IHS THE TREASURY OF SACRED SONG SELECTED FROM THE ENGLISH LYRICAL POETRY OF FOUR CENTURIES WITH NOTES EXPLANATORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL FRANCIS T PALGRAVE PROFESSOR OF POETRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD و إن إن إن إن إن إن إن إن إن إن ἐπμεροι· τί δέ τις, τί δ' οἴ τις; cklac NAP ἄνθρωπος. ἀλλ ̓ ὅταν αἴγλα Διόςδοτος ἔλθη, λαμπρὸν φέγγος ἔπεστιν ἀνδρῶν καὶ μείλιχος αἰών 03-7-3, LuB EXTREMUM HUNC, ARETHUSA, MIHI CONCEDE LABOREM Library th L.B. Evans 2-27-31 PREFACE To offer poetry for poetry's sake has been my first aim and leading principle in fulfilling the task with which the authorities of the Clarendon Press have honoured me. Hence it is probable that many poems which would be justly expected when the object of a selection is direct usefulness, spiritual aid and comfort, or (to put it in one word) edification, will here be found absent. And this deficiency, I fear, will be felt even by readers who are not satisfied with religious verse, however good its intention, unless it be clothed in the veil of beauty. For verse of this kind, hymns in particular, beyond any other modes of poetry, hold a special place in the hearts of men; so closely intertwined with the predilections of childhood, with the memories of the home or the church of our youth, with the voices no longer heard on this side the grave, that they have a charm for us beyond criticism,—a spell which is none the less irresistible because it is not cast over us by their own proper magic. Yet if my aim-an aim in collections of sacred song rarely avowed or followed-to present poetry for poetry's sake, has not here altogether been missed through my own want of taste or discernment, may it not be hoped that the final end and object of all the Fine Arts, and Poetry as the queen of them,-permanent pleasure, elevation and enlightenment of the soul,—to return to the word, edification in the highest sense,—will be secured more effectually and more enduringly, through the subtle, yet powerful aid of melody in words, and beauty in form? It is confessedly thus when Music or Painting are concerned; the better and finer the art, the more exquisite the pleasure, the more penetrating, the more vivifying, the impression. From this point of view, we may |