| Characteristics of mediæval literature | 372 |
| Its attitude to criticism | 373 |
| Importance of prosody | 373 |
| The early formal Rhetorics—Bede | 374 |
| Isidore | 375 |
| Alcuin(?) | 375 |
| Another track of inquiry | 377 |
| St Augustine a Professor of Rhetoric | 377 |
| His attitude to literature before and after his conversion | 378 |
| Analysis of the Confessions from this point of view | 378 |
| A conclusion from this to the general patristic view of literature | 380 |
| Sidonius Apollinaris | 383 |
| His elaborate epithet-comparison | 385 |
| And minute criticisms of style and metre | 386 |
| A deliberate critique | 388 |
| Cassiodorus | 389 |
| Boethius | 390 |
| Critical attitude of the fifth century | 391 |
| The sixth—Fulgentius | 392 |
| The Fulgentii and their books | 393 |
| The Super Thebaiden and Expositio Virgiliana | 394 |
| Venantius Fortunatus | 396 |
| Isidore of Seville again | 400 |
| Bede again | 402 |
| His Ars Metrica | 403 |
| The Central Middle Ages to be more rapidly passed over | 405 |
| Provençal and Latin treatises | 407 |
| The De Dictamine Rhythmico | 407 |
| John of Garlandia | 408 |
| The Labyrinthus | 408 |
| Critical review of poets contained in it | 409 |
| Minor rhythmical treatises | 411 |
| Geoffrey de Vinsauf: his Nova Poetria | 412 |
| The De Vulgari Eloquio: Its history and authentication | 417 |
| Its importance | 418 |
| And the scanty recognition thereof | 418 |
| Abstract of its contents: The “Vulgar Tongue” and “Grammar” | 419 |
| The nature, &c., of the gift of speech | 420 |
| Division of contemporary tongues | 421 |
| And of the subdivisions of Romance | 422 |
| The Italian Dialects: Some rejected at once | 423 |
| Others—Sicilian, Apulian, Tuscan, and Genoese | 424 |
| Venetian: Some good in Bolognese | 424 |
| The “Illustrious” Language none of these, but their common measure | 425 |
| Its four characteristics | 425 |
| The Second Book—Why Dante deals with poetry only | 426 |
| All good poetry should be in the Illustrious | 427 |
| The subjects of High Poetry—War, Love, Virtue | 427 |
| Its form: Canzoni | 427 |
| Definition of Poetry | 428 |
| Its styles, and the constituents of the grand style | 428 |
| Superbia Carminum | 428 |
| Constructionis elatio | 429 |
| Excellentia Verborum | 429 |
| Pexa et hirsuta | 430 |
| The Canzone | 430 |
| Importance of the book | 431 |
| Independence and novelty of its method | 432 |
| Dante’s attention to Form | 433 |
| His disregard of Oratory | 433 |
| The influence on him of Romance | 434 |
| And of comparative criticism | 434 |
| The poetical differentia according to him | 435 |
| His antidote to the Wordsworthian heresy | 436 |
| His handling of metre | 436 |
| Of diction | 437 |
| His standards of style | 438 |
| The “Chapter of the Sieve” | 439 |
| The pexa | 440 |
| The hirsuta | 441 |
| Other critical loci in Dante | 441 |
| The Epistle to Can Grande | 441 |
| The Convito | 442 |
| Dante on Translation | 443 |
| On language as shown in prose and verse | 443 |
| Final remarks on his criticism | 444 |
| Limitations of this chapter | 447 |
| The material it offers | 448 |
| The Formal Arts of Rhetoric | 448 |
| And of Poetry | 449 |
| Examples of Indirect Criticism: Chaucer | 450 |
| Sir Thopas | 451 |
| Froissart | 453 |
| Richard of Bury | 455 |
| Petrarch | 456 |
| Boccaccio | 457 |
| His work on Dante | 457 |
| The Trattatello | 458 |
| The Comento | 459 |
| The De Genealogia Deorum | 460 |
| Gavin Douglas | 464 |
| Further examples unnecessary | 466 |
| INTERCHAPTER III. | |
| § I. THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE MEDIÆVAL PERIOD TO LITERARY CRITICISM | 469 |
| § II. THE POSITION, ACTUAL AND POSSIBLE, OF LITERARY CRITICISM AT THE RENAISSANCE | 481 |
| —————————— | |
| INDEX | 487 |