Transcribed from the 1891 Cassell & Company edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org CASSELL’S NATIONAL LIBRARY * * * * * THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE. * * * * * BY COVENTRY PATMORE. * * * * * “Par la grace infinie, Dieu les mist au monde ensemble.” _Rousier des Dames_. [Picture: Decorative graphic] CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED: _LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE_. 1891. * * * * * THIS POEM IS INSCRIBED TO THE MEMORY OF HER BY WHOM AND FOR WHOM I BECAME A POET. * * * * * INTRODUCTION. THERE could be but one answer to the suggestion of Mr. Coventry Patmore that his “Angel in the House” might usefully have a place in this “National Library.” The suggestion was made with the belief that wide and cheap diffusion would not take from the value of a copyright library edition, while the best use of writing is fulfilled by the spreading of verse dedicated to the sacred love of home. The two parts of the Poem appeared in 1854 and 1856, were afterwards elaborately revised, and have since obtained a permanent place among the Home Books of the English People. Our readers will join, surely, in thanks to the author for the present he has made us. H. M. CONTENTS