Excerpt from English Prose: Its Elements, History, and Usage English prose is the greatest instrument of communication that is now in use among men upon the earth. On this ground alone if on no other it would seem to be worthy of that enquiry which is suggested by the natural curiosity for knowledge. Yet it is a thing to be noted, that whereas our Poetry has called forth a succession of critical literature from the times of Elizabeth until now, no like attention has been paid to English Prose. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.