Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, by CHARLES J. FOX AND SAMUEL OSGOOD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of New Hampshire. BOSTON. PRINTED BY S. N. DICKINSON, WASHINGTON STREET. TO THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF New Hampshire, AT HOME AND ABROAD, THESE SPECIMENS OF NATIVE LITERATURE ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY THE EDITORS. PREFACE. It is needless to make an apology for gathering into a volume these specimens of literature, that have no common tie except an origin in our own State. There is doubtless sufficient value in this selection to make it worthy the attention of the public, and sufficient State feeling among us to render it peculiarly interesting to the sons and daughters of New Hampshire. It is of course impossible in one small volume like this, to do justice to the literature and talent of our State. New Hampshire has been called the Scotland of America, and her sons, like the Scotch, have visited every region, and left monuments of their enterprise and ability wherever they have gone. The literature of almost all the States in our Union must be thoroughly scrutinized, before we can do justice to our own State. Referring our readers to the list of authors contained in the present work, and to the various posts and professions which they adorn, we would present these merely as specimens of our literary wealth, without in the least pretending to give an idea of its whole extent. Many writers have been omitted, whose works we would gladly have noticed. It has not been always possible to find the older and rarer works of our citizens; and moreover it has been very difficult to represent some whole departments of literature, for instance, the theological and legal. Many of our prominent clergymen have put forth no productions that might not be considered as too much of a denominational character; and most of the learned arguments of our lawyers are far better adapted to persuade a jury or convince a judge than to give charm to a pleasant volume like this. Many able and distinguished men among us have published nothing, that has come to our knowledge; and we have doubtless overlooked the claims of many young men of high talent, who have gone from us and settled in distant places, and the place of whose birth it is not easy to ascertain. In the different colleges in the South and West, about forty natives of our State are employed as professors or presiding officers. We have tried to represent all classes, professions and interests fairly in our selections, and if we have erred in any respect, it has |