Gift Prof. F. M. Taylor ΤΟ THE MEMORY OF HELEN PRAED, THIS COLLECTION OF HER LAMENTED HUSBAND'S POEMS, PUBLISHED IN FULFILMENT OF HER LONG-CHERISHED WISH AND INTENTION, IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY HER DAUGHTERS. 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 entrusted. 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 communications. 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. |