Poems

Preface

TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.

This edition of Charles Swain's Poems is published under an arrangement by which he is to receive a portion of the profits from it; and the selection has been partly made by him. It embraces in addition to the best poems in the different volumes published in England, several pieces which are now printed for the first time, or which have never before been collected.

Charles Swain was born in Manchester in 1803 ; and there he has always lived. His father, who died before he was six years old, was an Eng- Ushman of considerable fortune, but, as we gather, of careless and extravagant habits, and at his death the family resources were much reduced. His mother was the daughter of a French physician of some note, and was born in Paris. To this mingling of French blood in his veins, much of the vivacity of his lyrical poetry must doubtless be ascribed; precisely as the brilliancy of Sydney Smith's wit and the rapidity of movement in his style may be traced to the same cause.

At an early age he was sent to school in ]Man-

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Chester, and made considerable progress in his studies. But as his mother's means were limited, he was placed in the dye-works of her brother, as soon as he had attained the age of fifteen. From this time his education was almost entirely that of self-culture. He remained in the service of his uncle for fourteen years, when he quitted it to join the firm of Lockett & Co., engravers, in Manchester. Subsequently he purchased a part of their business, in which he is still engaged. Whilst he resided with his uncle, who appears to have been a person of cultivated taste, he had access to a well-selected library, and added largely to his stock of general information.

Public attention was first attracted to his poetical talents by a poem printed in the London Literary Gazette, to Avhich journal he has ever since been a frequent contributor. He has also written much for annuals and other periodicals. His first volume was published in 1827 under the title of Metrical Essays, and met with encouraging success. This was followed in 1831 by The Mind and Other Poems, of which three editions have been published. The next year he published Dryburgh Abbey, a poem upon the death of Sir Walter Scott, which is placed at the close of this selection. Fifteen years later he again appeared as an author, and published his Dramatic Chapters and Other Poems, a collection of sketches which have been highly praised. In 1849 he published the English ]\Ielo(lies, the most popular of all his volumes : and four years later The Letters of Laura d'Auverne

PREFACE. • Vn

and Other Poems. These, we believe, are all the separate j^ubhcations that have appeared under his name.

Swain's poetry has always been popular in England, and several of his pieces have been translated into French and -German, while a still larger number have been set to music.

In 1827 he married, and has had six children, of whom four still survive. Of his home Mr. Tuckerman has given a pleasing picture in his Month in England, which will be read with interest.

" The fine shops and nutritive ' Albion ' of Manchester could not long beguile me ; and, as it wanted two hours of the time to start, I determined to seek the dwelling of a poet whose very name was a refreshment to the mind in this sooty hive of prosperous activity. It was with a feeling of infinite relief that I rode forth from those dusky and crowded streets, and entered the lane wherein stands the cottage of Charles Swain.

" Many of his songs had been wafted by their own aerial sweetness across the sea; and his felicitous description of Scott's funeral, attended by a procession of the romancer's immortal characters, is too graphic a tribute to genius not to be recalled with delight.

" I entered the family circle — thoroughly English in its geniality — just as they had assembled for lunch. The house is bounded by a snug garden of trees and flowers ; the rooms are hung with choice engravings ; all around and within indicated comfort and taste, and when I met the dark eye of

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my friend, I Imagined myself in tlie villa of a cordial Tuscan.

" The books, the pictures, the hospitable gude wife, the unaffected and blooming girls, the cheerful old lady by the fireside, and the retirement and quiet suddenly encountered, were all the more charming from the idea of noisy, toilsome, smoke-enveloped Manchester so near in fact, so distant in fancy.

" I was conscious of a peculiar satisfaction at the thought that the poetic instinct could thus isolate a man of soul, whose lot was cast amidst the most utilitarian scenes.

" It Avas a cheering reflection, that, at evening, this brave aspirant could leave behind him the turbid city, and here yield himself to letters, love, and song. How potent are fancy and affection to redeem material life ; and how independent are intellectual resources and earnest sentiment of the work-day world. I honored the enlightened will which led him thus to dedicate his' leisure to Lis family, nature, and the Muses."