Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY BOLLES AND HOUGHTON. Third Thousand. PREFACE. THE greater part of the following pages consists of oral addresses, delivered in mixed and popular assemblies. The author in giving them to the press, acts upon a desire expressed in various directions to see them in this form; and if they shall be read with a portion of the kindness with which they were heard, the author will be content. He is clearly aware, that they have, in full measure, the faults that mark the class of compositions to which they belong, but he trusts that they are not wholly wanting in some of the characteristic merits of such compositions. The author does not presume to attribute any permanent or critical value to these pages; yet to the author, personally, they have a greater value, though of another kind; they call up hours passed in living communion with his audiences; memories of generous sympathies, of hospitable bounties, of friendly encouragements, of general regard, which he would scarcely exchange for the proudest merely literary reputation. The other pieces, as will be seen, were contributed to periodicals. The principal of them were furnished to a religious journal, and are accordingly of a subdued and serious tone. The circumstances of the author left him but few opportunities for sustained, close, consecutive study. But though compelled to write casually and hastily, he has always endeavored to write truthfully and thoughtfully. BOSTON, JANUARY, 1850. |