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INTRODUCTION.
UE most universal and most imaginative Poet,
whose single lines are often abstracts and epitomes
of poems, makes Hamlet exclaim—" What a piece of work
is man ! How noble in reason ! how infinite in faculties !
in form and moving, how express and admirable ! in
action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a
God ! the beauty of the world ! the paragon of animals !"
And yet this same glorious creature, thus worthily praised,
is, with singular contradiction, so forgetful of his higher at-
tributes, that he can despise his reason ! ignore his infinite
faculties! deliberately dface that form so express and
admirable ! descend to actions that smack rather of the
demon than the angel! Drown his godlike apprehension
in drink 1 Shave off his majestic beauty ! and become,
instead of the paragon—the parody of animals !
B
