AMERICAN PUBLISHER'S ADVERTISEMENT.

INASMUCH as several editions of these poems have already appeared in this country, it seems proper to explain the circumstances under which they were published. In 1844, Mr. Rufus W. Griswold made a collection of such of Praed's Poems as he could obtain, which was published by Henry G. Langley, of New York, in a volume of 287 pages.

In 1852, he edited a second edition of 290 pages, published by J. S. Redfield. The chief additions were "The Legend of the Teufel-Haus," the prize poems of "Australasia" and "Athens," and four Charades, making nine in all. In 1857, a third edition was issued by Redfield, pp. 311, adding ten Charades, and two political songs.

In 1860, a new edition in two volumes was edited by W. H. Whitmore, of Boston, and fifty copies were printed in quarto form. This edition of 310 pages and 304 pages, contained a number of poems from the "Etonian," and "Knight's Magazine," as "Gog," "The County Ball," "Changing Quarters," &c., and some other poems, of which the most important was "The Legend of the Drachenfels."

The present edition, being the fifth issued in

America, contains a number of poems furnished to the English editor by the relatives and friends of the poet. The poems wrongly attributed to Praed, in the fourth edition, consist of productions which appeared in the "New Monthly Magazine" in 1840. These are to be regarded as the work of some imitator, very probably of a Mr. Fitzgerald, who wrote at that time.

It may not be improper to state that, previous to the appearance of the authorized English edition, it had been decided by the present publisher to issue a new and corrected edition. Considerable progress had been made when the English edition was announced; and this collection, an exact reprint of Dr. Coleridge's new English edition, is offered to the public, as that by which the family of the poet expeet his fame will be preserved.

It is unnecessary to dwell upon the merits of the poems here presented. Not only has the American public called for these successive editions, but it is in some degree owing to this trans-Atlantic appreciation that Praed's name has been kept before the literary public at home. Such of his friends and admirers as have seen these collections have been urgent in their demand for an authorized edition; and it is most pleasant to find the task has been placed in the hands of one so competent as the Rev. Derwent Coleridge.

NEW YORK, November 1, 1864.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE Poems of WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED were prepared for publication after his decease by his widow, and were to have been carried through the press, at her request, by the Rev. Derwent Coleridge, to whom the publication of an introductory Memoir was also intrusted. By her death the prosecution of this undertaking has devolved upon her daughters, under whose direction the present collected edition is now, in accordance with their lamented mother's design, presented to the public.

Their acknowledgments are gratefully offered to the many kind friends by whose contributions and suggestions the work has from time to time been assisted.

To Lady Young, the author's sister, the collection is indebted for many interesting pieces in her possession. These are chiefly of early date, and are now published for the first time. She has added to the obligation by placing in the hands of the compiler of the Memoir a number of Mr. Praed's letters, and has materially contributed, by her recollections of his early life, to the interest and accuracy of the record.

The Rev. John Moultrie, the Rev. B. H. Kennedy, D. D., the Rev. C. H. Hartshorne, Charles Knight, Esq., with other of Mr. Praed's valued friends, have also furnished important aid; and with these must be named the late Rev. E. C. Hawtrey, D. D., the late Robert Hildyard, Esq., Q. C., and the late Alaric Watts, Esq.

More recently the editor of the last American edition of Mr Praed's Poems has shown the interest which he continues to take in the subject—an interest largely shared by a numerous body of his countrymen-by his kind and valuable communica

tions.

It only remains to add that, in bringing out these Poems, the Rev. Derwent Coleridge has had the assistance and co-operation of Sir George Young, Bart., the author's nephew, who has carefully verified the text of the Poems, collating them with the author's manuscript copies, from which many important corrections, and several large additions, have been derived, and to whom is due the arrangement adopted in the present edition.