applause. I beg to refer such friends to the great teacher Time: and hope
that he will hereafter give me my deserts, and no more.

One piece in this collection will inform the reader of my most pleasing
visit to _Wakefield Lodge_: books, solitude, and objects entirely new,
brought pleasures which memory will always cherish. That noble and worthy
Family, and all my immediate and unknown Friends, will, I hope, believe
the sincerity of my thanks for all their numerous favours, and candidly
judge the Poems before them.

R. BLOOMFIELD.
Sept. 29, 1801.

P.S. Since affixing the above date, an event of much greater importance
than any to which I have been witness, has taken place, to the universal
joy (it is to be hoped) of every inhabitant of Europe. My portion of joy
shall be expressed while it is warm: and the reader will do sufficient
justice, if he only believes it to be sincere.

October 10.




PEACE.

Halt! ye Legions, sheathe your Steel:
Blood grows precious; shed no more:
Cease your toils; your wounds to heal
Lo! beams of Mercy reach the shore!