See Bruce.
[189] Alluding to the pathetic poem of the _Shipwreck_, whose author, Falconer, described himself under the name of Arion, and who was afterwards lost in the "Aurora." [190] "Morai" is a grave.
[191] Botany Bay.
THE MISSIONARY.
Amor patriae ratione potentior omni.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.[192] It is not necessary to relate the causes which induced me to publish this poem without a name.
The favour with which it has been received may make me less diffident in avowing it; and, as a second edition has been generally called for, I have endeavoured to make it, in every respect, less unworthy of the public eye.
I have availed myself of every sensible objection, the most material of which was the circumstance, that the Indian maid, described in the first book, had not a part assigned to her of sufficient interest in the subsequent events of the poem, and that the character of the Missionary was not sufficiently professional.
The single circumstance that a Spanish commander, with his army in South America, was destroyed by the Indians, in consequence of the treachery of his page, who was a native, and that only a priest was saved, is all that has been taken from history.

The rest of this poem, the personages, father, daughter, wife, _et cet._ (with the exception of the names of Indian warriors) is imaginary.

The time is two months.

The first four books include as many days and nights.

The rest of the time is occupied by the Spaniards' march, the assembly of warriors, _et cet._ The place in which the scene is laid, was selected because South America has of late years received additional interest, and because the ground was at once new, poetical, and picturesque.
From old-fashioned feelings, perhaps, I have admitted some aerial agents, or what is called machinery.