Excerpt from Christmas Evergreens: A Collection of Choice English and American Poetry, Suitable for a Handsome Holidays Present If, therefore, I were blessed with a son, in order to the forming of his manners, which is making him truly my son, I should be contin ually putting into his hands some fine poet. The graceful sen tenoes and the manly sentiments so frequently to be met with in every great and sublime writer are, in my judgment, the most orna mental and valuable furniture that can be for a young gentleman's head. Let me add this, that humanity and tenderness, without which there can be no true greatness in the mind, are inspired by the Muses in such pathetic language that all we find in prose authors toward the raising and improving of these passions is, in comparison, but cold or lukewarm at the best. There is, besides, a certain elevation of soul, a sedate magnanimity, and a noble turn of virtue that distinguishes the hero from the plain honest man to which verse only can raise him. - sir R. Steele, Taller, No. 98. 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.