ADVERTISEMENT.

THIS volume opens with the Dedication prefixed to that collection of Poems, by Mr. Crabbe, which appeared in 1807; and which included "The Library," originally published in 1781; "The Village," in 1783; and "The Newspaper," in 1785;-together with three then new poems; viz., "The Parish Register," "The Birth of Flattery," "Sir Eustace Grey," and

"The Hall of Justice." The Author's Preface to the same collection, of 1807, is next given; and then follow the Poems which it embraced; now for the first time arranged in the order in which they were written.

The original draft of "The Library,” as first shown to Mr. Burke, has been found among Mr. Crabbe's MSS., and the various readings supplied from this and other sources, together with explanatory matter of different kinds, are appended to the present pages in notes distinguished by brackets.

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In imitation of the example given by Sir
Walter Scott, in the collective edition of his
Poetical Works, an Appendix is added to this
volume, containing various juvenile Poems by
Mr. Crabbe, some from his MSS., others from
two anonymous publications which have now
become extremely scarce. These early essays

cannot detract from the fame of his maturer
productions; and illustrating, as they do, in a
striking manner, the progress of the Author's
taste and talents, they may furnish both en-
couragement and warning to the young aspirant
in the art of poetry. They are, however, chiefly
valuable for the light which they throw on the
personal character of the author himself; the
purification of his heart from youthful errors
under the influence of virtuous love, and an
awakened sense of religious obligation; and
the struggles of his mind during the period of
what, like Dr. Johnson, he calls “his distress.”

February 10. 1834.

"Quid juvat errores, mersâ jam puppe, fateri ?

Quid lacrymæ delicta juvant commissa secutæ ? "

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