Book excerpt: Excerpt from A Royal Pastoral, and Other Poems If you have therefore been pleased to come so far, be it known unto you, most courteous reader, that the matters contained in the following pages comprise those of his poems which the author considers the best, and the most worthy of your attention; that they are not works so much as recreations, as not being the labors of his daily life, and yet much more than the mere amuse ment of the hour. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.