when he resolved upon altering it in a second
edition, it was in deference to the opinion of others.

It seems to the Editor that Cowper's own judgment is entitled to more
respect, than that of any, or all his critics; and that the version
which he composed when his faculties were most active and his spirits
least subject to depression,--indeed in the happiest part of his
life,--ought not to be superseded by a revisal, or rather
reconstruction, which was undertaken three years before his
death,--not like the first translation as "a pleasant work, an
innocent luxury," the cheerful and delightful occupation of hope and
ardor and ambition,--but as a "hopeless employment," a task to which
he gave "all his miserable days, and often many hours of the night,"
seeking to beguile the sense of utter wretchedness, by altering as if
for the sake of alteration.

The Editor has been confirmed in this opinion by the concurrence of
every person with whom he has communicated on the subject. Among
others he takes the liberty of mentioning Mr. Cary, whose authority
upon such a question is of especial weight, the Translator of Dante
being the only one of our countrymen who has ever executed a
translation of equal magnitude and not less difficulty, with the same
perfect fidelity and admirable skill.

In support of this determination, the case of Tasso may be cited as
curiously in point. The great Italian poet altered his Jerusalem like
Cowper, against his own judgment, in submission to his critics: he
made the alteration in the latter years of his life, and in a diseased
state of mind; and he proceeded upon the same prescribed rule of
smoothing down his versification, and removing all the elisions. The
consequence has been that the reconstructed poem is utterly neglected,
and has rarely, if ever, been reprinted, except in the two great
editions of his collected works; while the original poem has been and
continues to be in such demand, that the most diligent bibliographer
might vainly attempt to enumerate all the editions through which it
has passed.

EDITOR'S NOTE.

It will be seen by the Advertisement to Southey's edition of Cowper's
Translation of the Iliad, that he has the highest opinion of its
merits, and that he also gives the preference to Cowper's unrevised
edition. The Editor of the present edition is happy to offer it to the
public under the sanction of such high authority.

In the addi