DEMONS OF THE WIND AND OTHER POEMS. BY HENRY LONGUEVILLE MANSEL. Br LONDON J. W. SOUTHGATE, 164, STRAND. 1838. PREFACE. It has been justly observed, by Mackenzie, with regard to the unpretending essays which authors are wont to prefix to their performances, that, "of all the garbs pride has ever put on, that of her humility is the most disgusting." In order, therefore, to escape the censure conveyed in this sentiment, I shall leave alike my deficiencies and my pretences, to pass ungarmented by apology through the fiery ordeal of public opinion, and shall only say a few words explanatory of the manner in which I have treated the beings who are introduced in the principal piece of this collection. The idea of personifying the winds is too ancient to need any apology. In the days of heathen superstition, when every hill and every valley, every tree and every fountain, was regarded as instinct with its peculiar deity, when it seemed to be the sole aim of the human mind to discover new gods to worship, new creeds to inculcate, the winds and the storms were not likely to escape sharing in the general personification. With regard to the malignity of these spirits, it needed but to blend another superstition prevalent among all nations, of inferior spirits who, partaking of the rebellion of Lucifer, partook not entirely of his doom; such were everywhere believed from the Trollds and the Duergar of Scandinavia to the Goules and the Afreets of the East. H. L. M. |