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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by
LINDSAY & BLAKISTON,
in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

STEREOTYPED BY J. FA[[?]]AN
PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN.


PREFACE.

One of the most striking characteristics of the present age is the number of female writers, especially in the department of belles-lettres.  This is even more true of the United States, than of the old world; and poetry, which is the language of the affections, has been freely employed among us to express the emotions of woman's heart.

Few American women, besides the author of Zophiël, have written poems of any considerable length, but many have published volumes of poetry, and fugitive pieces of various merit have been poured forth through our newspapers and other periodicals, with the utmost profusion.  This very profuseness has led many to underrate the genuine value, which upon closer examination will be found appertaining to these snatches of American song.  As the rare exotic, costly because of the distance from which it is brought, will often suffer in comparison of beauty and fragrance with the abundant wild flowers of our meadows and woodland slopes, so the reader of our present volume, if ruled by an honest taste, will discover in the effusions of our gifted country-
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