Golden leaves from the British poets

Front matter

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$ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

THE GOLDEN LEAVES SERIES.

Preface

IN adding another compilation from the Poets to the many ahxady before the public, it seems necessary to offer some distinctive claim to originality as an apology for the temerity of the attempt. This collection so far differs from previous ones, that no arbitrary or individual preferences have con- ♦^^rolled the Selections ; they are exclusively those specimens of "The British Poets," which, by long-established consent, have become '' Household words'' in our language, as exponents of all that is beautiful in thought, expression, and feeling. To collect these into one portable volume, that might with ease be made the companion of the Railroad car, the Steamboat, and the shady nook of a country retreat ; and from its elegance of typographical and mechanical beauty, would entitle it to a place on the Parlour table for reference and family use, seemed an experiment that might find favour with the reaoing public. The necessarily prescribed limits vi rREFA CE.

of this volume would not admit of the adoption ot all those Gems, even of mhior poems, which have become stereotyped, as it were, in the affections of the general reader ; especial care, however, has been taken to admit only those which have been recognized as the purest and most brilliant droppings from '' the wells of English undefilej." The period of Shakespeare and his contemporaries has been chosen for the commencement of the Selections ; our language then assumed its almost definite shape, and its literature may be considered then to have achieved some of its greatest triumphs. Subsequent Poets, as far as practicable, have been arranged to follow in the order of their succession, down to the latest candidate for poetic fame at the publication of this volume.

The Selections have been arranged consecutively under their appropriate authors, affording greater facilities for reference, and concentrating more distinctly the interest on each individual Poet, than could be obtained by a miscellaneous distribution : a species of unity and individuality is thus pre- -served, that we trust will be found acceptable to the reader.

The Collector, in acknowledging the adaptation

PREFACE. Vl)

of the Title of an English compilation of very limited extent, intended chiefly for the introduction of Pictorial Illustrations, confesses the expressiveness of the name so completely harmonized with the design he contemplated, in furnishing a Series of Compilations that should be indeed " Golden Leaves" from the works of Standard Authors, that he could not resist its adoption. The second volume of the Series is prepared, and will be issued immediately, under the title of " Golden Leaves FROM THE American Poets."

New York, June 22, 1864.