In the compilation of this volume my aim has been to furnish a work
that would be representative in character rather than exhaustive. The
restrictions of space imposed by the limits of such a series as this
have necessitated the omission of many pieces that readers might expect
to see included. As far as possible, however, the most typical satires
of the successive eras have been selected, so as to throw into relief
the special literary characteristics of each, and to manifest the trend
of satiric development during the centuries elapsing between Langland
and Lowell.
Acknowledgment is due, and is gratefully rendered, to Mrs. C.S.
Calverley for permission to print the verses which close this book; and
to Messrs. Macmillan & Co. for permission to print A.H. Clough's
"Spectator ab Extra".
To Professor C.H. Herford my warmest thanks are due for his careful
revision of the Introduction, and for many valuable hints which have
been adopted in the course of the work; also to Mr. W. Keith Leask,
M.A.(Oxon.), and the librarians of the Edinburgh University and
Advocates' Libraries.