PREFACE. THE reader who can find any thing to please in calm and philosophic thoughts, expressed in easy and simple diction-any thing to admire in didactic compositions without pedantry, and moral reflexions without bitterness-will thank us for rendering more accessible to the world the prose compositions of COWLEY. They were, for the most part, written after his retirement, when he was weary of having "On long hopes, the Court's thin diet, fed;" and when his ambitious appetite was a little tamed down by so spare a regimen: they are, in consequence, embued with a portion of the melancholy which accompanied him in his retreat, and a which, instead of souring, only serves to communicate an additional charm to them. Though COWLEY was a pedant when he traversed the airy dominions of poetry, he ceased to be so when he took his course over the less elevated regions of prose. There cannot be a greater difference between the writings of any two authors, than between his poetical and prose works; whilst the former abound in surprising metaphor and elaborate imagery, in uncommon fancies and unnatural thoughts, the latter are uniformly distinguished by an easy and natural train of thought, expressed in language of the same character. His essays are, indeed, the model of a graceful and simple style; "easy," as Dr. JOHNSON expresses it," without feebleness, and familiar without gross ness. A great part of the poetical productions of CowLEY is not deserving of preservation, and his prose writings cannot be purchased, except in the edition of his whole works, or in Dr. HURD'S Selection, which is very scarce. For this reason, and for their intrinsic excellence, we have considered that a neat and cheap edition of his Essays would be a desirable addition to the reprints of our early writers. |