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Equally sensible of the difficulty of the subject
selected, and of his inability to do it justice; what-
ever imperfections of style, whatever want of poetic
genius may be ascribed to the Author, he will at
least have the consolation of reflecting that the cause
he advocates, however feebly and unsuccessfully,
requires no mortal aid to ensure its eventual triumph.

Should the Author unfortunately be finally pro-

nounced to have written nothing worthy of com-

mendation, so neither can the most scrupulous cen-

sure his Poem as defective in morality, or the most

religious accuse him of want of zeal for that Holy

and Sublime Religion in which he was carefully

educated-a Religion founded upon, and in strict

accordance with, the Doctrines of Christ and his

Apostles.

The paramount object of the Author in attempting

this Poem, was that of opposing a barrier against the
further progress of Romanism in his native land, by
demonstrating (in what he trusts will be considered

an

attractive form) the irreconcilable difference between Christianity and Popery,-between truth and falsehood, by contrasting the life and heavenly Doctrines of the Redeemer, as displayed in the New Testament, with the pride, the superstition, and cruelty of the Church of Rome, by which Christ and his Gospel are set aside, in order that the sacrilegious and presumptuous priest may stand before the ignorant as a God."

THE AUTHOR.

15th August, 1839.

CANTO I.

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