Book Description

Excerpt from The Works of Edmund Spenser, Vol. 2 of 8 IT is a misfortune, as Mr. Waller obferves, which attends the writers of Engliih poetry, that they can hardly expeet their works fllollld laft long in a tongue which is daily changing; that, whilfi: they are new, envy is apt to prevail againft them; and, as that wears off, our language itfelf fails. Our poets, therefore, he fays, {honld imitatejudicious ftatuaries, that chooi'e the melt durable materials; and {hould carve in Latin or Greek, if they would have. Their labours preferved for ever. Notwithftanding the difadvantage he has men tioned, we have two ancient Engliih poets, Chaucer and Spenfer, who may, perhaps, be reckoned as exceptions to this remark: Thefe feem to have taken deep root, like old Britifh oaks, and to flourifli in defiance of all the injuries of time and weather. The former is, indeed, much more obfolete in his ftyle than the latter; but it is owing to an extra ordinary native {trength in both that they have been able thus far to furvwe amidft the changes of our tongue, and feem rather likely, among the curious at leaft, to preferve the knowledge of our ancient language, than to be in danger of being deftroyed with it, and buried under its ruins. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.