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 VII. From this slight history of the authors, and collectors of the Tixall Poetry, the reader will perceive, that they were individuals of five distinct families, inhabiting a line of country in the very centre of England, and none at a very great distance from the others. The Priory of St Thomas, is three miles from Tixall, which is five from Bellamore; and from that to Canwell is fifteen, which places are all in Staffordshire. From Canwell to Irnham, in Lincolnshire, is about five and thirty miles. They were all Roman catholics; and, what is remarkable, they are all, in the male line at least, become extinct. Their very names and dwellings have perished!

VIII. With respect to the share which the different individuals just enumerated had in the composition of the original, and hitherto unpublished, poems in this volume, I have already given some