NOTE TO THIRD EDITION.
Five years have now elapsed since the second "edition of the "Poems" appeared, and for a considerable time the entire issue has been out of print. To meet the demands of a circle of admirers which, I am proud to say, has been gradually widening, I have committed the present volume to the press, weeded of such of my earlier effusions as were either defective in construction or too ephemeral in interest to merit republication. This is therefore the completest collection of my verses yet given to the world; and should it win as much popular favour as that with which its predecessors were honoured, I shall have good reason to congratulate myself upon my third appeal to my patrons—the warm-hearted people of Ayrshire,—whose uniform kindness to "the Irish Girl" for many years I highly appreciate, and shall ever most gratefully cherish.
Ayr, November, 1861,
