The Author would not have deemed himself justified in saying, upon this occasion, so much of performances either unfinished, or unpublished, if he had not thought that the labour bestowed by him upon what he has heretofore and now laid before the Public, entitled him to candid attention for such a statement as he thinks necessary to throw light upon his endeavours to please and, he would hope, to benefit his countrymen.-Nothing further need be added, than that the first and third parts of The Recluse will consist chiefly of meditations in the Author's own person; and that in the intermediate part (The Excursion) the intervention of characters speaking is employed, and something of a dramatic form adopted. It is not the Author's intention formally to announce a system: it was more animating to him to proceed in a different course; and if he shall succeed in conveying to the mind clear thoughts, lively images, and strong feelings, the Reader will have no difficulty in extracting the system for himself. And in the mean time the following passage, taken from the conclusion of the first book of The Recluse, may be acceptable as a kind of Prospectus of the design and scope of the whole Poem. 'On Man, on Nature, and on Human Life, Pure, or with no unpleasing sadness mixed; And dear remembrances, whose presence soothes The good and evil of our mortal state. -To these emotions, whencesoe'er they come, Whether from breath of outward circumstance, Or from the Soul-an impulse to herself- Of moral strength, and intellectual Power; To Conscience only, and the law supreme I sing:-'fit audience let me find though few!' So prayed, more gaining than he asked, the BardIn holiest mood. Urania, I shall need Thy guidance, or a greater Muse, if such Nor aught of blinder vacancy, scooped out By help of dreams-can breed such fear and awe As fall upon us often when we look Into our Minds, into the Mind of Man My haunt, and the main region of my song. An hourly neighbour. Paradise, and groves Or a mere fiction of what never was? -I, long before the blissful hour arrives, Can it be called) which they with blended might Within the walls of cities-may these sounds Have their authentic comment; that even these Descend, prophetic Spirit! that inspir'st Dreaming on things to come; and dost possess Of mighty Poets: upon me bestow A gift of genuine insight; that my Song Of those mutations that extend their sway This Vision; when and where, and how he lived;--- May sort with highest objects, then-dread Power! |