WAR SONGS OF BRITAIN SELECTED BY HAROLD E. BUTLER WESTMINSTER ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO LTD 2 WHITEHALL GARDENS 1903 PREFACE. The aim of the editor in this volume has been, so far as was possible, to give a record of the wars of Britain as sung by her poets, and he would ask therefore that the word "Warsongs" be given the most liberal interpretation. Such an attempt can at the best be but partially successful, for many of her greatest achievements have remained unsung, and still more have been recorded in verse that is little better than doggerel. Many of our ancient songs and ballads of war that have escaped oblivion, such as, for instance, the ballads of the "Brave Lord Willoughby" and "Sir Andrew Barton," hardly reach even the lower levels of poetry. There must therefore remain large gaps in any such record as the editor has had in view. He can only hope that he has left as few such gaps as possible. Some notable omissions there must indeed be owing to the exigencies of the law of copyright, but the editor's debt to authors and publishers is so great, that even to make 5 соску, лес, отру. |