ordinary, of dignity, elegance, wealth, and beauty; certainly of superior intellect and intellectual acquirements: every such kind of eminence has its privilege, and being itself an object of distinguished approbation, it gains attention for whomsoever its possessor distinguishes and approves.

Yet the causes and motives for an address of this kind rest not entirely with the merit of the patron; the feelings of the author himself having their weight and consideration in the choice he makes: he may have gratitude for benefits received (1), or pride not illaudable in aspiring to the favour of those whose notice confers honour; or he may entertain a secret but strong desire of seeing a name in the entrance of his work, which he is accustomed to utter with peculiar satisfaction, and to hear mentioned with veneration and delight.

Such, Madam, are the various kinds of eminence for which an author on these occasions would pro

(1) [On the death of the Duke of Rutland, in 1787, the Duchess, desirous of retaining in the neighbourhood the protégé of her lamented husband, gave Mr. Crabbe a letter to the lord chancellor, earnestly requesting him to exchange two small livings held by the poet in Dorsetshire, for two of superior value in the vale of Belvoir. Mr. Crabbe proceeded to London, but was not, on this occasion, very courteously received by Lord Thurlow. "No," he growled; " by G-d, I will not do this for any man in England." But he did it, nevertheless, for a woman in England. The good Duchess, on arriving in town, waited on him personally, to renew her request; and he yielded. See antè, Vol. I. p. 137.]

bably seek, and they meet in your Grace; such too are the feelings by which he would be actuated, and they centre in me: let me therefore entreat your Grace to take this book into your favour and protection, and to receive it as an offering of the utmost respect and duty, from,

May it please your Grace,

YOUR GRACE'S

Most obedient, humble,

and devoted servant,

GEO. CRABBE.

Muston, July 31. 1812.

PREFACE.

THAT the appearance of the present work before the public is occasioned by a favourable reception of the former two; I hesitate not to acknowledge; because, while the confession may be regarded as some proof of gratitude, or at least of attention, from an author to his readers, it ought not to be considered as an indication of vanity. It is unquestionably very pleasant to be assured that our labours are well received; but, nevertheless, this must not be taken for a just and full criterion of their merit : publications of great intrinsic value have been met with so much coolness, that a writer who succeeds in obtaining some degree of notice should look upon himself rather as one favoured than meritorious, as gaining a prize from Fortune, and not a recompense for desert; and, on the contrary, as it is well known that books of very inferior kind have been at once pushed into the strong current of popularity, and are there kept buoyant by the force of the stream, the writer who acquires not this adventitious help may be reckoned rather as unfortunate than unde

:

serving and from these opposite considerations it follows, that a man may speak of his success without incurring justly the odium of conceit, and may likewise acknowledge a disappointment without an adequate cause for humiliation or self-reproach.

But were it true that something of the complacency of self-approbation would insinuate itself into an author's mind with the idea of success, the sensation would not be that of unalloyed pleasure; it would perhaps assist him to bear, but it would not enable him to escape, the mortification he must encounter from censures, which, though he may be unwilling to admit, yet he finds himself unable to confute; as well as from advice, which, at the same time that he cannot but approve, he is compelled to reject.

Reproof and advice, it is probable, every author will receive, if we except those who merit so much of the former, that the latter is contemptuously denied them; now, of these, reproof, though it may cause more temporary uneasiness, will in many cases create less difficulty, since errors may be corrected when opportunity occurs: but advice, I repeat, may be of such nature, that it will be painful to reject and yet impossible to follow it; and in this predicament I conceive myself to be placed. There has been recommended to me, and from authority which neither inclination nor prudence leads me to resist, in any new work I might undertake, an unity of subject, and that arrangement of my materials which