HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE
_FROM THE BEST AND LATEST AUTHORITIES_

BY
ANNE C. LYNCH BOTTA




PREFATORY NOTE TO THE REVISED EDITION.


Since the first publication of this work in 1860, many new names have
appeared in modern literature. Japan, hitherto almost unknown to
Europeans, has taken her place among the nations with a literature of her
own, and the researches and discoveries of scholars in various parts of
the world have thrown much light on the literatures of antiquity. To keep
pace with this advance, a new edition of the work has been called for.
Prefixed is a very brief summary of an important and exhaustive History of
the Alphabet recently published.




PREFACE.


This work was begun many years ago, as a literary exercise, to meet the
personal requirements of the writer, which were such as most persons
experience on leaving school and "completing their education," as the