influence about the Court, and in the government of the country, and who, rather as an exerciſe of a ſuppoſed neceſſary accompliſhment than from any baſer motive, occaſionally amuſed themſelves with ridiculing the foibles of majeſty, and expoſing the intrigues of their rivals for his confidence. Such writers are manifeſtly no exponents of the popular mind: the vast majority of their compoſitions have long ſince fallen into neglect, almoſt oblivion, and are never likely again to intereſt, much leſs influence, any claſs of readers.
Whilſt every other department of literature has been thoroughly explored, amplified, and variouſly illuſtrated, our modern Political Songs and Ballads—the beſt popular illuſtrations of hiſtory—conſtitute the ſolitary exception to the general rule. Two cauſes in particular may be aſſigned for the ſingular indifference with which ſuch compoſitions have been hitherto treated. In the first place, they are ſo diffuſely ſcattered as to render hopeleſs any attempt by a ſingle individual to make, if ſuch a thing were deſirable, an entire collection of them, or indeed any approximation to it; and ſecondly, their rarely poſſeſſing any literary merit.
There are, however, few compoſitions more
