Only the standard authors will be considered, and the student will not be overburdened with statistics, which it must be a part of his task to collect for himself.

And now let us return to the early literature embodied in those languages which have preceded the English on British soil; or which, by their combination, have formed the English language.
For, the English language may be properly compared to a stream, which, rising in a feeble source, receives in its seaward flow many tributaries, large and small, until it becomes a lordly river.

The works of English literature may be considered as the ships and boats which it bears upon its bosom: near its source the craft are small and frail; as it becomes more navigable, statelier vessels are launched upon it, until, in its majestic and lakelike extensions, rich navies ride, freighted with wealth and power--the heavy ordnance of defence and attack, the products of Eastern looms, the precious metals and jewels from distant mines--the best exponents of the strength and prosperity of the nation through which flows the river of speech, bearing the treasures of mind.
CELTIC LITERARY REMAINS.

THE DRUIDS .-- Let us take up the consideration of literature in Britain in the order of the conquests mentioned in the first chapter.
We recur to Britain while inhabited by the Celts, both before and after the Roman occupation.

The extent of influence exercised by the Latin language upon the Celtic dialects cannot be determined; it seems to have been slight, and, on the other hand, it may be safely assumed that the Celtic did not contribute much to the world-absorbing Latin.
The chief feature, and a very powerful one, of the Celtic polity, was _Druidism_.