ADVERTISEMENT. [THE INTRODUCTION to the Lay of the Last Minstrel, written in April 1830, was revised by the Author in the autumn of 1831, when he also made some corrections in the text of the poem, and several additions to the notes. The work is now printed from his interleaved copy. It is much to be regretted that the original MS. of this poem has not been preserved. We are thus denied the advantage of comparing throughout the Author's various readings, which in the case of Marmion, the Lady of the Lake, the Lord of the Isles, &c. are often highly curious and instructive.-ED.] |