It may be worth while to append the interesting concluding paragraph of
the preface to the first series of _Selections_, issued by Messrs.
Smith, Elder and Co. in 1872:

"A few years ago, had such an opportunity presented itself, I might have
been tempted to say a word in reply to the objections my poetry was used
to encounter. Time has kindly co-operated with my disinclination to
write the poetry and the criticism besides. The readers I am at last
privileged to expect, meet me fully half-way; and if, from their fitting
standpoint, they must still 'censure me in their wisdom,' they have
previously 'awakened their senses that they may the better judge.' Nor
do I apprehend any more charges of being wilfully obscure,
unconscientiously careless, or perversely harsh. Having hitherto done my
utmost in the art to which my life is a devotion, I cannot engage to
increase the effort; but I conceive that there may be helpful light, as
well as reassuring warmth, in the attention and sympathy I gratefully
acknowledge R. B.

London, May 14, 1872."




INDEX TO POEMS

Abt Vogler, 23, 145, 146, 147

Adam, Lilith, and Eve, 220, 221