1-3-28

16015 2 vols.

PREFACE.

4-27-28 Lis

IT

T would be ufing most writers of name very ill, to treat them with that freedom, which I have prefumed to take with Mr. Cowley. But every thing, he wrote, is either fo good or so bad, that, in all reason, a separation fhould be made; lest the latter, which, unhappily, is the greater part, fhould, in

the end, ftifle and overlay the

former.

THE reafon of this ftriking difference in the compofitions of the fame man, whofe genius and learning are unquestionable, is, That he generally followed the taste of his time, which was the worst imaginable; and rarely his own, which was naturally excellent: as may be seen in the few pieces of his poetry, here felected from the reft; and, efpecially, in his profe-works, which (except the

notes

notes on his Pindaric Odes, and Davideis) are given entire, and have no common merit.

BUT the talents, by which he is distinguished, as a polite writer, are the least of his praise. There is fomething in him, which pleases above his wit, and in spite of it. It is that moral air, and tender fenfibility of mind, which every one perceives and loves in reading Mr. Cowley. And this character of his genius, though it be expreffed, indeed, in his

other

other writings, comes out efpecially, and takes our attention most, in some of his smaller poems and effays; which, therefore, it seemed to be for the author's credit, and the convenience of his readers, to draw near to each other, and place, together, in one view. I have faid-for the convenience of his readers: for, though all are capable of being entertained, perhaps inftructed, by the image of a good mind, when fet before them, yet few will be at the pains to feek that instruction

or