_John_. So that, on the whole, the matter is to me quite
inexplicable; it is certain that it must have been a premeditated
forgery and fraud, but by whom or for what possible purpose, I cannot
conceive.

C.

* * * * *

HINTS TO INTENDING EDITORS.

_Beaumont and Fletcher; Gray; Seward; Milton._--By way of carrying
out the suggestion which you thought fit to print at page 316, as to
the advantages likely to arise from intimations in your pages of the
existence of the MS. annotations, and other materials suitable to the
purposes of intending editors of standard works, I beg to mention the
following books in my possession, which are much at the service of any
editor who may apply to you for my address, viz.:--

1. A copy of Tonson's 10 vol. edit. of Beaumont and Fletcher (8vo.
1750), interleaved and copiously annotated, to the extent of about
half the plays, by Dr. Hoadly.

2. Mr. Haslewood's collection of materials for an edit. of Gray,
consisting of several works and parts of works, MS. notes, newspaper
cuttings, &c., bound in 6 vols.

3. A collection of works of Miss Anne Seward, Mr. Park's copy, with
his MS. notes, newspaper cuttings, &c.

As a first instalment of my promised notes on Milton's _Minor Poems_,
I have transcribed the following from my two copies, premising that
"G." stands for the name of Mr. Gilchrist, and "D." for that of Mr.
Dunster, whose name is misprinted in your 316th page, as "Duns_ton_."

_Notes on Lycidas._

On l. 2. (G.):--

"O'er head sat a raven, on a _sere_ bough."

_Jonson's Sad Shepherd_, Act. I. Sc. 6.

On l. 26. (D.):--

"Whose so early lay
Prevents _the eyelids of the blushing day_."

_Crashaw's Music's Duel._

On l. 27. (D.):--

"Each sheapherd's daughter, with her cleanly peale,
was come _afield_ to milke the morning's meale."

_Brown's Britannia's Pastorals_, B. iv. Sc. 4. p. 75. ed. 1616.

On l. 29. (G.):--

"And in the _deep fog batten_ all the day."

_Drayton_, vol. ii. p. 512. ed. 1753.

On l. 40. (G.):--

"The _gadding_ winde."

_Phineas Fletcher's_ 1st _Piscatorie Eclogue_, st. 21.

On l. 40. (D.):--

"This black den, which rocks emboss,
_Overgrown_ with eldest moss."

_Wither's Shepherd's Hunting_, Eclogue 4.

On l. 68. (D.) the names of Amaryllis and Neaera are combined together
with other classical names of beautiful nymphs by Ariosto (_Orl. Fur._
xi. st. 12.)

On l. 78. (D.)