Underwoods.] From the second folio, 1641. The poems collected under this head, (with the exception of a small number taken from published volumes,) were found amongst Jonson's papers. Whether he designed them all for the press cannot now be known: it is reasonable to suppose from the imperfect state in which many of them appear, that he did not. No selection, however, was made, though there appears some rude attempt to arrange them, with a reference to dates; but the disposition of them, in general, is very incomplete, and marks of carelessness and ignorance are visible in every page. Much is misplaced, or mutilated, and more, perhaps, is lost. It is singular that no notice or memorandum of any kind should hand down to us the name or condition of the editor or printer of this unfortunate volume, unless, as there is some reason to suspect, the whole was put to the press surreptitiously.
