CHAMBERS'S 



CYCLOPEDIA OF ENGLISH LITERATURE: 



A SELECTION OF THE CHOICEST PRODUCTIONS 



OF ENGLISH AUTHORS, FROM THE EARLIEST TO THE PRESENT TBtE. 

 CONNECTED BY A CRITICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. 



EDITED BY ROBERT CHAMBERS, 



ASSISTED BY EOBEET CAREUTHEBS AND OTHER EMINENT GENTLEME1T. 



Complete in two imperial octavo volumes, of more than fourteen hundred pages of 



double column letter press: and upwards of three hundred 



elegant illustrations. 



THE CYCLOPAEDIA OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, now presented to the 

 American public, originated in a desire to supply the great body of the peo- 

 ple with a fund of reading derived from the productions of the most talented 

 and the most elegant writers in the English language. It is hoped hereby 

 to supplant, in a measure, the frivolous and corrupting productions with 

 which the community is flooded, and to substitute for them the pith and 

 marrow of substantial English literature ; something that shall prove food 

 for the intellect, shall cultivate the taste, and stimulate the moral sense. 



The design has been admirably executed, by the selection and concentra- 

 tion of the most exquhite productions of English intellect, from the earliest 

 Anglo-Saxon writers down to those of the present day. The series of 

 authors commences w^th Langland and Chaucer, and is continuous down 

 to our time. We have specimens of their best writings, headed in the sev- 

 eral departments by Chaucer, Shakspeare, Milton, by More, Bacon, 

 Locke, bv Hooker, Taylor, Barrow, by Addison, Johnson, Goldsmith, 

 by Hume, Robertson, Gibbon, set in a biographical and critical history 

 oi the literature itself. The wJwle is embelUsked with splendid wood en- 

 gravings of the heads of the principal authors, and of interesting events con- 

 nected with their history and writings. No one can give a glance at the 

 work without being struck with its beauty and cheapness. The editor, 

 Robert Chambers, is distinguished as the author of many valuable works, 

 and as joint editor of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. 



To those whose educational privileges are few, who reside at a distance 

 from libraries, and whose means are limited, such a book must be of un- 

 speakable value, A WHOLE ENGLISH LIBRARY FUSED DOWN INTO ONE 

 CHEAP BOOK ! Any man, whatever his avocation or his location, may thus 

 possess, in a portable and available form, the best intellectual treasures the 

 language affords. To those more fortunate individuals who may have the 

 advantages of a regular course of education, this multum in parvo will be 

 a valuable introduction to the great galaxy of English writers. 



As an evidence of the great popularity of the work in England, it may be 

 stated that no less than forty thousand copies have been sold in less than 

 three, years ; and this almost without advertising or being indebted to any 

 notice in the literary Reviews. 



In addition to the great number of pictorial illustrations given in the 

 English edition, the American publishers have greatly enriched the work by 

 the addition of fine steel and mezzotint engravings of the heads of Shak- 

 speare, Addison, Byron, a full length portrait of Dr. Johnson, and a beauti- 

 ful scenic representation of Oliver Goldsmith and Dr. Johnson. 



[p~ Booksellers and Agents supplied on the most liberal terms. 



GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON. 



