ant touch of vivacity. It is no easy matter to make a text-book
both informing and readable; but here the feat is accomplished. I have
read 'The Age of Shakespeare' with unflagging interest and pleasure....
Everywhere one has the restful sensation of dealing with men of
competent scholarship and sound critical instinct. Especially valuable,
to my thinking, is the chronological table of the chief publications of
each year from 1579 to 1630."--Mr. William Archer in the _Morning
Leader_.

"These two volumes are, in short, a notable accession to the useful
series to which they belong, and they constitute a luminous aid to the
interpretation alike of the scope and quality of the literary activity
which has rendered the 'Age of Shakespeare' classic in the annals of
English literature."--_Standard._

"The book is a well-informed and well-connected and intelligent
exposition of its subject. It is more than a mere handbook. It is a
_history_, though on a small scale."--_Journal of Education._

THE AGE OF MILTON

"A very readable and serviceable manual of English literature during the
central years of the seventeenth century."--_Glasgow Herald._

"Mr. Masterman has written a book which combines the preciseness of a
text-book with the fullness of thought of a monograph. Indeed, this
compact little work will be studied with as much earnestness by the
student as it will be read with pleasure by the lover of _belles
lettres_.... We lay down the book delighted with what we have
read."--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._

"A work which reflects the utmost credit on its author ... luminous and
at the same time impartial."--_Westminster Review._

"This excellent epitome ... very happily indicates the golden afterglow
of the Elizabethan sun."--_Daily Chronicle._

THE AGE OF JOHNSON

"The uniform excellence of Mr. Seccombe's manual of English literary
history from 1748 to 1798 affords scarcely any opening for detailed
criticism. Little can be said, except that everything is just as it
ought to be: the arrangement perfect, the length of the notices justly
proportioned, the literary judgements sound and illuminating; while the
main purpose of conveying information is kept so steadily in view that,
while the book is worthy of a place in the library, the student could
desire no better guide for an examination."--_Bookman._

"He has knowledge, he is eminently careful, and, best of all in a
handbook-maker of this kind, he is judicial. W