he need not be ashamed of having bestowed some of his idle hours on the ancient
literature of our own country, or in rescuing from oblivion some pieces (though but
the amusements of our ancestors) which tend to place in a striking light their taste,
genius, sentiments, or manners.
***Except in one paragraph, and in the notes subjoined, this preface is given with little
variation from the first edition in MDCCLXV.
NOTES.
- Chaucer quotes the old romance of "Libius Disconius" and also some others, which
are Songs found in this MS. -- see the Essay in vol ii. below. It also contains several
songs relating to the Civil War in the last century, but not one that alludes to the
Restoration. - Mr. Addison, Mr. Dryden, and the witty Lord Dorset, Etc.-- see the Spectator, No.
- To these might be added many eminent judges now alive. The learned Selden
appears also to have been fond of collecting these old things.--See below. - A life of our curious collector, Mr. Pepys, may be seen in "The Continuation of Mr.
Collier's Supplement to his great Dictionary, 1716, at the end of vol. iii. folio. Art.
PEP." - Such liberties have been taken with all those pieces which have three asterisks
subjoined, thus***. - That the Editor hath not here underrated the assistance he received from his friend,
will appear from Mr. Shenstone's own letter to the Rev. Mr. Graves, dated March 1st,
1761.-- See his Works, vol. iii. letter ciii. It is doubtless a great loss to this work that
Mr. Shenstone never saw more than about a third of one of these volumes, as prepared
for the press. - Who informed the Editor that this MS. had been purchased in a library of old
books, which was thought to have belonged to Thomas Blount, author of theJocular
Tenures,1679, 4to, and of many other publications enumerated in Wood's Athena, ii.
73; the earliest of which isThe Art of making Devises, 1646, 4to, wherein he is
described to be "of the Inner Temple." If the collection was made by this lawyer (who
also published theLaw Dictionary, 1671, folio), it should seem, from the errors and
defects with which the MS. abounds, that he had employed his clerk in writing the
transcripts, who was often weary of his task. - To the same learned and ingenious friend, since Master of Emanuel College, the
Editor is obliged for many corrections and improvements in his second and
subsequent editions; as also to the Rev. Mr. Bowie, of Idmistone, near Salisbury,
editor of the curious edition ofDon Quixote, with Annotations, In Spanish, in 6 vols.
4to; to the Rev. Mr. Cole, formerly of Blecheley, near Fenny-Stratford, Bucks; to the
Rev. Mr. Lambe, of Noreham, in Northumberland (author of a learnedHistory of
Chess, 1764, 8vo, and editor of a curious Poem on theBattle of Flodden Field, with
learned notes 1774, 8vo); and to G. Paton, Esq., of Edinburgh. He is particularly
indebted to two friends, to whom the public, as well as himself, are under the greatest
obligations: to the Honourable Danes Barrington, for his very learned and curious
Obervations on the Statutes, 4to; and to Thomas Tyrwhitt, Esq., whose most correct
and elegant edition of Chancer'sCanterbury Tales, 5 vols. 8vo, is a standard book,
and shows how an ancient English classic should be published. The Editor was also