|
PREFACE.
————
THE greater part of the Poems which compose this little
volume, were written in the year 1821-2, when the author had not
completed
his fourteenth year. They were of course not intended for publication;
why they are now published concerns no one but himself. Of the
smaller pieces very little need be said; they perhaps savour too much
of Egotism; but they were written by one too young to have any
knowledge
of the world but from his own breast.
In Tamerlane, he has endeavoured to
expose the folly
of even risking the best feelings of the heart at the shrine of
Ambition. He is conscious that in this there are many faults, (besides
that of the general character of the poem) which he flatters himself he
could, with little trouble, have corrected, but unlike many of his
predecessors,
has been too fond of his early productions to amend them in his old
age. [page iv:]
He will not say that he is
indifferent as to the
success of these Poems — it might stimulate him to other
attempts — but he can safely assert that failure will not at
all influence
him in a resolution already adopted. This is challenging criticism —
let it be so. Nos hæc novimus esse nihil.
|
|