LIBRARY OF OLD AUTHORS. 301 



duct of those presses which had been admired, and that 

 Mr. Smith presents a still worthier object of admiration 

 when he contrives to follow a path and rival a press at 

 the same time. But let that pass ; it is the claim to 

 accuracy which we dispute ; and we deliberately affirm, 

 that, so far as we are able to judge by the volumes we 

 have examined, no claim more unfounded was ever set 

 up. In some cases, as we shall show presently, the 

 blunders of the original work have been followed with 

 painful accuracy in the reprint ; but many others have 

 been added by the carelessness of Mr. Smith's printers 

 or editors. In the thirteen pages of Mr. Offer's own In- 

 troduction we have found as many as seven typographi- 

 cal errors, unless some of them are to be excused on 

 the ground that Mr. Offer's studies have not yet led him 

 into those arcana where we are taught such recondite mys- 

 teries of language as that verbs agree with their nomi- 

 natives. In Mr. Fair's Introduction to the " Hymns 

 and Songs" nine short extracts from other poems of 

 Wither are quoted, and in these we have found no less 

 than seven misprints or false readings which materially 

 affect the sense. Textual inaccuracy is a grave fault in 

 the new edition of an old poet ; and Mr. Farr is not 

 only liable to this charge, but also to that of making 

 blundering misstatements which are calculated to mis- 

 lead the careless or uncritical reader. Infected by the 

 absurd cant which has been prevalent for the last dozen 

 years among literary sciolists, he says, " The language 

 used by Wither in all his various works whether 

 secular or sacred is pure Saxon." Taken literally, 

 this assertion is manifestly ridiculous, and, allowing it 

 every possible limitation, it is not only untrue of With- 

 er, but of every English poet, from Chaucer down. The 

 translators of our Bible made use of the German version, 

 and a poet versifying the English Scriptures would 



