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 PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. To the lovers of Scottish poetry no apology is necessary for a new edition of The CHERRY AND THE SLAE. Although composed near- ly three hundred years ago, it still continues in forcible language to illustrate its love moral—"that there is no object so much a- bove our reach, but may be attained by Hope and Courage, guided by Reason, Wit, Ex- perience, and Skill. The enduring fame of this pleasing poetical Allegory is evinced by the fact of its having been published from time to time, in various parts of the country, in a cheap and popular form. But although it is understood to have been written at Cumston Castle, in the immediate neighbour- hood of Kirkcudbright, and to describe the romantic scenery of the Dee, no edition of the poem has hitherto been published in the South of Scotland, and copies of the former editions have become exceedingly rare. These circumstances have induced the