THE TEXT of the Poems in this edition will, it is hoped, be found very
accurate, having been carefully prepared by the Editor for the larger
Library Edition, called "The Cambridge Edition," in three volumes
8vo. The INTRODUCTIONS are, with some revision, the same as those
given in "The Golden Treasury Edition" in two volumes 18mo., and
are an adaptation of the more extensive editorial matter of "The
Cambridge Edition." Their purpose is to elucidate the circumstances,
motives, and intention, of each of the Poems individually; they
contain, therefore, a great deal of such information as is usually
referred to Notes; and, if read in their chronological order, they will
be found to supply also, after their fashion, a continuous and rather
minute Literary Biography of the Poet. I regret that the wording of
the Introduction to Sonnet XXIII. no longer corresponds with fact.
When that paragraph was written, the house No. 19 York Street,
Westminster, so interesting as having been Milton's residence from
1652 to 1660, was still in existence, as there described; but, when I
was last on the spot, only the ruined shell was left, and that too, I hear,
is now demolished.

EDINBURGH:

March 1877

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