-tice of the book. My vanity was at first much offended at this silence. Now, however, that I reflect upon the matter more calm-ly, I am seriously persuaded, that the various daily, hebdomadal, monthly, and quarterly editors were silent principally out of mer-cy; as being, on the one hand, unwilling to blame a poor devil who did his best, and as being, on the other hand, unable to praise a most imperfect and faulty publication. Before "the treatise of Plutarchus" was finished, it was evident that my Experiment had proved an abortion. What then was to be done? I was unwilling to part so soon with my compositor; yet, on the other hand, I did not wish to begin another volume. I therefore determined to enlarge the present one, thô with ex-traneous matter. My work has every appearance of being has-tily compiled. But I do not apologize for it. If the "nonum prematur in annum” had been applied to my Appendices, they would each of them have swollen to double their already exces-sive length. As Greek scholars have (with extremely few exceptions) not thought it worth their while even to thank me for my trouble, and as no person whatsoever has recommended me to make any further "Experiment," I have, of course, only so far improved my Greek type as I had promised to do. But I have been obliged to pur-chase a great deal of English type. On first turning printer, I had vowed I would buy no other than Greek, because I was afraid I might be tempted to print heterodoxy. When, therefore, in the greater part of the Orphica, I wanted a few words in La-tin, I sent to London on purpose to borrow them; (and the whole of my preface was printed there). This was a very troublesome plan, two or three hours being sometimes lost for a single word. But perhaps I ought to have observed my anti-anglo-typographical vow-not indeed for any reason of heterodoxy (for this volume is, doubtless, rather ultra-orthodox than otherwise)-but, if I had confined myself to a Greek type, I should not have printed some tame and meagre (thò yet perhaps incorrect) translations, nor some Appendices yet more demonstrative of ignorance. However, what is printed, is printed; and I must give as an excuse for having besmeared so much excellent paper, that here-by I have (at any rate partially) attained my avowed object. The non-success of my 66 Experiment" being fully demonstrated 2 The only place in which I have seen the title in print, is in Mr. Cuthell's catalogue. (as per margin), my compositor must now find work elsewhere. As to my Greek type, it must, after a short incarceration, go (what is ultimately) the way of all type. The same must be the •the text of. .Hymns. The following is my account with the literary world. Cost of reprinting, Hermann's Orphic, independent of all prim-ary expenditure. For composing 14 & a half half-sheets, at 25shllngs. For Cold Pressing For Boarding 258 copies at 6d. each Receipts down to the 5th. April, 1828. 12 copies paid for by Mr. B. at 2s. 6d. 6 do. paid for by Messrs. Tr. & W. 25 copies £18 2 6 1 17 6 7 16 6 6 9 £34 11 £1 10 96916 090006 15 3 10 7 3 £3 9 6 remains unpaid £31 2 0 I must however most gratefully acknowledge the receipt of a book from a profound philosopher, of another book from a learned divine, and of some fac-similes from one of our greatest surgeons. Account of Copies. 25 as above 20 now out at various Booksellers'. 5 sent, by order of Act of Parliament, to [the King's Cutler's] No. 261, Regent Street. about 12 given away to various Reviews, &c. about 46 given away to various individuals. 258-108=150, now on hand. Before this half sheet could be finished, he suddenly obtained a most advantageous employment. Another compositor therefore terminates this Preface, together with some inordinately-copious Addenda. The door of my printing-room must then be closed. I earnestly solicit the prayers of the faithful, that I may never again be guilty of the horrible crime of scribbling. immediate destination of the brevier roman, which seems compiled from various founts, and bears an invincible antipathy to a straight line. It was the first modern type I ever bought, and sadly was I cheated in the purchase of it. But I left that type-founder; and bought some bourgeois, and also some small pica, of Caslon, whose type is well known to be the best in England. Albeit, I have still no italic for the small pica; and no accented letters for the roman brevier. My reader must have mercy upon my poverty, if in the greater part of this volume I have been forced to various typographi-cal shifts, such as putting an inverted 5 for a ç. &c. &c. The only advice which any one has yet condescended to give me, with regard to my manner of printing Greek, is, that I ought not to have omitted the breathings. And I confess, indeed, that I begin to think I have been in the wrong. At any rate I am ashamed of the trifling reason I gave for their non-insertion in the reprint of the Orphica (Preface, p. iv). In my present work the reader will perceive, that the greek quotations of my third appendix have the aspirate. I do not see any use in the lene: it only creates confusion. That the aspirate was pronounced by the Greeks is fully shewn by a for ano, e for TO, &c. &c. Servius (ad Æneid. 2; vid. Fabr., B. Gr., vol. 1, p. 147) says, either that the aspirate, or that the aspirated letters, were invented by Palamedes. And certainly the aspirate is very ancient. It has occasionally been sculptured as an H; and may also in some cases have replaced the Digamma. I can scarcely believe what is said in Dr. Valpy's grammar that "the old Dialects of Greece admitted few or no aspirates. I should have thought, that the more ancient a language was, the more it would have abounded in gutturals. I wish, that, at the end of Greek grammars, there was a list of all the aspirated roots. The student would then read ordinary Greek type with less hesitation about false prints. Nor would he find any great difficulty in reading an apneumatic, or spiritless, type. His principal hesitation would be at the word oy, and occa-sionally at H, ON, EN, EZ, EIC, HN, OIOC, and opoc as also at some words rare in one or both senses, as AAIMOC, AAINOC, ΑΠΛΟΥΣ, ΑΥΤΑ, ΑΡΜΟΙ, ΕΙΣΑ, ΕΟΝ, ΟΛΗ, OCCA, ΟΔΕ, ΩΡΑ, ΘΑΝ. Sometimes there is no diversity of either accent or breathing in words, literally identical, but of very different derivation or mean-ing: as 'A 'ΑΠΤΩ, ΕΙΚΕ 'EWC, HKA ION OZEA, OYAON and WTOC; so that the use of those Ογλος : ΟΥΡΩΝ, oγρος vaunted additaments is not perhaps so great as at first 1 1 may be imagined. Moreover in some words the breathing seems to be unknown, or variable, or indifferent: as in ABPYNA Apnic AVW & AVAINW, AVIC, EANA & EEANA, EIAAw, EIAYW & EAYW, ΕΙΔΟ ENOC vetus, EPCH, EYW, HAOC, HAIBATOC, AMAZA and IAAOC. But I will say no more upon this subject, which is entirely above my faculties. I have no doubt it is fully investigated in a host of dissertations, which are in every body's hands, but which I cannot afford to purchase. The res angusta domi has obliged me to vow to buy no more books. Nearly a year ago I purchased Fabricius's Bibliotheca Græca, a very cheap and most learned and useful compilation; but there I stop. It is probably fortunate that my experiment has not succeeded, as I should have been at a loss what work next to fix upon. I am partial to Nonnus's Dionysiaca; but this work is of prodi-gious length, and moreover has not yet been sufficiently well edited, for me to know how to reprint it. A good Dictionary of early Greecian philosophers might be form-ed by arranging Diogenes Laertius in an alphabetical order, and correcting his errors and filling up his omissions by quotations from other authors; but this would be a voluminous publication, for which I have neither the intellect, nor the health, nor the library, nor the patience. I have thought of printing extracts from Clemens Alexandrinus. But the Fathers of the Church are shockingly out of fashion: a papist refers to them only for transubstantiation, grace, original sin, and so forth; while a protestant is afraid of them, and (except in determining the canon of the N. T.) impiously affects to despise them. When will these writings be considered, like others, to be useful-positively, as records of wisdom,-negatively, as records of folly? I consider no book so amusing as the Old Testament, or (as I have heard it called) "the compendium of ancient Hebrew Literature." I know indeed little more of Hebrew than the letters, and those only without the points; but, as this language has all the simplicity which it would retain among an unsocial people, I can manage, with the aid of a translation, to understand most of the words. If I ever printed any Hebrew, I would put all the proper names in capital letters, as I have done in the Greek. I would also divide both prose and verse into short lines, confident that the system of direct or indirect parallelism is so congenial to the language of the Hebrews, that it is often difficult to distinguish their prose from their verse. But my philosophical friends would laugh at my spending time about ancient treatises, which have been infinitely better printed by many a calculating hypocrite and officious zealot. Unhappy is the lot of the Hebrew sages to be condemned to the admiration of folly; while common sense, which, if free, might applaud, disdains, in its captivity, to do otherwise than ridicule. I know not what I shall do with the present volume. When in better health than usual, I determine to lock up the whole edition; when rather ailing, I determine to give away a few copies to par-ticular friends; when, finally, I consider that I have only a few months or days to live, I then determine to offer the whole edition for sale. At all events, the price marked on the book shall not be humble. I was decidedly wrong with regard to my reprint of the Orphica for what few purchasers there were, would probably as soon have paid seven shillings, as three and sixpence; and then again, in giving a copy away, the larger the sum marked, the greater present it seems. "Price one Guinea" therefore ornaments the title-page of this volume; and any one silly personage, who will give this sum, will put more money into my pocket, than three more sensible men, who would only honour me with the cost price of between six and seven shillings. I terminate this my Preface by consigning all "Greek Scholars " to the special care of Beelzebul. |