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EDITOR'S PREFACE. |
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proportion of sacred and irregular pieces, similar to "Are they Gone ?" and the "Penitent's Offering," in this volume.
So large a number of elegies have been selected, for the reason that such compositions are more popular among the masses than any other species of serious literature. The author is wholly incapable of levity, and the reader will find nothing of it in any of her productions.
As in most other cases, we are able to discern, in the early history of the author's life, the cause of that singular melancholy which breathes so sadly in many of her productions. She was, while yet in her father's house, called to part with one sister and three brother's in succession. Her affection for them was intense, and her sorrow overwhelming. The brothers all died of consumption; she saw them die, and never could forget the scene. With all the devotion of a sister's heart, she attended the first until he sunk into the arms of death. Month after month she hung over the bedside of the second, anticipating every wish, and exhausting her strength, until she stood by his grave. Her
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