PUBLIC LIBRARY 165827 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS 1900. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1851,. In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. Books of common-place are the amusements of literature. It is pleasant to have at one's side a wellselected volume, to which he may turn for menta recreation, when the fatigue of preceding exertion has rendered him unequal to intellectual effort. It is pleasant, also, to have before us the eloquent passages of our favourite authors, so that we may occasionally awake and prolong the delightful sensations with which we at first perused them. But the mere power of conferring amusement is not that, which gives to publications of this sort their highest value. To all those, whose constant occupation precludes the possibility of spending many leisure hours in the acquisition of literary taste and knowledge, they may be rendered eminently useful. The present volume is selected entirely from American authors, and contains specimens of American literature from its earliest period to the present day. It is hoped that it may not be found inferior in excellence or interest to any of those compilations which have hitherto embraced only the morceaux delicieuse of English genius. When we say this, it is without any feeling of national vanity or rivalry. Our wish is merely to furnish a volume which shall correspond in design and execu tion to those which are now so popular abroad, and which contribute so extensively to the improvement of general and literary taste, by bringing the happier efforts of higher minds within the reach of all classes of society. The volume now offered to the public may also, we trust, prove serviceable to the interests of education. The selection contained in the following pages is such, it is hoped, as will exert a favourable influence on the minds of youth, by the predominating intellectual and literary character of the pieces. The sentiments imbibed from the perusal of this compilation will be such as our most eminent writers have inculcated; and the spirit infused by it will be that vivid admiration of nature and of human excellence, which forms a char acteristic trait in American writings. EDITOR TABLE OF CONTENTS. Goodness of the Deity displayed in the Beauty of Creation. Dwight. 9 Night Season favourable to Contemplation and Study.. Dennie. 10 Franklin's first Entrance into Philadelphia. Passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge. Humorous Description of the Custom of Whitewashing. May you die among your Kindred. Description of a Death Scene.. The Stout Gentleman. A Stage-coach Romance Patriotism and Eloquence of John Adams. Description of the Speedwell Mine in England. Difficulties encountered by the Federal Convention. Reflections on the Battle of Lexington. |