( v )
ΤΗΕ
PREFACE.
HIS POEM being written ſome Months ſince, for private Amuſement, had the good Fortune to fall into the Hands of ſome Gentlemen, who approving the Deſign, were pleas'd to give it ſome Correction, and perſuade the Author to make it publick. Having no Liberty of making Uſe of their Names, his Ambition of an open Acknowledgment is ſtifled againſt his Inclination.
All the Author has to fear, is the Cenſure that may be paſſed on this Performance, as too near reſembling the Subject of Mr. Philips's Splendid Shilling; to which as he was an entire Stranger, ſo the Reader will obſerve, no Ornaments are borrow'd from that delicate Original. The Similies perhaps may appear too thick ſown; but that, it is hoped, increaſes the Surprize, and is no ill Argument of the Author's Invention.
It has no Name before it, and had not appeared in Print from the good Opinion of the Writer, but that of better Judges; who being content to have their Names in the dark, the Poet deſires the same Security from Envy and Cenſure.
