XII

DFMCATIOfcr.

title more clearly than the most zealous ofyour country's antiquarians*

Way I a<ld a few words on a subject on whichall men are supposed to be fluent, and noneagreeable P — Self. I have written much, andpublished more than enough to demand a lon-ger silence than I now meditate; but for someyears to come it is my intention to tempt nofurther the award of «Gods, men, nor columns."In the present composition I have attemptednot the most difficult, but, perhaps, the bestadapted measure to our language, the goodold and now neglected heroic couplet. The stanzaof Spenser it perhaps too slow and dignified for