PREFACE.
These trifles are collected and republished chiefly with
a view to their redemption from the many improvements to
which they have been subjected while going at random “the
rounds of the press.” If what I have written is to circulate
at all, I am naturally anxious that it should circulate as I
wrote it. In defence of my own taste, nevertheless, it is incumbent
upon me to say, that I think nothing in this volume
of much value to the public, or very creditable to myself.
Events not to be controlled have prevented me from making,
at any time, any serious effort in what, under happier circumstances,
would have been the field of my choice. With
me poetry has been not a purpose, but a passion; and the
passions should be held in reverence; they must not—they
cannot at will be excited with an eye to the paltry compensations,
or the more paltry commendations, of mankind.
