OF THE Early English Poets, TO WHICH IS PREFIXED AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE ENGLISH POETRY AND LANGUAGE: IN THREE VOLUMES. BY GEORGE ELLIS, ESQ. THE FOURTH EDITION CORrected. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND 1811. MD PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE first edition of this Miscellany, which appeared in 1790, was intended as an attempt "to "comprise, within the compass of one volume, "all the most beautiful small poems that had "been published in this country during the "sixteenth and seventeenth centuries;" but it was, at the same time, admitted, that "the "completion of the publisher's plan had been "prevented by the difficulty of procuring a "sufficient stock of materials." This difficulty has been since removed by the kind assistance of my friends; and the work, in its present state, contains a selection, made with some care and attention, from a considerable number of the best poetical libraries in this country. That it is still deficient, and that by greater industry it might have been improved, |