Page:Old English ballads by Francis Barton Gummere (1894).djvu/11



When I ask you to accept the dedication of this book, I am thinking, not of the editor of English and Scottish ballads, the unrivalled master in the investigation of popular poetry, but of the teacher who has taught a host of pupils to welcome honest work in whatever degree of excellence, and of the friend who never failed to help and encourage the humblest of his fellows. Faithfully yours, F. B. GUMMERE.