VAR UN VERSITY 50*12 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, BY A. S. BARNES & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFATORY REMARKS. In a correspondence with the Rev. Albert Barnes, of Philadelphia, some months since, in reference to what poem it would be desirable next to illustrate, he replies: "I think, by all means, The Task. A man who spreads that over the world is always doing good." Encouraged by this expression of opinion, as well as by the promptings of my own mind, and by the concurrence of my publishers, in reference to the undertaking, I have essayed to bring out an edition of Cowper, which, I hope, may serve the valuable purpose of rendering him a favorite with the young and with the general reader. While Cowper's verse is eminently perspicuous, practical, and adapted to the popular mind, it cannot be denied that the mass of readers will fail properly to understand or appreciate large portions of it, unless accompanied with explanatory and illustrative notes. To the Task, which is acknowledged by all as the best production of Cowper's vigorous mind, I have added a few of his other poems, that seem most worthy of a place beside it, and best entitled to be preserved as memorials of his surpassing genius. In making the selection, I have been guided by a desire to accommodate it, as far as practicable, to the taste of the young, as well as of the mature and cultivated reader; and have embraced in it as large a number of poems as can be properly illustrated in a single volume. The present edition has been prepared, not only for popular use, but for a place in seminaries of learning, under the strong conviction that a familiar and critical acquaintance with the best of the English poets should be made at school, and that there, under competent instruction, in the reading of those poets, with the aid of ample notes, a decided taste should be formed for such invaluable productions of human genius, not only as a means of rational enjoyment in future years, but as means of a wider usefulness. The text of this edition has been carefully collated with that of Dr. Southey, and numerous errors found in some American editions have been corrected. It furnishes also, among the notes, those Parallel Passages in verse which distinguished Southey's edition, and which will afford much pleasure to every reader of taste. An Index to the Task, so very useful for reference, will be found at the end of the volume, derived from the same. edition. Concerning these Parallel Passages and the Index, Southey, in his preface, remarks: "An admirer of Cowper and a most attentive reader of his works, has sent me a copy of the Task, in the margin of which he has inserted such parallel passages as he supposed Cowper, while composing the text, might have had, wittingly or unwittingly, in mind. He accompanied it with a very useful index to that poem, thinking that, although the Task is one of the most popular long poems in our language, it is probably the one in which, from its discursive character, we find with most difficulty a half-remem bered passage." For "Table Talk" and "Conversation" also, I have in like manner prepared an Index, and have divided all the larger poems (except "Table Talk," which did not so well admit of the division) into sections of convenient length, with heads announcing the most prominent subjects. This important peculiarity of the present edition will be found a great convenience, either for desultory perusal, or when used in schools. The Person and Character of Cowper are set forth, with uncommon accuracy and beauty, in the following Sketch, by the Rev. T. S. Grimshawe, editor of an excellent London edition of Cowper; while the Genius and Poetry of Cowper are exhibited with equal excellence in the appended dissertation of the Rev. J. W. Cunningham, Vicar of Harrow, England. To render the portrait of the man and of his genius more complete, additions have been made from the critical observations of Thomas Campbell, the poet, Lord Jeffrey, and a discriminating writer in the North American Review. The Notes of the present edition, will be found also to contain a large number of biographical incidents of the author, which, besides their intrinsic interest, serve the important purpose of casting light upon the text, so that the present volume may be regarded as containing a Biography of Cowper in the best form it could assume —that of illustrating most happily the noblest productions of his mind and heart. To enjoy fully the exquisite poetry of such a writer, one must have at hand the entire literature related to each of the poems-must be familiar with the circumstances under which it was written, with the scenery present to the mind of the author, the persons he alludes to, the learned or obsolete phrases or words employed, the ancient and now forgotten customs hinted at; in one word, the reader, for the time, must be furnished, as far as practicable, with the mental perceptions and associations and emotions of the author himself when engaged in the composition of each successive poem. To supply the common reader with such materials for the enjoy ment, and for the profitable perusal, of these celebrated productions of Cowper, is the high aim of the present edition. Having now completed the labor of annotation and criticism upon the most admired poems of Milton, Young, Thomson, and Cowper, and thus having furnished a series, perhaps sufficiently extended, of the English Poets, illustrated and fitted for popular use and appreciation, I would simply express the hope that they may attain the important purpose for which they were designed, of again directing an earnest public attention to those valuable standard authors, and of greatly augmenting their influence and usefulness, in an age when they are in danger of being wholly or nearly covered up by the overwhelming abundance of a more fresh and exciting, but less profitable literature. GENEVA, N. Y. JR. B. |