To Sir William Mayne, Bart.
Sir,
As the representative of my native city, permit me to dedicate this improved
edition of a collection of poems to you, hoping they will not prove less worthy
your patronage, when I inform you they are not a hasty selection; great
attention having been paid to the opinions of some of our first critics. The
Index will inform you of the very respectable names, who have contributed
to this work, many of whose pieces contained in these volumes are
omitted in the several editions of their works.
Agreeable to the various dispositions and interests of mankind; so have been
their different motives for dedication.--We read of Evar, king of Arabia,
dedicating his book on the Nature of Precious Stones to Nero, because there was
an (E) in his name, as well as the emperor's; nor are our modern authors less
singular in this respect than the ancients; witness an ingenious poet, who
addressed some of his poems to a noble earl, the motive for which address, he
says, was not because he was a judge of the sciences, or the patron of learned
men, but as having the honour to be
born in the same county with
his lordship. A Reverend Divine dedicates his Christian Discourses to a Royal-
Arch-Druidess, styling himself Chyndonax of Mount Haemus, Druid. Another, in a
virulent humour, bespatters a Bishop in his satyrical dedication of Sermons;
while many, not content with the various objects of this world, have traversed
the planets for a patron. With less romantic views, I have been principally
anxious that this inscription should be to a meritorious, as well as a
distinguished, character. My ideas naturally lead me to solicit the present
honour of addressing you, whose senatorial abilities have been so deservedly
applauded in a neighbouring isle, and whose domestic virtues, tho' more
confined, are not less
conspicuous in the extensive circle of
your friends.
I have the honour to be, with the utmost respect and esteem, Sir,
your very obliged,
and most devoted
humble servant,
GEO. PEARCH
Advertisement
In an age like the present, wherein the study of Poetry is so much
cultivated and encouraged; many poetical performances, whose merit might entitle
them to a longer remembrance than fugitive pieces usually meet with, are daily
thrown upon the public, and left to perish in oblivion. To select these from
the trifling productions of the day has frequently been esteemed an employment,
not unworthy the attention of our most eminent authors; and the favourable
reception the late Mr. Robert Dodsley's elegant Collection of Poems has obtained
from the public, is a sufficient motive to encourage a continuation of that
deservedly esteemed Miscellany. Some attempts of this kind have been already
made, but none with success enough to render the present undertaking useless or
unnecessary. Seventeen
years are now elapsed since the last
volumes of that work were published, during which period many pieces haave made
their appearance, which are not inferior to the best preserved in that
Miscellany. To confirm the truth of this assertion, the Editor has only to
appeal to the following Collection, which is compiled from the best productions
published within that time, with the addition of others, which seem to have
escaped Mr. Dodsley's researches, and several original Poems, with which the
Editor has been favoured by gentlemen, whose names are sufficient to give
reputation to any Collection. On the first publication of the present
selection, the Editor submitted to the determination of the public, how far it
was entitled to their protection; and from the sale of two numerous impressions,
he has been induced to make such alterations in the present as he trusts will
render it still more worthy their favour. He flatters himself, that he has not
suffered private friendship to obtrude any piece into this Collection, which is
unworthy of the rest; and great care has been taken to prevent the insertion of
any
performance, which has not been approved by gentlemen of
distinguished reputation; but as he is sensible, that the taste of persons is
very different, he expects not, after all, that every piece will meet with equal
applause, being convinced of the truth of Mr. Dodsley's observation, "That
it is impossible to furnish out an entertainment of this nature, where every
part shall be relished by every guest."
