been too short to admit of my altering my judgment in any large number
of instances; but I have been glad to employ the present opportunity in
amending, as I hope, an occasional word or expression, and, in one or
two cases, recasting a stanza. The notices which my book has received,
and the opinions communicated by the kindness of friends, have been
gratifying to me, both in themselves, and as showing the interest which
is being felt in the subject of Horatian translation. It is not
surprising that there should be considerable differences of opinion
about the manner in which Horace is to be rendered, and also about the
metre appropriate to particular Odes; but I need not say that it is
through such discussion that questions like these advance towards
settlement. It would indeed be a satisfaction to me to think that the
question of translating Horace had been brought a step nearer to its
solution by the experiment which I again venture to submit to the
public.




PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.


The changes which I have made in this impression of my translation are
somewhat more numerous than those which I was able to introduce into
the last, as might be expected from the longer interval between the
times of publication; but the work may still be spoken of as
substantially unaltered.