DEDICATED, WITH AFFECTIONATE RESPECT, TO MARY ANNA BARRETT, THE WIFE OF MY FRIEND, HENRY BARRETT, OF EAST DULWICH. GENTLE READER, in perusing this book, be pleased to understand that I have only wandered in the fair fields of Literature, to gather here and there a flower which struck me as tributary to the homage civilized man, in every country, is ready to pay to the fairest portion of creation. There are thousands still unculled; but my object in this little work has been rather to present a select bouquet of literary blossoms, than to attempt to collect all that may be found in so fertile a domain as that devoted by Man to the exaltation of WOMAN. 22, FLEET STREET. H. S. |