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 communi cations. 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. MEMOIR. THE literary productions of WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED, though given to the world many years ago, in publications more or less of an ephemeral character, continue to excite considerable interest. Of the Poems, three separate collections have appeared in America, neither of them complete or accurate, yet reflecting credit on the taste and enterprise of our trans-Atlantic brethren. In this country, an authorized edition has for some time been announced, not before it had been long expected and desired. The delay has been occasioned by no want of zeal on the part of those more immediately concerned in the undertaking, who may rather be charged with too anxious a sense of duty, than with any indifference of feeling. Though well aware that there is a tide in the affairs of books, no less than of men, and that a debt is due to the generation which is passing away for which the next can give no acquittance, they have been willing to forego the advantage of a timely appearance, and even to be held defaulters in a matter of admitted obligation, rather than bring out what seemed to them an imperfect work, or do less than justice to him whose memory as a man, no less than an author, it is intended to preserve. The life of an individual may be written for |