nothing but in beauty." Though I think, that no composition can surpass, or perhaps ever equal this most happy effort of genius, as a sportive satire, I imagined it might be possible to give a new character to this mixed species of poetry, and to render it by its object, though not in its execution, more noble than the most beautiful and refined satire can be. We have seen it carried to inimitable perfection, in the most delicate raillery on female foibles:—it remained to be tried, if it might not also aspire to delineate the more engaging features of female excellence. The idea appeared to me worth the experiment; for, if it succeeded, it seemed to promise a double advantage; first, it would give an air of novelty to the poem; and, secondly, what I thought of much greater importance, it would render it more interesting to the heart. On these principles, I have en-
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PREFACE.
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