Studies in Low German and High German Literature

From the PREFACE:

THE contents of this volume are on the surface quite miscellaneous and disjointed, and what connection they possess for me is apt to disappear when they are separated from my regular work. Perhaps they may be best described as studies on the outskirts of English Literature: first, in so far as it is English, dealing as they do with kindred or contrasted phenomena abroad; and, again, in so far as it is Literature, for the second and third essays are almost technical in subject. But as these rambles from my ordinary route have been to me full of pleasure and suggestiveness, perhaps there are others who may find in them something of interest.

I must also say a word on my indebtedness, which is great, to foreign scholars and critics. Their utterances on the matters that I discuss are little known in this country, and I have not scrupled to make use of them, especially in the case of those whose names I mention at the beginnings of my essays. At the same time my study of the authors generally preceded my perusal of the commentators, and I must be considered responsible for any statements that I make.