THE ENGLISH PRECURSORS.
The first group 53
Mediæval reaction 53
Gray 54
Peculiarity of his critical position 55
The Letters 56
The _Observations_ on Aristophanes and Plato 59
The _Metrum_ 60
The Lydgate Notes 61
Shenstone 63
Percy 64
The Wartons 66
Joseph’s _Essay on Pope_ 66
The _Adventurer_ Essays 67
Thomas Warton on Spenser 68
His _History of English Poetry_ 70
Hurd: his Commentary on Addison 72
The Horace 73
The Dissertations 74
Other Works 75
The _Letters on Chivalry and Romance_ 75
Their doctrine 76
His real importance 78
Alleged imperfections of the group 79
Studies in Prosody 80
John Mason: his _Power of Numbers_ in Prose and
Poetry 81
Mitford: his _Harmony of Language_ 83
Importance of prosodic inquiry 86
Sterne and the stop-watch 86