Book Description

Excerpt from The Book of Pleasures: Containing, the Pleasures of Hope; The Pleasures of Memory; The Pleasures of Imagination Separate editions of the three poems com prising this volume, in a style proportioned to the high estimation in which they are held, have long been required in this country; and their coincidence of design, in several important re spoots, renders the expediency of their united publication very obvious. Discrepancies are, indeed, observable in the manner in which the three bards have executed their several tasks; yet the delineation of Humanity has been their common aim; and the combined results of their labours afl'ord us a rich and beautiful portraiture of her distinguishing attributes - Hope, Imagina tion, and Memory. The pictures are not, in deed, complete or perfect. Akenside has been justly censured for not more distinctly alluding to one of the sublimest themes towards which ideality tends-athe immortality of the soul; and no reader of just taste can fail to lament his nu timely death, whereby his greatest productionmished occasions tbr cl'lllcl odjcc' 3 interesting and delightful are the pr features of these poems, that we wo lat they are enshrined amid the house of English literature. Genuine poe characterizes them, if not equally, y rdinary degree. The Book of Pleas fore, is eminently calculated to sub: rent end of Poetry. A spirit of humanf ful recognition of religious truth, a love of nature, pervade its pages. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.