Penny Dreadfuls, 1812 · page 11 of 258
Psyche, and other poems — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is a prefatory address "TO THE READER" in italicized prose. The text justifies publishing the poems of a deceased female writer (referred to as the author of *Psyche*), arguing that while private grief alone would not warrant public display, the literary merit and moral sentiment of her work—expressed in polished language and rooted in classical learning—creates a duty for surviving friends to share these "precious relics" with the world. The passage emphasizes that excellent writing capable of improving human sentiment transcends private sorrow and merits public circulation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
. TO THE READER. / ‘ \ | * TO possess strong feelings and amiable affections, and to express them with a nice discrimination, has been the attribute of many female writers; some of whom have also participated with the. author of Psyche in the unhappy lot of a suffering frame and a premature death? Had the publication of her poems served only as the fleeting record of such a destiny, and as a monument of private regret, her friends would not have thought themselves justified in displaying them to the world. But when a writer inti- mately acquainted with classical literature, and guided by a. taste for real excellence, has delivered in polished lan- guage such sentiments as can tend only to encourage and improve the best sensations of the human heart, then zt be- comes @ sort of duty in surviving friends no longer to~with- _ hold from the public such precious relics. Conniclooolkks.comn