953 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1838, by THOMAS H. VAIL, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDGES FOLSOM, WELLS, AND THURSTON, PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. PREFACE. FOR a succinct notice of the life and character, and of the Poetical Remains of Lyde, the reader is referred to the Introduction. But it is proper to say a few words upon the appearance of this little volume of poems. The title seemed proper to it, inasmuch as the pieces are the production of a mind which had not expanded into its maturity, and proper also to the season in which the volume has been introduced to the public. Like the buds of spring, the thoughts of our departed friend were just opening in their fresh and irregular beauty, and were beginning to shed around their pure and sweet and welcome fragrance. Lyde is known to all the members of the Episcopalian community, and to many in other denominations, as having been a young man of great promise. And it has been thought, that a memorial of him, like this now presented, would be acceptable to a large circle of α friends who knew and admired him, and to others who would regret that his name should be forgotten. If this little volume should be dedicated to those who always manifested a most lively interest in the welfare of our friend, and exerted themselves most liberally to develope his talents and usefulness, the names of the Rt. Rev. Thomas C. Brownell, and of the Rev. Francis L. Hawks, and of the Rev. Horatio N. Potter, and of John Pintard, Esq., would be adopted among the first. But the inscription selected appeared the most suitable; and the profits from this edition, if any be realized, will be devoted to the support of the Christian Mission to China, through the Foreign Committee of the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. The design of the Addenda is explained in the Note preliminary to them. If these Remains shall find favor sufficient to make another edition expedient, it may be well to substitute, instead of the Addenda, (unless a memoir of Lyde shall be prepared in another quarter, as was at one time contemplated,) extracts from his correspondence and prose writ of a ings; so that the book may serve the purpose memoir of our friend, in an order somewhat similar to that in which the Literary Remains of Henry Kirke White have been arranged by his biographer. The Editor of this volume hopes that the imperfections of his work may be overlooked in the satisfaction derived from a perusal of its contents. The volume has been prepared without a reference to the captious, for it is a sad duty to transcribe the Remains of a friend whom one has loved. These will, we believe, be read, as they have been prepared for the press, with a softened heart. "Mollissima corda Humano generi dare se natura fatetur; Quae lachrymas dedit." Cambridge, Massachusetts, April, 1838. Juv. Sat. xv. 131 - 133. "WE bless thy holy name, Oh LORD, for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear; beseeching Thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom: grant this, Oh FATHER, for JESUS CHRIST's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate." |