COMPLAINT AND CONSOLATION;

OR

NIGHT THOUGHTS

ON

LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY

TO WHICH IS ADDED,

THE FORCE OF RELIGION.

BY EDWARD YOUNG, D.D.

A New Edition.

BOSTON:

T. H. CARTER-AGENT.

PREFACE.

As the occasion of this Poem was real, not fietitious; so the method pursued in it was rather imposed by what spontaneously arose in the Author's mind on that occasion, than meditated or designed. Which will appear very probable from the nature of it. For it differs from the common mode of poetry; which is, from long narrations to draw short morals. Here, on the contrary, the narrative is short, and the morality arising from it makes the bulk of the Poem. The reason of it is, that the facts mentioned did naturally pour these moral reflections on the thought of the Writer.