Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Composite volume > Spirit of the nation

PREFACE.
When we ventured, within a few months after the
"'Nation" was started, to reprint the Poetry of it, we
did an unprecedented thing, and one said to be of doubt-
ful prudence. The Newspaper to be sure had suc-
ceeded, but it seemed a trial ruinous to these verses and
injurious to the paper to expose its weekly miscellanies
to the test of permanent criticism. " They are light
cavalry," said a friend ; " they have charged famously fur
jnce, you'll find them jaded hacks when wheeled again
into line." We trusted them and published.
Yet their success has surprised us. We hardly hoped
that their popularity could extend beyond our own
class and country. But the Tory has praised them
more than the Liberal, the anti-Repealer as much as
the Nationalist, while their success in foreign countries
has at least equalled their success here. Mr. O'Connell
thought the ballads " very good," Mr. Shaw " most
able," Mr. Butt " inspired." The Irish press thought
them excellent for Ireland, but the Morning Post said
they were " superior to anything they had supposed to
exist at present ;" the Leeds Times thought them "great
achievements," and the Tablet called them " the music