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EDWARD CHAUNCEY BALDWIN, Ph.D.
The Athenæum Press
This edition of Lodge's "Rosalynde" has grown out of a need felt bythe editor for an example of Elizabethan prose suitable for use in ageneral survey course in English, designed for college freshmen."Rosalynde," of all the books that were considered, seemed on thewhole best to fulfill the desired conditions. As a pastoral romance itbelongs to a class of books which, if not peculiar to the Elizabethanage, is at least thoroughly representative of it. Moreover, the storyis entirely unobjectionable, nothing being found in it that couldoffend any reader. The "Rosalynde," being one of the shortest of theprose romances, is not open to the objections that might be urgedagainst the more famous, but also more discursive, "Arcadia" ofSidney. Its close relations with Shakespeare's "As You Like It," whichis also read in the course, and its added interest as one of theprecursors of the modern novel, additionally recommend it. Finally,its coherent plot, its freedom from digressions, and its happy ending,make it seem likely to interest students, in spite of theconventionality of the pastoral form.
The annotation has been confined to giving the meanings of obsolete orunusual words. There are many mythological allusions that call forexplanation; but this, it is thought, any good dictionary of mythologywill supply. The list of questions is not of course exhaustive, and isintended to be merely suggestive of the kind of study the collegestudent in an introductory course in English might well be fitted toundertake. The text is that of the Hunterian Club edition of Lodge's"Works." This reprint is of the first edition, that of 1590, exceptthat (since the only known copy of the first edition of "Rosalynde" isimperfect) a few pages (121-127 of this edition) were reprinted fromthe second edition of 1592. The spelling and punctuation have to someextent been modernized—the latter having been altered only wherechanges serve to make the author's meaning more obvious.
The editor acknowledges his indebtedness to the scholarly edition ofLodge's "Rosalynde" by W.W. Greg (London and New York, 1907),particularly to the glossarial index, which has supplied the meaningsof some words about which the editor was in considerable doubt. Thanksare due, also, to my colleague Mr. Arthur Tietje for his helpfulsuggestions in preparing the list of questions.
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INTRODUCTION