Engraved by I.Romney, from a miniature by F. Nash, presented by the Author to his Sister. London Published 29th Sept1809, by John Sharpe Piccadilly. VILLAGE CURATE, AND OTHER POEMS; INCLUDING SOME PIECES NOW FIRST PUBLISHED. BY THE REV. JAMES HURDIS, D. D. LATE FELLOW OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, AND PROFESSOR OF POETRY, LONDON: PRINTED BY C. WHITTINGHAM, Goswell-Street; FOR JOHN SHARPE, OPPOSITE ALBANY, PICCADILLY. 1810. TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. THE permission to inscribe these Poems to Your MAJESTY, an honour which we could not have presumed to solicit, is rendered yet more honourable and more gratifying to us by the spontaneous offer of it. The benevolent and gracious condescension which suggested that offer inspires us with grateful feelings, which it is not in our power to express. Our regard to the memory of a brother, to whose affectionate protection and instruction we owe so much, renders it a peculiar felicity to us, that his poems should be presented to the public graced with the patronage of so high and so revered a name; and we humbly hope that they may be found not unworthy of their august Patroness. This we may be allowed to say, that his uniform endeavour was to promote by his writings the improvement of intellectual and moral excellence, which YOUR MAJESTY has so |