Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

THE following Anthology of Sacred Verse has been collected and arranged, with the view of including many beautiful specimens by Continental and American Writers, that have not before been placed in any British Collection.

The great and increasing interest now taken in whatever relates to and illustrates Sacred Song and Music, has also been one of the principal motives which have actuated the Compilers in sending forth this volume.

Neither the treasures of past British Writers, nor those of the ancient or present Continental and American Authors, have been near exhausted in the extraction of this Collection of "sweetly uttered knowledge" from their pure well-springs. A few specimens of our own Writers of the present day have been included, with a view of causing their ex

quisite beauty to shine, side by side, with our elder Poets, and their Foreign and American compeers; and also as an incitement to those who do not possess the works quoted, to be led to a further acquaintance with them.

Critical and biographical notices have been omitted, as matter more suitable for the usual channels of such information. A list, however, of the Authors' names, with the date of their births and deaths, has been placed at the end of the volume, chiefly on account of many of the Foreign and American Writers being comparatively new to this country.

The formality of regular and systematic arrangement has not been observed, such compilations having not unfrequently been called Wreaths and Bouquets, where the Beauty and Fragrance of the Flowers are more pleasing when carelessly mingled with all the ease and wildness of natural variety.

Like the two previous Volumes of Selections by the same Compilers, the labour connected with this has also been one of love for the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. They have every hope of its being received with equal favour; and this confidence does not arise from any cause but the impression that such a display of the power of language, embodying the holiest thoughts, must command the interest of the Good and the Great of all classes of society.

Such Collections, from time to time, of the wide spread Thoughts emanating from those Stars that have lit the Earth for the short period allowed to human existence, have an unquestionably good tendency, as showing that the aspirations of the best of our fellowsojourners here are one and the same. The

unity displayed in the Thought of the present Volume will strike the reader as illustrating this simple yet great and sublime fact.

It is not in the hours of business, pleasure, or worldly anxiety which beset all men, that such thoughts and aspirations can find much place. There are times, however, when their solace is beyond price; and the reader is referred to those seasons, fully indicated in the lines of almost every Writer quoted in the present Volume.

The Aris

This garland has been culled without reference to class or country. tocracy of Genius can only be found in the Peerage of Nature; and as Nature is ever changing, yet always the same, so the thoughts of the best and purest of all lands are simply the old shadows clad in new veils. There is, however, one subject illustrated in the present Volume which claims our attention above all others. It need hardly be mentioned, that our Blessed Lord and his simple yet profound teachings are here alluded to.

« VorigeDoorgaan »