[Preface]

It has been the aim of the editor in preparing this little book to get together sufficient material to afford a student in one of our high schools or colleges adequate and typical specimens of the vigorous and versatile genius of Alexander Pope. With this purpose he has included in addition to

The Rape of the Lock

, the

Essay on Criticism

as furnishing the standard by which Pope himself expected his work to be judged, the

First Epistle