503461 PREFACE. THE TEXT of the Poems in this edition will, it is hoped, be found very accurate, having been carefully prepared by the Editor for the larger Library Edition, called "The Cambridge Edition," in three volumes 8vo. The INTRODUCTIONS are, with some revision, the same as those given in "The Golden Treasury Edition" in two volumes 18mo., and are an adaptation of the more extensive editorial matter of "The Cambridge Edition." Their purpose is to elucidate the circumstances, motives, and intention, of each of the Poems individually; they contain, therefore, a great deal of such information as is usually referred to Notes; and, if read in their chronological order, they will be found to supply also, after their fashion, a continuous and rather minute Literary Biography of the Poet. I regret that the wording of the Introduction to Sonnet XXIII. no longer corresponds with fact. When that paragraph was written, the house No. 19 York Street, Westminster, so interesting as having been Milton's residence from 1652 to 1660, was still in existence, as there described; but, when I was last on the spot, only the ruined shell was left, and that too, I hear, is now demolished. EDINBURGH : I. Earliest Editions of the Poem II. Origin of the Poem and History of its Composition III. Scheme and Meaning of the Poem. Commendatory Verses, prefixed to the Second Edition Author's Preface on "The Verse " CONTENTS. PAGE 4I The Author's Preface: "Of that sort of Dramatic Poem called INTRODUCTIONS TO THE POEMS SEVERALLY :— Introductions to the English Poems Paraphrases on Psalms CXIV and CXXXVI On the Death of a Fair Infant dying of a Cough At a Vacation Exercise in the College Sonnet XV. On the Lord General Fairfax Sonnet XVI. To the Lord General Cromwell Sonnet XVII. To Sir Henry Vane the Younger Sonnet XII. On the Same. On the New Forcers of Conscience Sonnet XIII. To Mr. H. Lawes on His Airs Sonnet XIV. On the Religious Memory of Mrs. Catherine |