useful and much abused bird the Phoenix; and in so doing he is
biassed by no partiality, as he assures the reader he not only never
saw one, but (mirabile dictu!) never caged one, in a simile, in the
whole course of his life. Not less than sixty-nine of the
competitors have invoked the aid of this native of Arabia; but as,
from their manner of using him after they had caught him, he does not
by any means appear to have been a native of Arabia Felix, the Editor
has left the proprietors to treat with Mr. Polito, and refused to
receive this rara avis, or black swan, into the present collection.
One exception occurs, in which the admirable treatment of this
feathered incombustible entitles the author to great praise: that
Address has been preserved, and in the ensuing pages takes the lead,
to which its dignity entitles it.

Perhaps the reason why several of the subjoined productions of the
MUSAE LONDINENSES have failed of selection, may he discovered in
their being penned in a metre unusual upon occasions of this sort,
and in their not being written with that attention to stage effect,
the want of which, like want of manners in the concerns of life, is
more prejudicial than a deficiency of talent. There is an art of
writing for the Theatre, technically called TOUCH and GO, which is
indispensable when we consider the small quantum of patience which so
motley an assemblage as a London audience can be expected to afford.
All the contributors have been very exact in sending their initials
and mottoes. Those belonging to the present collection have been
carefully preserved, and each has been affixed to its respective
poem. The letters that accompanied the Addresses having been
honourably destroyed unopened, it is impossible to state the real
authors with any certainty; but the ingenious reader, after comparing
the initials with the motto, and both with the poem, may form his own