By the pious and contemplative such a volume as the present may be perused at all seasons. During moments of leisure it may hallow the labours of every-day life; on the day of rest it may offer a not unsuitable companion to hours of devotion. It may be read aloud with benefit to the family circle, or be studied with satisfaction among the scenes which its verses often so beautifully and truthfully describe. Many of the pieces are, indeed, so eminently beautiful, that, once read, they can never be forgotten; and it may be that their memory shall strengthen hours of future trial, and bring back the heart from the dangers of neglect and indifference. By presenting a variety of themes, and the thoughts of numerous minds, the contents cannot fatigue through sameness; while the main subject has a consistency and unity which may secure for the volume a more lasting consideration than is usually bestowed on mere miscellaneous collections. The selection, we have said, has been made from the wide field of modern poetry, and in several instances from the works of living authors. To them and to their publishers we offer our most cordial thanks for the kind assistance thereby rendered to our design; and if in any instance the authorship remains unacknowledged, the omission has arisen, not from neglect, but, from the want of better information. EDINBURGH, November 1863. CONTENTS. There is a gentler element, and man, The spacious firmament on high, When gloomy thoughts, and boding fears, The green leaves waving in the morning gale, I place an offering at Thy shrine, Still let my song a nobler note assume, Sweet is the prayer, whose holy stream, Earth has not anything to shew more fair, |