The Early Modern English period (c. 1500-1800) - in many respects the most formative time-span in the history of English - is now increasingly attracting the attention of English language scholars. The aim of the present volume is to make easily available to the scholarly public of today some essential linguistic research carried out on that period. The volume includes an Introduction and 30 reprinted articles published between 1944 and 1994. Both British and American English are discussed. The Introduction takes up issues relevant to the delimitation of the concept -Early Modern English-, primarily in terms of systemic stability and standardisation. Information on relevant background reading and on computerized collections of Early Modern English texts, literary and non-literary, is also supplied."