e recitation of poetry is justly ranked
among the sweetest enjoyments of human life. This sentiment has been so
general, in all ages, civilized and savage, that it would be superfluous
to expatiate upon it, even with regard to the less elevated species of
poetic composition. The application of it to the more elevated and sublime
requires no comment; and our present attempt, therefore, requires no
apology. The illustrious names which decorate this volume are, in general,
above our humble praise: their worth has been acknowledged by the general
voice, and their eulogia established by the concurring suffrage of
nations. The monuments of their genius, formed by their own hands, will
perish only with the ruins of nature.--We shall only add, we are not
aware that any one has been admitted which will not be pleasing to
persons of every religious denomination, and which is not calculated
to increase the spirit of piety, or of pure and general benevolence.
--_Preface._

VI.--_Finely printed in royal 32mo. (as a companion to the above)
embellished with Engravings on Wood, and a beautiful and
highly-finished Frontispiece, price 2s. 6d. in extra boards,_

GEMS OF BRITISH POESY,

Pathetic, Moral, Lyrical, and Descriptive. By the most admired Authors:
many of which have not hitherto been collected.

_By the Editor of_
POEMS DEVOTIONAL, ELEGIAC, AND PRECEPTIVE.

"There is a charm in poetry, which they who have never felt can
never imagine; it touches with so gentle a sweetness, it kindles
with so keen a fire, it animates with so thrilling a rapture, that
its delights exceed the power of utterance, and can be expressed
only by gestures or by tears."

By Poetry, a happy sensibility to the beauties of nature is preserved
in young persons. It engages them to contemplate the Creator in his
works; it purifies and harmonizes the soul, and prepares it for moral
and intellectual discipline; it supplies an endless source of amusement,
it recommends virtue for its transcendent loveliness, and makes vice
appear the object of contempt and abomination. Compared with these
genuine delights, how trivial and unworthy, to susceptible minds, must
appeal the steams and noise of a ball-room, the insipidities of an
opera, or the vexations and wranglings of a card-table.--_Preface._

VII.--_Handsomely printed, in royal 18mo. price 4s. in boards,_

Embellished with an emblematical Frontispiece, exquisitely engrav