Out of the olde fieldes, as men saithe, Cometh all this newe corn fro yere to yere ; And out of olde bookes, in goode faithe, Cometh all this newe science that men lere. CHAUCER. CAMBRIDGE: E. W. METCALF AND COMPANY, EDITOR'S PREFACE. THE present volume consists chiefly of selections from Owen Felltham's Resolves; a work which met with great and deserved favor on its first appearance, and kept its place before the public for nearly a century, having passed through twelve editions between 1628 and 1709. It was thought that it had strong claims to a place in this collection of old English literature, on the ground both of its style and sentiment. In the old copies it fills a folio of 344 pages, and comprises 185 chapters. These chapters are of very unequal merit; and it has been the Editor's aim to select for republication those that exhibit most strongly the author's characteristic beauties and excellences. The chapters selected are printed without alteration, except the omission, in one or two instances, of a few objectionable words. b The present selection from the Resolves, i is believed, is the only one that has been print ed for more than a century, that gives a fai representation of the work. The two editions published in London in 1806 and 1820, by James Cumming, Esq., have no right to be called Owen Felltham's Resolves. Mr. Cumming has taken the most unwarrantable liberties with the text, and indulged in the most gratuitous alterations and omissions. It seems to have been his great object to get rid of the antique words and quaint phrases which pervade the volume, and which certainly constitute one of the charms of the old writers. He has so completely modernized Felltham, and so altered his style and language, that his old friends and admirers can hardly recognise him in his new dress. To the Resolves is appended Felltham's Brief Character of the Low Countries, a work which has been somewhat celebrated for its vein of sportive humor, and which presents a singular contrast to the grave lucubrations which precede it. BOSTON, MARCH 20, 1832. ALEXANDER YOUNG. |