Richard Porson - Later Work

Later Work

He worked mainly on the tragedians, Aristophanes, Athenaeus, and the lexicons of Suidas, Hesychius and Photius. This last he twice transcribed (the first transcript was destroyed by a fire at James Perry's house) from the original among the Gale manuscripts in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was pleased when he found how often in Aristophanes he had been anticipated by Bentley, and when Neils Schouw's collation of the unique manuscripts of Hesychius appeared and proved him right in some instances.

In 1795 there appeared from Foulis's press at Glasgow an edition of Aeschylus in folio, printed with the same type as the Glasgow Homer, without a word of preface or anything to give a clue to the editor. Many new readings were inserted in the text with an asterisk affixed, while an obelus was used to mark many others as corrupt. It was at once recognized as Porson's work; he had superintended the printing of a small edition in two octavo volumes, but this was kept back by the printer and not issued till 1806, still without the editor's name. It was printed from a copy of Jan Cornelis de Pauw's edition corrected, which is preserved in the library of Trinity College.

Soon after this, in 1797, appeared the first instalment of what was intended to be a complete edition of Euripides–an edition of the Hecuba.