is Col

ces, preaining in Prospectus e Work, the etuated, when king; and the

be found in the

ng rarity of these of the manners and cestors.

ch assume a metrical of Ellis, Ritson, Weber, dabundant and curious the exception of such as ed into the Miscellanea Anno attempt has been made cattered specimens of popular

fiction which exist only in prose. Of these Waverly Novels" of the olden time, which afforded as much delight to our forefathers as the writings of Sir Walter to ourselves, and which in their day exercised the same influence over the National Literature which the productions of the Master Spirit of the North have done in ours, many are founded on traditions, which have been handed down to us without the aid of verse, and the Lyfe of Virgilius, the most extraordinary fiction which is contained in these volumes, will be found a forcible illustration of the truth of this assertion.

To remedy therefore the neglect with which these contributions to that most curious and speculative field of literary inquiry-the origin and progress of Romantic fiction, have been treated, the Editor determined upon laying before the public in a form accessible alike to the man of letters, and the general reader, a collection of the more rare and interesting of these productions, and so to fill up the hiatus which has so long existed in the History of English Literature.

How far and with what success this object may have been accomplished, it is not for the Editor to determine, but should one or two of the Romances now reprinted be deemed of less interest than the generality of the collection, the only excuse which can be offered, is, the extreme rarity of works of this description, the consequent difficulty which the Editor had in procuring them, and the necessity which he was under of paying a proper regard to the amusement of the reader and of selecting

"Of all the Tales that ever had been told,

"By homely shepheards, lately or of old :"

a succession of those most likely to please, from the diversity of their style and the varied nature of their incidents.

These narrations have strong and deeply rooted claims upon our affections, for they were the delight of those from whom we spring—alike the study and admiration of "Ladye Faire" and gallant Knights, and the never ending theme of the shepherd and the husbandman: high and low, gentle and simple, found solace in their contemplation; their recital cheered the forsa

ken damsel in her lonely bower, inspired the warrior with a bright and chivalrous bravery, and gladdened the hearts and roused the drooping spirits of the peasantry, who when the labours of the day were at a close, gathered into an anxious circle round the narrator, and caught with greedy ears the tales of other days:

"Come sit we downe under this hawthorne tree,
The morrowes Light shall lend us day enough,

And let us tell of Gawen or Sir Guy,

Of Robin Hood or of Old Clem a Clough.

Or else some Romant unto us areede,

By former Shepheards taught thee in thy youth,
Of noble Lords and Ladies gentle deede,

Or of thy Love or of thy Lasses truth."

Claims such as these will not easily be gainsayed, and the less so, that many of these tales have delighted us in our childhood, and are endeared to our hearts by the recollection of those sunny hours, when deeply read in the mysteries of Robin Hood and Friar Baconwe would, with the eagerness of childish admiration, gladly have forsaken all our hopes and prospects, to dwell with the bold outlaw and

his merry men under the greenwood tree and have exchanged all the Raree Shows of real life for one glance at the Friar's wonderful perspective glass.

“Men lyken Jestis for to here

And romans rede in divers manere,”

and so do children, and those which mankind receive from the faltering tongue of age, when it would lull them to repose, cling fondly and closely to their hearts till their own tongues faltering from the like cause, soothe the pillows of other generations with their recital, and while

"From hour to hour we ripe and ripe

"And then from hour to hour we rot and rot,"

these marvellous relations are handed down from year to year and from century to century, till the tale, which amused the sons of Hengist

* Tom Thumb, who was originally of Scandinavian descent, being the Thaumlin or little Thumb of the Northmen. The German Daumerling i. e. little Thumb, like our English worthy is swallowed by a cow-and our nursery rhyme "I had a little husband no bigger than my thumb," probably commemorates a part of Tom's History extant in a little Danish work, treating of "Swain Tomling, a man no bigger than a thumb, who would be