PREFACE. THE scene, so lengthily described, of the following Poem, might, if fictitious, be objected to, as having of late been sung with such power and fidelity, and further, as having ceased-interesting as it may be to those in the vicinity-to excite public attention; but on this score,—as the Poem was not only designed, but in part executed on Dartmoor, and as the description of natural peculiarity rather differs from any pre viously given in poetry,-the Author feels no anxiety. The charge of imitation or plagiarism he is confident cannot apply: Mrs. Hemans' The general tone of the Poem in the attempt to develope the operation of the principle of sinister interest, if morbid, is not affected; if the evil produced be exaggerated, great mischief must be by all admitted to be occasioned. To muse amid the crags of the desert has been long the favourite and frequent occupation of the Author's leisure; and in such a solitude, with, perhaps, a gloomy predisposition of mind, his reflections and feelings will hardly appear In the personal allusions of the second Canto, however wrong his opinions, it has been the aim of the Author to avoid alike calumny and adula tion, to utter nothing but the truth. He can not be liable to the charge of personal enmity, having acquaintance with only one of the individuals referred to; and to that one, he would here observe, this Poem would have been dedicated, but that the sanction of his illustrious name—a name ever associated with kindness and conciliation-might not appear to be given to anything at all likely to excite ill will. With a boldness bordering on temerity,—the Author, young and, it may be, inexperienced and ill-informed, but in sincerity puts forth his opinions; and submits his work to that candour and fair dealing, which, while it checks folly and presumption, corrects error, and encourages ingenuousness and honourable ambition. If merit commands approbation, involuntary fault has claim to lenity. Prejudice blasts the fairest buds of promise, while it |