Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/54

 lent and gradual declension from what might be called the active life of an admired and popular book, to the honourable retirement of a classic, is lightly, but impressively, traced; closed by remarks on the mutations and improvements which have particularly affected the works in question. To young persons chiefly the Selection is offered, as containing the "essence" of a celebrated set of works. An instructive account is added of each of these in particular, of the state of society at the time of their appearance, the objects at which they aimed, and their effects. This essay will not be found in the present volumes, because it was considered that to separate it from the Selection which it was written to introduce, would be to defeat its very purpose.

During the same year (1804) Mrs. Barbauld was prevailed upon to undertake the task of examining and making a selection