I leave to other Scholars to deal critically with the Latin and Greek of these Poems and Epigrams now first translated. Read unsympathetically, I fear that very often his quantities and versification will be regarded as barbarous; but we have done something, it is believed, to neutralise Turnbull's most discreditable misprints herein, as in the English Poems. In the places (vol. ii. pp. 5-6, 244, and 332) we have recorded some of his more flagrant blunders; but besides we have silently corrected as many more of the original and early editions.
That Crashaw was not an accurate scholar the Greek Epigrams (as well as some of the Latin ones) furnish sufficient proof. Of the many obvious errors in quantity and construction, I have only corrected such as may have been mere oversights, some of them perhaps caused by his MS. having been misread; in other cases I have followed the original editions, and corrected the numerous errors made by Turnbull from his not being able to read the Greek ligatures &c. It may be well to indicate a few of the typical corrections that I felt obliged to make, and note other lapses which I did not feel justified in altering.
In XI. last line, { aperrhipton} for { aporrhipton}; CXXI. last line, { eên} for { eê}; CXXV. line 5. { kein'} for { kein}; CLXXX. line 1 has { planê} as if the penult were long instead of short, and { alêmi} an unused form, so that the line offends both quantity and usage--it might be amended thus, { Heis men egô, hê mou te planê periêgen, alômai}; CLXXXII. line 1, { epeballen} for { epiballen}; CLXXXIII. line 2, { sykomôre} should be { sykomore}, but altered for scansion; line 3, { ekkrêmnês} should perhaps be { ekkrêmnas}; line 4, unscanable; and in CXXV. line 4, { dasiois} should be { dasesin}. { ouranos}, the penult of which is short, he uses as either long or short.
I must add, that the accentuation was as often wrong as right. I have carefully corrected it throughout. And this seems to me to be the only allowable way of reproducing Crashaw. An Editor cannot be held responsible for his Author writing imperfect Greek or Latin, any more than for his mistakes either in opinion or in matters-of-fact or taste.
Anderson's and Chalmers' Poets, and Peregrine Phillip's Selections, and Turnbull's edition in Russell Smith's 'Old Authors' and that in Gilfillan's Poets (a selection only), are our predecessors in furnishing Crashaw's Poetry. We confess to a feeling of just pride (shall we say?) in being the first worthily and adequately to present as remarkable Poetry, in its own region, as is anywhere to be found. RICHARD CRASHAW has assuredly not yet gathered all his fame.[39]