| | 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 or epics—Beowulf.
The French conquest of England in the eleventh century—The mind and literature of the new-comers—Their romances, their short tales | 31 |
| II. Effects of the conquest on the minds of the English inhabitants—Slow awakening of the native writers—Awakening of the clerks, of the translators and imitators—The English inhabitants connected through a literary imposture with Troy and the classical nations of antiquity—Consequences of this imposture.
Chaucer—His lack of influence on later prose novelists—The short prose tales of the French never acclimatized in England before the Renaissance—More's Latin "Utopia" | 37 |
| III. Printing—Caxton's rÔle—Part allotted to fiction in the list of his books—Morte Darthur.
Development of printing—MediÆval romances set in type in the sixteenth century | 52 |
| CHAPTER II. |
| TUDOR TIMES—THE FASHIONS AND THE NOVEL | 69 |
| I. The Renaissance and the awakening of a wider curiosity—Travelling in Italy—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 or Italian—Separate short stories—Lucrece of Sienna—A "travelling literature" | 74 |
| III. Learning—Erasmus' judgment and prophecies—The part played by women—They want books written for themselves—Queen Elizabeth, her talk, 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 by Lyly—Fanciful natural history of the time—The mediÆval bestiaries—Topsell's scientific works | 106 |
| III. The plot of the novel—Moral tendencies of "Euphues"—Lyly's precepts concerning men, women and children | 123 |
| IV. Lyly's popularity—Courtly talk of the time—Translations and abbreviations of "Euphues" in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries | 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 and repentance, characteristic of the times | 150 |
| III. His love stories and romantic tales—His extraordinary success—His tales of real life—His fame at home and abroad | 167 |
| IV. N. Breton, an imitator of Greene—Thomas Lodge, a legatee of Lyly—His life—His "Rosalynd" and other works—His relation to Shakespeare | 192 |
| CHAPTER V. |
| SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND PASTORAL ROMANCE | 217 |
| Of shepherds. | |
| I. Sidney's life—His travels and friendship with Languet—His court life and love—His death—The end of "Stella" | 219 |
| II. Sidney's works—Miscellaneous writings—The "Apologie"—Sidney's appreciation of the poetic and romantic novel.
The "Arcadia," why written—Sidney's various heroes: shepherds, knights, princesses, &c.—Eclogues and battles, fÊtes, masques and tournaments—Anglo-arcadian architecture, gardens, dresses and furniture.
taurus. taurus.
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