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TEXAS ~1'.\TE LIBRARY
there is a clas;: of self conceited nrrog11nt gentr.r, with whom Minena · and the )fuses are at "open war~· "Who i1t ill presist in s11ite of nl\ture nud their stllrs to write" To such I know not what to :;av hut must beg their pardons if their lucubrations should not meet with :-o fa,·ouruble n reception as their nmity may possibly induce them to belieYe they merit. Let not this howerer deter 1111v from sendincr their favours, for the authors will never be enquired° after, nor nee<l they clread the severity of criticism, for its iron mace will be flourished orcr none how much soever the~· may deserve its scourge. Should any communication to the Villiage :Miscellany be rejected I beg thl' author not to uespond but "cut ancl come again" perhap after repeated trials he may make a "lucky hit" like the artist who repeatedly failed in painting the foam around the horses bits, at last in a fit of despair & anger uashed the brush against the animals nostrils and thereby fixed the foam which his art c·ou ta not accomplish. To the favorit's of the Nine who have drank at the foU11t Helicon, & whose lines flow nlong smooth as the classic Yarrow in "words that breathe & thoughts that burn. To all who can soar aloft on the wings of fancy, so their pinions be not made of wax like Herald :Mercury's and melt at the sunbeam heat, but fledged like rising Lark's that cut the yielding air & skim the skies, to all such I will repay a heart full of gratitude in which species of payment there needs be no dread of Bankruptcy. And now a parting word to the reader or ns the poet says "One stroke more and then I've done" I have already observed that I intend to conform to no laboured rules of formality in writing, hut consult my own feelings and peu down whatever my heart ancl fancy may dictate although it may be in the wilaness of irregularity and in total opposition to my judgement. :My Pegassus is a gentle steed and I ride without a reign, should he now and then turn some what from the direct track on my journey to crop a rerdant sprig or too in some flowery mead, I hope my gentle reader will keep his temper and allow the hungry animal the liberty.- If there be one who read my lines only to mark their defects and errors, here let us part, for I wish him no father to persue my pen, not that I am loth to yield m~· effusions to the scrutinizing eye of Criticism, for I like the maid in friendly & serious mood to ruminate my page. who deems me an enemy to candid & ingenuous criticks <loes me wrong, for I esteem their labours like the skilful gardner who prunes the flowers of their withered leaves in order that they may shoot with more beautiful luxurimH:e. But there is a kind of ill- natured C)11ical wretches who can cant only the deformity of a writer, but whose dull & torpid soul can ncrer be thrilled by his beauties,- Such I esteem as the 1marling i;paniel that lay in the manger & kept the horse from the provender merely because he could not eat it him- self and from suc-h I turn with contempt to hail the cheery harted lad' who like my honest Uncl11 Toby will laugh and he pleased he '·Knows not why & cares not wherefore.'' l\ln L .\~TIIERNB.\LVO'!'-.
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