The Golden Age of Myth & Legend [antikvár]

PREFACE r-piHIS work of Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867) I requires no introduction. It has taken secure X placc as a classic, and has received the homage of imitation from various authors whose books have also sccured appreciation. It is, however, safe to say-that no other book of its kind cxccls Bulfinch as a readable account of Greek and Roman mythology intended for those who are fond of good stories and for those who wish to bc able to recognize the many allusions to these classic sources which abound in modern literature. Although sixty years have elapsed since Bulfinch published his first edition of "The Age of Fable," the book, on the whole, will bear critical examination to-day, and no attempt, therefore, has been made to subject the text to unnecessarily drastic revision. So far as the chapters devoted to Greek and Roman mythology are conccrncd, they are reprinted here without much alteration ; additions have been made and some unimportant passages have been excised. A number of additional verse extracts have been inserted in the text; these are of undoubted merit and appropriateness, and they serve to reinforce the Author's design to illustrate the connexion of classic mythology with English literature. Much more is known of what may perhaps be termed the science of mythology than when this book first appeared; the section of Chapter xxxv ; dealing with the Origin of Mythology has therefore .Y been revised and largely rc-written by Mr. Lewis .fj Spence, F.R.A.I. Thomas Bulfinch devoted very little space to the || deeply interesting subject of the religious beliefs of 3 Egypt and the East. Chapters xxxiv and xxxvii were evidently included by him as an afterthought, and it is manifestly impossible in a few pages to do more than i