ADVERTISEMENT. THE INTRODUCTION to the Lay of the Last Minstrel, written in April, 1830, was revised by the Author in the autumn of 1831, when he also made some corrections in the text of the poem, and several additions to the notes. The work is now printed from his interleaved copy. It is much to be regretted that the original MS. of this poem has not been preserved. We are thus denied the advantage of comparing throughout the Author's various readings, which in the case of Marmion, the Lady of the Lake, the Lord of the Isles, &c., are often highly curious and instructive.-LOCKHART. INTRODUCTION TO THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL.' A POEM of nearly thirty years' standing may be supposed hardly to need an Introduction, since, without one, it has been able to keep itself afloat through the best part of a generation. Nevertheless, as in the edition of the Waverley Novels now in course of publication, I have imposed on myself the task of saying something concerning the purpose and history of each, in their turn, I am desirous that the Poems for which I first received some marks of the public favour, should also be accompanied with such scraps of their literary history as may be supposed to carry inter 1 Published in 4to. (L. 1, 5s.) 1805. |