III. Commendatory Verses, prefixed to Various Publications between 1652 and 1657. To My Dear Friend, Mr. E[ldred] R[evett] on his Poems moral and divine 241 On the Best, Last, and only Remaining Comedy of Mr. Fletcher, "The Wild-Goose Chase" (1652) 245 To My Noble Kinsman Thomas Stanley, Esq.; on his Lyrick Poems composed by Mr. John Gamble (1656) 247 To Dr. F. B[eale]; on his Book of Chesse (1656) 249 To the Genius of Mr. John Hall (1657) 250 Translations 253 Elegies on the Death of the Author 279 INTRODUCTION. There is scarcely an UN-DRAMATIC writer of the Seventeenth Century, whose poems exhibit so many and such gross corruptions as those of the author of LUCASTA. In the present edition, which is the first attempt to present the productions of a celebrated and elegant poet to the admirers of this class of literature in a readable shape, both the text and the pointing have been amended throughout, the original reading being always given in the footnotes; but some passages still remain, which I have not succeeded in elucidating to my satisfaction, and one or two which have defied all my attempts at emendation, though, as they stand, they are unquestionably nonsense. It is proper to mention that several rather bold corrections have been hazarded in the course of the volume; but where this has been done, the deviation from the original has invariably been pointed out in the notes. On the title-page of the copy of LUCASTA, 1649, preserved among the King's Pamphlets in the British Museum, the original possessor has, according to his usual practice, marked the date of purchase, viz., June 21; perhaps, and indeed probably, that was also the date of publication. A copy of LUCASTA, 1649, occasionally appears in catalogues, purporting to have belonged to Anne, Lady Lovelace; but the autograph which it contains was taken from a copy of Massinger's BONDMAN (edit. 1638, 4to.), which her Ladyship once owned. This copy of Lovelace's LUCASTA is bound up with the copy of the POSTHUME POEMS, once in the possession of Benjamin Rudyerd, Esq., grandson and heir of the distinguished Sir Benjamin Rudyerd, as appears also from his autograph on the title.<1.1>