronsard—His place in poetry—Joachim du Bellay—Remi Belleau—BaÏf—Du Bartas—D’AubignÉ—The dramatic work of the PlÉiade—Jodelle—Grevin and La Taille—Montchrestien—The comedy—La Reconnue—Causes of failure of early dramatic literature | THE LATER RENAISSANCE.
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