A First Sketch of English Literature (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

The initial study for his monumental ten-volume English Writers series, this 1873 survey reached a circulation of 34,000 by the time of the author’s death. It begins with the Celts, the first English, and the era of Chaucer, then moves from the fifteenth century to the reign of Elizabeth (including Shakespeare and his time), commonwealth and revolution, to William III, Anne, and Victoria.