LECTURES ON THE WORKS AND GENIUS OF WASHINGTON ALLSTÓN. BY WILLIAM WARE, AUTHOR OF ZENOBIA, AURELIAN, JULIAN, &c. BOSTON: PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY. M DCCC LII. FA 4265.528.18 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY FROM THE LIBRARY OF Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. EDITOR'S PREFACE. THE Lectures contained in this volume are given to the public, as they were left by the author, at his death. There might, perhaps, be some question as to the propriety of giving to the world an unfinished work of criticism upon such a subject; but the words of the author himself, in speaking of the great unfinished picture of the Artist, whose name and fame it was his object, so far as it was in his power, to make more extensively known and honored among us, furnish a sufficient apology. It seems to be, "a work from which lessons may be drawn of use to society; too valuable, too beautiful, too much of it near its completion, too instructive, in many ways, to be rolled up forever, or seen by a few and hidden from the common eye." The preparation of these Lectures was a work of love; the opinions expressed, the result of a long and loving study of the subject; and, though it may be that, before publication, they would have undergone some modification from his own hand, which that of another cannot venture to undertake, it is believed that they are mainly the result of careful study and deliberate conviction. The author, at the time he was suddenly attacked by his last illness, was engaged in making arrangements for delivering these Lectures in this city, so long the residence of the illustrious Artist and Scholar of whose works and genius they treat. Το the last sentence, which is here given as it was left unfinished by his pen, it was the author's intention to add a conclusion adapted to the circumstances of the place, and to the audience to whom it would have been first addressed. CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, August, 1852. |