HISTORY OF LITERATURE IN GREAT BRITAIN.
1. The Four Great Periods of History.-2. The Roman Period in England.-3. The Dark Ages-The Anglo-Saxon Period in England.-4. The Middle Ages-The Normans in England.-5. Modern Times in England-Contrast with the Middle Ages.6. Relations between Literature and National History.-7. The Moral Relations of Literature and Literary History.
THE FOUR PERIODS OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
I. THE ROMAN PERIOD:--B. C. 55—A. D. 449.
II. THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD:-A. D. 449-A. D. 1069.
III. THE MIDDLE AGES:-A. D. 1066-A. D. 1509.
IV. MODERN TIMES:-A. D. 1509-A. D. 1852.
1. THE literature of our native country, like that of every other, is related, intimately and at many points, to the history of the nation. The great national epochs are thus also the epochs of intellectual cultivation; and, accordingly, our literary annals may be arranged in four successive periods.
The first, or Roman Period, may be held as beginning with the invasion of England by Julius Cæsar in the year 55 before the Advent and it closes with the year of grace 449, which is usually supposed to have been the date of the earliest Germanic settlements in the island. It thus embraces five centuries.
Next comes our Anglo-Saxon Period, which, after having en dured about six centuries, was brought to an end by the invasion of William the Conqueror in the year 1066. It corresponds with that tumultuous stage in European History, which we know by the name of the Dark Ages.
Our third Period, beginning with the Norman Conquest, may be set down as ending with the Protestant Reformation, or with the accession of Henry the Eighth in the year 1509. It has thus a length of about four centuries and a half; and these, the Dark