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ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON WC1 R 4EJ, ENGLAND 8022275 FOX, JEFFREY REID A CRITICAL, ANNOTATED EDITION OF EDWARD YOUNG'S "THE COMPLAINT: OR, NIGHT-THOUGHTS ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY--NIGHT THE FIRST" The Ohio State University PH.D. 1980 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 18 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4EJ, England Copyright1980 by FOX, JEFFREY REID All Rights Reserved @ 1980 JEFFREY REID FOX A LL RIGHTS RESERVED A CRITICAL, ANNOTATED EDITION OF EDWARD YOUNG*S THE COMPLAINTt OR. NIGHT-THOUGHTS ON LIFE. DEATH. AND IMMORTALITY— NIGHT THE FIRST DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Jeffrey Reid Fox, B.A., M.A. * * * • * * The Ohio State University 1980 Reading Committee: Approved By James L. Battershy John B. Gahel Adviser A. E. Wallace Maurer Department of English ACKIJOV/LEDGI-EHTS I am-grateful for the invaluable assistance I received from numerous individuals in putting together this critical edition, I am especially indebted to Henry J. Pettit and Isabel St, John Bliss for the assistance that each of then gave me when I started this project. Since they are the foremost Edv.rard Young scholars, their encouragement gave me the nerve to put on the editor's crown of thorns, I am also extremely grateful to Ellsworth Mason and Lyn Sheehy of The University of Colorado Library for making available to me all texts in their extensive uncatalogued Edvard Young Collection. I would also like to express my appreciation to Robert Tibbetts and Helen Wada of The Thurber Reading Room, and Miss Eleanor R. Devlin, Consultant for Library Research and Bibliography, The Ohio State University Libraries, for the many ways in which they helped me in my research. I also owe a well-deserved "thank you" to the following librarians: Carey S. Bliss, The Huntington Library; Mary E. Cowles, The Seeley R. Mudd Learning Center, Oberlin College Library; Louise Eitton, University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Virginia R. Hawley, The Western Reserve Historical Society; Harriet C. Jameson, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, The University of Michigan; Deborah B, Kelley, The Houghton Library, Harvard University; Sally Leach and Charlotte Carl-Mitchell, The Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin; Wesley C. Williams, Special Collections, Case Western Reserve University Libraries; Thomas P. Wright, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library; and Marjorie G, Wynne, The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. i i I would like to express my appreciation to four friends for their assistance in various phases of this dissertation, hr. Neil E. Singleton, a classicist, offered many valuable insights on Young's allu sions to Greek and Roman literature. Nancy Nuling assisted me in iden-r tifying several of Young's Biblical allusions. Fran Allen assisted me in proofreading and offered many valuable stylistic improvements. Vera Hunt transformed my manuscript into this neatly-typed final copy. Finally,- I want to thank my adviser, Professor A. E. Wallace Maurer, and my readers, Professor John B. Gabel and Professor James L. Battersby, for their assistance, advice, and patience. They aided me greatly in bringing this dissertation to maturity. God bless them all. Jeffrey R, Fox VITA April 29, 1951 ••■•••••• Bom - Coshocton, Ohio 197 3 ................. ...» B.A., Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 1973-1977 •••••••••• University Fellow, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1974 ...«••• H.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1974-1976 ........... • • • Teaching Associate, Department of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1977-Present • •••.•••• Logistician, United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio PUBLICATIONS "Swift's 'Scatological' Poems: The Hidden Norm." Thoth 15, iii(l975)s 3-13. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: English Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature. Professor A. E. Wallace Maurer Twentieth-Century Literature. Professor Morris Beja Renaissance Literature. Professor Robert Jones The Novel. Professor James Kincaid TABLE OP CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................... ii VITA............................................ iv LIST OF TABLES................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES................................ vii Chapter I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION ..... ........... 1 II. CRITICAL INTRODUCTION................. 4 Background. ............... 6 Twentieth-Century Re-Examination of Night-Thoughts. ............ 14 A Critical Study of Night the First.. 26 III. TEXTUAL INTRODUCTION................. 51 Background. ................... 52 An Analysis of Twenty-Two Editions of Night the First Published from 1742 through 1765....................... • 60 IV. THE TEXT OF NIGHT THE FIRST. ......... 118 APPENDIXES A. Editorial Emendations to the Copy-Text • . 144 B. Chronological History of Substantive ' Variants, ........................... 146 C. Commentary ...... ................... 152 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................... 175 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Publication Facts about the Twenty-two "Lifetime" Editions which include Night the Fir s t .................................. 5^ vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Title Page of Edition Na . ......................... 63 2. Title Page of Edition N b l ................... 6M- 3. Title Page of Edition N~b2 . ..................... 65 k. Title Page of Edition Nd. ......... .66 vii CHAPTER I* GENERAL INTRODUCTION Scholars are frequently surprised to learn that critics of earlier literary eras passed considerably different judgments on contemporary authors from those bestowed by posterity. Writers such as Blake or Thoreau, all but overlooked in their own age, are now regarded by most critics as literary giants of their times. Others such as Cowley or Southey, who received laurels of seemingly immortal fame from their contemporaries, have all but faded into oblivion. Another writer in this latter group, distinguished by an especially precipitous decline in popularity, is Edward Young. Today, e Night the First, the most readily available of the nine poems of his once immensely popular The Complaintt or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality, is all but forgotten. Two major influences contributed to the decline in Young's reputation. First, an obvious change has occurred in literary taste since the mid-eighteenth century. Readers have grown impatient with most long, didactic poems, and there can be little doubt that Night-Thoughts is an example of this type of poetry. Yet, as the following chapter will demonstrate, a second and perhaps even more decisive influence was responsible for the abruptness of Young's fall from popularity. From the time that Night-Thoughts first appeared until the 1920’s, most critics mistakenly viewed it as autobiographical. Misguided attempts at autobiographical interpretation, along with incomplete and in some cases derogatory biographical information about the author, led critics of the mid-nineteenth century to accuse Young of being "insincere," a charge these earnest Victorians apparently regarded as one of the most serious that could be lodged against an author or his works. Over one hundred years later, neither the reputation of Night-Thoughts nor that of its author has recovered fully from this charge. This dissertation on Young's Night the First has two purposes. The foremost of these is to provide readers of the poem with a reliable text, one which