C. POETICAL RHAPSODY: TO WHICH ARE ADDED, SEVERAL OTHER PIECES, BY FRANCIS DAVISON. WITH MEMOIRS AND NOTES, BY NICHOLAS HARRIS NICOLAS, Esq. 46.25.5 26-11-73-Xvi 3 APR 4 1910 Millian H. Damion, LONDON: PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, DORSET-STREET. ΤΟ CHARLES GEORGE YOUNG, ESQ. FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES; THESE VOLUMES ARE MOST AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, AS A SINCERE AND PERMANENT, THOUGH VERY INADEQUATE TESTIMONY OF ESTEEM FOR HIS CHARACTER, AND OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS FRIENDSHIP. PREFACE. THE favourable manner in which the early impressions of the POETICAL RHAPSODY were received, together with the intrinsic merit of its contents, perhaps justifies the expectation that the present edition will meet with a reception no less gratifying. In the lapse of two centuries, the public taste with respect to literature has naturally varied; and works which, at their first appearance, were hailed with rapturous applause, have sometimes been consigned to total oblivion, or exist only in the collections of Antiquaries or Bibliographers; whilst, on the other hand, the same period gave birth to writers, whose productions will be co-existent with our language. Thus, though, of the many stars which formed the Poetic constellation that irradiated the reign of Elizabeth, some have become totally extinct, or shine with diminished brightness; there are, nevertheless, a few which will ever retain their pristine lustre; and |