There remains the pleasant duty of thanking those whose kindness has been of assistance in the preparation of this volume. The relatives of my dear friend the late Canon AINGER have allowed me to retain for this purpose the first editions of _Inebriety_ (with Crabbe's autograph), _The Village_ and _The Newspaper_ which he had lent me not long before his death. The Vice-Master of Trinity, Mr W. ALDIS WRIGHT, besides enabling me to borrow from Trinity Library the first edition of _The Library_, kindly lent his own copy of the _Poems_ published in 1807. I am indebted to Professor EDWARD DOWDEN, LL.D., of Trinity College, Dublin, for various services generously rendered by him to this edition of Crabbe, which will benefit from them in its concluding as it has in its opening volume. He has readily allowed me to print the whole of the interesting blank verse poem of _Midnight_, which, in his own words, 'unless it be a transcript by Crabbe from some other eighteenth-century poet, of which there is no evidence, may be assumed to be of his authorship.' To the same kind friend, and to the special courtesy of Mr J. W. LYSTER, Librarian of the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin, I owe the opportunity of tracing _fide oculata_, so far as it seems possible to make sure of it, the elusive volume of _The Lady's Magazine_ containing the earliest of Crabbe's printed verse. Mr A. R. WALLER, of Peterhouse, Assistant Secretary to the Syndics of the University Press, has in many ways facilitated the preparation of this volume. And without the unstinting and unflagging cooperation of another member of my College, Mr A. T. BARTHOLOMEW, of the University Library, who has compiled the list of variants, besides giving me much other assistance, I could not, amidst other engagements, have carried so far the execution of a delightful task. A. W. WARD. Peterhouse Lodge, Cambridge. _July_ 24th, 1905. CORRIGENDA. p. 5, _for_ Ovid _read_ Ovid [?]. p. 48, l. 41, _for_ Meonides _read_ [Maeonides]. p. 55, l. 297, _for_ [threat'ned] _read_ [threaten'd]. p. 232, l. 319, _for_ Rubens _read_ [Rubens]. p. 252, l. 5, _for_ dolor _read_ [labor]. p. 256, l. 4, _for_ deplorant _read_ [deplangunt]. p. 329, l. 11, _for_ and worship me _read_ [and worship me]. ib. l. 12, _for_ Part I _read_ Part II. p. 364, l. 12, _for_ [erat] _read_ erant. CONTENTS.