VI. PREFACE. 



to Poetry, and, too often, her distorted slave. And he 

 feels assured that Poetry, as the handmaid of Truth, 

 may become, as it sometimes lias been, eminently beneficial 

 and useful to mankind. 



The author desires it, however, to be distinctly under- 

 stood, that the higher order of poetry in the following work 

 has neither been his object nor his aim. The style and 

 versification of the splendid effort of Darwin, the Botanic 

 Garden, have not escaped his observation; but, notwith- 

 standing, that poem has had, and, no doubt, always will 

 have, many admirers, because it contains some striking 

 imagery combined with Truth and Science ; yet it ap- 

 pears, and the coldness of its general reception warrants 

 the conclusion, that so much elegant labour, so much 

 pomp of diction, have failed to render it popular; and a 

 work on such a subject ought to be popular to be exten- 

 sively useful. The style, versification, and diction of 

 Darwin, have been, therefore, in the present work, stu- 

 diously avoided. Whether the author have succeeded in 

 more simple measures, and in a more familiar style, is not, 

 of course, for him to answer ; but, it must be evident, that 

 the method of treating a scientific subject, which is here 

 adopted, promises, at least, more popularity. 



While the author has endeavoured to be simple, he has, 

 he hopes, avoided vulgarity. Aware of the truth which 

 Horace has long ago told us, that, 



Difficile est proprie comnmnia dicere, — 



it is difficult to express common things well ; still the 

 difficulty has not deterred him from the attempt. He has, 

 contrary to the example of Darwin, introduced few scien- 

 tific terms into the poetry ; these have been consigned to 

 the Introduction and to the Notes, where they appear 



