PREFACE.

School Books of Poetry are seldom distinguished by much variety, as they are generally mere reproductions of certain favourite pieces, which from being so frequently used, have come to be regarded as the only ones fit for such compilations. In the present work I have ventured to break through a rule which has hitherto restricted the choice of the compiler to a number of extracts, which, beautiful as they may be, have become hackneyed from constant repetition. While retaining some old favourites, I have introduced many poems never before used in the same class of book, but which I feel assured will be welcomed not less for their novelty than for their intrinsic merit.

Care has been taken to secure a due proportion of examples of every kind of subject and mode of treatment, so that dramatic, descriptive, narrative, moral, and religious poetry are all well represented.

Preference has been given to extracts which fill the mind with pictures of natural scenery and historic incident, or inspire the heart with noble and patriotic feeling. It is in connection with such subjects that poetry

appeals with the greatest force to the young; ; enriching the imagination with thoughts and images of beauty, which in after-life become memories exercising an enduring influence, and forming a never-ending source of delight.

The effect of such a work as the present should be to implant in those who use it a love of poetry, which shall lead them to desire to make acquaintance with the other writings of the authors of whose works only a few specimens are here given. That this selection may have such a result is the earnest desire of the editor, for of poetry it may be almost as truly said, as Wordsworth says of nature, in his grand lines “Composed on Revisiting the Wye,” that she

“ Never did betray
The heart that loved her ; 'tis her privilege,
Through all the years of this our life, to lead
From joy to joy; for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings.”

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21

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I 21

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Addison, Joseph (b. 1672, d. 1719).
An Ode

51
Arnold, Matthew (b. 1820, living).
The Forsaken Merman

• 115
Bennett, W. C. (b. 1820, living).
From India

140
A Summer Invocation

184
Bryant, W. Cullen (b. 1794, living).

Thanatopsis
To a Waterforul

27
Burns, Robert (b. 1759, d. 1796).
To a Mouse

93
Byron, Lord (b. 1788, d. 1824).
Isles of Greece .

30
Vision of Belshazzar.

160
Campbell, Thomas (b. 1777, d. 1844).

Battle of the Baltic
Lochiel's Warning

79
Mariners of England

146
To the Rainbow

104
Lord Ullin's Daughter

187
Capern, Edward (b. 1819, living).

Live in Love, 'Tis Pleasant Liring 183
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (b. 1772, d. 1834).
Hymn in the Valley of Chamouni

67
Cowper William (b. 1731, d. 1800).
The Faithful Bird

175
On the Receipt of my Mother's Picture 26
Croly, Rev. Dr. (b. 1780, d. 1860).

b, .
The Rising of La Vendée .

157
Derzhavin, G. R. (b. 1743, d. 1816).
Ode to the Almighty (translated)

23
Elliott, Ebenezer (b. 1781, d. 1849).
The Wonders of the Lane

71
Emerson, G. R (b. 1824, living).

The Baby's K?
Ferguson, Samuel (b. 1805, living).
The Forging of the A1:chor

174

وو

I 20

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L'AGE

102

III

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IOI

156

185

Freiligrath, Ferdinand (b. 1810, living).

Picture Bible (translated)
The Lion's Ride (translated)

II2
Frere; J. Hookam (b. 1769, d. 1846).

Translation of the Sally of the Cid 16
Galagher, W. D. The Labourer
Goldsmith, Oliver (b. 1728, d. 1774).
The Village Preacher

74
The Village Schoolmaster
Heber, Reginald (b. 1783, d. 1826).

God Provideth for the Morrotu
Hemans, Felicia (b. 1794, d. 1835).
The English Boy

109
Houghton, Lord (b. 1809 living).

Labour
Howitt, Mary (b. 1800, living).
The Fairies of the Caldon Loiv

43
Hunt, Leigh (h. 1784, d. 1859).
Abou Ben Adhem and the Angel

9
Jones, Sir William (b. 1746, d. 1794).
An Ode

181
Kingsley, Rev. Charles (b. 1819, living).
A Farewell

192
The Last Buccanier

41
Knowles, James Sheridan (b. 1784, d. 1862).

Tell's Speech
Lockhart's Spanish Ballads (b. 1794, d. 1854).
Garci Perez de Vargas

61
Logan, John (b. 1748, d. 1788).

Ode to the Cuckoo
Longfellow, H. W. (b. 1807, living).
The Emperor's Bird's-10st

179
Resignation

37
The Village Blacksmith

130
Macaulay, Lord (b. 1800, d. 1859).
The Battle of Naseby

170
The Spanish Armada

89
Mackay, Dr. Charles (b. 1812, ng).
My Good Right Hand

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138

46