On referring to my memoranda, I find that the copy of Fairfax's
translation of the _Gerusalemme Liberata_ of Tasso, containing the
_third_ variation of the first stanza, noticed in my last, has the _two_
earliest pages reprinted, in order that the alteration might be more
complete, and that the substitution, by pasting one stanza over another
(as the book is usually met with) might not be detected. A copy with the
reprinted leaf is, I apprehend, still in the library of the late William
Wordsworth; and during the last twenty years I have never been able to
procure, or even to see, another with the same peculiarity.
The course with the translator was, no doubt, this: he first printed his
book as the stanza appears under the pasted slip; this version he saw
reason to dislike, and then he had the slip printed with the variation,
and pasted over some copies not yet issued. Again he was dissatisfied,
and thinking he could improve, not only upon the first stanza, but upon
"The Argument" by which it was preceded, he procured the two pages to be
reprinted. It is, however, by no means clear to me that, after all,
Fairfax liked his third experiment better than his two others: had he
liked it better, we should, most probably, have found it in more copies
than the single one I have pointed out.
As your readers and contributors may wish to see "The Argument" and
first stanza as they are given in Mr. Wordsworth's exemplar, I
transcribe them from my note-book, because, before I gave the book away,
I took care to copy them exactly:--