literature of his country is enriched as it could not be by
generations of lesser authors. The new generation, seeing
by a new light, learns its art of him. Greek drama might
have lingered in a long infancy but for æschylus; it could
never have become a model of dramatic form but for Sopho-
cles; it could never have remained vital in modern times but
for Euripides. As we look back, we measure its progress
by those three great names. There was a strong English
drama before Shakespeare, uncertain of its art, extravagant,
but full of promise. Shakespeare came, and the promise was
fulfilled as it could not have been fulfilled otherwise. At
once English drama became great, because he discerned
and applied what could not have been discerned, much less
applied, by any lesser author.

So in coming to the work of the first great English
author we rise at once to a higher literary level. We have
seen the truth expressed in medieval forms of beauty by
many minor authors. It was characteristic, indeed, of
the age of romance to express itself in common, almost
universal forms (page 70 ), not by great individuals,
but by many unknown authors working much alike. The
first great English author is Chaucer. English literature
before him we must know in order to comprehend him
fully; but so soon as we read him we find it all trans-
figured. We see its possibilities because they are suddenly
realized by his genius. He summed up the best of medieval
English literature, enhanced it by his own great art, en-
riched it by interpreting the new literature of Italy, and
carried it forward into the new current of the Renaissance.

Of the outward life of Chaucer, as of the outward life of
Shakespeare, we know after much research few facts; and of
these still fewer have any direct literary significance. The
life of a man of letters used not to be thought of as having

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