PREFACE.

THE plan pursued, in preparing the present edition of the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil, is the same with that which was recently followed in the case of the Æneid, and which has met with the approbation of so many instructors. Every obstacle that might have tended to impede the progress of the young student has been carefully removed, whether of a grammatical or metrical nature; and, besides this, a large body of useful information has been introduced from various quarters, especially on the subjects of ancient botany and husbandry, reference being made, at the same time, to the most approved systems of modern times. The best commentaries have been consulted for this purpose, and in particular the valuable body of notes accompanying the German version of Voss. Some of these last have already appeared in the edition of Valpy, but to a very limited extent, and in many instances marred by inaccuracies. In the present work, however, they are given with far more fullness of detail, and consequently with far more of utility to the learner. Indeed, if the editor had contented himself with merely giving the commentary of Voss in an English garb, with a few necessary alterations, he would have been doing a very acceptable service. But, in addition to the rich materials obtained from the source just mentioned, the commentaries of Heyne, Wagner, Spohn, Wunderlich, Forbiger, and many other Continental scholars have been carefully consulted, and,