23425- PROSE WRITINGS OF WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. EDITED BY PARKE GODWIN. Volume First. ESSAYS, TALES, AND ORATIONS. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, I, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. 1884. PREFACE. WHEN this final edition of "The Life and Works" of Mr. Bryant was projected, the editor announced, in order to meet the suggestions of many friends of the poet, that it would comprise his "Orations and Addresses," and his various letters of travel. But, on a more careful consideration of those works, it was found that, while a considerable part of them had become obsolete through lapse of time, a reproduction of them in full would extend the enterprise beyond all desirable limits. He therefore resolved to confine the prose writings to a few specimens from the several departments of essays, travels, narratives, and editorial criticisms and comments, in which Mr. Bryant's intellectual activities had been displayed. By this change of plan, he is aware that the collection is likely to assume the character of a mere miscellany; but he hopes, on the other hand, that it will possess the advantage of exhibiting, in a clearer light, the extent, vivacity, and versatility of the author's powers, the range and current of his studies, and his opinions at different times, as well as the |