THE FIRST BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES, WITH A LITERAL INTERLINEAR TRANSLATION, AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES: ON THE PLAN RECOMMENDED BY MR. LOCKE. LONDON: PRINTED FOR JOHN TAYLOR, Bookseller and Publisher to the University of London; AND SOLD BY J. DUNCAN, PATERNOSTER-ROW; J. A. HESSEY, PREFACE. THE METAMORPHOSES of Ovid have always been considered an eligible manual for the purpose of elementary instruction in classic literature; and the simplicity of style observable in the writings of this poet would be a strong claim to such preference, independent of the attractive nature of the subject-matter presented in this particular work. Simplicity of style, we would here mean to be understood with reference to perspicuity of diction and grammatical construction. The language of Ovid is pure, easy, and natural, and in general free from those obscurities occasioned by harsh metaphor, or intricate structure of sentences, which cannot fail to embarrass the young learner. At the same time, however, that we commend the simplicity of his poetry, as avoiding those anomalies of language which sometimes appear to be affected by writers of less taste and judgment, we |