CURRENT LITERATURE.
Chapters in, the History of English Literature, from 1509 to the Close of the Elizabethan Period. By Ellen Crofts. (Rivingtons.)— These chapters, as the writer tells us, are founded on lectures given at Newnham College ; and their object is to give a "connected view of the so-called Elizabethan period." In this object we think she has succeeded. The book is exactly what a manual ought to be, full without being bulky, and concise without being inaccurate. Nothing is easier than to sneer at manuals, but as nobody can know everything, manuals, in an age when knowledge increases so fast, are not only useful, but indispensable. If they do nothing else, they give us an idea of things of which we are ignorant, and help us in our search for further information. And so this book of Miss Crofts will afford any- body who may carefully study it a fair idea of the literature of great Elizabeth's time, and guide those who desire to go further, in their choice of authors and authorities.
Previous page
