8 PREFACE. 



his life and strength, he would have borne away the palm 

 from all his contemporaries. 



"The fine imagination and deep enthusiasm of Dr. 

 Godman occasionally burst forth in impassioned poetry. 

 He wrote verse and prose with almost equal facility, and 

 had he lived and enjoyed leisure to prune the exuber- 

 ance of his style, and to bestow the last polish upon his 

 labours, he would have ranked as one of the great mas- 

 ters of our language, both in regard to the curious felicity, 

 and the strength and clearness of his diction. The fol- 

 lowing specimens of his poetical compositions are se- 

 lected less for their intrinsic excellence, than for the 

 picture which they furnish of his private meditations." 



