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