THE little Poems, which are here called Sonnets, have, I believe, no very just claim to that title: But they consist of fourteen lines, and appear to me no improper vehicle for a single Sentiment. I am told, and I read it as the opinion of very good judges, that the legitimate Sonnet is illy calculated for our language. The specimen Mr. Hayley has given, though they form a strong exception, prove no more, than that the difficulties of the attempt vanish before uncommon powers.

Some very melancholy moments have been beguiled, by expressing in verse the sensations[Page vi] those moments brought. Some of my friends, with partial indiscretion, have multiplied the copies they procured of several of these attempts, till they found their way into the prints of the day in a mutilated state; which, concurring with other circumstances, determined me to put them into their present form. I can hope for readers only among the few, who to sensibility of heart, join simplicity of taste.

THE reception given by the public, as well as my particular friends, to the two first Editions of these Poems, has induced me to add to the present such other Sonnets as I have written since, or have recovered from my acquaintance, to whom I had given them without thinking well enough of them at the time to preserve any copies myself. A few of those last written, I have attempted on the Italian model; with what success I know not, but I am persuaded that to the generality of readers those which are less regular will be more pleasing.

As a few notes were necessary, I have added them at the end. I have there quoted such lines as I have borrowed; and even where I am conscious the ideas were not my own, I have restored them to their original possessors.

WHEN a sixth Edition of these little Poems was lately called for, it was proposed to me, to add such Sonnets or other pieces, as I might have written since the publication of the fifth. — Of these, however, I had only a few; and on shewing them to a friend of whose judgment I had a high opinion, he remarked, that some of them, particularly 'The Sleeping Woodman,' and 'The Return of the Nightingale,' resembled in their subjects, and still more in the plaintive tone in which they are written, the greater part of those in the former Editions — and that, perhaps, some of a more lively cast, might be[Page x] better liked by the Public. — 'Toujours perdrix,' said my friend, 'Toujours perdrix,' you know, 'ne vaut rien.' — I am far from supposing that your compositions can be neglected or disapproved on whatever subject; but perhaps 'toujours Rossignols, toujours des chansons tristes,' may not be so well received as if you attempted, what you would certainly execute as successfully, a more cheerful style of composition. — 'Alas!' replied I, 'Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?' — Or, Can the effect cease, while the cause remains? You know that when in the Beech Woods of Hampshire, I first struck the chords of the melancholy lyre, its notes were never intended for the public ear! It was unaffected sorrows drew them forth: I wrote mournfully because I was unhappy: And I have unfortunately no reason[Page xi] yet, though nine years have since elapsed, to change my tone. The time is indeed arrived, when I have been promised by 'the Honorable Men' who nine years ago, undertook to see that my family obtained the provision their grandfather designed for them, that 'all should be well — all should be settled.' But still I am condemned to feel the 'hope delayed that maketh the heart sick.' Still to receive — not a repetition of promises indeed — but of scorn and insult; when I apply to those gentlemen, they will neither tell me when they will proceed to divide the estate; or, whether they will ever do so at all. You know the circumstances under which I have now so long been laboring; and you have done me the honor to say, that few women could so long have contended with them. With these, however, as they are some of them of a domestic and painful nature, I will[Page xii] not trouble the public now; but while they exist in all their force, that indulgent public must accept all I am able to atchieve — 'Toujours des chansons tristes!'

Thus ended the short dialogue between my friend and me, and I repeat it as an apology for that apparent despondence, which when it is observed for a long series of years, may look like affectation. I shall be sorry, if on some future occasion, I should feel myself compelled to detail its causes more at length; for notwithstanding I am thus frequently appearing as an authoress, and have derived from thence many of the greatest advantages of my life, (since it has procured me friends whose attachment is most invaluable) I am well aware that for a woman — 'The post of honor is a private station.'

London, May 14, 1792.

THE Editor of this (Worcester) Edition, intended to have published it nearly four years since, at which time he had the plates engraved in his Office in this town. His being employed in printing larger and heavier volumes has prevented these Sonnets appearing from his Press till now. — As the Letter Press has been delayed, he could have wished the Engravings had been also; as in the infancy of engraving in this country, four years' additional experience to the artist would doubtless have produced more delicate work than what is now presented. The lovers of this Art will, however, be enabled, in some measure, to mark the progress of Engraving by a comparison of the Plates now executed with these, and the Editor doubts not but a proper allowance will be made for work engraved by an artist who obtained his knowledge in this country, by whom these plates were executed, and that done by European engravers who have settled in the United States.

The making of the particular kind of paper on which these Sonnets are printed, is a new business in America; and but lately introduced into Greatbritain; it is the first manufactured by the Editor.

On the whole, the Editor hopes for the candor of those who wish well to the productions of the Columbian Press — their favorable acceptance of this, and other volumes printed in this country, will doubtless raise an emulation to produce others, better executed, on superior paper, and with more delicate engravings.

• Dark gath'ring clouds, &c. to face Title Page. [The reader will note this plate belongs to the Elegy, page 33]
• Queen of the Silver Bow, &c. opposite page 24
• On some rude fragment, &c. do. 32
• For with the infant Otway, &c. do. 46
• Her pencil sick'ning Fancy, &c. do. 56

Let the plates face the Sonnets to which they belong — Cut the book as large each way as it will bear.