"You love sweet Bolton-precious relic rare
Of Eden, that delights the Pilgrim's eye,

As on his way to Heaven he lifts his heart in prayer;

You love all these, and so you know do I."-Page 183.

A

GARLAND OF POETRY;

BY

YORKSHIRE AUTHORS,

OR

RELATING TO YORKSHIRE.

SELECTED BY ABRAHAM HOLROYD.

O what a gift is poesy to man!

That ancient gift which cometh from afar,
And was before this little life began:

A river springing from eternal hills

Of happy realms beyond the morning star,
And flowing back again to whence it came;

Crowning with pleasant green the aching head;
Which is a balm for half our mortal ills,-

All but the ravages of love's fierce flame

Burning within the lonely heart unfed ;-
Which makes us feel that which we are,

Eternal,-yea, it giveth us to know

That good shall still be with us wheresoe'er we go.

JOHN LE GAY BRERETON.

SALTAIRE:

ABRAHAM HOLROYD, BOOKSELLER AND STATIONER,

36, VICTORIA ROAD.

1873.

THOMAS THORPE, NYDD VALLEY STEAM PRINTING WORKS, PATELEY BRIDGE.

ΤΟ

GEORGE ACKROYD, ESQ.,

NORTH PARK VILLAS, MANNINGHAM;

AN ENCOURAGER OF LITERATURE,

THESE SPECIMENS OF THE MUSE OF EBOR

ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

BY THE PUBLISHER.

Saltaire, April 2nd, 1873.

TO THE READER.

Fe

As the bees skim round from flower to flower in t sipping nectar from each, so have I wandered amongs shire Bards, gathering from each their most preci songs and sonnets; and I have thereof, O gentle re a garland of sweetest poesy for thy delectation. thou wilt find nothing to hurt thee: there is nothin sting thee or leave thee the worse when thou layest little book. But thou wilt find herein something to fancy if thou hast imagination; to please thy humo desirest to be merry; or, if thou art sad, something chime in with thy dejected condition. Poets are bu women, and they have here, sung their hopes and f joys and sorrows, such as thou must have had, and have, O kind reader, whoever thou art. Hoping then has been here brought together may do thee good, a in thee a love of the beautiful, the Editor bids thee FAREWELL.

Saltaire, near Bradford,

April 2nd, 1873.