CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, C. F. CLAY, MANAGER. London: FETTER LANE, E.C. Leipzig: F. A. BROCKHAUS. [All Rights reserved] 09-13-28x160 Sathi, 1756+ TE NOTE. 'HE present volume contains the whole of Prior's English literary works in prose and verse, other than those published in the folio of 1718, which were contained in the volume edited by me two years ago. It thus completes the publication of the text of Prior's writings as designed, and it is pleasant to remember that this publication has been undertaken by the Press for which Prior negotiated a purchase of Greek type when in Paris in 17001. More than half the pages now published contain additions to the known writings of Prior, and, in respect of this, the thanks of all who are interested in the literature of the 17th and 18th centuries are due to the Marquess of Bath, who kindly permitted me to make an examination of the whole of Prior's literary papers preserved at Longleat, and who readily granted leave to the Syndics of the University Press to publish them. It is but rarely, now, that an addition of this bulk can be made to the works of a writer who exercised an abiding influence on the form of English verse, besides being a person of importance in his day. The additions thus made are of varying importance. The prose Dialogues of the Dead seem to me to be among the best of their kind. They were read by Pope and thought 'very good,' and they were seen and praised by a few other and lesser people in the 18th century. The Dialogue between Mr John Lock and 1 See J. E. B. Mayor, in Notes and Queries, S. ii, v. 5, p. 356. |