Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/24

 About the close of the year 1771, her brother, after several years of absence, returned to establish himself in his profession at Warrington; an event equally welcome to her feelings and propitious to her literary progress. In him she possessed a friend with discernment to recognise the stamp of genius in her productions and anticipate their fame, combined with zeal and courage sufficient to vanquish her reluctance to appear before the public in the character of an author. By his persuasion and assistance her Poems were selected, revised, and arranged for publication: and when all these preparations were completed, finding that she still hesitated and lingered,—like the parent bird who pushes off its young to their first flight, he procured the paper, and set the press to work on his own authority. The result more than justified his confidence of her success: four editions of the work (the first in 4to, the succeeding ones in 8vo,) were called for