61 че at e Review for September, 1780; but no variants have been found in these. The subsequent poems contained in the present volume are all printed from the edition of 1823, the last edition published in England in the poet's lifetime. The Variants enumerated at the close of this volume are in each case the readings of the first editions of the several poems, viz., The Library, 1781, The Village, 1783, The Newspaper, 1785, The Parish Register &c, 1807, and The Borough, 1810. The address To the Reader prefixed to The Newspaper, which does not appear in the edition of 1823, has been restored from that of 1785, as it appears in the younger Crabbe's edition of 1834. the The list of Errata includes all the misprints, slips of pen, and unintentional mistakes of spelling or quotation, which have been found in the texts which have been reprinted in this volume. The reading substituted here is in each case enclosed in square brackets. The list is a long one, for Crabbe was a careless writer; and in the matter of quotations (as the concluding sentence of the Preface to The Borough indicates) was not given to over-conscientiousness. It has seemed permissible, where this could be done, to supplement the poet's statements as to the sources of his quotations; but there are instances in which these statements themselves remain more or less doubtful. Crabbe's interpunctuation is so arbitrary, and, though no doubt largely determined by what might be described as the movement of the writer's mind, so frequently at variance even with the practice (it can hardly be called system) which he more usually follows, that it has been thought right to use as much freedom on this head as seemed consistent with a due respect for the author's intention. No alteration has been made in the matter of interpunctuation which was not warranted either by the poet's ordinary practice, or by the primary necessity of making his meaning clear. As complete as possible a bibliography of Crabbe's Poems will, it is hoped, be published in the concluding volume of this edition. There remains the pleasant duty of thanking those whose kindness has been of assistance in the preparation of this volume. The relatives of my dear friend the late Canon AINGER have allowed me to retain for this purpose the first editions of Inebriety (with Crabbe's autograph), The Village and The Newspaper which he had lent me not long before his death. The Vice-Master of Trinity, Mr W. ALDIS WRIGHT, besides enabling me to borrow from Trinity Library the first edition of The Library, kindly lent his own copy of the Poems published in 1807. I am indebted to Professor EDWARD DOWDEN, LL.D., of Trinity College, Dublin, for various services generously rendered by him to this edition of Crabbe, which will benefit from them in its concluding as it has in its opening volume. He has readily allowed me to print the whole of the interesting blank verse poem of Midnight, which, in his own words, 'unless it be a transcript by Crabbe from some other eighteenthcentury poet, of which there is no evidence, may be assumed to be of his authorship.' To the same kind friend, and to the special courtesy of Mr J. W. LYSTER, Librarian of the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin, I owe the opportunity of tracing fide oculata, so far as it seems possible to make sure of it, the elusive volume of The Lady's Magazine containing the earliest of Crabbe's printed verse. Mr A. R. WALLER, of Peterhouse, Assistant Secretary to the Syndics of the University Press, has in many ways facilitated the preparation of this volume. And without the unstinting and unflagging cooperation of another member of my College, Mr A. T. BARTHOLOMEW, of the University Library, who has compiled the list of variants, besides giving me much other assistance, I could not, amidst other engagements, have carried so far the execution of a delightful task. PETERHOUSE Lodge, Cambridge. A. W. WARD. CORRIGENDA. P. 5, for Ovid read Ovid [?]. p. 48, 1. 41, for Meonides read [Maeonides]. p. 252, 1. 5, for dolor read [labor]. p. 256, 1. 4, for deplorant read [deplangunt]. p. 329, l. 11, for and worship me read [and worship me]. ib. 1. 12, for Part I read Part II. P. 364, l. 12, for [erat] read erant. |