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editions were at first those made by himself, usually improvements, as where he changed “some village
Cato” to “some village
Hampden,” and substituted in the same verse “
Milton” for “
Tully” and “
Cromwell” for “
Caesar.”
But there are many errors in
Pickering's edition, and these have been followed by most American copies.
It may perhaps be doubted whether
Dr. Rolfe is quite correct in his opinion where he says in his preface to this ode, “No vicissitudes of taste or fashion have affected its popularity” ; it is pretty certain that young people do not know it by heart so generally as they once did, and
Wordsworth pronounced its dialect often “unintelligible” ; but we are all under obligation to
Dr. Rolfe for his careful revision of this text.
Turning now to Scott's “Lady of the Lake,” which would seem next in familiarity to Gray's “Elegy,” we find scores of corrections, made in Rolfe's, of errors that have crept gradually in since the edition of 1821.
For instance, in Canto II, 1. 685, every edition since 1821 has had “I meant not all my heart would say,” the correct reading being “my heat would say.”
In Canto VI, 1. 396, the Scottish “boune” has been changed to “bound,” and eight lines below, the old word “barded” has become “barbed” ; and these are but a few among many examples.
