ADVERTISEMENT. ‘THE following Poem, if it may be allowed to deserve that name, was written under cireum- stances, whose peculiarity may be thought to justify a communication of them. T undertook to give metrical Mlustrations of the Prints with which Mr. Ackermann decorated the Poetical Magazine, a Work published by him in Monthly Numbers, for the reception of original composi- tions, Many of these Engravings were miscella- neous, and those (which were, indeed, the greater part of them,) whose descriptionwas submitted to such a Muse as mine, represented views of inte- resting objects, and beautiful Scenery, or were occasional decorations appropriate to the Work. ‘The designs, to which this volume is so greatly indebted, I was informed, would follow in a " Series, and it was proposed to me to shape out a story from them.—An Etching or a Drawing aii ADVERTISEMENT. was accordingly sent to me every month, and 1 composed a certain proportion of pages in verse, in which of course, the subject of the design was included : the rest depended upon what my ima- gination could furnish. When the first print was sent to me, I did not know what would be the subject of the second ; and in this manner, in a great measure, the Artist continued designing, and I continued writing, every month for two years, ’till a Work, containing near ten thousand Lines was produced : the Artist and the Writer having no personal communication with, orknow- ledge ofeach other. This vast collection of verses, however, appeared toadvance the purposes of the Magazine in which they grew into such an un- expected accumulation—Mr. ACKERMANN was satisfied with my Service, and 1 was satisfied with the remuneration of it—I felt no parental fondness for the Work though it was written at that very advanced period of Life, when we are apt to attach Importance to any little, unexpected exertion of decaying strength.—It would have been no more thought of by me :—But Mr. Ac- KERMANN has his reasons for risking a republi- cation of it, in its present form ; and I now feel more than common solicitude that it should answer his expectations. My own vanity has a very small share in my wishes for its success ; and in theADVERTISEMENT. © iti, indulgence of them I can truly declare, that I am principally actuated by the part I take in the in- terests of a man, who, in the course of my con- cerns with him, has grown in my esteem and regard.—I have, therefore, given my best atten- tion to the correction of the whole ; and have endeavoured to lessen those defects which natu- rally arose from the irregular and undetermined mode of its composition.— The Battle of the Books was an after thought : and forms the Novelty of this volume. Cam veaiA dabi Thave only to add—that though, on a first view of some of the prints, it may appear as if the Clerical Character was treated with Levity, lam’ confident in announcing a very opposite impres- sion from a perusal of the Work. ‘Tue Autor,