THOU who shalt wander o’er these humble plains, Where one kind grave their hapless dust contains, O pass not on—if merit claim a tear, Or dying virtue cause a sigh sincere. Here rest their heads, consign’d to parent earth, Who to one common father ow’d their birth; Unknown this union—Nature still presides, And Sympathy unites, whom Fate divides. They see—they love—but heav’n their passion tries, Their love sustains it, but their MORTAL dies. Stranger! contemplate well before you part, And take this serious counsel to thy heart: Does some fair female of unspotted fame, Salute thee, smiling, with a father’s name, Bid her detest the fell Seducer’s wiles, Who smiles to win—and murders as he smiles. If ever wandering near this dark recess, Where guardian spirits round the ether press, Where, on their urn, celestial care descends, Two lovers come, whom fair success attends, O’er the pale marble shall they join their heads, And drink the falling tears each other sheds, Then sadly say, with mutual pity mov’d, “O! may we NEVER LOVE AS THESE HAVE LOVED.” [Illustration: The END.] Notes. FOR many reasons it has been thought best to reprint this book exactly after the original copy, “VERBATIM ET LITERATIM ET PUNCTUATIM”; and although the modern purist may feel offended at the archaisms of orthography, syntax and punctuation—the last of which appears to have been used with rhetorical and not grammatical significance—, he must content himself with the fact that art would have lost all and science gained nothing by the rewriting of the above pages in the diction of today. OUT of regard for the feelings of the descendants of the originals of certain characters of the novel, who are living today in Boston, the editor has decided to reveal the identity only of those of the personæ who are already known, to a more or less extent, through the literary history of New England. Although curiosity may turn away unsatisfied with the volume, yet the art of it all remains through considering Harrington, father and son, Maria and Harriot, and Mrs. Holmes nothing more than types and not as individuals whose true biographies are written. VOL. I, page 83, begins the story of “Martin” and “Ophelia,” the real characters of which were recognized at the time to be Mr. Perez Morton and his young sister-in-law, Theodosia Francis Apthorp. In commenting on this fact in the book, Sabin writes in his “Books relating to America” (Vol. XV, Page 377) “This work created quite a sensation, and was suppressed by interested parties. The names of Fanny Apthorp and Perez Morton are not yet forgotten as connected with the matter.”