NOTE TO GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
NOTE TO GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
The text of this issue in the main follows that of the
standard or first collected edition of 1762. The variants which the author
introduced in successive editions during his lifetime are not inconsiderable;
but for the purposes of the present issue it did not seem necessary or indeed
desirable to take account of them. In the case of prose fiction, more than in
any other department of literature, it is desirable that work should be read in
the form which represents the completest intention and execution of the author.
Nor have any notes been attempted; for again such things, in the case of prose
fiction, are of very doubtful use, and supply pretty certain stumbling-blocks
to enjoyment; while in the particular case of Fielding, the annotation, unless
extremely capricious, would have to be disgustingly full. Far be it at any rate
from the present editor to bury these delightful creations under an ugly crust
of parallel passages and miscellaneous erudition. The sheets, however, have
been carefully read in order to prevent the casual errors which are wont to
creep into frequently reprinted texts; and the editor hopes that if any such
have escaped him, the escape will not be attributed to wilful negligence. A few
obvious errors, in spelling of proper names, &c., which occur in the 1762
version have been corrected: but wherever the readings of that version are
possible they have been preferred. The embellishments of the edition are partly
fanciful and partly "documentary;" so that it is hoped both classes
of taste may have something to feed upon.