OR THE

RECOVERY OF JERUSALEM :

DONE INTO ENGLISH HEROICAL VERSE,

FROM THE ITALIAN OF TASSO,

BY EDWARD FAIRFAX.

FIRST AMERICAN FROM THE SEVENTH LONDON EDITION,
REPRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL FOLIO OF 1600.

TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED,

AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, BY LEIGH HUNT,

AND

THE LIVES OF TASSO AND FAIRFAX, BY CHARLES KNIGHT.

IN TWO VOLUMES.-VOL. 1.

NEW YORK:

WILEY & PUTNAM, 161 BROADWAY.

1845.

1845.

PQ4642 E21F3 1845 v, 1-2 MAIN

"IN scenes like these, which, daring to depart
From sober truth, are still to nature true,
And call forth fresh delight to Fancy's view,
Th' heroic muse employ'd her Tasso's art.
How have I trembled, when, at Tancred's stroke,

Its gushing blood the gaping cypress pour'd!
When each live plant with mortal accents spoke,
And the wild blast upheav'd the vanish'd sword!
How have I sat, when pip'd the pensive wind,
To hear his harp by British FAIRFAX strung!
Prevailing poet! whose undoubting mind

Believ'd the magic wonders which he sung!
Hence, at each sound, imagination glows;

Hence, at each picture, vivid life starts here; Hence, his warm lay with softest sweetness flows;

Melting it flows, pure, murmuring, strong, and clear,

And fills th' impassion'd heart, and wins th' harmonious ear!"

COLLINS.

AMERICAN ADVERTISEMENT.

THE editor and publishers of this series confess to a feeling of pride in being the means of introducing to the public the first edition, on this side of the Atlantic, of Fairfax's Tasso-a book of genuine poetry, transfused from the great poet of Italy in an age when, more than now, poetry was the language of England-a book, the admiration of which is a test of one's love and appreciation of poesy herself—and yet a book which, under the corruptions of taste in the old world, has at times been strangely neglected, like the great Old Dramatists, for the inferior jingle and euphuisms of late writers. It is here introduced into the Foreign Library in strict conformity with the pledge to publish the best translations of the best authors. For Fairfax, as a poet and a translator, eminent authorities have expressed the greatest respect. From the royal tributes of King James and King Charles, and the no less royal tributes of the genius of Waller, Dryden, and Collins, the poet of poets, to Leigh Hunt, his praises have been sounded in no faltering strain. There is but one other book in English literature which may be compared with Fairfax's Tasso, and that will speedily appear in this series-the translation of the Iliad and Odyssey by George Chapman. When these are issued, with Charles Lamb's Specimens of the English Dramatic Poets, included in the Library of Choice Reading, the reader will have in few volumes some of the choicest poetic treasures in the language, books which contain a full answer to Leigh Hunt's question, "What is Poetry ?"

In the present edition the text of Charles Knight's* edition from the old folio of 1600, has been followed. The critique by Leigh Hunt is from one of his periodical papers not included in either the Indicator or the Companion. Charles Knight's Lives of Tasso and Fairfax follow. The Commendatory Poem by Robert Gould to the third edition of the Poem; and a Poem, "The Genius of Godfrey to Prince Charles," have been taken from the edition by Singer. The following is Charles Knight's advertisement to the last English edition.

The well-known services of this distinguished author and publisher in diffusing the best literature among the people, entitle him to the especial thanks and gratitude of American readers, who have largely profited by his labors.