TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
In the text version Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Bold text is denoted like =this=.
The book cover was modified by the Transcriber and has been added tothe public domain.
A number of words in this book have both hyphenated and non-hyphenatedvariants. For the words with both variants present the one more usedhas been kept.
Obvious punctuation and other printing errors have been corrected.
Short Histories of
the Literatures of
the World: IV.
Edited by Edmund Gosse
Short Histories of the
Literatures of the World
EDITED BY EDMUND GOSSE
Large Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. each Volume
ANCIENT GREEK LITERATURE
By Prof. GILBERT MURRAY, M.A.
FRENCH LITERATURE
By Prof. EDWARD DOWDEN, D.C.L., LL.D.
MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE
By the EDITOR
ITALIAN LITERATURE
By RICHARD GARNETT, C.B., LL.D.
SPANISH LITERATURE
By J. FITZMAURICE-KELLY
[Shortly
JAPANESE LITERATURE
By WILLIAM GEORGE ASTON, C.M.G.
[Shortly
MODERN SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE
By GEORGE BRANDES
SANSKRIT LITERATURE
By Prof. A. A. MACDONELL
HUNGARIAN LITERATURE
By Dr. ZOLTÁN BRÖTHY
AMERICAN LITERATURE
By Professor MOSES COIT TYLER
GERMAN LITERATURE
By Dr. C. H. HERFORD
LATIN LITERATURE
By Dr. A. W. VERRALL
Other volumes will follow
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
[All rights reserved]
A History of
ITALIAN LITERATURE
BY
RICHARD GARNETT, C.B., LL.D.
London
WILLIAM HEINEMANN
MDCCCXCVIII
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co.
At the Ballantyne Press
PREFACE
“I think,” says Jowett, writing to John AddingtonSymonds (August 4, 1890), “that you are happy inhaving unlocked so much of Italian literature, certainlythe gre