SOURCE: Pittock, Joan. Introduction to Odes on Various Subjects (1746) by Joseph Warton, pp. v-xiv. Delmar, New York: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1977.

In the following essay, Pittock examines Joseph Warton's Odes on Various Subjects, its composition and publishing history, and the influence of Warton's brother Thomas, who contributed in part to the publication, and his friend William Collins, who also wrote a collection of odes.

An advertisement in the London Evening Post for Saturday, 29 November 1746 announced the imminent publication of Odes on Various Subjects by Joseph Warton, A.B. of Oriel College, Oxon. The publisher was Robert Dodsley, a man experienced in assessing the likely popularity of new poetry. His biographer, Ralph Straus, imputes to this business acumen Dodsley's decision to publish Warton's odes rather than those of William Collins whose Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegoric Subjects was published by Millar on 20 December.¹ The association between Collins and Warton...