in it.

Owing to causes not necessary to state it was impracticable, in some
cases, to make as creditable a selection as could have been made had it
been possible to have had access to all the poetry of the different
writers. In a few instances the book contains all the poetry of the
different writers that it has been practicable to obtain. Herein, it is
hoped, will be found sufficient apology, if any apology is needed, for
the character of some of the matter in the book.

If any apology is needed for the prominence given to the poems of David
Scott (of John.) it may be found in the foregoing statement concerning
the origin of the book; and in the fact, that, for more than a quarter
of a century, the editor was probably his most intimate friend. So
intimate indeed were the relations between Mr. Scott and the writer,
that the latter had the pleasure of reading many of his friend's poems
before they were published. The same may be said in a more extended
sense, of the poems of David Scott (of James) to whose example and
teaching, as well as to that of the other Mr. Scott--for he was a pupil
of each of them--the writer owes much of whatever literary ability he
may possess.

The editor is also on terms of intimacy with many of the other
contemporary writers whose poetry appears in the book, and has striven
to do justice to their literary ability, by the selection of such of
their poems as are best calculated, in his opinion, to do credit to
them, without offending the taste of the most fastidious readers of the
book.

From the foregoing statement it will be apparent that the object of the