ADVERTISEMENT. IN committing to the press a new edition of the Poetical Works of DRYDEN, a few words of explanation are necessary respecting the plan on which it has been prepared. The whole of the Poems, excluding the Translations, are printed in the order of their composition. The volumes open with Dryden's first poem, and close with his last. This method, which presents the authentic materials of a mental autobiography, and traces the poet onward in his relations with contemporary literature, appears to me to possess manifest advantages over the usual modes of distribution or classification. Desirable, wherever it can be carried out, in reference to all poets, it is especially desirable in reference to Dryden, whose individual progress is identical with a revolution in English Poetry. The only exceptions are a few minor pieces, the dates of which are for the most part uncertain; and the Prologues and Epilogues, which have been placed under a separate chronological arrangement, for the |