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THESE trifles are collected and republished chiefly with a view to their redemption from the many improvements to which they have been subjected while going ((1845-01: at random //1849-02: [[omitted]] //1850-03: at random }} “the rounds of the press.” ((1845-01: If what I have written is to circulate at all, I am naturally anxious that it should circulate as I wrote it. //1849-02: I am naturally anxious that If [[if]] what I have written is to circulate at all, it should circulate as I wrote it. //1850-03: I am naturally anxious that what I have written should circulate as I wrote it, if it circulate at all. }} In defence of my own taste, nevertheless, it is incumbent ((1845-01: upon // 1849-02: on //1850-03: upon }} me to say ((1845-01: , }} that I think nothing in this volume of much value to the public, or very creditable to myself. Events not to be controlled have prevented me from making, at any time, any serious effort in what, under happier circumstances, would have been the field of my choice. With me poetry has been not a purpose, but a passion; and the passions should be held in reverence; they must not — they cannot at will be excited ((1849-02; 1850-03: , }} with an eye to the paltry compensations, or the more paltry commendations, of mankind.

E. A. P