COMISSIONS I REGRET extremely that I have been unable to include any poem by Mr. Swinburne. The reasons which forbid that inclusion also force me to omit the two splendid poems "The Revenge, a Ballad of the Fleet," and the "Voyage of Maeldune," by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Another lamentable, but unfortunately necessary, omission is that of any poem by Mr. A. F. Brady, an Australian poet, whose "Ways of Many Waters" contain the best poems yet written about the merchant sailor and the man-of-war's man. If in the preparation of this book I have omitted any noble poem, through my own negligence or ignorance, I am sorry; but "Fortune it will take its place, let a man do all he can." I have done what I could, with the means at my disposal. A prose "Sailor's Garland" is now in preparation, as a complementary volume to the present collection. 66 NOTE I WISH to thank the following poets and publishers for their kindness in granting me permission to avail myself of copyright material:-Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ashbee, for their rendering of "Ich stand auf hohen Berge" (Song Book of the Guild of Handicraft, Essex House Press); Mr. Laurence Binyon, for "John Winter" (London Visions, Elkin Mathews); Mr. Robert Bridges, for " A Passer-By" (Shorter Poems, Daniel, Oxford); the Rev. Father John Gray, for Wings in the Dark and "The "Flying Fish" (Silverpoints (John Lane), and No. 4 of The Dial); Messrs. Macmillan, for the late Charles Kingsley's ballad “The Last Buccaneer"; Mr. R. E. M'Gowan, for "A Young Man's Fancy"; Mr. T. Sturge Moore, for "The Rower's Chant" (The Vinedresser, Unicorn Press); Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, for the three poems of Walt Whitman; Mr. Henry Newbolt, for "Messmates and "Drake's Drum (The Island Race and Admirals All, Elkin Mathews). Mr. Duncan Campbell Scott, for "The Piper of Arll," "At Les Éboulements" (Labour and the Angel, Boston, Copeland & Day); and for "Off Rivière du Loup" (The Magic House, Methuen & Co.); Messrs. Smith Elder, for the use of the lyric from Paracelsus (collected edition of Robert Browning's Works); Mr. A. T. Quiller-Couch, for "Victoria" and "Dolor Oogo" (Poems and Ballads, Methuen); and Messrs. Chatto & Windus, for "Christmas at Sea" (from Ballads), by the late R. L. Stevenson. I also wish to thank the editor and proprietors of the Manchester Guardian for allowing me to reprint an article on "Chanties from their issue of 16th August 1905; and Mr. Rudyard Kipling and Messrs. Appleton & Sons, for the use of the poem "THE LAST CHANTY" (Seven Seas, Methuen & Co., London, and D. Appleton & Sons, New York). xxii |