Hiroshi Yamashita and Toshiyuki Suzuki, the editors of the forthcoming
Longman edition of the Faerie Queene - publication date is January 2001 -
have responded to the query raised about the 1609 FQ as follows:
1. Re: Spenser's authority in the 1609 edn. of FQ
Most of the 1609 corrections to Books I-VI are editorial and have
little authority, if any, of Spenser. Considering the addition of
a line at 1.10.20.5, however, the 1609 editor might have had some
source of correction--possibly Spenser's marginal interpolations in
the printer's copy (i.e. a copy of 1596).
2. Re: FQ 4.12.13.1-2
We have found out that the 1609 reading "Thus whilst his stony
heart was toucht with tender ruth,/ And mighty courage something
mollifide" is not an alteration made in 1609 but a press variant
in 1596. The reading derives from the page (of a 1596 copy) that
happened to be in an uncorrected state. This was not known to Smith,
nor to the Variorum editor (See Suzuki, 1997:120), hence his argument
for Spenser's later revision. It can be said that some of the other
substantive departures of 1609 from the preceding editions might be
of the same origin, though this is yet to be discovered.
3. Re: Defective alexandrine at 3.3.50.9
The defect seems to have been an accident to me; if it had been
intentional, what exactly would Spenser have intended? Since there
is no conclusive evidence, it is hard to tell whether it was originally
Spenser's own fault or the 1590 compositor's. It is also difficult
to determine who added "as earst" to the line in 1609 to make it a
complete alexandrine. At any rate, the 1609 addition does not necessarily
attest to authorial correction, for, as Smith admits, it is not a kind
of change beyond the capacity of an ordinary editor.
Incidentally, 1609 overlooked another defective alexandrine at 3.3.43.9,
1596, which reads: And quite from th'earth their memory be rast?
Though this line had been so corrected in the errata to 1590 as to read:
"And quite from of the earth their memory be rast?" both 1596 and 1609
failed to make the correction.
Bert Hamilton
A.C.Hamilton
[log in to unmask]
Cappon Professor Emeritus
Queen's University, Canada
Phone & Fax: 613- 544-6759
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