in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District

of New York.

MEM AOBK

21192

d

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

'HE Author will not deny that he is glad of an opportunity to present the following Writings—the fruits, in part, of a five years' service in Literature— in a connected form. If he has wrought to any purpose, it will appear, he thinks, more clearly now that he is allowed to collect the scattered threads and show them, many-colored, in one woof together. That he has labored with heart and spirit, and with an eye at least upon the paths open to the American writer-will perhaps occur to the reader when he finds himself, at one moment nestling in the very bosom of smooth social life, and at the next hurried abroad through the wilderness to confront the Forest and out-talk the Cataract; companioned with Prairie Winds and Spectres a thousand years old. If the author had brought no more than an obolus from each province into which he has penetrated, his revenues would be (one might say) a quite sufficient reward. Whether his own steps have been steady and well-chosen or not, he might hope that his foot-prints would not be entirely lost upon such as may journey forth on a similar adventure.

Two courses lie open to the young author, one of which will secure to him repose, good-will, and the tranquillity of a sure, though not always a speedy, oblivion; the other beset with doubt, clamorous with objection of all kinds, and crowned, it may be, with a triumphant end. He is offered the opportunity of going to school to Nature or to Books. There are innumerable Academies, their doors wide-cast, where he will be welcomed and have promptly allotted to him a form in the class of Historical Novel-writing, Melo-Dramatic Romance, Dutch Humor, or Sentimental Poetry. If he consents to take his place, quietly, under any one of the recognised Masters who preside over these departments, all will go well with him. He shall possess his soul in peace, and enjoy the privileges of good and sober citizenship, undisturbed. Notwithstanding this tempting prospect, it will perhaps be as well for him, if his ear be at all quick at detecting the suggestions and promptings of Nature-to pursue a path of his own, and come to these honors in due course of time. He will find, in obedience to his own heart and a conscientious use of his faculties, a more genial pursuit and a kindlier reward than it is in the power of critical fashion to bestow. That there are peculiar bars raised against him, here,