[1] Dr. Johnson has ascribed the invention of local poetry to Denham,
who, he thought, had "traced a new scheme of poetry, copied by Garth
and Pope, after whose names little will be gained by an enumeration
of smaller poets." Johnson and the critics of his day were wholly
unacquainted with the Fathers of our poetry; nor is it true that we
have not had loco-descriptive poems since Garth and Pope, which may
rank with theirs.
[2] Perhaps none of our poets have been more luckless in their
editors than Drayton. He himself published a folio edition of his
works in 1619; but some of his more interesting productions, now
lying before me, are contained in a small volume, 1631--the year in
which he died.
A modern folio edition was published by Dodsley in 1748. The
title-page assures us that this volume contains _all_ his writings;
while a later edition, in four volumes 8vo, 1753, pretends to supply
the deficiencies of the former, which at length Dodsley had
discovered, but it is awkwardly done by an _Appendix_, and is still
deficient. The rapid demand for a new edition of Drayton between 1748
and 1753 bears a suspicious aspect. An intelligent bibliopolist, Mr.
Rodd, informs me that this _octavo_ edition is in fact the identical
_folio_, only arranged to the octavo form by a contrivance, well
known among printers, at the time of printing the folio. The
separation of the additional poems in the Appendix confirms this
suggestion.
Of the "Poly-olbion," the edition called the second, of 1622, has
fetched an excessive price; while the first, considered incomplete,
may be procured at a very moderate price. The possessor of the first
edition, however, enjoys the whole treasure of Selden's lore. Mr.
Southey, in his "Specimens of Our Ancient Poets," has reprinted the
entire "Poly-olbion" with his usual judgment; but, unhappily, the
rich stores of Selden the publishers probably deemed superfluous.
Drayton is worthy of a complete edition of his works.