PREFACE
TO THE PRESENT EDITION,
WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE TRANSLATOR.
The first edition of this translation of La Fontaine’s
Fables appeared in Boston, U. S., in 1841. It
achieved a considerable success, and six editions
were printed in three years. Since then it has been
allowed to pass out of print, except in the shape of
a small-type edition produced in London immediately after the first publication in Boston; and
the present publishers have thought that a reprint
in a readable yet popular form would be generally
acceptable.
The translator has remarked, in the ‘Advertisement’ to his original edition (which follows these pages), on the singular neglect of La Fontaine by English translators up to the time of his own work. Forty years have elapsed since those remarks were penned, yet translations into English of the complete
