PREFACE.
It seems to be a kind of duty incumbent on those who devote themselves to poetry, to raise, if possible, the dignity of a declining art, by making it as beneficial to life and manners as the limits of composition, and the character of modern times, will allow. The ages, indeed, are past, in which the song of the poet was idolized for its miraculous effects; yet a poem, intended to promote the cultivation of good-humour, may still perhaps be fortunate enough to prove of some little service to society in general; or, if this idea may be thought too chimerical and romantic by sober reason, it is at least one of those pleasing and innocent delusions, in which a poetical enthusiast may be safely indulged.
