Excerpt from A History of English Literature: 600-1900<br><br>It appears only reasonable that comparatively late authors should receive their share of recognition, when it is reflected how many pages are commonly sacrificed to the consideration of the numerous writings of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, of familiar reputation but often of slight worth, which may be said in several instances to owe their preservation to chance or some trivial peculiarity in the parchment on which they were inscribed. While giving effect to this feeling, the real value of the literature of olden days has not been neglected, as instanced in those portions of the book which deal with the Age of Chaucer, or the Drama of the Sixteenth Century.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.