THE CHRIST-CHILD, AND OTHER POEMS. BY EDWARD BYRON NICHOLSON, M.A., LATE SCHOLAR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD; HENRY S. KING & Co., LONDON. 1877. PREFACE. AT a time when our country can boast not only four poets of consummate genius and achievement, but a whole legion of thoughtful, musical, and copious verse-writers, I am not so foolish as to imagine that this little volume, even were it very far stronger than it is, coud win its way through them into 'the land of matters unforgot,' and I am far too doubtful of the general appetite for 'minor verse' to suppose that these poems can bring me any other kind of gain. Indeed I publish them at this particular time partly because I expect from them neither name nor profit. A scanty and laborious leisure leaves me small chance of swelling them into a volume from which I coud hope either one or the other, and their publication will at least remove from me enticement to waste time in such an attempt. This of course is |