ΤΟ THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE CANNING, &c. &c. SIR, I DO MYSELF THE HONOUR OF PRESENTING TO YOU THE FOLLOWING WORK. AS YOUR NAME CARRIES ITS OWN EULOGY WITH IT, YOUR TALENTS REQUIRE NO FLATTERY FROM ME, IN A MORE PROLIX DEDICATION, I AM, SIR, YOUR VERY OBEDIENT AND VERY HUMBLE SERVANT, HENRY M. GRAVES. ADVERTISEMENT. IN submitting the following Essay to the reader, I shall be permitted to mention to him, that I have purposely avoided reading any critique, paper, essay, or remarks on either the genius or the characters of our celebrated Bard. I mention this, more for the professed critic than for the general reader, for the purpose of saying that if plagiarism (than which I know nothing more unpardonable) is to be discovered in the work, I trust it will be attributed to accident, and not wilfulness. The Essay which follows, was one of four others, for which the author received a prize; (unjustly he owns when he recollects the cleverness of the other papers ;) and the Letter which is annexed, was intended by me to be made more polished and finished for the public eye; but I found that in doing so, I but added study instead of ornament; and as the former is totally irrelevant in the epistolary style, I shall allow it to be perused exactly as it was originally written, and have only to blame myself, if the critic should treat it harshly. |