=Preface.=
The selections contained in this volume are such as relate to one
subject only—that of country life. But this, in itself, is a very wide
sphere, and offers in its many different fields, old and new, all the
variety that the most capricious spirit could desire. In collecting the
different passages, the editor has allowed herself a wide sweep of the
net; it has been her aim to bring together many beautiful passages from
the best writers, mingled with others interesting rather from their
quaintness and oddity, or their antiquity. With this view, not only have
the poets of our own tongue, ancient and modern, English and American,
been laid under contribution for the reader’s amusement, but
translations from a dozen different languages have also been included in
the volume. Materials for a work of this nature abound, and the editor
would have gladly drawn even more largely from the sources open to her,
not only from the older authors, but from many writers of our own day
also. It was desirable, however, that the volume should not reach an
unwieldy size, as it was intended for pleasant companionship—the
summer-seat, under a shady tree, or the chimney corner in winter—rather
than for the prouder position allotted to the ponderous quarto on the
library shelf. A word of especial apology is perhaps needed, regarding
some of our omissions; “Comus,” the “Allegro and Penseroso,” Gray’s
“Elegy” and “Ode to Spring,” with other poems of that class, though
peculiarly fitted for a compilation of this kind, will not be found in
our table of Contents. But they have already been so often printed and
misprinted, quoted and misquoted!
“Dono infelice di bellezza, ond’ hai
Funesta dota d’ infiniti guai.”
In this instance their very absence will serve to recall them to the
reader’s memory.