In American Poems a brief biographical sketch of each writer was given, and since a s.milar plan in this volume would have required some repetition, the editor has preferred to make the introductions more general in character, with a view to suggesting points of critical inquiry in literature, for such a volume as this offers a good opportunity for directing young students toward a more thoughtful attention in reading. Prose, with its familiar forms and its more intimate relations to other studies, is often a better field for practice in criticism than poetry, especially as the student has the advantage of using it himself. The writing of poetry frequently helps in a critical interpretation of poetical forms, but to most such exercises have an element of unreality, while prose, as the mother tongue of all, affords a material which is never strange. It is worth while, therefore, to show the young what fine qualities exist in that which all men are using.

The more expanded character of prose makes annotation less necessary than in poetry. Besides, the interruption of an obscure reference is less fatal to enjoyment than in poetry. The editor, therefore, has given fewer notes than in American

Poems, and has purposely left work to be done by the reader, the doing of which will add a zest to his reading. This is most noticeable in the case of Emerson's essay on Books. It would be an admirable exercise for any young student to edit this paper by making full references to the array of points presented in it. A similar exercise in local historical study could be found in commenting upon Hawthorne's sketch of Howe's Masquerade.

Acknowledgment is made to Messrs. G. P. Put nam's Sons for their courtesy in permitting the use of the selections from Irving's Sketch Book.