iJ :S 8 4. Y 



INFLUENCE OF FICTITIOUS HISTORY 



MODERN MANNERS. 



" Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion. 



And give it false presentments ..... 



I, under fair pretence of friendly ends. 



And well placed words of glozing courtesy. 



Baited with reasons not uuplausible. 



Wind me into the easy-hearted man, 



And hug liim into sparejs. MiLTOIt's Co»vs> 



^T a period when so many works of imagination issue from 

 the press every, day giving birth to some new fiction, it 

 appears particularly seasonable, that a question, relative to^ 

 the influence such productions may have on the manners of 

 the present age, should be instituted by an academy, whose 

 object has ever been the investigation of truth, and the ad- 



