PREFACE. THE major part of these Essays, as far as No. LXXIII, were first printed in the Censura Literaria, having been commenced in the fourth volume of that work, in Jan. 1807, and continued to the tenth and last, in June 1809. The rest are principally by the author's friend, R. P. Gillies, Esq. the author of "Childe Alarique," except two, for which he is indebted to the eloquent pen of a very learned writer well known to the world, the Rev. Francis Wrangham; and two others, for which he here acknowledges his obligations to his a 2 kind friend, the Rev. Montagu Pennington, whose valuable contributions he had already received in the former part in which also he here begs leave to repeat his warm thanks for the pers furnished to him by Capel Lofft, Esq. whose reputation is too far extended to require any eulogy from the author. pa October 10, 1813. CONTENTS AND MOTTOS. 1. ON the Consequences of War; with a Poem in com- mendation of the Feudal Times. 2. On the Effects of Rural Scenery. "These are thy glorious works, Parent of good!" Milton. 3. On the different Taste of Virgil and Horace with "Flumina amam, sylvasque inglorius." Virg. 9. On the Belief of Supernatural Beings. "Nec me solum ratio ac disputatio impulit ut ita crederem; sed nobilitas etiam summorum philosophorum et aucto- Rectius occupat Nomen Beati, qui Deorum Hor. 14. On the Traits and Concomitants of Poetical Genius. 16. Reflections arising from the Season of the Year. "The dark and pillowy cloud; the sallow trees, Seem o'er the ruins of the year to mourn; And cold, and hollow the inconstant breeze Ch. Smith. |