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PREFACE.
'Love doth approach armed in arguments."
Shakespeare
My namesake, William Shakespeare, Esquire, of Avon, says that "the Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet are, in imagination, all compact;" and I have observed, that wherever these three characteristics are found combined in one person, we have, what is termed, a Genius! Paisley has always stood high as a nursery of these species of the genus homo; and she has produced many specimens of the tria juncta in una. At the present time, she abounds with such geniuses, who pride themselves in the cognomen Literati. Besides the prolific literary productions of the past, Paisley can boast of the following works as part of her current literature: First, In "Fame's proud Tem-
