INTRODUCTORY NOTE It has been noticed with surprise that the poems of the most spiritual of our intellectual poets (for thus Sir Henry Taylor has designated Aubrey de Vere) are less familiar to Catholics than to many others on whose sympathies he would seem to have a lesser claim. But the publication of Mr de Vere's Life and Letters by Mr Wilfrid Ward gives fitting opportunity for the removal of this reproach, while the Catholic Truth Society offers a sure medium for bringing these poems within the reach of that section of the reading public whose approval the author valued beyond any other. Should the sale of this volume suffice to cover the expenses of its publication, the Editor hopes to be allowed to bring out some other of the more important of Aubrey de Vere's works in similar form. M. F. D.