PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. MOST of the following poems have been already printed. The longest, entitled "The Ages," was published in 1821, in a thin volume, along with about half a dozen others now included in this collection. With a few exceptions, the remainder have since appeared in different publications, mostly of the periodical kind. The favour with which the public have regarded them, and of which their republication in various compilations seemed to the author a proof, has induced him to collect them into a volume. In preparing them for the press, he has made such corrections as occurred to him on subjecting them to a careful revision. Sensible as he is that no author had ever more cause of gratitude to his countrymen for the indulgent estimate placed by them on his literary attempts, he yet cannot let this volume go forth to the public without a feeling of apprehension that it may contain things which did not de serve admission, and that the entire collection may not be thought worthy of the generous and partial judgment which has been passed upon some of the separate poems. New-York, January, 1832. |