IMOGEN

A Pastoral Romance

_From the Ancient British_

By WILLIAM GODWIN






Preface

[_By_ WILLIAM GODWIN]


The following performance, as the title imports, was originally composed
in the Welch language. Its style is elegant and pure. And if the
translator has not, as many of his brethren have done, suffered the
spirit of the original totally to evaporate, he apprehends it will be
found to contain much novelty of conception, much classical taste, and
great spirit and beauty in the execution. It appears under the name of
Cadwallo, an ancient bard, who probably lived at least one hundred years
before the commencement of our common era. The manners of the primitive
times seem to be perfectly understood by the author, and are described
with the air of a man who was in the utmost degree familiar with them.
It is impossible to discover in any part of it the slightest trace of
Christianity. And we believe it will not be disputed, that in a country