CONTENTS TO VOLUME I.

Page.

Number.

I. Introduction-Account of the Author-His Title to the

Appellation of Puritan-New England Manners not yet

Described-The Puritan's Hopes,

II.

A Puritan's Library-Addison-His Merits-Moral Lessons

Weakened, when seen in a Foreign Dress,

III. Hannah Oldbug's Character-Effects of British Novels on a

Yankee Lass,

IV. Religion-Puzzling-irons and Chandeliers,

V. Law, a coarse conception, derived from material objects,

VI. Spiritual Law, a refined idea, derived from the intercourse
of spirit with spirit,

1

VII. A Fop on a Sick Bed-Vain Repentance,

VIII. Credulous People-Abner Alltail,

IX. The Art of Doubting,

X. The Art of Solving, .

XI. Dark Thoughts-A Vision,

XII. Story of a Poor Girl-A Workhouse Scene,

XIII. The Wounded Spirit, a Poem,

XIV. The Education of a Sick Child,.

9

17

24

35

43

49

58

66

78

88

99

to

106

115

126

by an evening fire, with a young lady of r talents, and fond of books, who was reading t tor. She broke out into an expression of aston What a silly book the Spectator is! "Let me I.

"What is the passage which appears so She was reading the 475th number; a preten from a young lady to the author, of this import Sir, the thing is this: Mr. Shapely is the pret tleman about town. He is very tall, but no neither. He dances like an angel. His mout I don't know how, but it is the prettiest mou saw in my life. He is always laughing, for 1 infinite deal of wit. If you did but see how h stockings!" &c. This was the folly. I aske if it was not an admirable imitation of just th in which such a character would write. The seemed to open a new world to her thoughts was obliged to confess that what she had cel folly, was one of the most exquisite efforts of g

What I have done in these pages I pretend n I only know what I have endeavored. Go, li and if thou art found innocently amusing, or s instructive-live; but if critics condemn, and t' ratifies their sentence, DIE; and thy humbled drop no tear on thy grave, though for thee the be no resurrection.

XV. Education-The Folly of Minute Theories,

139

XVI. Keeping up Appearances-Pride and Poverty,

XVII. Old-fashioned Thoughts-A Hymn on Humility,

XVIII. A Jack of All Trades, or Yankee Life,

150

156

XIX. Puritans-Their Views Explained, and Characters Defended, 163

XX. Republicanism-Its Nakedness and Simplicity-Anecdote

of the Legislature in New York,

XXI. Historians—Their Fallacy-Always Unjust to a Defeated

Party,

XXII. Going to the Theatre-The Impressions of a Puritan Boy,. 188

XXIII. Austerity and Republicanism,

195

XXIV. Puritan Amusements,

202

209

216

XXV. A Question Proposed and Answered,

*

XXVI. A Letter from an English Friend,

XXVII. The Answer,

XXVIII. The Story of Solomon Packwell,

XXIX. Biography-Its Fallacy-The Character of Mr. James Back-

ground, . .

XXX. The Value of General Principles, .

133

174

180

222

229

236

242

THE PURITAN.

No. 1.

So when a smooth expanse receives imprest,
Calm nature's image on its watery breast,
Down bend the banks, the trees depending grow,
And skies beneath with answering colors glow;
But if a stone the gentle sea divide,

Swift rising circles curl on every side,

And glimmering fragments of a broken sun,
Banks, trees and skies in thick disorder run.

Parnel.

I SUPPOSE that all my readers have seen that loveliest object in creation, described in my motto. If ever they have been out to Jamaica Plain, or taken a ride to Fresh Pond, in calm weather, they must have remarked the quivering landscape of the nether world, which poets have so often pictured, and from which moralists and philosophers have so often derived their descriptions and images. There is found a fairer world, adorned with milder colors, and tinged with a softer light. No night obscures or storms disturb it. It seems built for the imagination ;