to arrange these in a suitable order. After many trials, and alterations, I at last determined on the order in which they appear in this volume. My reasons for this arrangement I shall now endeavour to explain to the reader.
When I came to select, and arrange the poems which I had thus discovered, I found that they might be conveniently classed in four divisions:—1. A small thin quarto, stitched, but without a cover, on the outermost leaf of which is written, "Her. Aston, 1658;" 2. A still smaller quarto, which has no cover, but opens with a little poem with this title, "Mrs Thimelby on the Death of her only Child 3. A small, but thick folio, covered with yellowish parchment, much discoloured; on the outside of which is written, "William Turner his booke, 1662 and on the inside of the under part of the cover, over which the last leaf had been pasted, "Catherin Gage's book;" 4. A large quantity of loose scraps of paper, sheets, half-sheets, backs of letters, and the like, scribbled over with verses.
Having classed the poetry into the four divisions, just enumerated, I determined, after some consideration, that, that also should be the order of their appearance in print. The first quarto has a name, and date upon it; and I have every reason to believe, that the poems, of which it is composed, were written full as early, and perhaps earlier, than any others in the whole collection. Though the name "Her. Aston" is on the back of it, yet, as I have no proof that any one of the poems contained in it was composed by that person, but, on the contrary, have positive evidence, that some of them were the production of another, I have therefore thought fit to entitle the First Division, "Poems collected by the Honourable Herbert Aston, 1658.[1]
- ↑ I now think, that the last figure in the MS. is not an 8, but a 3; and that the date should be 1653.
