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AMERICAN LITERATURE

FROM THE EARLIEST SETTLEMENT

TO THE PRESENT TIME

COMPILED AND EDITED BY

EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN AND
ELLEN MACKAY HUTCHINSON

IN TEN VOLUMES

VOL. I

NEW-YORK

CHARLES L. WEBSTER & COMPANY

1888

usual in books of this kind. Our aim is to give distinctive, readable examples of the writings of every class and of each successive period; to form a collection that shall be to our literature what a "National Gallery" is to national art; to bring together practical illustrations of the work of centuries, of the changes of topic and style, the rise of learning, imagination, and creative power,—which finally resulted in a true home-school of authorship, upon which our people now rely with increasing confidence and pride.

We shall not overlook those noteworthy specimens of prose and verse which, although anonymous, or possessing slight literary merit, have a special and independent value. State papers, and the utterances of famous public men, come within our field. Nothing will be rejected because it is already familiar; pieces that have established a claim are representative and likely to be found in this collection. Examples are chosen for the genuine interest of their style or subjectmatter. Short poems, tales, and sketches are given in full; from longer works we select the most vital and significant passages, or those that have a completeness of their own. At least five of the ten volumes will be devoted to the literature of the last half-century, but, owing to its wealth, and to the steadily enlarging number of modern authors, less proportional space can be given to many of those cited.

It has not been thought best to follow in all cases the quaint and often inconsistent spelling, and the undue use of Italic and capital letters, to which the earlier writers were addicted, but to present only so much of this as illustrates the usage of their time. Otherwise, when practicable, we give the text of original or authoritative editions, closely reproducing it where the old manner lends a charm to some narrative like that of Captain John Smith. In recent editions found of service, the orthography often has been modernized already. Failing to procure certain rare books, we sometimes profit by the research of former explorers. The arrangement of this work is chronological, with an order of succession not strictly governed by the order of the births of authors, but occasionally taking into consideration the dates of their important writings. Where the statisticians differ, we follow those who seem most trustworthy. With respect to living female writers, we have not felt bound to extend our scrutiny to dates which are not already matters of published record.

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