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PREFACE

It has been our object to gather in one small volume some of the best examples in the English tongue of that poetical genre usually known as vers de société, or Society Verse. In doing this, we ought at once to disclaim any ambition to make our collection either authoritative or all-embracing. As a literary type, Society Verse is so elusive and its limits so vaguely defined that it is impossible to please everybody's critical taste. There are, of course, certain poems concerning the inclusion of which no intelligent reader will be likely to have a doubt; but there are numerous others which are more difficult to classify, and about which opinions will inevitably differ.

Our own standard has certainly not been too high or too exacting. With Brander Matthews, we have recognized that Society Verse,

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