OF ENGLISH AUTHORS ww The following may now be had : GOLDSMITH'S TRAVELLER, 9d. sewed, or Is. cloth. GOLDSMITH'S DESERTED VILLAGE, 4d. sewed, or 6d. cloth. GRAY'S ELEGY, 4d. sewed, or 6d. cloth. MILTON'S L'ALLEGRO, 4d. sewed, or 6d. cloth. MILTON'S IL PENSEROSO, 4d. sewed, or 6d. cloth. MILTON'S LYCIDAS, 4d. sewed, or 6d. cloth. ANNOTATED FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND PRIVATE STUDENTS 'An excellent series, carefully edited, and furnished with explanatory footnotes by the Rev. E. T. STEVENS and the Rev. D. MORRIS. These handy little volumes are well adapted for the guidance of young students of English literature.' Rock. This series is intended to meet the requirements of elementary and second grade schools, and of youthful students of our English literature in general. Each work selected is one of classical and standard merit, and is prefaced with a short but comprehensive sketch of the writer, including an account of the style and design of his work. Allusions are carefully explained, and all grammatical difficulties are removed in the notes.' STANDARD. A series of cheap publications, containing poems by standard English authors, sufficiently annotated and explained to be of service to boys and girls in meeting the requirements of elementary and second grade schools.' ENGLISH INDEPENDENT. 'This is a new series, and one to which we can give a cordial welcome, both for its selection of subjects and for the style in which it is produced. Each volume contains a short account of the Author whose poem follows, 2 Annotated Poems of English Authors. and of the poem itself. Unlike other annotated editions for schools, the notes are in this placed beneath the text, and not relegated to the end. This plan adds to the usefulness of each volume as a school-text book. The notes are purely explanatory, and the etymological and grammatical explanations are of sufficient worth to deserve permanent record. A good example of this may be found in Gray's Elegy (14), on the expression, "Many a.' The same expression occurs in the L'Allegro, and the same note is repeated. This is treatment which a really good poem will bear, and which is of the greatest service to the student of English; and the less opportunity he has of a classical training the more he needs that which this affords him.' NONCONFORMIST. 'Tiny books got up with great taste. The works of standard poets having come to be considered a necessary part of the education of certain pupils, these books have been prepared for their use. Each book contains one poem, prefaced by a sketch of the author's life, and at the foot of each page copious notes and grammatical hints are given. The books are well printed and capitally edited.' LITERARY WORLD. 'An excellent series of choice compositions, selected from standard English authors, for the use of pupils of the second grade and elementary schools. Each poem is prefaced with a brief sketch of the Author's life, and a short criticism on the poem, accompanied with numerous explanatory and critical footnotes. With the aid of these annotations, written as they are in simple language, there is no reason why these great poems should not be read with intelligence and appreciation.' LANCET. 'Each poem is published separately, with a short sketch of the Author's life, and accompanied with copious notes on the meaning and derivation of words, and such other subjects as are necessary to comprehension of the text without reference to dictionaries, or other sources of information on the part of the student. Not only will these little books give material aid to the understanding of our best poets, but they offer a better insight into the refinements of our language than can be had from ordinary means. The little books are very nicely got up, and offered to the public at the lowest possible price.' QUEEN. The following are nearly ready: BLOOMFIELD'S Farmer's Boy. BURNS' Cotter's Saturday Night, and other Poems. COLERIDGE'S Rime of the Ancient Mariner. COWPER On His Mother's Picture. COWPER'S Task. LONGFELLOW'S Evangeline. SCOTT's Lady of the Lake. SCOTT's Lay of the Last Minstrel. SHAKESPEARE's Julius Cæsar. WORDSWORTH's Excursion (Selection). ! London, LONGMANS & CO. ANNOTATED POEMS OF ENGLISH AUTHORS EDITED BY THE REV. E. T. STEVENS, M.A. Oxon. AND THE REV. D. MORRIS, B.A. LOND. Author of The Class-Book History of England' &c. JOHN MILTON. JOHN MILTON, a poet of the first rank, was born in London in 1608, and died in 1674. His ancestors derived their name from the estate of Milton, near Thame, in Oxfordshire, of which they were the proprietors. He was educated at St. Paul's School, London, and Christ's College, Cambridge, and was ultimately appointed Latin Secretary to Oliver Cromwell and the Parliament. The last twenty years of his life were spent in total blindness; and yet during this period he composed his most important poem, 'Paradise Lost.' He wrote also many other works, both in poetry and prose, the chief of which are 'Paradise Regained,' 'Comus' (a mask, or play, performed at Ludlow Castle, in 1634, before the Earl of Bridgewater), 'L'Allegro,' 'Il Penseroso,' 'Samson Agonistes' and 'Lycidas'; besides various Sonnets, Odes, and Hymns. The Lycidas is a pastoral elegy composed by Milton in 1637, in memory of a deceased friend. It was republished in 1645 with the following heading attached for the first time: 'In this Monody, the Author bewails a learned friend, unfortunately drowned in his passage from Chester, on the Irish Seas, 1637, and by occasion foretells the ruin of our corrupted clergy, then in their height.' The friend alluded to was Edward King, son of Sir John King, Kt., Secretary for Ireland. During a voyage to that country, the ship struck in calm weather |