Prevailed upon by admiring friends, in 1773[348] she gave her poems to the world. They were published in London in a small octavo volume of about one hundred and twenty pages, comprising thirty-nine pieces. It was dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon, with a picture of the poetess, and a letter of recommendation signed by the governor and lieutenant-governor, with many other "respectable citizens of Boston." * * * * * TO THE PUBLIC. As it has been repeatedly suggested to the publisher, by persons who have seen the manuscript, that numbers would be ready to suspect they were not really the writings of PHILLIS, he has procured the following attestation, from the most respectable characters in _Boston_, that none might have the least ground for disputing their _Original_. We, whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the Poems specified in the following page were (as we verily believe) written by PHILLIS, a young Negro Girl, who was, but a few Years since, brought, an uncultivated Barbarian, from _Africa_, and has ever since been, and now is, under the disadvantage of serving as a Slave in a family in this town. She has been examined by some of the best judges, and is thought qualified to write them. _His Excellency_, THOMAS HUTCHINSON, _Governor_. _The Hon_. ANDREW OLIVER, _Lieutenant Governor_. _Hon_. Thomas Hubbard, | _Rev_. Charles Chauncy, _Hon_. John Erving, | _Rev_. Mather Byles, _Hon_. James Pitts, | _Rev_. Ed Pemberton, _Hon_. Harrison Gray, | _Rev_. Andrew Elliot, _Hon_. James Bowdoin, | _Rev_. Samuel Cooper, John Hancock, _Esq_. | _Rev_. Samuel Mather, Joseph Green, _Esq_. | _Rev_. John Moorhead, Richard Cary, _Esq_. | _Mr_. John Wheatley, her master. * * * * *