English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History

English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History is Designed as a Manual of Instruction by Henry Coppée. A chapter heading reads Chapter IX. Chaucer (Continued.) and Progress of Society, and of Languages. The chapter's topics include Social Life, Government, Chaucer's English, His Death, Historical Facts, John Gower, and Chaucer and Gower. Under the heading The Ashes of Wiclif, the text says that in 1428 the Council of Constance ordered that if his bones could be distinguished from those of other, faithful people, they should be taken out of the ground and thrown far off from Christian burial.

The text mentions Uncle Toby, who has a fortification in his garden, sentry-box, cannon, and all. The text says it seems as though Sterne, after a long and close study of Rabelais and Burton, had fancied that, with their aid, he might write a money-making book. The text quotes a view that the general spirit of the early British poetry is much more Druidical than Christian.