Excerpt from The Lockerbie Book: Containing Poems Not in Dialect The century that was then old has gone to its final reek oning, and ten full years have been recorded against its young successor During this time it has been given to Benj. F. Johnson to write much. In the fourteen volumes that now represent his collected verse, almost every poetic form finds a place, and normal English, in distinction from dialect, holds an equal authority. Yet if you say Riley to the man in the street he will reply: When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock. The poet, I am sure, has no grievance with this answer; nor is there quarrel anywhere with the fixed association of Riley's namewith his homelier form of verse. Such an alliance is as worthy as it is inevitable. His destinies are garlanded with old fashioned roses and time will judge him and reward him accordingly. 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.