THE
ORIGINAL POEMS
OF
EDWARD EDWIN FOOT,
OF HER MAJESTY’S CUSTOMS, LONDON.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
1867.
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,
BY CASSELL, PETTER, AND GALPIN, LUDGATE HILL,
LONDON, E.C.
THE POEMS
OF
EDWARD EDWIN FOOT,
MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, TO
HENRY WILLIAM DOBELL, ESQ.,
Comptroller-General of Her Majesty’s Customs, London,
BY
HIS MOST OBEDIENT AND OBLIGED SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
The author[1] of the present Volume, in tenderinghis sincere thanks to the gentlemen of Her Majesty’sCustoms,[2] and to his other numerous and kindpatrons, who so liberally subscribed towards thepublication of his little work, assures them that heis deeply sensible of his obligations to them for thealmost uniform courtesy with which his solicitationswere met; because (being perfectly conscious at theonset of his undertaking how necessary it was toprepare to subject himself to censure as well asapprobation, and to arm himself with those indispensablevirtues—patience, perseverance, endurance,and thankfulness, without which the attempt wouldhave been futile, and being also aware that nothingbut a favourable response to his appeal could possiblylead to the accomplishment of his object) the successwhich has attended his efforts is certainly far beyondwhat might have been expected by one in so humbleand so obscure a position in life.
There is, however, one gentleman[3] in particular[vi]to whom it is the Author’s duty to be—if ’twerepossible—more than grateful, for his generous condescensionin permitting the manuscripts to beplaced in his hands for perusal, and who—aftersurveying a portion of them—not only recommendedthe method of publication which was adopted, butgave effect to his advice by kindly becoming thefirst subscriber to the work—for the Author neverwould have presumed to publish these poems onhis own personal estimation of whatever merit theymay possess, so that unless such an impetus hadbeen given to the project it is more than probablehe never would have had the gratification of seeingthem produced in their present form.
This the Author hopes will afford to his numeroussubscribers, and to those in whose hands it mayperchance happen to fall, a not unreasonable excusefor his having intruded himself into the unmercifularena of poetical literature, and, perhaps, be themeans of saving his little work—the product of hisleisure hours—from being