taste and inclination of the poet, that he never afterward revised
them, or added to their number more than these which follow;--In
the Odyssey, Vol. I. Book xi., the note 32.--Vol. II. Book xv., the
note 13.--The note 10 Book xvi., of that volume, and the note 14,
Book xix., of the same.




ADVERTISEMENT TO SOUTHEY'S EDITION


It is incumbent upon the present Editor to state the reasons which
have induced him, between two editions of Cowper's HOMER, differing so
materially from each other that they might almost be deemed different
versions, to prefer the first.

Whoever has perused the Translator's letters, must have perceived that
he had considered with no ordinary care the scheme of his
versification, and that 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life,--ought not to be superseded by a revisal, or rather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