A Dramatic Poem: AND OTHER POEMS. BY J. WESTLAND MARSTON, AUTHOR OF "THE PATRICIAN'S DAUGHTER," A TRAGEDY. C. MITCHELL, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET. MDCCCXLII. 552. ΤΟ CHARLES DICKENS, ESQ. MY DEAR SIR, I inscribe to you the following pages as a very humble acknowledgment of many delightful hours, for which, in common with the public at large, I am indebted to your pen. I would hope, too, that my obligations have not been restricted to the mere gratification derived from your works; but that I have been in some degree susceptible of their tendencies to foster generous feelings and benevolent sentiments. Indeed, the man who finds mere entertainment in an imaginative work, and whose sympathies are neither developed nor confirmed by its truth, pathos, and beauty-would probably peruse the gravest moral treatise, without gaining any practical benefit from his studies. It is sometimes the good fortune of the grateful to evince their sense of favours by reciprocating them. But it frequently happens that a simple expression of their debt, is all that is permitted them. The latter method is the only one at my disposal, but I cannot too sincerely thank you for the privilege of using it. Believe me to remain, My dear Sir, Your very faithful And obliged Servant, J. WESTLAND MARSTON. LONDON, October, 1842. PREFACE. I HAD conceived the design of GERALD, and made some progress in its composition, in the Spring of 1841. My intention was, from such materials-whether dignified or humble-as the times presented, to construct a Poem of Dramatic-perhaps of Tragic-interest. The The endeavour was, for the period, abandoned; not from any doubt of the legitimacy of the aim; but from a fear lest it should not be realized in a manner to satisfy the Author, and to interest the Public. The cordial reception subsequently given to "The Patrician's Daughter," and the generous consideration afforded to it by the critical world— have, however, induced me to resume my labour, the result of which, is the principal poem in the following collection. To choose the struggles and experiences of |