[1]A. F. Griffith, Bibliotheca Anglo-Poetica (1815), p. 67. Griffith quotes the first two stanzas of “The Preface” as “detailing the cause of the poems being written.”

[2]Sir Egerton Brydges, ed., Restituta (1815), IV, xi. Brydges reprints passages from “The Preface,” “To the Reader,” “The Discourse,” “A Song declaring that a Christian may finde tru Love only where tru Grace is,” “A Song shewing the Mercies of God to his people...,” “Another Song exciting to spirituall Mirth,” “Another Song (II),” and “The Fifth Meditacion,” III, 123-127, 180-184.

[3]Catalogue of the Splendid, Curious, and Extensive Library of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes (1824), p. 39. Thorpe bought a very large percentage of the books in the Sykes collection.

[4]S. Austin Allibone, A Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1878), I, 411.

[5]I. A. Williams, “Bibliographical Notes and News,” London Mercury, IX (1924), 529.

[6]Her poem on the Civil War suggests that she was not in sympathy with the left wing of the Puritan movement.

[7]“The Discourse” relates Miss Collins’ interest in “Theologicall employments,” especially as these filled her once empty life. There are 29 stanzas treating of the nature of the Trinity and the Law. In ten more stanzas, she paraphrases each of the ten Commandments. The remaining 34 stanzas summarize the steps to salvation, and the joys of the Christian life. These theological verses follow the initial 26 stanzas, which are repetitious of “The Preface” in their autobiographical matter and pious observations. In addition to “The Discourse,” the following titles have not been reprinted here:

A Song demonstrating The vanities of Earthly things;

A Song manifesting The Saints eternall Happinesse;

A Song exciting to spirituall Alacrity;

A Song composed in time of Civill Warr, when the wicked did much insult over the godly;

The third Meditacion;

The fourth Meditacion;

The fifth Meditacion;

Verses on the twelvth Chapter of Ecclesiastes.