STORIES FROM THE ITALIAN POETS: WITH LIVES OF THE WRITERS.


BY LEIGH HUNT.



IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I.




MDCCCXLVI.




TO SIR PERCY SHELLEY, BART.


MY DEAR SIR PERCY,

As I know no man who surpasses yourself either in combining a love of
the most romantic fiction with the coolest good sense, or in passing
from the driest metaphysical questions to the heartiest enjoyment of
humour,--I trust that even a modesty so true as yours will not grudge me
the satisfaction of inscribing these volumes with your name.

That you should possess such varieties of taste is no wonder,
considering what an abundance of intellectual honours you inherit; nor