intereſting in themſelves, or that offer more valuable material to the hiſtorical inquirer, than theſe ephemeral productions. Referring to an age leſs faſtidious in its taſtes and expreſſions than our own, too many of them, it cannot be denied, are not only faulty in conſtruction, but alſo objectionable in matter. Yet theſe are not the only criteria by which they ſhould be judged. The ordinary rules of criticiſm, indeed, do not apply to them. They are the emphatic ſongs of a liberty-loving people; they contain the out-pourings of unconquerable spirits, the unequivocal ſentiments of reſolute men; in a word, they are the rude but moſt expreſſive monuments of the great political ſtruggles in which our jealous anceſtors were engaged; and on that account they merit, if not our critical admiration, at all events deliverance from abſolute oblivion. In the abſence of theſe artless effuſions, our ſocial hiſtory would be incomplete. They exhibit as well the manners as the feelings of paſt generations. The ſtudent, by looking narrowly into them, may oftentimes be enabled to deduce moſt important concluſions reſpecting the origin and iſſue of former inſurrections and factions; juſt in the ſame manner as the geologiſt, who, detecting on the ſurface of
A 4
