PREFACE

The framing of an Anthology which should appeal to lovers of Great and Greater Britain was begun some years ago, but although the work is only now completed it does not seem to have been forestalled by any of the collections of poems which have been produced in the interval.

Its purpose, briefly stated, is to focus and stimulate the emotions which centre round the love of our country, whether they spring, from those national ideals which date from Tudor times, or from the more complex bonds which now unite a brotherhood extending far overseas.

This purpose has dictated both the selection and the arrangement of the poems. In the historical section the order of events has been followed, but throughout the volume no regard has been paid to dates of authorship; classical and incdern poems dealing with the sarie aspect of, the main theme have been freely mingled.

The generosity of many living writers has permitted the inclusion of a much larger proportion of copyright matter than is usual in anthologies. Without this the aim of the book would not have been realized; for it would have lacked that peculiar

intimacy and poignancy of appeal which is characteristic of the poetry of our own generation.

Poets offer us manifold help towards the fulfilment of our national ideals: our minds are braced and our resolves deepened by the light which they shed upon heroes, actions, thoughts: they bring home to us that larger conception of patriotism which underlies mere sectional and individual interests: and, in revealing to us the meaning of some familiar scene, they lead us to hear "the still sad music of humanity", to feel the beauty of life and death, the joy of service, the universal message of earth and sky.

R. P. SCOTT

KATHARINE T. WALLAS

Note of Acknowledgment

Sincere thanks are offered to the following authors who have generously consented to the inclusion of copyright poems:—

Miss Alice M. Buckton for one poem from Through Human Eyes

"Ethel Clifford" for "The Child," and for a poem from

Sir A. Conan Doyle for two from Songs of Action (Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co.)

Mr. G. E. Evans for one from The Secret Key and Other Verses (Messrs. Angus & Robertson, Sydney)

Mr. E. V. Lucas for one from The Friendly Town (Messrs. Methuen & Co.)

Sir A. C. Lyall for one from Verses written in India

Mr. Henry Newbolt for seven from The Island Race (Mr. Elkin Mathews), and for three from The Sailing of The Long Ships (Mr. John Murray)

Mr. W. H. Ogilvie for one from Hearts of Gold (Messrs. Angus & Robertson, Sydney)

Mr. A. B. Paterson for two from The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses (Messrs. Macmillan & Co.)

Also to the following authors and publishers who have jointly given permission:

Mrs. Byron for a poem from Blackwood's Magazine (Messrs. Blackwood & Sons)

Mr. Walter de la Mare for two from Poems (Mr. John Murray), and two from Songs of Childhood (Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co.)

Mr. Rudyard Kipling for one from The Seven Seas (Messrs. Methuen & Co.), and one from The Five Nations (Messrs. Methuen & Co.)

Mr. Andrew Lang for one from Ban and Arrière Ban, one from New Collected Rhymes, and one from Grass of Parnassus (all published by Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co.)

Mr. Alfred Noyes for two from Poems (Messrs. Blackwood & Sons)

Mr. Owen Seaman for one from A Harvest of Chaff (Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co.)

Mr. William Watson for a liberal selection from Poems (Mr. John Lane), and Lacrimæ Musarum (Mr. John Lane)

Mrs. Woods for one from Aëromancy and Other Poems

(Mr. Elkin Mathews)