THE present volume of POEMS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE consists partly of original, and partly of selected pieces; the latter being generally such as have delighted successive generations, and are likely to remain favourites with youth. In both, the Editor has been guided by the same principle-to say nothing of amusement, which he considers no mean object in itself: convinced that in the education of the young something besides intellectual culture is desirable, he has been anxious to make provision, however small, for refining the moral and social sentiments-for exciting the imagination for teaching kindness to all living creatures— and while training to Piety and a love of the Works of Nature, for suppressing the coarser emotions and everything that tends to prolong strife in the family of mankind. Some of the pieces are of a kind suitable for being committed to memory. The Editor offers his best acknowledgments to Mrs HowITT and other writers, for the permission they have granted to use pieces selected from their works. W. C. |