THE

REPUBLIC OF LETTERS,

A SELECTION, IN POETRY AND PROSE,

FROM THE

WORKS OF THE MOST EMINENT WRITERS,

WITH

MANY ORIGINAL PIECES.

BY A. WHITELAW,

EDITOR OF "THE CASQUET OF LITERARY GEMS."

Books are yours,

Within whose silent chamber treasure lies,
Preserved from age to age; more precious far
Than that accumulated store of gold

And orient gems which, för a day of need,
The sultan hoards in his ancestral tombs.

Wordsworth.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

WITH TWENTY ENGRAVINGS.

VOL. I.

GLASGOW:

BLACKIE & SON, 8, EAST CLYDE STREET,

AND 5, SOUTH COLLEGE STREET, EDINBURGH;

W. CURRY, JUN. & CO., DUBLIN; AND SIMPKIN & MARSHALL, LONDON.
MDCCCXXXIII.

5208

4594

小

GLASGOW:

GEORGE BROOKMAN, PRINTER, VILLAFIELD.

MDCCCXXXIII,

ΤΟ

THOMAS BRYDSON, Esq.

AUTHOR OF

"PICTURES OF THE PAST,"

THE REPUBLIC OF LETTERS

IS INSCRIBED,

AS A SLIGHT TESTIMONY OF THE EDITOR'S HIGH REGARD FOR HIM

AS A FRIEND AND AS A POET.