The poetical reader for school and home use, ed. by J.C. Curtis

THE

POETICAL READER,

FOR

SCHOOL AND HOME USE.

EDITED BY

JOHN CHARLES CURTIS, B.A.,

Author of a "School and College History of England," "Chronological and
Genealogical Tables, illustrative of English History," &c.

LONDON:

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.,

STATIONERS' HALL COURT.

Price One Shilling.

1863

280. C. 242

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Printed by J. & W. Rider, 14, Bartholomew Close, London.

PREFACE.

THOUGH the paramount value of poetry in relation to the culture of the conceptive faculty, and the improvement of the taste, is universally admitted, yet there are many schools, both public and private, in which the reading of poetry forms no part of the school curriculum; and it is believed that this omission is due, in some degree, to the want of a cheap, wellcompiled, and interesting Poetical Reader. This want the Editor has endeavoured to supply-with what success those teachers who give the book a trial will be best competent to judge.

It has not been deemed advisable to attempt any systematical classification of the poems, and they therefore follow one another without reference to time, form, or subject-matter.

The Editor begs to present his warmest thanks to Alfred Tennyson, Esq., Matthew Arnold, Esq. Thomas Carlyle, Esq., Charles Swain, Esq., Professor Kingsley, Dean Trench, Rev. F. W. Mant, Mrs. Howitt, and Miss Eliza Cook, for their kind per

mission to allow the use of copyright poems which have greatly enhanced the value of the collection. He has, also, to thank Mr. Bennett for permission to publish Mrs. Howitt's "Sunshine," the copyright of which is his property; Messrs. W. Blackwood and Sons for permission to publish Professor Aytoun's "Old Scottish Cavalier," and Mrs. Hemans' "Better Land," "Homes of England," and "Casa Bianca ;" Messrs. Longman and Co. for like consent to publish Moore's "Canadian Boat Song," "Evening Bells," and "Minstrel Boy;" and Messrs. Moxon and Co. for permission to make use of Lamb's "Familiar Faces," Hood's "Past and Present," and "Song of the Shirt," Leigh Hunt's "Abou Ben Adhem and the Angel," an extract from Keats' "Endymion," and Shelley's "Skylark."

July, 1863.