It is necessary that I should say something respecting the following Poems. They are selected from a great many, written at different times and under very different feelings; and if I do not crave the reader's indulgence for them, I shall be heartily satisfied of his good opinion, if he gives me the same encouragement as he has done with the others I have published; for if I wished to have it thought that I was careless of censure, or heedless of praise, I should contradict my feelings.