COPYRIGHT, 1890, BY LEACH, SHEWELL, & SANBORN. C. J. PETERS & SON, PRESS OF BERWICK & SMITH. 66 PREFACE. THE letters, chosen from The Spectator as the Sir Roger de Coverley papers, are those selected by David Salmon, and published by Longmans, Green & Co., of London, with letters 6, 174, and 331 additional. I can see no reason why these should not be included. There are thirty-three letters, including all that properly bear on the subject, except the generally and properly omitted 410, now ascribed to Tickell. In preparing the notes, I have carefully forborne defining any word that Webster or Worcester gives. "Doxy," pad," "jack," "white-pot," "dipped," "staked," "puss," "postulatum," "half-pike," "fleer," "trepan," and "put," all old-fashioned and possibly obsolete, are still in the Unabridged, for I have tested them. I would never deprive a pupil of the pleasure of discovery; and in looking for one thing, he may find another as well. A good cyclopædia, a classical dictionary, and a London Guide will add zest to the reading. That reader who wishes to study carefully the manners and men of the de Coverley period, should read the extended editions of Greene, Bohn, and others. text selected is that of an early London edition. WORCESTER, January, 1890. The ALFRED S. ROE. |