ry and gratulatory verses, with one exception prefixed
by Lovelace to various publications by friends during his life-time,
either prior to the appearance of the first part of his own
poems in 1649, or between that date and the issue of his Remains
ten years later, have been placed by themselves, as an act of
justice to the writer, of whose style and genius they are, as is
generally the case with all compositions of the kind, by no means
favourable specimens. The translations from Catullus, Ausonius,
&c. have been left as they stood; they are, for the most part,
destitute of merit; but as they were inserted by the Poet's
brother, when he edited the posthumous volume, I did not think it
right to disturb them, and they have been retained in their full
integrity.

Lovelace's LUCASTA was included by the late S. W. Singer, Esq.,
in his series of "Early English Poets;" but that gentleman,
besides striking out certain passages, which he, somewhat
unaccountably and inconsistently, regarded as indelicate,
omitted a good deal of preliminary matter in the form of
commendatory verses which, though possibly of small worth,
were necessary to render the book complete; it is possible,
that Mr. Singer made use of a copy of LUCASTA which was deficient
at the commencement. It may not be generally known that,
independently of its imperfections in other respects,
Mr. Singer's reprint abounds with the grossest blunders.

The old orthography has been preserved intact in this edition;
but with respect to the employment of capitals, the entirely
arbitrary manner in which they are introduced into the book as
originally published, has made it necessary to reduce them, as well
as the singularly capricious punctuation, to modern rules. At the
same time, in those cases where capitals seemed more characteristic
or appropriate, they have been retained.

It is a singular circumstance, that Mr. Singer (in common with
Wood, Bliss, Ellis, Headley, and all other biographers,) overlooked
the misprint of ARAMANTHA for AMARANTHA, which the old compositor
made, with one or two exceptions, wherever the word occurred. In
giving a correct representation of the original title-page, I have
been obliged to print ARAMANTHA.

In the hope of discovering the exact date of Lovelace's birth
and baptism, I communicated with the Rev. A. J. Pearman, incumbent
of Bethersden, near Ashford, and that gentleman obligingly examined
the registers for me, but no traces of