Excerpt from The Poetical and Prose Writings of James Linen Criticism nor defy it. The poems are simple and unpretending. My Muse, however, is somewhat capricious. She is sometimes grave and sometimes gay, and occasionally inclined to be satirical. The present volume exhibits specimens of my moody but delight ful companion. She is ever to me a source of ineffable pleasure. She is too independent to court the favors of the great, and shrinks from seeking the applause of the vulgar. Her joys are in -the' sanctuary of the domestic circle. My task is simply to give to the world the promptings of her inspiration. Should they be received with the smiles of favor, she may be encouraged to future exertion; but should the tribunal of the public, before. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.