University of Virginia Library

PREFACE.

It is with unfeigned reluctance that the author commits this production to the public. It was hastily prepared, on very brief notice, and written rather for delivery than for publication. Besides, a genuine Poem should spring up spontaneously in the subjective atmosphere of the writer's mind, and not be extorted from him by the artificial forcing-process of a public occasion. It is therefore only in compliance with the urgent request of friends in this vicinity, and the expectation of numerous others at a distance, that, after having more than once abandoned the thought, the author has at length determined on giving it publicity. Should the critic then deem his lines lacking in inspiration, he will appreciate the fact, that it is hard to play the orator and poet on the same stage.