OF

OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

11

EDITED, WITH NOTES,

BY

WILLIAM J. ROLFE, A.M.,

FORMERLY HEAD MASTER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

WITH ENGRAVINGS.

XONT

NEW YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,

FRANKLIN SQUARE.

1875-

of Mrs. John B. Casserly

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE.

940

16757

THE plan of this little book is similar to that of my edition of The Merchant of Venice and other of Shakespeare's plays.

The text is based on Cunningham's, which is the most accurate of the recent editions. This has been carefully collated with Prior's, Corney's, and the "Globe" edition, and also with many of the early editions, for which I have been especially indebted to the Harvard College Library and to the Athenæum and Public Libraries of Boston. Among these are the 1st, 3d, 4th, and 13th editions of The Traveller, the 1st, 4th, and 7th (an American reprint in quarto, published at Springfield, Mass., 1783) of The Deserted Village, and the 4th of Retaliation.

The 13th edition of The Traveller (in the Athenæum library) contains some readings, including one entire couplet (see note on line 374), which I have found in no other edition, early or recent. This edition is undated, and bears no name of publisher or printer. The title-page is as follows: "The Traveller, or, A Prospect of Society. A Poem. By Dr. Goldsmith. The thirteenth edition. London: Printed for the Booksellers in Town and Country."

The notes are fuller than in any other edition known to me. Many of them are original; the rest have been drawn from every accessible source, credit being given in all cases where justice to others or to myself seemed to require it.

Cambridge, July 30, 1875.

756919