LATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, PRESIDENCY COLLEGE, CALCUTTA; 66 FROM COWPER'S LETTERS," ETC. London NEW YORK: MACMILLAN AND CO. All rights reserved It is hoped that this volume, while not exceeding the limits suitable to a book for the class-room, includes all the best of Cowper's shorter poems. In the Introductions prefixed to the Notes, and in the Notes themselves, I have not scrupled to quote freely from his Letters, both for their interest as commentaries upon the poems, and for their value as an index to the poet's feelings and character. For, as Sainte Beuve remarks, "You apprehend the true sources of his poetry, of the true poetry of the home and of private life, best in his letters: the affectionate rallying, the familiarity which despises nothing of any interest as too humble and too little, side by side with loftiness, or rather with depth." The poems are arranged in the order of their first publication. In the case of three of them-The Poplar Field, Gratitude, and To Mrs Unwin-1 have, I think, shown in my preliminary Introductions that the generally received date of their composition is of very doubtful authenticity. In the preparation of this book I have consulted the Globe Edition of Cowper's Poetical Works, edited |