+Remarks+ upon each Play, and those are of two sorts, tho' equally
intermix'd: The first, to shew the Author's chief Excellencies as to
his Contrivance and Management of his +Plots+ and +Incidents+; the
second, to discover several Beauties of +Stile+ and +Wit+,
principally such as are not very clear, or cannot well be preserv'd
in our Tongue; and those are likewise to vindicate my Translation.
Several of these I must own my self oblig'd to Madam +Dacier+ for,
or at least the hint, tho' some of 'em I cou'd not have miss'd of in
the prosecution of those Designs I aim'd at. I have borrow'd little
or nothing from any other, for her's are far the best +Notes+ I ever
met with, tho' many of 'em were done more to shew her Parts and
Reading than for any real use, a thing which I shall never aim at.
I have been forc'd in most of 'em to be extream nice and curious in
penetrating into the bottom of the Author, for I find it far more
difficult to discover a Beauty than a Fault. I might have enlarg'd
upon 'em, and have made several more, with good grounds, but I
thought it dangerous to say all that cou'd be said; but instead of
that I was forc'd, much against my will, to dash out several of
those upon +Amphitryon+ upon the account of the Printer, but the
rest are more full and compleat.
If business wou'd have permitted me, I shou'd have ventur'd upon
three more of our Authors Plays; and upon that Account, I have taken
somewhat less time than was necessary for the translating such an
extraordinary difficult Author; for this requires more than double
the time of a +Historian+ or the like, which was as much as I cou'd
allow my self. I made choice of these three Plays as well for their
+Modesty+ as +Regularity+, for above all things I wou'd by no means
give the least Encouragement to Lewdness or Obscenity, which grow
too fast of themselves; and therefore I thought I cou'd not chuse
better than after a Lady. +Amphitryon+ had the Name, and never
fail'd of a general Approbation; +Epidicus+ was our Author's
Favourite, and truly there is much Art in it, tho' it is a little
heavy; and +Rudens+ is in several respects a better Play than any of
+Plautus+'s or +Terence+'s. I'm afraid +Amphitryon+ will bear the
worse in our Tongue, upon the Account of Mr. +Dryden+'s, whose
Improvements are very extraordinary; but considering Mr. +Dryden+'s
Management is of such a different Nature, this will still be as
useful and as proper for my +Design+, or at least to School-boys and
Learners. I must do that great Man the Justice in saying, that he
has not only much improved the +Humour+, +Wit+, and +Design+ in many
places, but likewise the +Thoughts+. I'll mention one, which just
now comes into my mind. +Alcmena+ in the Second Act complains thus:
+How poor and short are this Life's Pleasures, if once compar'd with
the Sorrows we endure? 'Tis Man's Destiny, and Heaven's Pleasure, to
mix our Joys with bitter Potions; and for some few Hours of
Satisfaction, we meet with Ages of Ills and Troubles.+ Mr. +Dryden+,
by the help of Blank Verse, and a little more room, has better'd it
extreamly.
Ye niggard Gods! you make our Lives too long:
You fill 'em with Diseases, Wants, and Woes,
And only dash 'em with a little Love;
Sprinkled by Fits, and with a sparing Hand.
Count all our Joys, from Childhood ev'n to Age,
They wou'd but make a Day of ev'ry Year:
And to carry it on further yet, and to make it appear more fine and
clear, he says,
Take back your Sev'nty Years, (the stint of Life)
Or else be kind, and cram the Quintessence
Of Sev'nty Years into sweet Sev'nty Days:
For all the rest is flat, insipid Being.
I mention this the rather, because it may serve for one Instance of
what Improvements our Modern Poets have made on the Ancients, when
they built upon their Foundations. For we find that many of the fine
things of the Ancients are like Seeds, that, when planted on
+English+ Ground by a Skilful Poet's Hand, thrive, and produce
excellent Fruit.
But I'm afraid this +Preface+ has been too long and tedious for this
small Piece; but the Press stays, and the hast I'm in will not
permit me to make it shorter, or so much as review it; yet before I
conclude, I must inform the Reader, that I had the Advantage of
another's doing their +P+lays before me; from whose Translation I
had very considerable Helps, especially in the +Jests+ and
+Quibbles+.
The Augustan Reprint Society
WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK
MEMORIAL LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT
[Decoration]
[Where available, Project Gutenberg e-text numbers are given in
brackets.]
1948-1949
16. Henry Nevil Payne, _The Fatal Jealousie_ (1673). [16916]
18. Anonymous, "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10
(1719), and Aaron Hill, Preface to The Creation (1720). [15870]
1949-1950
19. Susanna Centlivre, _The Busie Body_ (1709). [16740]
20. Lewis Theobald, _Preface to the Works of Shakespeare_ (1734).
[16346]
22. Samuel Johnson, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and two
_Rambler_ papers (1750). [13350]
23. John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681). [15074]
1950-1951
26. Charles Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1792). [14463]
1951-1952
31. Thomas Gray, _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard_ (1751), and
_The Eton College Manuscript_. [15409]
1952-1953
41. Bernard Mandeville, _A Letter to Dion_ (1732). [29478]
1962-1963
98. _Select Hymns Taken Out of Mr. Herbert's Temple_ (1697).
1963-1964
104. Thomas D'Urfey, _Wonders in the Sun_; or, _The Kingdom of the
Birds_ (1706).
1964-1965
110. John Tutchin, _Selected Poems_ (1685-1700). [_In Preparation_]
111. Anonymous, _Political Justice_ (1736).
112. Robert Dodsley, _An Essay on Fable_ (1764).
113. T. R., _An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning_ (1698).
114. _Two Poems Against Pope_: Leonard Welsted, _One Epistle to Mr. A.
Pope_ (1730), and Anonymous, _The Blatant Beast_ (1742). [21499]
1965-1966
115. Daniel Defoe and others, _Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal_.
116. Charles Macklin, _The Covent Garden Theatre_ (1752). [_In
Preparation_]
117. Sir George L'Estrange, _Citt and Bumpkin_ (1680). [_In Preparation_]
118. Henry More, _Enthusiasmus Triumphatus_ (1662).
119. Thomas Traherne, _Meditations on the Six Days of the Creation_
(1717).
120. Bernard Mandeville, _Aesop Dress'd or a Collection of Fables_
(1704). [_In Preparation_]
1966-1967
122. James MacPherson, _Fragments of Ancient Poetry_ (1760). [8161]
123. Edmond Malone, _Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to
Mr. Thomas Rowley_ (1782). [29116]
124. Anonymous, _The Female Wits_ (1704). [_In Preparation_]
125. Anonymous, _The Scribleriad_ (1742). Lord Hervey, _The Difference
Between Verbal and Practical Virtue_ (1742). [_In Preparation_]
126. _Le Lutrin: an Heroick Poem, Written Originally in French by
Monsieur Boileau: Made English by N. O._ (1682).
Subsequent publications may be checked in the annual prospectus.
Publications #1 through 90, of the first fifteen years of Augustan
Reprint Society, are available in bound units at $14.00 per unit of six
from:
KRAUS REPRINT CORPORATION
16 East 46th Street
New York, N.Y. 10017
Publications in print are available at the regular membership rate of
$5.00 yearly. Prices of single issues may be obtained upon request.
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library:
University of California, Los Angeles
THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
_General Editors_: George Robert Guffey, University of California,
Los Angeles; Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los
Angeles; Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.
_Corresponding Secretary_: Mrs. Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark
Memorial Library.
The Society's purpose is to publish reprints (usually facsimile
reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century works. All
income of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and
mailing.
Correspondence concerning memberships in the United States and Canada
should be addressed to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520
Cimarron St., Los Angeles, California. Correspondence concerning
editorial matters may be addressed to any of the general editors at the
same address. Manuscripts of introductions should conform to the
recommendations of the MLA _Style Sheet_. The membership fee is $5.00 a
year in the United States and Canada and 30 -- in Great Britain and
Europe. British and European prospective members should address B. H.
Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. Copies of back issues in print
may be obtained from the Corresponding Secretary.
PUBLICATIONS FOR 1967-1968
127-128. Charles Macklin, _A Will and No Will, or a Bone for the
Lawyers_ (1746). _The New Play Criticiz'd, or The Plague of Envy_
(1747). Introduction by Jean B. Kern. [_In Preparation_]
129. Lawrence Echard, Prefaces to _Terence's Comedies_ (1694) and
_Plautus's Comedies_ (1694). Introduction by John Barnard.
[_Present Text_]
130. Henry More, _Democritus Platonissans_ (1646). Introduction by P. G.
Stanwood. [_In Preparation_]
131. John Evelyn, _The History of . . . Sabatai Sevi . . . The Suppos'd
Messiah of the Jews_ (1669). Introduction by Christopher W. Grose.
[_In Preparation_]
132. Walter Harte, _An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the Dunciad_
(1730). Introduction by Thomas B. Gilmore. [29237]
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Next in the series of special publications by the Society will be a
volume including Elkanah Settle's _The Empress of Morocco_ (1673) with
six plates; _Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco_ (1674)
by John Dryden, John Crowne and Thomas Shadwell; _Notes and Observations
on the Empress of Morocco Revised_ (1674) by Elkanah Settle: and
_The Empress of Morocco. A Farce_ (1674) by Thomas Duffet, with an
Introduction by Maximillian E. Novak. Already published in this series
are reprints of John Ogilby's _The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse_
(1668) with an Introduction by Earl Miner and John Gay's _Fables_ (1727,
1738), with an Introduction by Vinton A. Dearing. Publication is
assisted by funds from the Chancellor of the University of California,
Los Angeles. Price to members of the Society, $2.50 for the first copy
and $3.25 for additional copies. Price to non-members, $4.00.
THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
2520 Cimarron Street at West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
90018
Make check or money order payable to THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA.
* * * * *
* * * *
Errata (noted by transcriber)
_In the Prefaces, errors were corrected only if a later edition showed
the same correction._
_Editor's Introduction_
under the imprint of Thomas Salusbury [_spelling is correct_]
another's doing their [i.e., "these"?] Plays before me
[_this and following bracketed notes are in the original_]
_Preface to Terence_
vix de demenso suo, suum defraudans genium
[demcuso ... defrudans]
Eheu me miseram! [Ehen]
ni unum desit [de sit]
perfectly just, truly proportionably [. for,]
he never fails in any one place, but [. for,]
why he goes off, where he's a going [goes of]
the whole cou'dn't contain above Eleven hours [about Eleven hours]
for such inferior Persons, we leave to others. [. invisible]
or to say very little, as 'twas agreeable to them
[_s in "as" invisible_]
In some things they are too short, in others too long [. for,]
_School-Masters_ often want time, and now and then Judgment
[time. and now then and]
some hints we had from the _French_, but [. for,]
_Odiosus_, _Tristis_, &c. these we
[_missing ; or : after "&c.", OR error for "These"_]
They may possibly take 'em for Blunders [' missing or invisible]
but we have better offend this way than the other [beeter]
_Preface to Plautus_
due Observance and Penetration [Penitration]
Exit +Euclio+. [Eudio]
And besure you secure the Door [_spacing as shown_]
For the Reader's Satisfaction, here follows [he follows]
_Augustan Reprints_
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES [. for,]
and 30 -- in Great Britain and Europe [_unchanged_]