FROM THE WORKS OF JOSEPH ADDISON EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY EDWARD BLISS REED Assistant Professor of English Literature at Yale College Οὐ πολλὰ NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY PREFACE. THIS book has been prepared for the use of those second year men at Yale College who are pursuing a course in the history of English literature. While the selections show Addison's work as a whole, his verse as well as his prose, they are not designed for the special student of Eighteenth century writings. The text is that of Tickell's 1721 edition. This has been chosen because it represents Addison's final revision of his work. This text has been carefully collated with the first editions of the poems, and with the original sheets of the Tatler and the Spectator. The variants are printed at the bottom of each page. In many cases they are unimportant, but often they throw light both on Addison's method of composition and his thought, and therefore they should be of value to the teacher. The original sheets of the Freeholder are rare. They are not to be found in the British Museum nor in the Bodleian; the Yale library has the first twenty issues only. The Freeholder papers have therefore been collated with the first collected edition, 1716. Throughout these selections the spelling has been modernized and the original capitals and italics have not been reproduced. |