at his old valued advisers had
passed away, not to publish anything more--

"unless I could first obtain the sanction of such an opinion
as I might with some confidence rely upon. I looked for a
friend who, having the discerning taste of Mr. Burke and the
critical sagacity of Doctor Johnson, would bestow upon my
MS. the attention requisite to form his opinion, and would
then favour me with the result of his observations; and it
was my singular good fortune to obtain such assistance--the
opinion of a critic so qualified, and a friend so disposed to
favour me. I had been honoured by an introduction to the
Right Hon. Charles James Fox, some years before, at the
seat of Mr. Burke; and being again with him, I received a
promise that he would peruse any work I might send to him
previous to its publication, and would give me his opinion.
At that time I did not think myself sufficiently prepared;
and when afterwards I had collected some poems for his inspection,
I found my right honourable friend engaged by the
affairs of a great empire, and struggling with the inveteracy
of a fatal disease. At such time, upon such mind, ever disposed
to oblige as that mind was, I could not obtrude the
petty business of criticising verses; but he remembered the
promise he had kindly given, and repeated an offer which
though I had not presumed to expect, I was happy to receive.
A copy of the poems, now first published, was sent to him,
and (as I have the information from Lord Holland, and his
Lordship's permission to inform my readers) the poem which
I have named _The Parish Register_ was heard by Mr. Fox,
and it excited interest enough by some of its parts to gain for
me the benefit of his judgment upon the whole. Whatever he
approved, the reader will readily believe, I have carefully
retained: the parts he disliked are totally expunged, and
others are substituted, which I hope resemble those more
conformable to the taste of so admirable a judge. Nor can I
deny myself the melancholy satisfaction of adding that this
poem (and more especially the history of Phoebe Dawson,
with some parts of the second book) were the last compositions
of their kind that engaged and amused the capacious, the
candid, the benevolent mind of this great man."

It was, as we have seen, at Dudley North's residence in Suffolk that
Crabbe had renewed his acquaintance with Fox, and received from