HARVARD COPYRIGHT, 1895 BY LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. TROW DIRECTORY NEW YORK PREFACE UNABLE to obtain access to a copy of the exceedingly rare first edition of the "Journal of the Plague Year," I have been forced to content myself with reproducing the common text, frequently, and, it is to be feared, carelessly, reprinted during the present century. No alterations have been made except by the correction of obvious misprints, slight changes (for the sake of clearness and uniformity) in Defoe's erratic punctuation, the omission of a few passages inappropriate for school use, and the rough division of the work into something like chapters. For this last procedure there is no warrant but necessity. No boy of to-day can be expected, undriven, to find his way through the mazes of Defoe's narrative without some such aid. The method of annotation is very simple. I have merely attempted to explain such words, phrases, or allusions as might puzzle a young reader. Defoe's style I have not attempted to correct, but I have frequently indicated the points at which his usage differs from the accepted usage of to-day. Defoe's original title, "The Journal of the Plague Year," has been restored in this edition. The current title of the work, "The History of the Plague," comes from the second edition, published after Defoe's death, and, to all appearances, without any previous authorization by him of the change in name. COLUMBIA COLLEGE, August, 1895. G. R. CARPENTER. |