_The Author of the Goblin Groom can, on no consideration, be induced to
follow the example of the amiable and justly celebrated Madame de
Genlis, who, in her Historical Romance of the Chevaliers du Cygne,
observes,--“Enfin l’ideè de faire mourir l’heroine de l’histoire des les
premieres pages, et cependant de s’occuper d’elle jusqu’ a la fin, est
peutetre assez neuve pour meriter quelqu’ indulgence.” Could he, on the
contrary, prolong the precious life of his exalted hero, but for a
single day, he should feel more real delight, than the indulgence due to
the most afflicting novelty can possibly confer. But though unable to
guard him from the blow, which the unrelenting hand of time must one day
inflict, the author can at least promise, if he shall himself survive
the catastrophe, to restore him to the respectful consideration of his
readers, in a form at once congenial to the spirit of poetry, and
suitable to the taste and temper of the times. To some of his readers,
it may be necessary to remark, which must readily occur to the attention
of the critic, that his true hero is only to be discovered, by the
frequent allusions to his high rank and acknowledged virtues; and having
thus divested the Goblin of the precedency, which he might otherwise
appear to have usurped, it now only remains to give his readers a
general idea of the story. It turns on the several incidents of a
fox-chace, but is called a Tale of Dunse, because in that favourite_
RENDEZVOUS _of the lovers of the chace, the Goblin first made his
appearance. That the minds of his readers may be as perfectly prepared,
as he could wish, for the manners of the age in which it is laid, he
apprizes them, that the poem opens on the last day of April 1806, and
concludes with the death of a fox on Flodden Field twenty-four hours
thereafter. The country over which he has accompanied his elfin fay and
merry pack, he has viewed with the rapid glance of a sportsman, and
therefore trusts, that his hasty and imperfect sketch will not be
regarded with the too scrupulous eye of rigid criticism. With all its
faults, but without further apology, he commits it to its fate, and,
notwithstanding the protecting influence of wire-wove,--broad
margin,--high price,--and hot-press, he is not without feeling some
apprehensions concerning its success._