OVID'S ELEGIES.
34 lines✦
ll the old editions of Marlowe's translation of the _Amores_ areundated, and bear the imprint Middleburgh (in various spellings). It isprobable that the copy which Mr. Charles Edmonds discovered at LamportHall, Northamptonshire (the seat of Sir Charles Isham, Bart.), is theearliest of extant editions. The title-page of this editionis--_Epigrammes and Elegies By I. D. and C. M. At Middleborugh_ 12mo.After the title-page come the _Epigrammata_, which are signed at the end"I. D." (the initials of Sir John Davies). Following the _Epigrammata_is a copy of verses headed _Ignoto_, and then comes a secondtitle-page--_Certaine of Ovid's Elegies. By C. Marlowe. AtMiddleborough_. In his preface to a facsimile reprint of the littlevolume, Mr. Edmonds states his conviction that this edition,notwithstanding the imprint Middleborough, was issued at London from thepress of W. Jaggard, who in 1599 printed the _Passionate Pilgrime_. Hegrounds his opinion not only on the character of the type and of themisprints, but on the fact that there would be no need for the book tobe printed abroad in the first instance. It was not (he thinks) untilafter June 1599--when (with other books) it was condemned by ArchbishopWhitgift to be burnt--that recourse was had to the expedient ofreprinting it at Middleburgh. In the notes I refer to this edition asIsham copy. The next edition, which has the same title-pages as the Ishamcopy--_Epigrammes and Elegies by I. D. and C. M. at Middleborugh_,12mo--was certainly, to judge from its general appearance, printedabroad, and by foreigners. The text agrees in the main with that of theIsham copy, but the corruptions are more numerous. I have followed Dycein referring to this edition as Ed. A. The Isham copy and Ed. A contain only a portion of the Elegies. Thecomplete translation appeared in _All Ovid's Elegies: 3 Bookes. By C. M.Epigrams by I. D. At Middleborugh_, 12mo. (Ed. B); and in anotheredition with the same title-page (Ed. C). The readings of Ed. C. I haveoccasionally borrowed from Dyce. It is supposed that the book "continuedto be printed with Middleburgh on the title, and without date, as lateas 1640" (Hazlitt).
✦