Hugh E. P. Platt
Published: 2015-07-02
Total Pages: 218
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Excerpt from A Last Ramble in the Classics A book about books can rarely claim to be anything better than a necessary evil. The commentator sometimes elucidates, occasionally obscures, but generally depresses. And he intrudes everywhere. When Othello cries in his agony, 'My heart is turned to stone, ' the commentator is ready with his note: 'stone, A.S. stan; compare bone, A.S. ban, ' None have suffered from annotation more than the writers of Greece and Rome. There is not one of them who is not scribbled, crost, and cramm'd With comment, densest condensation, hard To mind and eye. If you look at a German bookseller's list, you perceive that by the end of the twentieth century the mere names of editions and dissertations will in the case of some authors cover as many pages as the original work. With so appalling a prospect before us. how can I justify the production of this book? I can only think of two excuses, both bad ones. The first is the girl's excuse for her baby - 'It is only a little one.' And the second is that this shall be my last offence. I will not be guilty of a succession of rambles among these byways. 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."