PREFACE.
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_@—— KNowING within myself the manner in which this Poem hasbeen produced, it is not without a feeling of regret that I makeit public. What mannerI mean, will be quite clear to the reader, whomust soon perceive great inexperience, immaturity, and everyerror denoting a feverish attempt, rather than a deed accom-plished. The two first books, and indeed the two last, I feelsensible are not of such completion as to warrant their passingthe press; nor should they if I thought a year's castigationwould do them any good ;—it will not: the foundations are toosandy. Itis just that this youngster should die away: a sadthought for me, if I had not some hope that while it is dwin-dling I may be plotting, and fitting myself for verses fit to live. This may be speaking too presumptuously, and may deservea punishment: but no feeling man will be forward to inflict it:he will leave me alone, with the conviction that there is not afiercer hell than the failure in a great object. This is notwritten with the least atom of purpose to forestall criticisms ofcourse, but from the desire I have to conciliate men who arecompetent to look, and who do look with a zealous eye, to thehonour of English literature. The imagination of a boy is healthy, and the mature imagi-nation of a man is healthy ; but there is a spaceof life between,in which the soul is in a ferment, the character undecided, theway of life uncertain, the ambition thick-sighted: thenceproceeds mawkishness, and all the thousand bitters whichthose men I speak of must necessarily taste in going over thefollowing pages. I hope I have not in too late a day touched the beautifulmythology of Greece, and dulled its brightness: for I wish totry once more, before I bid it farewell. TEIGNMOUTH, April 10, 1818.
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