and Books to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the
times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the
Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching Historical and other Prints."

JOHN W. DAVIS,
Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.





PREFACE.



Wishing to make a continued effort, in an art which, though almost
in secret, has been adored and assiduously cultivated from earliest
infancy, it was my intention to have chosen some incident from Pagan
history, as the foundation of my contemplated poem. But, looking over
the Jewish annals, I was induced to select for my purpose, one of
their well-known stories which besides its extreme beauty, seemed to
open an extensive field for the imagination which might therein avail
itself not only of important and elevated truths but pleasing and
popular superstitions.

Having finished one Canto I left the United States for the West
Indies in the hope of being able to sail thence for Great Britain,
where I might submit what I had done to the candour of some able
writer; publish it, if thought expedient; and obtain advice and
materials for the improvement and prosecution of my work. But as