342 DEDICATION. 



What reception a poem may find, which has neither abuse, party, nor blank verse to support it, I cannot tell, 

 nor am I solicitous to know. My aims are right. Without espousing the cause of any party, I have attempted to 

 moderate the rage of all. I have endeavoured to show, that there may be equal happiness in states that are differently 

 governed from our own ; that every state has a particular principle of happiness, and that this principle in each may 

 be carried to a mischievous excess. There are few can judge better than yourself how far these positions are illut- 

 trated in this poem. I am, dear sir, your most affectionate brother, 



OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 



