Edie T834,510.423 2 July, 1907. Harvard iversity, Dept. of Education Library, Cift of the Publishers, TRANSFERRED TO COPYRIGHT, 1907 BY LOUISE POUND ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 77.4 The Athenæum Press PREFATORY NOTE The text of this edition is that of the latest revised edition published in Goldsmith's lifetime, the fifth. Alterations have been limited to a few modernizations in spelling and capitalization, and some minor changes, necessary for consistency in a school edition, in the punctuation. The aim in the Introduction has been to give in condensed form some idea of contemporary conditions, literary and otherwise, as well as some account of the life and works of the author. A new feature that will add, it is believed, to the convenience of the edition is the inclusion in an appendix of two passages usually read in connection with the poem, the sketch of the poor parson from Chaucer's Prologue to The Canterbury Tales and Dryden's Character of a Good Parson. Obligation to preceding editions of a poem so often edited as The Deserted Village is a matter of course, and the present editor takes this opportunity to make grateful acknowledgment. Specific instances of indebtedness are recorded in the notes. UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA LINCOLN, 1906 LOUISE POUND |