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DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO THE

RIGHT ON. THE EARL OF HOME.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED BY JOHN FORSYTH,

82 SOUTH BRIDGE.

MDCCCLXIII.

APK4334

PREFACE

IN appearing the second time at the bar of the most illustrious and enlightened nation upon earth, I confidently believe that I have much to hope and but little to fear from the decisions of public opinion, owing to the circumstance of having been both so frequently and favourably noticed and critically reviewed by the Press, upwards of twelve years ago. My only apology, therefore, for again coming before the world, is solely owing to the repeated solicitations of a select and valued circle of friends and wellwishers, whose judgment of my effusions I highly esteem, and heartily appreciate.

The reader will, I doubt not, be gratified to observe some fresh pieces in this, which were not in the First Edition. These productions, I regret to add, were written under extreme relative affliction :

a dispensation of Providence, the writer sincerely trusts he shall never forget.

It is hoped that a judicious selection, as well as a happy arrangement, has been made of the various subjects, and that the distinctive classification of the Poems and Songs will meet the public approval.

With these few very short premises, I must again encore that prince of writers, the illustrious Byron, and say:

"Go, little Book, from this my solitude:
I cast thee on the waters-go thy ways.'

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At the same time, and finally, it is with feelings of no ordinary gratitude and esteem, that I again tender to my numerous and influential supporters the expression of my most cordial, sincere, and heartfelt thanks, in consideration of their spontaneous and almost unprecedented benevolence and generosity towards me.

Coldstream, July 1863.

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