OF LITERATURE, ILLUSTRATED BY THE Genius of Distinguished Writers. BY HENRY T. TUCKERMAN. AUTHOR OF "THE ITALIAN SKETCH-BOOK, Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, BY LINDSAY AND BLAKISTON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. C. SHERMAN, PRINTER. Prekace. It seems to have been taken for granted by several of the kind critics of the previous volume of this work, that the author's intention was to sustain the claims of the writers selected as representatives of each department of literature, to the honour of being their chief expositors; such, however, is not the case. The choice of writers has been quite accidental and subordinate to the principal aim, -that of grouping around them something like a brief history and analysis of the species of writing in which they excelled. The general plan and execution of the work having met with unexpected favour,-in submitting to the public an additional series, the author indulges the hope that, with this explanation of his design, the present attempt to render it complete will prove satisfactory to his readers. NEW YORK, March, 1851. |