EducT 814,528.421 Harvard University, TRANSFERRED TO 1932 COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PREFACE. THE need for a new edition of Collins is obvious. Dyce's edition, in many ways so admirable, has long been out of print. The Aldine Collins, with many merits, yet leaves much to be desired. Of the other current editions even the best lay no claim to originality or comprehensiveness, while the worst are almost incredibly careless reprints of careless predecessors. The present edition is at least of broader scope than any which has hitherto appeared. It contains (1) a critical text carefully transcribed from the original editions; (2) variant readings, with their sources and comparative value set forth; (3) numerous notes, including a good deal of new illustrative material; (4) a biographical sketch based so far as possible upon original records (newly verified) and the statements of the poet's contemporaries, the sources and their relative trustworthiness being indicated; (5) a comprehensive and systematic study of the poetry of Collins. In poems which exist in more than one form, the text that seems to represent the poet's last revision has been adopted, other readings being given a place at the foot of the page. The capitalization of the original editions, in which nearly every noun begins with a capital, has been abandoned for modern usage. Punctuation has been changed as little as possible, but when the sense required I have not hesitated to repoint freely; in the few instances where the meaning may fairly be considered doubtful, either the original punctuation has been retained or the change has been recorded in the notes. Breathings and accents have been affixed to quotations in Greek. In some of the odes, divisional headings have been supplied where they were omitted in the original edition or were indicated by figures only. Foot-notes signed "C." are by Collins. It is a pleasant duty to acknowledge my obligations to the friends and strangers who have aided me in this work. To the authorities of the Harvard University Library, of the British Museum, and of the South Kensington Museum I am indebted for access to original editions and collateral material; to the curates of St. Peter's the Great and the Church of St. Andrew, Chichester, for opportunity to examine the parish records of Collins's baptism and burial; to the Warden of Winchester College, for transcripts of the records of Collins's admission and superannuation at that school, with other particulars; to the Vice-Chancellor, the President of Magdalen College, the Keeper of the Archives, and Professor A. S. Napier, all of Oxford University,- for transcripts of the university records regarding Collins and for other courtesies; to Professor Frank M. Bronson, of the Academy of Chicago University, for the translations (not otherwise accredited) from the Greek and Latin, and for most of the accompanying notes; to Professors John M. Manly, Francis G. Allinson, and Joseph N. Ashton, and Mr. R. E. Neil Dodge, now or formerly my colleagues in Brown University, and to Professor Francis B. Gummere, of Haverford College, for assistance upon sundry points; and to Dr. Daniel H. Fuller, formerly First Assistant Physician in the McLean Hospital for the Insane, for an opinion on the causes and nature of Collins's insanity. To Professor George L. Kittredge, who has read the whole book in manuscript and in proof, I wish to express my special thanks for many valuable criticisms and suggestions. PROVIDENCE, R. I., Sept. 30, 1898. W. C. B. |