others in a later text, were preserved throughout. In the cases of "Summer" and "Winter", the variations proved too many for the footnotes of a single text, and resort to the means of parallel texts was found necessary; in the case of "Winter" the printing in full of three texts was requisite.

In the reproduction of the texts the original spelling and punctuation have been faithfully adhered to,1) except that the words printed in italics in the original texts have not been thus distinguished in the present edition (the use of italics being reserved for alterations in the later fully printed texts), and that Thomson's way of printing whole words in capital letters has not been followed. (Words printed in capitals, in the original editions have been rendered by small ordinary letters; they have been supplied with a capital initial only in the cases of proper names and in the case of a large-sized capital being placed at the beginning of the word in the original editions, e. g. RURAL GAME or. ed. rural game crit. ed. Aut. A. 359, BRITISH FAIR or. ed. British Fair crit. ed. Aut. A. 561.) Since the clearness of the whole would have suffered, if the comparatively unimportant variations of spelling and punctuation had been introduced into the footnotes together with the verbal alterations, a special place has been assigned to the former variants (pp. XII-XXII). As to the spelling, it is noteworthy that in all the original editions, with the exception of the quarto of 1730 and the separate octavo editions of the Seasons founded upon this text and published before 1738, the nouns begin with a capital letter.

In the preparation of the 1744 edition of his "Seasons" Thomson was assisted by a friend, as is manifest from a copy of the first volume of "The Works" 1738 preserved in the British Museum Library (C. 28. e. 17). The interleaves of

1) A few obvious misprints which have been corrected will be found enumerated in the lists on pp. XII-XXII. The numbering of the lines has been likewise rectified, or introduced where it did not exist.

this book are covered with MS. corrections in two different handwritings, one of which is Thomson's, while hitherto the other has been almost generally attributed to Pope. Though it was not unknown to me that strong reasons had been brought forth against the authorship of Pope, I resolved, three years ago when transcribing these corrections 1), on putting a P (i. e. Pope) after the notes of the collaborator, in accordance with the proceeding adopted by the editor of the last Aldine Thomson. Lack of time prevented me then from investigating the question myself, and Professor Macaulay's note in the "Athenæum" (Oct. 1, 1904, p. 446)2) where, chiefly upon evidence of handwriting, Lyttelton is pointed out as the actual writer of the corrections, I had unfortunately not seen. When Professor Macaulay called my attention to it, in July 1907, my edition was already being printed. And, indeed, while there are many circumstances against the authorship of Pope, there are many in favour of that of Lyttelton. Thomson spent part of the year 1743 at Hagley, the country seat of his friend Lyttelton, and we know that he was at that time engaged in correcting his "Seasons". It is Lyttelton whom Thomson entrusted with the editorship of his works after his own death, and Lyttelton not only published an edition of Thomson's works in 1750 (1752) where The Seasons lost 89 lines (Aut. 483-569, 607, and 677), but, "conformably to the intention and will of the author", he also made many changes in the Seasons later on, as is shown by an interleaved copy preserved at Hagley, and, but for the formal protest of Patrick Murdoch, would have issued this revision. Considering, however, that the critic who, in The Gentleman's Magazine, 1841, started the

1) The footnotes (MS) of the present edition give a full account of the (legible) emendations of the collaborator, while Thomson's corrections have been transcribed in so far only as they constitute variations from the readings of the other editions.

2) See also Prof. Macaulay's "James Thomson" in 'English Men of Letters', London 1908.

so-called "Pope theory ", namely John Mitford (the previous
owner of the famous MS. copy of 1738) must also have
been acquainted with the handwriting of Lyttelton (since
part of the British Museum transcript of Lord Lyttelton's
later emendations 1) is in the hand of Mitford), I deter-
mined not to remain satisfied with the evidence of hand-
writing and the possibly accidental coincidence of circum-
stances. Professor Macaulay has already maintained that
the corrections of the contributor bear a close resemblance
to the poetry of Lyttelton, both as regards ideas and style,
and he has, more especially, compared a passage in Lyttel-
ton's "Monody to the Memory of his Wife" with the simile
of the myrtle (Aut. 209 ff.), but, if I am not mistaken, no
attempt has ever been made to establish a connection between
the contributions in the copy of 1738 and the later emen-
dations of Lord Lyttelton. It seems an interesting task to dis-
cover instances in which suggestions of the collaborator that
had not been accepted by Thomson were repeated by Lyttelton.
And such instances actually occur. Aut. 115-232) had been
cancelled by the collaborator, but Thomson had dropped
118-23 only. Lyttelton cancels 115-17. - Aut. 206 which
had been deleted by the collaborator was not omitted by
Thomson. The line is obliterated by Lyttelton.
In Wi. 127,
"quivering" which had been suggested by the contributor
is also substituted by Lyttelton. It is the same with the
word "gentle" for "tender" (Wi. 447). But the cases of
the well-known catalogues of the Great Men are much more
important: In Su. 1551-63 L. takes up the work begun in
1743, carefully leaving unaltered the lines which had been
already retouched, and in Wi. he comments upon Numa
(502 ff.), who had been styled "the Light of Rome" by the
collaborator. That the contributor had a preaching vein,
will be gathered from his corrections on Aut. A 393 and 368.

1) 11632. c. 57.

2) If not otherwise noted, the figures refer to the last edition of The Seasons.

1

Lyttelton's emendation on Aut. 985-87 is written in precisely the same spirit, to say nothing of the other only too numerous moralising passages in his revision. Lord Lyttelton's MS. copy thus proving to be of some importance for critical purposes, I have thought it desirable to include a full record of his corrections in my edition. My transcript (pp. XXII—XXXI) is based upon the above mentioned copy of Mitford in the British Museum, but owing to the obliging kindness of Lord Cobham, who gave me access to the library of Hagley Hall, I have been able to verify it upon the original. Students of these emendations will observe that they bear in very many instances upon passages which attracted the critical notice of the collaborator for the edition of 1744, and are appropriate to remove any remaining doubts as to his identification with Lyttelton.

The "Annals" (pp. X, XI) will, it is hoped, afford a clear survey of the general growth of The Seasons, while the tables called "Models and Sources" are intended to show that Thomson, with all his originality, was not free from literary influences.') In compiling this list (much of which is the result of my own researches) I have been especially helped by Mr. Robertson's annotated edition of The Seasons (Oxford 1891), by M. Morel's book on Thomson (Paris 1895), and by MS. notes of the late Rev. John Mitford in a copy of The Seasons, now in my possession. For trustworthy information concerning the history of The Seasons I am indebted to Borchard's Textgeschichte von Thomson's Seasons (Diss. Halle 1883), and to Mr. Willis' reproduction of the first edition of "Winter" (London 1900). Last, but not least, I have to acknowledge my most sincere and respectful thanks to Professor Brandl for kindly assisting me with his advice during the execution of this work.

1) With reference to 'Winter', more details will be found in my dissertation on the "Entstehungs- und Entwicklungsgeschichte von Thomsons 'Winter'", Berlin 1907.

ANNALS OF THE SEASONS.

1726 In March, "Winter" first ed. (See title-page in front of "Winter".) Folio. 405 lines (text A). Prefixed: An epistolary dedication.

In June, "Winter" second ed.: Winter. A Poem. By James Thomson. Horrida cano Bruma Gelu. The Second Edition. London: Printed by N. Blandford, at Charing-Cross, for J. Millan, at Locke's-Head in Shug-Lane, near the Hay-Market, and the next Bookseller to the Horse-Guards. MDCCXXV1. (Pr. 18.) 8vo. 463 lines (text B). Prefixed besides the epist. ded.: A Preface by Thomson and three commendatory poems by A. Hill, Mira, and D. Malloch. Three more editions of "Winter" are said to have appeared until 1730, but, in all likelihood, their text was the same as that of the second edition.

1727 "Summer" first ed. (See title-page in front of "Summer”). 8vo. 1046 lines (text A). Prefixed: An epistolary dedication. 1728 "Spring" first ed. (See title-page in front of "Spring"). 8vo. 1082 lines (text A). Prefixed: An epist. ded. and an Advertisement. Appended: Proposals for Printing by Subscription The Four Seasons, With a Hymn on their Succession, etc. 1729 "Spring" second ed. Text the same as in 1728. Prefixed: A Table of Contents.

1730 First collected ed. of "The Seasons" with the Hymn: The Seasons by Mr. Thomson. London: Printed in the year M. DCC. XXX. 4 to. Prefixed: The names of the subscribers. Appended: Poem on Newton. Spring 1087 lines (text B), Summer 1206 lines (text B), Autumn 1269 lines (text A. See title-page in front of Autumn), Winter 781 lines (text C), Hymn 121 lines (text A). Prefixed to each Season: An argument and a copperplate. Omitted: The Latin mottoes, the preface of Winter 2nd ed., the Contents of Spring 2nd ed., and the epistolary dedications, which are replaced by poetical ones in the beginning of the poems and by short prose-dedications on the title-page of each Season.