[Illustration: I WILL MAKE A PRIEF OF IT IN MY NOTE-BOOK MERRY WIVES OF
WINDSOR]




A SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

BY JOHN W. COUSIN

LONDON: PUBLISHED

by J.M. DENT & SONS. LTD

AND IN NEW YORK

BY E.P. DUTTON & CO




INTRODUCTION

The primary aim of this book is to give as much information about English
authors, including under this designation American and Colonial writers,
as the prescribed limits will admit of. At the same time an attempt has
been made, where materials exist for it, to enhance the interest by
introducing such details as tend to illustrate the characters and
circumstances of the respective writers and the manner in which they
passed through the world; and in the case of the more important, to give