literary one, is of the humblest kind, yet to come before the public in any shape, appeared to him so formidable, that he should have been deterred from publishing altogether, but from the cheering, though partial, approbation of some of his friends.

With whatever views the editor may contemplate the final fate of his little work;-whether it shall be buoyed up for awhile by the fine spring-gale of prosperity, or sink into (perhaps deserved) neglect and oblivion, yet he would be solicitous to avow the sincerity of his motive in thus endeavouring to add his small contribution to the support of Virtue and the Muses. He is aware that it is in Virtue we must look for solid and permanent happiness, and that the Muses may be made the distinguished medium of assisting a cause so sacred, by the facility with which they can call forth the best feelings of the human heart. To the Muses he owes a thousand obligations: to their flights he attributes the happiest intervals of his existence, and by their influence he has trilled a song that has cheered frequent hours of solitude, and alleviated the bitterest moments of anguish.

To the errors and defects in this little volume, the editor requests the candor of the public; and though his exertions may fail to procure for him the aura popularis so desirable, yet he fondly hopes there may be some among the "discerning few" who may think his arrangement entitled to their approbation, and his faults to their indulgence.