PREFACE. How few people condescend to read a preface; and yet how perseveringly do authors continue to regard it as an indispensable appendage to their works! On the present occasion the Editor rejoices that compliance with universal custom takes a more graceful form, since little more is requisite than the due acknowledgment of the assistance he has received from many kind friends. He may be pardoned, however, for saying a few words respecting the character of the present collection. What was once remarked of a somewhat similar publication, may, he hopes, apply with equal truth to the "Poetic Prism,"" We meet in every page something new from old favourites, and something valuable from new acquaintances." The greater number of the Selected Poems have not previously, it is believed, been included in other works of the class to which the present volume belongs. Many pieces of great beauty have been transferred to its pages by the obliging permission of living writers. The Original Poems-amounting to about a fifth part of the whole number-were, in the majority of instances, composed expressly for the work; the remainder being now for the first time published. The very names of some of the contributors will be sufficient to attract the attention of the reader. The Editor begs to return his warmest thanks for original poems communicated by the Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley, Mrs Southey, Mrs Abdy, Miss Frances Brown, the Authoress of the "Moral of Flowers," the Rev. Thomas Dale, the Rev. W. H. Bathurst, the Rev. John A. Latrobe, author of the "Solace of Song," the Rev. C. Strong, James Montgomery, Esq., D. M. Moir, Esq., (Delta, of "Blackwood's Magazine") who have also very kindly permitted him to make extracts from their published works. The same privilege has also been most freely accorded by Mrs Robert Browning (late Miss E. Barrett), Mrs Howitt, Mrs T. K. Hervey, the Bishop of Down and Connor, R. Monckton Milnes, Esq. M.P., Professor Longfellow, the Rev. R. C. Trench, the Rev. J. Keble, the Rev. H. F. Lyte, the Rev. H. Alford, William Wordsworth, Esq., T. K. Hervey, Esq., T. Westwood, Esq., N. P. Willis, Esq., Edmund Peel, Esq., Bernard Barton, Esq., Dr Huie, the Author of "Proverbial Philosophy," &c. The Editor is likewise called upon to express his obligations for original pieces to several friends who do not wish their names to appear. To the Editors of "Poems by the late Rev. T. E. Hankinson," the Editor of the "Athenæum," to Messrs Blackwood, Edinburgh, Messrs John W. Parker, and Edward Moxon, London, his grateful thanks are also due for the permission they afforded him to select comdositions of which they possess the copyright. In bringing this prefatory notice to a close, the Editor trusts he may be permitted to express his sanguine expectation that the volume which he brings before the public will not be considered altogether unworthy of its title. Emanating from many minds, it is, as it were, like the rainbow tinged with various colours; but by the tender and holy feeling which is infused into their productions, the many hues are blended into one harmonious whole. |