Thomas Warton book The History of English Poetry
The History of English Poetry (1774-81) vol. 1, p. 431.
Quotes from bookThe History of English Poetry
The History of English Poetry, from the Close of the Eleventh to the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century by Thomas Warton was a pioneering and influential literary history. Only three full volumes were ever published, going as far as Queen Elizabeth's reign, but their account of English poetry in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance was unrivalled for many years, and played a part in steering British literary taste towards Romanticism. It is generally acknowledged to be the first narrative English literary history.
