thousands of his countrymen, both in the present generation as well as
in future ages. As in the works of his more illustrious brethren, so in
his trifles will become subjects of curious interest, and assume an
importance of which we have no conception now. Here he will engage the
attention of the antiquary, there of the social historian. Long after
his politics, his ethics, his theology have ceased to be immediately
influential, they will be of immense historical significance. A
consummate artist and a consummate master of our language, the process
by which he achieved results so memorable can never fail to be of
interest, and of absorbing interest, to critical students.

I must, I fear, claim the indulgence due to one who attempts, for the
first time, a critical edition of a text so perplexingly voluminous in
variants as Tennyson's. I can only say that I have spared neither time
nor labour to be accurate and exhaustive. I have myself collated, or
have had collated for me, every edition recorded in the British Museum
Catalogue, and where that has been deficient I have had recourse to
other public libraries, and to the libraries of private friends. I am
not conscious that I have left any variant unrecorded, but I should not
like to assert that this is the case. Tennyson was so restlessly
indefatigable in his corrections that there may lurk, in editions of the
poems which I have not seen, other variants; and it is also possible
that, in spite of my vigilance, some may have escaped me even in the
editions which have been collated, and some may have been made at a date
earlier than the date recorded. But I trust this has not been the case.

Of the Bibliography I can say no more than that I have done my utmost to
make it complete, and that it is very much fuller than any which has
hitherto appeared. That it is exhaustive I dare not promise.