ascribed its appearance in its present enlarged, and (thanks to the politeness of my booksellers in deeming such trifles worthy of graphic embellishment) improved form. I should do considerable violence to my feelings, if I omitted to acknowledge, with becoming gratitude, the great and, I fear, undeserved kindness with which these poems have been noticed by the Periodical Press. If they be found in reality to merit only a small share of the commendation which has been thus lavishly bestowed upon them, I shall have no reason to regret that I did not continue to restrict their circulation to the few friends for whose indulgent perusal they were in the first instance solely intended. Several new poems will be found in the present Edition. It is, however, but justice to myself to mention that, with one or two exceptions, the contents of this Volume were written several years 4 ago-between the ages of sixteen and twentyone. Indeed, I have felt some hesitation in thus reprinting productions, many of which afford, I am quite conscious, by no means advantageous specimens of what might reasonably be expected of the writer at a more mature But the pub age. lic has decided in their favour; and I have neither the right nor the inclination to arraign its judgment. A. A. W. London, June 25, 1824. |