The regret expressed by Wordsworth, in the conclusion of his sonnet, will, I hope, serve as a warning against similar shortcomings to the Bryants, Longfellows, and Lowells among you, and all others whom it may concern, but with whose names and genius I am not equally well acquainted. Next indeed in enjoyment to the gratification which I experience for my own sake as well as for that of your friendly zeal, in complying with your wish in regard to the present volume, is the indulgence of a hope, that, as previous writers on the class of poetry which it illustrates have not exhausted the subject, and as the selection of the many beautiful specimens which it contains proceeds upon a plan combining personal with poetical interest, it may help to excite a disposition to the cultivation of the Sonnet in all poetical quarters, particularly those of the country in which the book makes its first appearance. Reasons for the pleasure and other advantages to be expected from so doing will be found, I trust, in the Essay which follows this letter. I cannot help looking upon myself, in this matter, as a kind of horticulturist who has brought a stock of flowers with him from Italy and England, for the purpose of diffusing their seeds and off-sets, wherever the soil can be found congenial; and therefore, with your leave, and with the privilege of free-speaking which is conceded to guests and graybeards, I hereby give notice, that if in the course of a few years from the date of this intimation a good crop of Sonnets, of all hues and varieties, does not start up throughout the said quarters, like a new flush of beauty to your meadows, or song to your groves, (for birds and flowers grow ripe together,) I shall be inclined to ask my American cousins what right they possess not only to the wit and the poetry that already flourish among them, but to the more than Italian sun that warms so much of their territory, and to that extraordinary feathered songster, the Mocking-Bird, which is the only imitator in the world that beats what it imitates. Be this however as it may, and let our Selections prosper in any respect or not, I am ever, Dear Mr. Lee, Your obliged and affectionate friend, LEIGH HUNT. THE object of this Essay is twofold, first, to assist in furthering the cultivation and enjoyment of a species of verse peculiarly fitted to diffuse an acquaintance with poetical composition; and, second, to perform the like office in diffusing an acquaintance with Italian as well as English poetry. By "cultivation" is meant the practice of Sonnetwriting by such as are inclined to poetize in that direction; by the "enjoyment" of the Sonnet, the pleasure already taken, or to be taken in it, by lovers of poetry in general, whether writers or readers. As to "Italian and English poetry," the words carry with them their own recommendation to all who know anything of poetry or music; yet I always feel so grateful to the very sound of the Italian language, when about to put its words on paper, that by way of prelude to my task I cannot but quote what has been said of it by |