BY THE REV. GEORGE CRABBE, LL.B. Ipse per Ausonias Æneïa carmina gentes Quod canit, et sterili tantum cantâsset avena Paneg. ad Pisones, Lucan. A NEW EDITION. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. Dedication. TO THE RIGHT HON. HENRY-RICHARD FOX, LORD HOLLAND, OF HOLLAND, IN LINCOLNSHIRE, LORD HOLLAND, OF FOXLEY; AND FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. MY LORD; THAT the longest Poem in this Collection was honoured by the notice of your Lordship's Right Honourable and ever-valued Relation, Mr. Fox; that it should be the last which engaged his attention; and that some parts of it were marked with his approbation; circumstances productive of better hopes of ultimate success, than I had dared to entertain before I was gratified with a knowledge of them: And the hope thus raised, leads me to ask permission that I may dedicate this Book to your Lordship, to whom that truly great and greatly lamented Personage was so nearly allied in family, so closely bound in affection, and in whose mind presides the same critical taste which he exerted to the delight of all who heard him. He doubtless united with his unequalled abilities, a fund of good nature; and this possibly led him to speak favourably of, and give satisfaction to writers, with whose productions he might not be entirely satisfied: nor must I allow myself to suppose his desire of obliging was withholden, when he honoured any effort of mine with his approbation: But, my Lord, as there was discrimination in the opinion he gave; as he did not veil indifference for insipid mediocrity of composition under any general expression of cool approval; I allow myself to draw a fayourable conclusion from the verdict of One who had the superiority of intellect few would dispute, which he made manifest by a force of eloquence peculiar to himself; whose excellent judgment no one of his friends found cause to distrust, and whose acknowledged candour no enemy had the temerity to deny. With such encouragement, I present my Book to your Lordship: the Account |