such readers, for their own sakes, should not suffer the solitary word
Poetry, a word of very disputed meaning, to stand in the way of their
gratification; but that, while they are perusing this book, they should
ask themselves if it contains a natural delineation of human passions,
human characters, and human incidents; and if the answer be favourable
to the author's wishes, that they should consent to be pleased in spite
of that most dreadful enemy to our pleasures, our own pre-established
codes of decision.

Readers of superior judgment may disapprove of the style in which many
of these pieces are executed it must be expected that many lines and
phrases will not exactly suit their taste. It will perhaps appear to
them, that wishing to avoid the prevalent fault of the day, the author
has sometimes descended too low, and that many of his expressions are
too familiar, and not of sufficient dignity. It is apprehended, that the
more conversant the reader is with our elder writers, and with those in
modern times who have been the most successful in painting manners and
passions, the fewer complaints of this kind will he have to make.

An accurate taste in poetry, and in all the other arts, Sir Joshua
Reynolds has observed, is an acquired talent, which can only be produced
by severe thought, and a long continued intercourse with the best models
of composition. This is mentioned not with so ridiculous a purpose as to
prevent the most inexperienced reader from judging for himself; but
merely to temper the rashness of decision, and to suggest that if poetry
be a subject on which much time has not been bestowed, the judgment may
be erroneous, and that in many cases it necessarily will be so.

The tale of Goody Blake and Harry Gill is founded on a
well-authenticated fact which happened in Warwickshire. Of the other