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Edinburgh:

Printed by W. and R. Chambers.

PREFACE.

THESE gleanings from the rich field of English poetry have been compiled with a view to being used both as a class-book in schools and as a repertory for home reading.

It is not intended that the pieces should be used as furnishing exercises in grammar and the meanings of words, but rather so as to foster a taste for reading poetry for the pleasure of reading it; and the object of the notes is merely to explain such unusual words and allusions as might hinder the reader from seizing readily the general meaning of the sentence.

It always adds to the interest of what we read when we know something of the writer, and accordingly brief biographical sketches of the authors of the poems are appended, arranged in alphabetical order.

Thanks are due to Messrs Ward, Lock, & Co., and Messrs Warne & Co., for kindly allowing the insertion of pieces that are still copyright.

EDINBURGH, June 1878.

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