vertheless, but an inferior portion either of the poems printed in the Work entitled "Bland's Collections," or of the authors contained in that far larger storehouse of original poetry generally known under the appellation of "The Greek Anthology." The literary history of that remarkable compilation, and of its various successive collectors, has been already sufficiently detailed by Mr. Bland in his Preface here reprinted; and from this it will be seen, without going into unnecessary repetition, that the portion which may be properly called Meleager's, though the smallest in extent, is far the most valuable, as exhibiting the productions of the better ages; while the remainder, being spread over the whole extended period of Grecian degeneracy, from the age of Augustus to the fall of the Constantinopolitan Empire, must be regarded as comparatively of low estimation in the scale of classical excellence, although far from deficient in the refinements of poetical expression and sentiment. At the same time, all those specimens of the Gnomic, Elegiac, and Dramatic fragments of antiquity which are contained in our former volumes, although included by Brunck in his Analecta, formed no part of either of the

Anthologies, properly so denominated. These are now, therefore, reserved to constitute an appendix to a second volume, should I receive sufficient encouragement to enter on such an undertaking.

In using this hypothetical expression, I beg, however, to be considered as free from the apprehension expressed by my late colleague, of being numbered among those who injure the cause they espouse "by giving dignity to trifles." On the contrary, I am well convinced that no genuine scholar will ever regard the bulk of the poems which constitute what is commonly known as the Greek Anthology in a point of view so disparaging, or refuse to admit that it forms an essential portion of what remains to us of Grecian literature.

Enough has been said to explain in what consists the principal difference above referred to; and, by comparison with the edition of 1813, it will be found that more than three fourths of the contents of the present are additions to the former Work, and that, even as to those which are republished, so much of correction and amendment has been freely admitted as to render them in many instances new versions of the ori

ginal; except indeed with respect to Mr. Bland's translations, which I have seldom thought myself at liberty to alter in any essential matter. His portion of the Work is distinguished, as in the former publication, by the initial B.; while the letter H. still continues to denote the contributions of Mr. Hodgson, and those marked C. M. belong to my son, Mr. Charles Merivale, of St. John's College, Cambridge, whom I am proud to name on the present occasion as having afforded me most material assistance in the arrangement of the Work*.

* I have omitted, from not feeling myself sufficiently autho rized, to insert the names of other contributors, whose initials will be found interspersed through the work. But I cannot suffer this motive of delicacy to extend so far as to restrain me from naming those to whom I am more particularly indebted for much valuable advice and suggestion as to the conduct of the Work,-Henry Nelson Coleridge, Esq., author of one of the versions of the 47th Epigram of Callimachus; and Benjamin Keen, Esq., the contributor of several from Meleager and others, which will be discovered by the initials severally affixed to them. I must be also allowed to embrace the present opportunity of expressing my acknowledgments to Mr. John Edward Taylor, of the printing establishment of Mr. Richard Taylor, for the able critical assistance he has rendered me in many parts of the Work, no less than for his zealous attention to the office of typographical correction and superintendence through the whole of it.

It remains merely to notice that the Greek text which I have uniformly followed is that of Brunck and Jacobs, except as to the fragments of Lyric Poetry which are not to be found in their respective collections. I should have willingly subjoined the originals for the greater satisfaction of critical readers, but found it would swell the Work both in respect of size and expense far beyond my wishes, and have therefore contented myself with adding double references to the Planudean Anthology printed by Henry Stephens, and to the celebrated Vatican MS. now rendered accessible to all scholars by means of the Transcript recently edited*. On the merits or demerits of the several versions, I must leave it to others to pronounce judgment; but, at the risk even of repeating some of what has been already urged by Mr. Bland in his Preface, I must be allowed to conclude with a few remarks as to the nature of the task which it has been our aim to accomplish.

The reader who is acquainted with the original

* "Anthologia Græca, ad fidem Codicis olim Palatini nunc Parisini, ex Apographo Gothano edita." A Jacobs. 4 tom. Lips. 1813.

will at once perceive that, as the compilation has been the work of several hands, so no uniform rules of translation have been adopted. Many of the Epigrams in the Anthology owe their whole charm to their perfect unity of sentiment and simplicity of expression. Here, therefore, it becomes the duty of the translator to preserve the charm by rendering his version, at whatever disadvantage, as literal as he can. Others, again, contain more expanded thoughts, and more various imagery; and here will be found to have been allowed the occasional licence of paraphrase, since the metaphors which pass current in an ancient idiom are rarely convertible into precise equivalents in modern diction. If, on the other hand, many of the fancies of these early poets appear common-place and trivial to those accustomed to the variety of more recent literature; if the reader occasionally stumbles upon a thought hackneyed by modern usage, or a conceit rendered familiar to him by its transfusion through many languages, let him remember that the Anthology, although a rich, is not an inexhaustible storehouse of treasures, which later ages have plundered without restraint or