DRYDEN'S PALAMON AND ARCITE


EDITED
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
GEORGE E. ELIOT, A.M.
ENGLISH MASTER IN THE MORGAN SCHOOL

TO
HENRY A. BEERS
PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN YALE UNIVERSITY
WHO FIRST AROUSED MY INTEREST IN DRYDEN
AND DIRECTED MY STUDY OF HIS WORKS


THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED

PREFACE.

To edit an English classic for study in secondary schools is difficult.
The lack of anything like uniformity in the type of examination required
by the colleges and universities complicates treatment. Not only do two
distinct institutions differ in the scope and character of their
questions, but the same university varies its demands from year to year.
The only safe course to pursue is, therefore, a generally comprehensive
one. But here, again, we are hampered by limited space, and are forced
to content ourselves with a bare outline, which the individual
instructor can fill in as much or as little as he pleases.

The ignorance of most of our classical students in regard to the history