The Works in Verse and Prose of William Shenstone

Yo! 1 WORKSTHE I N VERSE AND PROSE, O F WILLIAM SHENSTONE, Efq; Moft of which were never before printed. IN TWO VOLUMES, WITH DECORATIONS. His ego longos VIRG. Cantando puerum memini me condere foles. VOL. I. LONDON: Printed for R. and J. DODSLEV in Pall-malL M DCC LXIV. to tte ra ' 3. On Jn VRX (nor erefttig) is llukf-QxtK ctut Vvilliam'Shcnitor.c, ?; By 'Mr. G A R R I C K. Whot'cr thou art, \vi:h rcv'rence tread The facred manfions of the deid Not that the monumental buit . Or fiimptuous tomb H-ER.I; guarclf the. dud Of rich or great ; (let \vdshh, rank, birth* in the earth Sleep undiltir.guifii'd ;) records a This fimple urn name. That (bines' with moft exalted fame. Reader! if .genius, talte reftr.'d, A native elegance of nirnd ; If virtue, fcience, rr.anly fenfe ; If wit, that never gave offence ; The clearefi. head, -the tccJ.crclt -heart, e'er claim'd a In th.-y eltccm part ; Ah ! finite thy'breall, and drop .a tear; For know, -f'Hy Shenilone's dull lie* hen* - Great part of the poetical works of Mr. his A SHENSTONE, particularly Elegies and " Paftorals, are (as he himfelf exprefles it) The exact tranfcripts of the fituation of his own mind ;" and abound in frequent allufions to his own place, the beautiful fcene of his retirement from the world. Exclufively therefore of our natural curiofity to be acquainted with the hiftory of an author, whofe works we perufe with pleafure, fome mort account of Mr. SHENSTONE'S perfonal character, and fituation in life, may not only be agreeable, but abfolutely necefTary, to the reader ; as it is impolTible he mould enter his if he is into the true fpirit of writings, en- circumftances of his tirely ignorant of thofe life, which fometimes fo greatly influenced his re- fledlions. I could wifh however that this talk had been allotted to fome perfon capable of performing it in which that mafterly manner the fubjecl: fo A well 11 PREFACE. well deferves. To confefs the truth, it was his remains from into chiefly to prevent falling the hands of any one fHll lefs qualified to do that I have ventured to him juftice, unwillingly undertake the publication of them myfelf. Mr. SHENSTONE was the eldeft fon of a in SHROP- plain uneducated country gentleman SHIRE, who farmed his own eftate. The father, fenfible of his fon's extraordinary capacity, re- folved to give him a learned education, and fent him a commoner to PEMBROKE College in OXFORD, defigning him for the church : but tho' he had the moft aweful notions of the wifdom, power, and goodnefs of God, he never could be perfuaded to enter into orders. In his private opinions he adhered to no particular feel;, and hated all religious difputes. But whatever were his own fentiments, he always {hewed great tendernefs to thofe, who differed from him. Tendernefs, indeed, in every fenfe the his of word, was peculiar characterise ; his friends, his domeflics, his poor neighbours, all daily experienced his benevolent turn of mind. Indeed, this virtue in him was often carried to fuch excefs, that it fometimes bordered upon weak- PREFACE. 111 weaknefs : yet if he was convinced that any of thofe ranked amongft the number of his friends, had treated him ungeneroufly, he was not eafily reconciled. He ufed a maxim, however, on fuch occaiions, which is worthy of being obferved " I and imitated , never (faid he) will be a but I it is in revengeful enemy ; cannot, not my nature, to be half a friend." He was in his if temper quite unfufpicious j but fufpicion was once awakened in him, it was not laid afleep again without difficulty. of his He was no ceconomift ; the generofity temper prevented him from paying a proper regard to the ufe of money : he exceeded therefore the bounds of his paternal fortune, which before he died was confiderably encumbered. But one he had when recollects the perfect paradife raifed around him, the hofpitality with which he lived, his great indulgence to his fervants, all done with his charities to the indigent, and an eftate not more than three hundred pounds a year, one mould rather be led to wonder that he left than to blame any thing behind him, his want of ceconomy. He left however more than all his debts and his fufficient to pay j by A 2 will iv PREFACE. for that will appropriated his whole eftate purpofe. confiderations on It was perhaps from fome the narrownefs of his fortune, that he forbore to to marry ; for he was no enemy wedlock, the fair had a high opinion of many among fex, to the was fond of their fociety, and no ftranger tendered impreffions. One, which he received in his youth, was with difficulty furmounted. The lady was the fubject of that fweet paftoral, in four parts, which has been fo univerfally admired ; and which, one would have thought, muft have fubdued the loftieft heart, and fof- tened the moft obdurate. His perfon, as to height, was above the middle flature, but largely and rather inelegant- ly formed : his face feemed plain till you con- verfed with him, and then it grew very pleafmg. In his drefs he was even to negligent, a fault ; though when young, at the univeriity, he was accounted a BEAU. He wore his own hair, which was quite grey very early, in a particular manner ; not from any affeclation of fin- gularity,but from a maxim he had laid down, that without PREFACE. v without too flavim a regard to fafhion, every one mould drefs in a manner moft fuitable to his own perfon and figure. In mort, his faults were only little blemifhes, thrown in by nature, as it to were on purpofe prevent him from fifing too much above that level of imperfection allotted to humanity. His character as a writer will be diftinguimed by fimplicity with elegance, and genius with correctnefs. He had a fublimity equal to the the higheft: attempts ; yet from indolence of his temper, he chofe rather to amufe himfelf in culling flowers at the foot of the mount, than to take the trouble of climbing the more arduous fteeps of PARNASSUS. But whenever he was dif- to his tho' pofed rife, fteps, natural, were noble, and always well fupported. In the tendernefs of elegiac poetry he hath not been excelled ; in the fimplicity of paftoral, one may venture to fay he had very few equals. Of great fenfibility himfelf, he never failed to engage the hearts of his readers : and amidft the niceft attention to the harmony of his numbers, he always took care to exprefs with propriety the fentiments of an* elegant mind. In all his writings, his greatnefs VI PREFACE. was to himfelf. I re- greateft difficulty pleafe his member a paffage in one of letters, where, he " Some fpeaking of his love fongs, fays " were written on occafions a good deal ima- " not fo and the reafon there ginary, others -, " to write are fo many is, that I wanted ONE " never good fong, and could pleafe myfelf." It was this diffidence which occafioned him to before throw afide many of his pieces he had beflowed upon them his laft touches. I have fuppreffed feveral on this account; and if among thofe which I have felected, there mould be difcovered fome little want of his rimming polim, I hope it will be attributed to this caufe, and of courfe be excufed : yet I flatter myfelf there will always appear fomething well worthy of having been preferved. And though I was afraid of inferting what might injure the character of my friend, yet as the {ketches of a great mafter are always valuable, I was un- willing the public mould lofe any thing material of fo accomplished a writer. In this dilemma it will eafily be conceived that the tafk I had to perform would become fomewhat difficult. How I have acquitted myfelf, the public muft judge. Nothing, however, except what he had al- ready PREFACE. vii ready publifhed, has been admitted without the advice of his moft judicious friends, nothing altered, without their particular concurrence. It is impoffible to pleafe every one ; but 'tis hoped that no reader will be fo unreafonable, as to imagine that the author wrote folely for his amufement : his talents were various ; and though it may perhaps be allowed that his ex- cellence chiefly appeared in fubjects of tendernefs and fimplicity, yet he frequently condefcended to trifle with thofe of humour and drollery: thefe, indeed, he himfelf in fome meafure de- graded by the title which he gave them of LE- VITIES: but had they been entirely rejected, the public would have been deprived of fome JEUX D'ESPRITS, excellent in their kind, and Mr. SHENSTONE'S character as a writer would have been but imperfectly exhibited. But the talents of Mr. SHENSTONE were not confined merely to poetry; his character, as a man of clear judgment, and deep penetration, will beft appear from his profe works. It is there we muft fearch for the acutenefs of his underftanding, and his profound knowledge of the human heart. It is to be lamented indeed, 3 that viii PREFACE. that fome things here are unfinifhed, and can be regarded only as fragments : many are left as fmgle thoughts, but which, like the fparks of diamonds, mew the richnefs of the mine to which they belong; or like the foot of a HER- CULES, difcover the uncommon ftrength, and extraordinary dimenlions of that hero.

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