Page:Scotish Descriptive Poems - Leyden (1803).djvu/9



Poems collected in this Volume are chiefly of the descriptive kind, a species of composition in which Scotish writers very early attained a high reputation. As there was little danger of producing confusion, the compositions have been arranged rather according to their length, than according to the age of their authors, or the periods of their original publication. The Notes which accompany the Poems, are chiefly intended to illustrate localities and obscure allusions. They are not, however, confined solely to this purpose; for in this Volume, the Editor proposed to himself a twofold object: To rescue from oblivion some inedited or scarce Poems, which merited a better fate; and to illustrate some facts of Scotish literary history, which were either obscure, or had escaped general notice. To the latter object attention has been constantly paid, not only in the Notes, but in the Preliminary Observations prefixed to the different