This book is a new edition of Christopher Smart's massive verse translation of the Psalms. Alhough the Psalms are much less well-known than his Song to David or Hymns and Spiritual Songs, the translation was intended as the centerpiece of a project devoted to poetically reforming the liturgy. In this work he aimed to meet the demand, expressed by many in the mid-18th century, for a new Anglican metrical psalter for regular use in the divine service written in the spirit of Christianity'. The editor's introduction and commentary include discussion of the Christianizing tendencies of Smart's Psalm translations, comparison of Smart's methods with those of earlier Psalm versifiers, demonstration of the connections in idea and expression between Smart's Psalms and mid-eighteenth-century Anglican Evangelicalism, and the use in the Translation of New Testament themes and images.

This is the first critical edition of Christopher Smart's translation of Phaedrus' fables, and the first literary commentary on these fables in English. Many of the best-known Aesopian fables are in fact the work of the Roman poet Phaedrus. The fables are familiar yet fresh, and often have a startlingly contemporary flavour. Smart's versions successfully catch the spirit and humour of the Latin originals. The volume completes the distinguished edition of The Poetical Works of Christopher Smart.

The present volume, which contains miscellaneous English and Latin verse, written throughout his career, shows Smart as he appeared to his contemporaries: a brilliant but wayward scholar, who threw away a life of distinction at Cambridge to engage in the raffish world of the London theaters and pleasure gardens. By presenting the poems in chronological order, it also reveals the pattern of his evolution from both academic and popular roles into a poet dedicated to Christian service. Over thirty pieces in this volume have not appeared in any previous collection, and several are reprinted for the first time since the 18th century. Translations are provided for all Latin poems.

The extent to which Anglo-Saxon society was capable of large-scale transformations of the landscape is hotly disputed. This interdisciplinary book - embracing archaeological and historical sources - explores this important period in our landscape history and the extent to which buildings, settlements and field systems were laid out using sophisticated surveying techniques. In particular, recent research has found new and unexpected evidence for the construction of building complexes and settlements on geometrically precise grids, suggesting a revival of the techniques of the Roman land-surveyors (Agrimensores). Two units of measurement appear to have been used: the 'short perch' of 15 feet in central and eastern England, where most cases occur, and the 'long perch' of 18 feet at the small number of examples identified in Wessex. This technically advanced planning is evident during two periods: c.600-800, when it may have been a mostly monastic practice, and c.940-1020, when it appears to have been revived in a monastic context but then spread to a wider range of lay settlements. Planning in the Early Medieval Landscape is a completely new perspective on how villages and other settlement were formed. It combines map and field evidence with manuscript treatises on land-surveying to show that the methods described in the treatises were not just theoretical, but were put into practice. In doing so it reveals a major aspect of previously unrecognised early medieval technology.

Cat Jeoffry is a self-contained passage from Christopher Smart's eccentric 18th century masterpiece Jubilate Agno (Rejoice in the Lamb) and the most famous piece of poetry ever written about a cat. Poignantly, Jeoffry was Smart's companion during his lengthy confinement for mental illness. His close and affectionate observations of the cat's antics both entertained him and inspired his moving religious celebration. Often anthologised, this passage brims over with the prankish playfulness and sudden ferocity of one of the literary world's most famous cats. Quirky, realistic, affectionate, it is at the same time a remarkable spiritual meditation. This new edition contains a commentary and notes by Tom Woodman. Peter Hay's characteristic black and white illustrations rampage through the book.

A scholarly edition of poetical works by Christopher Smart. The edition presents an authoritative text, together with an introduction, commentary notes, and scholarly apparatus.

A scholarly edition of poetical works by Christopher Smart. The edition presents an authoritative text, together with an introduction, commentary notes, and scholarly apparatus.

The extent to which Anglo-Saxon society was capable of large-scale transformations of the landscape is hotly disputed. This interdisciplinary book - embracing archaeological and historical sources - explores this important period in our landscape history and the extent to which buildings, settlements and field systems were laid out using sophisticated surveying techniques. In particular, recent research has found new and unexpected evidence for the construction of building complexes and settlements on geometrically precise grids, suggesting a revival of the techniques of the Roman land-surveyors (Agrimensores). Two units of measurement appear to have been used: the 'short perch' of 15 feet in central and eastern England, where most cases occur, and the 'long perch' of 18 feet at the small number of examples identified in Wessex. This technically advanced planning is evident during two periods: c.600-800, when it may have been a mostly monastic practice, and c.940-1020, when it appears to have been revived in a monastic context but then spread to a wider range of lay settlements. Planning in the Early Medieval Landscape is a completely new perspective on how villages and other settlement were formed. It combines map and field evidence with manuscript treatises on land-surveying to show that the methods described in the treatises were not just theoretical, but were put into practice. In doing so it reveals a major aspect of previously unrecognised early medieval technology.

Published here for the first time since 1767, Christopher Smart's verse translation of Horace strengthens the impression made by all Smart's later verse of a poet of remarkable lyrical virtuosity and boldness of expression. Karina Williamson's informative introduction discusses Smart's principles and methods in the context of 18th-century attitudes to the translation of classical works. Full scholarly apparatus is provided, as is a detailed commentary which explains the more obscure passages.

"Mining in a Medieval Landscape" explores the history and archaeology of the late medieval royal silver mines at Bere Ferrers in Devon's Tamar Valley and examines their significance for mining history as a whole. Comparing their impact on the landscape with that of less intensive, traditional mining industries, this authoritative volume analyzes maps and documents together in light of recent archaeological field surveys, allowing the mining landscape to be reconstructed in remarkable detail.

First published in 1949, this book presents the collected works of Christopher Smart, the eighteenth-century poet whose life has an attraction for the curioso of literature. There is the early marriage with Anne Vane, his secret marriage, eighteenth-century Cambridge life, the intrigues of Grub Street, and, finally, insanity and confinement in an asylum. Smart remains a strange, enigmatic figure, repulsive or attractive according to the temperament of the investigator. His poetry is not easy to disentangle from his character - egocentric, given to exhibitionism, childish, oscillating between the extremes of self-belittlement and self-glorification; but he has his own claim to fame. Few other poets match him in directness of expression. He is a poet with the eye of a painter, developed in an unusually high degree. He has a stereoscopic vision which makes the object leap to the eye, the painter's sense of physical texture and his skill in composing a picture. Then again, there is his versatility. He practised almost every kind of poetry and gave to each kind his own personal inflection. It is the aim of this edition to present as complete a text as possible in the way that Smart himself would have seen it and, in giving some account of the poet's life, to link his poetry with it. The book will be of interest to students of eighteenth-century literature and history.

First published in 1949, this book presents the collected works of Christopher Smart, the eighteenth-century poet whose life has an attraction for the curioso of literature. There is the early marriage with Anne Vane, his secret marriage, eighteenth-century Cambridge life, the intrigues of Grub Street, and, finally, insanity and confinement in an asylum. Smart remains a strange, enigmatic figure, repulsive or attractive according to the temperament of the investigator. His poetry is not easy to disentangle from his character - egocentric, given to exhibitionism, childish, oscillating between the extremes of self-belittlement and self-glorification; but he has his own claim to fame. Few other poets match him in directness of expression. He is a poet with the eye of a painter, developed in an unusually high degree. He has a stereoscopic vision which makes the object leap to the eye, the painter's sense of physical texture and his skill in composing a picture. Then again, there is his versatility. He practised almost every kind of poetry and gave to each kind his own personal inflection. It is the aim of this edition to present as complete a text as possible in the way that Smart himself would have seen it and, in giving some account of the poet's life, to link his poetry with it. The book will be of interest to students of eighteenth-century literature and history.