PREFACE. THE two following poems have been selected as the only specimens of Pastoral Elegy that Milton has given to the world. Besides the Arcades and the Comus-which are dramatic pastorals-they are his sole contribution to a class of poetry which was in his age most fashionable, and whose influence is apparent in most of his poems, especially those of earlier date. The origin and history of the Pastoral, and its place in European literature, will form the subject of the first part of the following Introduction, in which I have endeavoured to give such preliminary information as may enable the reader An attempt was made to dramatise the Lycidas in a piece entitled Lycidas, A Musical Entertainment, which appears to have Theatre been performed at the For Royal, Covent Garden, in 1767. the Lycidas: How well could I have spared for thee The sheep look up and are not fed, Rot and the foul contagion spreadNot so thy Flocks, O Shepherd dear; Not so thy Songs, O Muse most rare! For the credit of the play-going public of the last century it is to be hoped that this piece met with all the success it deserved. to get some idea of the purpose and character of the Lycidas and the Epitaphium Damonis before entering upon a critical examination of them. With the former of these all Englishmen, who have even a moderate knowledge of the poetry of their own country, are probably more or less familiar; the latter is perhaps known only by name to many a student of Milton, whose acquaintance with him is confined to the English poems. All such will unite with me in grateful acknowledgments to Professor Masson for having rescued this touching elegy from its partial obscurity, by his notice of it as illustrating one of the most affecting passages in the early life of our great poet, and by his admirable translation into English hexameters, which by his kind permission I have been enabled to insert in this volume. And here, while I most gladly admit my many obligations to that eminent biographer of Milton, perhaps it is only fair to myself to say that the idea of including the Epitaphium was conceived by me long before the publication of his second volume. It was added not only because of the similarity of its subject and occasion to those of the Lycidas, but also from a belief that the study of Milton's Latin poetry, considered as a more or less successful imitation of ancient models, would prove eminently useful to those who are far enough advanced in scholarship to be able to translate the classical authors themselves with some degree of ease and fluency. Such a study, by way of occasional exercise, would be no bad training for young scholars in our public schools and elsewhere, if they came to the task furnished with some previous knowledge of the matter of the poems, such as the present edition supplies in the case of the Epitaphium Damonis. Here therefore the notes have been made as concise as possible; since I thought it unnecessary to dwell upon ordinary points of grammar, except where some unusual or doubtful construction might call for remark, and since I had explained many of the allusions in my previous commentary upon the Lycidas. As the greater number of the references are to Virgil and Theocritus, whose works every scholar is supposed to possess, I have not generally cited the passages in extenso; but in annotating the Lycidas some discretion has been exercised in this matter. Quotations from Latin, Greek, and sometimes from Italian authors, are mostly given in the original. In a few cases I have attempted a translation, where the point of the reference lay in the matter of the extract, and not in the grammatical form of expression. In commenting upon both poems, I have tried to state clearly and without reserve the conflicting opinions of former editors upon disputed passages, fairly balancing the evidence and giving what I considered adequate reasons for choosing or rejecting any particular interpretation. In one or two instances I have been unwillingly compelled to leave the question doubtful, and in one at least (see note on Lycidas, 163) it was felt necessary to return to an older explanation, in spite of the fact that all recent editors have adopted the new one. In every case I have aimed at so much conciseness as was compatible with a thorough examination of each point under discussion; for although I quite agree with Mr. Keightley' that brevity in a note is a thing most desirable, I know that it is highly unsatisfactory to the reader to find a difficulty unexamined or passed over, and to be put off with the ipse dixit of a commentator, when he expects, if not a solution of the matter in dispute, at least an impartial statement of diverse views. Besides supplying what is barely necessary for understanding the author's meaning, I have sought to give collateral information on points of English grammar and etymology, illustrated by references and quotations, and also to exhibit from certain lines in the Lycidas (especially . 113 foll.) Milton's relation to the history and religious opinions of his time. To avoid needlessly encumbering the notes, the bulk of such information has been placed in two Appendices at the end of the poem. Among the various books consulted, I may mention the following: 1. The editions of Milton's poems by Newton, Warton, and Todd, chiefly useful for references; also, Keightley's edition of 1859, and that by Mr. Browne, published in the Clarendon Series, 1870. The respective merits of all these are noticed in the Introduction (pp. 38-9). 2. Dictionaries of all kinds, English and foreign (including the latest edition of Johnson by Latham, and Wedgwood's Dictionary of English Etymology, 1872), Preface to his Edition of Milton's Poems. |