I. D. and C. M. At Middleborugh_ 12mo.
After the title-page come the _Epigrammata_, which are signed at the end
"I. D." (the initials of Sir John Davies). Following the _Epigrammata_
is a copy of verses headed _Ignoto_, and then comes a second
title-page--_Certaine of Ovid's Elegies. By C. Marlowe. At
Middleborough_. In his preface to a facsimile reprint of the little
volume, Mr. Edmonds states his conviction that this edition,
notwithstanding the imprint Middleborough, was issued at London from the
press of W. Jaggard, who in 1599 printed the _Passionate Pilgrime_. He
grounds his opinion not only on the character of the type and of the
misprints, but on the fact that there would be no need for the book to
be printed abroad in the first instance. It was not (he thinks) until
after June 1599--when (with other books) it was condemned by Archbishop
Whitgift to be burnt--that recourse was had to the expedient of
reprinting it at Middleburgh. In the notes I refer to this edition as
Isham copy.

The next edition, which has the same title-pages as the Isham
copy--_Epigrammes and Elegies by I. D. and C. M. at Middleborugh_,
12mo--was certainly, to judge from its general appearance, printed
abroad, and by foreigners. The text agrees in the main with that of the
Isham copy, but the corruptions are more numerous. I have followed Dyce
in referring to this edition as Ed. A.

The Isham copy and Ed. A contain only a portion of the Elegies. The
complete translation appeared in _All Ovid's Elegies: 3 Bookes. By C. M.
Epigrams by I. D. At Middleborugh_, 12mo. (Ed. B); and in another
edition with the same title-page (Ed. C). The readings of Ed. C. I have
occasionally borrowed from Dyce. It is supposed that the book "continued
to be printed with Middleburgh on the title, and without date, as late
as 1640" (Hazlitt).

OVID'S ELEGIES.

P. OVIDII NASONIS AMORUM.

LIBER PRIMUS.

ELEGIA I.

Quemadmodum a Cupidine, pro bellis amoris scribere coactus sit.

_We which were Ovid's five books, now are three,
For these before the rest preferreth he:
If reading five thou plain'st of tediousness,
Two ta'en away, thy[128] labour will be less;_

With Muse prepared,[129] I meant to sing of arms,
Choosing a subject fit for fierce alarms:
Both verses were alike till Love (men say)
Began to smile and took one foot away.
Rash boy, who gave thee power to change a line?
We are the Muses' prophe