Nearly one hundred and fifty years have elapſed ſince the laſt Collection of State Poems was publiſhed. And that collection, which was compriſed originally in two, but afterwards augmented to four volumes, relates only to a period of our hiſtory extending over little more than half a century—namely, from the uſurpation of Cromwell to the acceſſion of Queen Anne. But for the fact that the volumes in queſtion are “by various hands,” and therefore repreſent more fully than any others the ſatirical wit of the limited period to which they refer, they would ſcarcely deſerve a paſſing notice, ſo very partial and inaccurate are the contents of them. They contain, moreover, few political ballads, properly ſo called; but conſiſt almoſt entirely of long and inſipid “poems,” chiefly from the pens of Buckingham, Rochester, and other exalted perſonages, who exerciſed in their day conſiderable
A 3
