Excerpt from English Poetry and Poets N the hope that a work undertaken Without the remotest View to publication, but for the com paratively ephemeral purpose of imparting oral in formation and entertainment, may prove permanently valuable, I commit to print the result of much delightful reading, with some loving and earnest (though far from scholarly) original criticism. In my eager and various reading I quoted and transposed - for the benefit of my classes in English Poetry - from many authors. It did not then seem necessary to retain in memory all the sources of my information; consequently I cannot now duly accredit some of my borrowings. In a work like this, such an Offence may, I trust, be forgiven. Where much learned and able work has been done by my betters, I have not hoped to excel; but if I may help to foster a love and appreciation of the good and true in English verse, I shall have attained to my highest end and ambition. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.