Chapter I: Preface

The text of this collection of poetry is authentic and not bowdlerized. The general reader will, I hope, be gratified to find that its pages display no pedantic or scholastic traits. His pleasure in the poetry itself will not be distracted by a marginal numbering of the lines; by index-figures and footnotes; or by antiquated peculiarities of spelling, capitalization, and elision. Except where literal conventions are essential to the poet's purpose,--as in _The Castle of Indolence, The Schoolmistress_, or Chatterton's poems,--I have followed modern usage. Dialect words are explained in the glossary; and the student who may wish to consult the context of any passage will find the necessary references in the unusually full table of contents. Whenever the title of a poem gives too vague a notion of its substance, or whenever its substance is miscellaneous, I have supplied [bracketed] captions for the extracts; except for these, there is nothing on the pages of the text besides the poets' own words.

Originality is not the proper characteristic of an anthologist, and in the choice of extracts I have rarely indulged my personal likings when they conflicted with time-honored preferences; yet this anthology,--the first published in a projected series of four or five volumes comprising the English poets from Elizabethan to Victorian times,--has certain minor features that may be deemed objectionably novel. Much the greater portion of the volume has of course, as usual, been given to those poems (by Pope, Thomson, Collins, Gray, Goldsmith, Crabbe, Cowper, and Burns) which have been loved or admired from their day to our own. But I have ventured to admit also a few which, though forgotten to-day, either were popular in the eighteenth century or possess marked historical significance. In other words, I present not solely what the twentieth century considers enduringly great in the poetry of the eighteenth, but also a little--proportionately very little--of what the eighteenth century itself (perhaps mistakenly) considered interesting. This secondary purpose accounts for my inclusion of passages from such neglected authors as Mandeville, Brooke, Day, and Darwin. The passages of this sort are too infrequent to annoy him who reads for aesthetic pleasure only; and to the student they will illustrate movements in the spirit of the age which would otherwise be unrepresented, and which, as the historical introduction points out, are an integral part of its thought and feeling. The inclusion of passages from "Ossian," though almost unprecedented, requires, I think, no defense against the literal-minded protest that they are written in "prose."

Students of poetical history will find it illuminating to read the passages in chronological order (irrespective of authorship); and in order to facilitate this method I have given in the table of contents the date of each poem.

E. B.

CONTENTS

JOHN POMFRET
THE CHOICE (1700)

DANIEL DEFOE
THE TRUE-BORN ENGLISHMAN (1701),
ll. 119-132, 189-228, 312-321
A HYMN TO THE PILLORY (1703),
STANZAS 1, 3, 5-6, 28-30

JOSEPH ADDISON
THE CAMPAIGN (1704),
ll. 259-292
DIVINE ODE (1712)

MATTHEW PRIOR
TO A CHILD OF QUALITY (1704)
TO A LADY (1704)
THE DYING HADRIAN TO HIS SOUL (1704)
A BETTER ANSWER (1718)

BERNARD DE MANDEVILLE
THE GRUMBLING HIVE (1705, 1714),
ll. 1-6, 26-52, 149-156, 171-186,
198-239, 327-336, 377-408

ISAAC WATTS
THE HAZARD OF LOVING THE CREATURES (1706)
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT (1709)
O GOD, OUR HELP IN AGES PAST (1719)
A CRADLE HYMN (1719)

ALEXANDER POPE
AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM (1711),
ll. 1-18, 46-51, 68-91, 118-180,
215-423, 560-577, 612-642
THE RAPE OF THE LOCK (1714),
CANTOS II AND III
TRANSLATION OF THE ILIAD, BOOK VI (1717),
ll. 562-637
AN ESSAY ON MAN (1733-34),
EPISTLE I; 11, 1-18; IV, 93-204, 361-398
MORAL ESSAYS, EPISTLE II (1735),
ll. 1-16, 87-180, 199-210, 231-280
EPISTLE TO DR. ARBUTHNOT (1735),
ll. 1-68, 115-214, 261-304, 334-367, 389-419
FIRST EPISTLE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF HORACE IMITATED (1737),
ll. 23-138, 161-296, 338-347
EPILOGUE TO THE SATIRES (1738), DIALOGUE II, ll. 208-223
THE DUNCIAD (1728-43), BOOK i, ll. 28-84, 107-134; iv. 627-656

LADY WINCHILSEA
TO THE NIGHTINGALE (1713)
A NOCTURNAL REVERIE (1713)

JOHN GAY
RURAL SPORTS (1713), ll. 91-106
THE SHEPHERD'S WEEK: THURSDAY; OR, THE SPELL (1714),
ll. 5-14, 49-60, 83-136
TRIVIA (1716), BOOK II, ll. 25-64
SWEET WILLIAM'S FAREWELL TO BLACK-EYED SUSAN (1720)
MY OWN EPITAPH (1720)

SAMUEL CROXALL
THE VISION (1715), ll. 41-56

THOMAS TICKELL
ON THE DEATH OF MR. ADDISON (1721), ll. 9-46, 67-82

THOMAS PARNELL
A NIGHT-PIECE ON DEATH (1721), ll. 1-70
A HYMN OF CONTENTMENT (1721)

ALLAN RAMSAY
THE GENTLE SHEPHERD: PATIE AND ROGER (1721),
ll. 1-52, 59-68, 135-202

AMBROSE PHILIPS
TO MISS CHARLOTTE PULTENEY, IN HER MOTHER'S ARMS (1725)

JOHN DYER
GRONGAR HILL (1726)

GEORGE BERKELEY
VERSES ON THE PROSPECT OF PLANTING ARTS AND
LEARNING IN AMERICA (WR. c. 1726; PUBL. 1752)

JAMES THOMSON
THE SEASONS (1726-30)
WINTER, ll. 223-358
SUMMER, ll. 1630-1645
SPRING, ll. 1-113, 846-876
AUTUMN, ll. 950-1003
A HYMN
RULE, BRITANNIA (1740)
THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE (1748), STANZAS 1-11, 20, 57-59

EDWARD YOUNG
LOVE OF FAME: SATIRES V-VI (1727-28),
SATIRE V, ll. 227-246, 469-484; VI, 393-462
NIGHT-THOUGHTS (1742-45), NIGHT I, ll. 68-90;
III, 325-342; IV, 201-233; VII, 253-323

ANONYMOUS
THE HAPPY SAVAGE (1732)

SOAME JENYNS
AN ESSAY ON VIRTUE (1734), ll. 148-165, 170-183, 189-199

PHILIP DODDRIDGE
SURSUM (1735?)

WILLIAM SOMERVILLE
THE CHASE (1735), BOOK II, ll. 119-171

HENRY BROOKE
UNIVERSAL BEAUTY (1735), BOOK III, ll. 1-8, 325-364;
V, 282-297, 330-339, 361-384
PROLOGUE TO GUSTAVUS VASA (1739)
CONRADE, A FRAGMENT (WR. 1743?, PUBL. 1778), ll. 1-26

MATTHEW GREEN
THE SPLEEN (1737), ll. 89-110, 624-642

WILLIAM SHENSTONE
THE SCHOOLMISTRESS (1737), STANZAS 6, 8, 18-20, 23, 28
WRITTEN AT AN INN AT HENLEY (1764)

JONATHAN SWIFT
THE BEASTS' CONFESSION (1738), ll. 1-128, 197-220
VERSES ON THE DEATH OF DR. SWIFT (1739),
ll. 39-66, 299-338, 455-482

CHARLES WESLEY
FOR CHRISTMAS-DAY (1739)
FOR EASTER-DAY (1739)
IN TEMPTATION: JESU, LOVER OF MY SOUL (1740)

WRESTLING JACOB (1742)
ROBERT BLAIR
THE GRAVE (1743), ll. 28-44, 56-84, 750-767

WILLIAM WHITEHEAD
ON RIDICULE (1743), ll. 27-52, 153-171, 225-226, 233-236, 287-301
THE ENTHUSIAST (1754)

MARK AKENSIDE
THE PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION (1744), BOOK I, ll. 34-43, 113-124;
III, 515-535, 568-633

JOSEPH WARTON
THE ENTHUSIAST; OR, THE LOVER OF NATURE (1744),
ll. 1-20, 26-38, 87-103, 167-244

JOHN GILBERT COOPER
THE POWER OF HARMONY (1745), BOOK II, ll. 35-51, 125-140, 330-343

WILLIAM COLLINS
ODE WRITTEN IN 1746 (1746)
ODE TO EVENING (1746)
ODE ON THE POETICAL CHARACTER (1746)
THE PASSIONS (1746)
ODE ON THE POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS
(WR. 1749, PUBL. 1788)

THOMAS WARTON
THE PLEASURES OF MELANCHOLY (1747), ll. 28-69, 153-165, 196-210
THE GRAVE OF KING ARTHUR (1777), ll. 31-74
SONNET WRITTEN IN A BLANK LEAF OF DUGDALE'S MONASTICON (1777)
SONNET WRITTEN AT STONEHENGE (1777)
SONNET TO THE RIVER LODON (1777)

THOMAS GRAY
AN ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON COLLEGE (1747)
HYMN TO ADVERSITY (1748)
ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD (1751)
THE PROGRESS OF POESY (1757)
THE BARD (1757)
THE FATAL SISTERS (1768)
ODE ON THE PLEASURE ARISING FROM VICISSITUDE (1775)

SAMUEL JOHNSON
THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES (1749), ll. 99-118,
133-160, 189-220, 289-308, 341-366

RICHARD JAGO
THE GOLDFINCHES (1753), STANZAS 3-10

JOHN DALTON
A DESCRIPTIVE POEM (1755), ll. 222-227, 238-257, 265-272, 279-290

JANE ELLIOT
THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST (WR. 1756)

CHARLES CHURCHILL
THE ROSCIAD (1761), ll. 963-986
THE GHOST (1762), BOOK II, ll. 653-676

JAMES MACPHERSON

"TRANSLATIONS" FROM OSSIAN
FINGAL, AN EPIC POEM (1762), BOOK VI, §§ 10-14
THE SONGS OF SELMA (1762), §§ 4-8, 20-21

CHRISTOPHER SMART
A SONG TO DAVID (1763), ll. 451-516

OLIVER GOLDSMITH
THE TRAVELLER (1764), ll. 51-64, 239-280, 423-438
THE DESERTED VILLAGE (1770)
RETALIATION (1774), ll. 29-42, 61-78, 93-124, 137-146

JAMES BEATTIE
THE MINSTREL, BOOK I (1771), STANZAS 4-5, 16, 22, 32-33, 52-55

LADY ANNE LINDSAY
AULD ROBIN GRAY (WR. 1771)

JEAN ADAMS
THERE'S NAE LUCK ABOUT THE HOUSE (c. 1771)

ROBERT FERGUSSON
THE DAFT DAYS (1772)

ANONYMOUS
ABSENCE (c. 1773?)

JOHN LANGHORNE
THE COUNTRY JUSTICE, PART I (1774), ll. 132-165

AUGUSTUS MONTAGU TOPLADY
ROCK OF AGES (1775)

JOHN SKINNER
TULLOCHGORUM (1776)

THOMAS CHATTERTON
SONGS FROM AELLA (1777)
THE BODDYNGE FLOURETTES BLOSHES ATTE THE LYGHTE
O, SYNGE UNTOE MIE ROUNDELAIE
AN EXCELENTE BALADE OF CHARITIE

THOMAS DAY
THIS DESOLATION OF AMERICA (1777), ll. 29-53, 279-299,
328-335, 440-458, 489-501

GEORGE CRABBE
THE LIBRARY (1781), ll. 1-12, 99-110, 127-134,
AND A COMMONLY OMITTED PASSAGE FOLLOWING l. 594
THE VILLAGE (1783), BOOK I, ll. 1-78, 109-317; II, 63-100

JOHN NEWTON
A VISION OF LIFE IN DEATH (1779?)

WILLIAM COWPER
TABLE TALK (1782), ll. 716-739
CONVERSATION (1782), ll. 119-162
TO A YOUNG LADY (1782)
THE SHRUBBERY (1782)
THE TASK (1785), BOOK I, ll. 141-180; II, 1-47, 206-254;
III, 108-l33; IV, 1-41; V, 379-445; VI, 56-117, 560-580
ON THE RECEIPT OF MY MOTHER'S PICTURE (1798)
TO MARY (WR. c. 1795, PUBL. 1803)
THE CASTAWAY (WR. c. 1799, PUBL. 1803)

WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES
EVENING (1789)
DOVER CLIFFS (1789)

ROBERT BURNS
MARY MORISON (WR. 1784?, PUBL. 1800)
THE HOLY FAIR (WR. 1785, PUBL. 1786)
TO A LOUSE (WR. 1785, PUBL. 1786)
EPISTLE TO J. LAPRAIK (WR. 1785, PUBL. 1786), STANZAS 9-13
THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT (WR. 1785-86, PUBL. 1786)
TO A MOUSE (1786)
TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY (1786)
EPISTLE TO A YOUNG FRIEND (1786)
A BARD'S EPITAPH (1786)
ADDRESS TO THE UNCO GUID (1787)
JOHN ANDERSON, MY Jo (WR. c. 1788, PUBL. 1790)
THE LOVELY LASS OF INVERNESS (WR. c. 1788, PUBL. 1796)
A RED, RED ROSE (WR. c. 1788, PUBL. 1796)
AULD LANG SYNE (WR. c. 1788, PUBL. 1796)
SWEET AFTON (WR. c. 1789, PUBL. 1796)
THE HAPPY TRIO (WR. 1789, PUBL. 1796)
TO MARY IN HEAVEN (WR. 1789, PUBL. 1796)
TAM O' SHANTER (WR. 1790, PUBL. 1791)
AE FOND KISS (WR. 1791, PUBL. 1792)
DUNCAN GRAY (WR. 1792, PUBL. 1798)
HIGHLAND MARY (WR. 1792, PUBL. 1799)
SCOTS, WHA HAE (WR. 1793, PUBL. 1794)
IS THERE FOR HONEST POVERTY (WR. 1794, PUBL. 1795)
LAST MAY A BRAW WOOER (WR. c. 1795, PUBL. 1799)
O, WERT THOU IN THE CAULD BLAST (WR. 1796, PUBL. 1800)

ERASMUS DARWIN
THE BOTANIC GARDEN (1789-92), PART I, CANTO I, ll. 1-38;