not the only one who believed that there was not his equal as a translator in England. Drummond was constrained to record (Conversations p. 41): 'His inventions are smooth and easie; but above all he excelleth in a Translation.' And there was no Swinburne in those benighted times to enter a picturesque protest (cf. Fortn. Rev. vol. 50, 'The Miscellaneous Works of Ben Jonson'). It is therefore improbable that Jonson, even in the hurry of writing Poetaster, would have condescended to borrow a piece of translation for sober uses, and it is likewise improbable that, had he been inclined to borrow, the Marlowe translations would have suited his taste. Of course it is evident that the translation of Eleg. 15 was in existence two years at least before the production of Poetaster, and this may seem an argument against Jonson's authorship. But this elegy, with its address Ad invidos, and its catalogue of the great names of Greek and Roman literature, is the one out of all three books that would appeal to Jonson, and so invite his pen in some leisure hour. Finally, there is a certain plainness and stiffness about the disputed composition, which, taken with its plodding literalness, impresses one as Jonsonian. On the grounds, therefore, of Jonson's love of translating, his faithfulness to an original, his honesty and pride, and the plainness and inflexibility frequent in his shorter pieces couched in the heroic couplet, as well as on the doubtful editorship of Marlowe's translations, we conclude that in all probability both versions of Ovid, Eleg. 1. 15 occurring in the Marlowe collection, as also the Poetaster version, are by Jonson. EDITOR'S NOTE The present text aims to be an exact reproduction of that in the Yale Library copy of folio 1616, the pagination of which is here inserted in brackets. In selecting variant readings from other editions, I have ignored changes in spelling, punctuation, capitals, and italics except when they seemed, whether with or without design, to affect the editor's or the reader's interpretation. Certain usages of particular editions may be treated en bloc. Whalley follows the quarto in not naming the act except with its first scene; Gifford and Nicholson disregard the folio division into acts and scenes, which is based upon dramatic situations, and determine all by the place of the action. Whalley usually retains the () of folio 1616, but sometimes substitutes commas; Gifford and Nicholson regularly prefer commas. The conjunction then, of 1616, regularly becomes than in subsequent editions. And if regularly becomes an' in Whalley, and an in succeeding editions. Whalley regularly changes 'hem to 'em; Gifford, to them; while Nicholson regularly preserves the 1616 form. The interjection / becomes ay in Gifford and Nicholson. It is Gifford's general practice to expand abbreviated words, even at the cost of metrical awkwardness; but Nicholson resorts to frequent elision and syncope in order to secure regularity of metre. In our Variants, all stage directions not definitely placed are supposed to stand after the lines indicated by number. A plus sign following the designation of an edition—e. g. 1640+ — is equivalent to and all subsequent editions (or editors). 17i6 Booksellers' edition of 1716 W = Whalley's edition of 1756 G= Gifford's edition of 1816 N = Nicholson's (Mermaid) edition of 1893 1 |