which it could be submitted to the public without more or less of
revision and correction.

The Miscellaneous Poems are chiefly fugitive pieces collected from
magazines and annuals. One or two, referred to in the correspondence
with James Montgomery, have been reprinted from the "Rural Muse," and
there are a few which, like the Asylum Poems, have not been published
before. "Maying; or, Love and Flowers," to which the Editor presumes
specially to direct attention, is one of these.

The Prose Fragments are of minor literary importance, but they help
to a knowledge and an understanding of the man. The Old Ballads have
an interest of their own, apart from their association with Clare.
The majority are no doubt what they purport to be, but in two or
three instances Clare's hand is discernible.

J. L. C.

Havelock-place, Hanley,

December, 1872.




CONTENTS


LIFE, LETTERS, ETC.