Devotional, Elegiac, and Preceptive: containing the most sublime and beautiful Productions in the English Language.
| "Live while you live," the epicure will say, |
| "And seize the pleasures of the fleeting day." |
| "Live while you live," the sacred preacher cries, |
| "And give to God each moment as it flies." |
| LORD! in my views let both united be; |
| I live in pleasure when I live to thee.Doddridge. |
The delight arising from the 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,