This book makes an excellent contribution to studies of both Chaucerian reception and the eighteenth century. It is a fitting final work for Mason, who passed away shortly after its publication, and it will go on to enjoy an enduring 'second life' in future work on both these topics.
David Hopkins read Classics and English at Cambridge and wrote his PhD (on 'Dryden's Translations from Ovid') at the University of Leicester. He taught in the English Department at the University of Bristol from 1977, eventually becoming a Professor (now Emeritus) of English Literature. Most of his published work has been concerned with English poetry and literary criticism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and with the relations between English poetry and
the Greek and Roman Classics. He is the author of books on Milton and Dryden, and co-editor of Dryden's poems and of the five-volume Oxford History of Classical Reception in English Literature.
Tom Mason read English at Oxford and wrote his PhD at Cambridge. He taught in the English Department at the University of Bristol from 1978. Most of his published work has been concerned with English poetry and literary criticism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.