LETTERS ΤΟ CHARLES BUTLER, Esq. COMPRISING ESSAYS ON THE ROMISH RELIGION AND VINDICATING The Book of the Church. BY ROBERT SOUTHEY, Esq. LL.D. POET LAUREATE, HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY, OF THE Royal SpaniSH ACADEMY OF HISTORY, OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, OF THE BRISTOL PHILOSOPHICAL AND LITERARY SOCIETY, OF THE METROPOLITAN LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. MDCCCXXVI. 5136 .873 The more wit they have spent, The less they shew'd; not bettering their bad cause. DANIEL'S Musophilus. LONDON: PRINTED BY C. ROWORTH, BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR. WHEN I inscribed a poem to you some twenty years ago, in memorial of a friendship which had then subsisted more than half our lives, there was a peculiar propriety in so doing. The subject was one concerning which we had talked when we were boys together; it related to your own country; some of your ancestors were among the personages of the tale; historical incidents were introduced which I had collected in your Library, and in your company I had visited some of the scenes which are described. For these reasons, |