This work was begun many years ago, as a literary exercise, to meet the
personal requirements of the writer, which were such as most persons
experience on leaving school and "completing their education," as the
phrase is. The world of literature lies before them, but where to begin,
what course of study to pursue, in order best to comprehend it, are the
problems which present themselves to the bewildered questioner, who finds
himself in a position not unlike that of a traveler suddenly set down in
an unknown country, without guide-book or map. The most natural course
under such circumstances would be to begin at the beginning, and take a
rapid survey of the entire field of literature, arriving at its details
through this general view. But as this could be accomplished only by
subjecting each individual to a severe and protracted course of systematic
study, the idea was conceived of obviating this necessity to some extent
by embodying the results of such a course in the form of the following
work, which, after being long laid aside, is now at length completed.
In conformity with this design, standard books have been condensed, with
no alterations except such as were required to give unity to the whole
work; and in some instances a few additions have been made. Where standard
works have not been found, the sketches have been made from the best
sources of information, and submitted to the criticism of able scholars.
The literatures of different nations are so related, and have so
influenced each other, that it is only by a survey of all that any single
literature, or even any great literary work, can be fully comprehended, as
the various groups and figures of a historical picture must be viewed as a
whole, before they can assume their true place and proportions.