HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE CLOSE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. BY THOMAS WARTON, B.D. FELLOW OF TRIN. COLL., OXFORD; F.S.A.; PROFESSOR OF POETRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. WITH A PREFACE BY RICHARD PRICE, AND NOTES VARIORUM. EDITED BY W. CAREW HAZLITT. WITH NEW NOTES AND OTHER ADDITIONS BY SIR FREDERIC MADDEN, K.H., F.R.S.; WALTER W. SKEAT, M.A.; RICHARD MORRIS, LL.D; F. J. FURNIVAL, M.A.; AND THE EDITOR. WITH INDEXES OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: REEVES AND TURNER, 196, STRAND. ODLE! P LIBRARY CHISWICK PRESS: PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. F the celebrated work, of which a new and improved edition is now fubmitted to the public, there have been three former impreffions. The first appeared in three volumes quarto, between the years 1774 and 1781.1 In 1790 the author died, leaving behind him eleven sheets, or 88 pages, of a fourth volume, for which it was reported incorrectly at the time, that the complete materials exifted, and would be edited by his brother. Dr. Jofeph Warton, however, did not add a fingle line to the work, or in any way affift in the accomplishment of what was felt then to be a defirable object, the fulfilment of the original plan by bringing down the narrative to the commencement of the laft century. It does not follow, certainly, that Dr. Warton would have executed the task in a manner worthy of his brother's reputation; but at any rate, as the hiftorian left it, fo it has remained. The first volume was printed in 1774, and was brought to a fecond edition in 1775: the fecond volume appeared in 1777, and the third, ' Daniel Prince, the Oxford book feller, in a letter to Mr. Nichols of August 4, 1783, fays, "Mr. Warton's Hiftory of English Poetry will be at press again at Michaelmas next. . . . As Mr. Warton's Hiftory of English Poetry fays, 'London: Printed, &c.' you might think it was done there. The number, 1500; 1300 or more go off directly of each volume." In a letter to Nichols of June 7, 1790, Prince obferves: "I very much fear the fourth volume of the Hiftory of English Poetry will not be finished, as not above eleven fheets are printed." In another of Auguft 17, from the fame to the fame, there is the following paffage: "I cannot learn (but indeed neither Mr. Price, nor Mr. Davy are here to get better information) that any materials, much less a volume and materials for another, are in the hands of Dr. [Jofeph] Warton. By this day's coach I fend a packet to Dr. W. containing the sheets printed of the fourth volume, 88 pages; and am well informed that the Doctor engages to finish the volume from his brother's materials; and the fooner, perhaps, as a large part of the copy-money is withheld, till the work be finished." |